CHAPTER 638: CHAPTER 574: ENDGAME (PART 2)

"..."

After hearing Leon’s words, Prince Andre, covered in serpent scales, fell silent for a moment. Then he turned his head to look at Feiliya beside him, his lips moving slightly, but he couldn’t say anything.

"Andre, this is your last chance."

"I..."

Upon Leon’s reminder, Prince Andre trembled slightly, looking at his sister who’s eyes were filled with pain, he finally murmured softly:

"I’m sorry... I... I’m not a good brother..."

"..."

Feiliya, with an expression full of pain, turned her face gently to glance at him, then shook her head, reaching out with a quivering arm covered in crow feathers to lightly place it on his shoulder. Though she said nothing, it seemed as if she had said everything.

Catching her gaze, the tears in Prince Andre’s eyes fell instantly, filled with regret as he said:

"I’m sorry! Feiliya, I have failed you, and everyone else; if... if only we had not been born in the Crolock Kingdom..."

Um... wait?!

On hearing this, Leon was slightly stunned as if he had grasped something, yet it was vague and unclear.

Meanwhile, Prince Andre hugged Feiliya, who was covered in crow feathers, tightly, sobbing uncontrollably and speaking incoherently:

"It’s all my fault, I was too... If only... if only we weren’t born in the royal family, without this cursed bloodline, perhaps... perhaps our whole family could..."

"Wait a minute!"

In the middle of Andre’s sobs, Leon suddenly hissed, then slapped him hard on the back.

"Quick! Repeat what you just said!"

"Huh?"

Interrupted in the midst of his heart-wrenching cries, Prince Andre was dumbfounded for a moment, then he said in confusion:

"Perhaps our whole family could..."

"Not that sentence! A bit earlier!"

A bit earlier...

"If only we weren’t born in the royal family, without this cursed..."

"That’s it!"

Finally capturing the elusive inspiration, Leon slapped his thigh, then yanked Prince Andre’s soul off the ground and asked loudly:

"Quick, tell me, what kind of ’binding’ did you sign? Is it a trigger that once activated can’t be stopped, or does it continuously trigger the way it is now?"

"It’s continuously triggered..."

A bit dazed, Andre pointed to the three blood beads floating at his brow and said:

"These three are the blood oath’s beads, also serving as the mark for executing the blood oath. Apparently, a few members in the past died due to accidentally breaching the blood oath, so aside from intentional leaks and such now, they’re all switched to this continuously triggered method..."

"Then there’s still a chance! Kneel down quickly! Immediately announce your surrender to me!"

"Huh?"

"Don’t get it yet? Those three constraints of yours, they all have prerequisites!"

Pointing to the three blood beads floating at Prince Andre’s brow, Leon reiterated the three constraints, then explained:

"You cannot leave while the Crolock Kingdom exists; you must not produce royal offspring; no Crolock royal family member can be captured and taken away... the premise of it all is the royal family! Understand?"

"You mean..."

"I mean, I’m now declaring war on behalf of the Kingdom of Lutung, capture you two last royals, and obliterate the Crolock Kingdom entirely!"

With a confused expression, Prince Andre listened as Leon reminded him:

"Only when the kingdom’s rulers are gone is the royal family eliminated. If the Crolock Kingdom itself ceases to be, what then is your royal family? And since no royal members have been captured and taken by the Clean-up Bureau, can the constraints still hold?"

It should... stop?!

Following Leon’s line of thought, Prince Andre couldn’t help being so excited that he trembled all over, though he hesitated a bit and said:

"Isn’t this a bit too much of a joke? Can it really work this way?"

"Whether it works or not, you must give it a try, right?"

After helping the green-eyed girl to her feet and kneeling before him, Leon pulled Prince Andre down too, executing the simplest surrender ceremony in history, then broke off a dead branch from a nearby tree to use as a ceremonial sword and placed it on Prince Andre’s shoulder, proclaiming loudly:

"I, Leon Laine, upon my mission to the Crolock Kingdom discovered the kingdom’s hidden evils, therefore, on behalf of the Kingdom of Lutung, I declare war and capture the last two members of the Crolock royal family, declaring the Crolock Kingdom’s demise!"

"..."

"What are you hesitating for! Don’t you care about your sister’s life? Surrender quickly!"

"..."

I can surrender, but this ceremony is a bit humiliating. Generally speaking, even if I really surrendered, I wouldn’t have to bow to you...

Seeing Leon urging him to surrender quickly, the corner of Prince Andre’s mouth twitched slightly. With a sense of desperation, he led his sister to bow to Leon.

"I... Andre, the third prince of the Crolock Kingdom, along with the sixth princess Feiliya, hereby surrender to... the person in front, and declare the permanent renunciation of our royal status in the Crolock Kingdom..."

And with Prince Andre’s proclamation, the three-colored blood beads at their brows indeed began to wobble and then visibly start to dissipate.

It’s working! It actually works!

Unexpectedly, with such an absurd method, they managed to circumvent the blood oath, and the dethroned king Andre couldn’t help but stand up excitedly.

Yet at this moment, after dispersing halfway, the three-colored blood beads didn’t continue to collapse but slowly stopped moving, still quietly rotating, slowly and irresistibly destroying everything about them.

It’s still not working, huh?

Seeing the three-colored blood beads at their brow shrink a bit but still continuously destroying their souls, the expectant looks in Andre and his sister’s eyes dimmed instantly.

Indeed, such a ridiculous method couldn’t wholly bypass the Slaughter King Association’s constraints, merely loosening the grip on their throats a bit, their fate still not changed.

...

"Do you think it’s possible that this condition alone isn’t enough?"

Gazing at the halved three-colored blood beads, Leon frowned and pondered:

"In your constraints, you must not leave the Crolock Kingdom, nor be taken away by the Clean-up Bureau from the Crolock Kingdom, so... besides royal status, could the territory of the Crolock Kingdom itself be one of the blood oath’s conditions?"

???

It means... you’ve merely accomplished ’surrender’ but haven’t actually ’occupied’ the territory of the Crolock Kingdom, thus not completely destroying it, nor thoroughly nullifying the blood oath?

With previous experience as a reference, Prince Andre instantly figured out Leon’s intention, then with his face twitching, he asked:

"Are you planning to capture..."

"Destroy the entire Crolock Kingdom!"