17 The power of the king has ended.

"I died."

Leon muttered under his breath, his eyes barely open and his feet trembling under the weight of his own body.

Nothing made sense to him at that point, he had gone back to the same safe point three hundred and forty five times, and yet, fate seemed to be playing a game with him.

Even when he tried to start a new safe point, he still couldn't, so he was trapped in the same loophole over and over again.

No matter how hard he tried, or how smart he made his plans in that 2:36 mins, nothing changed.

"Krista feels you're overworking your body… you can't keep this up, it's almost 24 hrs, the safe point will soon reset." Krista spoke, flying nervously around his body.

"Shut up."

"Ehhh! Ehhh! Krista doesn't know what to do here… at this rate, your body will give up on you and Kirsta doesn't know if you'll wake up."

"Shut up!!!" Leon yelled, "I'm not done yet! Like hell I am!!!".

Just when he wanted to take a step forward, his eyes widened as he immediately coughed out blood.

He fell to his knees, covering his mouth with his hand. Blood flowed down the opening in his fingers.

"I think I get it now, I knew something was wrong when I started feeling my defense instinct spiking up for no reason." Tess spoke with a serious expression on her face.

"Eh? What do you mean? And what's wrong with master?!" Rose asked.

Tess walked in front of her master, her back faced while she pushed her attention towards the building in front of her.

"Master… How many times?... How many times have you done this?" She asked.

For that brief second, Leon was shocked.

"It doesn't matter,"

"Like hell it doesn't." Tess looked over her shoulder, her eyes glowing as she asked, "How many times have you regressed?".

Leon stared at her for a while, Krista still panicking around him and Rose at the side, confused and perplexed.

"Two or three, I don't remember." Leon replied, slowly rising to his feet, but he still couldn't find his balance.

Rose was quick to catch him before he fell to the ground.

"Two or three you say, but your eyes send a different message, you don't fear death anymore… right, master?" Tess spoke.

Boom!

A loud explosive sound echoed from inside the building.

Leon already knew what it was,

"They are here… Rose, quick, let's…"

"I'm sorry master, but that is an order I can't follow." Rose replied instantly.

"Uhn?" Leon baffled, "What the hell do you mean by that?! My family is in there-"

"Familiar!" Tess called out, "How many times has my master regressed?".

"It doesn't matt-…"

"345 times." Krista replied.

Tess bit her lower lip in frustration, the fact that it took her that long to realize it disgusted her.

"You've died… 354 times?" Rose asked, a look of disbelief in her eyes.

"Damn you guys! This isn't the time to be-"

"They are coming." Tess alerted, "Rose, take him away, I'll try to hold them off".

"Like hell you are!!!" Leon yelled, trying to free himself from Rose's grasp, but just like the girls, it would seem his body also rejected him.

Rose wasted no time, she picked him up from the ground and carried him like a princess.

"Be careful." That was Rose's last word before she sprinted off.

Leon shouted, trying to desperately fight back but not a thing he did mattered, at that moment, Rose was stronger.

Watching them run, Tess grinned a bit, relieved to see they were getting far away.

"Now then." She turned her gaze back to the building in front of her.

From within the building, people dressed in black began walking out. At the very entrance, stood the man in a cloak and black hat.

Tess immediately knew who it was,

"Ripper." She blurted out.

Was it excitement or rage?

Tess couldn't decide, but she knew one thing, every muscle in her body was itching to punch the man in the face.

"Where is the vampire king? I'd like him to come revenge them." Ripper voiced out, his face shrouded in darkness as he raised the severed heads of Leon's mother and sister.

Tess grinned, "Imma fucking kill you".

Back at the forest, Rose was speeding, running as fast as she could to make sure she had enough distance from the house.

"Go back! Rose! What the hell do you think you're doing?! Go back!" Screamed Leon.

"I'm sorry I cannot obey that." She replied.

"What do you-... What the fuck is wrong with you?! That's my family I'm talking about!!!".

"I'm… sorry, but your safety comes before anything".

"They are going to die!"

"..."

"No… way." Leon muttered, disbelief dawned on his face, with no other options left for him, he did the unexpected.

Without giving it a second thought, he bit Rose on the neck, blood spewing out as his teeth sank into her skin.

This caused her to fall to the ground, rolling into a small hole on the ground while Leon rolled from her hands.

And then,

"The power of the king has ended…" Krista spoke, and Leon instantly understood.

On his knees, he looked to the ground as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Haha." He chuckled at first, and then slowly it turned into maniacal laughter before finally turning into tears.

His heart crumbled into hopelessness.

"Nothing!!!" He screamed, punching the ground rapidly,

"You've done nothing you sick bastard!!! So many chances! So many chances! So … many chances! How could you lose every single one!!!"

He screamed,

"Worthless, hahaha, you're completely worthless! You hear me?! Ahkaaaaaa, you're worthless!!!".

Rose observed from the side, her master was breaking down in front of her and all she could do was watch.

Whether she was helping or not by being there, was a complete mystery to her.

But then again,

She couldn't bear to just watch, so she moved closer to him, holding him in her embrace without uttering a word.