Kaiser of the New World (Ch 200+)

Panic (264)

Fear.

That was what Kai felt when he watched Cecilia's body drop to the ground, blood pouring out of every place possible and creating a grotesque image.

He was more scared now than when he was getting strangled by the Polar Demon, and it wasn't for any logical reason.

It was simply because it was Cecilia rather than him who was in pain.

Pushing his battered and bruised body, he desparately grasped at the spasming woman, hoping that his small effort would make the shaking stop.

But it didn't, Cecilia continued to thrash in his arms, the whites of her eyes slowly being turned red by the constant stream of blood coming out of them.

Kai felt himself begin to panic, Nonchalance trying its absolute hardest to calm him down and make him think rationally, but it was just barely failing.

He could accept when he was in pain because that meant either something good was going to happen or he was getting karma for his mistakes, but he couldn't bear to see Cecilia like this because he had gotten cocky.

But there had to be some way to stop her from becoming a Disharmonied, Kai racked his mind, thinking of anything that could possibly work, but he could only draw blanks.

The process seemed absolute. Even Ezekial, a man much stronger than Cecilia, had fallen victim to the transformation, his soul warped and twisted to fit the monstrosity that was a Disharmonied.

Kai felt his eyes begin to tear up as his grip tightened on Cecilia, holding her as close as possible.

Even though he wouldn't outright admit it, Cecilia over time had become his best friend. He had spent the longest amount of with her, and she had been the only one he could actually communicate with while he was chained in the dungeon of the castle.

And that wasn't even mentioning the other things that had happened along the way.

... And it wasn't like he wouldn't say she was more than a friend to him.

But at this moment in time, Kai could only watch his friend become a husk of her former self.

So he was going to force himself to ingrain this moment in his mind, force himself to never forget this. Even if he were to end up dying tomorrow, he would take Cecilia's face into the grave with him. No matter how desparately he tried to wipe the blood from her cheeks, it always came back moments later.

And it wasn't just her face he would force himself to remember, he would also force himself to remember her soul, the soul that she had to sacrifice just to save his life.

So, with a heavy heart, Kai lowered his gaze, activated Soul Sense and-

"... What?"

He wanted to believe what he was seeing, he wanted to believe his eyes were not deceiving him, that maybe he was under a mind hex again or something, but that wasn't the case, Cecilia was dying in his arms.

If so, then why...

Why was her soul perfectly fine?

When Ezekial became a Disharmonied, his soul had morphed and gotten corrupted, so why was Cecilia's completely normal?

And upon closer inspection, Kai-

Let out a soft gasp.

Inside Cecilia's soul were seven miniscule sparks, courtesy of her only having just reached level ten, but there was something else about them, something just so incredible that Kai felt his heart rate begin to pick up.