"Do not resist. This is your destiny, your final home. Since six thousand years ago, fate has already been decided."
Dany struggled even more fiercely.
When Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion landed on the city wall and settled down, she immediately pulled the three of them into the dragon-spirit state.
Five layers of dragon spirit, five dragon souls circling around her nine-colored meditation vortex.
At last, the rate at which her divine power and divine soul were draining slowed by another tenfold.
R'hllor grew anxious.
"Look at Lightbringer!" He urged urgently.
The red flames and white radiance on Lightbringer had completely vanished. The blade, once searing like magma from the earth's core, had lost all warmth and become utterly cold.
The Night King stopped wailing. Like a decrepit old man who had fallen to the ground, it slowly struggled back to its feet and wriggled backward.
The fully awakened red sword had truly injured it.
Now that the sword's divine power had faded, it began rapidly recovering its vitality.
Ice and darkness were the source of its strength, and in the North during the Long Night, there was no shortage of darkness or extreme cold.
"My true body is restraining the Cold God in the starry sky. The Three-Eyed Raven is blocking the Cold God's will from descending into the material world. Stannis Baratheon used his own life to drive the red sword into the Night King's chest. This is a once-in-a-millennium opportunity!
It only takes a few breaths for the red sword to pierce its heart and completely end the Night King's life.
Of course, there is more than one Night King, but in each Long Night there is only one.
Kill it, and the Cold God's plan to drag the world into an abyss of darkness, cold, and death will fail.
You are the heroic King of Men. Do you not wish to save the countless people of the world?
This is your responsibility, your destiny, and your eternal glory!" R'hllor pleaded sincerely, his voice filled with emotion.
"Your true body is in the starry sky? Then what are you now, a single thought? Why is a mere thought so powerful that I cannot shake off the red sword?" Dany suddenly asked.
R'hllor fell silent for a moment, then sighed. "You wish to break free from destiny, but can you truly face Stannis Baratheon and Melisandre, who created this opportunity for you?
They knew full well what the outcome would be, yet they did not flee their duty. They even deliberately created a situation that guarantees a killing blow for you."
"So it really is just a single thought," Dany replied irrelevantly, her tone much lighter.
"What are you trying to do?" The Lord of Light suddenly felt an ominous premonition and said anxiously, "Do not act recklessly. The Night King stands right before you. Only the red sword can kill it.
If you let this opportunity pass, Westeros, and even the entire world, will see tens of millions die!
Tens of millions of living beings will be sacrificed in vain because of your selfishness. They could have survived. The Long Night should have ended soon. Will you truly be at peace?
What joy is there in life, what bitterness in death?
To live on burdened by endless guilt and regret is worse than becoming a legend, living forever in the praise and admiration of future generations."
"Bang!"
Her answer was a decisive kick from the Dragon Queen.
She raised her iron boot and drove it hard into Stannis's abdomen.
Stannis, along with the Night King behind him, weighed over three hundred jin combined, yet she sent them flying four or five meters with a single kick.
"Chi—"
Lightbringer was pulled out from the bodies of Stannis and the Night King.
"What are you doing?" The Night King forced itself upright from the frost-covered ground, suspicion and shock in its voice. "You saved me. Why?"
"Taking advantage of someone in peril is unworthy! A challenge is a challenge. Stannis has fallen, so now it's my turn. Hurry and recover. We will fight fairly in a moment." The Dragon Queen held a broad white sword in her left hand and Lightbringer in her right, her face solemn.
The Night King's pale cheeks seemed covered in question marks.
Who was the one shouting earlier, "Demons and monsters must be slain by all"?
Who had been using soul attacks against it the entire time?
Who was preparing to condense a dragonfire fireball to throw at it? Who reactivated the red sword and stabbed it in the chest? Was that not you?
Yet even with Benjen Stark's memories and intellect, the Night King could not imagine that the once perfectly aligned Lord of Light and Dragon Queen could fall into internal strife at such a critical moment, and the kind that would not end without one side destroyed.
While it was still bewildered, the Dragon Queen spoke again.
"Well? Are you rested? Draw your sword. Let us have our final battle."
Rested? Did you give me time to rest?
The Night King grew even more unable to fathom her intentions.
But bewildered as it was, it swiftly pulled the ice sword from Stannis's chest, barely condensed a layer of ice armor over the spot pierced by the red sword, and swung its blade forward.
It had no choice. After asking a question, the Dragon Queen had already thrust her sword again. Should it simply lie on the ground and let her cut it down?
Clang—
Unlike Stannis, who had deliberately avoided blade-to-blade collisions, Dany's red sword struck solidly against the edge of the ice sword.
With her swordsmanship, she ensured the Night King could not evade.
Of course, in the Night King's view, it was simply that her mastery was on par with its own, and thus she could not avoid it either.
Clang, clang, clang—
In the darkness, the continuous sound of clashing weapons rang out. The sharp resonance of steel made those advancing slowly with shields raised beneath the city walls hesitate.
The sun above had been covered by the Cold God's curtain of darkness. Within Winterfell's domain, a fire-ban field suppressed all flames. The greenish wildfire flickered uncertainly, and no one could clearly see the battlefield amid the raging wind and snow.
In truth, the upheaval had come too fast and too suddenly. Even now, they had not grasped what was happening.
"What are you doing? The entire red sword is being eroded by the power of ice and sealed in frost crystals. If you do not activate the runes within the blade, it cannot contend with the Night King's ice sword."
In their rapid exchange of blows, after twenty or thirty rounds, the red sword in Dany's right hand had frozen into a pale blue icicle.
The runes within the blade shattered piece by piece under the corrosion of the icy power.
Lightbringer stood on the brink of destruction.
R'hllor grew frantic.
"You absorbed nearly twenty percent of my soul, divinity, and divine power. Do you think I would let you go?" Dany said coldly.
"Do you not want to end the Long Night? Are you unmoved by humanity's sacrifice?" R'hllor raged.
"That is your karma." Dany suddenly retreated, her whole body seeming to merge with the wind. In just a few steps, she withdrew more than twenty meters away from the city gate.
In the instant the Night King was stunned, she raised the white sword high in her left hand and angled the red sword downward in her right.
"I really don't know why the Others chose you as their king. Your swordsmanship is so poor. I cooperated this much and still couldn't cut it," Dany's mocking voice drifted into the Night King's ears with the wind.
He grew even more bewildered.
My swordsmanship is poor? We were clearly evenly matched, a worthy opponent meeting his equal, trading blows back and forth.
"Cut what?" he asked in confusion.
"No!" R'hllor's voice, once as gentle as a holy father's, turned shrill and venomous. "You don't know what you are doing. Only Lightbringer can kill the Night King. Destroy it, and humanity will perish in this era. The world will be destroyed because of you."
"I told you, whatever the consequences, they are your karma. You are the one who refuses to see the bigger picture!"
The white sword raised overhead struck down like a bolt of white lightning, slamming into the blade of the red sword.
Crack! A gap the size of a front tooth broke from the red blade, while the white blade dented with a nick as long as a grain of rice.
"This is your destiny. You should see the bigger picture! Stannis sacrificed his life to create this perfect chance to kill you. You should see the bigger picture. You should be shaken and inspired by his great spirit of sacrifice.
"To end the Long Night, for all humanity, your blood should boil. Even at the cost of your own life, you should complete the hero's mission.
"You and he are both heroes. This is the fate of heroes!"
R'hllor's voice boomed like the toll of a great bell at dawn and dusk, trying to awaken the conscience of one who had lost her way.
"Fuck you. What part of me looks like a self-sacrificing hero?"
Dany cursed and swung again with force. Sword clashed against sword; fragments flew from the blades one after another.
It is said that Valyrian steel is indestructible. So what happens when two Valyrian steel swords collide?
Ordinary people neither have the qualification nor the courage to test that proposition.
Dany was wealthy and powerful. She had both the right and the ability to try.
She had tried.
Now, hacking the red sword with Valyrian steel was ten times easier than when she had chopped at another Valyrian steel blade before.
"Daenerys, believe me. Believe in yourself. You are the hero!"
The red sword was already covered in cracks, on the verge of total collapse. In his anxiety, R'hllor began rambling nonsense.
"Do not insult heroes. I am not worthy," Dany said sternly.
"You are worthy. You truly are a hero! Because you are the reincarnation of Nissa Nissa and have inherited her fearless spirit of sacrifice!"
"Bullshit. Nissa Nissa's soul and life were sacrificed to you. Would you let her be reincarnated?"
"It's true. That was Azor Ahai's only request. He gave me his destiny and his talent in exchange for the freedom of Nissa Nissa's soul. Aoooo—"
Crack—
Dany did not hesitate in the slightest, nor did she feel the slightest emotion. With a fierce strike, and accompanied by R'hllor's wail, the red sword finally shattered completely.
The binding and greedy suction from the hilt vanished. Instead, the twisted, nightmare-like evil spirit at the center of the mysterious rune within the red sword fell into Dany's palm before it could escape.
"What are you doing?" the Night King said blankly.
Earlier, when the Dragon Queen gathered her strength and struck the two swords against each other like a madwoman, fragments flying everywhere, she had truly stunned him.
But no matter how shocked or confused he was, he understood one thing: she was destroying the red sword, and that benefited him.
So he stood aside, focused and on guard, watching her dig her own grave.
Only a fully activated red sword could harm him. Without it, even if ten Azor Ahais stood before him, he would not be afraid.
He had indeed used a scheme against Stannis.
His goal had been simple: kill the hero wielding the red sword and seize or destroy the only weapon capable of killing him.
"Do you know what you have done?" A trace of mockery curled at the corner of the Night King's lips.
"You villain! Killing the savior was not enough for you. You even destroyed his Lightbringer!" The Dragon Queen widened her eyes and roared in fury.
Her voice thundered through the air, carried clearly by the wind into the ears of everyone within two hundred meters.
The sneer froze on his shriveled, pale, patterned face.
"You are just like your father. A madwoman," he said coldly after a long moment.
"You are just like your father. An ambitious fool! Do you think that if you do not say it, I won't know why you became the Night King?" Dany multitasked, attacking his mind with words while burning the evil sword soul within the red blade in the space of the Seven's faith.
She very much wanted to know the origin of the evil spirit and to mock the Lord of Light a few more times, but her condition was poor. She urgently needed to recover.
During the time she held the red sword, she had lost thirty percent of her soul, divinity, and divine power.
Perhaps they were all inside the evil sword soul?
"What do you know?" The Night King's voice was colder than the ice on the surface of the White Knife beside them.
"You and your three siblings: Brandon was too old and too romantic by nature, and Edd was sent to the Eyrie as a ward.
"So from childhood, you were especially close to your sister Lyanna.
"Perhaps you were her little shadow.
"In any case, you grew up together and often shared secrets. During the tourney at Harrenhal, she must have confided in you about her confused love.
"You knew about her meeting Rhaegar, coming to know and love him, and even their final elopement. But you did not tell your father or your brother."
This chapter compensates for yesterday's repeated posting of Chapter 818. There will be another one in a few days. It has been a long time since I asked for votes, so I will ask for some now as well.
(End of Chapter)
Want to read the chapters in Advance? Join my Patreon
https://patreon.com/Glimmer09