Messmer's voice was very soft and did not carry far, but it was just loud enough for the few people nearby to hear.
Nolan was not the only one left utterly bewildered. Trina and the others stared wide-eyed, mouths agape. Miquella, however, quickly regained his calm after a brief flash of surprise.
Trina's little face was frozen in a daze, but no one laughed at her.
The man she had raised since childhood had just been called her brother's father.
Forget the little goddess. Anyone's mind would have gone blank.
"No... lan..."
That low murmur, as if it came from the depths of hell, pulled Nolan back from his confusion. The one clinging to his back no longer seemed like a goddess, but a vengeful ghost from the underworld.
"Hey, hey, calm down," Nolan said helplessly.
"You awful, rotten man! How am I supposed to calm down?" Trina raised her soft little fists and started pounding on Nolan, crying without any regard for her image.
Nolan was just about to speak when the war spear thrust at him again. He had no choice but to endure the goddess's harmless punches while unfurling his Flying Dragon wings and soaring into the sky.
"Don't you think something is off here?" Nolan asked with a sigh.
"What could be off? You've always been a scoundrel... Your child has come looking for you, and you still want to make excuses?" Trina sobbed.
"What kind of person am I in your mind? Also... how old am I this year?" Nolan asked back.
"Uh..."
Trina froze, her mind going blank. It took her a moment before she finally reacted.
Right. Nolan was someone she had found at the Haligtree.
Back then, to make that wondrous experience sound more legendary, she had even carefully woven a romantic fairy tale about the Lord and the Saintess being destined to meet at the Haligtree.
She had witnessed Nolan's birth with her own eyes, yet Messmer was even older than she was. The timeline simply did not match.
Miquella's childish voice suddenly drifted from a cluster of dusky-blue light particles.
"I told you Trina was an idiot. It's perfectly normal for her to be fooled by such an obviously flawed lie."
"Who are you calling an idiot?"
Trina was instantly embarrassed and angry. She stomped her feet, then lunged with claws bared, trying to grab that faint, translucent figure.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard she reached, it was useless. She could not touch Miquella at all.
Melina, who was also in a spirit-like state nearby, blushed awkwardly.
Because she knew very well that she had not figured it out just now either.
Seeing that she could not catch the hateful Miquella, Trina had no choice but to resentfully turn her angry gaze back down toward Messmer and demand,
"Then what exactly does that guy mean by saying all that?"
"He's just a sacrifice," Nolan said, looking at the young figure.
"What?" Trina was stunned.
"A sacrifice someone prepared for me. To cast aside a Demigod just like that. How heartless," Nolan said softly.
His words came out of nowhere, and no one understood them.
But seeing that Nolan had no intention of explaining further, everyone tactfully stopped asking.
The situation was urgent. They had to deal with that Demigod who had suddenly flown into a rage first. Everything else could wait.
"I didn't want to fight. Are you sure about this?"
Nolan looked down at Messmer as he asked. The answer he received was the red-haired Demigod's war spear coming straight at him.
Messmer leapt a hundred meters into the air, almost as if he had taken flight. Nolan merely spread his wings and shifted slightly to the side, letting Messmer brush past him.
Like a meteor striking the earth, Messmer smashed into the city wall.
At that moment, Nolan suddenly turned and called to the person beside him. "Melina."
"Hm?" Melina sounded puzzled.
Nolan nodded toward the female knight below, who was also preparing to leap. "Ranni's aunt looks like she's about to join the fight too. Will you be all right?"
Melina looked over. She did not know whether to call Nolan a jinx or say his instincts were too sharp, but sure enough, they had started fighting the moment they met.
Blood ties really were useless.
Melina nodded lightly without the slightest hesitation. "No problem."
She did not actually want to fight that red-haired man, but this woman held no special meaning to her.
As they spoke, Rellana had already jumped, raising her twin swords as she too leapt a hundred meters into the air.
Melina manifested in midair, and Nolan struck out with his palm.
Melina stepped on his palm, bent her knees, and burst forward with all her strength. Her golden dagger collided with the sword blade.
Without taking another look, Nolan used the momentum to fly backward toward the city wall. He turned, beat his wings, and a violent gale swept up as the sound of a sonic boom rang in his ears.
In an instant, a string of blurred afterimages flashed past.
Messmer had just risen from the city wall when an iron-armored fist appeared before his eyes.
At this point, describing the man before him as a "young man" was clearly no longer suitable.
The qualities a Lord ought to possess were already displayed in him without restraint.
Messmer raised his war spear to block.
But the instant the iron fist struck the war spear, a force that numbed both his arms surged through the weapon, as if it meant to crush his entire body to pieces.
The winged man before him was like a silver-white demon lord descending from the heavens to reign over all, radiating an oppressive and terrifying presence.
He was a Lord, Lord Nolan Bethel!
The punch was far too heavy. A wave of air swept wildly outward, and the force of the blow slammed hard into the city wall.
A heart-stopping boom rang out. Under the impact, the sturdy wall cracked, and even a deep depression appeared in its surface.
Messmer's figure vanished in the blink of an eye. He had been forced backward by sheer strength, flying through the wall amid a series of cracking crashes.
The Demigod's body continued downward. He swept straight across the northern terrace of Shadow Keep.
Everywhere he passed, the empty plain was stirred into billowing dust, forming a sand-colored curtain that blotted out the sky.
Finally, the Demigod steadied himself on a stretch of sunken, collapsed ground.
He stood there, both feet buried deep in the soft earth.
Messmer let out a low growl, spread his arms, and raised his war spear.
He was ready. His golden pupils contracted sharply.
Even Trina, a goddess unsuited for battle, could sense the intense fighting spirit pouring from the Demigod.
This was the true face of the Serpent Demigod, cold and brimming with killing intent.
"What did that woman say to you to make you this angry?"
Seeing him like this, Nolan could not help frowning slightly as he asked in confusion.
"Shut up!" Messmer roared.
"You should not have mentioned her. Do you know the despair of being abandoned? It is a cruel dream in the darkness, one you can never wake from!"
Tears slid down his cheeks, though it was impossible to know who he was crying for. He looked like a madman who had lost all reason, and also like a helpless child who had been thrown away.