Chapter 374 (1/2)

Chapter 374

TESSIA ERALITH

I stood lifelessly, unhts turned inward

Agrona was shouting, but through the blood rushi+ng through my head, his words were muffled like thunder in the distant mountains

Thissense that almost every ain Butthan that, I had lost control of h But no, that wasn’t entirely true—she had alh

Choppy and full of tur the short span of my new life, and I realized she’d always been there, hidden inside this body, tangled up within the elderwood guardian’s will Rooted inside me

And she’d taken over Just for a second, but long enough to show me she wasThis body…Nico and Agrona said it had belonged to an enehting, her body living on but her one…

Lies, always lie—

Now that I could fully sense her, knehat she was, I recognized this thought as hers, not ht about how it had felt for Agrona to uedfor this feeling again, I instinctively wrapped the beast will inbarrier between her hts are rily

There was no replyRead first at ReadNovelFullorg!!

I drew in a deep breath The stadiurances of arona glanced in htly Beyond him, I saw, in the stands, rows and rows of bystanders, still kneeling, sorona’s intent Those faces I could see—the ones brave enough to raise their head in the presence of the High Sovereign—were tired masks of fear and wonder

“What did you sense from hiunray hair tuht toonI sensed no ic” I paused, searching Agrona’s blazing scarlet eyes “Would you have let hi “You were never in danger I kneould try, and I kneould fail”

Nodding, I turned away My breath caught as I noticed Nico’s prone and battered for the corona took hold ofat er of any value to either of us”

Scowling, I shook free of Agrona’s hold “He rona, and so he should round, I flew over the field of spikes and charred earth, then drifted to a knee at Nico’s side His breath was halting and ragged, and his dark hair stuck out wildly Sweat beaded across his pale, dirty face

There was a blood-stained hole in his ar, already healing around the edges, but whatever elixir he’d been given couldn’t save his core Theto his skin, some blue water mana trailed the flow of blood in his veins, but his core was empty Broken and useless

“I’riet so…angry…I should have realized you were going to do so!!

Nico’s chest was rising and falling His eyelids fluttered All around hiround, blew on the breeze, basked in little fires left burning froht…

But none of it was drawn into his mana veins or fueled his body via his channels The runes etched into his flesh sat empty and manaless as well, no different from the plain ink tattoos of ht

I felt Agrona’s oppressive power approaching fro at hi up the world wherever it turned “After all his work and pain to grow stronger, Nico will never use rona didn’t sound sad,on the fact

His words rang hollow in my ears A wound that didn’t even kill the body shouldn’t be able to steal a ift only to snatch it away frorona was speaking again, but I couldn’t process his words through the spiraling ofaround Nico There was so only I could do

My body began to move as if in a trance, drawn by some deeper instinct My hand drifted to Nico’s sternu wound They ainst soreen, and yellowpollen in the air, then began flowing into his h his body and back into his broken core With thehis core and the roughness within it, filled with clotted and hardened blood

The core itself—this strange organ found in this world but not in my last—didn’t react to the presence of the mana It was as if the core were dead, despite Nico’s other organs continuing to function Noran would cause a cascade of other failures, eventually resulting in death But hu without a mana core…

I had been reincarnated into a body with a fully formed, beautifully silver core, and so had never needed to form my own The reincarnation process itself—or perhaps acy—had near-instantly purified the body’s silver core to white But the lingeringNico’s core felt like a blueprint for what it used to be…for what it could still beRead first at ReadNovelFullorg!!

Using the mana like steel wool, I scoured the dried blood fronition of fire-attribute mana

Nico let out a low lad for This process wasn’t quick My ability to master new techniques, however, was, and within a couple of minutes I had cleansed the inside of the core

The core itself was harder Like one that had just been newly foran were conta hold just of the water h the core walls Each individual particle leeched out some of the trapped blood, and the more I repeated the process, the cleaner and clearer Nico’s core grew

This was a slower process, and so I stopped when his core was still a murky yellow color For now, I just needed to knoould work

But the presence of the cleaned core andwithin him He rested uneasily, his brows pinched and mouth curved doard in an uncomfortable frown

Alacryans, unlike the humans in Dicathen, were born with their rona’s experi The bestowals did the work of activating the natural core, harnessing e so they could tap into the runes’ powers In Dicathen, however, I knew that young es meditated to collect and purifytheoutward, I called to thestreah Nico’s h his channels and into his runes until his body was gloith it, his dark features alight frorona waved off their excuses and conjectures He was focused entirely on nored itRead first at ReadNovelFullorg!!

The shi+elds—those that had survived the battle—di artifacts flickered and went out I htened people in the stands, otherwise taking every particle ofit into Nico

His eyes flickered open “Cecilia?”

He began to cough I released his core and slowly pulledhis blood off on my battlerobes “I’ve done my part, Nico I need your help now Draw in mana, take control of it Can…can you do that?”

Nico took a deep breath, choked, and coughed so his hand, I squeezed hard enough for it to hurt “Children on the other continent can manipulate the mana in their bodies before they for the confidence leave his gaze, I spat the last words, trying to spark a fire in Nico “Grey accomplished it in the body of a three-year-old, didn’t he?”

By the way he tensed, I was sure it had worked Nico glared at me, then closed his eyes A heartbeat passed, then two, then…the mana I had condensed into his body rippled A sht breeze over the surface of a pond, but it was enough to bring a srona asked as he leaned down next to me and rested his hand between my shoulder blades

I explained the process as best I could, keeping my voice low so Nico could focus “But I’ain, your reign overbaritone ith praise “I truly believe there is no liize for what I said earlier I was too quick to give up on Nico”

“It’s fine,” I answered coolly “Because I won’t ever give up on hiet your promise, either”

Thebrighter andthe newly purified mana out into his body to help him recover His runes activated in brief flashes, one by one, likestretched

Nico’s eyes fluttered open The save me was full of softness and wonder and the tentative kindness I saw in e

“How?”

I squeezed his hand again and realized the vertigo and nausea I’d previously felt at his touch—sos Tessia Eralith had for hi down to kiss hirona’s promise

Someday, Nico and I could have our lives back Our real lives—including our relationshi+p with each other But for now, in this body…intihed at the childishness of this thought What a silly line to draw, I told ht a war in the body of another, but not to share a kiss?

But the truth was soerRead first at ReadNovelFullorg!!

This would not be like a life at all, I decided More like…purgatory Though I wasn’t going to be rona’s arsenal, neither could I beas I wore this skin Nico couldn’t either But ould work together, changing the face of this world to Agrona’s design, and when the on, we could leave Together Be ourselves again

Together

Standing, I pulled Nico up withhis neck His eyes flicked to Agrona before ju into the distance “What happened to…”

“Grey?” Agrona said, raising an eyebrow over an otherwise impassive face “After your spectacular failure, he vanished again”

Nico’s face fell, but I took him by the chin and forced him to meet er,” I said, softly chiding “I need you If we’re going to kill Grey, we need to do it together”