‎"Anything?" Rasmus asked as he stared at Daryus' fingers, checking for pulses.

‎Daryus' troubled face made Rasmus curious because the last time Daryus checked his body, he was stunned by Rasmus condition. This time, Daryus made a similar reaction when he tried to read Rasmus' pulse.

‎"Your heart rate is three to five beats per minute, Count. You're basically in a similar state to someone who's in a final stage of heart failure," Daryus answered as he gently placed the stethoscope against Rasmus' chest to hear his heartbeat. "Oddly enough, even though your heart is beating extremely slow, it beats quite strongly," he muttered.

‎"Your body temperature is also extremely low, it's room temperature. Your state is already in an algor mortis state, Count. No, your body is even lower than the room temperature, that's impossible even for the dead..." Daryus explained with a confused and disbelief expression.

‎Rasmus never knew that his body had turned cold since he couldn't feel his own body temperature. He already knew that his heart rate was extremely slow and it worsened ever since he awakened his Orthias blood. However, it was normal because Orthias' body was also cold and they didn't even have a pulse. For his case, he had human genes in him, and his heart would go as low as it could get but not stop completely.

‎"Would you be surprised if I could manipulate my own heart rate?" Rasmus asked as he controlled his heart to beat thirty times faster than before.

‎For Daryus, it was a shocking discovery and he couldn't believe anyone could manipulate their own hearts like that. For Rasmus, he saw things move very slowly and could see every dust around him. The moment he changed his heart rate back to normal, things began to move normally again.

‎This was something that Rasmus discovered, and it was uniquely his. Unlike Orthias who didn't have a body system like humans. With that being said, Orthias didn't have the ability to have an adrenaline rush. With the strength and speed of Orthias and with the ability to have an adrenaline rush state, he could grow stronger and faster than any Orthias. Aris and Rullein were curious about that, and they couldn't do what his body could do.

‎"I'm not a human anymore, Doctor, or at least not like any humans," Rasmus said as he sat up from the bed and sat on the edge of the bed, buttoning his shirt. "But that's enough about me, Doctor. How's Lady Astrea's condition?" He asked as he got up from the bed to grab his suit.

‎Daryus looked down and clenched his fists when he thought about Astrea's condition. He had tried everything, thought of any way to help her, and used every energy he had to treat her, but nothing worked.

‎"Every day, her condition worsened, Count. We tried everything, the three of us did, and Divine Physician Sima also did everything he could but gave up. I'm afraid that her days are numbered," Daryus answered, feeling guilty and knowing he would regret not being able to save Astrea.

‎"And? What are you going to do after she dies?" Rasmus asked, staring Daryus in the eyes with a calm expression.

‎"Are you being serious, Count?" Daryus stared at Rasmus with a cold gaze. "How can you be so easy to say something like that?" He gritted his teeth.

‎"Because you said it yourself that her days are numbered, Doctor. I'm stating a fact based on your expertise," Rasmus answered as he glanced out the window, noticing a paladin running toward the palace. "But that's not important, Doctor. You followed me, believing that you could make a better world. Once this is over, what are you going to do next? Stay here? Or are you going to follow me again?" He asked, averting his gaze from the window and looking at Daryus.

‎Daryus sighed, knowing there was no point in arguing because in the end, he would be in the wrong. He thought about the question and remembered why he had followed him in the first place. Back then, he held his ideal and believed that the system only benefited the few, after witnessing countless events, he saw it first hand the thing he despised the most being revealed by Rasmus.

‎"The system is unfair and broken, but it's now completely destroyed. The new system that Lady Aurelia wants, I'm interested in seeing how it goes. I know that I'm not needed in that, and I don't want to be a part of it as well," Daryus said as he fixed his round glasses. "I'm just a doctor, not someone who knows how to rule, to think like a ruler, to understand a ruler. I don't belong here once I'm done here," he answered.

‎"I think, I'll follow you with the others. I want to help people in any way since everyone in this world is currently fighting the same enemy as ours," Daryus decided without any hesitation.

‎"And you're not trying to change that?" Rasmus asked, leaning his shoulder against the wall and staring out the window. "You complained about how the system is broken, but what makes you have the right to complain when you don't even want to change it with all the opportunities to do so?" He asked, watching as Lenin, Thalior, and Aurelia walked out of the palace hurriedly with the same paladin escorting them.

‎"I want to, Count. But this isn't my place, not when my focused is only to treat Lady Astrea. I can't just to join the table and speak up about my ideal. I know my place," Daryus answered with a serious expression, wondering what took Rasmus' attention.

‎"Then don't waste your next opportunities, Doctor..." Rasmus said as he pushed himself away from the wall. "It seems that the day has finally come..." he muttered as he watched an old man being escorted into the palace with Aurelia and the others in front of him.

‎"What do you mean, Count?" Daryus furrowed his brows, watching Rasmus walk toward the door.

‎"The demon army, they're on their way here," Rasmus answered as he opened the door and left Daryus' room.

‎Rasmus walked the long hallway with Aris and Rullein then Julius, Arandil, Arthor, Lazarus, and Moriganne joined them. They all entered the parlor and saw the old man, trembling in fear as he recited the prayer for protection against evil.

‎Aurelia looked at Rasmus and she shook her head while Lenin and Thalior tried to calm the old man. No matter how hard they tried to communicate with the old man, he kept praying, his dried and bloodied lips, his red eyes from crying until he could no longer produce tears, and the trembling and clasping hands like they were glued together. They could see the primal fear in his eyes, and they knew there was no point in talking with him because he might have lost his mind.

‎"Rullein..." Rasmus said as he kept staring at the old man.

‎Rullein approached the old man, placing her right hand on his shoulder. Her left hand reached Aris, and Aris immediately held it firmly. Aris reached her other hand to Rasmus, and Rasmus held her hand firmly. Rasmus reached his other hand over to Serena, and so on until everyone was holding each other's hand, not understanding what it was for.

‎The moment Rullein used her power to see through the old man's memories, everyone could see them as well. They were witnessing what the old man had witnessed, and that was when everything was revealed. They saw how millions of humans died and melted, and then three Nephilim were born from it. They also saw how the Nephilim feasted on the other millions of humans while Satan was speaking to the old man.

‎Rullein pulled away her right hand from the old man and everyone stopped seeing his memories. It was gruesome, too much for Aurelia and caused her to feel sick and dizzy. The others had their fair share of experience that they could withstand the old man's memories. However, Lenin and Thalior were pale when they saw the Nephilim because they still remembered that battle and how terrifying that colossal being was.

‎"That thing is Nephia?" Moriganne asked as she looked at Lenin.

‎"Yes, but those are way smaller than what we fought. The one we fought was as tall as a mountain, so I suppose what we saw earlier were weaker than the one we fought in South Neva..." Lenin answered, she looked a bit relieved to find the three Nephilim were nothing compared to the one she fought back then.

"Don't be fooled," Serena interrupted as she stared at the old man. "What you saw weren't weaker, they were in fact the most perfect Nephia. They might be smaller, but they're stronger, and what we saw back there, they were feasting on millions of lives. They will grow even stronger, way stronger than the one we fought in South Neva. And there are three of them," she stared at Lenin with a serious expression.

The room became silent, only the prayers of the old man that filled the room, praying to God to deliver him from evil.

"They're coming, and they will be here soon," Rasmus said as he glanced at the window. "This is the last chance to pray because we might not have chance to even think about God but ourselves later," he added.