Sylva, who had always maintained his composure, even in front of death, couldn’t help but laugh.

They had done so much to find out about these beings. Edward even went as far as going through the rift. And all this time, one was hiding with them.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do now. He could feel he didn’t have long to live. Even his soul wouldn’t survive; something was corrupting it. It was truly the end.

“Could you at least tell me this? Are you the one who caused that incident?”

Sylva asked since he felt the Primordial-possessing Owl was fond of him. Otherwise, there was no reason to reveal his true identity. He could have just let him die without anyone knowing.

“Partially, but not entirely. You could say I was the indirect cause of it. But let’s say, in the end, it was because of you humans.

Even without me, the attack would still have happened. The difference would be the species that are attacking.

You should know Edward… no, the Suzaku Guild is an annoyance in the eyes of the World Council.”

Here is the corrected version with grammar fixes and past tense applied except for the dialogue, while maintaining word count, meaning, and style as requested:

“Those old bastards,” Sylva mumbled with his dying breath. “What will you do next then?”

Owl’s lips curled into a smile. “Don’t worry, I will leave after I get what I want. Of course, it’s a different matter when they see me.

I am curious, though, about how Edward will react when he finds out the truth.”

Owl then saw Sylva’s eyes starting to grow heavy.

“It’s rare for me, but I honestly enjoyed the time I spent with all of you. Well, rest now, Sylva. Unfortunately, there is no afterlife for you.”

Sylva’s body then started crumbling, his skin now completely black, rotting. The last wisp of his soul also disintegrated.

Owl then stomped his feet, his shadow growing, circling Sylva. It then turned into something like a cocoon, completely covering him.

The next moment, it cracked open, leaving Sylva lying on the ground peacefully. His body had turned back to normal, and all the wounds somehow recovered.

Owl opened his palm; on it, a slime with a rotten smell was moving around.

“They’re really here. Now it’s time to collect them. But to think all seven are gathered in one place. What a weird coincidence.”

He then clenched his fist. The dark slime turned into something like a dark fog, which Owl then absorbed. He then began walking toward the deep cavern with a satisfied smile.

Not long after, three figures jumped down from the hole Zold had come out of. They were Zold, Xue Fang, and MingHao.

Looking at the corpse, Xue Fang’s eyes lit up, and the first thought that came to her mind was to refine it into a puppet.

With a glance, Sylva’s body didn’t have many wounds, but she didn’t say anything. She knew turning a body into a puppet was normal in her clan, but for other people, it was frowned upon.

‘So unfortunate, with that body, I could make a strong puppet.’

Zold froze, looking at his father’s body, his throat drying up as he walked slowly to it. He dropped to his knees and put his hand over his chest.

MingHao didn’t say a word; he just stayed silent while turning his gaze toward the entrance. “Ancestor.”

“Yes, yes, you keep working this old bone. I will check it.”

Xueqi’s ancestor came out from the ring and then flew toward the entrance to explore. Explore more adventures at empire

“Stop,” Zold called out, making Xueqi’s ancestor stop in his tracks. “Even if you are a soul, it’s too dangerous inside. I don’t know if you can tell or not, but even my father’s soul was extinguished by an attack from a creature inside.”

Zold then took Sylva’s body into his storage cube and told them to leave.

But before MingHao and Xue Fang could make any response, the ground started to shake. Cracks appeared on the ground.

The trio quickly floated away from the cavern. Outside, they could hear a loud explosion. Part of the city exploded upward, earth and dust launching into the air.

The sound was so loud that it could be heard even from miles away.

Strong energy then spread across the area. MingHao could feel his body shiver the moment he felt it. It wasn’t something he had ever felt before. It was a very strong and yet weird energy, giving off a feeling like it wanted to eat him whole.

Part of the debris even started to crumble, turning to dust.

“MingHao, take it out,” Zold quickly ordered while spreading his qi to fight back the pressure. But it was barely useful.

MingHao quickly sent it out from his storage ring. It was a heavily modified tank that looked almost like a robot, with two missile launchers attached on the left and right sides, a machine gun, a cannon barrel, and many other types of weapons.

The vehicle wasn’t supported by wheels; there were two huge legs propping it up. Based on its appearance, it looked like its movement would be slow and sluggish, but that was not true at all.

The armor was layered with multiple arrays on top of each other, boosting its defense and speed to a level enough to fight against an immortal. But Zold didn’t plan to use it for that; he wanted to use it to run away.

Using talismans was out of the question since he didn’t know how the energy would react. Who knows if they’d end up stranded in some void? Zold still remembered what happened last time when he was moved to a random place filled with eyes.

The trio then quickly entered the cockpit. Xue Fang took control of the system while MingHao and Zold put their palms over a panel.

MingHao placed the high-grade crystal qi required into the fuel space on the vehicle. The engine started turning on, and a barrier was erected around the robot.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep