He lay in a pool of blood, bright scarlet dripping from the white stone. His sword fell beside him, and the blade had cracked. His killers stood around him. There was a shadow all around, but he only had her in his eyes.

She looked at him, but she couldn't see it. His blood-stained face looked back at him like a reflection in a mirror. He lay on his side. Breathing is light and weaker.

Her stiff hands were cold, but he didn't feel anything. A serenity covered him like a shroud. No pain, no fear, no doubt. are gone.

His armored fingers gripped her hand tightly. I can't spend time with her when I'm alive, but I can be with her when I'm dead.

After what seemed like he had gone through forever, he felt calm again......

"Hello, Ledroth". A voice that shouldn't have been there appeared.

Ledros ...... It's his name.

He heard a wicked, playful laugh, followed by the sound of chains swaying.

"I don't understand why you're torturing yourself so much, but I'm glad to see your pain."

Reality weighed over like a tidal wave, threatening to drag him down the abyss.

The pool of blood under his body had been hundreds of years old, and only a thin layer of tan remained. The stone is not white either, but pitch black, full of cracks. There was turbulence in the sky, and black clouds flickered in the light of lightning.

There was a churning black mist everywhere.

She was still there for a moment, and he hugged her tightly, unwilling to let go.

"My love." He let out a breath, but then she dissipated like ashes in the wind. He had nothing in his hands.

He's dead.

He was trapped in this eternal state of junction.

Letroth stood up and picked up the broken sword.

He raised his ghostly sword and pointed it at the man who had shattered his illusion of memory. The hate-filled spirit lurked in the darkness, its eyes burning with cold flames, sneering at him. The cursed lantern was placed on the nearby rubble wreckage, emitting a stream of dead light, and captured souls were tumbling inside.

Warden of the Soul Lock. Hammerstone.

Oh, he hated him so much.

This evil spirit has been pestering, mocking, and laughing at him for seemingly countless centuries. And now he's found it? It had been his haven, the only place where he could feel a moment of peace in the midst of a terrifying reality.

"What are you doing here?" Ledros asked. His voice was dull and empty, as if he had come from another distant time and space.

"You've been missing for a while," Hammerstone said. "There were months. Maybe years. I'm not keeping track of time. ”

Ledroth lowered his sword and looked around.

He remembered what the place used to be – white stones and shimmering gold bathed in sunlight. The island is encased in a barrier of white mist, rejecting any outsiders. When they first landed, it was a land blessed by God—a land of wealth, learning, and wonder, free from war and famine. It's convenient for them. There is little power to resist.

Now there is no sun here. Everything is dark. The ruins of the crumbling library hung above it, like a gigantic dried corpse. Large boulders floated in the air, and that was the moment they exploded and were imprisoned. It is foolish to think that God is here for them, and it is clear that they have abandoned this place long ago.

He would appear here every time he reappeared from the invisible madness of the black mist, the place where his physical body had died, and that was too long ago. It's the same every time. Unalterable.

However, this guy who had been waiting in front of him for a long time was the first time he appeared. He didn't like the change.

He habitually touched the pendant around his neck...... But it's empty.

"No......" the ghostly light in his body flickered restlessly.

"What a pretty little thing." Hammerstone said.

Letroth quickly turned his head, his gaze blazing. Hammerstone holds up a short chain on which hangs an intricate silver pendant carved with two roses, the leaves and stems intertwined like a pair of lovers embracing each other.

The anger in his body stirred up Ledroth, and suddenly exploded. He took a step towards the hammerstone, the light shining on his sword. He was tall and full of rage and violence when he was alive—he was the king's defender and not to be underestimated. He looked down at the hammerstone.

"You...... Took ...... My stuff. Ledros said viciously.

The Warden of the Soul Lock didn't run away in front of him like the other low-level wraiths. His deceased countenance showed little expression, but there was cruel pleasure in his eyes.

"You're out of order, Ledroth," he said, holding the pendant in front of him. "You may be able to say that we are not normal, but you are different. You're outstanding. Here, you are the real outlier. ”

"Give it to me," Lydros roared, sword ready to fall at any moment. "Or I'll cut you."

"You can try," Hammerstone said. His tone was neither hurried nor slow, but his eyes were burning, longing for violence. He sighed. "But it's not good for anyone. Giving, taking. I don't need it. ”

He waved it dismissively. Ledros reached for it in his black glove, reaching out at a speed that was completely out of his size. He opened his huge fist and carefully examined the pendant. Intact.

Ledros put away his sword and removed his spiked helmet. His face was substantial, a remnant of his face before his death. A gust of cold wind hit the scorched earth, but he couldn't feel it.

He put the precious pendant around his neck and put it back on his helmet.

"Don't you want my evil existence to be put to an end in moderation, Warden Soul Lock?" "Don't you want me to rest in peace?" ”

Hammerstone shook his head and laughed, "We have something that mortals have coveted since time immemorial - eternal immortality. ”

"We've become prisoners."

Hammerstone smirked, then turned and walked away, the chains and hooks around his waist clanging. His lanterns floated beside him without the need for his hands to touch them.

"You are too attached to the past, but the past flows through your fingers like sand in an hourglass," said Hammerstone, "and you turn a blind eye to the miracles of our harvest." We have become gods. ”

"We're reaping a curse," Ledros said fiercely.

"Then you run away, Chief Swordsman," Hammerstone gestured to Ledroth, with a whipped gesture. "Go find your lover. Maybe this time she'll even remember who you are......"

Ledroth's eyes narrowed.

"Tell me," said Hammerstone, "you want to save her, but does she need your salvation?" She didn't look tormented at all. It's you ......."

"Be careful, prison officer." Ledros yelled.

"Are you doing this for her? Or is it for yourself? ”

Hammerstone has said something similar before. He seemed to be trying to mock Ledroth's efforts.

"I'm not your toy, prison officer." "Don't think you can fool me. ”

Hammerstone smiled, revealing a mouth full of shark-like fangs.

"Of course not," he said.

Hammerstone makes a gesture to summon his lantern. It approached lightly, stopping beneath his sharp claws. In the flickering death light of the lantern, Ledros saw a pair of painful faces clinging to the edge of the cage, disappearing and being replaced by other faces—tormented souls taking turns. Hammerstone smiled, savoring their pain.

"I don't even need to torture you," he said, "you're torturing yourself." ”

The Warden of the Soul Lock stepped into the darkness, leaving Ledroth alone.

A hollow gust of wind blew through the shattered city, but he couldn't feel it.

He couldn't feel everything, except her.

She's hunting.

Ledroth stepped into the fog and let it surround him. Then he cut through the fog.