Episode-960
Chapter : 1919
When they had first arrived, she had been pale and lazy. Now, she looked like a broken statue. The grey, stony infection on her skin had spread. Her left arm was completely petrified—turned to solid, lifeless stone. The grey creep was moving up her neck, threatening to choke her. Her breathing was shallow and rattled in her chest.
She wasn't just sick; she was stalling out. Her engine was flooded.
Lloyd walked over to her. Monalisa opened her eyes slowly. They were usually bright green and full of mischief, but now they were dull and glassy.
"Oh, look," she whispered, her voice weak but still teasing. "My Little Lion is leaving. Are you going to run away without saying goodbye, darling? That’s very rude."
She tried to lift her hand to touch him, but her arm was too heavy. It fell back onto the cushion with a dull thud. She let out a small, pained laugh.
"Look at me," she murmured. "I’m a mess. I suppose you should just leave me here. I’ll make a very pretty statue for my sister’s garden."
Lloyd looked down at her. He saw the fear hiding behind her flirty attitude. He remembered the moment back in Gator City when she had frozen time to save them from the fly swarm. She had burned her own life force to buy them seconds.
"I don't leave debts unpaid," Lloyd said. He looked back at Eun-ha. "I promised to fix her. I diagnosed the problem, and I proposed a solution. I’m not leaving until the job is done."
Eun-ha crossed her arms. She didn't look jealous. She looked calculating. She looked at Monalisa, then at Lloyd.
"The procedure you described..." Eun-ha said thoughtfully. "Using the [Void Wood] to siphon the sediment directly from her core. It is theoretical, Evan. You’ve never done it before. If you mess up, you could drain her dry. You could kill a Prince of Hell."
"I won't mess up," Lloyd said. The arrogance of the Major General bled into his voice. "I know the schematic. I know the flow rate. Her mana is stagnant. It’s thick, like tar. It’s clogging her pipes. I just need to flush the system."
"It is risky," Ben stated from the background. "And unnecessary. She is a demon. She is technically an enemy combatant."
"She is an ally," Lloyd corrected. "And she saved our lives. Ben, secure the perimeter. Eun-ha, monitor the ambient mana levels. I’m going to operate."
Ben rolled his mechanical eyes, but he moved to the door, drawing his heavy sword. "Fine. But if she tries to eat you, I am going to say 'I told you so' very loudly."
Lloyd knelt beside Monalisa. He looked at her stone arm.
"Okay, Sleeping Beauty," Lloyd said, rolling up his sleeves. "This is going to hurt. A lot."
Monalisa smiled weakly. A spark of that old, dangerous hunger returned to her eyes. "I like it when it hurts, darling. Just don't be boring."
Lloyd took a deep breath. He focused his mind. He didn't reach for his sword or his gun. He reached for the deep, primal power of the Void that lived in his blood.
He activated the [Void Wood].
His skin didn't turn to steel this time. Instead, it turned a dull, lifeless grey. Thick, gnarled roots burst from his fingertips. They weren't natural roots; they looked like dead driftwood, dry and thirsty. They twisted and writhed in the air, seeking energy.
"Hold still," Lloyd commanded.
He plunged the roots directly into Monalisa’s petrified shoulder.
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The moment the grey roots pierced Monalisa’s skin, she screamed.
It wasn't a scream of fear. It was a scream of shock. It was the sound of a frozen river suddenly cracking open. Her body arched off the cushion, her back bowing as the connection was made.
Lloyd gritted his teeth. He felt the connection instantly. It wasn't like connecting to a machine; it was like connecting to a swamp. He could feel the weight of her soul. It was heavy, sluggish, and incredibly old.
He activated the "suction" property of the [Void Wood].
The roots on his arm pulsed. Thump. Thump. They began to pull.
To Lloyd’s [All-Seeing Eye], the problem was visible. Inside Monalisa’s body, her mana veins were black. They were clogged with "Abyssal Sediment"—a thick, tar-like sludge that was the physical manifestation of her sin, her laziness, and years of stagnation. It was stopping the fresh energy from flowing, turning her body into stone.
Chapter : 1920
"Come on," Lloyd grunted, sweat breaking out on his forehead. "Move."
He pulled harder. The roots glowed with a sickly, dark light as they began to drag the sludge out of her.
It was agony for Lloyd. He felt like he was trying to suck cement through a straw. The sediment was toxic. It burned his veins as it traveled up the roots and into his own arm. He could feel the heaviness of it, the overwhelming desire to just stop, to lie down, to sleep forever. It was the essence of Sloth trying to infect him.
"Focus," Ben’s voice cut through the haze. "Lord Lloyd, your heart rate is spiking. Keep the flow steady."
"I’ve got it," Lloyd hissed.
He pushed his own mana into the roots, using it like a solvent to break up the tar. Slowly, agonizingly, the blockage began to move.
Monalisa gasped. Her eyes flew open. They were glowing with intense green light. For the first time in years, she felt... light. The crushing weight on her chest was lifting. The stone on her arm began to crack and flake away, revealing pale, healthy skin underneath.
"Oh," she moaned, her voice trembling. "Oh, that feels... incredible."
She looked at Lloyd. Her gaze wasn't just grateful; it was intense. It was predatory. She watched the sweat dripping from his chin. She watched the way his jaw clenched in concentration.
"You are actually doing it," she whispered. "You are cleaning me out."
Lloyd didn't answer. He was too busy managing the flow. He couldn't just dump the toxic sludge anywhere; it was dangerous. He had to condense it. He had to give it a form.
He channeled the extracted sediment into the palm of his left hand. The [Void Wood] ability had a secondary function: "Fruit Generation." It could take raw energy and compress it into a physical object.
The black tar swirled in his palm. It bubbled and hissed. Slowly, it began to harden. It took shape. It became a round, heavy object, dark grey and swirling with black smoke.
It was a Spirit Fruit. But this wasn't a red fruit of health like he had harvested from the vines in the city. This was a dark fruit. A Fruit of Sloth. It contained all the sickness, all the weight, and all the raw power that had been clogging Monalisa’s system.
With one final, wrenching pull, Lloyd extracted the last major clot from her heart.
Monalisa collapsed back onto the cushion, panting heavily. Her skin was flushed. The grey stone was gone. Her mana was flowing freely again, humming with the power of a Sovereign.
Lloyd staggered back, breaking the connection. The wooden roots on his arm retracted and vanished into his skin. He stood there, holding the heavy grey fruit in his hand. It felt cold and dense, like a cannonball.
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The dark, crystal throne room of the Envy Faction was quiet, except for the heavy breathing of a Demon Prince.
Lloyd Ferrum stood up slowly. His legs felt a little shaky. The strange, grey wooden roots that had burst from his arm—his [Void Wood] power—shrank back into his skin until they disappeared completely. He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve.
In his left hand, he held the result of the surgery. It was a heavy, dark grey fruit. It was about the size of a cannonball and felt just as cold. Black smoke swirled around it, trapped under the skin of the fruit.
"System check," Lloyd muttered, looking down at the woman lying on the shadow cushion. "How is the patient?"
Monalisa Belphagor, the Prince of Sloth, didn't answer right away. She took a deep breath. Her chest rose and fell easily. For the last fifty years, breathing had felt like lifting a heavy stone. Now, it felt like air.
She lifted her left arm. Just ten minutes ago, that arm had been turning into solid grey rock. It had been heavy, dead, and useless. Now, the skin was pale and smooth. She flexed her fingers. She rotated her wrist. She made a fist.
It was perfect.
"Oh..." Monalisa let out a long, shuddering sigh. A slow, lazy smile spread across her face. It wasn't the smile of a ruler; it was the smile of someone who had just taken a very strong painkiller. "My gears... they are turning again."
From the corner of the room, a deep, scoffing sound broke the mood.