Tales of Leo Attiel ~Portrait of the Headless Prince~ - Volume 2, Afterword

The Last Touched is a haunting fantasy of bloodlines, broken fate, and the perilous cost of power.Elsbeth MoonChild is the last of the touched—the final descendant of a cursed lineage bound to the flame. As Alpha of the shattered 12th pack, she bears the ruin left by her father’s crime: the murder of the queen. Branded by his betrayal, hunted by her former chosen mate, and driven into exile with the last of her people, Elsbeth has one desperate path forward—to survive, she must stake her claim in the Rite of Queens, an ancient trial that demands strength, sacrifice, and the will to rule.But the Rite does more than test her body and mind. It pulls her backward in time, submerging her into the forgotten life of her ancestor—the first queen. As memories bleed into dreams and dreams into waking, Elsbeth begins to unravel a long-buried truth: the flame in her blood is not just magic. It is a weapon. A curse. A gift once traded in blood and sacrifice to end an age of chaos.And she is not the only one who carries it.Julia, her estranged sister—exiled, fire-born, and half-mad with hunger—is no hybrid. She is the living echo of the power their bloodline tried to bury. Ruthless, charismatic, and driven by the belief that the throne was stolen from her, Julia is building a gospel of grievance and flame. Her army grows in the shadows, fed by secrets and stolen children. And with each ritual, the ancient seal weakens, waking something that was never meant to rise again.Torn between duty and desire, Elsbeth clings to the one thing that keeps her tethered—Fen, her true mate, a being older than he appears, hiding a divine truth of his own. Their bond runs deeper than fate, but it terrifies her. To surrender to it would mean choosing love over the kingdom. And if she falls too far, the flame inside her might burn her from within… just as it did her father.As old gods stir and the fire in her blood begins to answer the call of something watching from beneath the ice, Elsbeth must decide: will she become the queen her people need? Or the weapon her blood was meant to wield?

“I have to squander; otherwise, won’t it be a waste of my parent’s talent at earning money?” Hong Dali answers a reporter’s question matter-of-factly.

Just after the interview ends, Hong Dali opens the Great Prodigal System’s interface and looks at the various good stuff displayed in it. Stroking his chin, he mumbles to himself, “I just need to squander 200 billion yuan more to exchange for the blueprint of the core technology, Engine Destruction, found in the strongest humanoid mecha weapon, Neo Granzon. Looks like I’ll have to work harder!”

“I want to splurge! I want to squander!”

Just became the disciple with the highest seniority, but the Age of the Dark Mist descended, and the sect plummeted into a land plagued with raging demons.

Shen Changge who had already written his suicide note suddenly awakened to a Check-in System.

[Check-in at Sword Lord Statue, Success, acquired: Empyrean Sword Manual]

[Check-in at Training Ground, Success, acquired: Cultivation Base*50 years]

[Check-in at Sword Clout Mountain, Success, acquired: Sword Clout of Destruction*1s]

…

In the Age of the Dark Mist, demons were rampant, and an impenetrable mist veiled the empyrean. By vanquishing demons, the mist could be dispelled, and new check-in locations could be unlocked. By doing so clandestinely, Shen Changge became a Sword Saint.

When a demon broke into the Empyrean Sword Sect, everyone in the sect was powerless. People were in despair, until they met that young man in white who had just checked in at the Empyrean Peak. The young man’s eyes were ablaze.

“Submit, demon.”