Kete did not stop.
He carried Nas, passed through the mocking crowd, and returned to that simple, solitary home that belonged only to him.
He placed Nas on the ground, knelt beside it, and watched as its final breaths grew weaker until they stopped completely.
Outside, the laughter of the children continued.
Stones struck the door, making dull thuds.
Kete sat in the darkness for the entire night.
He remembered his parents' warm hands, the rough sensation of Nas rubbing against his cheek, and the smile of his sister Isabella and the sweetness of that bag of candy.
Then he remembered the legends of his clan.
The Forbidden Land.
The cave at the bottom of the volcano.
It housed a treasure with a thousand-year Legacy, possessing incredible power—some even said it could bring the dead back to life.
When dawn was approaching, Kete made a decision.
He would use that treasure to resurrect Nas and resurrect his sister Isabella.
He wanted them back.
The next morning, Kete carried Nas's corpse and set off toward the Forbidden Land.
He seized the opportunity while the guardians were heading to the Elder council chamber and snuck into the Forbidden Land.
Deep within the cave, dim torches illuminated the stone platform in the center.
A scepter was enshrined on the platform.
It was pitch black, with a dark red gemstone embedded in its tip.
The scepter lay there quietly, yet it exuded an unsettling, ancient aura, like a Vicious Beast that had been sleeping for a thousand years.
Kete walked to the stone platform and set Nas down.
He reached out with his only remaining hand—his right hand—and grasped the shaft.
The moment he touched it—
A sharp spike suddenly shot out from the tip of the scepter, piercing his palm!
Excruciating pain!
But even more terrifying than the pain was the feeling that the scepter was frantically draining his blood!
He wanted to let go, but his palm seemed to be stuck, unable to move!
"Ughhh—!"
He roared in agony, his body floating uncontrollably.
The gemstone at the tip of the scepter erupted with blinding blood-red light, and an indescribably massive amount of Life Energy rushed into his body like a flood!
Bones were growing! Muscles were tearing and reforming!
Most terrifying of all, his left arm, which had been missing for ten years, began to itch intensely at the stump; granulation tissue broke through the scars and proliferated wildly, and bones, muscles, skin... a complete arm grew back within seconds!
"Aaaaaah—!!!"
Kete's screams echoed through the cave.
His hair turned white from the roots, then quickly dyed blood-red.
The irises and pupils of his eyes vanished, turning pure white.
Countless blood-red patterns spread from his palm, covering his entire body.
When everything calmed down, Kete slowly landed on the ground.
He looked down at his newly grown left hand and clenched his fist.
Power, a powerful force he had never felt before, surged through his body.
His perception expanded to the entire cave; he could even "see" the quivering of every leaf in the forest outside.
He looked at Nas beside the stone platform; the corpse remained cold.
"Nas, you will be reborn soon."
Kete raised the scepter, aimed it at Nas, and tried to activate the information about the ability that had just flooded his mind.
"Embrace of the Styx," Forbidden Artifact:
The wielder's Nen, strength, and regenerative abilities will be greatly enhanced, granting the ability to manipulate and absorb the Life Energy of living beings.
The "Styx Stone" at the top of the scepter can store Life Energy.
Each use consumes the wielder's lifespan, costing one minute of lifespan per second, which cannot be recovered by replenishing Life Energy.
But the scepter did not react at all.
He looked at the gemstone at the tip—the originally dark red gemstone was now nearly transparent, with only a faint glimmer of blood-red light remaining in the center.
Activating him and granting him rebirth and power had exhausted the scepter's final energy.
Kete stood silently in the cave for a long time.
Then, he turned around and walked out of the Forbidden Land.
When Kete appeared in the clan territory again, everyone was stunned.
Blood-red long hair, pure white eyes, intact arms, and that suffocating, terrifying aura—could this really be that cowardly, disabled, shunned Kete?
"Who... who is he?"
"What a terrifying aura..."
Kete ignored the whispers.
He walked to the open space in the center of the clan territory, looking around at the familiar faces and familiar houses.
He remembered the stones thrown at him, the harsh mocking laughter, the indifferent gazes.
He remembered Karm's unhesitating Nen Bullet.
He remembered the fact that his sister Isabella would never come back.
"You have all left..."
Kete whispered to himself, his voice clearly audible in the dead-silent clan territory.
"A world without you is meaningless."
Finally, someone recognized him.
"Ke... Kete?"
Elder Batu and the guardians rushed out of the council chamber.
When they saw Kete and the scepter in his hand, their faces instantly turned pale.
"That... that is the Forbidden Land's Legacy treasure!"
Elder Batu pointed at the scepter, trembling.
"Kete! How dare you break into the Forbidden Land! Do you know your crime!"
A guardian roared, his entire body's Nen erupting, and charged toward Kete!
Kete did not look at him.
He simply raised the scepter and waved it lightly.
The gemstone at the tip of the scepter—that gemstone with only a faint glimmer of blood-red light left—suddenly erupted with its final radiance!
An irresistible, terrifying suction force erupted from the scepter as the center!
"Ahhh—!"
"My blood...!"
"No—!!!"
Terrified screams instantly resounded throughout the clan territory!
Everyone, regardless of gender or age, and whether or not they possessed a Nen Ability, began to tremble uncontrollably!
Beneath their skin, capillaries burst one after another, and thick blood was forcibly extracted by an invisible force, gushing out from their eyes, ears, mouths, noses, and every single pore!
Countless streams of blood converged into a river, rushing frantically toward the scepter!
Around the shaft, it condensed into a huge, constantly churning and expanding sphere of blood, over ten meters in diameter!
Sunlight passed through the blood sphere, casting scarlet and distorted shadows on the ground.
Below, the people who had lost their blood fell in swathes like harvested wheat.
Their bodies quickly shriveled and twisted, turning into a pile of grotesque and shocking mummies.
The entire Qilajie clan, eight hundred and thirty-seven people, were wiped out in just three minutes.
The blood sphere slowly shrank and merged into the scepter.
The gemstone was once again filled with a dark red luster, even richer and more evil than before.
Kete turned around and walked back to his home.
Nas's cold corpse was still lying there.
Kete squatted down and gently stroked the Demonic Beast's rough scales, his voice chillingly gentle.
"Nas, sister Isabella, wait for me."
He aimed the scepter at Nas.
Blood-red light flowed from the gemstone at the tip of the scepter, and a massive surge of blood-colored energy poured into Nas's body.
The wounds on the Demonic Beast's body healed instantly, its gray-brown scales quickly darkened and turned red, and its size swelled to twice its original size.
Its dead body began to emit a violent aura, and it slowly opened its eyes—
Pure red eyes, empty and dull.
"Nas, you're back."
Kete hugged its head, his face pressed against the cold scales.
"Don't be afraid, no one can hurt us anymore."
Nas let out a low howl and rubbed its head against him.
Kete stood up.
"Let's go, sister Isabella is still waiting for us."
He walked out of the house, with Nas following behind him.