Black Phoenix Heir

Chapter 121: Chapter 121 — The Journey Back

Chapter 121 — The Journey Back

Five days had passed since Victor and Lyra left the crypt.

The forest around them had gradually become more familiar as they approached the territories of the Shadow Foxes and Lava Rock Monkeys. The journey had been considerably calmer than their time inside the crypt, neither of them felt the need to sprint through the wilderness.

They simply walked.

The Soul Chain had disappeared several days ago.

At first, neither of them knew what to make of it. They spent some time testing the limits of their connection, slowly increasing the distance between them to see what would happen.

Eventually, they discovered something interesting.

They were no longer restricted to a few feet.

They could move freely now.

But there was still a boundary.

Once they separated by roughly the length of a football field, the effects of the Soul Bond began to weaken.

For Victor, the change was relatively annoying.

His improved soul control dropped. The Black Flame he had been able to maintain for a minute and a half fell back to one minute, returning to the limit he had possessed before the Twin Flame Flower.

His enhanced night vision disappeared as well.

Other than that, however, he felt mostly normal.

Lyra’s situation was different.

The curse that had plagued her bloodline for thousands of years—the very curse that prevented her from advancing beyond Peak Tempered Beast— had begun weakening after the Soul Bond formed.

But when she moved beyond the range of their connection, that weakening stopped.

The curse slowly began rebuilding itself.

Even though the change was subtle, Lyra noticed it immediately.

And it frightened her.

Her greatest goal was to break through that cursed barrier.

She needed strength.

Strength to find her parents.

Strength to discover whether they were still alive.

Strength to make the humans who had taken them pay.

She couldn’t afford to lose the one thing that might finally allow her to break free.

So, after discovering the connection between distance and the curse, Lyra stopped wandering far from Victor.

She remained fairly close to him

Victor noticed.

But he never mentioned it.

And over those five days, something else had changed.

Their relationship.

They weren’t friends.

At least, Victor didn’t think they were.

But they weren’t enemies anymore, either.

Lyra had finally stopped calling him human every few seconds.

Occasionally, she even called him Victor.

She still ignored him roughly ninety percent of the time, but that was something Victor had learned to accept.

More importantly, she had stopped calling him stupid.

That alone was enough for Victor to consider their relationship a massive improvement.

The two continued walking through the forest in comfortable silence.

Victor glanced ahead.

They were getting close.

The forest around them was beginning to resemble the territory they had passed through before.

Victor adjusted the storage ring on his finger and continued walking.

A few minutes later, he noticed Lyra looking at his wrist again.

More specifically, she was looking at the bracelet.

She had been doing that for several days.

Victor had noticed it long ago.

He also knew she would probably never ask.

So, eventually, he decided to explain it himself.

"Before I came to this forest," Victor said casually, "I woke up in an Alchemy Tower."

Lyra’s eyes shifted toward him.

Victor lifted his wrist slightly.

"I woke up on a laboratory table with this already attached."

Lyra’s gaze settled on the bracelet.

"I was officially a slave in that tower."

Her expression changed slightly.

Victor continued walking.

"I couldn’t exactly leave whenever I wanted. I was bound to the will of my masters."

Lyra’s eyes widened.

She hadn’t expected that.

Victor glanced at her.

"There’s really not much I can do about it."

He looked down at the bracelet.

"Eventually, I’ll have to go back."

Lyra remained silent for a moment.

Then she asked, "You can’t take it off yourself?"

Victor shook his head.

"No."

He gave a small laugh.

"If I try, my soul will implode."

He paused.

"And I really don’t want my soul to implode."

Lyra stared at him.

A strange feeling settled inside her.

She had spent most of her life hating humans.

And she still did.

She didn’t suddenly forgive humanity because of one person.

But Victor was different from the humans she had known.

He had been put through suffering that would break most people.

And despite everything, he still acted like himself.

Lyra didn’t understand him.

But perhaps that was why she found herself feeling a little sorry for him.

"That’s unfortunate," she finally said.

Victor glanced at her.

"Yeah."

Silence returned.

They continued walking.

Neither said anything for several minutes.

Then—

"Well, if it isn’t little Lyra."

Both of them stopped.

Victor slowly raised his head.

Two figures were approaching from the opposite side of the forest.

Shadow Foxes.

They walked casually between the trees, their eyes fixed directly on Lyra.

Victor immediately noticed the change in her expression.

Her entire body had stiffened.

The color seemed to drain from her face.

She hadn’t expected this.

One of the Shadow Foxes smiled.

"Not only is it little Lyra, who we’ve been searching for..."

His eyes shifted toward Victor.

His smile twisted into disgust.

"But she’s with a human."

The second Shadow Fox looked toward Victor.

His expression immediately hardened.

"A filthy human."

The two continued walking closer.

Victor remained still.

He glanced at Lyra.

She wasn’t looking at him anymore.

Her eyes were fixed on the approaching Shadow Foxes.

And for the first time since Victor had met her, he saw something he rarely saw in Lyra.

Fear.

Victor’s expression slowly became serious.

Whatever these two Shadow Foxes wanted, it was clear they hadn’t come here to have a friendly conversation.

The first Shadow Fox stopped several dozen feet away.

He looked Lyra up and down.

"After all this time, we finally found you."

Lyra said nothing.

His gaze shifted toward Victor again.

"And you’ve apparently been spending your time with a human."

His lips curled into a cold smile.

"What exactly have you been doing out here, little Lyra?"

Victor’s eyes narrowed.

He didn’t like the way the Shadow Fox was looking at her.

More importantly, he didn’t like the way Lyra was reacting.

Something was wrong.

The two Shadow Foxes began walking toward them again.

Victor subtly shifted his stance.

His hand moved closer to Liam’s sword.

Whatever was about to happen...

Wouldn’t end in peaceful conversation.

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