Rebirth (Part One)

Thud.

A heartbeat, loud as a sledgehammer.

Pain.

A piercing pain.

Tales gripped Kuaishang and barely managed to stay standing, drenched in cold sweat.

No.

Thud.

Another heartbeat.

After barely taking Barney's sword away, the terrifying aftereffects struck again, making every breath he took—even every heartbeat—accompanied by excruciating pain that nearly tore his heart and lungs apart.

Each time worse than the last.

Like the Ferryman's summons, it sought to shatter him inch by inch from head to toe.

But that no longer mattered.

He couldn't fall.

At least, not now.

Tales, barely clinging to life, swept his gaze over the nine battered, despairing men before him.

The Royal Guard, once upon a time.

Thud.

After the next heartbeat, the nearly exhausted Sin of the Hell River surged back to life. It filled his limbs, then rushed toward his overburdened heart and collapsing body.

A strange yet familiar fluctuation swept over him, recreating the scene from the night of Dragon Blood and his battle against Starfaller:

The Sin of the Hell River began consuming enormous amounts of energy, accelerating the regeneration and recovery of the damaged tissues within his body.

Along with pain magnified without limit.

Tales began trembling uncontrollably.

But unlike before, as he listened to Sakrael's confession and Little Barney's sobs, listened to the wet gurgle of blood in Naki's throat and Nai's increasingly chaotic breathing, Tales suddenly realized that he could stop caring about the agony that had once driven him to the brink of death.

Sakrael's words rang clearly in his ears, as though they had come from another lifetime, yet were incomparably vivid.

"The Royal Guard each served their own master, and comrades drew blades against one another..."

"Eleven times in all... brothers turned against brothers."

Thud.

Within Tales' increasingly dim vision, the Execution Knight