Solan Neumann saw Shion Lan gripping his sword and pointing it toward the puppet, Roto Knight, but she shouted,
"Shion! What are you doing here?! Why didn't you leave?!"
Shion replied,
"Do you really want me to leave you in a rotten place like this?!"
But the indifferent tone in his words made none take it as a courting.
He pointed his sword at Roto and continued,
"I have a debt to settle with this bastard for deceiving me!"
Roto scoffed,
"Enfel!"
Rota was confident that Enfel would kill Shion in the moment he ordered him.
But Enfel Kito was nowhere to be seen. Roto was startled and tried to sense his location, but to his shock, he could not find him anywhere.
Then Shion said,
"Asin instructor! Take the child from behind me and hand him over to Solan!"
Shion immediately rushed forward to attack Roto and activated his sword technique:
"(Path of the Stellar River)!"
Stellar aura flowed through the sword, unleashing overwhelming force from its blade. Yet the opponent before him was one of the ancestors of the Night Family, who mocked him while spreading corrupt energy everywhere.
However, Shion's body was completely unaffected. His stellar aura despised all other energies, especially such rotten power. Roto tried condensing the corrupt energy further, but Shion's rapid consecutive strikes were designed to weaken the enemy first before delivering the finishing blow in the end.
But like Solan, he just was too weak to stand against him.
Shion shattered the corrupt energy with his stellar power and suddenly felt his connection with Shi Yun Lan weakening.
He thought to himself,
' So when he borrowed my body, our connection weakened because he doesn't belong to this world. But if I use the forbidden technique, I may be able to summon him again. After all, this thread connecting us must never break. '
Shion kept advancing, but he soon felt his body beginning to suffer from the corrupt energy.
' If Shi Yun Lan were here, he would destroy this energy easily… though he'd mock me first! '
With a surge of determination, Shion pushed his aura and magical power to their limits:
"(Stellar Soul)!
(Stellar Body)!
(Stellar Aura)!"
He thought that it was useless to use his techniques against powerful corpse like Roto but he forced himself forward as the corrupt energy faded before him. Roto was shocked by Shion's obsession with reaching him and said,
"I wanted to obtain you as my new vessel, but you rejected a magnificent opportunity. So die!"
Shion suddenly stopped and burst into loud laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA! You?! Offering me a magnificent opportunity?! No one can take my body away except death itself, you rotten bastard!"
He continued advancing, completely ignoring the changes spreading across his skin.
Solan cried out desperately,
"Shion! Please stop!"
But Shion kept moving forward as the corrupt energy penetrated deeper into his body.
Roto saw that his domain became weaker as he spent a lot of energy so he wanted to regenerate his power but,
' This boy destroyed my domain once. If he did that again I will be killed! I need to focus on him in the right time. '
Grimm Jura witnessed this fearless scene, and it ignited something within him.
"Boy! I'll join your madness!"
He charged forward and used his power,
"(Jura Family Technique: Adhesion)!"
The corrupt energy suddenly stuck to the ground. Even Shion felt the pressure of the gravity manipulation, but the starlight in his eyes only intensified as he continued moving.
Only a few steps remained between him and Roto when the latter blasted him backward with pure force. Shion crashed into the wall beside Solan.
Meanwhile, Grimm unleashed a storm of punches upon Roto. Every blow carried immense weight and pressure.
"Do you know how much pain this energy caused me?! I couldn't even stand earlier because of it!"
Roto tried resisting the pressure, but pieces of the corpse composing his body began falling apart.
"I used raw energy to push that brat away… I can't endure much longer… so…"
At the same time, Solan was healing Enfel, but seeing Shion in such a miserable state made her heart ache painfully.
Once Enfel regained consciousness, Princess Jina Joul looked at him and used her spell,
"Royal Command: Leave this place and heal yourself!"
The glow in the princess's eyes vanished afterward, and she lost the ability to use her heritage at that time as Celisia Joul's voice was fading away.
She and Solan hurried to check on Shion, whose skin had turned into a mixture of green and purple. His body trembled violently, and Solan was utterly terrified.
Inside himself, however, Shion saw the thread connecting him to Shi Yun Lan growing stronger again. Between certain death and overwhelming desire for life, the thread intensified.
Shi Yun Lan's figure appeared once more, speaking angrily,
"Can't you handle things yourself?! Why did you summon me now?!"
Though his words were harsh, his tone carried worry and fear for Shion's recklessness.
Shion replied indifferently,
"Because we are one person. I can't continue this fight without you."
"And that's why you're approaching death?!"
At that moment, their roles seemed reversed. Shion was strangely calm about dying, while Shi Yun Lan was the one filled with fear and concern.
A deep ancient voice appeared from nowhere,
"I see things got out of control."
Deep within the Veins Domain, however, a weak pulse emerged from the Ninth Vein. Despite its faintness, its power pushed both Shion and Shi Yun Lan away.
"That mustn't be happening."
The other veins trembled as they were in the presence of the strongest vein.
"It will be the end if it continues."
The overwhelming power covered the domain.
In the real world, Shion's power suddenly exploded outward, scattering all corrupt energy from his body. He returned to normal, and the Veins Domain began functioning once again.
The Ninth Vein granted strength to the Third Vein, and Shion awakened. Life returned to his eyes without needing the power of the stars.
Solan and the second princess rejoiced.
"Shion! You're alright!"
"Don't scare us like that!"
They continued expressing their relief, but Shion himself was filled with terror.
Sweat poured down his back.
"Why did the Ninth Vein pulse?! What happened just now?! Were my emotions affected by Shi Yun Lan?! Was I really going to die like that?!"
Then a voice echoed inside him,
"That's why I told you long ago that defeating me is far more important than carelessly meddling with me."
Shi Yun Lan's tone had become cold and lifeless once again, just as Shion remembered.
Shion recalled,
"I remember there was a will hidden inside the Ninth Vein… Could my connection with Shi Yun Lan have caused this? I need to be more careful. Lately I've been relying too much on power that isn't truly mine. What I used earlier was only meant to summon Shi Yun Lan."
He looked ahead and saw Grimm crushing Roto mercilessly.
"Solan."
She looked at him immediately.
"Don't go over there! You almost died!"
But Shion shook his head.
"I haven't been myself lately."
Solan and Jina looked at him with confusion.
"I tried relying on my own strength… so..."
He smiled to Solan,
"Can you lend me a hand?"
Solan smiled and agreed as she thought of escape, but moments later she collapsed from exhaustion.
Shion smiled helplessly.
"Looks like we've both overworked ourselves."
The second princess had no choice but to sit beside them and rest as well.
When Asin Night looked at them, he said,
"Even if I can't fight that ancestor directly, I do have an idea."
Shion looked at him curiously.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I have an idea fo—"
"Sorry, that's not what I meant. Why can't you fight that puppet too?"
Jina answered instead,
"Because the corrupt energy affecting the master is far less dangerous than Roto's. He may be able to resist it, but he would simply become fuel for Roto before the battle even begins."
Shion nodded in understanding and asked,
"Then what's the idea you mentioned, Master?"
Asin explained,
"You possess terrifying power capable of resisting Roto's strength. With your forbidden technique, we may be able to do it."
Before Solan could object, Shion stopped her.
"I've used the forbidden technique too much recently. I can no longer activate it… In fact, I can barely even use my basic techniques anymore."
Asin was stunned before nodding.
"I see… then for now, we'll have to rely on Grimm."
Meanwhile, Roto was in miserable condition. He could barely move anymore, and his energy could no longer reach his tyrannical opponent.
Grimm looked down at him and said,
"You should be punished for injecting me with that disgusting energy. So choose your method of death."
Before Roto could curse him, Grimm gave him no chance to speak and continued raining merciless punches upon him.
"Why won't you die already, you bastard?! I'm getting tired of beating you!"
Roto attempted another trick by trying to gather the corrupt energy scattered outside the palace, only to discover a massive stone barrier preventing it from reaching him.
Ji Jura had entered the barrier and created another wall to prevent the energy from escaping or returning inside.
"This energy has a strange ability to affect the mind. I don't want to end up killing my brother over something so ridiculous."
She looked around and noticed a girl covered in blood and corpse remains, wielding a whip radiating dark aura. At first, she failed to recognize her.
The girl spoke,
"I never thought you'd forget me to this extent, Ji."
Hearing that familiar voice, Ji stared in shock before laughing.
"So the elegant Violet Night is now covered in corpses and blood!"
Violet replied irritably,
"If there's something funny here, then tell me!"
Ji grinned.
"Didn't you quit training as a child because the training target was a mud monster?"
"That was years ago! Now tell me—did you get rid of the corrupt energy?"
Ji regained her composure.
"I couldn't eliminate it, so I'll leave that matter to my uncle. Now tell me, what happened to the corpses?"
Violet wiped her face.
"I destroyed all of them. The strongest was only at the Fourth Level, so I managed."
Ji answered proudly,
"I dealt with the Fifth-Level ones and buried them underground."
Then Mel Tri arrived and said,
"Everything is finished. Everyone has been evacuated, and the danger is gone."
However, Ji's smile vanished. Rocks floated around her, forming spear-like shapes.
"I sense someone at the Seventh Level."
Violet and Mel prepared themselves for battle, but what appeared before them was merely a staggering little boy struggling to walk forward.
Violet and Ji failed to recognize him, but Mel dropped his weapon in shock.
"E-Enfel?!"
Violet gasped.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm certain!"
No one could believe that a moving corpse was the kid they were looking for.
Ji frowned.
"But what's wrong with the energy coming from him? Has he become a corpse too?"
Enfel collapsed to the ground yet continued crawling weakly.
Mel rushed toward him, while Violet and Ji followed cautiously in case something unexpected happened.
As Mel approached, he noticed the child's breathing and the emptiness in his eyes slowly regaining life.
"He's alive!"
Mel picked him up, and Enfel looked weakly at the one helping him.
"Mel…?"
Mel checked his body and realized he was unharmed.
"Forgive me, ladies, but I want to take him to the hospital."
Ji and Violet nodded, and Mel immediately rushed away.
"I'm happy to see you again, young master!"
Enfel smiled weakly.
Within minutes, they reached the hospital. Everyone was shocked and overwhelmed upon seeing the young master of the Kito Family in Mel's arms.
"Is that Enfel?"
"Yes, it's him!"
"Wasn't he kidnapped like the other children?"
"We'll ask him when he wakes up. He needs treatment first!"
As Enfel was carried away, he heard the people around him saying things like,
"He suffered so much…"
"He faced horrifying things at such a young age…"
But inside his mind, he thought,
"I always believed my suffering was something no one else had ever experienced… but today…"
He remembered the hand that reached out to him — a hand reeking of death.
"I faced death… but that other person lives alongside it with every breath."
And finally, Enfel closed his eyes to rest at last.