Chapter 1167: Cursed Guard [Part 9]

Chapter 1167 – Cursed Guard [Part 9]

Eve coughed.

It hurt.

Everything hurt.

Her throat felt as though someone had packed it with sand, her lungs barely remembered how to take a full breath, and every muscle in her body seemed confused by the sudden absence of restraints that had dictated its position for longer than she could remember.

But the chains were gone.

She could move.

The realization should have felt miraculous.

Instead, the first thing she saw was destruction.

The chamber was a disaster.

Dust hung so thickly in the air that the pale light had become dirty gray. Entire sections of the ceiling had collapsed. The beautiful white stone that had once surrounded her was cracked, blackened, cratered, and scattered across the floor in slabs large enough to crush a horse.

Something groaned overhead.

Eve slowly lifted her face.

A fracture traveled across the ceiling.

Small stones began raining down.

Then a section somewhere beyond the dust collapsed with a deafening roar.

-KRAAASH!

Eve flinched.

The entire prison shook.

This place was dying.

She understood that much.

Whatever the strange red-eyed demon had done to the formation hadn’t merely freed her.

He had broken something fundamental.

Perhaps many things.

Eve tried to breathe.

Her eyes searched the rubble.

"Vael...?"

Her voice barely existed.

Dry.

Weak.

Nothing answered.

Fear came faster than strength.

"Vael?"

Still nothing.

The strange cat-eared woman was gone too.

So was the demon.

Lux.

That was his name.

She remembered hearing it through the haze.

"No..."

Eve tried standing.

Her legs immediately collapsed.

She hit the floor on her hands and knees.

Pain traveled through her wrists.

She gasped.

For centuries, the formation had kept her body alive while simultaneously draining it. Her healing blood had prevented death, but it hadn’t preserved strength that was constantly stolen.

Freedom hadn’t magically restored what Kaelmor had taken.

She couldn’t even stand.

Another piece of ceiling fell.

Eve looked up.

They had to leave.

Now.

"Vael..."

She crawled.

Her white dress dragged through dust and fragments of stone. Her knees scraped against broken pieces, but she barely noticed.

"Vael!"

Nothing.

She followed the direction she’d last seen him thrown.

Every movement cost too much.

One hand forward.

Knee.

Drag.

Breathe.

Again.

The room seemed impossibly large now that she had to cross it under her own power.

Then she saw something beneath the rubble.

A clawed hand.

Eve’s breath caught. "Vael!"

She moved faster.

Or tried.

Her palm slipped in dust, sending her shoulder painfully against the floor, but she immediately pushed herself onward.

"Vael... Vael..."

She reached him.

Half his body was buried beneath broken stone.

Eve started pulling pieces away.

One.

Another.

Her arms shook.

The third stone was too heavy.

She pushed anyway.

"Come on..."

Nothing.

Tears blurred her vision.

"Please..."

She shoved again.

The stone rolled aside.

Vaelor’s face appeared.

His eyes were closed.

"Vael."

Eve touched his cheek.

Nothing.

Her trembling fingers moved to his neck.

There.

A pulse.

Weak, but there.

Relief almost made her collapse.

Then she saw his stomach.

"No..."

A long piece of broken enchanted stone had penetrated through his abdomen.

Blood soaked what remained of his armor.

Eve’s hands trembled.

"No. No, no..."

She placed one hand over the wound.

Heal.

Nothing happened.

She tried again.

The faintest white glow appeared around her fingers before immediately disappearing.

Her power was empty.

The formation had drained too much.

"Please..."

She concentrated until her head throbbed.

Nothing.

Then Eve looked at her own hand.

Her magic might be exhausted.

But her blood wasn’t merely magic.

She searched frantically through the rubble and found a thin, sharp shard of broken crystal.

Eve hesitated only a second.

Then pressed it into her palm.

She hissed.

Blood appeared.

Bright red.

Almost luminous.

She leaned over Vaelor.

"Vael."

A few drops fell against his lips.

Nothing.

More.

"Please."

One drop slipped into his mouth.

Vaelor’s body jerked.

Eve froze.

"Vael?"

He grunted.

His gold eye opened.

For a second, he looked confused.

Then he saw her.

"Princess..."

Her face crumpled with relief.

"You’re awake."

Vaelor tried moving.

His entire body tensed.

Eve immediately pressed him down.

"Don’t!"

His eye dropped toward his abdomen.

"Your stomach," Eve whispered.

Vaelor stared at the piece of stone impaling him. "Oh."

Eve almost laughed despite herself.

’Oh?’

That was his response?

He wrapped one enormous hand around the shard.

Eve’s eyes widened.

"Wait—"

Vaelor pulled. "NGH!"

The stone came free.

Blood immediately spilled from the wound.

"Vael!"

He threw the shard aside and panted. "I’m fine."

"You have a hole in you!"

"I’ve had worse."

She pressed her bleeding palm directly against his abdomen.

Vaelor stiffened.

"Eve..."

Her blood spread over the wound.

Warm white light appeared.

This time it held.

The torn flesh slowly knitted together beneath her hand.

Vaelor watched.

"Eve, you don’t have to. You’re weak."

"So are you." Her pale-blue eyes lifted toward his. "This is the least we can do."

Vaelor went silent.

His enormous hand slowly covered hers. Then his expression changed. "Lux."

Eve blinked.

Vaelor pushed himself upright. "We need to save Lux."

Right.

The demon.

The one who had protected her instead of himself.

Eve looked around. "Where—"

A pile of rubble twenty meters away moved.

Everyone froze.

One stone rolled down.

Then another.

A pair of black horns emerged.

Followed by an extremely dusty head.

Lux shoved a slab off himself. "I’m here."

He coughed.

Dust exploded from his mouth.

"I’m good."

Lux climbed out. Or attempted to.

His first step landed badly.

He staggered sideways and caught himself against a broken pillar.

There was a tear across his armor. Blood stained his side. His hair, which Eve vaguely remembered looking annoyingly perfect despite a battlefield, was now coated in gray dust and sticking in several directions.

One wing dragged slightly lower than the other.

He looked considerably less like the terrifying son of Greed.

And considerably more like a wealthy executive who had lost a fistfight with a collapsing building.

Eve stared.

Lux noticed. "What?"

She immediately looked away.

"Nothing."

"Good." He coughed again. "Because I’m perfectly fine."

[Statement assessed.]

[False.]

[Multiple contusions detected.]

[Two cracked ribs.]

[Wing injury.]

[Possible concussion.]

Lux’s eye twitched. "I wasn’t asking." Lux took another step.

His knee nearly gave out.

Vaelor raised an eyebrow.

Lux straightened immediately. "See?"

Eve’s lips twitched.

She hadn’t smiled properly in centuries.

Apparently freedom came with very strange entertainment.

Dark energy gathered around Lux’s palm.

"Dark Healing."

Black light spread across his torso.

His breathing eased.

The bruising beneath his armor began fading, and the bleeding at his side stopped.

Regeneration handled the rest.

His wing twitched.

Then straightened.

Lux exhaled. "Better."

Another tremor shook the chamber.

A large section of ceiling collapsed behind them.

-KRAAASH!

"Not better."

Lux looked around. Then his expression changed. "Runa."

Vaelor immediately stood.

Lux’s red eyes swept the rubble. "Where is Runa?"

Nobody answered.

Lux’s heartbeat accelerated.

He turned sharply. "Runa!"

Nothing.

The humor disappeared from him.

He moved.

Fast.

Vaelor helped Eve sit against the broken pillar before joining the search.

"Runa!"

Lux threw chunks of stone aside with Telekinesis.

One slab lifted.

Nothing.

Another.

Nothing.

"System!"

[Searching.]

Lux’s jaw clenched.

"Faster."

[Life signature detected.]

A marker appeared.

Lux turned. "There."

He teleported.

The movement made his injured ribs complain immediately, but he ignored them.

A collapsed section of the outer formation had buried something beneath it.

Lux raised both hands. "Telekinesis."

Stone groaned.

Several slabs rose simultaneously.

He threw them aside.

There.

A feline ear.

"Runa."

Lux dropped to his knees.

She was unconscious.

Blood ran from her forehead. Her tail lay limp beside her, covered in dust.

Lux touched her neck.

Pulse.

Strong enough.

He exhaled. "Found her!"

Vaelor approached carrying Eve carefully against his chest.

Lux looked at the ceiling. A fracture opened directly overhead. "Wonderful."

[Structural collapse imminent.]

[I recommend leaving immediately.]

Lux slid one arm beneath Runa’s knees and the other behind her back.

He lifted her.

Her head fell against his chest.

No response.

Lux’s expression hardened. He hated that. He didn’t like silent.

"Let’s get out of here."

Vaelor looked toward the corridor. "The entrance is far."

"We’re not using the entrance."

Lux shifted Runa securely against him.

He raised one hand.

Space responded.

Dark energy spiraled outward.

A circular tear appeared in reality.

"Portal."

The opening expanded.

Beyond it... The forest.

Fresh air.

Night sky.

Freedom.

Eve stared.

After centuries surrounded by stone, the sight of trees alone made her breath stop.

Vaelor looked down at her.

She was already crying.

Quietly.

Lux noticed.

He said nothing.

Some moments didn’t need commentary.

Another violent tremor traveled through the fortress.

The ceiling behind them finally surrendered. "Move!"

Vaelor carried Eve through first.

Lux followed with Runa.

A massive slab crashed down behind him.

The portal began destabilizing.

Lux stepped through.

Reality snapped shut.

-BOOOOOOM!

The portal vanished.

Silence.

Real silence.

Not dungeon silence.

Not the suffocating quiet of wards and prisons.

Wind moved through trees.

Leaves rustled.

Somewhere far away, an insect chirped.

Eve stared upward.

The sky stretched endlessly above her.

Her hand slowly reached outward from Vaelor’s arms as if she could touch the night itself.