Chapter 531: Five Thousand Years Lifespan

Clank!

The carriage door opened, and to the surprise of everyone gathered outside, Damian stepped out himself. His movements were slow and unstable, his footsteps light enough that they barely made a sound against the stone, but he continued walking regardless, refusing to allow anyone to carry him.

Rin walked beside him in his small fox form, occasionally glancing toward Damian with an expression that made it obvious he was still deeply dissatisfied with what had happened.

Lucy emerged from the carriage afterward and watched Damian’s back with concern, but there was little she could do. The Prince had made his position clear during the journey. He had no intention of displaying weakness in front of his attendants, and Lucy understood that forcing the issue would only embarrass him further. She therefore remained a few steps behind, silently watching as Damian forced his damaged body to keep moving.

"Damian!" Loth and Rah called simultaneously as they rushed toward him, their relief at seeing him alive immediately replaced by horror when they noticed his condition.

They stopped when Damian raised his left palm, silently ordering them to remain where they were. Neither woman had expected him to look like this.

His pale skin had become almost corpse like, his white hair hung around his face without its former vitality and his breathing was noticeably heavier than normal.

Yet what truly drew their attention was his right arm. It was thin, blackened and horribly charred, with deep cracks running across the dead flesh. Loth’s eyes immediately filled with tears while Rah’s expression hardened with a mixture of anger and fear.

Damian noticed both reactions and, strangely enough, found them amusing. After everything he had witnessed inside Realm Zero, the expressions of the women standing before him seemed almost harmless.

The horrors he had endured there had changed his perspective so drastically that their fear felt strangely light, almost comforting. Compared to Dantalion’s monstrous form, the countless tendrils, the gray beam and the sensation of his soul being torn apart, this was almost peaceful.

Damian slowly looked over his shoulder toward Lucy. "As you can see, I’m very... Tired dealing with the Duke. I would feel safer if you join my royal guards with your most loyal men to guard the palace tonight."

Lucy blinked in surprise at the request, immediately understanding what Damian was really asking.

Lucy did not hesitate. She stepped forward and dropped onto one knee, lowering her head respectfully.

"It would be my honor to serve you at a time like this!"

Damian gave her a weak smile before turning toward Loth and Rah. "Lead the way."

The two women nodded quickly and began walking toward the palace doors, but after only a few steps they realized Damian was following at a much slower pace. They immediately reduced their speed, matching his pace.

Damian noticed but said nothing, allowing them to quietly accommodate him without making the situation more humiliating than it already was.

When they finally reached the palace doors, every attendant gathered there immediately bowed. Alice and Mary were among them, and although both women tried desperately to maintain their composure, the fear in their eyes was impossible to hide.

Alice stepped forward quickly, forcing herself to focus on her duties rather than the disturbing sight before her.

"I prepared your bath sire... I can heal your injuries there."

Damian released a weak chuckle and slowly shook his head. "Believe me... The injuries I sustained is not something you can heal. But sure, lead the way."

Alice and Mary both paled. His tone was almost casual, but neither mistook his words for exaggeration. Their eyes moved toward his ruined right hand before slowly shifting toward his white hair. Alice stared for several seconds, her knowledge of healing immediately connecting the two details.

"Loss of vitality... Only a drained or damaged soul can lead to the discoloration of ones hair." She muttered beneath her breath before quickly covering her lips.

Her eyes shook with horror as she stared directly into Damian’s face. Mary, Loth and Rah had heard her clearly. Their expressions changed instantly as they looked at Damian, silently begging him to confirm that Alice was wrong.

Damian gave them no answer. Instead, he glanced briefly around the palace and noticed the growing number of attendants gathering nearby.

"Don’t bother following us... My girls alone can take good care of me."

With that, he continued walking, and the women followed him without another word. The attendants remained behind, bowing their heads as Damian disappeared deeper into the palace. Nobody dared question his command, but the silence that followed was filled with fear.

It took several minutes for Damian and the women to reach the bathhouse. The room was already filled with warm steam, and the large pool at its centre shimmered beneath the soft magical lighting.

Damian walked toward the steaming water without hesitation and simply fell into the pool. His battered body disappeared beneath the surface as blood, dirt and ash immediately spread through the water.

He allowed himself to sink deeper, finally permitting his body to relax after forcing himself to remain upright since returning from the battlefield.

Alice approached the edge of the pool and briefly turned around, only to see Mary shutting the door tightly behind them. Rah remained close to the entrance while Loth stood near the pool, her eyes never leaving Damian’s submerged body.

"Don’t worry, just focus on healing him." Rah said quietly, and Alice nodded before turning her attention back toward the pool.

She extended one hand above the water and activated her Shaki clan healing ability. The water immediately began glowing with brilliant white light, the radiance illuminating Damian’s unconscious figure beneath the surface. Alice’s expression became increasingly concentrated as she attempted to examine the damage, but Rin suddenly walked up beside her and stared into the glowing water with a deep frown.

"Don’t bother trying to find out the depth of his injuries, it’s not something your Shaki clan healing can handle." Alice’s brow furrowed.

"What?!" Loth immediately turned toward Rin. "What happened to him?" she asked while Mary walked closer to the pool, worry written plainly across her face.

Rin remained silent for a moment before answering. "His soul is damaged and his life force is leaking. Considering his current situation, he has barely up to five thousand years left to live."

Buzz!

The words immediately silenced the room. Everyone stared at Rin in horror, and Loth instinctively covered her mouth with both palms.

A damaged soul was one of the worst things that could happen to an immortal. Physical injuries could be healed, severed limbs could sometimes be restored and even shattered organs could be reconstructed with sufficient cultivation or healing techniques, but damage to the soul was fundamentally different.

Remedies capable of repairing such wounds were extraordinarily rare, and even Gods could spend thousands of years searching for something capable of restoring a damaged immortal soul.

"You... You can’t be serious." Mary muttered, her voice trembling. Rin gave her a side eye.

"Have I ever made jokes on something this serious?" he asked, raising a brow.

Mary lowered her gaze, unable to answer. Alice’s hand remained suspended above the water as she stared at Damian’s body beneath the surface.

"Rin is not lying..." she suddenly said in a pained voice.

Her healing light had already confirmed enough for her to understand the severity of his condition.

"What are we going to do?" Rah muttered, panic spreading across her face.

Rin suddenly hopped into the air and slapped Rah across the face with one paw, leaving a clear paw print against her cheek before landing softly on the ground. He immediately did the same to the others who had begun panicking, leaving them holding their cheeks in stunned silence.

Rin turned toward them with a serious frown. "Everyone be quiet and stop panicking. Damian is not yet dead and we have five thousand years to find a way. For now we need to make sure his condition remains a secret to the outside world. If the other princes learn of his damaged soul, they will come for him."

His words were harsh, but nobody could deny the logic behind them. Damian had just defeated Duke Dantalion, and the entire Underworld had witnessed his victory. If word spread that the Prince of Lust had survived only by sacrificing a significant portion of his soul and was now permanently weakened, every ambitious faction would begin calculating how to exploit that weakness.

The women hated the reality Rin presented, but they understood that panic would accomplish nothing.

Meanwhile, Alice ignored the discussion and focused entirely on Damian. The healing technique had transformed the bath into something resembling a contained magical environment.

All the water within the pool had compressed into an enormous oval shaped water bubble, with a white fish swimming along one edge and a black fish circling the opposite side while Damian’s unconscious body remained suspended at the centre.

The water pulsed rhythmically around him like a beating heart, responding to Alice’s healing energy as gray demonic force slowly escaped from Damian’s body in thin wisps. Alice watched the residual energy carefully, her expression becoming paler with every passing moment.

She could feel the abnormality within Damian’s body despite the limitations of her healing technique, and what she was seeing was far worse than she had initially expected.

"He took a heavy hit directly, his injuries are worse than we think!" Alice admitted with a pale face.