Chapter 74 74: Next Life

The man was supposed to be in his late forties, but he looked like an old man already. His hair was ruffled and was mostly white. His eyes had dark circles around them, and his face had started developing some wrinkles already.

The white-haired man held the bottle of beer close to his heart as if it was the most precious thing in the world for him.

Carrying the bottle of the beer, he left.

Atlas stood still, gazing at the middle-aged man. There were so many emotions in his heart, mostly anger. He wanted to just go to the man and kill him, but he controlled himself.

"Death is an easy escape for him. He needs to suffer like this his entire life... All alone with no one to take care of him."

With a calm expression on his face, he turned his back on the old man as well before disappearing.

He returned back to the pond in the forest with the coffin and the shovel.

He placed the coffin before Lancaster and opened it. "You can keep her inside."

Lancaster carefully kept Misella down in the coffin while Atlas took the shovel and started digging the ground.

"Shall I help? I can use a spell for it?" Lilith asked Atlas as she saw him digging alone.

"No need. I can do at least this much alone. This is my last duty..."

He dug all alone and only stopped when he finished.

He came out of the hole in the ground and kept the shovel aside.

"Lancaster, place the coffin inside."

"You don't want to do it alone? She is your Sister."

"I don't think I should."

Atlas refused right away. He did everything he could except touch Misella. She was his sister, but he had failed her. He was also a Vampire now, and he didn't want the last rites of Misella to be done by a Vampire.

He kept his hands behind his back, hiding his clenched fists. He had closed his fists so tightly that his hand had started bleeding already, but he ignored the bleeding.

Lancaster did as he was asked. He picked up the coffin and jumped inside the hole in the ground. He kept the coffin on the ground. "We never met before, but I would have loved to. Your brother cares for you so much. Someone who can make him care so much about them; he must be a really amazing person after all. Rest in peace, Little Misella. Finally, you can be free from the shackles of this cruel world."

Lancaster jumped out after saying his last words to Misella.

He returned back to Atlas, standing beside him. "You want to say something to her as well?"

Atlas jumped down as well, standing a foot away from the coffin itself. He didn't touch the coffin, simply gazing at Misella.

He just stood before the coffin, not speaking anything for quite some time.

After a long time, he finally opened his lips. "You always wanted to be back in this forest. I'm sorry that I could only bring you back like this. Misella, I can't tell you how much I wish things could've been different. If I had this strength before, if I could go back in time... If I could take your place at that moment, I would've done it in a heartbeat."

"I'm sure you're the kind of person who would never blame me for what happened. But I know I was wrong. I made so many mistakes in my life... I'm also a culprit of yours. And now I've also become what we hated the most. I've embraced the beast inside me as well. Still, if becoming a beast is what allowed me to get you back, I'll make that same decision every time."

"Rest in peace, my little sister. I will miss that smile of yours forever. Don't worry though; I'll soon join you as well... If not in this life, then in the next. You are going ahead, but I'll join you as well. In the next life, you be the elder sister, and I'll be the little one. Deal?"

"I'm not sure if there is a next life after this one or not, but I have a feeling there is. We will definitely meet again. In a world that has no pain and grief... A world completely unlike this one. Until then, you rest... Rest in peace Little one."

Atlas spoke about a myriad of things, most of which sounded like pure nonsense to Yovana when coming from a Progenitor. She didn't understand why a Progenitor was talking like an emotional fool for a human. Just how close were these two?

Atlas took one last glance at Misella before he jumped back out.

He picked up a small bit of soul with his hands and let it fall over the coffin. Lambard and the others also did the same before Atlas picked up the shovel and buried the coffin properly in the ground.

Misella was given a proper burial. Atlas didn't place a tombstone on the ground since he didn't want anyone to know what laid here. He also asked Lilith to cast a spell on the soul that was dug.

Following the spell of Lilith, the ground was covered in pure green grass. In the middle of the grass, a small flower also came out.

The seven-colored flower stood idly in the middle of the grass right above the coffin.

Atlas recognized the beautiful flower. He had seen it back with Lilith as well. It was a flower in which he had seen his own glimpse as the flower stood all alone.

It was the flower that survived all alone without any other flowers, keeping itself company by giving each of its petals a different color.

"Now that flower won't be lonely..." Lilith smiled.

Atlas didn't respond. He just gazed at the beautiful flower.

"Now that we are done with this, can we get back to my mission? The carriage is waiting for us." Yovana had fulfilled her side of the deal by telling Atlas the whereabouts of Misella. She even accompanied them so far, but now she was eager for her own mission.

Atlas also knew that this topic was going to be raised, if not sooner than later. He had certainly promised Yovana that he was going to help her, but now that he got what he wanted, he could certainly reject the deal.

Not only could he reject her, but he could also kill her before she could bring out the talisman. He had all the pieces in his hand at the moment. He didn't need to listen to anyone.