He also dropped on top of the rubble in weakness. He didn't believe he was going to survive for long. He was probably going to die soon as well, but he wasn't sad. He was happy that he was also standing at the death's door. At this point, death was like mercy to him. It could free him from all this pain and agony.
He closed his eyes as he waited for the sweet death to take him in his embrace so he could meet his family again.
As he had his eyes closed, many scenes flashed before his eyes. His mother singing songs for him... Teaching him about various things about the world, caring for him. He also saw how he used to tease his sister often. All those happy memories were with him in his last moments.
There were also some bittersweet memories of him trying to convince his father not to wage war, only to fail. Tears kept trickling down his eyes while his body bled.
"You! You did this!"
"Yes, it's him! He's the sin of that Demon who pushed us into this war!"
"That bastard! Everyone died because of him, yet his own son survived!"
"Unfair!"
"It's Unfair!"
"Unfair!"
The young man was prepared to embrace his death when he heard some screeching sounds around him. It was as if thousands of people were chanting in his ears how it was unfair that he survived.
Instead of being angry that these people wished for his death, the young man was happy... He was happy that some of his citizens had survived this tragedy. He didn't care if they wanted his death. He only cared about the fact that not everyone was dead.
The young man slowly opened his eyes and gazed at his surroundings to see his citizens who had survived but probably hated him. Unfortunately, even as he opened his eyes, he couldn't see anything. There was no one there! There was not a single person there, yet the young man continued hearing the voices.
For a moment, he even wondered if he had gone crazy.
"He should've died, not us! He should've died!"
"The spawn of that devil survived while we died! This is injustice!"
"He should've died!"
The screeching continued and only intensified as more and more time passed. Previously, the young man felt as if hundreds of people were speaking, but now it appeared that the number was in the millions.
The young man didn't know that what he was hearing was the voice of the spirits of people who had died here! For some reason, he was able to listen to them.
With time, more and more spirits gathered around the young man, each cursing him and wishing for his death since their entire families were wiped out because of the war that the Royal Family started.
With so many spirits around, something strange was also happening. Each of these Spirits was cursing the young man who was already at death's door, unaware that all their curses were doing something else entirely.
All the negative energy that was coming from the Spirits toward the young man was being absorbed in his body somehow.
Millions of spirits hated the young man, but that hate was becoming the thing man's strength even without his knowledge. The gathering of all this negative energy from the dead was having a miraculous effect.
The young man didn't know why, but he felt something strange. It was as if something was happening to his body. The pain... It was decreasing. His skin was also slowly healing.
He hadn't realized it, but a black mark had appeared around his right hand since his left hand didn't exist, culminating all the negativity of the dead at its core. The mark was something that never existed before, but it had come into existence due to all this energy of the dead.
The mark on the right hand of the man provided a conduit for his body to better absorb all the energy of the Dead. The more these Spirits cursed the young man, the stronger he became before the mark was strong enough to absorb more than just the energy of the dead! The mark started pulling all the Spirits toward itself.
The spirits screeched in pain, feeling the strange pull. They tried to resist, but it was impossible. The spirits kept being absorbed by the Mark of the Dead. One after another, the spirits kept being absorbed, and no one could run or escape.
On the other hand, the wounds of the young man started healing even faster. All his burn marks were gone as his skin became even better than it was before the war.
Something, his left hand also returned. Even the young man didn't understand how this was possible. The strange mark also gave the young man another ability... He was able to see all the Spirits who were cursing him.
"I can see the dead? My wounds? The young man was in disbelief at what had happened. All his pain was gone, and he was as good as new.
Unfortunately, he wasn't happy at all this! He recognized the spirits that were around him. Some belong to the maids he has grown up with, while others belong to the servants and the guards. Even his own people were cursing him for the outcome.
As for the other spirits, they were also his own citizens. They had died, and only their spirits were left. He understood their hate, and he believed it was justified, but what he was seeing now wasn't right. He saw the Spirits groaning in pain and trying to run away, only to be absorbed in his mark.
"Stop it! Let them go!" The young Prince roared, but it didn't happen. The mark didn't seem to listen to him as if it was a process that couldn't be stopped.
The man tried everything to stop this. He had already made these people suffer so much when they were alive. He didn't want them to suffer even in death. The young man covered his mark with his other hand, but the absorption didn't stop.
"You Demon Child, even in death, you want to hurt us! You should've died! You should've died, not us?!"
The spirits became even angrier, but they could do nothing but empty curses, which made the young man even stronger against his wishes.