After Sixteen revealed that she could detect Lexia Spring's DNA in the flesh sprout found near the edges of the necropolis, the spectators at the Jade Palace were frozen in shock.
Alex, who was Lexia's younger brother, fell completely silent and lowered his gaze, unable to look at the livestream that showed his sister's current state.
gan wondered if there was anything they could do, but Dante seed hesitant when he explained that their best option was destroying the structure to free Lexia's soul.
However, when he made that comnt, he could see Sixteen's umbral aura growing further, but it wasn't hatred or anger—it was pure sadness.
As Dante inspected Sixteen's energy flow a little closer, he gritted his teeth with displeasure and annoyance.
'Sadness, deception, regret…' Dante thought, listing the different emotions he could sense coming from the android.
Her expression was utterly stoic, and her body was frozen in place, but the energy around her was intensely palpable to the warlock.
'Ugh, I hate this feeling…' Dante continued his train of thought, taking a few steps and approaching the fleshy structure.
gan was a bit startled when she noticed Dante moving, thinking that he was going to destroy the sprout. However, the warlock gently placed a hand on Sixteen's shoulder, prompting the android to turn around.
"Sixteen… Do you wish to save the soul that's inside this thing?" Dante asked, his tone serious and his eyes sharpened.
The android nodded affirmatively without saying a word, and the warlock pondered how far she was willing to go to save her.
"I'll do anything. That's my mission!" Sixteen loudly replied.
Dante called Krom to his side as soon as the android said her answer, bringing the imp to the necropolis in an instant.
"Ahh! Why, why, why do you always call when you are in these weird places!?" Krom shouted.
"Calm down. I just need you to make sure that there is nobody we should worry about around us," Dante replied with a nonchalant tone.
"Look around you—Does this seem like a place where you shouldn't ALWAYS be worried!?" Krom said, gazing at the death's ichor with disgust.
"You know what I an," Dante continued.
"Fine…"
As Krom scanned his surroundings, the imp shivered as he hated the feeling the necrotic air gave him.
"I don't sense anything other than a pack of ghouls… Hmm," Krom said, placing his claw on his chin.
"What is it?" Dante pondered.
"I can sense residues of a ritual… Maybe a summoning ritual?" Krom replied with uncertainty.
"I see… Then Netherius isn't here at the mont," Dante said.
When Krom looked back at the warlock, he widened his eyes in shock as he could see the umbra flowing from his body, and he seed confused as to what Dante was thinking.
"H-hey… What are you going to do?" Krom hesitantly asked.
"I'm about to do sothing incredibly stupid…" Dante replied, gazing at gan.
"Wait, what do you an?" gan asked, but the warlock didn't answer as he got closer to the fleshy structure.
"Sixteen, if you could house Lexia's soul in your body, would that be okay with you?" Dante asked the android.
"Yes. It is my mission to save her…" Sixteen replied.
Dante wasn't completely sold on her answer, but he couldn't expect a soulless machine to give him a more solid one, so he accepted her determination.
When the warlock placed his hand on the bud, it kept whimpering in pain and apologizing, making Dante take a deep breath and close his eyes.
'If my teacher saw doing this, he would've killed …' Dante thought.
With his eyes closed, he could feel the necrotic energy flowing in the environnt, focusing on the torrent coming from the fleshy bud.
Suddenly, his muscles tensed, and his veins popped out as the necrotic energy beca clearly visible around him.
As Dante slowly separated his palm from the flesh, it looked like he was plucking sothing from inside.
After struggling for a few seconds to separate the energy from the fleshy structure, he quickly clasped his hands together, generating a blinding flash of light in between his palms.
"You idiot, stop!" Krom shouted.
"What is he doing!?" gan asked the imp.
"He is trying to control necrotic energy. He could die!" Krom desperately replied, making gan gulp as panic began to plague her.
Dante gritted his teeth as he felt the necrotic energy ravaging the inside of his body, making him cry tears of blood that made gan and Krom even more worried about his condition.
"Heh…" Dante scoffed with a slight chuckle as his eyes kept bleeding profusely.
'Goddamn maniac…' Krom thought.
When the gusts of wind cald down, and the light between his palms beca fainter, Dante quickly slamd his palm against Sixteen's chest, pushing her back and leaving the android wholly confused.
"I… Think that worked," Dante muttered with a slight smile, holding the side of his torso before suddenly coughing blood.
"Dante!" gan quickly approached him and held him by the shoulder before he could pass out.
With blood coming out from his eyes, nose, and mouth, Dante still managed to let out a small grin of satisfaction.
When the warlock passed out in gan's arms, the brunette quickly checked for his pulse to make sure he was still breathing, feeling a bit relieved to see he was still alive.
"You idiot…" gan muttered, gently hugging Dante's unconscious body.
"We need to get him out of here. He is afflicted!" Krom said, prompting gan to start carrying Dante on her back.
gan and the imp were so focused on taking care of Dante that they didn't notice the android standing beside them with an utterly confused expression.
"Umm… W-what is happening?" The android asked, inspecting her own body.
As gan sharpened her gaze and glared at the android, she noticed her expression was completely different from before, wondering if Dante had truly transferred Lexia's soul into Sixteen's body.
"Are you… Lexia?" gan asked.
"Y-yes…?" She replied with uncertainty.
*Sigh* "Let's get out of here quickly," gan continued, knowing that they would have ti to discuss everything when they weren't in the middle of the enemy's territory.
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