Chapter 623: Chapter 623

623 A soul dims. The end approaches.

Anna moved her head in the direction of the last group.

Anna saw the body of Vincent on the ground. He was surrounded by a devastated Lilith, a concerned Maid Xu, an exhausted and miserable Iris, a heartbroken Sakura, a devastated and angry Plow, and Jun Ye Rim with a conflicted expression on her face.

Vincent’s head rested on Lilith’s lap while Plow desperately rubbed her head on Vincent’s chest, hoping he could wake up.

Iris weakly held his hand while she shivered from the cold because of the side effect caused by her Overload version skill.

Sakura held Vincent’s other hand. She stopped trying to fight a losing battle and wanted to spend the last couple of minutes with Vincent before she went to seek revenge.

Jun Ye Rim’s moved as if she mumbled quiet words. Anna believed Jun Ye Rim was so devastated that she started talking to herself.

“I want to help them.” Anna looked at Lucas and requested, “Could you help make this situation end?”

“But your highness...”

“I will see what I can do.” Lucas accepted, interrupting Bilka’s complaint.

.....

“A place filled with genuine smiles means the owners are kind. They appreciate the work the servants do and treat them well. It means they are nobles who aren’t conceited or horrible.” Anna moved her gaze onto Vincent’s body and continued, “I want to remain as a sponsor of the Lionheart family and help them recover during this time of sorrow.”

Lucas turned around and said, “Say no more your highness, and leave it to me. Bilka, take her highness away if it starts to become dangerous.”

Lucas walked forward and soon arrived near Iris, Lilith, Sakura, Plow, and Jun Ye Rim. He looked down as they were on the ground beside the corpse of Vincent.

Lucas looked at Jun Ye Rim. He saw her placing both hands together and prayed, “Please wake up. Your soul is still alive.”

‘She is a Soulmancer if I recall correctly. But why is she saying Vincent’s soul is still alive? Does it mean his soul is still in his corpse and is unwilling to leave? Is he going to become undead like the reports I have been receiving lately?’ Lucas pondered before requesting Vlad to stop.

*Vincent’s Soul Domain*

The whole Soul Domain trembled as if it was suffering from an earthquake of a large scale. The emerald crystal grass vibrated, and many of them dimed and cracked.

The situation inside the Soul Domain looked grim as anyone could tell the more emerald crystals dimed, the less time remained before the Soul Domain ceased to exist. The less time for Vincent’s soul to remain alive inside his body.

The emerald throne’s color began to fade. It started to take the appearance of an aged, gradually and abandoned emerald sculpture of a throne.

The brightness of the runes and pattern on the throne was flickering, and a lot of them were starting to dim. The Soul Domain was about to end soon, yet two individuals and one individual split into sixteen tried their best to delay the enviable.

On top of the emerald throne sat Kazumi and Wolfie. On the armrests and headrest sat Freerie, the collection of sixteen butterflies.

Appearing out of their bodies were a lot of fine green particles. It was mana, their life essence maintaining their form to exist. They were sharing their mana with the throne as Kazumi guessed all was over when the throne had not a single light left to light the darkness of the Soul Domain.

The throne at the center of the large patch of emerald crystal grass is similar to the mainframe of the Soul Domain, Kazumi believed. Thus, she told Wolfie and Freerie to give Vincent more time, hoping for the random triggering corrupted mutation skill Overload to activate and give Vincent a second chance.

However, Kazumi, Wolfie, and Freerie couldn’t keep this up for longer. After a few minutes of keeping Vincent’s soul alive, their bodies were in a bad state. They couldn’t last for more than a minute or two.

[Vincent... I won’t let you die... no matter what... you will see the light of day again... and the smiles of the people you love...]

*~wof...~*

*~bzz...~*

[You heard them... Vincent... we are here for you to... to... to the end...]

*Living World*

“Kazumi... she can’t keep Vincent’s soul alive for much longer...” Jun Ye Rim said with a tear sliding down her cheek.

Iris, Lilith, and Sakura looked at Vincent with profound sorrowful expressions. Their tears couldn’t stop raining on Vincent’s body.

Iris raised Vincent’s hand and placed it on her cheek. She rubbed her cold cheek against his warm hand.

“Why aren’t you healing like last time? Why are you going to die this time? Why can’t I spend more time with you? Why does my skill say I am the guide of life if I can’t guide you away from death?” Iris desperately said.

Lilith placed her hands on Vincent’s cheeks. She caressed his cheeks with her thumbs while her tears rained on his face.

“Why did you cure me if you aren’t going to give me a child? You have decades of life left in you, so wake up and stand. Why can’t your second chance work this time?” Lilith said with a wavering voice.

Sakura looked at the blood on Vincent’s clothes. The wound on his skin was closed, but the internal wounds remained. Lucas had stopped healing Vincent after the last breath was taken.

“Why can’t you get up? I will give you all the blood you need to recover. Please wake up. Us sisters will be lost without you.” Sakura said while holding Vincent’s hand.

*Skreeeeee!*

A loud high pitch screech echoed in everyone’s ears. Zero appeared, and it was blinded by rage.

The Seed Guardians’ core changed color from red to green. The Seed Guardians stopped and moved their heads toward Zero.

“Kill... the... enemy...” Zero ordered while an aura of bloodlust was being emitted from its body.

Six Seed Guardians resumed attacking Vlad more viciously than before while the other five ran toward Zero.

Everyone who was looking at the Seed Guardians thought they were about to attack Zero, but they stopped instead.

Zero walked in front of the middle Seed Guardian, and they quickly surrounded him. Not much could be seen from the circle of tall Seed Guardians.

Multiple vines appeared. Some exited the Seed Guardians’ bodies as if Zero was attacking them while other vines started pulling vines to the center of the circle.

Only those who knew about Zero’s Amalgamation trait could know what was happening. It meant almost no one, as those who knew were knocked out, in combat, or begging Vincent to get up before his soul also died and became a spirit.

Zero needed time for the plan to help in the one-sided revenge fight. However, time was a thing Zero didn’t have.

With the reduced numbers of Seed Guardians attacking, Vlad defeated both Maria and the six Seed Guardians.

Maria was the first to be defeated. She was attacked and knocked away by an impossible-to-block shield bash.

The six Seed Guardians were the next. Vlad noticed the color of the core change to green and assumed it was their weak point.

As Vlad predicted, he stabbed the core in their heads, and the Seed Guardians acted as if they were about to die. It took one second for them to stay back on their feet and resume attacking viciously.

Vlad noticed a faint green light appear on the Seed Guardians’ vine ribcage. After assuming it was the spare core, he stabbed their ribcage, dimming the light. One by one, the Seed Guardians withered and fell.

Vlad currently had no more opponents left. He moved his head and looked at Vincent’s corpse.

Vlad shortly noticed Lucas holding a shield and a sword with a firm grip. Lucas was frowning as if he couldn’t understand something, yet his eyes quickly moved on to Vlad as if they noticed his gaze directed at him.

Lucas sighed and shook his head, showing that Vlad had done enough for the day and Lucas had done enough of being a spectator. Lucas was ready to intervene if Vlad was going to continue with the one-sided fight against the Lionheart family branch.

Mimi jumped in front of her father and shouted, “Why do you have to act like this? Why can’t someone have a good life in the family for once? Why can’t we have happiness?”

“...” Vlad didn’t say a word. Only his frown could tell he didn’t like what Mimi said.

“You revenge-addicted ancient man!” Mimi said before clenching her rapier and attacking her father out of anger and sorrow.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Vlad sighed and slapped the tip of her rapier with great force. The thin blade bent and slashed Mimi’s shoulder.

“Argh...” Mimi held her bleeding shoulder while glaring at her father for the injury he had caused her.

“...” Vlad once again spoke no word. Only his expression slightly changed when blood dripped from his daughter’s shoulders.

Mimi knew she couldn’t kill her father, but Mimi hoped she could at least make him bleed a little and try to show her father how much sorrow he had caused his daughter.

The man Mimi chose to be with and love was taken from her. Mimi wanted her father to understand what he did to her and remember it in his long life.

However, Vlad countered her attack without showing any signs of remorse. Only after Mimi got hurt did Vlad slightly show a different emotion.