The purple beam enveloped Aboli and Luna's bodies for over thirty seconds before finally showing signs of stopping. Even the most rigid material on this planet would have melted into water with that duration.
Clack clack clack!
"No way!"
Lucas stared in disbelief at the scene before him.
Luna's body had been utterly mangled, her two legs twisted, one nearly torn from her torso, producing the repeated screech of a malfunctioning machine. Suspended in midair, her neck was gripped tightly by Aboli, her head twisted to the side, a large portion of her face torn away to expose the mechanical details within.
And yet, Aboli was in even worse shape.
Her entire body had been scorched, her clothes reduced to ash, her skin charred black. Bones jutted sharply from beneath, her entrails spilled from her abdomen, and she was dragged across the ground. The once-beautiful face was now nothing but a skull, with bulging eyes ready to pop out—hideous and revolting to the extreme.
But even so, she still lived. She took step after step toward Lucas. With each step, her body began to regenerate—flesh sprouted anew, covered by pale skin, and her hair grew long again, cascading down to cover her back.
By now, she had grown taller, no longer the frail, thin figure she once was. She had fulfilled the words she once spoke to Louis—she could become an adult or even older.
Suddenly, she curved her lips into a smile. The spot where she stood cracked open into a small crater, spiderweb-like fissures spreading outward. In the next instant, she vanished!
Lucas's eyes widened. This was his first time fighting something like this. He quickly scanned his surroundings but could not catch a trace of Aboli.
"Foolish..."
A soft voice sounded—and Lucas was stomped violently into the ground. The force was so great that his body sank into the floor, cracks spreading out from him, while Aboli's foot pierced clean through his back!
"...And you dare compete with me for Louis?"
Aboli sneered lightly, then tossed Luna onto the ground. The siblings lay motionless, but not yet dead, their cold, devouring gazes locked on Aboli.
"Over here, hurry!"
At that moment, the sound of rushing footsteps echoed. A group was charging toward the scene.
The already-tilting door was kicked wide open, and the housekeeper led an armed squad inside.
But the sight before her made her freeze.
The two monstrous siblings had been pinned helplessly beneath Aboli, while Aboli herself stood unharmed.
She was completely naked, her newly reborn body flawless and exposed. Several guards flushed red, unsure whether to lower their eyes or where to look, while the housekeeper was so terrified she dared not utter a word.
She had imagined Aboli locked in a life-and-death struggle with the siblings—but never such overwhelming dominance!
Aboli, seemingly unashamed, turned toward the balcony and spoke softly:
"Louis..."
But Louis was nowhere to be found.
Aboli froze, blood vessels bursting across her eyes, green veins bulging her face. Like a madwoman, she dashed toward the balcony, her gaze sweeping frantically around before fixing on the distance—where there was nothing left but open sky.
Luna and Lucas seemed to realize it, too. The siblings widened their eyes toward the balcony, joy and mockery flashing as they looked at Aboli. Yet beneath it all was fury that Louis had dared to run away.
The railing in Aboli's grip twisted and tore like mere paper. Her voice rasped hoarsely, broken and guttural like a demon's growl:
"Louis! Louis! I'll kill you, I swear I'll kill you!"
At that moment, Mason arrived with his men.
Hearing Aboli's voice, he nearly dropped to his knees.
He silently cursed whoever had angered her while quickly ordering people to fetch clothes for Aboli.
Casting a sharp glance at the housekeeper, he snapped:
"If you don't want to die, get out!"
The housekeeper cursed herself for not knowing teleportation, hurriedly leading everyone away. When some hesitated in confusion, she immediately scolded them into silence.
Meanwhile, Louis—the root cause of everything—sat comfortably inside a flyer.
It was a teardrop-shaped vehicle commonly used for travel in this era, though of course, only affordable to the ultra-rich.
Beside him sat a tall, broad-shouldered man, his muscular frame clad in a black shirt and vest with brocade silver-trimmed lapels.
Silver chains crossed the button line as decoration. His long legs, dressed in black trousers and calf-high boots, were crossed with an air of casual ease.
His face was so handsome it almost hurt to look at, his eyes as dark as obsidian, his lips always tilted in a lazy smirk. His gray hair, wild like a wolf's tail, spilled down his back, with a small tuft tied into a braid at the end.
He watched Louis, idly twisting the blue-gemmed ring on his ring finger.
Louis, however, paid him no mind, too busy rubbing his hands. Heavens, what sin had his poor hands committed? He had touched something he never should have felt!
"I've been tainted..."
Louis couldn't help but mutter.
Sylus's eyes flicked to the bite marks covering Louis's neck, and he gave a subtle nod. "Indeed... tainted. No longer clean."
Only then did Louis glance at Sylus. His plan would never have succeeded without Sylus's unconditional support.
Indeed, despite his hallucination problem, Sylus was a good man—something Louis had noticed since reading the original novel.
To prevent Sylus from seeing Aboli earlier, Louis had left him waiting below while he jumped straight from the balcony.
He didn't want Sylus to see his dream lover and then abandon him.
Leaning back comfortably in his seat, Louis found Sylus increasingly pleasant to the eye. Nudging Sylus lightly in the stomach with his elbow, he grinned and said:
"Buddy, in the future, whenever you need help, I'll never refuse you!"
Sylus held his stomach, glancing at Louis in surprise before murmuring with quiet weight:
"You're even bolder than you are online."
Louis was far from being intimidated by him.
"Hurry up! You said if I made it to Zone 5, I'd get a new house—so take me to my new house already!" Louis said bluntly.
Sylus sneered. "You make it to Zone 5? Without me, you'd never have gotten here, useless trash!"
Louis sighed. "Well, the world has to balance out. If there are perfect people like you, Sylus, then there must also be useless ones like me. After all, I can't be handsome, powerful, rich, and loyal all at once like you. An existence that perfect should only ever be unique in this world."
Sylus lifted his chin, looking down his nose at Louis with arrogance.
How foolish—just a little flattery and his tail was already wagging. As expected, Sylus was the easiest to deal with.
Louis loved people like Sylus the most; hanging around him didn't require much thought. A good brother indeed, ha ha.
"Ha! At least you know your place!"
Sylus slung an arm around Louis's shoulders, ruffling his hair with his large hand. "From now on, you're my best friend!"
With that, he piloted the flyer faster. Louis's eyes lit up—yes, the quicker the better. A perfect, peaceful life, here I come!
On the surface, he didn't forget to sigh in admiration: "My god, am I really best friend with you now, Sylus? This feels just like a dream. I'll remember this day forever—it's truly a historic milestone, the turning point of my life!"
Tsk, tsk. Poor Louis. Just what had he been through to end up so self-deprecating? Sylus felt he ought to treat him a little better.
So Sylus directly took Louis to handle the procedures for upgrading him to a Tier-3 citizen.
"No one will dare bother you here!" Sylus waved his hand.
Louis, meanwhile, was examining his new residence. "Wait, isn't this supposed to be my new house?"
Sylus instantly frowned. "Don't be greedy!"
After a pause, he explained, "Right now, I can't buy you a house. Give it some time—when the chance comes, however many you want, I'll get you that many."
Louis understood well enough. At present, Sylus was at odds with the Aurellan family, bored with working under them and refusing to obey.
And with the Aurellan mindset, a blade like Sylus should be broken if it did not belong to them!
Louis didn't have many complaints. He knew he couldn't demand too much, even if Sylus was easy to fool.
Compared to the cramped rental room he'd lived in before, Sylus's place was heaven. In an instant, Louis felt as though he had returned to the life of a young master from his previous existence.