"Azu…" Seraphina worriedly mumbled as she observed the condition of his body as life began to fill his system.
But the reason she was still feeling uneasy was that the dark purple veins were still running all over his body. They were pulsating in a very eerie way.
"Did I fail?" Seraphina teared up, wondering whether all of it was for nothing.
"Wait. Look…something is happening," Yanah pointed out as Seraphina wiped her eyes and took a good look at his body again.
Her eyes widened when she sensed the malignant poison in his body being burned away by the pure Odic force that was circulating in his body.
Her expression melted in relief as she saw the dark purple veins slowly fading away as some color began to return to his previously sickly pale skin.
"He is really fighting it…" Seraphina couldn't believe her eyes. She could see that his expression was calm and no longer in pain.
She regretted not doing this earlier instead of letting her beliefs stop her.
She didn't expect Viktor's soul to be that resilient. This meant that his soul was stronger than any mortal being.
And that only made her ask herself again…Who was he really, and what made him like this? No mortal could ever possess such a soul. It was just impossible.
"I don't know if I should feel happy or sad, but I am happy for you. Your man seems to be out of the storm now," Yanah said with a subtle smile while thinking that it was a pity she might not be able to get what she wanted.
Still, she took relief in the fact that nothing had changed anyway, and it was her desperation that was making her dream about things she couldn't get.
Seraphina felt embarrassed hearing Yanah mention Viktor as her 'man'. She was too distracted earlier to feel anything about it.
But now that Viktor's condition was improving, she meekly said, "H-He is not my man…but a friend who decided to help me out of his kindness."
Yanah rolled her eyes as she chuckled, "You keep telling yourself that till you believe it? Seriously, Sera, I thought I could never picture the Fairy Queen having a man, but for some reason, you two seem quite alright together."
Seraphina's cheeks had a pinkish hue as she shook her head softly, "Azu wouldn't look at me that way, and I…I am not right for him. I just end up putting him in trouble. I couldn't even protect my own realm. Now, I have no idea how I am going to protect my daughters," Seraphina said in a doleful tone as she knew she could no longer get back her realm's lifeline.
Yanah let out a low sigh, not knowing what to tell her or how to comfort her since she herself could relate to the guilt and pain Seraphina must be feeling.
However, Seraphina got distracted from her thoughts when she realized that Viktor hadn't still opened his eyes and immediately checked his Odic aura to see if his soul got damaged.
"Is something wrong? Should he be taking this much time to wake up?" Yanah asked since she was astonished to see Azu looking as healthy as a horse from the outside, but his eyes were still closed.
She was still finding it shocking that Azu managed to beat the terrifying poison from the Blade of Hatred on his own. No one had ever achieved that in history, and the reason why the previous owner tried to bury the blade in the deepest place they could since they couldn't destroy it.
If anybody else heard of his specialty, even those aloof experts would try to snatch him and find out what makes him so special or exploit him.
Even she herself was tempted, but she had bigger things to worry about, and she owed the Fairy Queen too much to hurt her friend.
"His soul…is perfectly alright…" Seraphina mumbled with a puzzled look though her eyebrows were knitted together.
"Then what is wrong with him?" Yanah was even more puzzled now.
"Nothing seems to be wrong except the strange fact that his mind seems to be inside his soul palace…" Seraphina said as she lifted her head to look at Yanah.
"The soul palace? Isn't that a myth?" Yanah asked with a subtle head shake.
"No…it is definitely real, but it is not something mortals could access even if it's present in every living being. But it can only be accessed when one dies and enters the river of afterlife so that they will get a glimpse of how their entire life turned out. Still, Azu is a true immortal, and since he can't die, he shouldn't be able to enter the soul palace. But he is unlike any mortal, and maybe that is why his mind is in there now," Seraphina said with a contemplative expression.
"Wait. Even if what you said is true, then when will he wake up?" Yanah asked as she lay on the bed.
"That even I cannot tell. It could be within a few moments, or it could take years. There is no choice but to wait," Seraphina said while wondering what Viktor was seeing now.
Viktor's expression seemed very calm, but inside he was in a different world, in a different era, and in the body of Azu…the one whom he had already witnessed fractions of memories.
Not too long, he had felt his body being embraced by death right before being embraced by life energy. But the next moment, he found himself being sucked into a different surrounding, and when everything cleared up, he was standing before a giant tower-like palace with a dark white marble appearance.
Viktor had never seen something so magnificent and what surprised him was that he was surrounded by red-eyed people in armor who were wielding weapons as they approached him with hostile expressions.
And before he realized it, he was starting to treat this as his reality.
