Divine Flame Crystal

Chapter 576 God Asks You to Kill Your Blood Relatives

Emilia was stunned for a moment, and the syllables in her hand suddenly stopped.

She had never heard Helius mention his brother. In fact, in the Vatican's records, only Helius was recorded, but there was a line of very small words below: "A model of abandoning the family because of faith." However, only a very few people in the Vatican's upper echelons could see this line of small words. And she happened to have been among the Vatican's upper echelons early because of her talent, so she had seen it.

"You... are talking nonsense." She denied in a low voice, "You are the shield of holy light, the armor of God, you will not be shaken."

Helius twitched the corners of his mouth slightly, but it seemed like he was smiling bitterly.

"We are the armor of Holy Light... but have you ever thought... that we have already been worn by others, and not even our bones belong to us anymore?"

Emilia's face suddenly turned pale, and she looked down at the burnt chest armor of Helius. On it, there should have been runes engraved with "Faith·Loyalty·Purification", but now only the word "Purification" was still glowing faintly.

For a moment she seemed to hear some sarcastic voice.

——The armor is hollow, only purification remains.

"Mo!!!" Matlion's voice was like the roar of a giant beast, "You hide behind the shadows and play tricks, do you dare to fight me head-on!"

"Herius, hold on, we'll take you away!" Falkan raised his hand to attract lightning, and the lightning between heaven and earth gathered in his palm, and the sky seemed to be torn apart by anger.

At this moment, Helius' consciousness had fallen into darkness again.

He saw himself before he joined the army that year, standing outside the church's main hall. A young man in a gray robe secretly put a book into his arms:

“If you have questions, don’t just take their word for it.”

Now, the cover of the book has reappeared deep in my memory.

There are two words in golden font on the book: Truth.

Helius fell in the broken rocks, covered with wounds, blood mixed with dust, and even his holy armor was smeared with blood so that its original color could not be recognized.

But what was even heavier than this was the voice in his heart, the voice that woke him up from his deep sleep:

"do you remember me?"

At first, it was just a blurry afterimage, looming in the illusion of burning flames. He thought it was the remnant of an illusion, the sequelae of Mo's mental torture on him.

But the young man was getting closer and closer step by step.

He saw those eyes - pupils of the same color as his.

There was no hatred in his eyes, only a heartbreaking sadness.

"Huri... do you still remember who I am?"

At that moment, Helius seemed to be struck by lightning.

He finally remembered.

That boy was not an illusion—he was his younger brother, his closest blood relative.

He is not alone. He has never been an orphan. He has a father, a mother, and a little brother who sneaks into his bed every night, pulls on his clothes and asks, "Brother, will you always protect me?"

But he forgot. He sealed this memory with his own hands, so deeply that he even thought these people had never existed.

Why forget?

Because he betrayed them.

He betrayed all love or humanity.

That was when he was still young, during the trial year when the Holy See was selecting the Knights of Light. His younger brother was reported by his neighbors as a "potential" because he was born with some magical powers.

And Helius faced a choice.

- Either he protected his brother and was deposed from the priesthood, or even regarded as a protector of heresy;

——Either hand over his brother, prove his "purity", be promoted to a paladin, and have the power to change the world.

That night, he stood at the door of his house, looking at that familiar face.

The younger brother's lips trembled, but he still tried to force a smile: "Brother...you won't hurt me, right?"

He didn't speak.

He just slowly drew out the holy sword.

When the first drop of blood splashed on the threshold, the sky seemed silent.

That was his first murder.

Not an enemy, not a monster, not a heretic.

It's family.

It's his younger brother.

He didn't even dare to give him a complete resting ceremony. The people of the Church took away the body and the "report on killing heretics" he submitted when he was promoted, and held a knight coronation ceremony for him in the church.

That day, the whole audience sang, and the hymn of light resounded throughout the hall. He knelt before the holy fire and took the holy shield.

He said, “I am willing to give up everything for God.”

No one knew that what he gave up was - his heart.

From that day on, he sealed up that memory and buried that name in the deepest corner of his soul, never looking back.

He told himself that his brother was a heretic and should be purified for the sake of justice.

He convinced himself to believe it - otherwise, he couldn't survive.

He became a man without a past, a "Paladin" who only knew how to follow orders, kill heretics and protect order.

The people of the Vatican gave him new names: "Shield of Light" and "Armor of Purification".

But actually... he's just a butcher.

A butcher who could even kill his own brother.

He has been killing and purifying non-stop over the years. He said that he did it for world peace and purity of faith, but in fact, he was just afraid that one day he would stop - and that memory would surface.

until today.

Flames pierced through the body, the illusion was rekindled, and the trap set by Mo tore open the door of the heart that had been blocked for more than ten years.

The young man stood in his heart, looking at him with calm but heavy eyes.

"You killed me." said the boy.

"I know." Helius murmured, tears mixed with blood falling, "I have always known."

"Do you want to atone for your sins?"

"I would like to...but I don't know how."

"You do not deserve."

"Yes...I don't deserve it."

At that moment, Helius really knelt down.

Not because of the fire, not because of the illusion, and not because of the injury.

But it is because the boy in the memory said softly:

"I forgive you, and I hope you can forgive yourself."

To outsiders, at this moment, Helius was seriously injured and unconscious, lying motionless in a pool of smoke and blood.

But no one knew that his soul was experiencing the deepest redemption and tearing.

Emilia noticed his abnormality, put her hand on his chest, and called his name softly:

"Hurry... come back."

She couldn't see the phantom in his mind, but she saw an expression on his face that she had never seen before:

Not pain, not anger, not rage.

It's... regret.

He is no longer the paladin who only says "in the name of God" and "for purification".

He is Helius.

He is a brother who once lost everything.

A person who...now finally remembers who he is.

"If God asks you to kill all you love, will you still believe in God?"

God tells you to kill your blood relatives, will you do it? These two sentences kept echoing in Helius' mind, impacting the faith he had built up. He regretted it. He didn't want to be a paladin anymore. He just wanted his brother at this moment, even if it was just to see him once. So he fell asleep and refused to wake up.