When Triss returned to the battlefield with Murphy's heart, her expression complicated yet carrying a strange trace of relief, she was surprised to see Murphy pushing himself up from the wall all by himself.
He was still very weak, but his breathing had steadied. He was rubbing his chest and muttering strange complaints about "lunatics" and "the least you could've done was give me a heads-up."
Even from far away, Triss could feel Murphy's life force swelling abnormally. It was like putting an aircraft engine into a tractor. The heart in his chest wasn't just beating fast; each beat was powerful and forceful.
It was nothing like the state a Silver-tier vampire should be in.
It was just like the bizarre "Emperor's Engine" in one of those otherworldly anime Triss had watched to pass the time.
"What happened to you?"
Triss clutched a biological container specially made for storing hearts, her face full of astonishment. She rushed over and put a hand to Murphy's chest, then saw the long, ugly scar where his heart sat.
It looked just like the scar on her own body, as though the flesh had been torn apart and then healed over time.
"Whose Golden Heart is inside you?"
Triss asked in astonishment:
"Don't tell me Lord Paine sacrificed himself and gave you his heart? It can't possibly be that selfish old Edward, can it?"
"Then you're giving me too much credit. Even if he wanted to give it to me, I wouldn't take it. As for what really happened, you definitely won't believe me."
Murphy rubbed his head.
"This is your old heart!
"Salokdar's heart. Lily sent it back, then installed it in me without my permission. She seems to want to use it to make a deal with me. I tried to take