The Duke's Passion



845 Almost there

Samael had been fighting for hours. It was enough time to observe his enemies. Normally,

Samacl didn't need hours to figure out how to defeat his enemy. However, Zero was cunning and creative. It took all of Samael's brain cells to realize that Zero based his plans on the books of adventures Samael wrote himself.

Samael stretched his neck, cracking the tension on his shoulders. He stood on top of the gigantic black thread that looked like a Kraken. His Catharsis was plunged deep into the darkness he was standing on with Tristan's head in the middle of his darkening blade.

"Fucking Quentin..." he mumbled, gazing down.

The black threads he had been fighting fiercely were deflating ever so slowly. However, blood didn't spill on the ground. It was being absorbed by Catharsis.

"Tilly..." he whispered, recalling the look in Tilly's eyes when he met her in the memory Samacl was pulled into.

Samael lived with Tilly for years, and what he could say was that Tilly never wore such an expression. Even when there were problems on the mainland such as the citizen petitioning the Grimsbanne to leave the land, Tilly didn't react.

To make it simple, nothing ever fazed Tilly.

She was the laziest person Samael had ever met in his life and seeing her hasten was the last thing people would see from her. That was why it was concerning to see her in a hurry.

"Where did she say she is...?" he wondered, looking around the thick fog of dust from the battle he triumphed.

The entire Colosseum was destroyed with Samacl fighting back against the black threads. It wasn't easy, but knowing it had a time of vulnerability, Samael got the upper hand. What Samacl learned from this black thread was that every time Zero's proxy would dic, it would deliberately rest.

So far, Samael had seen three of Zero's puppets die. One of them was the one that Lilou killed. Each time, the dark thread would pause from attacking them. But that wasn't all. After having a quick trip in Zero's memory by chewing Tristan's eye, Samael's gut instinct told him that spilling more blood in this land would prolong this fight and give them more trouble.

Therefore, even when he didn't want to, Samael reluctantly sacrificed his Catharsis to suck all life force that was within Tristan and this dark entity. It was beyond his morals, but all he could do was apologize for his sword for giving it such an awful meal.

"It really seems it's angry," mumbled Samael as his eyes fell on Catharsis. "Sorry, but I'm already full at the moment. Think of it as you're doing a good deed and keeping your master out of trouble."

His face turned sour, watching the black lightning sizzling around his sword's handle. A shallow breath slipped past his lips, shaking his head.

Samael planted his hands on his hips, looking around the surrounding area.

"She said, she needs me," he mumbled, recalling Tilly's words and then the entity he had seen in Zero's memory. "That thing... gives me goosebumps. Never thought I'd feel this type of fear in

this lifetime."

*********

Meanwhile...n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Madam!"

Lilou heard Rufus's voice from a distance, clenching her teeth as she blocked Acheron's attack. It had been a while since she switched opponents with Rufus, but she could only say that Acheron was stronger and much better than the first time she fought this man.

"I cleared this area!" Rufus continued, standing on top of the establishment Lilou and Acheron hadn't destroyed. "Take him away from here!"

Her eyes shone in bright red, disappearing from her standpoint to attack this time. Acheron was quick enough to repel her, but Lilou didn't stop, charging toward her enemy continuously. Watching this from the top of the establishment, Rufus maintained a solemn countenance. He fought Acheron, and thus, he knew how troublesome the man could be. However, he trusted Lilou and her scythe, Lakresha.

Lilou would emerge from this duel victorious.

"May the light be upon you," whispered Rufus, keeping his eyes on Lilou's figure that was appearing and disappearing while her opponent was swiftly defending himself.

Ilis eyes then veered to the unconscious people near the area where Acheron and Lilou were fighting. Rufus already cleansed most of them and gotten rid of whatever sorcery they were under. However, that wasn't enough.

Cleansing the undead was probably the easiest part. It wasn't exactly easy as it had been a while since he started and he only cleared this area. All night wouldn't be enough if they were talking about the entire country. That wasn't impossible, though.

The problem was, cach time the cleansing would succeed, the former undeads would lose consciousness. With the battles that were going on across the land of Spade, Rufus was in a dilemma. At least, while they were undeads, they could move to a place. If they were unconscious, Rufus couldn't carry all of them on his own. Even if Claude went to rescue capable people, there was a high chance it wouldn't still be enough. Rufus also had to consider that their plans could change anytime, and Claude might've changed his initial plan since the latter hadn't returned yet.

"We're running out of..." Rufus's brows rose as a brilliant idea crossed his mind. However, before he could even smile at the thought, his mind went blank momentarily when he saw Acheron about to destroy an establishment where Rufus carried the unconscious citizen to safety.

For a second, Rufus's heart stopped. His feet slid forward, about to jump and stop Acheron, only to see Lilou appearing right beside Acheron. Lilou launched a power kick on Acheron's side, sending him flying in the direction away from the area.

Rufus heaved a sigh of relief, not dwelling on Lilou and Acheron's battle.

"I must trust her," he told himself, needing to repeat those words again as he nearly jumped in their battle. If Rufus didn't listen to the other side of his gut feeling, he would've gotten hurt. He shook his head to get rid of unnecessary thoughts, setting his focus on the other side that was yet to be cleansed.

"The darkness had grown deeper," he whispered, gazing at the farthest end of where the darkness reached. "It seemed Claude changed his..."

Rufus furrowed his brows, turning his head to the left. All he could see was darkness, fires, and smoke. However, he seemed to have heard these faint shouts coming from the border.

"Did the Divine Order and Stefan arrive - he stopped abruptly as he suddenly felt this destructive aura coming from a direction. Rufus had been with all the people surrounding Lilou and Samael for years. Therefore, he could easily discern whose presence was coming with a

bang.

Heliot.

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