The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 143

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Forsaken Prince’s Phantom Bride — Episode 143

“Why don’t we end this tedious match already? It’s just going to be an endless battle with no victor.”
“That’s impossible. How can I let you go when I don’t know what scheme you’re cooking up for those two?”
Kaiser’s scaled hand and Leon’s scythe clashed head-on.
Now that Kaiser had come to understand the rules of the Soul Contract well enough, he could neutralize Leon’s compulsion by making a request in turn.
What had begun as an attempt to divide the enemy using Kaiser had backfired instead.
‘There’s only one thing I want.’
As Leon evaded Kaiser’s assault, his gaze locked on Lucian in the distance.
That wretched boy who lingered disgustingly at Lia’s side, monopolizing her affection.
He would destroy that creature and bring down the foundation beneath Lia’s feet.
Whether she suffered or not no longer mattered to him. He had accepted that no matter how hard he tried, he could never make her his own.
All that remained in him now was resignation, rage, and an urge to destroy.
It could no longer be called love.
“You’ll pay dearly if you lose focus!”
Leon snapped his gaze back to the front, away from Lucian and Lia.
Kaiser was baring his teeth, launching an attack laden with malice.
Seeing this, Leon’s lips curled upward with a single thought.
Whoosh—!
“…What—!”
Kaiser’s sharp claws embedded themselves in Leon’s shoulder.
Kaiser had expected Leon to dodge, and found himself caught off guard.
Whether Leon had invited the blow intentionally or not, he staggered, coughing blood.
“I’d say aiming for my life qualifies, wouldn’t it?”
Sure enough, the Soul Contract judged Kaiser’s action as a lethal threat to Leon, and Kaiser’s body went rigid as stone.
“Ugh…!”
Watching the paralyzed Kaiser, Leon wiped the blood from his lips. At his sickly smile, Kaiser’s teeth ground together audibly.
Having neutralized the greatest obstacle, Leon turned his head with ease.
Seeing the unexpected turn of events, he let out a low whistle.
“Doesn’t your pathetic strength understand it stands no match against me?”
Lucian stepped forward, drawing his sword.
“True, I’ve no hope of withstanding your monstrous power. But there’s no way to know until you test it.”
Mana flared from Lucian’s body. He was no weakling himself.
At only twenty-three, he had already reached the 5th Circle, and his Swordsmanship was so sharp he never faltered even when sparring with Dio.
He was more than capable of handling two opponents alone.
‘I have to manage it, no matter what, if I’m to see Karserine’s plan through.’
As Leon approached with deliberate slowness, Lucian struck first. His explosive power and reckless offense caught Leon off guard for an instant.
Seizing that moment of hesitation, Lucian activated a Magic Formula he had prepared in advance.
Boom—boom—boom—!
Pressed down by overwhelming gravity, Leon’s brow furrowed deeply.
“Don’t underestimate me. I’ve been trained in Magic by a Witch and a Dragon, don’t you know.”
“…Whelp.”
Leon’s arrogant expression hardened as he began to mount a proper defense. The playfulness vanished from his face as he stopped looking down on Lucian.
Soon, black electricity coursed through his body, and he began to move bit by bit, resisting the Gravity Magic.
Seeing this, Lucian—who had maintained a poker face—swallowed silently in his heart.
‘A monster. Kaiser couldn’t move for three minutes straight.’
He had resisted faster than anticipated, but it was not beyond his calculations.
What Lucian truly meant to do was not defeat Leon, but merely pin him down for a time.
In the distance, he could see Lia and Karserine approaching Kaiser.
“Let’s see how long you can maintain that composure.”
Fortunately, Leon noticed nothing. The person he despised most stood before his eyes, and that was all that mattered.
Had it been anyone but Lucian, such an obvious provocation would have been seen through easily.
Lucian only just caught his eyes from drifting and smiled crookedly.
Rip—
Leon’s garment tore cleanly, and blood beaded along his flank.
“Looks like your mouth is all that’s working. Do you fight with words?”
While Lucian provoked Leon and drew his attention, Lia and Karserine reached Kaiser and seized him.
“Lia!”
“Quiet. If Leon finds out, he might try to control you again. How’s your body?”
“It’s loosening up gradually.”
“How long do you think it’ll take?”
“One minute.”
At his words, Lia and Karserine exchanged glances and nodded. Then Karserine used Magic to extract the Dragon Heart from Kaiser’s embrace. He held it before Kaiser.
—Consume it.
“What?”
—A Dragon Heart contains the very essence of Mana that its owner accumulated during their lifetime. You still can’t use White Purification Flame, can you?
Kaiser flinched. The Imperial White Flame he used was merely a lesser substitute he had created himself because he couldn’t cast White Purification Flame.
—That you harbor such immense Dark Magic power means Leon’s Soul has been corrupted. I’m certain White Purification Flame can purify Leon.
“…Does that mean I could kill him?”
—Yes.
Watching Karserine without a moment’s hesitation, Kaiser stared at the golden Dragon Heart floating before his eyes.
Then a sudden question occurred to him.
“What happens to you if I eat this?”
—I return to where I came from.
In other words, I disappear forever.
Lia, who had been told this beforehand, bowed her head and bit her lip, while Kaiser fell silent.
“…Don’t you want to see your family at least once?”
No matter that Karserine was his past life and had granted him those memories, Kaiser regarded them as separate beings.
And so his own family, who still mourned the dead Karserine, weighed on his mind.
Karserine seemed to understand this perfectly, and said nothing. But soon his eyes grew resolute.
—Even if there were regrets, my continued existence here defies the natural order. I am a soul who died three hundred years ago. With you carrying on my Spirit, there is nothing to worry about.
“…”
—Besides, I know you’ll look after the family far better than inadequate me ever could.
“…That’s obvious.”
Kaiser snorted. Karserine showed the smile of his eyes for the first time. Resolved, Kaiser placed the Dragon Heart into his mouth.
Normally, one could not withstand the vast Mana of a Dragon Heart, or the essence would not suit the body and cause sickness. But Kaiser was Karserine’s reincarnation. He absorbed the Dragon Heart completely as his own.
As he absorbed it, Karserine’s form slowly faded away.
—Aria, I was happy to be with you, and I’m sorry I couldn’t protect Odel.
Lia’s eyes glistened with tears as she shook her head.
“I should be the one… The days I spent with you were joyful and precious. Thank you for protecting me to the end.”
Karserine smiled as his eyes closed. After he vanished completely, a single tear rolled down Lia’s cheek, and Kaiser clenched his fists.
Now Kaiser bore all of Karserine’s memories and strength naturally within him. And with them came his fullest, most expansive Mana.
Kaiser raised his head. Pure white White Purification Flame erupted across his entire body.
“Let’s go, Lia.”
“Yes.”
The two, resolved, approached Lucian, who stood alone against Leon.
At the sight of Leon’s face, Kaiser found himself face to face with a maelstrom of turbulent emotion.
Affection, doubt, fury, sorrow, despair.
Having trusted Leon more than anyone, the sting of his betrayal could not be contained in a single word.
But he would show no pity. If he did not stop him here, this battle would never end.
“Lucian!”
Kaiser’s hair bleached white at the tips. Lucian, still dodging Leon’s assault, curled his lips upward.
“I was waiting for you!”
Kaiser shot forward to Lucian’s side like an arrow, and Leon halted, startled by the sudden 180-degree shift in Kaiser’s presence.
For the first time, cold sweat trickled down Leon’s spine.
Crash—!
Kaiser’s fist, wreathed in White Purification Flame, and Leon’s arm, wreathed in Black Flame, collided head-on.
“Hack—!”
Leon coughed blood and stumbled backward. The impact was far greater than when he had invited an attack.
His insides convulsed, and his dark Mana scattered instead of gathering.
“…Tch! This violates the contract!”
“It’s fine. I’m not trying to kill you—I’m purifying you.”
One of the Soul Contract’s critical weaknesses.
The contract prioritizes intent over outcome. And if that intent carries any desire to harm the other party, it reacts sharply and binds the perpetrator.
But Kaiser harbored no such desire to harm Leon. He sought only to purify him, to restore him to what he had been.
Sensing the predicament, Leon tried to flee, but an invisible Barrier unfurled before him.
“Where do you think you’re running?”
Lia had erected the Barrier. Before Leon could cry out, a brilliant blade flashed past his eyes.
This time it was Lucian. Leon had to face not only Kaiser, but everyone here.
With a singular sense of purpose rather than anger or bitterness, their eyes shone with unmistakable clarity.
It formed a stark contrast to Leon’s corrupted darkness.
Light and shadow, good and evil. They stood at opposite poles, where the two could never meet.
In their faces, he saw Karserine’s and Odel’s features overlaid, and it felt as though they were telling him that those days could never return.
Leon’s lips trembled.
“No, no… it’s not like this! I haven’t fallen!”
Anxiety took root in Leon’s heart. That seed shattered the composure he had maintained throughout, and it opened a crack in his defense.
When Leon reached out roughly toward Lia, Kaiser and Lucian moved to block him.
“You won’t lay a finger on Lia.”
“Your opponent is us.”
Kaiser and Lucian pressed forward in unison, attacking Leon relentlessly.
With ten years of partnership between them, they fought as one seamlessly, their movements synchronized as they drove Leon back.
Kaiser guarded the distance, cutting off Leon’s escape routes, while Lucian engaged at close range, carving away at Leon’s body bit by bit with Magic and Swordsmanship.
Lia did not stand idle. Whenever Leon attempted a wide-ranged attack, she swiftly nullified his Magic outright.
They were methodically severing his limbs and slowly strangling his last breath.
“Kyyyyyaaaaah!”
Sensing he had no chance of victory, Leon made his final desperate gambit. Black Flame and jet-black electricity erupted in all directions. With no pattern to predict, the assault was impossible to anticipate.
“Lia, Lucian! Raise your Barrier!”
Kaiser, quick to assess the situation, called out, and Lia moved with practiced precision.
The moment the Barrier enveloped them both, Kaiser unleashed his White Purification Flame without restraint. The force was powerful enough to engulf everything around him.
Leon, who knew better than anyone that touching White Purification Flame was death, desperately tried to counter it with his own Black Flame, but Kaiser’s purification began to devour Leon’s power.
Before the pure white blaze, Leon’s Black Flame withered and gradually faded. Or rather, it was more accurate to say it was being purified into oblivion.
With the Black Flame protecting Leon completely extinguished, the White Purification Flame touched his body.
“Guaaaaaahhh!”
Leon screamed in anguish.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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