The Strongest Brother Lost His Memory-Chapter 80Vol 2.

He hadn’t been able to forget the conversation they once had.

“If things really go badly... I’d rather die alone than be killed by Aietar’s hand.”

“Rosie.”

“Better that than having my lifespan extended by him. Don’t you think so?”

The reason he couldn’t refute Rosie back then was because she was right.

But just because it was right didn’t mean he could accept it.

‘I can only throw away my life for you.’

‘But you... I feel like you could quietly throw your life away for all of us.’

His stomach churned with unease ahead of the final confrontation.

It was suspicious in many ways.

Her asking to bring Liri, her volunteering to try to control the Sacred Relic of Power—

Everyone let it pass under the excuse: “Rosie’s always been clever and capable of handling things on her own. We can’t just oppose her now.”

But Zahid knew Rosie well.

She was never the type to go, “Let’s just try it! I’m your Divine Beast’s master, so it’ll work out somehow!”

What made loving Rosie so good was precisely the fact that she was overly cautious with her own safety.

‘You definitely have thoughts you haven’t told us.’

And the fact that she hadn’t said anything probably meant... she was thinking of sacrificing herself.

‘It’s exactly because you’re that kind of person... that all these people follow you.’

Zahid lifted Rosie and placed her on Fire’s back first.

Julian glared as if he’d cut off Zahid’s hand then and there, but Zahid ignored it.

The fact that Julian didn’t actually cut him down right now—that was thanks to the remnants of nine years of «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» character.

‘I...’

Zahid mounted up behind Rosie and his violet eyes shone gloomily.

‘I’ll never let you walk that path alone.’

* * *

[Face to Face]

Fire leapt down from the tower with the two of us on his back.

He swept aside the Holy Knights blocking our path with a single breath of fire and charged straight toward the rear garden Ray had shown us.

Though I didn’t look back, screams continued to ring out.

Cashie and Athena were tearing through their respective areas.

Thanks to Ethan’s mana, the priests couldn’t use divine power. Suppressing them was only a matter of time.

“What are you planning to do?”

A low voice came from behind me.

“You can tell me. What exactly are you planning?”

“Hm?”

“I know you’re not someone who’d just come here unprepared. Controlling the Sacred Relic of Power—do you really think that’s possible?”

“Well...”

I answered slowly.

“I’ll only know once I try...”

That really was how I felt.

I’d never seen the Sacred Relic of Power before—how could I know?

“Hey, Zahid.”

I clung tightly to Fire as I spoke.

“Back when I became the master of the Water Divine Beast... Did I also jump in this recklessly then?”

Riding on Fire like this brought that time to mind.

I had rushed to the dormitory rooftop, not knowing what I was doing, just to stop Athena’s rampage.

“All she said was... ‘You might be able to stop me.’ Just that.”

“She did?”

“Yeah. Of course, once I got there and realized I had no plan, I cursed her a bit... But in the end, she was right. Somehow, it worked out.”

It was the same now.

There had been a prophecy that the one who tamed the Divine Beasts would be the true master of the Temple.

And that’s me.

Just like I had believed Athena’s words back then, I wanted to believe that prophecy now.

“In the end, it’s me who has to face Aietar, so I can’t keep running anymore.”

What I couldn’t say in front of all those people who cared for me—I confessed now to the man behind me.

“Even if I don’t know what I’m doing, I have to go. I want to trust in what makes me special... and try.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

He sounded like he was trying to pull an answer out of me.

I bit my lower lip and murmured.

“...Then there was never really a choice to begin with.”

Truthfully, I did have a backup plan...

But I couldn’t say it in front of Zahid.

“Promise me.”

Zahid said in a low voice, not pressing further.

“Promise me you’ll do your best.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to do everything I can for your life, but... I don’t think you will. That’s why I’m saying this.”

“...”

“Live with everything you’ve got, Rosie.”

“...Okay.”

I replied softly, and Zahid went silent after that.

Before long, we arrived at the rear garden.

“Go.”

Zahid leapt down first and drew his sword.

“Go now, Rosie. This is truly something only you can do.”

“Okay!”

While Zahid and Fire took on the Holy Knights charging at us, I ran toward the altar.

That’s it!

It was my first time seeing it, but I recognized it immediately.

It looked just like the Sacred Relic of Time I had once activated—only the patterns were different.

Please, please...

I reached out to the Sacred Relic of Power and prayed desperately.

Let this stop... Please...

According to Zahid, once the ritual began, it couldn’t be stopped.

But I was special. Maybe it would be different for me.

I’d already used the Sacred Relic of Time—maybe I really was different.

Screams and heat echoed behind me.

With no priests to support them, those few Holy Knights were nothing to Zahid and Fire.

“Please...”

I poured all the desperation I had when I turned back time into the relic of power.

“Please stop this...”

Inside the small Arhad, fire, earth, and water were combining into catastrophe. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Leaving all of that behind, I didn’t know what to do. All I could do was pour out divine power and mutter desperately.

“The prophecy said the master of the Divine Beasts would be me...”

They said it was impossible.

But what if I could do it?

What if this just ended simply and anticlimactically right here?

This was the moment when I needed to believe in my uniqueness more than ever.

“I... I might be a truly special person, even among the priests born with divine power...”

I clutched the Sacred Relic tightly, begging as I infused it with divine power.

Though Ethan’s mana was suppressing divine power, its coverage was so wide that the effect was thin.

So if I poured in all my divine power, it had to work.

“Please...”

But the Sacred Relic of Power mocked me—it bounced my divine power right back.

The backlash from pouring everything I had into it was so strong that I stumbled and fell backward.

It’s fine. I always fail once. Just try again. Don’t give up.

I pushed myself up with difficulty and infused divine power again, but the result was the same. I fell again.

Just as I was scrambling to get back up—

“How laughable, my daughter.”

Chills ran down my spine at the voice behind me.

“You’re not special at all.”

That overly gentle and polite voice—I’d heard it nine years ago, on the Holy Celebration Day, in the Academy auditorium.

“The one born special was me, a high noble with powerful divine power from both sides of my bloodline. You’re just...”

A middle-aged man, aged nine years, slowly rose from the earth.

Ah.

The thing I’d tried so hard to stop—he had finished absorbing all the divine power.

It was hard to say we were late. Even if we’d arrived earlier, the Sacred Relic had rejected me. There wouldn’t have been anything else we could do.

“You’re just a useful byproduct of my impure blood... that’s all.”

I forgot even to stand up. I just stared at the man.

His upper body, just risen from the soil, looked like it had been grotesquely mutilated.

“Master of your Divine Beast, huh...”

His face was smooth and kind-looking—but in stark contrast, the scars across his body were monstrous.

“And yet such pitiful divine power, rejected even by the Sacred Relic of Power...”

He glanced back and forth between me and the relic and let out a scoff.

“If I’d known you were this disappointing, I wouldn’t have obsessed in the first place.”

My heart thudded in despair.

I’d been told my divine power far surpassed Yuta’s.

But what kind of divine power did Aietar possess to control the Sacred Relic of Power in the first place?

And now, having absorbed Arhad’s divine power, he must be even stronger.

Fire spat flames at him from behind, but Aietar stood untouched, without a single burn.

Cold sweat ran down my back at the sight.

No matter how badly he was wounded, he could heal instantly.

That was a level of power I couldn’t even imagine.

That monster... Can we really defeat him?