Blood

Lili ran towards him at full speed. She crashed into him and both fell to the ground. Alexander hugged her, afraid she was gonna fall on the ground.

She started crying in his arms. He tried to calm her down, but after a few minutes, he gave up.

She kept crying while he petted her head. Alexander looked at the ceiling waiting for her to calm down. They stood like that for more than an hour.

"Are you okay to waste so much time here? You only have a little more than three hours to play outside now"

With dried tears on her face, she looked at him and smiled.

"You can find it again, right?" She asked.

"I can" He said with a serious tone.

"Then, it's fine"

They got up and her smile became brighter and brighter as she wiped the dried tears off her face.

Lili's heartbeat became faster than ever, she was excited. She wanted to run around everywhere, explore everywhere and do everything she wanted.

Alexander looked at her with his usual serious face.

"I couldn't ask last time, but what's your name? I'm Alexander"

"I'm Lili~!!"

"What do you want to do now Lili?"

"You need to wish for something before I can leave the room"

"Then, I wish for you to follow me outside. Does this count as a wish?"

"Yes! I don't necessarily need to complete the wish, but I have to do everything I can to try, or the room will know it and teleport me back"

Leaving the room, they ran towards the cave's exit. Lili wanted to play tag again so Alexander had to chase her around while running.

Outside the cave, they kept running around in the forest. He showed her animals and plants they found along the way. Lili fell in love with a wolf cub and a little rabbit she found.

She tried to take them with her but Alexander didn't let her steal the wolf from the wolf pack and the bunny was too afraid to come.

Soon, three hours passed and Lili had to go back to her room. It felt like such a short time. Alexander couldn't believe how unfair it was for her to have so little time outside after waiting so much.

"See you later!" Lili said while waving at him.

"Sure"

Alexander didn't know why he felt so close to the little girl, maybe she remembered him of himself from the past, or maybe he just didn't want her to start crying again.

Before Lili could teleport back, Alexander felt danger and pulled her to the side.

*RUMBLE!*

Shira punched towards them and the whole area was destroyed by the wind. The trees fell and the earth cracked around them.

Alexander protected Lili with his body while Shira approached slowly.

Lili became afraid for Alexander. She was afraid her mother would kill him.

"Go back. I'll handle this"

"No! I can-"

Fortunately for him, she was forcibly teleported back to the room because the time expired. Relieved knowing she was safe inside her room, Alexander turned towards Shira.

"I'll go back to the prison, we don't need to fight"

Alexander didn't have the will to fight her, even more now that he knew she was Lili's mother. Life in imprisonment wasn't uncommon for him, he was used to it and he didn't care about being free anymore.

"I don't care. I told you, you will pay for disobeying me" Shira was too mad because of the thirst to think straight.

She didn't wait a second before disappearing and reappearing beside Alexander. He instantly activated his curse and used the chains on his wrists to defend himself.

[ Sense of hearing, smell, and taste lost ]

[ All status raise by 150% ]

Shira punched towards Alexander. The punch connected with the chains but they couldn't even last a second before breaking apart completely. They weren't the only thing that broke, the punch didn't stop at the chains and broke his entire left arm while sending him flying.

After he stopped rolling on the dirt, he tried to get up. But before he could raise his body, Shira appeared beside him again and kicked him.

His ribs broke as he was sent flying again. Alexander didn't have the time to get up, use any footwork or summon his sword. Shira mercilessly kicked him again and again until she was satisfied.

With most of his bones broken, he could barely crawl on the ground.

Shira's wrath diminished a little and she asked him why he ran away, but he couldn't hear her. She didn't like the lack of response and thought he was defying her again.

Frustrated he didn't scream or squirmed in pain, she grabbed his arm and twisted it.

He could feel his arm twisting and the pain made him think of sacrificing the sense of touch but he still didn't. Shira was too strong, she overwhelmed him only using her superior status.

She might have got him when he was unprepared but he could see it wouldn't be any different even if he could fight at his best. Sacrificing any more senses to fight a losing battle was foolish.

Shira became angrier and angrier at his behavior, she couldn't stand the indifference in his eyes as he looked at her.

She tightened the grip on his arm, placed her feet on his back, and pulled his arm. Alexander gritted his teeth in pain and his muscles bulged, then his blood fell on the ground making a large puddle.

Shira ripped his right arm off.

She threw it away and became satisfied with seeing him struggle on the ground. But she didn't want him to die so she stopped attacking.

Using her powers, she gathered the blood storing it away. She stopped his bleeding, picked him up, and disappeared.

A few seconds after they left.

Alexander's detached arm twitched and the bracelet started vibrating. It started deforming itself as the bones inside the arm broke into smaller pieces.

Mouths appeared on the bracelet and they began eating Alexander's arm. Soon, the entire arm disappeared.

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Jennifer and Isabella climbed up the second-highest tower in the royal castle, but when they reached the top, they didn't find a room as expected. The top of the tower was destroyed.

"Where is he?" Isabella was confused.

"He should be here but maybe he escaped"

"Did Lili make a mistake?"

"No, that's impossible. It's more likely that he left after she found him"

"I see. Well, how do we find him now?"

"If he ran away, mother will..." Before Jennifer could finish, both felt their mother's presence approaching the tower.

"We need to hide, fast!" Isabella and Jennifer panicked.

They quickly ran to the side and Isabella used space magic to distort their surroundings making them invisible. Even then, their mother could sense them if she got close enough.

Fortunately for them, Shira didn't even look at them. She entered another tower similar to the one Alexander was in before.

"Was she carrying him?" Isabella asked.

"Yes, that's him"

"He looked broken"

"Mother must have punished him for running, but it doesn't matter. What we want is his blood"

Sometime later, Shira left the tower, and after a few hours of waiting to see if she would come back, they carefully entered the tower.