Chapter 140: A New Expression, Anger

Vlad held the Heart of Origin toward Emily, the crimson light surrounding it reflecting in his eyes as its steady pulse echoed through the ruined Garden. The sight made Emily’s hands tremble because she already understood what he was asking of her, even before he said the words.

"You can stop this, daughter," Vlad said quietly. "You can end my carnage before it begins."

Emily stared at him, unable to look away from the beating Heart.

Vlad’s expression remained calm as he looked down at it. "Because once I begin, there will be nothing left. Elyndor cannot stop my wrath, and neither can its strongest Awakeners."

His crimson eyes slowly returned to Emily, and the blood surrounding him began to move as though responding to his emotions.

"The wrath of a Calamity," Vlad said. "In the past, they called it the Bloody Massacre."

Emily’s breathing stopped.

The name struck something buried deep inside her memory. She had heard it before, although never in connection with a face. The Association’s older records had mentioned a Bloodkin incident that had once left an entire region devastated, along with the destruction of a powerful family and one of Elyndor’s major Awakener companies. It had been remembered as one of the worst Bloodkin disasters in Elyndor’s history, an event so terrible that even veteran Awakeners spoke about it with caution.

Emily slowly raised her eyes toward Vlad. "No..." she whispered, the color draining from her face as the pieces came together. "You couldn’t be..."

"Yes," Vlad replied without hesitation.

His answer was so simple that Emily’s heart sank.

"I’m that monster," he continued, his voice carrying none of the pride she expected from someone admitting to such a terrible feat. "The one who slaughtered the family and company that once stood against me. The one Elyndor couldn’t stop."

Emily stared at him in disbelief.

The man standing before her was the same person who had caught her when she fell. He was the person who had stayed beside her while she recovered, changed the Garden because she complained about it, and silently tolerated her terrible attempts at forcing him to eat food he hated.

Yet that same man had once become the nightmare recorded in Elyndor’s history.

Vlad’s gaze returned to the Heart of Origin as he spoke again. "That monster wishes to return."

Emily swallowed hard. "You want to massacre Elyndor again?"

"Not Elyndor."

The answer came so quietly that it took Emily a moment to understand it.

Vlad looked directly at her. "The world."

Emily’s fingers tightened around Aeon. The blood around Vlad seemed to respond to those words, spreading farther across the ruined Garden as though the entire place had become an extension of his anger.

"The hatred has been sleeping for a long time, but it never disappeared," Vlad said. "I simply didn’t have a reason to unleash it again."

His expression softened when he looked at her.

"Until now."

Emily’s heart sank as she looked at the Heart of Origin.

Vlad slowly extended it toward her. "Unless you stab my heart, daughter."

There was no confusion anymore. If she destroyed it, she could stop the catastrophe before it began. She could prevent Vlad from unleashing the same wrath that had once created the Bloody Massacre.

But to do that, she had to kill him.

Her hands tightened around Aeon, and the weapon suddenly felt heavier than it ever had before. Emily lowered her head as memories rushed through her mind. She remembered the cliff and the moment she had fallen, believing she was going to die before a crimson figure caught her. She remembered waking in that unfamiliar room and seeing those crimson eyes watching over her, then calling him her hero and laughing when he didn’t know how to respond.

She remembered dragging herself through the Garden because she had been bored, only for Camillia to find her and carry her back. She remembered looking through the doorway and seeing Vlad beating the Bloodkin who had attacked her, remembered his hair and his quiet reactions, the flowers he had changed because she complained about them, and the terrible food he had eaten simply because she refused to stop asking.

Then she remembered Maria.

She remembered Selene.

She remembered how happy they had once been.

Finally, another face appeared in her mind.

Reinhard.

The man who had trusted her, who had followed her into this Garden, and who had told her she could do it even when she wasn’t sure she could.

Emily’s fingers tightened around Aeon until they hurt. She knew what she had to do.

Slowly, she raised the sword.

Vlad watched her without moving as the blade rose above Emily’s head. For a moment she couldn’t breathe, because she knew that one swing could end everything. She thought of the world outside, of all the people who would die if Vlad succeeded, of the Bloodkin already spreading through the Garden, and of countless people who had never even heard of her.

Emily gritted her teeth and forced her arms downward.

Aeon began descending toward the Heart of Origin.

The blade moved closer.

Her arms shook harder.

Closer.

Emily tried to force herself to finish the movement, but her body refused to obey her. The blade trembled only a few inches above the Heart, and tears began filling her eyes.

"I..." Emily’s voice broke as her grip loosened and the strength left her arms. "I can’t do it."

Aeon lowered slightly, and Emily’s knees finally gave out. She collapsed onto the ground while still holding the sword, her shoulders trembling as she stared at the Heart.

"I can’t kill my father."

For several seconds, Vlad simply looked at her.

Then his expression softened as he slowly approached and looked down at Emily with an emotion that almost resembled pride. "My dear daughter..." he murmured. "It makes me happy to see that even after more than a decade, you still hold me so high in your heart."

Emily looked up at him through her tears. For one brief moment, she thought perhaps he understood. Perhaps he would stop.

But Vlad’s expression became sad, and the warmth disappeared from his eyes.

"But..." He glanced toward the Heart before looking back at her. "That is the wrong answer."

Emily’s heart sank.

"You came here to stop what is happening," Vlad continued. "You came here because you wanted to save everyone. If you cannot destroy me, then your original goal cannot be completed."

He stepped closer, and Emily suddenly reached toward him.

"Please!"

Vlad stopped.

Emily’s voice shook as she forced herself to remain on her knees. "Please, I’m begging you. Please don’t do this."

She reached farther, desperately trying to grab his hand. "I’ll help you."

Vlad’s expression didn’t change.

"I’ll even stay with you," Emily continued, her tears falling freely now. "If that’s what you want, then I’ll stay. I won’t leave you alone again. I’ll help you with everything. Just don’t do this."

For a moment, Vlad simply stared at her.

Emily had never sounded so desperate. She wasn’t trying to defeat him anymore, and she wasn’t trying to convince him that he was wrong. She was offering him herself, everything she had, her future, her life, anything that might give him a reason to stop.

"Please," she whispered again. "Just don’t do this."

Vlad slowly lowered his gaze, his expression genuinely sorrowful.

"No..."

Emily’s body trembled.

"Not even you are enough to quench my anger and rage, dear daughter."

He reached toward her, and Emily instinctively closed her eyes, expecting another touch.

Instead, a sharp pain suddenly tore through her stomach.

Emily’s eyes flew open as a crimson spike pierced through her abdomen. She gasped, her body locking in shock as she looked down and saw Blood Mana running through the weapon. Her vision began to blur, but before she could fall, Vlad caught her.

His arm supported her back with the same gentleness she remembered from the day he had saved her from the cliff.

That made it hurt even more.

"I’m sorry," Vlad whispered.

Emily struggled to breathe as Vlad held her carefully, almost as though he were afraid of dropping her.

"Now sleep."

His voice remained quiet.

"I’ll come for you when everything is over."

Emily’s eyes slowly closed.

Then a tremendous impact exploded across the Garden.

A fist slammed directly into Vlad’s face, sending him flying backward and tearing through several ruined trees before he crashed into the remains of a stone structure. At the same instant, the crimson spike inside Emily shattered, the pieces of Blood Mana dissolving before they could cause further damage.

Emily’s body fell forward, but someone caught her.

She struggled to open her eyes, and a familiar golden light filled her vision.

Reinhard.

He was kneeling beside her, one arm supporting her back while the other carefully checked her condition. For the first time since she had met him, there was no playful smile on his face. His expression was completely cold, and the anger in his eyes was so intense that Emily almost forgot about the pain.

The golden veil surrounding him was brighter than she had ever seen it before. A golden crown floated above his head while another crown overlapped it, creating an almost ridiculous amount of royal radiance around him. His golden cape moved gently behind him despite the lack of wind, and the pressure of his fully activated buffs filled the surrounding space.

Emily stared at him in disbelief.

"Rein..."

"Easy," Reinhard said quietly.

He reached into his inventory and pulled out a healing item, placing it carefully against her lips and helping her swallow it before waiting several seconds to make sure the effect had taken hold. The pain in Emily’s stomach began fading almost immediately, and Reinhard watched her expression until he was certain she was stable.

Only then did some of the tension leave his face.

He gently brushed the blood from her cheek with his thumb before giving her the faintest smile.

"You came..." Emily whispered, her voice barely audible.

Reinhard looked down at her as though the answer should have been obvious. "Of course I came. You disappeared into a Bloodkin nightmare and somehow expected me to sit around and wait?"

Emily’s eyes softened, and for the first time since Vlad had appeared, she felt a small sense of safety return.

Reinhard glanced toward the direction where Vlad had crashed before looking back at her. "You look a little ruffled up, my cute wife."

Emily’s eyes widened.

Even now, after seeing her father, after being stabbed, and after nearly dying, he was still trying to make her feel safe.

"Don’t worry," Reinhard continued. "Your handsome husband is going to beat up his father-in-law for a bit."

Emily’s eyes widened further, and she weakly grabbed his sleeve.

"Stop..." she whispered. "He’s a Calamity."

Reinhard looked down at her hand before meeting her eyes again. Then, with a strangely casual movement, he flicked her forehead.

Emily blinked.

"He could be a god for all I care," Reinhard said.

His expression became completely serious as he gently pulled his sleeve free and stood.

"I’m still going to fight him."

Emily stared at him, unable to find an argument.

Reinhard slowly turned toward Vlad, his golden cape settling behind him as his gaze hardened.

"He made my wife cry."

The words were quiet, but the anger behind them was unmistakable.

"No one is allowed to do that."

Emily could only stare at his back. She had spent the entire night trying to save the person who had once raised her, even when doing so meant sacrificing herself. Now Reinhard was standing between her and that same person without hesitation, and somehow that simple sight made the tears return to her eyes.

Vlad emerged from the ruined structure and slowly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His eyes settled on Reinhard, and for the first time, his expression changed.

There was no longer only grief.

There was interest.

Reinhard stepped forward, and Heavenpiercer appeared in his hand as golden light gathered around the weapon. The overlapping crowns above his head shone brighter while the crimson aura surrounding Vlad spread across the Garden in response.

Neither man spoke.

The pressure of their Calamity-level forces collided before either of them moved, causing the ruined Garden to shake beneath their feet. Cracks spread through the ground, shattered trees lifted from the soil, and the remaining structures groaned under the pressure.

Vlad’s Blood Mana surged like an ocean, filling the Garden with crimson light as countless blood weapons formed around him.

Reinhard raised Heavenpiercer.

Golden lightning gathered around the weapon, and the air itself seemed to bend beneath its pressure.

Vlad’s eyes narrowed.

"So you’re the husband," he said quietly.

Reinhard’s gaze remained fixed on him. "And you’re the father-in-law who stabbed my wife."

For the first time, something resembling a faint smile appeared on Vlad’s face.

"Then come."

Reinhard disappeared.

Vlad moved at the same instant.

A crimson fist crashed toward Reinhard’s face, but Reinhard raised his arm and blocked it. The impact exploded across the Garden, and the shockwave tore through the ground beneath them.

Reinhard’s boots carved two deep trenches into the earth, yet he didn’t move an inch farther.

He looked up at Vlad.

There was still no smile on his face.

Heavenpiercer flashed.

Vlad raised a blood-forged blade to intercept it.

Golden light and crimson Blood Mana collided in the center of the Garden, and the resulting explosion swallowed the ruins in a storm of opposing power.

For the first time in decades, the Bloody Massacre had found an opponent willing to stand directly in its path.

And Reinhard Ashcroft still wasn’t smiling.