All of the people below the platform watched Lidien murmur incomprehensibly as he floated above it, spreading his arms wide open.

Alva was alert... without a command from him, she knew what he was doing needed intense focus, as she tried to stand below, eyeing everyone who could harm her Master.

Then...

All the blood controlled by Lidien simultaneously dropped, flooding the wooden floor.

His own murmurs rang in his ears, as the mantra to enter his Dreamflow was recited non-stop by him... followed by his Blood Control stopping him from entering the Dreamflow in between its spaces, maintaining his suspended trance.

Lidien, now in between his Dreamflow and the outside world, stared at the Monarch of Blood, smiling at him.

"Our ancestors' path was wrong, Lidien... because of their belief, thousands of us believers of the Death God died without a fight... thousands of us lost our family to those hypocrites who said they are the Truth!"

Lidien listened intently, but never answered.

"Embrace the new path, Lidien... embrace the New Order... kill all the slaves! Let death be the end of all things!"

Lidien shook his head and smiled.

"Maybe you're right, maybe I'm wrong... but this time, I'll follow what I want... and it was to save Lily, without killing innocents, just to fill that void within me..."

He raised his right hand aimed at the starry skies, and his left hand towards the Chest of the Undying Lich.

As he used his own body and sparkline as a medium... he imitated how to store the Rift of the Leaden Blood inside his Dreamflow.

But this time, he used his Absorption Vortex to siphon the Blood Essence from the Starry Sky and flood it towards the Relic.

The relic beamed with a blinding crimson light, as the heart within it slowly created an ethereal form suspended above it.

And this ethereal form of a heart now began to absorb the Blood Essence being given by Lidien, slowly forming its blood vessels... as the ethereal heart pumped, the Blood Essence flowed through the blood vessels, making new skeletons and muscles, tissues and organs...

Lidien, seeing everything unfold... said the final line of the Ritual to make a Guardian for the Death Church in ancient words he had only memorized from the Echoes of the Flesh.

Lily's own soul dissipated towards the new vessel.

Then...

The curled, naked body of Lily dropped towards the bloodied floor, drenching her with blood.

She opened her eyes, and weakly supported her new body... as she sat up staring back at Lidien still floating, and giving Blood Essence to the Relic... making Lily feel her own body slowly getting stronger.

"Lidien..." The word was a croak, unfamiliar to her own new ears. The sensation of blood, cold and slick against her skin, was the first real feeling she'd known in an eternity.

Lily's voice ended Lidien's suspended trance, as he stared smilingly at her, disregarding the blood covering her whole body.

"Welcome back... Lily--"

Lidien fell from a height, his face smiling as the relief of her reviving and the toll that stacked upon his body took hold of him.

Alva leaped and caught his body with care.

And then...

A clap that thundered across the whole Dark Wolf Palace made everyone search for it--and they found Azer, standing tall in a shattered doorway, his eyes fixed on Lidien's fallen form with cold triumph.

"Mad Dog... bring the Relic along with Lidien... or no, just kill him. There is no room for a Blessed of Death to walk among us."

Lily, who couldn't comprehend what was happening, stared at Lidien, then at Alva... and back to Azer, standing along with their siblings... Aria and Kyer.

"What is the meaning of this, Azer?"

Aria laughed, and Kyer just stood there, looking around.

While Azer smirked, as his eyes turned crimson staring back at Lily.

"We are here to retrieve the Relic... the Prince--no, that Blessed of Death stole from the Blood Rose Clan."

Lily stood. Every muscle fiber, fresh from the crucible of creation, screamed in protest as she forced herself upright. The simple act of standing was a battle, but one she would not lose... she endured it and stared at Alva, covering Lidien with her single emerald wing.

"Run... keep Lidien safe."

And with a burst of her verve, a white angelic wing and a rose bat wing erupted from her back... symbolizing her dual nature as a former Blessed of Light and Demon of Lust.

"He's our brother... does Mother know what you are doing?"

Now, Aria, who was fanning herself, covered her mouth with it before pointing at Lily.

"Oh please, Lily... Mother doesn't need to know a thing, we can just say Lidien died fighting the Matriarch."

Kyer shook his head, and ordered the soldiers present to haul everything... the slaves, the things, the beastfolk, everything... back to the Blood Rose Clan.

Then...

As Lily nodded at Alva, she was gone in a blink of an eye... slashing her whip made of rose-like verve against Aria, who blocked it with ease with her fan.

"A Hybrid against a Greater Demon? Are you out of your mind, Sister!?"

Alva, seizing the moment of Lily's explosive attack, was already a blur. She didn't head for the main door, now blocked by Azer, but smashed through a weakened section of the wall, Lidien secure on her back as Mad Dog's roar of pursuit echoed behind them.

"What is wrong with you, Aria! Why do all of you want to kill Lidien?! He didn't do anything wrong!"

Aria laughed, along with Azer.

"In the end, it's much better to have him gone, than only you have him..." Aria said, blocking Lily's attack with ease.

Lily couldn't hold back both Greater Demons. Even winning against Aria was impossible... and against Azer, who was the Right Hand General of Lady Rose, defeat was the only outcome... even if she included Alva and Lidien in the fight.

"Azer!" Lily screamed, her throat itching with dryness.

"Sorry, Lily... This is not only for your own sake... once the news spreads that Lidien, a Prince of the Blood Rose Clan, is a Blessed of Death, the whole world will do everything to erase us..."

Azer shook his head with a smile full of regrets as the memory of being with Lidien flooded his mind.

"His sacrifice... would not be in vain."

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