110 Mistand 12

"My old man's really stubborn. I could only get him to show us."

"Thank you, " Lia smiled at the servant and he nodded.

"I don't want to go back though. These barbaric cannibals are too scary! Too scary for my heart!"

"And," the servant continued and pointed at Mika, "It doesn't matter if I believe or not! What does my believing bring you? Nothing!"

The servant was crying his heart out yet Noel seemed used to it as he dragged the servant along and said, "Let' go."

He held his hand out to Lia but Susa rushed towards Lia and grabbed both of her hands, "Master," she said and looked in disdain at Noel.

"Susa, he knows how to-"

"Then I will hold his hand and you hold mine. Xavi takes Lia's other hand."

"No, wait a second. Sorry Susa but-" Lia took Noel's hand and closed her eyes. A sharp pain spread in her torso and she fell to her knees.

"Lia!" Noel held her up as Xavi was the first to run to her.

"I told you not!" Xavi was angry when he realised what Lia was doing.

"But-"

"No buts, rest here for a bit."

It was a shame that Nana wasn't here to heal her.

Susa sat on the ground and Lia rested on her lap.

"What's wrong?" Noel was the only clueless one and the servant pinned himself to the wall.

"She gave you power but her soul can't take any more damage yet-" Mika glared at Noel who was still clueless.

"It's ok," Lia wanted to get up but Susa pushed her down, "It's not."

Noel was still perplexed and only after Xavi briefed him about Lia's power and the reason why they came here, did Noel let out a smile, knelt and patted Lia's head.

"I knew already you'd be the Immortal King but I'm surprised you gathered the hidden families. So, you're here to collect the final grand trophy, huh?"

Lia rolled her eyes and muttered, "Shut…up."

"How did you know?"

Mika was curious to see that Noel wasn't surprised at all.

"I already witnessed her power and knew back then who she might become."

Lia swatted Noel's hand away, "No wonder you never questioned my power."

"Although being carried by a corpse wasn't exactly…my proudest moment."

Lia laughed. Her carefree laughter filled the gloomy and dark air and brightened everything a bit. This was the first time anyone has heard her laugh. And it was something they wanted her to do more often, constantly.

Lia noticed everyone's stares and mumbled, "If you've seen the sight, then you'd also laugh."

"Well, I'm glad I'm comedic relief but," Noel turned serious, "Don't overuse your power, should wait until you're strong. And my old man might know a way."

"Really?" Susa lit up, "If only I could see or touch Elder T."

Noel threw her a weird glance.

"My ability's clairvoyance. I can determine info by touching or simply seeing the target or object," Susa justified herself.

"Hmm my power…" Noel opened his palm as if power would instantly appear.

"It's the strongest," Susa suddenly said and her eyes turned glassy.

"He can buff zombies," Xavi continued, "It's perfectly complementary to Lia's power."

Noel gave Lia a smirk but then Susa slapped her hand on Noel's face,

"And he can copy other's abilities by taking their lifeforce," Susa's hand fell limp on the ground and she shook her head, waking up from the trance.

"Wow, I'm strong. What do you say, Lia?" Noel grinned and he was even happier knowing Lia's real name.

"Hmpf," was the only thing Lia said but she was glad Noel had such strong powers.

"But there should be restrictions," Mika raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, definitely," Noel agreed but then said, "Hey, Lia, you don't even know if I'm gonna join you and you give me this present."

Lia looked Noel straight in the eyes and said, "Because I believe in you."

"Oh," Noel had no idea how to answer what. The atmosphere turned awkward, the servant coughed and made everyone aware he was still there.

"Young Master, please let us go now. I want the hell trip to be over as quickly as possible. Don't drag it out, it's only making it worse!"

Noel could train his power later.

"Lia, are you ok?" Xavi watched her worried.

"I'm fine," Lia nodded and got up. The pain was getting better and easier to manage.

With the servant in the lead and Susa between Noel and Lia, they disappeared into the mist. However, the servant walked through it avoiding all the ghosts in such a confident way that Lia couldn't help but ask, "How do you navigate through the mist?"

This was a question everyone had and curiously looked at the servant, "You get used to it," was the only thing he said.

The servant looked back and said to everyone with blank faces, "Did I say something wrong, Young Master?"

Noel shook his head, "Once you're long enough in Mistand, you'll notice that the mist looks different in different passages. Just like streets, it has different ways."

Yet still, no one understood except for Xavi who said, "I see. Makes sense."

After a while, the servant spoke up, "We're soon there. Soon there at the hellhole. Oh goodness, don't want to see them, you ought to see them! Are they even people? Are they?"

The servant started mumbling to himself while the mist cleared up and in the far, a dark spot was revealed. However, a few metres away the servant stopped and motioned everyone to hide a bit further in the mist.

Then he put his finger over his mouth, signalling they shouldn't make a noise. He whispered something to Noel and Noel nodded. The servant then gleefully ran away until he disappeared.

Lia knew that the servant must've asked if Noel remembered the way and could find back himself. Once Noel answered positively, the servant was released from his position as a guide and left. There was no need for him to be here anymore.

Cautiously, the five of them walked forwards until they were at the opening and saw a small village not any different from the previous ones.

However, here the village was surrounded by torches of flames that danced wildly in the wind and in the middle of the village was a large campfire with many prisoners surrounding it.

The houses were modified and looked sturdy, not broken or rundown, and there were quite a lot of them than Lia has anticipated.

While many prisoners enjoyed themselves around the campfire, there was no sign of Lily nor Nana. The only reasonable conclusion was that they were in one of the houses.

But each house was heavily guarded by man-made fences that made it hard to sneak into it.

Suddenly, Susa whispered, "It's that house, third of left."

Everyone nodded in acknowledgement. Yet they didn't have a plan on how to tackle this rescue mission. Lia was about to say something when Noel held her back and took a step forward.

He whispered, "My father should've taken care of this long ago. It's my family's fault. I'll distract them and you get the other two out."

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