Varian’s consciousness suddenly became clear. The first thing he felt was the pain from the injuries all over his body. Especially the injuries that were caused by touching Enigma and Sia.

But someone seemed to have applied the healing potions. They were quickly healing.

Yet, the injuries were too many.

Torn flesh. Broken bones. Warm blood.

It hurt. It hurt so much.

Varian suppressed the urge to yell at the pain and focused on the next thing he felt. A soft body hugging him tightly and growing wetness on his chest and left hand.

Varian opened his eyes in confusion and saw a beautiful blonde girl sobbing. Her tear drops flowed down like pearls and splashed against his chest.

At that moment, the Sarah who was cold and indifferent toward the public was nowhere to be seen. All Varian could see was a girl crying out in joy and pain.

Turning around, he saw Sia kneeling beside him. The brown-haired girl was covering her face as the tears dropped without stopping and splashed on his hand.

Hearing their heartbreaking sobs, Varian felt a pain in his chest. They nearly died.

“Y-Yo, I’m not dead yet…” He tried to be sarcastic, but only a weak voice came out of his throat. But that weak voice froze both the girls before they looked at him with wide eyes.

Varian felt awkward for a moment before they throw themselves into his arms and embraced him tightly.

The left side of his body started to hurt as the repulsion from Sia began. But Varian ignored the pain and closed his eyes with a relieved smile.

Feeling the warm blood touching her hands, Sia quickly backed off.

“It’s fine,” Varian gestured for her to return. But she shook her head and took out a healing potion from her storage ring and poured it on his injuries. “You already lost too much blood. If not for your Plantae powers, you’ll be…”

Sarah also broke from the hug and cupped his face. Then she stared at him intently as if she didn’t want to see anything else but him and him alone.

Varian felt his heart race at her scorching gaze and turned to the side and was met with Sia’s burning gaze.

“I…”

Feeling the love, care, and pain in their gazes, Varian was overwhelmed. He vowed to keep them safe and happy.

“I love you,” He smiled from the bottom of his heart. “Thank you for loving me back.”

His words hit the two girls hard. Sarah bit her lip while Sia had to fight back her tears.

They still couldn’t believe they survived. Just a few moments ago, they thought they were going to die. They even lay beside him and chose their own death.

Now, they somehow ended up in a place they didn’t know. But they’re, without a doubt, alive.

Alive enough to feel the breath of their lover and hear his heartbeat.

“I love you too,” Sia wiped the corner of her eyes and looked at him with a pleading gaze. “So, don’t risk your life like that. What if something happened to you…something almost happened.”

Sarah sighed deeply. “I don’t know what to say. I can’t even think about it now. All I know is your life is being drained by that strand of energy. I will do my best and slow it as much as I can, but Varian, please tell me you have a solution for this.”

Varian scanned his body.

The strand of death energy was devouring his vitality unceasingly. The only reason he wasn’t fainting now was because Sarah’s time powers slowed down the devouring rate.

Another factor was Varian’s own huge vitality thanks to his Plantae powers. If he didn’t have the vitality he did, even with Sarah’s intervention, he’d have been dead by now.

Varian used his space powers and solidified the space around the energy strand. But it wasn’t as effective as time manipulation. Still, it was slowed down by at least 10%.

But even with that, Varian wasn’t sure if he could survive a whole month. Maybe twenty days? But that’s barely half of a month.

As for the solution, he had a brute one. “If I can reach Celestial Rank, I’m confident my Plantae powers can crush this death energy.”

Hearing his ‘solution’, Sarah’s face turned pale and Sia sighed.

Even for Varian, reaching Celestial Rank wasn’t easy. With their current conditions, it’s a question if he could even stay safe enough to make progress in level 9.

So, his solution wasn’t a solution at all.

Feeling their dejection, Varian looked around to distract himself.

He didn’t give up on himself, but he did realize that his chances of survival were near nonexistent. He didn’t have the word ‘impossible’ in his dictionary though. Even now, he believed he’d triumph over the damn death energy and survive. But he wanted the girls to mentally prepare for the worst.

And the whole episode really served as a tough experience for him. It made him realize that his enemies were not only stronger but also very cunning.

Using the same strand of death energy, Abyssals could’ve killed a Sovereign. But they didn’t. They used it on Varian. It was a terrifyingly wise decision.

Varian’s respect and caution for the Abyss Emperor only increased. But so did the desire to end such a dangerous enemy.

As Sarah and Sia discussed in hushed voices a possible solution to save Varian, the man himself downed a few more healing potions indiscriminately. He’d be fully healed in twenty minutes at most.

Before that, he wanted to be aware of his current situation.

‘Status.’

[Superhuman L8: 7/8

(+1k, +7: Due to the intense fight with the Undead, and the incredible stress your body has been through due to the continuous destruction from inside and the regeneration.)

Space L8: 5/8

(+7k, +5: Due to the chaotic spaces your body has been exposed to and the space fluctuations you were hit with all the way to here.)

Lightning L8: 0/8

(+3k: Due to the intense battle with the Undead)

Plantae L9: 1k/50k

(+3, Advanced, +1k: The continuous death energy is killing you. But it’s the best catalyst for your Plantae path.)

Psychic L8: 23k/25k

(+5k: Intense battle with Undead and the tough experience.)

Macrokinetic L8: 20k/25k

​ (+5k: Intense battle with the Undead)

Water L8: 20k/25k

(+5k: Intense battle with the Undead)

Time L1: 99/100

(Awakened, +99: Your body is instinctively learning from the time power it is in contact with. If you actively concentrate, you can improve faster.)]

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