Sadness led to anger and anger to change. Lied surrendered to his fervent blood, driven by uncontrollable emotions, and turned the tide of battle.

Susumu and Mare were lost for words, incredulous at the transformation in the young man with light green eyes. No less impressed was Pantera, who adopted a more defensive fighting stance as he concluded that he couldn’t be too careful against an opponent as unpredictable as Lied in that semi-trance state.

“Come at me!” the hunter shouted, using the Expandability property to imbue his spear with teotl.

Pantera’s attacks gained new strength after he added a second layer of spiritual energy to the spear, increasing its piercing power, and the next few minutes flew by for both fighters. While the prince’s extravagant stance was difficult to keep up with, Lied was also beginning to sense the hunter slowly getting used to his movements, which would put him at a disadvantage.

The youth, who occasionally resorted to the variations of the Unda, tried to hit him with a 4-Kai Unda, but Pantera managed to predict the number of times the wave would break, dodging it with his dazzling footwork. With the element of surprise lost, the teenager was essentially back to square one. His winning formula wasn’t valid anymore.

“His mastery of Sensitivity can’t explain this”

Lied thought, puzzled.

The Adam’s Heir advanced through a sinusoidal movement of his body toward the aztec, reappearing behind him after a stunning zig zag. Lied then fired a

spilling breaker

at Pantera; however, the man anticipated the blow, leaving the human completely bewildered.

“Are you wondering how I can predict which variation you will use?” the hunter made his spear disappear, smiled, and began to explain, gesturing with his right hand as he spoke “It’s simple: when you make the Two-Kai, you slide your right foot one centimeter away compared to the standard Unda. For the Three-Kai, you slide it two centimeters further. For the Four-Kai, you slide it three centimeters further, and finally, for the Five-Kai, four centimeters further. For us, Spirit Mode a

nd

Visibility users, it’s something you can tell from a mile away.”

“G-Guh…” Lied said, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Did you think your opponent wouldn’t notice? How negligent you are. But that sheer overconfidence of yours is the consequence of growing too fast—the price of evolution” Pantera pointed his right index finger at him and said.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, the human was starting to feel the strain caused by his snake-like movements, which were rapidly draining his stamina. In this entirely unfavorable situation, Lied obviously had no way to win.

“It’s taking a toll on his body. He won’t last much longer” Zosimus pointed out the peril of the prince’s predicament, but that only made Mare and Susumu more apprehensive.

The Lost Prince refused to give up, not out of pride, but because he wasn’t just fighting for himself anymore; now Lied also carried Hitoshi’s legacy, driving him to push past his limits.

The boy once again allowed himself to be guided by the “wild voice”, fiercely attacking the enemy as he unleashed a barrage of rapid sword strikes like a steamroller. Nonetheless, the aztec easily parried all of the attacks using his own weapon.

“There isn’t a single combat-oriented user who doesn’t like to fight, but the truth is that I don’t consider myself particularly powerful. Even so, I believe I would have been able to awaken the Full Spirit Mode had I lived longer” the man said as he dodged his blows.

Lied gritted his teeth and charged at him once again, putting his hopes in the sheer power of the next Unda as he tried to find an opening.

“If it hadn’t been me, it’d have been anyone else… a rookie like you would sooner or later hit a wall. You should never have come to Mictlan, kid” Pantera said, bracing himself for the oncoming attack.

The man predicted the 5-Kai Unda and sidestepped the blow, swaying effortlessly from side to side. The moment the young man moved his arm to aim and discharge the

cross swell

, Pantera beat him to the punch and twisted his forearm, causing the kid to grunt in pain.

“Could the fabled Adam’s Apple really be there? I have my doubts” the man said after shoving Lied “Well, there’s only one way to find out…” Pantera resummoned the spear and pointed it at him, preparing to pierce his prey’s soul using the Penetrability property.

The hunter had exposed the flaws in his primary technique, and Lied knew he was at his limit.

The penny dropped, and the prince involuntarily deactivated his Spirit Mode as his mind shattered. Lied lost consciousness shortly after, yet he remained standing.

It was then that Pantera’s torso was entangled by an illusory serpent—his insides trembling, his body on the verge of snapping. Unknowingly executed by Lied, this mental attack was the same one Martyr had once used on Nemo.

The hunter eventually broke free from the dreadful illusion, just before being ‘devoured’ as Nemo was that afternoon in the Ganeden government building.

The first thing Pantera did was move away from the human as quickly as possible. Lied’s body was imploding—he felt a searing pain in his chest and his blood boiling, while his fiendish pupils flickered frantically: the very side effects of the transformation the Lost Prince feared most.

“AAAAAAH!” Lied roared in agony.

Overcome with anxiety, Mare could no longer resist the urge to dash toward him, but Susumu knew approaching Lied right now was far too dangerous.

“Lied!!” the aztec screamed in despair.

“Don’t!” the detective exclaimed as he stopped her from rushing toward their ally.

🐍🐍🐍

The Adam’s Heir was sinking into the abyss of his soul, oblivious to what was happening outside his inner world. He seemed numb to everything, stuck in a profound apathy reminiscent of the days when his heart was kept behind seven locks. Was Lied regressing to that dark period of his life?

The teen couldn’t even

feel

, much less

process,

what was happening to him—a force completely uncontrollable from within. Yes, it was perhaps as inevitable as the grief he felt on the day he lost his parents.

As Lied drifted down a deep chasm, multiple rectangular single-pane glass windows manifested around the youth. The windows opened by themselves, each showing a different scene from his life: in one, the child named Klaus was being devoured by snakes; in another, Makoto and Seiji vanished into the flames; and, as if to compound his torment, Hitoshi’s death at Nachash’s hands replayed like an old black-and-white movie.

“If living… means reliving these moments over and over again… then I’ve suffered enough…” the lad said, now in the serpents’ thrall as they coiled around his arms and legs.

A flash of white light burst from the darkness, piercing the gloom with clarity and hope. The celestial body hovering before Lied transformed into a familiar face: it was the spirit of Hitoshi, specifically the piece that now rested inside the prince’s soul.

“…Hito?” Lied said, looking astonished.

A gentle smile lit the face of the snake, now freed from its madness, as an incandescent glow descended upon Lied, destroying the serpents that were devouring him. The black-haired boy looked around, confused, and reached out, desperate to grasp his friend. The Lost Prince opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of windows shattering to pieces. Luminous hues filled the darkness, and without warning, everything went white.

His eyes closed, Lied found himself in the sacred space of his soul. Standing in front of him, right beside the pedestal where the Adam’s Apple rested, was the last person he expected to see—the mysterious woman who had saved his life the day Zechariah murdered his parents. She was gorgeous and radiant, almost divine, without a trace of exaggeration. Her very aura could calm troubled spirits and soothe hurting hearts—truly, a beauty sent from the past.

[END OF CHAPTER]