Chapter 137: Cardoon Zorba [4] — Goodbye, Lord Louis

Zorba often thought about her—about his mother. He would stare at himself in the mirror and imagine how she might have looked like him.

He had often been told by his father that his mother possessed the same disgusting horns and that ugly third eye on her forehead.

That she had a strong personality and that he could never be as great as she was.

“I wonder what it feels like to die…”

Throughout his entire life, Zorba had killed and manipulated the corpses of those he murdered, always toying with life and death, yet never truly experiencing it himself.

The cold embrace of death—what did it feel like?

As he bled and plummeted from the skies, seconds from crashing into the ground and splattering into a fine painting of blood and guts… Zorba considered it for a moment.

He would have accepted it. He would have died gladly anyway. Deep down, nothing had ever appealed to him more than the sweet release of death.

And yet now, someone resided in his heart—someone who kept making him feel guilty for giving up so easily.

“Ahh…”

His hand reached toward the cloudy skies. Tears streamed from his eyes… he was not smiling.

He felt frustrated.

Because he did not want to die.

“Lord Louis…”

As the clouds parted to reveal the sunset, a hand extended toward Zorba.

Zorba gripped it tightly, feeling its warmth.

Through his tears, he saw golden irises gazing back at him.

“If only… I could have lived… a little longer…”

“I just… want to hold your hand…”

“One last time…”

Veynar watched as Zorba appeared to hallucinate, clutching the hand of someone who wasn’t there, before he struck the ground with a heavy thud.

Veynar looked into the distance and slowly approached the place where Zorba had fallen. He found him sprawled on the pavement, eyes closed, smiling even as tears of regret continued to fall.

His cranium had split open. Blood and brains were visible on the cracked stone.

Zorba was dead.

“Hah… Hahahaha…”

Veynar shook his head and laughed.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHA! SERVE YOU RIGHT, ZORBAAAAA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

He clutched his face, laughing uncontrollably while the Dark Knight watched in silence.

But then, amid the laughter, the Incarnation turned toward another direction.

There stood someone gazing at the scene, eyes filled with disbelief.

Anger, frustration, disbelief, horror, shock—all flashed across his face in rapid succession.

“Zorba…?”

His voice echoed behind Veynar. The Commander of the Vultarn High Dominion stopped laughing and glared back at the newcomer.

Long white hair, glowing golden eyes, pale skin—even with most of his clothes torn apart and his body covered in blood and scars.

This man carried the majesty and pride of a prince no matter the circumstances.

“Oooohhh! You’re here just in time!” Veynar laughed. “Prince Louis~! Look what I made of the man sent to kill you. Shouldn’t you be grateful to me?! Hehe… HAHAHAHAHA!”

Louis walked slowly toward Zorba’s corpse. He knelt and held the dead man’s hand while staring at his face.

He searched desperately for something—for his soul.

“Zorba…! Wait…! No…! You cannot die on me! Zorba…! You promised…”

Unable to contain his emotions any longer, Louis began to cry. Tears fell freely as he mourned the man he had once hated.

“Handy, Belladine, heal him… QUICKLY!”

His Familiars poured every last drop of their energy into healing Zorba’s body. They managed to repair the brain and close the shattered skull.

But his body remained lifeless.

“I told you to heal him! Quickly! Hurry up and heal him!”

“…”

“…Can’t do more.”

Handy shook her head while Belladine struggled to form words, both utterly exhausted.

“What do you mean you can’t do more?! Heal him right now!”

Louis turned to the Necromancer’s Fragment and ordered it to locate Zorba’s soul.

But the Necromancer held no such authority. It could not simply find any soul Louis desired—only those of people he had personally murdered.

This was the cruel nature of Spirals. They granted immense power that could save your life, yet they came with strict demands and rigid conditions.

“Haaa… Haaa… Haaa…”

Louis had died six times already. Even after six deaths, the loss of someone dear still tore an indescribable pain through his chest.

He never imagined he would grow so attached to this madman who had tried to kill him countless times—and whom he had also killed before.

He didn’t fully understand why he felt this way, but… he truly cared about him.

Zorba had become more than a subordinate. Only now, in losing him, did Louis realize how precious he truly was.

He was his friend.

No—after fighting side by side to defend his Kingdom in the previous regression, Zorba had become more than a friend.

He was his brother.

“Louis?”

Mirai’s voice echoed softly behind him. She found him crying, gasping for air, still clutching Zorba’s hand.

Even when Zorba believed himself worthless—someone no one could possibly care for—even when he died regretting he would never spend another moment with his lord…

There was indeed someone who missed him.

Someone who mourned him.

Someone who wept for him…

“Aaahh, how sad. I’m going to cry… Was Zorba your boyfriend or something? Pfff… hahahahaha!” Veynar laughed cruelly, mocking the prince’s grief and sorrow. “You’ve barely known him for a couple of days! I had no idea the prince of Frostbane was such a crybaby. Should I kill you now? Hm?”

“…”

Louis stopped crying. Gently, he placed Zorba’s hand over his chest. Then he drew a white lily from the fields of his Fantasy Heart, crystallized it into white salt, and laid it upon his friend’s body.

“Rest in peace, brother.”

Louis rose slowly. He knew he could not weep forever. A Kingdom still needed saving.

Veynar smirked, arms crossed. “What’s this? Are you finally going to fight?”

“…”

Louis turned toward Veynar. His Aura erupted, taking the form of a gigantic, scaled beast.

“Eh?”

Veynar’s eyes widened as a monstrous titan loomed over him from above.

The prince might no longer assume a dragon’s form.

But his soul, his spirit, and his heart had become those of a dragon.

Louis advanced slowly, summoning Gungnir once more.

How many people would he lose?

How many precious ones would he watch die before his eyes?

How long would he be forced to endure these trials?

“I will make sure to honor my brother’s sacrifice,” Louis declared. “I will take revenge in his stead. I will offer him your corpse!”

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