Wicked Reincarnation

Inside the palace, the fight between Lu and Holn against Sal was reaching its climax.

"Fuck!" one last desperate attempt of Sal's was pushed back by Lu's hose.

Sal fell to the ground and panted, "I swear I'll kill you all and enter the Ghost King's eyes in good grace."

Yet Sal was too weak to move.

Holn hovered over the youth and blinked at Lu, "Should we kill him? Should we? I feel bad for him!"

"I'll kill you!" roaring and baring his teeth was the only thing Sal could do.

"Well, he'll kill us," Lu answered after watching Sal struggle.

"Really? You think so? He's quite pitiful like this. I feel bad."

"Don't feel bad of the enemies," Lu reprimanded Holn who pouted.

Sal had to endure his opponents casually debating whether he could live or die. As if they had the right to do so! But they had because Sal was right now powerless.

Sal now realised that Timo, that damned commander, was right all along. Experience was incredibly important when it came to almost anything, even a fight, even if Sal was more powerful than a veteran who was weaker than him, the veteran could always defeat him because Sal was wet behind his ears. Sal belatedly regretted not having listened to Timo and stubbornly opposed him.

Now his end was near.

"Holn, don't mess around. We don't have time to lose."

"Ok,ok. You talk a lot now though. Is that gonna be a norm from now on?" Holn grinned.

Lu remained silent.

"Ok, whatever. Sorry mate, but you gotta disappear, youngster!"

"Who the fuck you calling a youngster?" were Sal's last infamous words.

"Let's hurry," Lu walked towards the exit but then stopped.

Holn's eyes widened.

"Can you hear that? What is that?"

"I don't know but it sounds… terribly lonely."

A sad melody entered their ears. It was chaotic and storming, raging yet also lost. They remained in the hallway listening to these heart-breaking cries that came from the plaza and bound them.

Their feet, their whole body refused to move. They could only stand there and listen-

To this excruciating pain they've never experienced before and didn't know someone was capable of producing such terrible emotions to swirl inside everyone. They didn't know what was going on but once they heard it, they, in an instant, started to mourn.

A pain and loss that was greater than climbing heavens only to descend to hell for an eternity.

***

Lily and Noel were holding their own against the ghosts and soldiers. Most of the hidden families' men have fallen and only Lia's corpses could provide them support.

Lily and Noel were so absorbed in fighting they didn't realise Yano and Min had entered the plaza to fight.

"Noel, do you have another-" Lily rolled to the sides and pierced a soldier in the neck with her broken blade.

"Yeah, here," Noel threw Lily a new sword he swiftly picked up on the ground.

"Thanks," the fight wasn't too tight as Noel and Lily were able to talk with each other.

The difficulty wasn't hard, it was only the amount of opponents they had that wore them down. It was a good thing they had Lia's undead. The corpses were able to pick up dangerous situations and provide support for Lily and Noel when they needed it.

It was truly helpful.

"This got to end, ain't it?" Noel and Lily were now back to back fighting.

"Tell me damn more. Good thing there's finally a stop to them. No more coming," Lily charged forwards and gritted her teeth. But apparently she jinxed it because all of a sudden all the corpses retreated and ran away.

"Hey! What the hell!" Lily cursed and looked at Noel.

"Don't ask me, I didn't do anything."

They followed the direction the corpses ran towards but couldn't see anything as the corpses' backs were obstructing them. But they saw the faint outline of a figure.

"Damn, it's the Ghost King!" Lily was ready to follow but the surrounding ghosts and soldiers didn't let her.

"All protect the Ghost King!"

Noel barely managed to see the corpses surrounding a place.

Lia. Noel was sure it was her order.

Lily and Noel had to finish this here but then another surprise came. An influx of ghosts by the Ghost King. Lily and Noel couldn't keep up. They were far too outnumbered. Left and right they had to take a beating until they landed on the ground.

Badly damaged. Luckily the soldiers and ghosts didn't bother them anymore as everyone froze in their spots. Frustrated and helpless Lily and Noel closed their eyes as they heard it.

Lia's desperate wails were capable of stopping everyone and everything, stopping time altogether. Cursing in their hearts for being unable to help her, they immediately guessed that Lia lost someone right before her eyes.

It must've been Yano but both Lily and Noel couldn't believe it. Even if it was the Ghost King, Yano couldn't have died so easily. So what happened?

Lily and Noel raised their heads to the direction the sounds came from and their hearts froze in despair.

The corpses that surrounded Lia like a wall, one by one dropped. Lia was in a too emotional state to control the corpse anymore. The ghosts came out of the bodies and circled Lia as if they wanted to console her.

But one glare of Min and one snap of his fingers instantly made them disappear, unable to provide any support for Lia anymore. In the middle of the mountain of corpses, Lia sat holding Yano's lifeless body close to her.

It was an extremely pitiful sight in Min's eyes and he bathed in the victory.

"Everyone rejoice at our victory!" Min's magnified voice caused cheers to erupt from the battlefield yet none of it entered Lia's ears.

She was already broken. The last string was cut off. Detached from reality. Even when Min grabbed her by the hair, Lia didn't react. She didn't realise it. It was only until Min hauled her away from Yano did she come back briefly.

"No! No! No!" her fingers dug into the ground and left a bloody trail behind as she desperately tried to pull herself closer to Yano. Min only sneered seeing her, "It's time to part and once again show to the world-"

Lia was numb to his words. The only thing she wanted was to experience Yano's warmth before it faded away. She wanted to be there with him until the very end. Yet Min merciless dragged her away.

Lia couldn't see anything but Yano's gradually smaller figure. Her voice was hoarse from screaming, her eyes were swollen and her head hurt incredibly.

Her senses were slowly cut off but Lia only wanted to continue seeing and holding Yano.

But as Min gave her no chance and Lia submitted to her fate being hauled by this hateful man, her eyes had to leave Yano and darted around the plaza.

And this shattered her even more. Skyla and Mil. She saw their corpses.

Noel and Lily. She saw their corpses. Once again-

Once again-

Once again-

Lia screamed in her head, she could barely take it.

Once again everything she had, everyone who trusted her was dead. It was unbearable for her. She saw all the dead bodies resurfacing. When would this have an end? Just when?

And… then Lia realised.

If Min killed her now. If he killed everyone. Then all of this would end. After all these years of struggling, Lia decided it was useless.

To stop and kill Min was not possible. Lia didn't care anymore. She didn't care about anything anymore.

As Min continued to drag her, once again silently grounding her, Lia closed her eyes and accepted the truth. If she had to suffer, if she had to die, then so be it. She didn't have the strength to continue.

Lia opened her eyes to see the circle on her hand slowly disappearing. Even the last sign of Yano in her life was vanishing forever. Min finally came to a halt and viewed the fruits of his power.

"There's one thing you should know," Min's words barely reached Lia, "I already knew that Eri would betray me. She must've told you about the cube. Isn't that why you went into the palace?"

A roaring laugh escaped Min's lips. This was the first time Lia had heard him laugh so openly and heartedly.

This ordeal must've made him incredibly happy. Lia balled her fists and grit her teeth.

"That's why I discarded the cube, so your loss. You thought you could stop me like this? Instead, you've lost everything. How does it feel?"

Min whispered in Lia's ear, "Great, right?"

A rekindled hatred lit up in Lia's eyes and danced wildly.

Min was in too much ecstasy to notice, "You will watch how both worlds will come to an end and then go back to the abyss to fulfil your duty.

This fucking bastard. Life came back to Lia bit by bit. But there was still something missing. A catalyst that would prompt this worn out and lifeless shell of Lia to move. Amidst Min's laughter and new ghosts scurrying around Lia saw it.

She saw it and her heart tightened and then loosened.

Lily and Noel were alive. They weren't dead yet. This alone was enough for Lia to keep going.

She hasn't lost everything yet. Lu and Holn might not be dead either. Oldie and all the other hidden families, Zero, were also putting their lives on lines. The mortals who gave up their lives trusting Lia, their spirits were within her.

So who was Lia to have the right to give up? How could she dare to stomp on their desperate efforts and blind trust?

Min turned his back to Lia to walk away as he was sure that Lia was done.

However behind him Lia rose up again.

Just a little bit more. She just needed to hang in there a bit more and then she could finally stop. Then everything would be really over. Once and for all.

So-

"Rise."

In an instant, Min's ghosts were forced into her corpses and formed an army behind her.