Chapter 2467

"Just... forget about me..." Albert recalled his lover's final words, still feeling her warmth lingering in his hands.

"Have I... really been wrong all along?" Albert muttered, falling to his knees.

"It's over. Everything... is all over..."

Malior walked up to Albert and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, saying, "Mr. Goode, there's still time to turn back. Things can still be fixed."

"No..." Albert shook his head. "It's all over. Whether or not this works, I... There's no longer a way back for me."

Albert's body began to dissolve. At the same time, the power of the Celestial Tree intensified. It started absorbing everything around it indiscriminately.

"Maxim, take Thresmund and run!" Malior shouted.

Maxim snapped back to his senses then. He grabbed Thresmund's hand to pull her away but realized she was frozen in place. No matter how hard he pulled, she did not respond.

As the energy from the Celestial Tree grew nearer, Maxim grew frantic.

"Thresmund, wake up! Wake up!"

"Senior... look over there. There's a light... Oh, it's my parents. They're calling for me. Can you hear them?"

"Don't look!" Maxim shouted. "It's not real! Don't look!"

"B-But I miss them... I... I want to go to them..." Thresmund's voice trembled.

Maxim pulled with all his might, but the once fragile Thresmund somehow seemed to have grown stronger and was dragging him closer to the Celestial Tree.

"Master, help her!" Maxim cried out to Malior. In the next moment, the sight that greeted him filled him with utter despair.

Malior was also walking toward the Celestial Tree dazedly, his expression blank. "W-What's happening?!" Maxim frantically pulled out the anti-magic stone and placed it in Thresmund's palm, but she continued her slow march forward. "Why? Why isn't the stone working?!"

Maxim kept trying to stop Thresmund as he watched their master disappear into the tree.

To the side, Albert sighed quietly. "It's over... Everything is over..." Then, Albert dissolved, vanishing like a bubble.

Now filled with despair, Maxim cried out to wake Thresmund tearfully.

"Thresmund, please wake up! Stop it, please! Don't let it deceive you! When we get back, I'll buy you all the handkerchiefs and sweet potatoes you want! And that little cotton jacket you mentioned before, I'll get you the newest one. Please just stop! Stop walking!"

He held Thresmund's small body tightly, gripping her tattered, patched-up coat with trembling hands. No matter how hard he tried, he could not stop her. He watched helplessly as the patch on her jacket ripped, spilling a few tufts of cotton onto the ground.

Thresmund stepped into the Celestial Tree, and moments later, the crack in the tree sealed shut, leaving Maxim alone.