1. Prologue (His Past) - 15. I Won't Give Up

Several swordsmen advanced to him at the same time. Angel dodged down, rolled forward between two of them and hit the back of their knees, to make them kneel. He quickly drew his sword and pressed it to the neck of one of them, while his left hand strangled the other.

"Ilex! Stop it!" he shouted.

"So you finally show your true colours? It seems you are really planning to rebel," said Ilex with a smirk, as if he managed to prove all his accusations.

Angel glared at him.
"You attacked me. What do you expect me to do? Letting you kill me that easily?" he said in a cynical tone. He risked his life to protect his kingdom, protected his family's honour and had given up his right to the king's throne. But after what he had done, his family still wanted to kill him, even slandering him as a rebel. As a royal family, there was nothing more dishonourable than being a rebel. The lightest punishment for a rebel from the royal family was losing his family name, losing his status and being driven out of his homeland, but that was rare because the most often sentence was the death penalty. Of course, before the sentence was handed down, he had to go through the royal court and must be accompanied by strong evidence. But in his case, he realized that there was no use in requesting to prove himself in the court because they had planned to kill him from the beginning.

"The king's order is absolute! If he wants your life, you have to give it!" Ilex replied with another glare.

Angel let out a slight chuckle which gradually turned into a loud bitter laugh as if he had gone mad. His heart ached and his feelings were crushed.
"So uncle assigned them to kill me? A platoon of elite troops just to kill me? You think too highly of me." He swung his sword followed by a cracking sound from his other hand. Two of his hostages fell lifelessly as he stood up. His gaze turned cold.

Ilex raised his hand again and waved his two fingers forward. The archers marched in front of him, pointing their arrows at Angel. Then he took a letter out of his blazer pocket.
"If you sign this confession letter, I promise I will give you a quick death!"

Angel looked at the confession letter on Ilex's hand briefly before smiled bitterly.
"Thank you for your offer, but I would rather die honourably than admit a crime that I didn't do." Though the pain in his heart was unbearable, his tone sounded calm.

"Then don't blame me! Attack him!" shouted Ilex.

Dozens of arrows flew towards him. Angel swung his sword, breaking all the arrows as he kept moving forward.

Seeing the archers couldn't handle him, Ilex raised his hand again and waved his one finger to the front. The archers quickly retreated and were replaced by the swordsmen that stormed at him.

It was an unfair battle, but Angel didn't want to give up. He swiftly dodged, countered their attacks and killed them one by one, leaving Ilex no choice but retreat slowly. His battle experience made him accustomed to facing this kind of situation.

Suddenly the arrows flew again, he tried to avoid them, but one of them managed to penetrate his right shoulder. Ignoring the pain, he kept advance as the arrows continued to fly towards him. When an arrow almost reached his head, he dodged down, took a sword that lay in front of him and threw it at Ilex. The archers gasped in shock as they could only watch as the sword flew through them towards Ilex. The sword scratched Ilex's cheek and managed to kill an archer behind him. Everyone paused in shock.

Angel got up and pulled out the arrow that stuck on his right shoulder without a flinch. The pain bit his shoulder, but it was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.
"Too bad, I missed," he said with a cold voice.

Ilex wiped a blood droplet that flowed from the scratch on his face.
"How dare you! Are you trying to kill me!?"

He smirked.
"Why not? Aren't you doing the same thing to me?" Then faster than a blink, he threw the arrow in his hand towards Ilex.

Ilex tried to dodge it but it was too late. He groaned in pain as the arrow managed to pierce his left arm.
"ANGELUS RAIZEL, I WILL KILL YOU!" he shouted angrily.

Angel moved forward as he paid no heed to Ilex's anger. He kept swinging his sword toward the troops before him like a mad man, killing most of them.

Minutes passed, his breathing was getting heavier, the wounds in his back began to open, bleeding, making the back of his uniform wet by his own blood and the wound in his right shoulder started to make his hand difficult to move.

As Angel got near, Ilex pulled out the sword that he hid before and swung it towards Angel. Their swords clashed. Angel gasped as he noticed a crack on his sword and quickly retreated.

He looked at the sword in Ilex's hand in disbelief.
"King's Sword? Uncle never let me touch it to prove myself yet he gives you his King's Sword?" The bitterness in his heart grew more and more.

"Today you must die!" Ilex swung his sword with all of his might. Angel tried to resist it. As their swords collided with each other, the crack on Angel's sword was getting bigger and finally, his blade shattered into pieces. He quickly retreated once again.

Ilex laughed wickedly.
"Now your Loyalty has been broken! Angel, I'll give you the last chance! Give up and sign the letter! I will give you a quick death!"

He looked at Loyalty which had broken in his grasp and gave it a sad smile as a goodbye before he dropped it.
"I have defied the King of Asteria's order, I don't deserve to hold it anymore. But giving up ---" He took another sword that was lying in front of him and turned his gaze back to Ilex.
"--- is not an option." His eyes looked like a fierce beast that refused to be defeated.

Ilex raised his hand and waved his index finger forward, the remaining swordsmen advanced to attack him. With his remaining strength, Angel countered their attack and killed them one by one.

As he swung his sword to the last swordsman, the arrows flew at him again. Unable to avoid due to his condition that was getting weaker, the arrows pierced his leg, his left arm and his side stomach. Angel stuck his sword to the ground to support his body that almost fell, blood flowing from his mouth. His breathing was getting heavier every second, he had lost a lot of blood, his strength disappeared so was his consciousness.

Ilex swung his sword towards him. Angel quickly raised his sword again, trying to block it since he knew he couldn't avoid that attack. But once again his blade shattered into pieces when their swords collided. Ilex kicked him, pushed him to the ground and strangled him.
"What a futile struggle! You should have given up from the beginning. Now I won't give you a quick death," said Ilex with a wicked smile.

"I told you ... give up ... is not an option," said Angel in panting breath. He tried his best to fight Ilex, but with the severe wounds on his body, he couldn't fight Ilex anymore. His strength disappeared and the pain gnawed his entire body. But despite his current condition, his gaze remained the same.

Ilex shot his anger from his eyes since he expected Angel would beg for his life.
"Even at a time like this, you are still arrogant! Guards! Hold him!" he commanded.

The remaining elite troops approached and held Angel's arms and legs, pinning him onto the ground.

Ilex stood before him. Another wicked smile spread across his face.
"Angel, you are always known as Asteria's best swordsman. So I will start with your hands."

Ilex thrust his sword into Angel's palms accompanied by his groans of pain.

Once he heard his groans, Ilex's wicked smile grew bigger. His eyes filled with excitement. It was the first time he ever heard Angel's groans since he usually held his pain and never showed it to anyone.
"Since you can't hold a sword anymore, I'll make sure you can't run away."

Ilex thrust his sword into Angel's legs slowly and twisting it, making it as painful as possible. Angel groaned in pain accompanied by Ilex's evil laughter. Angel's breathing got heavier like someone was pressing his chest, his whole body ached.

Ilex stared at his helpless state with a satisfied smile on his face. Then he took the broken Loyalty that lying on the ground.
"I like your screams," he said as he thrust Loyalty to Angel's left chest.

Angel screamed uncontrollably, more blood flowed from his mouth, his chest was in extreme pain making him difficult to breathe. Ilex gave him another evil laughter.
"Make him kneel!" he ordered.

The remaining troops pulled him roughly and made him kneel and held him. Ilex placed the confession letter before him and forced him to hold the pen.
"Sign the letter!"

Angel raised his head slowly and smirked sarcastically. Then without a word, he threw the pen in his hand. The pen was thrown towards the cliff, rolled and fell.

Ilex threw a punch at his face in anger. More blood dripped from his mouth as his consciousness began to disappear.
"You are so stubborn! I will make you sign it even using your blood!" Ilex pulled his bloody hand, took off his glove and put his finger to the letter. After that, Ilex took the badge from his collar.

"Take him to the cliff!" ordered Ilex.

They dragged him to the side of the cliff. Then Ilex grabbed his hair and pulled it backwards.
"Angel, can you see the Whitedevil Rose field down there? I'm sure you will be happy to make this beautiful place your grave," whispered Ilex with an evil smile. Angel could only see the faint white sight before him as his consciousness faded away. He even didn't have the strength to make a sound anymore.

"Actually, I planned to kill you first before throwing your body here, but I changed my mind. It would be more interesting to throw you alive," whispered Ilex again.

Ilex released his hand and pushed Angel from the cliff.

Angel could hear cracking sounds from his body when he hit the bottom, but he no longer knew what was broken, his whole body ached until he could not move. Then he could feel the plant tendrils begin to pierce his body, creeping inside, injecting its poison, sucking his blood, stirring his organs. Amid his consciousness that was almost gone, he could see the flowers around him began to turn red with his blood.

Angel gazed at tonight's full moon.
"Father ... Forgive ... Me ..." he whispered.

After that, his sight turned dark, his body went numb, his breathing stopped…