[BL] Guardians of Fate
Chapter 92 - 21: An Unexpected Savior [6]

Chapter 92: Chapter 21: An Unexpected Savior [6]

As the words left Ardyn’s lips, Luke barely had time to react when the man’s body suddenly collapsed on top of him.

Startled, Luke instinctively wrapped his arms around Ardyn, noticing that the latter’s body was shaking. However, when his hands reached Ardyn’s back, he felt something strange. A somewhat sticky sensation clung to his hands, warm and wet.

Luke slowly lifted his fingers to see blood staining the skin.

Ardyn was bleeding.

Right. He needed to do something about this.

But his magic...

"Sorry!" Ardyn suddenly exclaimed as he quickly backed away. The movement, however, triggered the pain from his wounds, making him flinch visibly.

"You shouldn’t move too fast like that," Luke told him softly. "You’re hurt."

"I’ll be fine," Ardyn insisted.

Luke shook his head and used his elbows to lift his upper body from the ground. After that, he moved to Ardyn’s side and inspected the wounds on his back.

"It looks serious," he muttered. The back of Ardyn’s clothing had dark spots where blood seeped through.

A Guardian’s body was resilient and could heal faster than normal humans, but if the wounds were severe, it would take a long time to recover. It was always recommended to treat injuries as soon as possible, especially if there was no healer around.

Luke still needed time to replenish his magic reserves, so for now, he had to figure out a way to stem the bleeding.

Carefully, Luke and Leon helped Ardyn sit against a relatively stable piece of nearby rubble, making sure to support Ardyn’s injured back.

Ardyn winced as Luke began to examine the wounds. Now that the danger had passed, he could feel the pain of the injuries in full force. The adrenaline slowly faded, replaced by an attack on his senses.

He still couldn’t believe what he had just done. It felt like an out-of-body experience, and now that he was back in reality, the realization was just dawning on him.

First of all, he had protected his Summoner with some kind of power. What kind of magic was that? Had he activated it by pure instinct alone? He couldn’t remember it exactly.

Now that he thought about it, everything had been a blur.

Moments before, he had walked purposefully towards where his heart seemed to be leading him after leaving Mathias and the others behind. After watching the life leave Evan’s eyes. After taking one last look at Elyana and Ansel’s lifeless bodies.

Ardyn had tried not to think about it, had tried not to blame himself. Not now at least, just until he could find his Summoner and get to a safe place as soon as possible.

Then, as he walked, he spotted a lone figure in the distance. He didn’t know who it was. He couldn’t get a good look at the man, but he just... knew. It was as if he had an intuition.

Everything had moved in slow motion. The way the surroundings seemed to blur, the way his eyes only focused on the figure and nothing else, the way his heart suddenly raced. The way the tower behind the figure seemed to wobble slightly. The way it seemed to lean towards the man, as if it were about to fall.

Sensing the danger, Ardyn had waved his arms wildly, trying to warn the man. But it seemed that the figure had simply frozen in place, staring at him without moving an inch, even as the tower broke apart and collapsed.

At that moment, Ardyn’s legs had a mind of their own. They took him straight towards the man, and his hands pushed the figure down just before the debris fell on them both.

It hurt. It had hurt so much that for a split second, he felt as if he had seen white.

But then came an overwhelming feeling of determination, an unmistakable urge to protect. He felt a kind of power explode within him, and he unconsciously tapped into it, letting it flow into his blood, his veins, his soul, his very being.

It was exhilarating, as if he had taken an energy pill and felt the effects in full force. But at the same time, it was unsettling, as if he had found a new connection that was far greater than he had expected.

He couldn’t ignore the pain, either. As the debris crashed down on them, the jagged edges dug into his flesh. Each impact sent waves of agony through his body, but Ardyn gritted his teeth and somehow pushed back.

And after that, the weight on his back lightened considerably, as if someone had taken all the stones and held them up, preventing them from falling freely to the ground.

By the time the area was surrounded by rubble, Ardyn was coughing from the dust and debris that filled the air and enveloped them in darkness.

But it wasn’t all black.

Ardyn stared down at Luke’s unconscious face, his features illuminated by a pale blue glow that seemingly came out of nowhere. The sight of him sent a shock through Ardyn’s body even though he already knew that he had somehow protected the man from harm and pushed him down just in time.

Their faces were inches apart, and Ardyn had to back away a little to give the man some space, though that was difficult in a situation like this. He didn’t know where the glow was coming from, but that wasn’t important right now.

For minutes, he fought on, the unknown force inside him helping to push back the debris from behind. He couldn’t really see what was happening since it was dark and out of range from his sight. Instead, his eyes were on Luke, and Luke alone.

Come to think of it...

He had said some... things to Luke earlier, hadn’t he?

Ardyn suddenly felt the heat rise in his face, and it was definitely not because of the sunny afternoon weather.

The fuck.

What in the world possessed him to say such things?!

[I don’t want to die without knowing what it’s like to be with you!]

Ardyn wanted to dig up a hole in the ground right now and crawl under there, hiding himself for eternity. Rather, he should just cover his face and hope that he would die on the spot from extreme embarrassment and then be reborn into another life, and on Earth this time, please!

"What can I help with? How serious is it?" Leon’s voice suddenly rang in Ardyn’s ears, jolting him out of his flustered thoughts.

Ardyn’s eyes went wide at the sound of his voice.

Oh, right!

Leon!

He had been so dazed and caught up in his own embarrassment that he had completely forgotten about Leon.

Ardyn carefully turned his head to find Leon staring at him with a look in his eyes that was hard to decipher. It seemed similar to the look that he had given Ardyn last night when they first met at the banquet. A stare that seemed as if he were studying him, like he was somewhat puzzled by something.

"By the way... what are you doing here?" Ardyn managed to ask in a hoarse voice.