"Master!"
"Leader!"
"My Lord!"
The three girls rushed towards Will as he fell to the ground. His appearance right now is not something great to see. His clothes were in tatters, with burn marks all over.
His skin and even the top level of his muscles were all burned away from air friction after moving at almost thirty times the speed of sound.
Due to using Lifeblood for over a minute, his lifespan had even decreased by a couple of years. Furthermore, after using the last forbidden technique, the Echoing Thunderclap, his life vessel shattered from the backlash.
"Leon!"
Even Yulia rushed to his side in worry. In her eyes, what Will did was nothing short of sacrificing himself to save everyone else from the Lily Knights. Her sense of gratitude for his action was overpowering her fear of his impossible strength.
Ember quickly splashed all sorts of potions toward Will as soon as she reached his side. However, even after all the wounds closed, they could still feel the life force slowly draining away from Will.
Fang and Igni could only look in horror as they sensed that their tamer was slowly dying. Ember felt despair worse than the two, with how even though she had a Void skill able to heal Will, she couldn't even use it properly.
She had been trying to heal Will from the beginning, but all attempts ended in failure. Blood gushed from her eyes and nose as she exerted herself, the stream leaking over to the outside of the mask.
"His life vessel is broken!"
Yulia, after using a special inspection method, was able to pinpoint what was wrong with Will.
"He needs to get immediate treatment, or else it'll be too late! He'll slowly lose his life force until he dies."
Hearing this, the three girls panicked even more, calling Will over and over as they tried to rouse him up.
"C-Can you heal Master?!"
Ember asked Yulia, pulling at the cuff of her clothes.
"I can't... But at the main household, we could expect someone to be able to."
Yulia stared at Ember with a fiery gaze.
"I don't know about your circumstances or how you relate to the Seimei, but going there is the only way to cure Leon right now."
Ember's eyes wavered. They were running away from the Luo, so they were not sure if the Seimei would be an ally or an enemy. But given their current state, Will would only die if they didn't go there.
"We should go, Ember!"
Fang shouted by the side, holding Will in a gentle cradle as she prepared to move him. Igni, the newest member of the team, couldn't give her opinion as she lacked a few bits of information about the group.
All she knew was that the Luo family was chasing them; that's why they hid here at the frontlines.
"O-Okay! Yulia, please get Master to the Seimei family quick!"
"Don't worry, I won't abandon someone who saved our lives—no, the lives of all the frontline warriors here."
After saying so, Yulia gently removed Ember's hand from her cuffs and pulled out a key from her bosom. She then focused her energy on the key as she inserted it into the space in front of her.
The tip of the key vanished as if it had entered an invisible keyhole. A few moments later, a large sliding door appeared before her, manifesting like a broken mirage.
When Yulia turned the key, the door slid to the side, and a wide space appeared before them.
"Quick, in here!"
Yulia immediately went inside. Ember and the others followed immediately, with Fang carefully carrying Will in her arms.
Over there, Yulia was already speaking to a man wearing what appeared to be Shinto-style ritual vestments. The man looked like a diviner or an Onmyoji just from his attire alone.
After Yulia finished talking to him, he ran back up the stairs at a quick pace. Yulia approached the girls with a smile and urged them upstairs.
"I already asked for a doctor to look at Leon! Quick, let's head to the infirmary!"
The four of them ran at their top speed. Fang, even when carrying Will carefully, was able to keep pace with the others. A few seconds later, they reached an old-looking building and entered. Inside, white beds were lined up. Since nobody was using it at the moment, they laid Will down on the nearest one.
"Where's the patient?"
As soon as they finished laying him down, a female priest wearing a miko outfit came in. She quickly noticed Will and rushed to his side, pulling his wrist to read his pulse.
"..."
After a short moment, she suddenly frowned.
"His life vessel is completely destroyed. It's impossible to restore it."
As she said these words, intense killing intent rushed toward her. The three girls, who were hoping to hear a piece of positive news, were burning in rage. However, the priestess didn't even budge after bathing in the intense gazes of the three.
"I only said that it's impossible to restore it. I didn't say we can't save him."
"R-Really?!"
The three girls spoke at the same time.
"Yes. However, the only way to save him now is by using the life vessels of others to replace his broken one."
"Then use mine!"
Ember quickly volunteered. However, Igni and Fang butted in from the side.
"No, since I'm the most powerful among us, I should be the one to offer my life to my Lord."
"I'm the closest to a humanoid amongst us, so you should use mine instead!"
The three girls quickly volunteered to sacrifice themselves, earning a warm smile from the priestess.
"No, I'm not saying you need to sacrifice yourself. We just need to take a small slice of your life vessels and merge them into a new one for your master."
When they heard this, they simultaneously felt relief wash over them.
"Then, I'll prepare for the ritual. You girls quickly change clothes. Yulia, guide them. You all have 3 minutes to prepare."
Before the priestess was even finished talking, Yulia had already guided the three toward the changing room. They peeled off their clothes instantly and only wore a single white robe.
It didn't even take them a minute to finish preparing.
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