It was over. Alex was the victor, again. He had once again displayed his tactical skills when it came to battle. With two strikes, he managed to subdue his opponent, choosing the most logical path to success - by disabling his opponent’s fighting arm.

  The witch-queen saw her son bleeding from his multiple wounds but she didn’t even come down to help him. She stayed where she was, glancing at her son one last time before completely ignoring him and focusing her attention on Alexander.

  Unfortunately for Alex, he also suffered wounds from the vampires. Little did he know that the blue-bloods had used poison on him, so his wounds weren’t healing. This was the same poison that he had been inflicted with when Abigail had found him close to death in that forest. Now, Alex finally knew that it wasn’t the enemy that had poisoned him back then; it was these people, his people. He had tried to tell himself back then that his father and brothers wouldn’t do something like that to him, but it seemed that his gut feeling was right. They really did want him dead.

  Alex continued to fight, advancing like a zombie towards the top of the gate. His men were all dead. He was the only one left. He was bathing with blood. And yet, his eyes were still burning red.

  The poison in his body was spreading like wildfire, and he continued to go berserk. The remaining vampires stopped going after him. They didn’t need to fight him anymore. All they had to do was wait for the poison to do its work or wait for the girl he was desperately trying to save to kill him herself. The vampires and the witch knew how deadly the dragon keeper was, and they all had the same thought - how fitting his end would be if this girl were the one to kill Alexander.

  Once Alexander stood on top of the enormous gate where Abigail and the witch queen were standing, Alex stumbled and fell, but he stood up, dragging his sword behind him, its tip causing sparks to fly as it scratched against the floor. His body was becoming weaker and weaker from the effects of the poison, and his lungs struggled to breathe in some much-needed oxygen.

  "Abigail……" Alex uttered as he slowly approached her. His eyes were on Abigail, and he ignored the witch queen as if she wasn’t there.

  The witch queen stepped back from Abigail and ordered her. "Kill him!" she said, and Abigail turned to face him. Her eyes were pitch black, dull, and lifeless. However, she didn’t move.

  Alex smiled as he continued to approach her. "Abigail……" he called out again. His fiery eyes were filled with so many emotions - pain, hatred, regret, hopelessness, remorse. He had failed miserably to protect her. Where…… where did it all go wrong?

  He was at his limit. It seemed that this was it. He had lost the most crucial battle of his life. As always, it appeared that the world was still intent on going against him. The gods must really hate him to the depths of their bones. But he somehow felt a little better at this result. At least if he died now, he wouldn’t be able to kill Lexus with his own hands. It seemed the price for wanting to alter his fate was his own life, which wasn’t that bad, he thought.

  But then, what about his promise to the only person he had ever loved?

  "I’m sorry……" he uttered, smiling bitterly as he continued walking towards her. All he wanted now was to hold her. His body had gone completely numb, and it would only be a matter of time before he would fall again, so all he wanted was to hold her in his arms again—one last time.

  "I said kill him, Abigail!" the witch’s voice echoed. But still, the girl remained on the spot, surprising everyone.

  The witch looked too shocked. Was she trying to break the spell?

  "Don’t try to resist the spell, Abigail! That spell could take your life if it is forcefully broken!" she warned. The witch queen was glad she used this kind of spell because she had somehow felt that regular spells wouldn’t work on a powerful human like her. Besides, even if this girl died, they still had that other noble blooded woman up their sleeves.

  Upon hearing what the witch queen said, Alex halted, unsure what to do. He could see Abi’s fingers moving, clenching into fists as if she was fighting her very own internal battle.

  "N-no……" Alex didn’t know what to do. Why? Why would they cast such a spell on her? "Stop resisting Abigail, please," he began to plead.

  The vampire king, who saw that the girl was resisting them, sent a signal to his men.

  The remaining vampires took their bows and prepared to shoot at Abigail. The king wanted to activate her power since Alex was close enough to become collateral damage to it.

  However, nothing happened. The mist didn’t appear.

  Angered by the stubbornness of the human keeper, the king ordered his men to shoot.

  Seeing the arrows approaching them, the weakened Alex gathered all his strength and jumped towards Abigail, slashing the arrows before they could reach her. Some of the arrows got past him and pierced his body as he shielded her from the assault.

  Everyone was shocked again. Alexander was supposed to have fallen by now. How was he still able to move?

  Another wave of arrows came as a result of the king’s anger.

  Alex growled, his eyes burning with fury and vengeance. This world, he really hated it so much. He hated how much suffering this world had to inflict on him before it was satisfied. He finally found the only person who gave him the warmth he never knew he had been looking for, and all he wanted was to keep her safe in his arms. Why couldn’t he have it? Why was this world so heartless and cruel to him? He cursed and cursed within him. If something bad happened to his beloved, he swore he would burn this world with hellfire. They all better kill him now because if he somehow managed to live through all of this, he was going to destroy everything.