Not long later, Wang Bugui regained consciousness and immediately recollected something the moment his eyes opened. “Sister Chiou, where’s Sister Chiou? Where is she?” He asked frantically.

“Tell me! Where’s Sister Chiou? Speak!” He said as he grabbed Druid’s collar, upon noticing that both Merutia and him were still silent, their heads lowered. Druid shook his head in pity and remained quiet.

Wang Bugui then turned to Merutia and saw tears stream down her cheeks. He let go of Druid and fell shakily to one side as he gazed at the opposite end of the Tower Bridge. He scrambled back onto his feet and tried running across, stumbling many times along the way but always getting back up. For the first time, he felt that the bridge was extremely long, and he had long lost his confidence and sense of status as a genius of the Blood Hunter Clan.

He could only run toward the opposite end of the tower bridge as tears flowed from his eyes. He wished to see Hanae Chiou still alive, he did not know how he could continue living if she was no longer with him.

“Ahhhh!”

As he reached the end of the Tower Bridge, he spotted her clothes on a pool of blood that had yet to coagulate. Her Scythe of Soul Degeneration and Soul Locking Chain were left strewn on the ground far away, and he ran crying toward them, finally kneeling down before the blood pool.

He scooped up a handful of her blood within his trembling hands, his tears falling uncontrollably.

“Sister Chiou! Sob…”

His heart was finally completely broken by this time; not long ago, this woman was still by his side, comforting him when he was wounded. Now, she had passed on to the other world, and he could not even pay his last respects to her. He used his hands, which were stained with her blood, to grab his chest forcefully as he felt his breath quicken.

“Spurt!”

Finally, his heart could no longer take the sorrow and he coughed out a mouthful of blood. He crumpled onto the ground weakly and sobbed as he muttered Hanae Chiou’s name over and over again. This night had been like a nightmare to him— he had lost his caring clanspeople, beloved family, parents and even Hanae Chiou, whom he trusted the most over the course of the evening.

“Hahaha… all of them are gone, all of them have left me. Why, why am I so weak? So weak that I don’t even have the right to die on the battlefield. Why does everyone trust me?” Wang Bugui laughed sorrowfully. He did not understand why the others were willing to exchange their lives for him when he was evidently just a coward and weakling.

“Humph, seems like that woman’s last wish was a foolish one! To think that she died for a useless person like you. If I knew this would happen, I should have killed you earlier on!” Fields’ voice came from his front, as the vampire walked out of the wood.

“Field!”

Wang Bugui roared as he crawled back up to his feet, his eyes like that of an enraged animal as he growled, wanting to extinguish any form of life he laid eyes upon. This was extremely pointless to Field, as the youth’s meagre power could not harm him in any way.

“Useless creature! Even if you come at me, you’ll only end up in defeat and humiliation. I can’t even begin to understand why she would give her life up for someone as useless as you.” Field chided unsympathetically.

“Field! How dare you kill her. I swear I’ll take your life for this when I’ve become really powerful!” Wang Bugui swore angrily at the Infante.

“Haha, I’ll be waiting for you after you’ve become stronger— provided you can do that. Inside this object contains the last scene before that woman’s death. Take it and look at it, see how useless you were!” Said Field as he tossed a blood crystal to the ground. After he finished raving, he turned and left.

“Did Field really remain behind just to pass me this object?” Wang Bugui could not help but think. He quickly stopped his mind from wandering, however, and trembled slightly as he picked up the crystal. Field had told him that Hanae Chiou’s last actions were captured in it, and he was truly afraid of whatever terrible scene lay before him.

That said, he eventually decided to activate the crystal’s system. An image appeared in the skies, and Wang Bugui kneeled down on the ground as he took it all in. He had never felt as useless as this before; this tragedy had happened due to his powerlessness.

His heart ached as he looked at the woman in the image. She was obviously a strong and assertive woman, but she looked completely helpless in the recording. She forced herself to stand up even after having her ribs and spine broken by Field, and eventually used her life force to make her chains powerful enough to bind Field, thus preventing him from going after Wang Bugui and the others.

The fight had only lasted 40 seconds, but it seemed much longer to Wang Bugui. He saw cracks appear continually on Hanae Chiou’s grievously wounded body as she was already on the brink of death, and he could see the color fading from her cheeks. First, her hands began breaking inch by inch, then her legs began to shatter, as if they were made of glass. She was still trying her best to support her broken body as it crumbled onto the ground, as terrible looking wounds began spreading from her body onto her exquisitely beautiful face.

She was still counting down the remaining time as her life bled away and some unknown force kept her drifting consciousness intact. Unfortunately, her life ended with three seconds still remaining, and a look of happiness appeared in her cloudy eyes at the very last moment, as if she had seen something beautiful. With a final faint smile, she left this world in a tragic yet beautiful manner.

Wang Bugui knew that Field had not come after him and the others because he was moved by Hanae Chiou’s actions, and not because he had really been stopped. He also understood that the Infante’s reason for remaining behind was not solely because he had wanted himself to see the tragic end of Hanae Chiou.

“Sister Chiou… sob… I’ve let you down, I should’ve been stronger than this. I’ll never be useless like this again, come back to me quickly.”

Wang Bugui could only repent as he knelt behind the bloody remains of Hanae Chiou, but it could not reverse her end. Her broken body aside, even her soul had been ripped to shreds by the usage of the forbidden art. He remembered his father telling him that if one’s primordial spirit was shattered, there was no way one could return back to the world of living, even if one was an immortal. Unless, of course, if one could find some mythical objects to help re-gather one’s primordial spirit. Still, there was no way of resurrection in such a state.

Field returned in the direction of Big Ben alone and met the remnants of the human army led by Clara along the way. Both parties halted and faced off, and the Infante noticed that not many people were left under her care. There were less than 2,000 of them, and all of them were heavily wounded.

“Do you wish to fight again?” Clara asked. Even after sustaining serious injuries, she was still not going to give in.

“You people won’t be able to change anything even if I let you go. To think that half of the troops of the Black Tower, 200 of the Seraph Knights and 800 of the Dragon Slaughter Knights would still be left, but the strongest force, the Blood Hunter Clan, would be completely destroyed. This is really unexpected.” Field taunted.

“What do you really mean? What happened to Wang Bugui and the rest?” Clara asked, unable to fathom what this strange Infante could possibly want to do. He had been the first go in search of Wang Bugui’s party, but had turned back by himself.

“Nothing much, I still haven’t stooped to striking children. I’m merely interested in Wang Bugui. He let me down, but I’m still looking forward to see how he develops.” Said Field as a rarely seen smile appeared on his usual emotionless face. He looked extremely handsome when he smiled, and it could even be considered as alluring.

“What did you do exactly?” Clara asked, even more puzzled by his words. She terribly wanted to find out what had happened to the boy with all of her remaining strength.

“Go see for yourself, I haven’t the time to waste on you.” Replied Field as he walked past the humans. No one dared to stop him, as they knew how strong he was. In fact, Nattiavelle had summoned him back with a magical voice transmission when he was at the bridge— the Infantes had carried the platform which Dracula was sealed in back with them.

All of the Infantes had been wounded badly by Wang Xuanming during battle, and they did not wish to delay the treatment of their wounds. Field had been summoned back to help think of a way to break the seal on Dracula as quickly as they could, and even though he did not wish to see Dracula, Field still felt obliged to listen to his friends such as Barnard, Annie and Nattiavelle.

Clara did not wish to battle the most powerful Infante to the death now, and they reached a silent agreement to let the other walk free. She then led the others in the direction of Wang Bugui’s escape, as she was worried about the young geniuses.