To His Hell and Back-Chapter 131: My Body Moves First

Morpheus saw how all of a sudden Cassius went quiet. By the finger that had grown lax and the fangs that had been clenched tight, it seems as though his silence was the kind of quiet that seemed to show his defeat. Seeing this, and knowing exactly what had set him off, Morpheus let the moment stretch, before letting his twisted tongue to dig deeper into the sore wounds inside Cassius’s heart that he could see clearly with his golden eyes.

"You speak as though you’re above it all now, Your Highness," he said gently and that gentle tone put anyone who hears him in ill ease. "You claim that vampires aren’t making a change but aren’t you one of those vampires who had also practiced the art of cruelty to humans? Not only other humans but our sweet angel. How many times have you put Arabella in danger? Yet you can claim here in front of me that I am worse than you?" He let out a light breath, almost a sigh but ended like a chuckle.

"Why should she stay with you? For once, I won’t hurt her but I doubt that you have ever truly protected her. I’ve heard that you have even caused her to drown, oh poor Bella. Forgive me, but from where I stand, you and I are no different but the least I could promise is that I won’t even let a single harm touch her hair while you are already having enough trouble trying to survive."

Arabella couldn’t properly see Cassius’s face as his back was facing her. She had expected another one of his smart rebukes but instead, Cassius was quiet. Deadly quiet and that was odd. He would always have the perfect comeback but right now him saying nothing felt simply far too odd.

"Can’t deny anything?" Morpheus sang happily, "Then step away little crown prince. As much as I wish to take you apart now, you still have a role to play in our last act. Do your best and stay alive until then would you?"

Seeing that Cassius still hadn’t spoken, Morpheus let his grin stretch wider, unfazed by the silence. He stepped forward, believing that Cassius’s heart had weakened from his words that was laced with spells. He knew that simply ordering someone like Cassius won’t work as he does to others, so he mixed it with the words that Cassius seemed to have felt "hurt" from though the Crown Prince seems to be unaware of it.

Unlike normal humans and other sorcerers, Morpheus could see emotions in colors. It was even clearer to him with Cassius who had only showed a few colors radiating from him. The first color was red which meant rage. The other was a dark pitch black color, the darkest black aura Morpheus had ever seen. But when he had reminded Cassius that Arabella’s source of suffering was him, those red and black colors had disappeared. Instead, it had turn into an odd green and blue color.

The green could mean regret while the blue could mean sadness, but as it mixed into a muddy color of bluish green color.

The reason why Cassius was stunned wasn’t only due to him feeling "guilty" from the reminder of Morpheus’s words, instead it was due to his magic but this was remain unnoticed by neither Cassius or Arabella.

He smiled, knowing he had triumphed and began to reach out a hand as if he meant to brush past him, heading straight for Arabella.

But then, he stopped.

He didn’t stop because someone had stopped him or that Cassius had moved to stand in between him. Rather it was due to a dull pain that stretched across his neck.

A flicker of confusion crossed his face. His silver brows drew together just before blood sprayed from his neck, a clean red line blooming across his throat even though Cassius hadn’t moved an inch.

"Stop calling her so familiarly," Cassius said, voice low and cold. His crimson eyes had turned deeper red in color as he stared at Morpheus who had began to touch his bleeding neck to no avail. He should be dead but he was still alive. The slash was deadly yet Morpheus was still moving his fingers, his body flinching and his expression appeared to be

And so Cassius moved. The blade in his hand swept through the air like a final sentence, and in a blink, Morpheus’s head was no longer on his shoulders.

It was too easy, simply too easy to kill Morpheus whose prowess felt the strongest even to Cassius who had gone through many wars.

He had briefly looked at the severed head, wondering what was about to come as it didn’t feel the end but Morpheus whose head had been severed didn’t move for a good few seconds. Seeing this, Cassius turned toward Arabella, his lips parting and she could see how his expression that had relaxed briefly suddenly tighten and his eyes grew wider than its usual size, "GO DOWN!"

Arabella didn’t know what Cassius had shouted but his order had rang in her head loud enough for her body to flinch and her knees to bend down at once. She then saw the shadow pooling in front of her and when she turned back she had found a black haired woman standing with a crooked smile.

The woman’s hair was bright red, tied into a sharp ponytail while behind her was another man whose face seemed to be made out of glacial ice as it had shown no single emotion. Seeing this, Bella immediately took a step backward and then turned.

One thing she was sure was how dangerous these people were and the only place for her protection was Cassius’s side.

As she jumped and turned toward Cassius, reaching out to his stretched hands, she saw how the headless body of Morpheus had moved from behind Cassius, gruesomely trying to move its stiff body like a wooden doll with strings attached.

Cassius who had stretched out his hands toward her noticed the headless body moving but his focus lies on the woman behind Bella who was ready to pull her by her hair and instead of protecting himself, he went to protect her.

He gritted his teeth, cursing underneath his breath as he ignored what the headless body was about to inject to his body with the syringe, instead prioritizing Bella’s safety over his own.