CHAPTER 204: CHAPTER 151 END_2

The sword, wreathed in sacred flame, struck his face, creating a massive depression. Its needle-like blade remained firmly embedded there. The center of his face caved in. Bits of flesh and blood oozed out as he collapsed heavily onto the giant wolf sculpture.

Jack, already lost in slumber, seemed to be talking in his sleep, muttering, "Do it, hurry, do it."

Pain could easily wake him. Clearly, Father was trying his best to hold off the enemy in the dream.

Alka withdrew the long-handled dagger from Jack’s waist and plunged it directly into Jack’s chest, piercing his heart.

The momentary pain woke Sifus from the Dream Realm, but then Jack seized his body again.

However, the body’s death left Jack with no way out. He was now utterly exhausted, his mind in a daze. He couldn’t even consider resisting or healing the wounds, and his Magic Power was nearly depleted. This was his weakest moment.

"You... you all... really went to great lengths..."

Now, facing imminent death, he finally realized he had long ago fallen into a well-laid trap.

A few huge bandages flew over, entwining the giant wolf statue as it was about to fall into the sea. They stabilized it and quickly pulled it toward the flagship.

As the statue landed on the deck, the people on it fell off.

Jack had collapsed on the deck, blood continuously gushing out, his speech intermittent. He looked at the Knight with the Holy Sword who had approached him. He seemed to be cursing, but his words were inaudible.

Even in the final moments of death, he firmly occupied the body, unwilling to yield it.

The old man beside him was completely lifeless, a short, toy-like sword blade embedded in one of his fallen eyeballs.

A blood-soaked doll with childlike proportions stood beside the corpse, gazing at Alka.

In his final moment of death, Jack finally relinquished the body, and Sifus immediately regained control.

"Hurry, he... run..." Sifus, having regained control, opened his mouth to speak, but his voice was too faint and his words too broken for anyone nearby to hear clearly.

As Alka looked at the body’s wide-open eyes and anxious expression, Lucilia’s voice suddenly echoed in his ears, and the Knight with the Holy Sword beside him also seemed to have noticed something.

The three of them simultaneously turned their heads to look beside the corpse.

A soul shot out rapidly, like a stream of light trying to escape.

The Knight raised the Sword of Love, preparing to swing down, while a card quickly flew from Alka’s hand.

The card swiftly arced, instantaneously slicing through the escaping soul and absorbing it.

And Sifus, now fully in possession of his own body again, finally closed his eyes, the last breath of life leaving him.

Sifus had ultimately died in his own body.

Alka looked at the corpse in front of him. He gazed at the dagger piercing the heart in the corpse’s chest. It looked so familiar.

It was the very same dagger his father, Sifus, had used to stab his mother in the chest from behind when reenacting the scene for him.

Near the hilt, a few words were engraved on the blade’s surface. Stained with blood, they reflected the light: Wife Slayer.

"Shall I perform a soul-conducting ritual for you?" the middle-aged Knight from the Church asked, standing before Alka. "This was your father; his actions were not of his own will."

Being a Knight capable of wielding the Treasure known as the Sword of Love naturally meant he held a supreme position within the Church and knew a great deal of information.

Sifus’s body bore the Holy Mother’s Curse. If his soul wasn’t guided across, it would be forever trapped within this corpse.

Alka did not refuse the Knight’s proposal and nodded.

"Thank you."

At this moment, Chadite walked over, holding a severed arm. He placed it in the embrace of Sifus’s body. It was the arm that had fallen into the sea.

Alka stood up, and the Knight wielding the Sword of Love knelt on one knee.

Muttering dirges for the departed, the Sword of Love in his hand ignited with a sacred flame, then turned ethereal.

The ethereal blade pierced into the body.

The sacred flame began to envelop the body, burning it.

"Close your eyes, begin Chanting the Holy Mother’s name, and see him one last time."

Upon hearing this, Alka clasped his hands and began Chanting praises to the Stone Mother.

Then, he felt something and heard the sound of dripping water. He opened his eyes.

The environment he had seen once before appeared again. He was standing once more on the calm sea, and Sifus’s soul appeared where the body had been.

Sifus looked at Alka and smiled, his face full of gladness and ease, indifferent to death.

Alka watched him quietly. Memories hidden deep in his mind churned endlessly, and it felt as if the soul within him also stirred.

He opened his mouth and said, "Father."

Sifus nodded contentedly, his smile growing wider.

A small boat rowed over. A lantern, illuminating the darkness, hung on its prow, and there was a figure onboard.

It was Alka’s mother.

She had come to fetch him.

Upon seeing her, Sifus immediately turned and walked quickly toward the small boat. Death, it seemed, brought him no pain.

Boarding the small boat, they embraced.

Alka simply watched them embrace and exchange greetings, but he could not hear what they were saying.

The scene persisted, yet their voices were cut off, as if separated by worlds.