Before the situation could spiral further out of control, Nolan made a snap decision and glanced over his shoulder, hoping to find someone willing to help shoulder the pressure.
He looked back. Leda and Malenia were staring straight at Trina. The Valkyrie even found the time to shoot him a cutting look.
As for Lansseax, she wore a wicked little smile, clearly enjoying herself.
Forget it. Asking them for help would be worse than killing himself.
"Oh my, so it's Sister Ranni. Why aren't you staying quietly in Liurnia of the Lakes? What brings you all the way to our Haligtree?"
Trina's voice was still sweet and enchanting, perfectly suited to her current appearance, but there was something distinctly off about her tone.
"My knight ventured alone to Liurnia of the Lakes and rendered great service to Caria. Now that he faces hardship on this long journey, it is only proper for his lady to look after him."
Ranni spoke lightly.
"Your knight?" Trina narrowed her eyes, and Nolan immediately felt a chill run down his spine.
Anyone could sense the tension crackling between them. It was like a powder keg waiting for a spark.
Leda and Malenia both rested their hands on their sword hilts, fingers tightening.
Lansseax folded her arms across her chest, clearly waiting for the show to begin.
Caught in the middle of it all, Nolan could only groan inwardly.
Taking either side would only make things worse.
After a brief but fierce internal struggle, he made a firm and sensible choice—
Play dead.
Just as the standoff reached its breaking point, with battle moments away from erupting, urgent knocks rang out from the door.
"Come in," Nolan said quickly, letting out a quiet breath of relief.
The door opened, and a Knight of the Haligtree stepped inside. Years of fighting had honed his instincts; one glance was enough to tell him something was wrong. This was not a place to linger.
Without wasting a second, he spoke at once.
"Princess Malenia, Saintess, esteemed ladies and gentlemen, the ship is ready. We may depart at any time."
After delivering the message and receiving instructions, the knight turned and left without another word.
Elphael was a city built upon the sea. Its contact with the outside world relied entirely on maritime travel.
With its long familiarity with seafaring and abundant stored resources, preparing a vessel for departure was neither difficult nor complicated.
Lansseax had only agreed to bring them back. How they left afterward was none of her concern.
"Your Highnesses, this isn't the time to argue. Danger is drawing near. We should leave first."
Ranni and Trina were about to retort when Leda stepped forward.
"She's right, Your Highness. The situation is urgent. We must secure your safety first," Leda said.
As for competing over a man, the blunt warrior understood nothing about that. All she knew was that protecting the prince was the top priority.
The two Empyreans were not incapable of telling what mattered more. They simply chose to call a temporary truce. The knight was right here with them; he wasn't going anywhere.
"All right, all right. Let's move."
Nolan urged them on as he hurried ahead with the doll and the Saintess.
The two of them would be at each other's throats after barely a few words. The journey ahead was bound to be exhausting.
Stepping out of the Empyrean's residence, they saw several stone pillars standing in a circle outside, their surfaces carved densely with ancient script.
"What are these? They weren't here when I left."
Nolan had wanted to ask that for a while now, but neither Malenia nor Leda had any idea. As for the others, they knew even less.
At that moment, Trina suddenly said excitedly,
"That? It's an ancient summoning array that can call back souls! With it, I can snatch your soul back from the rules set by the Erdtree!"
As she spoke, she raised her small fist proudly, her face glowing with triumph.
With this in place, and a few extra corpses stored as backups, as long as they didn't run into some strange force like Destined Death, he could practically resurrect without limit and achieve a kind of immortality.
Nolan and Ranni exchanged a glance at the same time, both of them unexpectedly calm.
Nolan had already guessed as much. Ranni, on the other hand, had done something similar before.
To these two Empyreans, souls and bodies did not truly resemble life. They were closer to tools or objects—things that could be discarded if no longer needed.
Splitting a soul, abandoning a body—if it served a purpose, they would not hesitate.
"I don't have any use for it right now," Nolan said.
"Hmph. Can you guarantee you'll never need it in the future?" Trina lowered her voice, clearly unwilling to give up.
Even if he found another path to grow stronger, this array could still be kept as a final safeguard.
As one half of their dual-hearted existence, Miquella was quietly reinforcing Trina's resolve from deep within.
His brilliant mind was already racing, carefully considering every possible scenario and countermeasure.
If time grew so tight that there was no room to maneuver, how could Nolan be made stronger as quickly as possible?
Sacrificing the entire Haligtree should be enough. And if that still wasn't sufficient, sacrificing the whole world would be worth it.
The real problem was convincing Nolan to accept such a plan.
With his strange insistence on never harming life, the gentleness in his heart was almost comparable to Trina's.
"Actually, I still have another trump card," Nolan said mysteriously.
Technically, you could even call me "Uncle Nolan." But could he possibly say something like that?
Would Marika remember their fleeting dreamlike encounter? Maybe. But Trina and Ranni would absolutely explode.
To one, Marika was her mother. To the other, her mother's rival. If either of them found out about his dream-bound entanglement with Marika, nothing good would come of it.
Unfortunately, the one by his side now was not some detached teacher who cared nothing for romantic complications.
These two Empyreans had met at the wrong time—far too early for them to stand side by side. Fate had temporarily cut off Nolan's thoughts of taking things any further.
If this continued, sooner or later their hostility would turn toward this greedy Lord of Cinder.
"What kind of trump card?" Trina frowned, confusion plain in her voice.
Only two short years had passed. She could not understand what this knight had experienced to end up hiding so many secrets—even from her.
"Well… it's hard to explain," Nolan said, shaking his head with a troubled expression.
"Hmph! So now you're keeping secrets from me too!" Trina put her hands on her hips and glared at him, eyes wide, indignation and grievance written all over her face.
"It's too important. The more people who know, the worse it'll be for everyone," Nolan said firmly, refusing to budge.
If word got out, it wouldn't just deal a psychological blow to the Demigods present. It might even put a certain Lord of Cinder in real danger. For now, it was better to keep it buried.
Even a Lord of Cinder had to know when to yield. When a new cycle began, if rolling on the ground was what it took to survive, then so be it.
...
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