Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 181 Phantom
"What's wrong with me?"

Thales felt as if he were floating in the sky, his mind completely relaxed. He asked softly, "Where am I?"

“Listen to me.” Ashida’s voice ethereally seeped from the glowing silhouette:
“I don’t know how to explain your current state—you’re clearly just a contact, and whether it’s your understanding of magical energy or your own level of mastery, you’re far from being a true magical energy master…”

“No, you are still not a mage... I can sense that you are not yet one of us... but you are definitely knocking on the door…”

"Like a newborn baby who can't even control its limbs, suddenly being sent into the air at an altitude of ten thousand meters..." The Qi Mage's voice was somewhat unsteady: "You are in great danger right now..."

"Danger?"

Thales didn't know how he made a sound, but he just said, "What do you mean... knocking?"

"Aishida's" words carried a hint of anxiety: "After breaking through the first threshold, the mage will leave the physical state and enter the true state. Toros calls the moment of transformation 'knocking on the door'..."

"The mage who knocks on the door will connect with all other mage in the world in a conscious way—as intensely as banging on their door! In other words, the knocker is like lighting a torch in the dark; in that instant, he will be detected by all mage, and those with ulterior motives can directly pinpoint your current location..."

Just now.

thump—

A muffled thud, similar to the one before, seemed to resonate in Thales's mind.

The muffled thud was piercing and sharp, its echo lingering and causing restlessness.

This is?

An ominous feeling crept into my heart.

thump...

Another muffled sound!
The muffled sound was like the deep beating of a heart, carrying a shocking and heavy feeling!
In an instant, Thales suddenly sensed that something had appeared in this void.

He felt a sudden panic for no apparent reason.

He wasn't the only one who felt this way.

"They're here!"

Aishida's voice became extremely urgent: "Go! There's no time to explain..."

"Return to physical form immediately!"

Thales plucked a few strands from his vast sea of ​​thoughts to reflect on the present moment.

Correct.

Regardless of who "they" are—they are never kind to themselves.

Thales raised his gaze, looking at the receding "Aishida"—or rather, its silhouette—into the distance.

Just then, two sharp and piercing gazes were cast towards him from the dark void.

The owner of the gaze was drawing ever closer to him.

With a heart pounding in his chest, Thales' thoughts raced like a flowing stream:

I have to go now.

It's time to go.

Let's go, where are we going?
“Think about who you are…think about what you should do…think about what happened before you knocked on the door…” the glowing silhouette said anxiously, “Don’t get caught up in your current state and lose yourself!”

who I am?
Is this important?
Just as Thales was thinking this.

"Thales!"

A clear yet fearful, childish voice, tinged with tears, came from afar, seemingly from an unknown direction.

His consciousness suddenly jolted!
The next instant, the dark void before Thales vanished, and Ashida's silhouette disappeared from sight.

Countless scenes that once lingered in my mind, whether of the ocean or the desert, of humans or animals, have all receded like the tide.

Like a theater curtain suddenly collapsing, revealing the original wall surface.

Snowflakes flashed through his vision, as did corpses, ruined streets, the magnificent Hall of Heroes built on the mountainside of Dragon Sky City, and a multi-headed serpent made of severed limbs and flesh.

It eventually came to rest inside a tentacle made of countless flesh and blood.

Where is this...?
He thought, confused and bewildered.

----

Inside the tentacles, against a horrific backdrop of crimson blood and mangled flesh, the little rascal knelt on the ground, staring at the boy who had been hung up and impaled to death, wailing in despair.

The Blood Mage, Giza Trillman, looked at the little rascal kneeling and weeping amidst the blood and flesh with a cold expression.

"You...you killed him..." Little Sly's tears streamed down his cheeks.

She stared in anguish at Thales, who was bound by tentacles.

Giza frowned, and the blood-red marks on his face slowly faded.

The little rascal clearly thought that Thales had met with misfortune.

She cried and reached out a hand to Thales, whose current situation was terrifying.

Tears streamed down her face.

"I'm sorry..." Tears streamed down her face as the little rascal bit her lip tightly.

Giza looked at the little rascal, and the coldness in her eyes slowly turned into tenderness.

“Child,” Giza, pressed against the flesh and blood, changed her expression and said softly, as if comforting a child whose candy had been taken away, “Don’t be sad, it’s not his fault…”

"It's not your fault either..."

Giza closed her eyes dejectedly, and two more tentacles extended from the inner wall behind her.

"It's our fault."

The tentacles curled towards the little rascal.

“Go, little girl,” Giza said sadly, “live well…forget everything from today, and cherish your identity as a human being.”

"Wow!"

Immediately, the little rascal, his face filled with terror and sorrow, was pulled deeper into the flesh by countless tentacles.

disappeared.

But the next moment, the Blood Mage suddenly opened his eyes and screamed in surprise!
She turned her head in disbelief to look at Thales' "remains," who was bound in mid-air by tentacles.

“Why…” Giza slowly shook her head, her eyes filled with incredulous astonishment:
"This is impossible."

In her eyes, Thales, who had been pierced by countless tentacles, slowly opened his eyes.

what.

original……

I'm back.

As if he had just woken up, Thales slowly raised his eyes and, in a daze and dizziness, looked at the person in front of him.

His thoughts were somewhat confused, and he couldn't quite recall what was happening in front of him.

here it is……

Yes……

Huh? That's... a severed hand? Internal organs? An eyeball?
Is it flesh and blood?
Thales realized the situation he was in.

and many more.

He tried his best to shift his attention and consciousness away from his hazy and chaotic thoughts, fixing his gaze firmly on what was in front of him.

It was a girl whose entire body was blood red, her naked body pressed against countless pieces of flesh.

She was staring directly at him with a subtle and complex expression.

Thales shuddered!
In that instant, as if a curtain had been suddenly drawn back, all of Thales' memories of that night flooded back into his mind like a tidal wave.

The Northlands, King Nunn, the Grand Duke, the Duel, Ashida, the Magus, the Black Sword, Ramon, the Little Sly, Giza, the Hydra, the Destroyed Shield Zone, the Blade of Purification...

And... in the final moments, he was pierced by Giza with countless sharp spikes.

The final image reappeared in his mind: a sharp thorn piercing his left eye without mercy.

No.

Thales shuddered!
Do not!
Fear, panic, tension, worry, astonishment, doubt...

It was as if all the emotions he had ever lost returned to Thales in an instant!

Upon seeing the mage before him, Thales's breathing quickened instantly.

The vague illusion, the feeling of being isolated from everything, and the indifferent attitude just now seemed to be nothing more than an illusion.

It was just a dream.

"how……"

Thales realized in a panic that his limbs were still bound by tentacles.

What terrified him even more was...

Countless sharp spikes were still embedded in his body, piercing through his flesh!
A slash went through his left eye.

A spurt went through the throat.

A ray pierces through the heart.

Countless others of the same kind pierced almost every inch of his body.

He was like a hedgehog hanging in mid-air.

Thales was breathing heavily, filled with immense fear.

Especially... that sharp spike on his head was still stuck in his left eye socket, protruding from the back of his head!

but……

Huh?
Thales noticed something was wrong.

No blood flowed from the puncture wounds on his body.

No pain?

It doesn't itch?

what happened.

What am I... Thales felt the tentacles and spikes piercing his body in panic: What's wrong with me?
Did they become ghosts after they died?
But Giza's words answered his question.

"How come you...?" Giza looked at the second prince in surprise, her tone filled with confusion and astonishment. "How come you're still alive?"

Thales was taken aback by what he heard!
Why... is he still alive?

He stared nervously at Giza, then looked in astonishment at the spikes covering his body.

I...I'm not dead?

Giza's expression grew increasingly grim, and the blood-red markings on his face began to tremble violently.

"Then do it again!"

"Wait..." Thales was startled, his heart pounding wildly!

But the mage ignored him.

The next moment, the tentacle that had pierced Thales' left eye, along with its sharp spike, suddenly pulled back, then twisted violently and stabbed out from the top of his head!
Thales shuddered as he sensed the movement of the tentacle.

I……

But Thales remained motionless.

and many more.

It doesn't hurt...

It still doesn't hurt?

Thales was startled, then slowly breathed a sigh of relief: I—am alright?
It was as if he wasn't the one who had been pierced.

"Impossible!" The crimson markings on Giza's body began to grow violently. She narrowed her eyes, revealing an unprecedentedly fierce expression: "You've been pierced all over, how come you're completely unharmed?"

"Can't you even feel pain?"

Just as Thales was about to answer "How should I know..."

Giza's expression suddenly changed.

She sensed something.

With an unpleasant expression, Giza slightly raised her finger.

Immediately, all the spiked tentacles that had pierced Thales' entire body began to move at the same time!

Thales felt a chill run down his spine as he watched all the tentacles on his body twitching.

This!
God!

"Sizzle..." The familiar sizzling sound of flesh and blood came from these murder weapons.

Countless tentacles, starting from his chest cavity, pierced, sliced, and cut through his upper body from all directions; starting from his head, they pulled horizontally, slashed vertically, and pierced through his brain...

It was as if someone was holding countless knives, moving them back and forth, left and right, continuously slashing, piercing, and cutting Thales!
But Thales remained motionless, staring blankly at Giza, his gaze occasionally sweeping over the tentacles.

It was as if he wasn't the one being cut up.

The cutting and piercing lasted a full ten seconds.

Giza stopped in a daze, and all the tentacles and spikes gradually slowed down as well.

"How could this be..." The mage shook his head in shock, "Attacks have no effect on you?"

Thales was breathing heavily, completely at a loss for words.

At this moment, his mind was also filled with panic and doubt.

"Zi la..."

Countless tentacles and spikes retracted from Thales' body.

As if he had left his shadow, Thales was left without any wounds or blood.

Even the clothes were intact.

It was as if Thales before my eyes was nothing more than a phantom shadow filled with colors.

Thales was completely stunned. "I'm... immune to physical damage?"

But... my hands and feet are still tightly bound!
Completely bewildered, he stood with his mouth agape, utterly at a loss for how to react.

But vaguely, he seemed to be experiencing something similar to what he had just felt in that void...

For example, Thales had a premonition: no matter how terrifying Giza's spikes were—when she instigated those tentacle spikes to attack him…

The magic users all seemed to be stabbing in the wrong direction.

Suddenly, Giza's expression changed drastically. As if she had remembered something, she gritted her teeth, which was unusual for her, and abruptly looked up!

She spoke angrily:
“Sager!”

“Sager Todd!”

"Get out here! You despicable conflationter!" The mage turned around, looking around warily and resentfully, his words filled with deep anger: "Is it you, you damned old ghost?"

"Is it your abilities that are causing this?"

Her voice echoed through flesh and blood.

Several seconds passed.

Apart from the sound of flesh rubbing together, there was no other response to her.

Giza was slightly taken aback.

She reacted quickly.

The mage turned his head and looked at Thales with a strange and subtle expression.

"No, it's not Sager..."

Giza murmured, her eyes filled with incredulous surprise: "It's you..."

"you?"

Giza extended a tentacle, which passed through Thales' body without any hindrance.

The tentacles retracted, leaving Thales unharmed where they had been passed through—as if it were just a phantom.

Giza refused to believe it, and she extended another tentacle, its sharp tip aimed at Thales's bound right hand.

The result was the same as before: the right hand, which could have been bound by tentacles, was easily pierced by the sharp blade and then pulled away.

Unscathed.

This left even Thales speechless.

Giza frowned deeply, his words faltering: "This...this is your ability?"

Is it "out of control" due to magical interference?

impossible.

If it gets out of control...

How could they have gone to such lengths?
Thales was also stunned and panting. He looked at his still bound limbs and then at his body.

My abilities?

What kind of ability is this...?

Giza raised his eyebrows and shook his head violently, as if he had seen the strangest thing in the world:
"You're just a contactor, how could you possibly use magical energy?"

But then she frowned deeply, as if remembering something, and her expression changed drastically:

"Was that you knocking on the door just now?"

Thales continued to stare at his body, deep in thought.

Has he become a mage?

But... why do I feel absolutely nothing...?

Apart from……

Besides Giza being unable to harm himself?

"How could this be?" Giza gritted his teeth, his voice low and filled with hatred: "You're just a rudimentary contactor, not even a magic master!"

"It's just out of control, how could it possibly 'knock on the door'!"

Thales frowned.

He recalled what Ashida had said about "out of control" being uncontrollable.

Is it...

Am I really that special?

Giza stared intently at Thales, her eyes filled with terror:
"You really...knocked on the door?"

In that instant, Thales swore he could read despair, sadness, grief, and pain in the eyes of this incomprehensible madwoman.

And guilt.

“No,” Giza said, her eyes tightly shut, her voice filled with sorrow, “you still… became a mage?”

Thales looked at her in confusion: What's wrong with this crazy woman now?
“No…” Giza gritted her teeth, tears streaming down her face, and screamed hysterically, “No!”

"You're not a magic user yet, you're still a contactor. What just happened was an accident..." She suddenly opened her eyes, her expression fierce and resolute: "There must be a way, there must be a way to kill you, starting with magic interference..."

The next moment, inside the giant tentacle, countless pieces of flesh began to deform again!
One by one, tiny black monsters that Thales had seen burst forth from the flesh and blood!

Thales was startled!
He took a deep breath, his mind racing: things he couldn't understand, he decided not to think about.

The most important thing is... to deal with the immediate problem first.

Deal with this crazy woman!
But just as the second prince raised his head...

"Hiss..."

A newly born black monster kicked its hind legs and pounced into Thales' almost phantom body.

"puff!"

Then it exploded into flesh and blood inside his body.

If Ashida were here, he would recognize that this was the move Giza used to prevent him from transforming back into human form after scattering him.

In that instant, Thales felt a jolt throughout his body.

It's like breaking the surface of water, creating ripples.

Then, a shard of explosive spikes grazed his left arm.

"laugh!"

The pain came.

This time, Thales was horrified to discover that his left arm was slashed and bleeding!

His "phantom" body—seems to be malfunctioning?

“See, I knew it,” Giza said with an excited smile as he witnessed this: “The magic interference is still effective…”

"Hiss..." As Giza moved, more and more dark monsters rushed into Thales' body!
Then they all exploded.

The severed limbs that burst forth flew out of Thales' body.

"Ah!" Thales cried out in pain.

He was pricked on the side of his calf by a shattered spike.

Fresh blood flowed down.

Starting from the surface of his body, Thales' special abilities seem to be gradually losing their effectiveness!
Thales stared in horror at the countless monsters rushing towards him.

One pain after another came from the surface of the body.

more and more……

It's getting more and more painful.

It was mixed with Giza's loud laughter and the monsters' screams.

"Hiss..."

Thales closed his eyes in agony, feeling the monsters pass through his phantom-like body and explode inside him.

Then it leaves scars on the skin.

He had a premonition that before long, the ability he relied on for a living would become completely ineffective.

Until then...

"Hiss..."

No.

Do not!
Another monster exploded on his lower abdomen, and a sharp pincer pierced his left abdomen as it flew out of his body.

pain!
"Hiss..."

Thales desperately tried to recall the events amidst the pain and the sounds of the monster's explosions and screams.

hurry up……

fast!
Whatever...

Anything that can save me...

"Hiss..."

"Pfft!"

Black Sword's words flashed through my mind:

I used "Extreme Vibration" to slide her tentacles away...

Thales was jolted.

He recalled the high-frequency vibrations that Giza had used to shake him down.

More and more little monsters are rushing in.

The next moment, a pitch-black monster swept across his cheek, but instead of passing through, it left a bloody mark.

His "phantom image" has officially become invalid.

The Blood Mage gave a soft snort.

Thales had no time for shock and fear.

He ignored everything and just gritted his teeth.

Following the key techniques taught by the Black Sword, he summoned another power within his body.

Help me, the sin of the River of Prisons.

A matter of life and death.

help me!

As his resolve hardened, the sins of the River of Hell seemed to come alive, spreading across his limbs.

I need to……

Able to get rid of these tentacles...

strength!

As long as I can... slip off them!
The next moment.

"Om..."

The deep hum could only be heard by Thales himself.

Thales' limbs began to tremble violently at a rate almost imperceptible to the naked eye!
The second prince took a deep breath, feeling as if his entire body was about to be shaken to pieces by the tremors of the River of Hell.

This feeling...

Giza's eyelids suddenly widened!

The next second, the four tentacles binding Thales swayed, and Thales was immediately freed from mid-air.

A monster flew over his head and shaved off a hair from his head.

"Boom!"

Thales crashed onto the ground, which was also made of flesh and blood, and gasped for breath.

The sins of the River of Hell receded from his limbs.

Thales gritted his teeth, trying to stand up.

But he only felt a numbness in his muscles, and then he fell backward again.

"thump!"

Thales touched the flesh beneath his feet and found a sticky, bloody ear inside, which startled him.

But the next moment, a tremendous soreness came from my limbs!

He was trembling violently, covered in sweat, and his limbs felt weak.

so tired...

very sour……

it hurts……

His muscles began to ache all over, and he had almost lost all his strength.

Having finally broken free from their constraints, they lack even the strength to take a single step!

But even more little monsters were already rushing towards him!

Thales' eyes widened, feeling utterly miserable.

It seems that the recent 'extreme earthquake' exceeded his body's capacity to withstand it...

and so……

No, Thales felt his limbs ache and looked at the monsters in front of him with a sense of despair.

Looking at the smiling Giza, he thought hopelessly: Is this the end?
(End of this chapter)