Rebirth of the Disgraced Noble-Chapter 61: Life Requires Sacrifices, But Can You Pay The Price?
’Lord, please don’t leave me. Not again.’
Lorelei sped through the horizon, jumping over the jutting rocks and dead bodies that filled the land. She could feel Aden’s warmth slowly dissapear and the burden on her back lightening at a dangerously fast rate.
The tears that threatened to gather at the corner of her eyes were dried out immediately as she pushed her body to the absolute limit.
Thankfully, Aden’s strange healing had increased her strength twofold, so she could afford to run through some obstacles without getting damage.
As that thought crossed her mind, the fear she so desperately tried to surpress flared up again, and a droplet of sweat that was not as a result of the strenuous activity flew backwards.
The form she had seen at that moment was truly too monstrous for even her to come to terms with, and for a moment, she had considered running away due to the sheer fear that had taken over.
Alas, there was no escape route left. She couldn’t even move her body from the ground, it was almost as if she was pinned by some unknown force.
Lorelei’s eyes darkened but her speed did not falter.
In the next minute, a large enough hole came into view. She grit her teeth and pushed her body even further when the weight on her back decreased horrifyingly.
She jumped in, not daring to decrease her momentum and slid downwards. The tunnel was smoother than expected and her descent was left unhindered.
"Zero! Null! Abyss! Where are you all?!"
Her voice echoed in the space beneath. The structure was clearly crudely constructed with jagged rocks jutting from the top and holes at the bottom traced with a dark liquid.
It was less a cave and more like a piece of the earth was chewed hastily.
Lorelei’s face paled as she spotted two feet poking out from beneath a rock. Not daring to drop Aden’s diminishing form, she moved towards the feet.
As she grew closer, she noticed the sickly grey hue and thin veins of black webbed across every inch.
She punched the rock into bits and Zero’s body was revealed.
His state was... Almost as bad as Aden’s.
Black veins stretched unnervingly across his face, his mouth gurgled with fresh black blood, replacing the dried traces that webbed beneath him.
Both arms twitched uncontrollably, releasing dull cracking sounds each time.
Lorelei crouched above him in a panic, her eyes locked with his. The irises were nowhere to be found but she was not discouraged.
"Zero! Stop laying there and assist the Lord!"
No response.
"Come on, you can’t be—"
The words hooked in her throat as her peripheral vision picked up slight movement.
She looked to her left and was left stunned by what she saw.
Figures similar to Zero were littered across the ground, their states not as worse as Zero’s but bad enough to render them useless.
"What am I going to do now..."
Lorelei’s eyes grew hollow, the reality kicked in hard and caused her to lose balance. A small amount of black liquid splashed at the corner of her outfit, mixing with the dry crimson to create a dull blue colour.
Her back hunched, not with the weight of Aden’s negligible form, but with the guilt of failing her most primary duty.
"Of what use is my existence if I cannot protect my Lord... I’m sure the Vassals of the weaker Suns could do a better job than I am..."
Her hands shakily moved towards her back. She tapped once, but was met with nothing. Her heart shook, but her hands moved searchingly upwards, each mistap causing her heart to drop further down.
Finally she felt a light presence and immediately brought him to her chest.
Only half his chest remained, a white energy leaked out his empty half momentarily brightening the dark cave.
"Lord... Please wake up," Lorelei pleaded quietly, her fingers traced delicate lines across his face. "If you die, we all die."
Lorelei gulped. "I don’t want to die."
The cave fell into a deafening silence, the occasional groans from the farther Vassals echoed through her mind.
The scent of crimson burned into her nostrils as she buried her head in the nook of Aden’s neck, in a desperate attempt to hide the moisture threatening to spill from her eyes.
For a while, only the Aden’s slowly dissapearing form and Lorelei’s stifled sobs existed, until a dry, almost imperceptible voice whispered into her ears.
"Lor..."
Lorelei’s eyes widened to the limit. Her hands grasped the edges of Aden’s head with controlled force, as if she was afraid he would dissapear... Literally.
"Lord! I’m here! It’s me!"
Aden sputtered, but instead of the expected saliva or blood, all that left his mouth was a whitish dust, reminiscent of shining powder.
Part of it landed on Lorelei’s face, but there was no change in her expression. All that mattered was that her Lord was still alive, no matter the state he was in.
"I need... The Vassals..." He whispered.
Lorelei’s breath hitched. She knew what he was asking. The Vassal bond was a two-way street; he gave them strength, but in a crisis, he could demand their life-essence to patch his own leaking soul.
But the question was, how did he know?
"Lord... Zero is already at his limit. If you draw from them now... they won’t just be injured. Their Energies will be extinguished. They’ll be husks."
"Better husks... than corpses," Aden whispered. "Tell them... it’s a loan. I’ll pay them back... in the next life. Bring them closer to me... And I’ll do the rest..."
Her eyes shakily looked past him and landed on the bodies littered around them. Their potential was endless as far as her Lord has enough Void energy, but talk less of supplying energy in his state, the chances of him breathing without dying was a gamble.
And although she still couldn’t shake the heavy suspicion that brew in the corner of her mind, her feet took the initiative and headed to one of the Vassals whose feet were had no right toes.
With a pained whisper, she swung him over her shoulder. "Your purpose will be fulfilled."
