I Will Protect My Brother - Chapter 25

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 25
Luize grinned, baring his teeth as he anticipated victory.
That brat’s weakness was his younger sister, the one he kept by his side.
Whenever Rosien appeared, he’d swap out his entire personality, so this time he wouldn’t be able to move a muscle either….
“I don’t make the same mistake twice.”
Kalian Wynack pulled his lips into a smirk. Ah, by the time I sensed the omen of misfortune, it was already too late.
The circular hole carved into the wall began to shake ominously. Cracks spread like a spider’s web, and with a sickening crunch, the structure lost its balance.
The wall collapsed with a thunderous crash, blocking the passage.
The moment the path was cut off, the hurried footsteps rushing toward us stopped abruptly.
Luize couldn’t even laugh at the absurdity of it all.
[So you’re just going to hide her from sight and call it a day…?]
“Our princess deserves to see only beautiful and good things.”
Kalian moved only after confirming that Rosien could no longer approach and was left stamping her feet in frustration.
In truth, I had planned to deal with Whezel after Yeljewa and Kirges. But the order hardly mattered.
The outcome was the annihilation of the transcendents anyway. It didn’t matter who died first.
[Insane bastard. You really want to go all out!]
Glittering stardust rained down over the jaguar’s black fur. Whezel’s Guardian Star, the “Formless Lion,” was channeling its power to its contractor.
The blessing of the stars began to clash fiercely against the tentacles that bound him. Luize ground his teeth and spat out his words.
[Let me ask you one thing before we engage, Wynack. Did you steal the Crystal of Resurrection from Raylo?]
“Make me want to answer.”
From the way his eyes narrowed, the answer was already clear without needing to hear more.
He was the culprit.
How a mere three or four-year-old child from twelve years ago could have subdued Raylo and stolen the crystal was beyond the need to comprehend.
‘He’s not human.’
Dozens of shadows stretched out around Kalian Wynack. Those tendrils, which resembled both tails and tentacles, ensnared Luize.
Eventually, he released his transformation. He shrunk his body and barely slipped free from the restraints, then wrapped the blessing of the stars around himself like a barrier.
“Did you resurrect a human with the Crystal of Resurrection, Wynack?”
What I needed now was time. Whezel’s power was erupting explosively. The star, sensing its contractor’s peril, began to focus its gaze upon the ground level.
“Who did I resurrect?”
The essence of stars gathered in Luize’s clenched fist. He pushed off the ground and charged at Kalian.
“What did you do with the crystal? It’s not a one-time use item!”
But his heavy, grinding punch never reached its target. The power bestowed by Whezel’s Guardian Star was easily devoured by the darkness.
Luize’s eyes widened in shock.
‘I’ve never heard of a star that devours stars….’
There was no time for prolonged contemplation. Luize barely dodged the tentacle’s assault, but he couldn’t evade the blade that thrust in immediately after.
He glimpsed a smile as cold and sharp as an assassin’s dagger.
“Farewell. It was brief, but pleasant, Whezel.”
Just as Kalian whispered those words and was about to drive the blade into Luize’s throat—
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
A thunderous battle cry echoed from far away, completely unexpected.
Both Kalian Wynack and Luize, who had squeezed his eyes shut, were momentarily stunned.
With a tremendous roar, a massive boulder blocking the corridor suddenly shot forward.
“Haaah!”
The ringing shout didn’t end there. The enormous rock was kicked clean away with a thunderous crack.
Its fragments hurtled toward Kalian Wynack and Luize, who stood close together, at a terrifying velocity.
“Tch!”
Kalian Wynack leaped away from Luize with lightning speed. The debris passed through the gap between them with perfect precision.
A sharp, metallic voice rang out boldly.
“Who’s there!”
“…Rosien!”
Luize, who had nearly had his head crushed by the boulder Rosien had hurled, ground his teeth as he called out the girl’s name.
Kalian Wynack was already retracting the shadow tendrils that had spread in all directions.
‘Damn it, I underestimated how strong Rosy really is….’
After three years of living together constantly, Rosien was still difficult to predict. Suspicion had been cast on me mere minutes ago, and if she saw me like this, there would be no way to explain it away.
Kalian Wynack, hastily composing his mana, suddenly stopped.
A faint vibration resonating from a distance reached his senses.
‘Ah…?’
The Sacred Relic, sensing the change occurring in the Harem, was awakening.
Kalian Wynack’s eyes glazed over as if entranced by something.
‘Mine.’
Mine, which I have yearned for across centuries. Beautiful and precious, mine.
‘The Great Annihilation’…!
“Tsk, hey!”
When Luize finally managed to lift his head, Kalian Wynack had already vanished from sight. Instead, a small child with crimson hair—actually a girl, though—came rushing toward him in a flustered state.
“Family Head! Are you okay?! Yes?”
Rosien, who had oddly mixed formal and casual speech, urgently helped Luize to his feet.
“There was a strange sound and the wall was crumbling, so I just broke through it… Mom, goodness. Stars above! Why do you look like this?”
“You… come here.”
Before Luize could even compose himself, he immediately seized Rosien’s hand.
“Don’t leave my side!”
“Huh?”
The human shield wore a bewildered expression.
There was no time to answer her questions. Luize hastily scooped up the girl and sprang to his feet.
‘The Sacred Relic definitely responded just now.’
Luize retrieved the communication device he shared with Kirges. A burst of light shot up into the air and bounced across the broken corridor before disappearing.
The path ahead was blocked. Unless he broke through the wall and escaped, there was nowhere to hide except the space behind the massive fragment that had been a wall moments before.
Luize moved forward, layering the blessing of the stars over his completely ruined knees.
“Come out, Winyak.”
“Winyak…?”
Rosien’s expression, who had been following along holding his hand without understanding anything, froze solid.
“If you don’t want your true nature exposed in front of your sister, come out right now.”
“Wait, Family Head. What are you talking about?”
“Stay quiet, little one.”
“Brother? Are you there?”
Rosien began to squirm. Luize pressed down firmly on the girl’s shoulders with both hands. He knew instinctively.
I couldn’t let this child be taken by that monster. She was my only leverage.
It was also for Rosien’s sake. There was no need to guess why that inhuman creature doted on her alone—his intentions were obviously impure. He was simply toying with her!
“Come out. If you don’t emerge by the time I count to three, I can’t be responsible for what my mouth might say.”
Silence fell. Sensing the ominous shift in the air, Rosien clenched her fists.
“Brother. Are you really there?”
A radiant blessing from Kirges’s Guardian Star flickered across her palm.
“Kali, answer me….”
That was when they realized something was wrong.
Beyond the rubble lay an eerie silence. Not a deliberate hush, but as if nothing existed there at all….
‘Surely he couldn’t have escaped from a place with no exits?’
Bewilderment seized Luize as he rushed behind the debris.
There was no one there.
No trace of descent into the earth, no sign of ascent into the sky—only emptiness.
Then the Sacred Relic at the heart of the Harem began to hum and convulse. From somewhere came the sound of something crumbling.
“The entrance to the Holy Temple…!”
Whezel’s sealing power was crumbling to dust.
Rosien moved faster than Luize could contort his face. Runes for short-distance teleportation flickered in the empty air, and the girl vanished as if she’d never existed.
“…Damn it, she really was Kirges!”
He’d suspected, but to think it was actually her—what in the world was the current Winyak Family Head raising?!
Luize unleashed a torrent of curses as he bolted toward the Holy Temple.
* * *
As the Sacred Relic shook unstably, the space within the Holy Temple warped grotesquely once more. The entrance to the temple exploded like shattered glass.
Strands of shadow divided and serpentine, invaded from within. The living darkness expelled a boy into the void. Brilliant golden hair, piercing through the gloom, scattered radiance in all directions.
Kalian Wynack’s feet touched the Altar. The movement was graceful.
Above the Altar, a sword hilt rotated slowly through empty space.
‘The essence of Winyak.’
【Don’t touch it!】
A piercing shriek assaulted the eardrums. The Sacred Relic thrashed about.
【You, you, don’t come near. For some reason, since yesterday the stench of a corrupted soul has been wafting from somewhere!】
The Sacred Relic cried out in a shrill voice.
【You’ve returned again without dying, your broken body still intact, 「Crawling Apocalypse」!】
Kalian paid no heed and reached toward the sword hilt. The tips of his pale, smooth fingers brushed against its curved surface.
He caressed the blade, running his hand along it before grasping it firmly. The power of the Guardian Star attached to the Winyak name spiraled and began to fuse with the Sacred Relic.
‘At last…!’
In that moment, elation bloomed across Kalian’s face.
“…!”
A violent force slammed his body backward. The Sacred Relic was rejecting him with ferocious intensity.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————