He pulls the katana which is stuck on his shoulder, and the cut wound starts to heal at a high rate. Soon, Marin throws the katana back at Florian.“Here! I'm giving it back to you!”The katana flies so fast, with its tip directed at Florian’s face. Florian manages to tilt his head to the left to avoid it. But he still gets a shallow cut on his cheek, while the katana is stuck on the wall.Marin gets back inside, and then lands. Now, there’s a unique red mark floating above his head, and some kind of unique brand in the shape of burn marks on both of his forearms. There’s even a thin red aura in the shape of sphere covering his both knuckles.Florian knows this is Marin’s trademark, a powerful aura skill ‘The brand of Ash’, which grants him the blessing of flame.All his attacks after this will have combustion effect, and everyone who touches him will be covered in ash. Marin even leaves traces of burning ground in each step he takes.“Oi, Oi! Marin!” Teddy McDonald calls. “Can’t you c

Florian’s face turns a bit gloomy, and somewhat hopeless. He just realizes how pointless it is trying to stop Valery.“I’ve tried to kill him,” he says as he approaches Venera. “But I couldn’t do anything.”“I know,” Zamira affirms. “As long as you are under his curse, you can never confront him.”Florian gently holds Venera’s head, and soon, the girl gasps and startles. She looks so clueless, with a pale face and tears welling in her eyes.The moment she recognizes Florian, she immediately hugs him, like a frightened baby looking for protection.Florian knows Valery can control Venera again and takes her from him. But at least, he knows there is another way he can do to free Venera from the curse.“It’s okay! You are safe now! Let’s get away from here.”He then invites Venera to follow him, heading to the broken part of the wall. He spreads his wings, intending to leave that tower by flying.“Florian!” Zamira calls.“Thank you for freeing me from Catalin's ice cage. But I can’t help y

Cresta comes to Dean, and draws his right palm closer to Dean’s heart. Dean’s entire body begins to be shrouded by abundant spirit energy.He intends to cleanse Dean’s blood from the curse. But somehow, he realizes that Dean is still trying to push out that corrupted energy by instinct, even in an unconscious state.And soon, a small amount of bituminous liquid leaks out of his mouth and nose, evaporating along with some amount of mana and spirit energy.“There’s not much left,” says Cresta. “I didn’t even need to do anything but fill his vessel a bit with my spirit. He is quite skilled at maintaining the purity of his mana and spirit energy, so that they are not easily polluted by the dark corrupting energy.”“Yes! He has thrown out quite a lot of that dark corrupting energy before,” says Namsqeem.“Impressive! The curse is much stronger than the previous one, and he could reject it! No one has done it so far. Anyway, who put the curse on him? Was it Valery?”“No, it was someone else

In reality, Dean is still doubtful, with a fear that is quite difficult for him to describe. And again, the faces of the wife and son he would leave behind resurface in his mind.But this is a risk he has to take, and so he activates the antique watch again to open the path to enter Nimeza’s grave.“Let’s go!” he invites.They head to the door which leads to the underground tunnel. As soon as everyone gets down there, he readjusts the hand clocks to 4, 8, and 12.The entrance door is closed, but the underground tunnel is still illuminated by the glowing Nimeza inscriptions on the wall.“Could there be some kind of trap here?” asks Kosha observing his surroundings.Shynar reads one verse, and it’s just some wise quote about life. There’s nothing special about it. Until suddenly…“So, you’ve finally made up your mind?” says someone in Nimeza language.It’s actually Miarnin coming to them, Dean’s ancestor, representing his brothers to welcome Dean.Somehow, Dean always feels so familiar w

Neda has also realized this situation. But he just shakes his head with a firm expression on his face, looking so affirm to just ignore those people.“You are asking me to just abandon them?” asks Zamir with a disbelieving face. “What if it was your own family they are taking away? Would you abandon them too?”“There’s nothing we can do,” says Neda. “You will only sacrifice more lives. We will save them later. Believe me, they won’t kill those people. They need them for their blood stocks!”Zamir still looks so clueless. Even if they have to retreat now and try it later, he doesn’t think it will be much different.Impatient, Neda snatches the radio from Zamir's shoulder, and gives the order to all his friends to retreat.Those rebel warriors gradually retreat. There are those who are still fighting, either with their swords, or using submachine guns from a far. But this is simply to give others a chance to help any wounded friends to get away.It turns out there are two foreign journa