The barrier trapping Ashbal was far too powerful to break through by conventional means. He had to neutralize Noah and force Claudia to dismantle the barrier. Yet Noah countered Ashbal’s every move and was gradually driving him into a corner.
It was as though he was stalling for time.
Is there no other way?
Ashbal decided to gamble everything. He raised his sword high and hurled it toward Noah with all his strength, accelerating its flight with magic. He fully expected Noah to deflect it. As Noah’s sword struck the flying blade aside, Ashbal immediately loosed a volley of arrows at him.
Noah charged, crouching low and placing his hand on the ground before vaulting into the air. An arrow Ashbal had aimed at his feet struck the stone pavement, shattering it into fragments.
The stone shards sliced into Noah’s body like pieces of glass, but he paid that no mind as he closed the distance in a straight line toward Ashbal.
I knew you wouldn’t care about a few cuts.
Ashbal smirked. He moved his fingers subtly, channeling magic into the shards of stone.
Forgive me, Claudia!
The sharp fragments shot toward her like arrows.
But in the next instant, Ashbal’s world flipped upside down.
“Ashbal!” Naila yelled.
He yelped. A searing pain spread through his right shoulder—the very arm he needed to draw his bow.
Noah now stood over him, pressing his foot against Ashbal’s stomach. His sword was embedded in Ashbal’s shoulder, and his obsidian eyes burned down onto him with the promise of death. His eyes were like those of a beast, well trained yet unable to hide the predator that lurked deep inside.
“I’m a fool,” Ashbal muttered. His left hand fell limp, scattering the arrows in his grasp. Protected by Noah, Claudia stood unscathed, her expression calm.
“For the two years after I became king,” Ashbal whispered, “I thought I could find a way to preserve the Golden Falcon without destroying it. I forgot my true duty and played the role of a proper king, convincing myself that the relic was necessary for this kingdom to survive.”
His words were quiet, yet they carried to every ear in the room.
“I was a fool. My mother was right. I should have destroyed it immediately.”
His heartbeat pulsed steadily through his wounded shoulder. Nonetheless, Noah made no move to restrain him further. He silently watched Ashbal from above.
“No, even then, there was no guarantee it would have gone smoothly.” Ashbal sighed.
“Ashbal?” Naila’s voice wavered with concern. She took a hesitant step toward him, only for Faraz to silently hold her back. Though it was selfish, Ashbal felt a flicker of gratitude.
“The Golden Falcon’s true master was my father,” Ashbal continued. “But after he died, only his wish remained. It lived on without him, warped and twisted. A wish without its master can never stay true to its original form.”
“Ashbal, why?!” Naila cried. “Please, I don’t want to hear about your duty or anything else!”
Forgive me. The words echoed in Ashbal’s heart. He had known from the start that he should have told them everything, but even now the courage to do so eluded him.
“I’ve told you before, haven’t I? How I didn’t realize that the king’s missing son everyone was searching for was me.”
He had told this story not just to Noah and Claudia, but to Naila and Faraz as well.
“It sounds foolish, doesn’t it? But it’s true.”
“King Ashbal... But surely you must have known,” Faraz said, confused. “You said that Lady Samira told you about the Golden Falcon.”
Faraz’s bewilderment was understandable. Even if Ashbal had grown up outside the palace, he had been born to the king’s consort, so it should have been easy to deduce his lineage.
But there was a reason that he hadn’t jumped to that conclusion.
“I truly didn’t know—because it wasn’t true.”
“What do you mean by that?” Faraz pressed.
Ashbal exhaled slowly and then revealed the first secret. “I’m not the king’s son.”
Faraz and Naila gasped, their eyes wide with shock. They stared at Ashbal in disbelief as he forced a grin, but it only held bitterness and pain.
“All right, Noah. I’m sorry I attacked Claudia, so allow me to ask her one question, please.”
Noah’s eyes, as cold as ice, remained locked on to Ashbal. Attempting to target Claudia in front of this man was nothing short of suicidal.
After a moment’s silence, Noah spoke, his tone heavy. “That’s not for me to decide.”
“Will you tell me, Claudia,” Ashbal called, swallowing the pain in his shoulder, “how you figured it out?”
This whole time, she had kept the truth from Naila and Faraz out of consideration for Ashbal. If he wished for the truth to be revealed, then she had no qualms with complying.
“The barrier shone a light on that mystery.”
“The one in the harem?”
“Yes. That barrier allows no human or beast to pass through. Even when I transformed into an animal, it still repelled me away.”
Shape-shifting magic was exceptionally difficult. It was a feat only someone like Claudia could manage—unless they were a being like Ashbal. Despite her nonchalance, her magical abilities were extraordinary.
“I considered the possibility that the barrier might contain a mechanism I couldn’t detect or that the only exception was the caster’s child.”
“I’m impressed you were able to analyze it at all,” Ashbal admitted.
“Thank you. If such an exception existed, it would be identifiable through a thorough analysis of the barrier’s magic.” Her golden eyes watched Ashbal. “That barrier repels all humans and beasts without exception. If that’s the case, then there’s only one reason that you can pass through it.”
Ashbal sighed and allowed his body to relax completely.
“The former king is not my father, for I never had a father,” Ashbal said softly.
Then, he spoke the final truth.
“I... I am...” he stuttered, before closing his eyes and pushing through his hesitation. “I am not human. I am a magical implement brought to life through my mother’s curse.”
“What?”
Naila’s voice, barely a whisper, echoed hollowly in Ashbal’s ears. Slowly, he turned his head toward her, forcing a strained smile.
“I’m a monster. I’m sorry for pretending to be human all this time.”
At last, he had said what he’d feared to tell her for so long—the truth he had run from, terrified. It was finally out. She finally knew.
Suddenly, a searing pain exploded in his skull.
“Gah—ugh!”
“Ashbal?!”
The pain was too much; he didn’t understand what was happening. It felt like his head was being cleaved open, or perhaps, forced apart from within.
“Please!” Naila cried out. “Pull out the sword! I need to heal him! Please, I beg of you!”
What’s happening?! Tonight’s a full moon. And the sky is clear, so there should be plenty of moonlight.
Ashbal raised his head just in time to see Claudia’s barrier shatter. His vision of the full moon that should have been glowing in the night sky beyond the barrier also broke, its light reduced to shards.
“Wha...?!”
Ashbal realized that the moon he had been looking at moments ago had been an illusion created by magic. Though the real moon hung in the sky, its light’s color differed from the silvery glow Ashbal needed.
“An eclipse?”
The moon had darkened, its hue shifting to an ominous crimson, a black void creeping across its face.
The moonlight is fading.
In that instant, he felt a surge of malevolent energy burst forth from within him.
“Guh—agh!”
“Ashbal!” Naila cried.
“Stay back!” Ashbal’s desperate scream echoed through the air. And then, as though from a distant dream, he heard his mother’s voice whispering once more.
“The Golden Falcon... I curse it. My hatred for it will never end.”
She had murmured those words so many times beside his sleeping form.
He desperately tried to answer her in his pain.
I understand. I understand, Mother. I will destroy it. That’s why you made me.
His body convulsed as waves of pain consumed him. Yet beneath it all, he could hear his mother’s voice whispering words he had forgotten until this moment.
“If you fail, then—”
Wait... What was it she said to me?
As Ashbal’s consciousness slipped away, cursed energy wracked his body, pulsing strongly. Noah sensed the mounting danger and swiftly pulled his sword from Ashbal’s shoulder, leaping back to a safe distance.
Ashbal felt a searing heat spread across his back. And then he let his consciousness slip away.