Chapter 608: Treatment

Maximilian’s words left both Vyaghra and Gumiho with widened eyes. Absurd as his statement was, the casual confidence in his voice made them believe that he could actually pull it off.

Moreover, they didn’t even have the luxury of not believing him. With the amount of sheer pain Vyomendra was in, death would be considered a mercy for him.

"Father fought Bai Chengsheng while being eaten by the Soul Gnawing Gu inwardly. I have never seen anyone stronger-willed than him," he declared, his tone firm. "Please continue with the second treatment. I will not rip my father of his ability to cultivate further."

’Worried enough to almost faint when he heard of his father’s condition, yet having enough faith in him to choose the dangerous treatment,’ Maximilian murmured inwardly, his lips rising into a faint smile. ’Is this what absolute trust between a son and his father looks like? I wish I also had such a relationship with my father.’

The Almighty Sovereign was many things, but he was never a cruel father. On the contrary, his love and obsession with the safety of his son were like a poison to Maximilian.

Using Evangeline as a scapegoat was only one of the many terrible things he had done just to ensure Maximilian’s safety and standing within the clan.

Perhaps that was also what had slowly driven Maximilian away from him.

"Alright then," Maximilian spoke up, dispelling the unnecessary thoughts. "I will begin the treatment."

The treatment was something unique to the dragons, or more accurately, to cultivators who could wield Blue Lightning of Heavenly Class or higher.

Once the Soul Gnawing Gu sensed danger from the outside, they would immediately resort to eating the insides of the cultivator in an attempt to change their position.

The first step of the treatment was to instantly kill them, ensuring that they couldn’t move. The speed of lightning was the perfect attribute to accomplish this.

With Maximilian’s Death Lightning, killing it was even easier, despite the fact that it had devoured Vyomendra’s Divine Soulforce. But there was still one problem.

His Death Lightning would affect Vyomendra as well. And since he was already in a very delicate state, the amount of power needed to kill the centipede might claim his life as well.

Maximilian took a deep breath. He needed to act as quickly as possible.

A veil of black energy covered his silhouette as he parted his lips.

"Freeze!"

The word emerged from his mouth like a wave, freezing the time of everyone and everything inside the hall.

The bead of sweat on Vyaghra’s temple had stopped in its motion. Gumiho’s pink eyes had turned still.

Maximilian’s hands quickly moved toward Vyomendra’s abdomen. Materializing a sharp blade of dark energy on the index finger of one hand, he cut open the skin where the head of the centipede rested.

With his other hand, he pulled it out in a sudden jerk. A spray of blood and pieces of crimson flesh were torn out along with the centipede. They splashed across the bed, his clothes, and his face, yet he didn’t even bat an eye.

The centipede screeched, trembling like a fish taken out of water. Anything that he touched during his time-freezing phase returned to normal.

The same was true for the centipede.

"Freeze!"

He commanded again, freezing the flow of blood pouring out from the hole left in Vyomendra’s abdomen.

The centipede in his hand remained unaffected. Its fangs were about to pierce his skin when he channeled his Death Lightning into his palm, instantly killing the centipede.

It was as thick and wide as his entire arm.

"I’m adding this to my ’never do it again’ list," Maximilian muttered, feeling disgusted.

He had done all of this so quickly that only one second had passed since he had first cast his Bindings of Hell skill.

He formed a series of hand signs, materializing a magical circle beneath the corpse of the centipede. It hovered in the air above the array while he continued forming hand signs.

The next step was to return the Soulforce the centipede had devoured to its owner.

This was the limitation of the Soul Gnawing Gu’s abilities. It couldn’t alter the signature of its victim’s Soulforce, allowing for its safe retrieval.

White-colored flames emerged from the corpse of the centipede and moved toward Vyomendra’s abdomen. The moment they entered his body, the time binding on Vyomendra came undone.

Blood began leaking from the sliced skin on his abdomen, his eyebrows twitching as a deep, agonized growl escaped his mouth.

"Bear it!" Maximilian ordered in a loud tone. "Focus on channeling your Soulforce to stop the internal bleeding, otherwise you will die!"

The toll of maintaining the formation that was steadily returning the Divine Soulforce of a Level Four Sacred Beast was on a completely different level from what Maximilian had expected. His circular pupils had turned vertical, dark horns emerging from his forehead and his ears turning pointed.

Draconic wings sprouted from his back as his transformation was forcibly undone to maintain the consumption of his Soulforce.

He had to maintain the Bindings of Hell on Vyaghra and Gumiho as well, which was also consuming a great deal of his Soulforce.

Thankfully, Vyomendra began regulating his Soulforce to stop the further loss of blood, despite being barely conscious and in agonizing pain.

Vyaghra was right about it. Vyomendra was truly a strong-willed man.

It took around twenty minutes to successfully return all the Soulforce.

Vyomendra had already taken a sitting position and was focused on healing himself. When he slowly opened his eyes, he found Maximilian standing before him, his face covered in sweat and his breathing heavy and ragged.

"I-it’s you..." Vyomendra gasped weakly, his amber eyes widening.

His focus shifted to Vyaghra and Gumiho’s frozen figures.

"D-don’t worry... they are fine," Maximilian whispered weakly.

The formation vanished, and the centipede’s corpse fell to the floor.

"Keep my identity secret," he barely managed to say before his body transformed back into human form, and he fell forward onto the bed.

"Lord Arthur, please tell us if you need anything for the treatment," Vyaghra spoke the words he had meant to say twenty minutes ago.