# Chapter 78: Unless Death Makes Us Part
"...Joshua, you?!"
Hearing the warrior's words, Loranda, who had been silently standing by, suddenly felt something was terribly wrong. He looked up in shock and uncertainty at Joshua's calm face, his blue eyes filled with astonishment.
In the spatial rift hanging above all living beings, at the center of the high heavens, a massive and twisted evil watched them from beyond the void. The paladin could sense it—an ultimate evil far surpassing tsunamis, far surpassing earthquakes, far surpassing any natural disaster. It was a monster wandering the multiverse, capable of devouring worlds.
The reason the Father of Nature needed to fully awaken was to face this enemy at his peak strength. Otherwise, merely dealing with the stone golems on the ground would be trivial for a true deity.
But even against that evil, the Father of Nature had no certainty of victory. He was preparing for battle with the resolve that he would inevitably fall into eternal slumber.
This was a battlefield of the gods, where no one else could intervene.
Yet from Joshua's words, he actually intended to stay here and face an evil god head-on?!
"Have you lost your mind?!"
Unable to find any other words or phrases to describe such behavior, Loranda felt the poverty of language for the first time. He could only express his emotions through this question mixed with doubt and shock.
"Loranda, this is facing an evil god."
In response to his friend's question, Joshua replied with a calm smile. His face was hidden behind his battle qi helmet, revealing only two points of red light from his eye sockets. The warrior's voice was very steady, completely opposite to the mad words he spoke: "Only sages and deities have faced this—the strongest chaos."
"Fighting an evil god—no warrior could refuse this opportunity. Especially me. If I gave up here, I would surely drown in regret for the rest of my days."
"No. When facing an invincible enemy, anyone with a choice would temporarily retreat and return when they can defeat it."
As if infected by Joshua's attitude, Loranda took a deep breath and found he could calmly express his thoughts. He looked at the warrior holding the Dragon-Hunting Sword Lance, his body wrapped in black-red battle qi, and spoke seriously: "Joshua, you are the most talented, most promising human I have ever seen."
"You can definitely become the youngest legendary expert in this world!"
"And that's not even your final destination. Joshua, you might surpass the boundary between humans and gods, elevate your soul above the heavens, and stand alongside those sovereigns—"
Saying words that no truly devout believer would utter, the paladin recalled Joshua's fighting posture earlier, then shook his head with absolute certainty: "For someone like you to leave your life here would be a waste that even the gods would sigh over."
"...Haha, I didn't expect you to have such a high opinion of me. But my choice won't change."
Laughing lightly, Joshua showed no particular reaction. He continued calmly: "If the situation truly becomes irredeemable, I will naturally leave without hesitation. But Loranda, as I said before, this is not a losing battle."
He turned to look at the Father of Nature, who was silently maintaining the purification network, and spoke clearly and firmly: "It's precisely because there is a possibility of victory that I am staying here."
"The enemy's strength will only become an ornament to victory. This I firmly believe."
Loranda's chest heaved several times. He opened his mouth to speak but ultimately lowered his head, having nothing to say.
But somehow, seeing Joshua's confident posture, the paladin unconsciously felt a trace of courage and hope rising from his heart.
—Perhaps he really does have some way to win, some method to defeat this evil god?
Such a thought flashed by but gradually transformed into something more heroic. Loranda's tightly pressed lips slowly curled up, eventually forming a fearless smile. The paladin looked up at the warrior again, a sudden understanding dawning in his heart. He felt he might have grasped this man's thoughts.
—Even death—what is there to fear about it?
Victory and defeat are irrelevant. Only standing still is the greatest mistake.
Joshua turned back to look at the half-dragon, and at Ying and Lin's souls that had separated from the Dragon-Hunting Sword Lance, floating before him.
The silver-haired girl looked at Joshua with a confused expression, while the black-haired boy frowned in silence. Even Hei, who was usually simple-minded, now stared seriously at his master.
"You all—if you don't want to stay, then go. I will dissolve the contracts."
Joshua's voice was gentler than before. The red light from his helmet's eye sockets no longer inspired fear. The warrior extended his hands, the tattoos on his wrists flickering with light. He spoke gently to his subordinates, or rather, his family: "This is my madness. You don't need to force yourselves to accompany me."
He wanted to say more, but a burning sensation came from his wrists—the divine mechanisms were resisting his actions in the most intense way.
The half-dragon also pressed forward, looking at Joshua with its enormous dragon eyes. In its golden vertical pupils was an indescribable emotion. At the same time, a voice the warrior had never heard before echoed in his spiritual sea. Though unfamiliar, it felt incredibly familiar and warm.
Joshua heard his warhorse's heart for the first time.
—Before meeting you, I was just an ordinary warhorse.
The voice spoke softly, with gentle intonation.
—An ordinary horse that might die in war at the hands of orcs, or go lame in battle, living out its life as a pack horse.
Joshua van Radcliffe, my master.
You gave me wisdom, gave me strength, gave me dignity, and gave me hope.
Everything I have, including my life, is yours. I will walk with you until death comes.
The half-dragon lowered its head to the warrior, as if inviting him to advance together.
"..."
Before Joshua could say anything in response to the half-dragon's lowered head, he felt the burning pain on his wrists gradually decrease. A trembling voice, slowly calming down, reached his ears.
"Master, your words... are too much."
Ying's soul floated in midair. The confusion in the girl's eyes had returned to clarity, with no hesitation remaining. She smiled softly, looking gently at Joshua: "We are divine mechanisms—your weapons."
"Does a weapon ever leave its master's hand for fear of breaking?"
Beside her, Lin, who had also recovered from his earlier shock, smiled and shook his head, saying calmly: "We were forged from your bones. Even if it's the eternal abyss of hell, we will go with you."
—Master, where you go, we will go.
Where you live, we will live.
Your wishes are our hopes, your goals are our aspirations.
Where you die, we will die, and be buried there—unless death makes us part.
Their words were so natural, without the slightest hesitation. Having gone through countless battles together, their trust had long been sublimated into a bond that nothing could sever.
"...Good children. My finest weapons."
After a long silence, from behind the black, ferocious helmet came a voice that could be either gratified or regretful: "I knew it would be like this. You would surely fight with me. But..."
But this was far too dangerous. Though there was hope of victory, Joshua also knew how terrifying it was to face an evil god—the embodiment of the deepest fear in the multiverse, the prototype of all destruction.
Precisely because he believed they would join him on the battlefield, the warrior wished they could leave this place and live in that safe world beyond time and space. One person bearing the danger was enough.
But it seemed Ying, Lin, and Hei had no intention of letting things go as he wished.
His gaze, hidden behind the helmet, swept over the faces of the boy, girl, and half-dragon. In their eyes was unconditional trust in their master. And it was precisely because of this that Joshua felt an emotion he had never experienced before.
He had always fought alone before. Whether victory or death, it was his own affair. But now, his life also carried the lives and trust of others.
Carrying this weight into battle... it felt pretty good.
"You're all mad..."
Loranda watched their interaction and couldn't help shaking his head and sighing repeatedly. But in the end, he couldn't help laughing: "And I, who also want to stay, am probably mad too."
"That's only because you're starting to believe we have a chance of victory."
Smiling in response to the paladin's self-mockery, Joshua gripped the Dragon-Hunting Sword Lance with one hand while reaching toward his chest with the other, grasping the burning hot orb that felt like it was on fire.
[Spark Lv2: Torch]