Kayden hesitated for a moment, then looked at Grace, who was still alive despite her miserable condition. "She isn't dead yet… A soul cannot be erased by another soul. One life for another. So I don't think killing her is necessary; just hand her over to the police… Wait, I mean the Church."
Then he pointed toward Hazel. "But she is guilty. She deliberately attempted to kill someone, abused drugs, and used curses without caring about those around her. In short… she is a criminal, and she deserves punishment, but not death. That is not for us to decide. Besides, she isn't in love with Hudson. She's obsessed with him. Obsession is something else, something far removed from love. It's different."
Henry slowly nodded. "That's why I believe we should get rid of the very source of the corruption."
Isildar furrowed his brows. "And what is the source?"
Neither of them answered immediately. Instead, they both raised their hands and pointed toward Hazel.
"That contradicts what you just said." Isildar muttered in confusion.
Henry intervened, explaining calmly, "The judge will sentence her to death sooner or later. We're simply getting ahead of the verdict… We remove the curse, then let her receive the punishment she deserves. But I don't want to get my hands dirty, so the judge will take care of it."
Isildar gave a faint smile. "And why don't we just kill her and get it over with?"
But Henry turned his head toward Hazel's father, who stood there in shock, his features frozen.
"Look at him… He's a poor man. He doesn't even have…"
Isildar studied the scene before giving his orders firmly. "Fine… We need to destroy the wing first. The source of the curse is most likely in those eyes, and perhaps the main eye is located in the middle of her spine. Kayden… This is your job. Take care of it."
But the moment he turned toward Kayden, he was startled by the unmistakable disgust in his eyes.
Isildar stopped for a moment, his voice mixing sharpness with disappointment.
"Kayden, you're looking at me as if I'm some kind of insect. You hate me, don't you? Tell me before I resort to violence, even though I don't want to do that because of my good relationship with your family, especially your sister."
Kayden shook his head. "No, of course not… Wait a second. What do you mean by my sister?"
Kayden stiffened for a moment, but Henry took over the explanation with his usual coldness.
"No, it's not like that. He's just like you. He's afraid of holes. And as for my sister, I don't want to hear you mention her name again "
"It's trypophobia," Kayden muttered.
Isildar raised an eyebrow mockingly. "I met your sister while I was working. Don't make a big deal out of it. Good grief, this is annoying."
Then he stomped on Hazel's wing, producing a loud, cracking sound.
"He's like me?! Fear of holes? Don't put me in the same sentence as anyone else! Don't ever say that again."
Henry took a step back, speaking with confidence. "You're both afraid of holes. You may think you're hiding it, but I saw it in your eyes. You can't deceive me. No one can deceive my eyes."
Isildar's expression froze, as though a secret had just been exposed.
"Really…? Kayden, your brother is starting this again. Shut him up before I do it myself."
Kayden shook his head, explaining, "Henry, it's not fear in the literal sense… It's disgusting. It's more of a filthy feeling than fear."
Isildar lowered his head for a moment, as though processing what he had just heard. Then he muttered in an unsettlingly calm voice, "I understand now… Henry really does have an incredible eye for observation. Kayden, do you know how annoying that is?"
Kayden pointed at him with slight amusement. "But Isildar, honestly… you're not even trying to hide it. You just haven't seen your own face when it turns into a mass of disgust."
Then he moved with steady steps to join Henry, leaving Isildar behind in his bewildered silence.
Kayden crouched down, assessing the situation with his brother with a scrutinizing gaze.
Henry spoke firmly, already prepared. "We need to sever the wing completely… Like cutting it off with a sword."
But Kayden shook his head. "It'll regenerate too quickly. We won't be able to keep up with it."
Henry understood and nodded, so Kayden continued, "We can make use of Isildar's strength, but he doesn't want to fight because he supports girls' fights, apparently… So all we have to do is keep destroying the wing repeatedly until its regeneration slows down. Only then might Hudson be able to stop the curse."
Henry gave a dry smile. "That makes sense. Look at the part that was struck by lightning… It's the most damaged. Even its regeneration has slowed down. Let's start there."
He concentrated his spiritual power into his foot before bringing it down forcefully on that spot.
But what shocked Kayden and Henry wasn't merely the wing's resistance… It was Hazel's own will.
They weren't striking her personally. They were only striking the curse. Yet her eyes remained fixed on Grace, never leaving her for even a moment.
Isildar watched in silence, certain that this would not end like this. The skeletal wing could be torn apart a thousand times before his eyes, but it would always return.
He slowly stepped forward, his voice cutting through the air.
"Damn it. Move aside."
As the twins obeyed his command, Hazel's wings began to regenerate. One returned with force, while the other barely held together. Yet she beat her wings with her exhausted body and shot toward the sky at astonishing speed.
She wanted to escape… to start over… to return and reclaim what she believed was hers.
She stretched her hand high into the air, challenging the very heavens themselves. She did not tremble at the brilliant light that erupted in response to Grace's prayer.
But her heart… knew the meaning of fear.
From below, in the eyes of those watching, the scene looked almost like a mythical painting.
A torn body, a broken wing, and a girl rising through smoke and blood.
"She… looks like a fallen angel." Kayden muttered, pointing toward her outstretched hand and fractured wing.
Henry let out a heavy sigh filled with disappointment. "Why don't we have wings like hers?"
Having wings was almost an impossible dream in their imaginations, and now it had materialized before them.
Hazel, with her shattered wing, rose into the sky in agony, but the extent of that pain remained impossible for them to comprehend. Her suffering, despite its cruelty, appeared almost mesmerizing in the eyes of the onlookers.
When she steadied herself in the air, a glimmer of hope slipped into her eyes.
Below, Isildar was watching Hudson.
Both of Hudson's palms radiated an intense crimson light, with droplets resembling blood dripping from them. Every drop that touched the grass burned it away, leaving no trace behind as though it had never existed.
Hudson raised his head, his eyes shining with a determination none of them had ever seen in him before. He looked directly at Hazel.
At that moment, Isildar felt that the scene was approaching its end… that this farce was finally about to be over.
Isildar tightened his hands and gathered his spiritual power within his body. Then he leapt high into the air.
His hands touched Hazel's wings, and with brutal force, he tore them apart.
The wing crashed to the ground with a horrifying cracking sound before the curse could regenerate it.
Isildar seized Hazel's body and forced her down, preventing the wings from forming again.
And there, he clearly saw the center of the curse…
A red eye pulsed in the middle of her spine, staring directly at him.
He reached toward it, but Hudson moved with incredible speed and pulled him away.
"If you touch it… you might get infected."
Isildar did not move. He simply stared at the eye with unwavering focus, while a strange voice inside him whispered for him to touch it.
"If I don't touch it… I might not sleep for months."
A feverish longing stirred inside him, a mysterious desire he couldn't understand, as though something within the curse was calling out to him.
Finally, he loosened his grip on Hazel's body, which was barely clinging to life.
He gently placed her on the ground, his eyes still locked onto that red eye… onto the temptation he had nearly succumbed to.
When Hudson's fingers touched the edge of the curse, a sharp shiver ran through his body.
Distorted images flooded his mind—rotting faces laughing, muffled screams, and skeletal wings tearing through the backs of innocent children.
He let out a heavy sigh, as though carrying the burden of everything he had witnessed.
Yet his hand never trembled.
He pressed harder until black smoke began to rise from the red eye. It was burning from within.
Hazel screamed.
It was not merely her voice.
It was the voice of the curse itself, like a hundred souls howling at once.
Yet Hudson did not retreat.
He clenched the eye tightly and released his crimson energy.
The light surged like a flood, piercing through the body from within, until the eye exploded in a burst of bloody light.
Its fragments scattered through the air before dissolving without a trace.
Hazel collapsed onto the ground, completely motionless, her breathing ragged and her body trembling in silence.
The wings no longer returned.
The laughter was gone.
She was nothing more than a broken girl, barely clinging to life.
Hudson stood there, panting as he breathed deeply.
His palms were still dripping with crimson blood, but his expression carried a deep sense of relief, as though a weight that had been lodged within his soul had finally been lifted.
He raised his eyes toward Isildar and smiled calmly before announcing,
"It's over."
Hudson then walked away with heavy, exhausted steps toward Grace, who was holding her swollen face, and embraced her.
As for Kayden, he continued watching them for a few seconds before turning his gaze toward Hazel lying on the ground.
He muttered inwardly with a hint of confusion,
"I feel sorry for her…"
Henry was faster than his brother. He knelt beside Hazel and began attempting to heal her.
However, he quickly realized that the true pain was not in her body, but in the curse that had absorbed the greater share of the suffering, leaving behind a half-destroyed body and a swollen face.
He made sure that her life was no longer in danger, then stood up and walked toward Kayden, as though something heavy was still lodged in his chest.
After Hazel was arrested, Grace left the house accompanied by Hudson.
The three followed them with steady steps. Henry entered first to change their clothes, but Isildar raised his hand in strong objection.
"Don't change your clothes. Stay as you are."
Kayden pursed his lips in annoyance and thought, He's incredibly annoying.
But he said nothing. Instead, he turned toward Grace and spoke with a tone that carried a mixture of sarcasm and suspicion.
"It'll be strange seeing you here… alive. Everyone knows you're dead."
Grace gave a slight nod before speaking coldly.
"We should leave."
"Where?" Henry asked curiously.
But Grace and Hudson exchanged glances before answering in unison.
"We… don't know."
A brief silence followed before Isildar spoke, staring at them intently.
"You're following the Lord of Time, Ron Feng, aren't you?"
They both nodded.
Isildar let out a heavy sigh.
"That's a dilemma."
He sat down in a chair and continued.
"We work in a separate office. We receive support from the police, some nobles, and the Church, but officially, we answer to the Venerable Lord. You can join us. You, Hudson, understand curses, and that's somewhat rare… And you, Grace, are a doctor and a catastrophe . Catastrophe are welcome as well."
Grace remained silent for a moment before standing up and entering the adjoining room.
A few minutes later, she returned, her eyes steadier than before.
She approached Hudson and whispered a few brief words into his ear before announcing clearly,
"We'll go with you."
Isildar smiled briefly before adding,
"There's another option… working for a weapons company."
But Grace gently shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do that. I refuse to trade in souls. I'm not scum."
Isildar stood up, walked over to the desk, and sat down. He took out a sheet of paper and began writing a detailed report of everything that had happened.
He sealed it, then burned it so the message would reach Ayrton directly.