The three days passed by faster than we expected.

Luckily for us, we weren't attacked during this time by any strange people or monsters.

The creatures of Merdini's Burial Ground didn't target the cave, because apparently, most of them were too large to fit in the narrow entrance. So, as long as we stayed inside during the night, we were effectively safe.

During this brief respite, the party members fell into a routine of preparation for the long trip to the Puppeteer's Grove.

Dion spent most of the day largely recuperating and sleeping, while Ino stayed by his side. For most of the day, she would sit in a meditative posture which made me assume she was probably drawing in mana from the air. When she was not in this position, she spent the rest of the time absorbed in something on the whisper-globe.

Meanwhile, my own Bond, Aika, spent the daylight hours largely dormant in her tattoo form. She barely manifested her human form, except for the brief periods when she emerged to eat or smoke. At night, however, she would fully appear, and we would dedicate the hours to drawing in mana and expanding my mana core.

As for Celeste, by the end of the third day, she was looking a bit better than she was before.

Though we did not talk much, we spent most of the time during the day together.

I never had a sibling back when I was on earth, so having one now who looked up to me felt really strange and a bit overwhelming. To be honest, there were times when I felt like our relationship was slightly awkward. Most of the time, I didn't know what to say or how to act. It was especially difficult as I also had to be careful to avoid slip ups that may hint to her that I was not actually her brother.

However, even during this period of unfamiliar nervousness, there were times when I felt myself slowly growing fond of Celeste's quiet, trusting presence, and I found myself acting like a true older brother without having to think about it.

During one of our quiet interactions, Celeste had revealed to me that she had also killed Tae-hyun. According to her, her exclusive skill, Demon Queen's Chains, was an ability that, once the whips locked onto a target, they would chase that target even to the very depths of hell. Unless Celeste was killed or ran out of mana, those whips wouldn't stop attacking until they killed the target. And so, while Tae-hyun was trying to escape, he was chased down and killed by the whips.

When I heard that, I was bewildered. Not only had a Grade Two killed one, but two people in the Grade Three rank.

That was actually not just impressive, but sincerely terrifying. I couldn't help but also feel a modicum of respect towards her.

That aside…

Today was our last full day in this cavern. I decided to resurrect Evelyn tonight, as this was the second, and final, reason I had postponed our journey.

***

Right now, the screen displaying the time read:

[12:06 a.m.]

I stood up from the meditative posture by the wall and walked to the fire place where Celeste sat drawing in mana. She was the only one still awake as she was having problems sleeping.

Stopping a few meters from the fireplace, I sat on my haunches then in a slow, deliberate motion, I swept my hand from left to right. And as I did, Evelyn's body slowly appeared from the inventory.

"What are doing brother?" Celeste asked with a curious expression on her face as she saw me tap my hand on Evelyn's forehead.

I looked up to her and smiled, "I need to wake her up from sleep."

"What?"

At that moment, a notification appeared in front of me.

[Would you like to use the bonded ability: Chrysalis to bestow new life upon the character Evelyn Marcus, in exchange for 500 karma points?]

'Yes…'

[Activating the bonded ability: Chrysalis...]

In the next instant, the entire cavern suddenly grew so cold that even Dion and Ino stirred awake. A few seconds passed, and then a cocoon of black flames erupted violently from the ground, swirling and completely enveloping Evelyn's corpse.

The fire burned with fierce intensity for only a few seconds, then vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

I quickly scanned Evelyn's body. Every injury, including the large gaping wound on her side, had completely vanished.

I waited for her to wake up but a few minutes passed and nothing happened.

Dion was walking over, rubbing his eyes and muttering something about the cold flames, when suddenly, Evelyn sat upright with such violent, startling speed that Dion yelled in panic and fell straight onto his bum.

Even I was startled and flinched back instinctively.

'Aisshh… why did she suddenly spring up like that?' I thought as I rubbed my chest, waiting for my heart to return to its normal pace.

Meanwhile, Evelyn seemed to be in a panic, her eyes darting frantically around the cave.

When they finally settled on me, I waved and offered a small smile. "Welcome back."

"What?" she blurted in surprise. She quickly checked her side, running her hand over the spot where the fatal injury had been. "Wha-what is this? Aren't I supposed to be dead?"

At that moment, Dion scooted closer, his eyes wide with disbelief. "No way, she's really alive," he whispered, before shouting in astonishment, "How is this even possible?!"

Then he snapped his gaze to me and tilted his head questioningly. "Since when could you bring people back to life, mate?"

He paused studying me with a really baffled expression. Suddenly, his eyes widened and his expression tightened even more as he leaned back a bit. "Wait… don't tell me… are you really… a god?"

I arched a brow. "A god? What drivel is that?"

Dion blinked a few times, still stunned, then ran a hand through his hair as his gaze returned to Evelyn who was looking at him with a confused expression.

Then, all of a sudden, her eyes widened in a flash of terrible recognition. She quickly folded back the sleeve of her black shirt, revealing the tattoo of a large black vampire bat.

Her lips began to tremble and tears immediately welled in her eyes.

"Julius?"

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