Just as Leon grabbed the bewildered soul of Prince Andre, preparing to send him to the Gate of the Deceased, a somewhat regretful sigh suddenly arose from the depths of Andre’s soul.
"As expected, not completely trusting you was the right choice."
Hearing this familiar sigh, Prince Andre’s pupils abruptly contracted, and he asked in a mix of shock and anger:
"White Snake? What have you done to my soul... uh..."
"It’s not that I tampered with your soul, but that the entire Slaughter King Association collectively took some precautions with the world fragment entrusted to you."
The voice called White Snake sighed and said:
"Black Owl, while your ability and wisdom are commendable, your mind is ultimately too immature. And given that you are still part of the targeted royal family, how could we fully trust you?"
Indeed, the Slaughter King Association had more tricks up their sleeve regarding him.
After listening to the brief exchange between "White Snake" and Prince Andre, and seeing the eerie scale-like markings resembling snake scales on the outer layer of Andre’s soul, Leon couldn’t help but squint his eyes.
Previously, when the Scorpio Bureau Chief was ambushed, the Slaughter King Association managed to bypass the Watcher’s Palace, sending power down to forcibly seal his soul, leading to the Scorpio Chief’s swift demise.
And where there is one, there is two. Once it is detected that the situation is out of control, the likelihood of the Slaughter King Association intervening again is naturally very high.
The silver-white scale markings, sprinkled with starlight, quickly spread and soon climbed up Andre’s face, occupying nearly half of it. With half of his face turned to snake scales, Andre’s voice changed to that of White Snake, speaking wistfully:
"Although Black Owl himself indeed has many problems, the fact that you could seize the opportunity to forcefully turn the tables even when the Scorpio Bureau Chief was dealt with, seems we’ve underestimated you in the past."
With his hands tightly gripping Andre’s soul, the shadow of the Three-Headed Canine Deity faintly appearing behind him, Leon squinted and asked:
"Andre’s soul is now in my grasp, ready to be sent into the Gate of the Deceased at any moment. What are you going to do to stop me?"
"You’ve misunderstood. I have no intention of rescuing Black Owl."
Upon hearing Leon’s words, "Prince Andre" shook his head and said calmly:
"To us, he is only an auxiliary member, just like that Aquarius Director of your Clean-up Bureau. He is not aligned with us, so there’s no need for me to save him.
What I need to do now is to enforce the constraints he and Xue Xiao signed upon joining the Slaughter King Association, ensuring that no royal bloodline can leave Crolock Kingdom alive."
Leon was slightly stunned upon hearing this, then suddenly seemed to realize something and quickly turned his head to look.
Sure enough, the emerald-eyed girl, who had been silent for a long time, was trembling and crouched on the ground. Not only were her arms covered with black raven feathers, but even her mouth had formed into a shiny, black bird’s beak.
"Constraint one: As long as the Crolock Kingdom exists, you may never leave. Violators will have their spirit and flesh obliterated."
As "Prince Andre" recited, the foreheads of the two siblings simultaneously cracked open, and a drop of golden-red blood rolled down from the cracks in their brows.
"Constraint two: You must never bear offspring, and the bloodline inheritance must be severed. Violators will have their spirit and flesh obliterated."
As "Prince Andre" raised his second finger, a second fine crack opened on the siblings’ foreheads, pushing out a pale pink drop of blood again.
"Constraint three: No member of the Crolock royal family shall be captured by the Clean-up Bureau and removed from Crolock Kingdom. Violators will have their spirit and flesh obliterated."
As the third crack appeared on the siblings’ foreheads and the deep gray drop of blood floated up, "Prince Andre" raised three fingers and said calmly:
"Ladies and gentlemen, in my judgment, it is now time to trigger constraint three."
As White Snake announced this calmly, Prince Andre’s soul surged, then regained control of half his face, angrily shouting:
"No one has been taken out of Crolock Kingdom! I did not breach the contract! You are the ones who have breached it!"
"But this matter is inevitably going to happen."
The other half of "Prince Andre" said calmly:
"You always misunderstood one thing: the trigger condition for the constraints is not your understanding of ’having already happened.’ Once this matter is ’about to happen,’ we already have the right to invoke the constraint.
Moreover, if you insist on accounting for breaches, you were the first to breach. After obtaining the world fragment, you drew most of your soul into the painting blending with the world fragment.
You merely retained consciousness and flesh in Crolock Kingdom and a small part of the soul within the scope of ordinary people, trying to free yourself from the constraints you set. This is already a betrayal."
"We are very fair, always acting according to the agreement. Even though you were the first to breach, we didn’t immediately penalize you. By any calculation, you are the one at fault."
After saying this, "Prince Andre" raised his head to look at Leon, who was frowning, and peacefully conveyed:
"I’ve done what needs to be done, and conveyed what needed conveying. So farewell, you can now send his soul into the Realm of the Dead."
Send into the Realm of the Dead... is there even a need anymore?
After glancing at the souls of the two siblings, who were exerting all their efforts to hold on but were still gradually crumbling after ’White Snake’ departed, Leon couldn’t help but close his eyes, sighing deeply inside.
At the rate at which Andre’s soul is disintegrating, it’ll likely dissipate just past the Burial Garment Mirror Lake and won’t be able to reach the City of Regret. And Feiliya’s soul is much weaker than his, estimated to completely vanish in two to three hours.
So after all the hassle, the mission ultimately still failed...
"No! It shouldn’t be !"
As Andre’s will regained dominance, with some of the White Snake markings faded, he bit his lip, tears welling up in his eyes, and said with deep unwillingness:
"I had prepared everything, I... I was ready to apologize... Why... why is it ?"
"Sorry, there’s nothing more I can do." ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ N(o)vᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt
After moving the trembling, raven-feathered Feiliya next to him, Leon sighed and spoke to the siblings lying side by side on the ground:
"Regret is a part of life from start to finish. Some things, if not done at the time, may never have a chance to be done later.
Andre, with your soul’s current state, it’s impossible for you to reach the City of Regret to apologize to your family, but you still have one last chance to say something to your sister."