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Chapter 241: (6/23): Return

The skull king jumped back, eyes brighter than ever. Just now, he felt fear. The strongest undead had been afraid of a mere ant… His whole body burned with shame, and the only consolation he had was that the ant that had scared him was now half-splattered across the ground.

But it was unmistakable that for an instant, he had felt power near equal to his own from that ant.

Impossible…

He stood, watching the corpse of that ant cautiously for any more signs of that hidden power, but all he felt was the mana draining out from the cooling body. No power. Still, he decided to give it some more time just in case. The power had come from nowhere before, and there was no guarantee that the ant wasn’t setting a trap for him.

Compared to the skull king, Kagriss had no such reservations.

“Milla!” she screamed. The first step she took toward the only recognizable half of Camilla’s body, she almost fell as her legs buckled, but she managed to steady herself with her chains. From there, it was a simple matter to pull herself forward, calling out Camilla’s name over and over again. “Milla, wake up!”

No matter how much she shook Camilla’s shoulders, the woman would not wake up. Her eyes remained half-open and empty. The tears in Kagriss’s eyes blurred her vision until she couldn’t see anything that she wasn’t focused on.

The missing half of Camilla’s body disappeared into that blur.

Sobbing, Kagriss pressed her hands onto Camilla’s chest and poured her mana into Camilla’s body. “Milla, come back. Come on, take my mana, as much as you need! Don’t leave me…” she cried. The tears stung her eyes and she could only endure the pain. No matter what, her hands remained on Camilla’s chest, pouring her mana into Camilla.

But it was like she was filling a pitcher with holes at the bottom, and no matter how much mana she offered, the mana merely drained out of Camilla. 

“Stop coming out!” she screamed. Her own mana was failing— she was running out. If she ran out of mana, how can she save Camilla? Gritting her teeth, she took her hands off and quickly created an accumulation formation beneath Camilla’s body, gathering the escaping mana and forcing it back into Camilla’s body. “Please… don’t leave me. Don’t go…”

It was so strange. She had been willing to die in order to fulfill that goal Camilla had been working toward for so long. She was even fine with Camilla dying, but now, when faced with Camilla’s death in front of her, she could not bear it. 

The only difference was that Camilla’s wish had not been granted. In the back of her mind, Kagriss wondered that if she could somehow slot those keys into the lock, she’d be able to face Camilla’s death with grace.

But only Camilla can unlock the spell.

She wiped her tears before going back to pouring her mana into Camilla’s body in a never-ending cycle. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the skull king move, taking a step closer, and her head snapped to the side, glaring at him.

“Stay away!” she screamed. “Don’t come any closer!”

Anger rushed up from her stomach into her chest, filling her until she was about to burst, but the moment she burst never came. The pressure continued to rise as she glared hatefully at the skull king.

The skull king froze, and then took a step back. “It can’t be. Your power!”

“Don’t come any closer!” Kagriss snapped. “If you do, I can’t promise that you’ll leave alive. One more step and I’ll definitely kill you!”

Chains around her came to life and formed a cage around her, blocking the skull king’s path. Even more rose up and pointed at the king like snakes about to attack, and the skull took another step back, his grip tightening around his mace.

The pressure mounted with her anger and all Kagriss could see was red. She could sense that the skull king was no longer coming toward her so she turned back to Camilla, leaning down next to Camilla’s ears. “Milla, come back to me. I beg you…”

“I beg you…”

Kagriss’s choking voice echoed in Camilla’s mind over and over until her eyes flew open. A wide expanse of blue dominated her whole field of vision, with fluffy white clouds sprinkled here and there. She was looking at a clear, blue sky.

“Kagriss?” she asked, sitting up and looking around. She had been lying on the ground in the middle of a meadow filled with beautiful flowers, but she could see no one else from her quick glance.

There was one place she neglected to look, though. 

“Who’s that? Your lover? Too bad, but I’m not Kagriss,” said a voice from behind her, and Camilla nearly jumped out of her skin. As is, she tried to get up so fast she lost her balance and plowed her face into the grass.

Ignoring the pain, dirt, and grass on her face, she turned around and saw a beautiful woman with golden hair and a pair of wings wearing a white one-piece dress, sitting on the grass. Flugel. The flugel looked familiar somehow.

Seeing her confused gaze, the flugel laughed. “Don’t you look confused? Well, we probably met before if you’re here, but of course I wouldn’t remember.”

“We’ve met before? Where?” Camilla asked. As soon as the question left her mouth, a sharp stab in her mind cut away the fog of confusion that had clouded her thoughts and her memory flooded back to her. Everything, from the dungeon to the keys to their assault on the tower, and finally, their battle against the skull lich.

She jumped to her feet. “Kagriss!”

The flugel tilted her head. “I said that I’m not Kagriss. There is only you and me here.”

“You’re that command of the flugel army!” Camilla shouted. “What are you doing here? Where is ‘here?’”

“One question at a time, please. A better question would be what you are doing here. And the simple answer is that you are dying,” the flugel said without blinking, as if she was discussing the weather.

Camilla fell to her knees. That’s right. She was dying. The skull king crushed half of her body when she tried to protect Kagriss, and now with her here, Kagriss faced the king alone. “I’m dying,” she repeated.

“Yes, you’re dying.”

“So why am I here?” she asked. “Is this the afterlife? You’re dead for a thousand years, and I’m dying.”

“That’s a pretty good guess, but you’d be wrong. I am an image left behind in the lock for our ceremonial spell. When the person that is supposed to unlock the spell comes, I am the one to guide them. I didn’t expect to find you half dead, and for you to be so strange.”

“Strange?”

“Yes. A descendant of ours carrying her blood, but at the same time, an undead.” The flugel twirled her hair. “How strange of you. And you’re here to unlock the spell? Certainly, there is no rule that an undead that fulfills all the conditions can’t be the one, but…”

“But I’ll die, right? I know,” Camilla said with a sigh. “I wish it didn’t have to be that way, but I suppose it’ll defeat the purpose of the spell.”

The flugel stood up, walking around Camilla, looking her up and down. “So you have the resolve to die. I suppose I have to apologize for putting you in such a spot.”

Camilla shook her head. “No need to apologize. I failed anyway. I failed myself, and everyone, and Kagriss…” She sighed, looking at her hands. They were small and her fingers were thin. They were larger than they had been, but even after she grew, these hands remained dainty.

The calluses of a swordsman never formed on these hands, and now, they were a sign of her weakness.

“Now, all I can do here is wait for my death.”

“How did you fail?” the flugel asked, stopping her pacing and squatting down in front of Camilla, looking her in the eyes. “Did something happen out there that cut you in half? Unfortunately, I can’t see anything.”

Camilla nodded helplessly. “There was a skull king that was preventing us from unlocking the gate. He was the one that did this to me, and now, there’s nothing we can do but wait for him to destroy this tower. I can’t believe I left Kagriss to face him alone!” She buried her face in her hand, but her fingers curled and her nails dug into her skin hatefully.

For an instant, a dark force pulsed from her body, and the flugel grew quiet, so quiet that for a moment, Camilla thought that she had disappeared.

When the flugel spoke again, she was quiet, her voice a mere whisper.

“Do you want to protect that Kagriss girl?”

“Yes! More than anything else!” It was such a foolish question that Camilla stared at the flugel in disbelief, doubting her ears.

“I couldn’t before, but now… if you want, I can lend you some of my—no, our power.” A smile spread across the flugel’s face. “There is so much mana in the tower, just waiting to be used, that if you accept the power, you should be able to defeat the skull king.”

Camilla still could not believe her ears. “Really?”

With a laugh, the flugel stood up, brushing off her dress, resuming her pacing with her head held high. “Of course, there is a cost to it. No matter who it is that takes on that power, they will quickly be reduced to ashes. Even knowing that, will you accept?”

Once or twice, Camilla could still believe that her ears were deceiving her, but the third time was where she drew the line. She stood up as well, looking at the flugel’s eyes without shying away. “It’s not like I’ll survive the unlocking anyway. There is no downside.”

“I like your eyes. Then, close your eyes and do not resist. Remember, you have but a moment, even less than usual because you’re an undead, so use that moment well…”

Camilla closed her eyes and the flugel’s voice faded away like a dream in the early morning, and power filled her body, filling her veins with fire.

She heard Kagriss’s voice once more. 

“I beg you…”

 The amethyst gem in Camilla’s chest pulsed once, leaking mana into the cooling flesh around it. Mana stopped draining from Camilla’s body and instead began to gather. More and more power began to accumulate and flesh grew from the gaping wound below Camilla’s ribs, reforming the missing half.

Kagriss could not believe her eyes. Despite her prayers, deep inside her, she knew that Camilla was past saving, but now before her eyes, Camilla was healing and coming back to her. Camilla’s eyelids twitched a few times before they opened slowly, light returning back to her eyes.

“Milla, Milla…” Kagriss leaned down and pulled Camilla up to her heaving chest, doing her best to stop her sobbing. “You’re back…”

The skull king began to shake, his hands on his mace trembling. “Impossible! She, that ant, should have died! Not even I can save her! How can she heal from something like that! And you… what is that power?!”

Kagriss’s hair grew longer and longer as an infinite well of power rose up from within her, growing larger and larger until it rivaled even the might of the skull king. With a roar, the king charged forward and slammed down with his mace at her, but the snake-like chains struck, smashing into his armor.

The chains bounced off, but similarly, the mace was caught by the chain cage around Kagriss, and thrown back, sending the skull king stumbling.

“Stay away from me!”

“How?!” The skull king roared. His eyes burned brighter than ever and he looked at Camilla’s chest. There, a powerful source of mana grew and the truth became clear to him. “I see… I see! So that’s it. You gave your core to that ant, and as you evolved, it granted her a new unlife…”

“It doesn’t matter. All that I care about is that Camilla has come back to me. As for you, die!” Kagriss waved her hand and the chains shot forward, only for them to be blown away with a swing of the skull king’s mace.

“Don’t get too full of yourself! I am the strongest undead, a skeleton king! You are a mere zombie! How can our power compare?!” Power surged from the skull king, shaking the very room. But in Kagriss’s eyes, all she saw was Camilla’s face that smiled up at her.

“Kagriss, I’m back. Are you okay?”

Kagriss nodded, wiping away her tears. “Yes! Welcome back, Milla.”