Defeat and Curse
At this moment, the young Magus that had collapsed to the ground immediately shouted out, “Lord Ancestor, you can’t let him off so easily! He attacked our Farlier family and even indirectly caused Grandpa Damien’s death!”
“Oh?!” Leylin furrowed his brows. Black flames blazed as he instantly moved to the youth’s side. With just a scan, he understood the youth’s body like the back of his own hand. “Did the Spirit Slaying Sect give you that wound on your chest?”
“Yes. I got hit by the attack of a soul plague from the sect disciples, and was also poisoned by a Malaria Spider!” The youth looked defeated, but then had an excited flush on his face.
“A small issue.” Leylin’s finger moved, and the bandages around the youth’s chest automatically fell off to reveal twisted muscles and horrifying wounds.
“Bear with it for a bit.” Leylin dripped a crimson potion onto the youth’s injuries. White gas steamed from the wounds, causing the youth to cry out in pain involuntarily. Shortly after, black gas streamed out of the wound and the flesh began to mend itself rapidly. The wounds were healing.
“WHAT?” Darlie shouted from not far away, “That’s even faster than a rank 3 healer! Is this an ancient healing potion from legends?”
Leylin had no wish to answer Darlie’s question. Instead, he noticed Alric beginning to make a move. “Tch, so stubborn.”
*Rumble!* Countless holy javelins made of platinum flames appeared around him, shooting towards Leylin like thousands of arrows being launched at the same time. Alric himself revealed a large pair of wings as he took to the skies.
“I said, stay there quietly. Did you not understand the first time?” Leylin’s expression darkened, and an aura several times more terrifying and powerful than Alric’s descended. Formless energy rippled, causing those javelins to explode in the air and dissipate into motes of light.
Seeing Leylin take care of his attack, Alric made a strange sound from mid-air, spreading his wings and escaping as far as he could go.
“Get down here!” Leylin’s right hand pulled downwards, and Alric gave a blood-curdling cry from within the streak of light. He fell down, the two wings on his back being torn off by a formless force. Some flesh and blood remained at the end, revealing long gashes on his back from which blood spurted forth.
The cage with pillars of light that sealed off the region had, with a sound as if it could not hold on for longer, exploded bit by bit.
“…” His wound completely healed, the youth now stood up and watched the scene silently. He was surprised, yes, but the events that had played out so far had far exceeded what he could take. He was now numb to everything.
When he’d been fleeing from the sect disciples, a voice in his mind urged him to change course, veering towards Teljose City. Before the Spirit Slaying Sect disciples who were after him could attack him, Alric appeared. Faced against the sect disciple and a rank 3 Magus who both had grudges against him, the youth would rather be caught by the sect that even see Alric’s face.
However, things were far from over. Just when he thought everything was done for, an even more bizarre thing had happened. Leylin, the genius from his Farlier Family who’d been missing for centuries, had suddenly reappeared. On top of that, he dominated and defeated Alric the moment he showed himself!
The youth watched Alric lying on the ground like a dead dog, his expression stiff. He had a strong suspicion that this could be a mere clone, or perhaps a fraud. Since when was a rank 3 Magus, the best of the south coast, so weak?
‘Or is it that he isn’t weak, but the Lord Ancestor is just that powerful?’ The youth watched Leylin’s masked face, his eyes full of admiration. He was fully privy to Alric’s prowess. Under the forcefield the rank 3 Magus had shown off, he would have been killed like an ant…
However, Leylin had defeated his opponent with a mere wave of the arm. How large was the disparity between them?
“Your wounds are all healed up. By the way, what’s your name?” Leylin’s face held some rare gentleness as he faced this descendant.
“My– My name is Krupp, I’m Audi’s descendant…” Krupp knew Leylin had no interest in his family tree, and directly mentioned the person in Leylin’s generation.
“Audi? Did this happen after I left?” Leylin stroked his chin.
“Yes, he’s your brother, born two years after you left…” Krupp carefully watched Leylin’s expression, and then pointed at Alric, “Lord Ancestor, he once sent people to attack our Farlier family and almost caused us to be completely uprooted from the Chern.o.byl Islands. Only a few of us escaped under Grandpa Damien’s protection. You must take revenge for us!”
Having said all this, Krupp clenched his fists tightly, his eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears.
“Don’t worry,” Leylin nodded. After hearing news that the Farlier family had almost been destroyed, he strangely felt no anger. It was as if he was hearing someone else’s story; even he was surprised at his reaction.
Leylin immediately thought of the reason for this. He was someone who’d come from another world, and wasn’t the original Leylin who was just a playboy. Because he had the A.I. Chip and was a grandmaster in the field of souls, issues with things like soul fragments that were retained from the original soul causing melodrama wouldn’t be an issue for him.
The old Leylin’s soul had long since been annihilated, with not a trace left behind. He would not be able to affect Fang Ming the slightest. Hence, after hearing that the Farlier family had almost been wiped out, he’ only nodded slightly in acknowledgement.
Emotions and the responsibility towards one’s bloodline were different, however. Leylin believed he still had some work to do in that regard.
Krupp and Darlie felt the temperature of their surroundings lower in an instant. A slight explosion could be heard from Alric’s body, and it seemed like he was strangled at his throat by a formless strength. He now hung before Leylin.
“My…” Alric tried to sound from his throat. With a blink of Leylin’s eyes, his face had flushed red. He squirmed as the blood drained from his face; it turned an ashen grey.
In that short moment, Leylin had destroyed Alric’s spiritual force. He was now just slightly stronger than a regular human.
“You’ve really got some guts. To dare go against the unwritten rules of the south coast and take revenge on my family…” Leylin’s hand grabbed at the void, and crackling sounds were heard from Alric’s body. The bones automatically broke apart inch by inch, but Alric was still awake and had to deal with the suffering alone. Soon enough, blood spurted from his mouth, and some of his teeth were broken.
“I believe there’s a need to set a precedent, so that the other Magi will be aware.” A thin crimson thread was extracted from his body and hovered in front of Leylin.
“Let’s see!” A trace of blood-red light could be seen in Leylin’s eyes as countless translucent mirrors opened up before him, revealing vague figures within.
“NOO…” Alric immediately grew agitated upon seeing them, his body trembling unceasingly as his eyes pleaded with Leylin.
However, Leylin himself cared nothing for this, “Mm, you don’t have any direct descendants yourself, but there are a lot of other branches. Siblings?”
Alric did not answer, his tongue had long since been bitten off. If not for Leylin intentionally keeping him alive, he would have died long ago. Alric would much rather die early than face what was to come.
“You know my character. I rarely use curses or other spells in that vein. It’s not because I’m unfamiliar with them, but because they’re troublesome; not only is the preparatory work tedious, there’s also a backlash,” Leylin continued on as if he were chatting with a friend, “But things are different here. The backlash from some rank 1 and 2 Magi, and even regular humans, means nothing to me…”
As he spoke, leylin produced a large amount of materials from his spatial pouch, carving strange altar-like runes on the ground.
“Trace back the path of the bloodline to all branches…” Terrifying curses rolled off Leylin’s tongue in a strange accent, “Ye of his blood, shall become the source of the curse!” After a few ceremonies, Leylin extracted some blood with a dagger and threw it onto the altar under Alric’s look of despair.
“AAAAHH…” With sounds of anguish being transmitted from the altar, a faint distorted face with empty eyes wailed as it pounced into the air.
“Go!” Leylin snapped his fingers.
*Bzzt bzzt…* Formless ripples spread, and immediately after a blond Magus’ expression changed in one of the round mirrors, green warts appearing all over his body. They then exploded, spurting out corrosive liquid that caused him to become a pile of white bones amidst his howls.
Black fog occupied the entirety of a castle elsewhere, and broken limbs were thrown out of it every once in a while.
“Noooo…” Alric lowered his head. All that remained in his dead eyes was boundless hatred.
“Did you think that was all?” Leylin could not help but laugh as he saw Alric in this state.
“Soul extraction!” A translucent figure was pulled out from Alric’s forehead.