“Hmph… I was getting to that.” Shao shrugged.

“Are you sure?”

“It was announced by Lord Reign himself. She went into that portal, and she never came out. We should have gotten there to warn her in time!” Salicia slammed her fist against the wall.

I stood up, quickly pulling clothing out of my Inventory and dressing. Celeste shrank down and flew to her clothing while the other girls grabbed their own.

“My bond to her still doesn’t exist. When she jumped in, it shrank to virtually nothing. I could barely feel her. Then, it suddenly felt like it was severed.” I explained. “We prepared for this possibility.”

“No!” Salicia shouted. “You can resurrect her.”

“I’ve already tried…”

“Try again!” She had tears streaming down her face now.

“I will… but we have to be prepared for the worst.”

It wasn’t that my heart didn’t ache for her loss, but ever since I cut off a piece of my soul, I found it easier to remain calm. I wasn’t prone to being excitable or angry. On top of that, of everyone, Carmine was perhaps the girl I was least close to. She had many irritating habits, and while she was beautiful, I always felt her personality was bad. The sisters had been guards I had hired to protect me. There was always a chance they would die.

I did care about her death, but it wasn’t at a level where her loss would cause me to break. One of the reasons the girls were with me now was to help cheer me up. I had already shed tears in the last few days. The second her bond broke, I knew something ominous had happened. This news only confirmed what I had already known, and what Salicia refused to accept. It just reminded me of how dangerous the things we were doing were. I’d have to be more careful in the future. I couldn’t make another mistake as I did at the Reign Keep.

“If he can’t resurrect her, you know what that means,” Terra warned.

“Yeah… her soul has been destroyed,” Salicia responded bitterly.

“I will use Resurrection with dungeon points. It functions like a level 100 spell. Its success rate is 100%, compared to the other methods.” I explained.

The girls gathered around the bed where I was going to try to bring Carmine back. I had many methods of casting Resurrection, but the dungeon points were always the most reliable in strength and fidelity. The tattoos on my body glowed as I Reset and switched my points to give me the Resurrection spell. I began to cast it, and a glowing light began as I dumped power into it.

A few minutes later, the light dimmed, but nothing was appearing on the bed. Salicia collapsed on her knees, her cries turning to wails as her head pressed into the mattress. Terra and Lydia, who were standing on either side of her, gently stroked her shoulders, giving her time to mourn.

Sometime later, after crying for hours, Salicia finally stood back up. Her expression was filled with righteous anger and fury.

“Salicia?” I asked, meeting her eyes.

“I want to kill Lord Reign…”

“We’ll need an army,” I responded.

“Isn’t that what you’ve been building?” Lydia asked, cocking her head.

“That was when we thought we were battling a small lord. Instead, we’re battling Demonic Knights controlled by a sold-out lord. There is also his supporter, who is really powerful. He’s already almost killed me. They probably think he succeeded.”

“What are you saying?” Salicia demanded.

“We need a bigger army,” I responded. “And I know just where to find one!”