CHAPTER 167: HE IS ALIVE?

Third Person’s POV

"LLLEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOO—!!"

"NNNNNOOOOOOOOO—!!"

Raphael and her friend screamed, but then the sound froze—stuck halfway out. Their mouths hung wide, eyes stretched in horror, but not even the faintest quiver of a breath escaped.

Everything stopped moving... like literally everything.

The rocks that tumbled midair froze in their jagged arcs. The entire world was caught in mid-movement.

Except...

From the severed stump of Leo’s neck, a reddish-black mist began to seep.

It slithered like a serpent, winding through the air, its coils reaching toward Leo’s head that spun weightlessly mid-air, falling yet frozen. The mist curled around it, tendrils tightening as it sought the broken flesh, slowly bridging the severed neck and—

"Hehe~"

A sound, low and distorted, slipped from Leo’s shuddering head.

Thud!

Leo’s body twitched. His arms moved, his spine bent, his legs shifted with jerks of motion that cut through the halted world.

He twisted as though a puppet pulled by invisible strings before landing gracefully on the ground. His legs swayed under the weight for a moment, but soon he stood.

His hands rested on his hips as the mist snaked upward, drawing the drifting head back toward the body.

It moved like smoke carrying unbearable weight, dragging softly and slowly until it reached the base of his neck. His hand rose, pale fingers curling around the head.

He lowered it to meet the torn flesh. His eyes flared, a ghostly green light burning in their depths as his lips twitched into a whisper... sparking green particles that flickered and dissolved into the air.

Sllucckkk~

Crrrkk~

The sound of flesh knitting, of nerves crawling back to each other, of bones grinding as they locked into place.

Veins wriggled alive, twisting together like vines.

The head joined the body once again.

Even the scar vanished. The evidence of his decapitation was erased as though it had never been.

As his head sealed, his lips peeled back into a slow, sadistic smile.

Reddish black mist leaked from every pore of his skin, coiling and curling like living shadows around him. His eyes darted left and right, then narrowed as he took a deliberate step down from the debris.

His bare foot pressed against the fractured asphalt as he kicked aside his ruined shoes.

His toes flexed against the cold earth as if savouring the sensation.

"Hmm~ How long has it been?"

Leo muttered... or was it someone else?

His fingers curled by instinct at the kiss of the cold ground.

Each step carried an unnatural grace, his hips swaying with a strange, almost seductive!

His hands rose and fell, fingers weaving, twitching in the still air like dancers trembling on invisible strings.

The surrounding mana screamed in silence, writhing around him. It recoiled, shrieking in resistance, as though his very existence was an impurity, a corruption no natural force dared to touch.

Energy that once filled the battlefield now bent away, fleeing from him, avoiding his body like prey before a predator.

The reddish-black mist curled like smoke around him as the mana trembled, recoiling, unable to get near the shrouded haze.

"Fu~Fu~ Are you scared now?"

Leo’s voice slithered through the air, amused and wicked.

He strolled down the empty street, utterly careless of the disaster and ruin scattered all around him.

"Sigh... how cold, how warm... so this is freedom?"

He muttered softly, a strange mix of coldness and happiness threading through his tone. His arms spread wide as he stood in the centre of the ruined street, lifting his gaze to the moon that lingered overhead.

His eyes softened, warmth flickering within them as a gentle breeze brushed his skin, even though the world remained frozen, yet he felt everything... every breath, every sound, every heartbeat.

"Yeah, I feel it~"

His face twisted suddenly, eyes sharpening, his smile curling into something wicked and dangerous. His teeth ground together furiously, and a grotesque crack echoed as his neck snapped left and right, twisting unnaturally.

His gaze fixed forward...on nothing.

And yet...

Though nothing stood in front of him, his eyes’ reflection showed a figure moving, something only he could see.

His lips pulled wide into a grin as he locked his gaze on it.

"You didn’t expect this, did you? Hehe..."

A childish giggle escaped him.

His smile stretched unnaturally as he whispered, "I am back... I am very much back." His lips parted, releasing a coil of reddish-black smoke that curled like serpents into the frozen air.

"And this time... I... will... take tha—"

Suddenly, his throat clenched shut.

His chest flared with violent light, his insides glowing as if fire burned through his very bones... even the light penetrated out from the flesh as the bones flickered out.

Leo blinked in confusion. His hand shot to his throat, clutching it as if strangled.

"I... Impossible..." he muttered in shock.

The mist that had swirled freely around him suddenly collapsed, sucked violently back into his body as though dragged inward by force.

His lips twitched furiously, his eyes narrowing on the empty air in front of him...

"It’s not over... I am... I will... come..."

His body shuddered, convulsing one final time before his eyelids dropped shut.

Deep inside him, in the endless void—

"Huff!"

Leo gasped, air rushing into his lungs as the mist that had devoured him before gathered once again, swirling and pulsing before his eyes.

He panted, trembling as sweat slicked his skin. His gaze locked on the reddish-black fog,

"W-What happened?"

The last thing he remembered was the mist swallowing him whole, his senses snuffed out in an instant, like existence itself had turned off. And then—just as suddenly—it turned back on.

His eyes widened as he noticed something.... his right arm.

His entire right hand had changed.

The skin had turned into something dark, twisted, a crimson-black texture crawling over his flesh... just like the thing before him.

"No... no..."

His fingers clenched into a fist. He could still feel them, still move them, but the sensation was wrong. Everything about it was wrong.

The hand was his... and yet not his.

Leo’s head snapped back up,

"What have you done to me?!"

"I have healed your body. You can leave now."

The voice rang out, cold and detached, tinged with a quiet fury. Before Leo could ask anything, his body dissolved into smoke.

"W-Wait! Who are—"

His words broke off as he vanished.

The reddish-black mist lingered, its shifting form staring at the space where Leo had stood moments before.

"What is he?"

Its tone carried a flicker of confusion, as though it had never witnessed something like this before. Then, after a pause, it whispered with dark amusement,

"I suppose I need a little more time and... take them one by one... Hehe~"

A wicked chuckle rippled through the void.

Meanwhile, on the outside—

Leo’s eyes snapped open as he gasped,

"OOOOO!!"

"OOOOO!!!"

The frozen world around him erupted into motion once more. The building that had been frozen mid-collapse finally thundered down, beams shattering.

The voices of his aunt and her friend pierced the air again.

Leo flinched, his hand flying to his throat with a bewildered expression.

Not far away, the woman who had sliced through his neck blinked.

The building collapsed in two clean halves beneath the line of her strike, yet the man she had intended to kill was not there.

Her brows furrowed, gaze flicking from the ruined structure to the figure further down the street.

How did he get that far?

Didn’t she cut his neck clean through?

The questions tangled in her mind, but she shook them off.

Frowning, she turned her full attention back to Leo.

Leo stiffened at the sharp sound of her metallic boots against the asphalt.

His body trembled as he turned toward her.

"Caelindra! I know you’re there... Please!"

He shouted.

The woman finally... freaking finally showed some reaction... she smirked. Her lips curved with cruel delight as she spoke,

"She died so long ago... No matter how much you cry, she will never come back."

Leo’s fists balled,

"Lies... I can see her in you! She is there... I see it!" He shouted, "Caelindra... I am here, You Master Leo is still here!!!!"

For the first time, the woman flinched. Her crimson eyes flickered faintly, shifting for an instant toward green before she ground her teeth together.

Leo’s lips curled up.

"I told you—"

But before the words could finish, the woman’s figure vanished and reappeared before him in a heartbeat. Her sword arced downward. She didn’t know what kind of sorcery had saved him before, but this time she intended to shred him into pieces.

The blade came inches from his face.

But Leo wasn’t an idiot.... not this time. He wasn’t going to just stand there and let her take him again.

His hand was already raised in the air as he—

SLAP!!

A furious slap cracked through the silence!

Her head snapped sideways, her sword halting mid-swing. She froze in shock, blinking as her cheek stung. Blood welled where his fingers had dug into her skin, the imprint burning across her face.

"Bitch! I am talking to my Pride... Caelindra!"

Leo snarled.... Yet even as the words left his mouth, his expression slowly faltered.

Because she wasn’t glaring with rage... she was staring at him blankly. Blankly, as though his hand had wiped away everything she knew.

As though he had just slaughtered her entire family before her eyes.

Blood dripped from her lips. She spat a broken tooth onto the ground and then, slowly, she smirked.

This was different.... Entirely different from before.

Before, she hadn’t even considered him a threat. But now...

Now she looked pissed... Very much pissed!

"W-Well..."

Leo took a cautious step back.

He had only just returned—he couldn’t die again, could he?

Damn it... he should have controlled his mouth.

She was about to unleash her fury when—

A cloaked figure appeared between them, "Bitch" she muttered under her hoodie as her eyes glowed in golden

The woman froze, her sword locked mid-motion.

And then—

BOOMMM!!

The cloaked figure lashed out, a devastating kick exploding against her chest. The impact hurled her backwards, her boots screeched on the ground as she skidded back.