Chapter 67: Ch 67: The Misunderstanding Solved/Legendary Duo Formed

Aegis remained perfectly still, like a pillar of stone, allowing Bella to continue to break down and sob against his shoulder while his mind desperately struggled to process the monumental weight of her words.

He looked down, searching her tear-streaked eyes for any hint of falsehood, any flicker of a calculated lie. But the profound way she wept, the sheer, raw agony in her confession, left no room for doubt. She was telling him the truth he had refused to believe for years.

“So I was wrong all this time? She hadn’t rejected me.”

For the very first time in years, something deep and vital stirred in his previously broken heart. It began the impossible process of healing, slowly regaining the life, warmth, and spirit it had ruthlessly cast aside.

“I still love you, Arlan,” she added, lifting her head, looking straight into his eyes with conviction. “I wish we could build a family in this world, a home where there is no one and nothing left to stop us this time.”

“A family?” He muttered the word, tasting it on his tongue. Honestly, It sounded like a fantasy, something utterly impossible for the path he had forged for himself. Until this moment, he had lived solely for conquest, for strength, for the cold pursuit of power.

He was the Heir of the Sea and the Abyss. He couldn’t simply abandon those terrifying mantles.

He had duty to fulfill and a revenge to take.

So, would it even be possible to build a future, a true family, in this chaotic, apocalyptic era? More importantly, could he build it with her, the girl who had been the foundation of his deepest wound and now the source of his profound relief?

This still felt too fragile, too much like a dream he dreaded waking up from.

And then, another harsh reality tugged at his consciousness: Naida. She had been the light in his recent life, the source of comfort and partnership.

What would he tell her when she inevitably returned?

Unable to decide or speak a single coherent answer immediately, he simply raised his hand and gently began to caress her soft, silver-tinted hair, just as he would have done years ago, back when they were just innocent, hopeful children.

For Bella it was enough for now. She snuggled to his chest, greedy taking all the warmth he provided.

From the corner of the small, cramped cave, both Ruina and Pyro watched the intense emotional exchange with rapt attention.

Ruina, in her human guise, sat hunched over, clutching her knees. The immediate terror of her mistress’s self-harm had been replaced by a quiet, deep understanding.

She had served Bella long enough to know the crippling, silent grief Bella carried regarding Aegis. Seeing the Ice Goddess’s Heir finally confessing her heart, shedding years of trauma, made Ruina’s own chest ache with sympathetic relief.

He didn’t push her away this time, Ruina thought, a hopeful warmth blooming in her usually cautious heart. He is not the monster he pretended to be. He is still… Arlan.

Pyro, the tiny flame familiar perched on Aegis’s gear nearby, was equally transfixed. It had rarely seen its master—a being of immense, calculated power—so stripped down, so vulnerable to human emotion. Aegis had always been focused, cold, driven by a hatred so sharp it cut everyone around him.

The gentle, almost hesitant way he caressed Bella’s hair now was alien. Pyro had never seen him perform an action that wasn’t strictly necessary or overwhelmingly powerful. This small, tender touch was different. It spoke not of a God’s Heir, but of a boy remembering a lost, cherished past.

Pyro let out a tiny, nearly inaudible ’fwoomp’ of realization.

The cold exterior, the Sea God’s mask, had finally cracked wide open. The real Arlan was bleeding through. The familiar felt a surge of possessive protectiveness for its master’s newly recovered vulnerability. If this ’Bella’ hurt him again, Pyro knew it would scorch her to ash.

The silence in the cave was thick, filled only by the soft, ragged breathing of Bella and the faint crackling of Pyro’s tiny flame. The intimate moment hung suspended, witnessed only by the vigilant dragon and the loyal fire spirit, both of whom now saw a path forward they hadn’t believed possible just hours before.

The intimate silence within the cave, thick with unresolved emotion and fragile hope, lasted only a few minutes.

Then, suddenly the ground outside shuddered violently.

BOOM!

A massive section of the cave wall shuddered, then disintegrated as a colossal fist, plated with rough, grey stone, smashed through the barrier.

A gigantic Earth Titan roared angrily from above.

Aegis reacted instantly, his entire being snapping from emotional vulnerability back into cold, lethal readiness. He pushed Bella gently but firmly behind him and took a defensive stance, his aura flaring with the terrible power of the Sea and the Abyss.

But this time, he was not alone.

Bella stepped immediately to his side, her pale face set in a look of absolute confidence and cold, crystalline resolve. Ice particles began to shimmer around her hands, coalescing into sharp, deadly shards. She didn’t shy away from the looming battle for a second.

Aegis felt a profound, unnerving sensation.

He had spent his days ensuring no one ever stood at his side, making certain he never had to trust his back to another person again. Yet, here was Bella, the source of his old pain and the bringer of his new confusion, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him, ready to meet the threat.days

The feeling was strange, unsettling, yet undeniably exhilarating. He didn’t have to check if she was ready; she simply was.

“You take the limbs, I will aim for the heart.”

She said as if everything was natural. Her eyes already locked in place.

Aegis didn’t respond with words. Instead, his God-Killer Trident materialized in his hand, humming with devastating power, a small nod of acceptance of the unspoken partnership.

The journey of the Legendary Duo had just begun.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep