15. Requiem of Life and Death V

Inside the storehouse of the manor where the provisions are stored, Hal and seventeen maids were huddled together in fear of death.

Hal's body trembled in fear, and the maids around him tried their best to calm him down, but nothing was working.

Shill embraced the young master. She was someone who had received the family's kindness and had taken care of the young master for years now.

She treats Hal as her own brother, and the other maids are the same.

"It's going to be okay, young master. It will be alright. Nothing is going to happen."

Mature as Hal was, everyone knows he was someone who had not seen blood much less death. He was but a child away from the embrace of his parents; his fear was very much understandable.

Anyone can curse at his parents at this moment for bringing upon this tragedy to them. But no one was saying anything untoward to the Estize couple for they are missing for the sake of their people.

Most of the maids working in the manor are wives to a man in the mercenary group. Some are even parents to other members, so no one said anything against the two's actions.

But in the end, they too were Mortals, so they feared. But even then, no one cursed at anybody.

Hal could feel the bravery of the maids; he was disgusted for they were Mortals who failed to form their Soul Seeds, but they were far more dependable than he was.

His body had this instinctual fear of death that is far more amplified than anyone else. They had tried to escape when the barrier was destroyed, but as they were about to leave, a red one replaced the broken array.

They were trapped in the manor; in the one place where Hal deemed safe, is where he feels like he's about to die.

The idea of returning to the darkness and being left along surfaced, but somewhere inside his heart, he could feel another form of fear.

It was the fear he has for losing his own life but the fear of losing family.

And as he remained huddled together with the maids, it was then that he heard it.

BooM!

A loud explosion made his ears ring. The memory and feeling of death by having his body explode surfaced in his head.

He does not know why, but now, the memories of different deaths are surfacing as clear as day. It might have been because Hal's emotions were slightly unfettered, and with it are the memories.

He was trembling from fear, and as silence prevailed, a rough voice entered Hal's ears.

"There you are! So, you didn't run after all!"

Radiating with lust for blood was an elder's voice. He did not know if it was directed at him or not; he merely felt like death was creeping up on him again. And as he trembled in fear, Hal heard another voice.

"Heh! Don't worry, the two of us have our responsibilities, we can't just run away!"

"I can feel a lot of lives in there, he's in there, isn't he? Finally, I have everyone, and I can kill you guys in one fell swoop."

"You can try old man!"

Darya's and Alri's confident voice echoed in his ears as Hal listened to them speak from outside. And as the heavenly essence began to gather and fly about, Hal's heart began to beat loudly.

As silence prevailed for a few seconds, they felt the ground shake, and a powerful wave blew the storehouse away!

BooM!

"Kyaaaa!"

The maids screamed in terror as the storehouse was destroyed. The front wall was no longer there, and the roof had already been blown away.

Hal would be trembling even more at this point in time, but then, he saw his sisters with their bloodied figure. Darya's limbs and her side had a hole in it, and one of Alri's hands was missing.

An Elder who does know of was there laughing as he watched Alri and Darya down on the floor. In the Elder's hand was a blood tainted spear that is exuding frost, unlike any other.

Around him were icicle shards shattered to many pieces littering the ground. All over the Elder's body were protruding veins, and streaks of blood tears were present on his cheeks. He was as severely injured as his sisters, maybe even more so.

The Elder and Hal saw one another, and as the Elder saw him, a wide grin surfaced on his face.

"I found you~."

He dashed forth as he tried to get to Hal; however, the now trembling maids tried to their best to pull Hal out of danger and dragged him to the back of their group.

Hal was placed on the back of the group, and with shaking hands, began rummaging around his clothing looking for something.

'Found it!'

As he held a black plate, he tried to activating the treasure that was in his hand only for him to realize that it would take time before it would activate.

'Come on, come on, please activate, please, activate…'

Tears began flowing out his eyes as he looked back and forth to his sisters and the treasure in his hands.

"SCRAM!!"

Darya and Alri then intercepted the incoming Elder with the spear both screamed as they push their bodies to the limits, their blood was not quickly being drained out of their bodies, and every clash they had with the Elder inflicts more and more injuries.

The twins were blown away by the Elder's sheer insane force, and as Alri's feet were planted on the ground, she was like an arrow that shot forth to clash with the Elder one more time.

On the other hand, Darya didn't recover as fast as Alri. She tumbled on the ground and fell near the feet of the maids.

"Young Miss!"

The maids were thrown in a panic as they attempted to help her get back up, but as Darya used her remaining strength to get up, more blood began to drip out of the wounds that were on her head.

Darya turned back to the maids and showed them a confident smile as she held her axe by her side.

She was a lively girl whose vitality is incomparable to any other. This is nothing for her!

And as she stood there with numerous gaping holes on her body, she was valiant and courageous. She saw the cowering maids protecting her brother, and as she showed them that smile, she tried her best to speak with a trembling yet powerful voice…

"Thank you…now…do not fear... for your Young Misses are���here to protect you guys…Alri! Just a little more…! And he will fall!"

Darya's shout was loud, and the clap of thunder and the laceration of lightning flickered about her body. Her axe showed a beautiful sheen and then jumped forward to clash with the Elder, whose every movement caused blood to spurt out of his veins.

The Elder should have died already, but something was making him continue this fight.

He planted his feet on the ground and swung his spear. He was both getting stronger and weaker with every passing second.

"YOU CURS! JUST DIE ALREADY!"

As he felt his end was about to come, the Elder summoned all of his strength and created Ice Spears around him, blowing the twins away.

Darya and Alri tumbled down on the floor. They wish to stand up once again, but their strength had already dissipated, and as they look at Mo Fu, he was already gathering heavenly qi at his spear.

Their pupils shrunk in fright.

They bit their lips, and blood flowed out, and they were asking, "WHY?" why won't this old man fall!?

Mo Fu gave them a death stare and threw the spear with the intent to kill everyone in the destroyed storehouse.

The spear flew with unimaginable speed, Darya and Alri closed their eyes, ready to accept their fate; however, a small figure ran up from the crowd of maids carrying a glowing black plate, which jumped forward and threw a black plate.

A blue barrier was erected and met the oncoming spear. Sparks flew as the spear was stopped!

"That's the Sky Deity Protection Array?"

The twins watched as Hal met death face to face. Hal was scared. He was trembling from fear. His greatest fear was death; the chances of him dying because of what he had done was very close to getting him killed.

He looked at his sisters, and he was crying from both fear and relief.

"I, I did it…" he cheered because he saved his sisters, and he managed to face his fears.

The Elder outside saw this and screamed at the top of his lungs. The twins saw the Elder gave more of his life to the Ice Demon Spear, strengthening it further, giving it enough strength to pierce through and destroy the still not fully activated Sky Deity Protection Array!

The last hope of the twins vanished, but instead of falling into despair, they did their best to pull Hal backward and get him to safety, and just like fate had initially planned, the Ice Demon Spear impaled Darya and Alri.

With Darya on the forefront, and Alri holding the spear away from Hal, Hal's sister faced him as their face began to pale even more.

The Ice Demon spear was pulled back by the Elder through mysterious means, resulting in the two to coughing up blood, and their blood reached Hal's face, thereby dirtying it.

Alri saw this and wiped the blood away from his brother's face, but her hand was also bloodied, so it did nothing made the mess even worse.

Without any strength, they slumped and fell on Hal's shoulders. Hal had seen a lot of death, and he knew what his sisters what's about to happen.

Hal's eyes showed his fear of losing them; as Alri and Darya felt their life escaping them, they showed him the best smile they could as they hoped for his fear to be lifted.

With a trembling voice, it was Alri who first spoke.

"Hal...do not fear...this...this is nothing to your great sisters."

"Haha…like we said …we're the core disciples of an Immortal Sect…we rule over our peers …we're strong…this is nothing to us!"

Darya laughed, but even she couldn't hide the fear behind her voice. She was crying while she spoke; she didn't want to die; she had dreams she wants to achieve with her family. She wishes to remain; she wishes to live.

But as she stared at Hal, the only thing they can do in their dying is comfort him. They know Hal will also die as nobody else could fight Mo Fu.

The maids who were trembling in fear saw the dying young misses, and they too knew they were about to die.

They stood up, and as their knees continued to shake, they wish to slow down the Elder with their deaths, so they could give the young misses enough time to say their goodbyes to the Young Master, and hopefully for their young master to escape.

The maids threw themselves to death, including Shill, who was Hal's personal maid.

Alri and Darya saw their actions, and despite their desire to tell them to run away, they couldn't, and the only thing they had in mind was 'thank you' and 'sorry'.

Giving the siblings enough time, everyone knows they are going to die. They are not fools to not know what is to come, giving their beloved Young Master and Young Misses some brief moment together as their lives pass.

Darya and Alri only did one thing: they touched his cheeks and smiled at him and showed them their always present loving smile.

Hal was stunned; his expression was frozen as he lost the ability of speech.

They pulled him to their embrace for the last time.

They didn't know what it is they wish to say, but when they finally found the words, Hal froze up.

"These sisters of yours...couldn't protect...we're sorry...Hal!"

Their tears fell, and they were crying as they apologized to Hal for failing to protect him. Their desperate wails became weaker and weaker.

They lost their consciousness as their vitality left them, Hal too grew weak.

Hal's body was dyed red with their blood, and in that instance, something within him cracked.

His calm demeanor disappeared, and he desperately held his sisters in his arms.

"No, no, no…don't play with me, older sister Darya, older sister Alri! Please, don't play such a joke…y, you're going to tell me another story when my birthday comes, right? I, I want to listen more, please, don't leave…I beg of you…please, don't leave me!"

He pleaded to them, but none answered his pleas.

No, the two could no longer hear him.

He knew of it, but he didn't want to believe it.

And when it finally sunk into him, his sadness burst out, and he began to bawl as a child would.

"No, please, nonononononononnono, please, don't leave…me. I, I'll be good… I'll do anything...please...please, don't leave me!"

His body became limp as his strength escaped him. Hal began to weep as he held them as tight as he could.

He was a man who had lived through countless deaths and had sealed his emotions, but right now, one of the fettered emotions blew open like the flood gates.

Sadness filled his heart as the truth sunk deeper into his mind and soul starting a chain that opened the shackled emotions.

The past is still fresh in his mind; death is always close to him: he tried to avoid death as much as possible, but this is more painful than death.

His breathing became hoarse, and a lump appeared in his throat. Any form of elegance left him as his wails pierced the skies and heavens.

His sadness reverberated through the hearts of those who could hear, and as of that moment – Hal became utterly broken.

The Elder, who was trying to take care of the maids, smiled in delight; this is the suffering that he wishes for.

The Elder roared, and maids were blown away. Their fate unknown as some are unconscious and some dead.

The Elder's cultivation is now only at Heaven's Wheel and the Ice Demon Spear at Mandate Seeking.

He was just about to approach Hal when all of a sudden, Hal raised his head, and as every other emotion escaped him, the Muspell Crown that was hidden in his body responded to his cries as it deemed him worthy to wield its strength.

A scarlet light exploded, signifying the sudden rise of strength and the start of the end.