Chapter 404: The Absolute Bond
The wind howled across the ruined landscape of the Korean peninsula, carrying the scent of wood.
"Who are you really?" Red Thorn asked, turning fully around to face Lian. Her crimson eyes bored into him.
Lian met her overwhelming, oppressive gaze without flinching.
"I am Lian, and my goal is to stay by your side, forever!" Lian said, spreading his arms wide, a confident smirk on his face.
No matter what apocalyptic threats she threw at him, or how cold her demeanor became, he wouldn’t give up. His absolute, shameless declaration, however, only served to grate on her fractured patience.
His words only made Red Thorn even more irritated. She stretched her hand towards Lian, channeling a lethal dose of energy meant to instantly rupture a mortal’s core. And after some seconds, nothing happened. The energy simply vanished into the ether, completely nullified by an unseen law.
Red Thorn stared at her own hand in profound disbelief: "Why didn’t it work?" She asked herself in genuine shock.
"If you were about to kill me, I am sorry, it won’t work." Lian shrugged casually.
"Look at this!"
He drew his own blade and forcefully threw his sword towards her without a single moment of hesitation. It spun through the air like a deadly buzzsaw, but to Red Thorn’s absolute surprise, the blade violently stopped right in front of her nose, hanging suspended in the air without her even interfering or raising a barrier. The universe itself refused to allow the strike to connect.
WHOOSH!!
It violently flew back towards Lian, rejecting its master’s intent. With so much force it smashed heavily into the young man’s chest, throwing him butt first to the hard ground.
"You see? I also can’t kill or injure you." He said, groaning slightly while brushing the dirt off his pants and getting back to his feet.
"I will ask one last time." Red Thorn took a single, menacing step forward. Instantly, the pressure in the ruined valley increased one thousand times over, warping the gravity and physically forcing Lian to his knees, cracking the bedrock beneath him.
"What did you do to me?!" She asked, her voice echoing in the whole valley.
"I am saying the truth! I did nothing to you!! Maybe Heaven wants us to be togeth--" He froze abruptly, feeling the temperature plummet and seeing the absolute, unadulterated killing intent flaring in Red Thorn’s glowing eyes, and quickly corrected himself:
"Maybe Heaven has a job for us, or it’s our destiny."
Red Thorn stretched her hand towards her red blade. The Supreme Class artifact vibrated violently for some seconds, hungry for blood, and shot forward toward Lian again with the speed of a falling star.
"You can’t kill me." Lian said calmly, kneeling in the dirt and not even bothering to raise his arms to defend, as the devastating sword violently stopped right in front of his forehead, suspended by the same invisible absolute law.
Red Thorn fiercely gritted her teeth, forcefully sending more and more pure energy into the blade, but it didn’t budge a single millimeter. Instead, the paradox triggered a violent rebound, as the blade flew backwards towards her with the exact same terrifying force Lian’s sword had flown towards him.
"Hmph!"
Red Thorn coldly snorted, asserting her dominance over the weapon, as the blade stopped dramatically right before her face.
’Her control over that weapon is something else? Although we both have Supreme Class artifact, if we clash, I won’t even last a round.’ He thought to himself, admiring her terrifying prowess, before he suddenly blinked, realizing a massive flaw in his current charade.
’Wait, she can listen to my thoughts.’ He quickly looked up at Red Thorn in sheer, panicked shock.
"I can’t kill you... Okay then, get lost, I don’t want to see you anywhere close to me again." She said, her voice dripping with disgust, waving her hand dismissively at him as if banishing a persistent insect.
"No! I can’t leave you!! I said it, there must be a reason we can’t kill one another!! I want to stay close to you and discover this reason!!" He yelled, refusing to back down from the overwhelming aura on him.
’Well, who doesn’t want to stay close to such a beautiful lady... I don’t care if she can hear my thoughts, she can’t kill me! If I can’t say it out loud, I will admire her inside my head.’ He thought brazenly, staring directly at Red Thorn’s dark, murderous expression. Her twitching eyebrow proved she surely heard absolutely everything he was thinking.
"If I see you 100 meters close to me, I will break your legs! I can’t kill you, but I can surely break some of your bones."
Lian shivered genuinely at her ruthless words, and quickly nodded his head. This brutal compromise was still much better than being completely chased away. He had successfully followed her in the shadows for three grueling months; maintaining a one-hundred-meter perimeter was a challenge he could easily accept.
Red Thorn finally ignored him, burying her irritation as she turned back to the beautifully crafted golden Tombstone. The terrifying aura vanished, replaced by a suffocating, heavy grief. She placed her gloved palm on it, gently caressing the cold surface:
"In the past when I met you... Your wish was so free this planet. In this six months, I have saved more than half of this planet! In two more months, the whole world will be cleared of monsters! That’s my promise to you." She said, her voice trembling slightly. And without another word, she seamlessly vanished with her sword, leaving Lian alone in the desolate valley.
"Not again!! Do you think I have unlimited spirit energy like you!!" He screamed at the empty sky in feigned frustration, shaking his head as he slowly got back to his feet.
Lian dusted off his clothes and walked silently towards the golden tombstone, staring down at the name inscribed upon it: "Bella Yang".
"Bella... I will remember that name... But..." He gently stretched his hand towards the tombstone, his eyes shifting from their mortal disguise to a deep, primordial red. The absolute laws of life and death bent to his will, and the next moment, a pale, translucent phantom rose slowly from the ground, standing silently before him.
"Why are you still in this world? 90% of your soul is already gone, why not find peace?" He asked softly, staring at the fading remnants of Bella’s consciousness.
"I can’t seem to let go of my hatred for the monsters in this world... Please, can you help her and save this world?" She asked, her ghostly form bowing her head lightly to the ancient entity before her.
Lian stared at the scorched ground for a long moment, the weight of a dying planet resting on his shoulders. After some seconds, he slowly nodded his head:
"Okay... I will help her, and once this planet is saved, we will return. Then, at least, you can speak to her in person, and maybe she will also find peace." He said, offering the fractured soul a final glimmer of hope.
"Thank you, Great King Julian." Bella said, and she peacefully shattered into glittering stardust, vanishing into the wind.
"Julian..." Lian said to the empty graveyard with a small, complex smile:
"That name should be hidden for now... And with her ability to even read my thoughts, I must be careful." He muttered under his breath, and raised his head to the glowing blue system screen which materialized in the air before him.
{I can help block her mind reading ability, Master.}
’If you do that, System... She will suspect something is wrong. Mirabella, Oh Mirabella... You just drew us together last night, and now... The Mark I placed on you is fully active. We are one from now on.’ He smiled affectionately, staring deeply at the floating system interface:
"You can’t do anything, don’t forget she has the first system with her... I can’t risk exposing myself now, I want to at least, stay closer to her and slowly form our bond. When the time is right, I will tell her or show her everything."
{Okay Master, but remember your side quest.}
"Yes, I know... I will locate that Azul clan girl. I should go now before she creates more distance." He thought. In a swirl of absolute authority, he vanished seamlessly into smoke.
The next moment, vibrant, beautiful flowers spontaneously appeared all over the desolate place, magically blooming through the ash to completely surround the golden tombstone in life.
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