Geoffrey realized it.
He had just stared at something he shouldn't have stared at. He shouldn't have known something that shouldn't be known.
Geoffrey froze, his heart felt so weak, his breath caught while his eyes widened and trembled so strongly.
"Ah."
Geoffrey felt the corner of his eyes become wet. A pair of red liquid came out from his eyes, followed by his mouth, his nose and finally his ears. His head felt full, as if it would explode right then and there.
The ceiling, what he should have seen was the sky. But right now, there was no sky at all.
Only an incredibly vast universe with various unknown anomalies. Like stars, there were millions of eyes staring directly toward Geoffrey. Behind each eye resembling a star, there were also millions of something in the form of flesh, writhing with black liquid that kept dripping.
Giant worms writhed. Meanwhile, Geoffrey felt every inch of his body as if it would explode, his blood felt like it was melting and ready to melt his body into rotten liquid.
For a moment, Geoffrey lost all his hope. He couldn't see any possibility to survive from this, nothing at all.
He would die.
Nothing could save him.
In the end, his carelessness in thinking that everything would be fine brought disaster upon himself.
He couldn't understand what he actually saw and what creature that was. Even when he tried to think, he couldn't, his mind was too chaotic to be able to think clearly.
In the end, Geoffrey ran out of options. Everything was a dead end.
His head dropped weakly, his vision dimmed, until finally Geoffrey slowly lost consciousness.
...
A few seconds earlier, before Geoffrey stepped again from the position where ordinary humans would rot.
The Emperor felt every inch of his body screaming danger. He didn't even realize or hear his daughter's voice that he hadn't heard for so long.
As one of the strongest humans in this entire world, it was very strange for someone like him to feel a certain threat, and too arrogant too if he ignored his alarm as the strongest person just because he was the strongest.
To be able to feel vibrations like that only meant that the threat was too terrible and real.
The Emperor raised his head, suddenly making a movement to immediately bring Geoffrey back. But that was only a second, no, even less than one second, maybe only a few milliseconds.
But he glimpsed the sky distorted with millions of eyes blinking so quickly between the normal sky and the vast outer space.
The Emperor furrowed his brow, he felt his hands harden.
For the first time after so long, the Emperor felt a real threat that made him hesitate, he was even frightened for a moment.
But that was only for a moment, he immediately shot forward to save Geoffrey. But that something seemed faster.
The Emperor found Geoffrey's body already drenched in blood. His right hand from shoulder to hand and fingers emitted a strong aura of rot.
Seeing that, the Emperor flinched. However, he bit his lip and pulled the back collar of Geoffrey's shirt then shot forward to return.
That only happened in a very short period of time. Too short until Nevier witnessed all those events in just one blink of an eye.
He couldn't understand what happened.
From his point of view, the Emperor disappeared and then reappeared with Geoffrey who had already lost consciousness.
"What—"
"Don't come closer."
Nevier was cut off by the Emperor whose dark pupils stared toward Nevier sharply. That made Nevier immediately silent and nodded confusedly.
However, that was only for a moment because he immediately found serious rot on Geoffrey's arm.
"That...?!" Nevier's face paled, his hands clenched tightly.
He immediately knew that the Emperor forbade him from coming closer because there was a possibility he would be infected by that curse. Besides that...
Could Geoffrey survive?
Nevier felt his heart pounding, as well as sweat wetting his palms.
Even the Emperor seemed nervous, confused about what he should do in this situation. Although it appeared that the curse only attacked Geoffrey's arm, it was only a matter of time before it spread and destroyed every part of Geoffrey's body.
The Emperor only thought of one thing.
Maybe he could cancel that spread by cutting off Geoffrey's arm. But it seemed that wasn't even possible considering the nature possessed by Cascading Decay.
That was a type of instant curse.
So, "Why hasn't this curse spread yet?"
Nevier furrowed his brow, shaking his head hard. He himself also didn't know why this could happen now.
But if he had to make a conclusion...
"Maybe because of his bloodline? Young master Geoffrey's body is clearly very related to curses because of his Bloodline. Because of that, could there be some kind of special effect that makes Cascading Decay able to be stopped?"
The Emperor thought the same conclusion.
As if about to respond, the back of Geoffrey's hand suddenly showed a faint gleam, forming a five-petaled leaf that absorbed Cascading Decay greedily as if that terrible curse was just food.
Geoffrey's rotting skin immediately was filled again with vitality, while that curse disappeared without a trace. But that was only temporary.
Cascading Decay was not a curse that easily submitted. The curse returned and in the end Geoffrey's arm rotted again, only at a lower level of rot.
If previously Geoffrey's arm and hand rotted, now only Geoffrey's arm, while his hand looked healthy and full of vitality.
The Emperor stared at that shocking event in silence, while Nevier smiled bitterly.
Apparently, Geoffrey's bloodline was not the type of Bloodline that could be underestimated. Both of them only heard about it from rumors.
That Geoffrey was born with a unique Bloodline but had a very big weakness. He could absorb Bane and use it as his own power, that was a Bloodline that was clearly too strong.
Unfortunately, the price was also equally expensive. The owner of the Bloodline would receive side effects, like if he absorbed a permanent curse like Cascading Decay right now, Geoffrey would never be able to release it for the rest of his life and would continuously be gnawed by that curse.
Without clear handling, Geoffrey would be killed by that dangerous curse. In return, it meant Geoffrey's curse power was also permanent, the rest only depended on control and his own body's limits.
That weakness was very fatal.
Now, what if Geoffrey's Bloodline also had other luxuries and uniqueness that weren't yet known?
Like right now.
The curse that tried to destroy Geoffrey, openly his Bloodline acted on its own and suppressed that curse.
'From the rumors, I thought he was just an ordinary thug, but it turns out he's a special thug.'
Nevier thought with his complex brain.
While far in the middle of that garden, Virelle who was wearing a blindfold turned her head, as if she could see, her face directed toward Geoffrey.
"....."