Chapter 2946: Veerott’s Loneliness

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Sky Blossom City

"Good riddance," Seraphina muttered as she looked at the remains of Southern Hope floating within the waters of the Ocean World.

To her, the outcome was necessary. Meanwhile, Veerott stared at the crimson streak left behind. Then he turned toward the two women and asked, "What have you done?!"

The fury and disbelief in his voice caught both of them off guard. Aqualas and Seraphina frowned. That wasn’t the reaction they had expected.

He didn’t look like someone who had just been freed from a lifetime of servitude. He looked like someone who had lost a loved one.

"Aaargh!"

Veerott threw his head back and roared. The sound echoed throughout the Ocean World. It wasn’t a roar of rage. It was raw and unfiltered anguish, heartbreaking to listen to. The pain in his voice was so genuine that even the surrounding waters seemed to tremble in response.

Aqualas and Seraphina froze. Neither had ever seen him like this.

For a demi-human renowned for their straightforward nature, Veerott rarely displayed strong emotions. Even when angry, he usually kept it bottled up. At most, his irritation would reveal itself through a slight frown or the twitch of an eyebrow.

But this... this was completely different. His entire body trembled. His fists clenched so tightly that blood seeped from his palms. The agony pouring from him was impossible to fake. And that frightened them. Because neither of them understood why.

"Aqualas..." Seraphina whispered. For the first time since the battle ended, uncertainty crept into her voice.

Aqualas remained silent. The two exchanged glances. Neither could make sense of what they were seeing. Seraphina’s mind raced. Was it because he had failed to uphold the wager?

No. That didn’t make sense. If anything, Veerott had upheld it more faithfully than anyone could have expected. He had accepted defeat. He had agreed to serve Southern Hope. He had even stood between them and the very person who had tricked him.

He had honored his word to the very end. So why was he reacting as though something irreplaceable had been taken from him?

Neither woman knew. What they couldn’t understand was that Veerott’s grief had nothing to do with freedom. It had nothing to do with honor. But everything to do with Southern Hope and his death.

"Veerott, talk to us. You’re scaring us, buddy." Aqualas cautiously stepped forward, trying to get through to him. To her horror, Veerott’s head snapped at them. His eyes were bloodshot. Tears streamed freely down his face. The sight froze both women in place.

He was angry. Furious, even. Yet at the same time, he wasn’t. There was rage in his eyes, but there was also affection. Hatred, yet concern. Resentment, yet understanding. The emotions were so tangled together that even Veerott himself seemed unable to process them.

His eyes screamed that no matter what he felt, no matter what he chose, in the end he would end up hurt.

"Veerott," Seraphina said softly, forcing herself to hold his gaze despite the hostility she saw there. "Talk to us. Maybe we can help."

The look in his eyes frightened her. Not because he wanted to attack them. But because she could tell he didn’t. The conflict tearing him apart was obvious.

"He was the first Viltronian. The first Viltronian I managed to find before the card apprentices could. And you killed him."

Veerott’s voice cracked and the words came out choked by grief while his shoulders trembled.

The two people who had promised to help him find and rebuild his race. The two people who knew how desperately he wanted to rebuild what had been lost. Had just killed the first member of his species he believed he had found after years of searching.

"What?" Aqualas and Seraphina blurted out simultaneously. This time, they genuinely understood his pain. Yet at the same time, they didn’t understand it at all.

They knew how lonely Veerott had been. They knew about his dream of reviving the Viltronian race on the Card World, somewhere far from the card apprentices and the Five Regions.

Many nights had been spent discussing those plans. Many years had been spent since the promises had been made. That part made perfect sense. What didn’t make sense was the conclusion he had reached. Because Southern Hope wasn’t a Viltronian. At least, as far as they knew.

"Buddy..." Seraphina spoke carefully. "I’m pretty sure he’s a card apprentice."

She had personally reviewed Southern Hope’s intelligence dossier thoroughly. Nothing in it suggested he was a demi-human. His ancestry could be more clear.

Aqualas immediately nodded in agreement, "Yeah! He’s definitely a card apprentice."

"No." Veerott shook his head. The certainty in his voice made both women pause. His gaze drifted toward the thin crimson line floating within the Ocean World. "I felt it. The moment I ripped that mutated ego gem out of his chest. That wasn’t a mutated ego gem."

Aqualas and Seraphina frowned, the latter asked, "What are you talking about?"

Veerott clenched his fists. "It was a mutated Viltronian core."

The declaration struck both women like a thunderbolt. Silence followed as Aqualas and Seraphina stared at him. Neither knew what to say. Because if Veerott was right... Suddenly, the agony in Veerott’s voice made far more sense than either of them wanted it to.

However, he wasn’t right though. He was clearly mistaken.

"Then why did you hand his mutated ego gem to me to crush?" Seraphina asked, her confusion deepening. If Veerott knew Southern Hope was a demi-human the moment he ripped the mutated ego gem from his chest, why give it to her—especially knowing she was already planning to kill him?

"Because a young Viltronian doesn’t die when their core is crushed," Veerott replied smoothly. "They can easily regrow one if they know how. And I do know how. In fact, I’ve used that exact method countless times to help break the realm limits of this world."

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