Chapter 673 The Soul Returns

Liam’s body suddenly moved.

Without saying a word, he stepped away from the table and began drawing something onto the floor around it. The knife in his hand moved with incredible precision, carving strange lines into the wooden surface as though he had memorized the entire pattern long before he ever entered the house. His movements were neither rushed nor hesitant. Every stroke was deliberate, every curve placed exactly where it needed to be.

Irina watched from several steps away.

So did Leo’s mother.

Neither of them understood what he was doing.

The markings looked nothing like any ordinary magical formation Irina had ever seen. They weren’t simple runes, nor were they the kind of spell circles witches usually used. The design was far more complicated, formed from interlocking geometric patterns that gradually came together into something resembling a massive hexagon surrounding the table.

Irina’s eyes followed every movement.

She had spent enough time around magic to recognize when someone was performing something beyond ordinary spellcraft. The air itself seemed to change around Liam. There was an invisible pressure building inside the room, subtle at first but becoming stronger with every mark he carved into the floor.

Leo’s mother remained completely silent.

She wanted to ask what he was doing.

She wanted to know whether her son was going to survive.

But Irina had already warned her not to interrupt.

So she simply watched.

The final line was drawn.

Liam stopped.

For a brief moment, absolute silence filled the room.

Then the knife in his hand disappeared.

It didn’t fall.

It didn’t dissolve.

It simply vanished as though it had never existed.

Irina’s eyes widened.

She stared at Liam’s empty hand.

Her mind immediately began trying to make sense of what she had just witnessed.

Where had that knife even come from?

She hadn’t seen him pull it from anywhere.

It had simply appeared in his hand.

And now it was gone just as easily.

Irina’s expression became increasingly complicated.

There were so many things about Liam that she didn’t understand.

She knew he was powerful.

That much had become obvious almost immediately after meeting him.

But power wasn’t the only strange thing about him.

His abilities didn’t follow the rules she understood. His body possessed strength that shouldn’t have been possible for someone his age. He could move through the air. He had strange wings. He possessed senses that seemed almost supernatural even by their standards.

And now he was standing in front of her after drawing an impossibly complicated formation with a knife that had seemingly appeared from nowhere.

Who exactly was Liam Carter?

Irina had asked herself that question more than once.

She found herself asking it again now.

Liam’s body didn’t acknowledge her stare.

He simply walked toward the table and sat down beside Leo.

He rolled up his sleeves.

Then he closed his eyes.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then his lips began to move.

A chant escaped his mouth.

Irina couldn’t understand a single word.

It wasn’t any language she recognized.

The sound was strange, ancient and almost unnatural, yet there was something strangely powerful about it. Liam’s voice remained relatively quiet, but the sound seemed to travel much farther than it should have.

It bounced against the walls.

It seemed to linger in the corners of the house.

Even when the individual syllables became difficult to distinguish, the rhythm remained clear.

Then the formation activated.

The complicated hexagon beneath the table suddenly lit up.

A brilliant glow spread through every line Liam had drawn, illuminating the entire pattern from one end to the other. The light wasn’t simply sitting on the floor. It appeared to flow through the markings like energy traveling through veins.

The temperature inside the room immediately dropped.

Irina’s breath became visible.

The mother shivered.

The cold intensified by the second.

Outside the house, the villagers suddenly noticed something strange.

Bright light began leaking from underneath the door.

It was morning, yet the light shining through the cracks was bright enough to attract everyone’s attention.

Several villagers moved closer.

"What is that?"

"I don’t know."

"Is it magic?"

Nobody answered.

Then the cold began spreading outside.

A chilly breeze slipped beneath the door and traveled across the street. Several people immediately wrapped their arms around themselves.

Two young women standing beside each other rubbed their arms in an attempt to warm themselves.

One glanced toward the house nervously.

"Do you think he can do it?"

The other stared at the glowing doorway.

"I hope."

Neither woman said anything else.

The villagers remained gathered around the house, watching the strange light in silence.

Inside, Irina continued watching Liam.

The chanting had grown louder.

His face remained completely emotionless.

His eyes were closed.

His body remained perfectly still except for the subtle movements of his mouth as the ancient words continued pouring from him.

she could feel the power behind them.

The air itself seemed to vibrate.

Then Leo moved.

At first it was only a small twitch.

His fingers jerked.

His mother immediately noticed.

"Leo?"

Irina’s eyes snapped toward the boy.

The child’s body suddenly convulsed.

His back arched violently against the table.

His arms jerked.

His legs kicked.

His entire body began shaking with terrifying intensity.

"Leo!"

His mother screamed.

She instinctively rushed toward him.

But Irina moved even faster.

She caught the woman around the waist and pulled her backward before she could reach the table.

"What are you doing?" the mother cried desperately. "Let me go! He needs me!"

Irina’s grip tightened.

"Don’t."

"He’s suffering!"

"I know."

"Then let me help him!"

Irina looked directly into the woman’s eyes.

Her expression became cold.

"If you interrupt what Liam is doing now, you will be the sole reason your son never breathes again."

The woman’s face went pale.

She stopped struggling.

Her eyes immediately returned to Leo.

The boy continued twisting violently on the table.

Every movement looked painful.

The mother covered her mouth as a sob escaped her.

She wanted to run to him.

Every instinct inside her screamed at her to pick up her child and hold him.

But she couldn’t.

Because she understood what Irina had said.

If this strange ritual was Leo’s only chance, then interfering could destroy that chance completely.

So she took a step backward.

Then another.

Her hands trembled at her sides as she watched her son suffer.

"Please..." she whispered. "Please save him."

Liam continued chanting.

His voice became deeper.

The formation beneath the table burned brighter.

The cold became almost unbearable.

Then Liam’s eyes suddenly snapped open.

Irina flinched.

There was an unnatural intensity in them.

The chanting immediately became faster.

The words came more aggressively, each syllable carrying more force than the one before it.

The entire house seemed to tremble.

The light beneath the table intensified until the complicated hexagon became almost impossible to look at directly.

Then Liam stood.

He placed one hand directly against Leo’s chest.

The boy reacted instantly.

His body violently jerked upward.

"Leo!"

His mother almost rushed forward again.

Irina immediately grabbed her shoulder.

"Don’t!"

The woman froze.

Leo’s body twisted again.

Then something strange happened.

A faint white mist began leaking from his nostrils.

At first, it looked like nothing more than cold breath.

But it continued.

More and more of the white substance emerged.

It wasn’t ordinary vapor.

It was too thick.

Too bright.

The smoke crawled out of Leo’s nose and slowly gathered above his face.

Irina’s eyes widened.

"What is that?"

The smoke continued rising.

It twisted.

Turned.

Expanded.

Then it took shape.

A humanoid figure emerged from the white mist.

It was small at first, almost child-sized, but its body quickly stretched into something unnatural. Its form remained hazy and translucent, its edges constantly shifting like smoke caught in a violent wind.

The creature turned its head.

It looked directly at Liam.

For the first the expressionless face controlling Liam’s body changed.

His eyes narrowed.

The creature suddenly lunged.

Irina’s body tensed.

But Liam was already moving.

He raised one hand.

His palm opened.

A brilliant streak of glowing feathers burst outward.

They moved with incredible speed.

The first struck the strange humanoid shape.

Then another.

Then several more.

The creature recoiled.

A horrifying shriek erupted through the house.

The sound was so loud that the windows rattled.

The white figure twisted violently as the glowing feathers pierced through it.

Then its body began breaking apart.

The humanoid shape collapsed into smoke.

The smoke scattered.

And within seconds, it completely disappeared.

Silence.

The ritual formation slowly began losing its light.

The cold started fading.

Liam stood motionless beside the table.

Then Leo’s fingers moved.

His mother noticed immediately.

Her eyes widened.

"Leo?"

The boy’s eyelids slowly opened.

His breathing became stronger.

His chest rose.

Then fell.

Leo blinked several times as though waking from an incredibly deep sleep.

He looked confused.

Slowly, he pushed himself upright.

His eyes moved around the room.

The first person he saw was Liam.

Then Irina.

Then his mother.

Leo’s confused expression deepened.

"Mummy?"

The woman covered her mouth.

Tears immediately filled her eyes.

Leo looked at her.

"What happened?"

His gaze moved toward Liam.

"Why is this brother in our house?"

Then he noticed the tears streaming down his mother’s face.

His little face became worried.

"Why are you crying?"

That was all it took.

The mother’s restraint finally shattered.

"Oh, baby..."

She rushed forward and wrapped both arms around her son.

Leo barely had time to react before he disappeared into his mother’s embrace.

She held him as tightly as she could, crying against his shoulder while repeatedly touching his face, his hair and his arms as though she needed to make absolutely certain that he was really there.

"My baby..."

Her voice broke completely.

"You’re awake."

Leo looked confused at first.

Then he slowly wrapped his small arms around his mother.

Irina stood quietly nearby.

She watched the reunion with a softened expression.

And beside them, Liam remained completely still.

The ritual had succeeded.

Leo was back.