NOVEL NEXT Chapter 159: YOU HAVE A LOT TO EXPLAIN, MISTER!!
Glasses? Check…
Black hair… check?
Her friend's eyes widened in shock as she looked at Leo and pointed, her finger trembling.
"This one?"
Leo weakly nodded.
Raphael slowly stepped toward him with indifferent eyes, her expression unreadable. Leo looked at her awkwardly, as if he had been caught doing something he couldn't explain.
Before he knew it… she hugged him.
Leo flinched, his breath caught in his chest.
"I… I am sorry," she muttered, her voice breaking, her hands clutching him as if she feared he would vanish if she let go.
Leo smiled weakly before nodding his head. "No… I am sorry," he whispered back, his katana slipping from his grasp and clattering against the ground as he hugged her tightly in return.
'…Wait, what's going on here?' Her friend was utterly taken aback.
Who was that guy?
Was he Raphael's lover?
But Raphael had never mentioned him before. She knew Raphael better than anyone… if she had a lover, she would have told her.
No secrets, not something like this.
Something was fishy!!
Definitely wrong… was her friend hiding a boyfriend from her all along?
Her friend's heart started to beat in horror, a cold ache spreading through her chest as if she was losing something important, something she didn't even realize she wanted until this moment.
Raphael cried in his arms like a child who had nearly lost her world.
She didn't know why, but the tears wouldn't stop. She wanted to cry in his arms as if everything would disappear, every nightmare and danger erased the moment she entered his embrace.
Leo's lips trembled, his eyes misting over. He knew exactly how horrifying this was—he had almost thought he lost her forever.
No words could capture what swelled inside him now.
Relief, guilt, love, regret—they all pressed against his ribs, threatening to burst out.
Now he understood what it truly meant to almost lose your family.
His hands tightened around her back, clutching her as though he could anchor her soul to him.
"I-I would never… do that again," he whispered, his voice hoarse, before leaning against her head and pressing a trembling kiss to her hair.
Raphael flinched at the warmth of his lips, then her eyes flooded with tears again.
She hugged him so tightly it might break his ribs, so much fear pouring out of her body, so much worry carved into her soul. She thought she had lost everything… and that she would be leaving her nephew alone in this cruel world.
"I... I too... I am scared," She muttered in fear and loss.
Leo rubbed at his tears with the back of his hand. Even though Raphael often seemed tough and cold, in this moment she was nothing more than a fragile child.
A child that scared of everything!
All she ever wanted was her family—nothing more.
And he… he had almost broken that today because of his own ego, his reckless mouth, his idiotic words.
He had learned his lesson.
Thank goodness… nothing had happened to her.
That was enough… that's all he wanted for her.
"Hmm…" her friend hesitated a bit before asking, "So… can you care to explain what's going on here?" she asked.
"Well, what you see is a mythical creature and… we're fighting them?" Leo said with a small shrug, his voice half-serious, half-awkward, as if brushing off the weight of what had just happened.
'I think he misunderstood my question' She thought awkwardly.
Before she could clarify her question, Raphael pulled away from his embrace, her eyes narrowing. "Fighting? What do you mean?" Her voice shook with both anger and disbelief.
She hadn't thought it through completely until now, but the truth struck her like a blow... why in the hell was her nephew here, right in the middle of this nightmare?
Leo's face turned awkward, his lips twitching as he tried to hold a calm front. "Well… that's a long story. I mean… I told you half, right?"
Raphael's face turned deeper and colder, "You mean… that fake magic?"
Leo blinked, "Fake? What are you talking about? I mentioned before, I am—"
Suddenly, the air around them turned cold... Too cold.
Leo frowned instantly, instincts screaming. He shoved Raphael to the side, voice sharp. "Go to safety!" He bent down, his hand gripping the katana tight.
Essa clenched her curved sword, her body stiffening as she stared into the dark street where crimson, green, and blue eyes began to glow from the shadows.
"Bravo… Bravo… indeed."
Both Raphael and her friend flinched at the chilling voice as they turned and saw… Camazotz stepping forward, his monstrous frame dragging the burned, ruined bodies of Dracula and Nergal.
The stench of scorched flesh hit the air.
Camazotz's furious eyes locked on Leo, "I didn't expect this… human, I really didn't. You are… something else, aren't you?" he hissed as he dropped those broken bodies on the ground with a sickening thud.
Nergal groaned, forcing himself up. His body flickered with black mist, his back entirely crisped, charred as if his very spine had been burned hollow.
And Dracula… he was worse. His body was blackened like charcoal, his clothes barely clinging to his wrinkled, ruined skin.
"Tsk. Just what do I have to do to kill you?" Leo muttered in a disappointed tone as he clenched his fist.
This Bloodbegger was worse than a cockroach!
Dracula smirked even in his broken state, his lips curling with spite. "I… I will kill you," he muttered, his voice rattling.
Leo clenched his weapon as Dracula's charred wings suddenly spread wide. With a roar, he lunged forward, soaring toward Leo. At the same time, Nergal hurled himself at Essa again, chains rattling through the air.
Camazotz smirked darkly, his wings flaring up, "Looks like you're fond of this human… should I kill them?"
In an instant, Camazotz appeared before Raphael and her friend.
"I lost my appetite!"
Leo's eyes widened in horror.
"FUCKER!!"
He twisted his leg, channelling everything to move before anything could happen to them—
"No, no NO!!!"
PUFFF!!
A yellow flame blasted across the street, striking Camazotz square in the face and sending him reeling back.
Leo flinched, eyes snapping to the source.
On the roof stood Valra, her chest rising and falling as she caught her breath.
Her smirk curved through exhaustion.
"Hah… glad I came at the right time."
"Valra?" Leo muttered, stunned.
But Dracula took the chance, using the diversion to slash his claws toward Leo's neck. The strike came fast—
"Not on my watch… Father."
A blood spear shot across the night, piercing Dracula's hand clean through.
"Arrgh!" Dracula groaned, stumbling back as his crimson eyes snapped upward.
There... floating in the air with small bat wings unfurled, her expression fierce with murderous rage... was his daughter.
"Ophis?" Leo's voice cracked with shock. "What are you guys doing her—"
""YOU HAVE A LOT TO EXPLAIN, MISTER!!""
Both Ophis and Valra shouted at the same time, their annoyed and furious expressions glaring down at him like twin storms.
Leo awkwardly smiled, sweat trickling down his temple. "Hah… well," he muttered.
'I fucked up.'