Chapter 55 - Reunion

Finn put Levy, who had a very light body, on his back and carried him outside the house.

They then walked through the slums, but nobody paid them any attention.

Even if Finn was a kidnapper that was trying to take Levy away, the others wouldn't feel fearful towards him but jealous towards Levy because they too wanted to be taken away from that hellhole called the slums.

After getting on the public carriage, Finn received some weird looks from the few people that were inside it because Levy had a nasty smell and the others thought that Finn was kidnapping a homeless person.

"Mind your own business!"

But Sophie scared them all away with her ice-cold voice, and they started looking outside the window, not wanting to bother her any further.

'That's my girlfriend! I love her!'

A wide smile appeared on Finn's face as he looked at Sophie.

'Shut up! I still like Estelle more…'

Loki was pouting because Finn was acting more and more lovey-dovey with Sophie by the day while forgetting about Loki's favorite, Estelle.

After a long ride, they arrived at the noble district gate, where an old guard was guarding the gate.

"Permit please."

Finn pulled it out, but the guard frowned and looked at Finn.

"This permit allows two people at most to enter."

But before Finn could start arguing, he felt Levy, who was still on his back, lift his head and speak with a soft tone.

"Is that you, Gerard?"

The guard raised an eyebrow and looked at the homeless person that was talking to him.

After inspecting his face, his eyes suddenly widened, and his bored expression was replaced with a shocked one.

"I- It can't be! Levy?! Is that really you?!"

"Can't recognize an old friend anymore?"

Levy smiled at the old guard.

Gerard remembered how his son had once gotten sick, but he didn't have enough money for treatment, so the only thing he could do was wait for him to slowly die in pain.

Luckily for him, though, when Levy was entering the noble district one day, he noticed Gerard's downcast expression, and after talking to each other, Levy was reminded of his lovely family and agreed to give him money for his son's treatment.

Gerard would then sometimes meet Levy, and he wanted to pay him back, but Levy always declined with a smile.

Later, he heard about what had happened with Levy's family, but he refused to believe it.

"I heard what happened… It's not true, right? It's just a slanderous lie, right?!"

Gerard shouted at Levy, wanting nothing more than to hear that it was all fake.

But deep down, he knew the truth because he had done his own investigation, and that's when he found out that it had actually happened as he had heard.

"It is true. I was forced into doing it, but all those terrible things… everything you had heard is true."

Levy's smile withered, and his eyes got filled with painful emotions.

"…"

Gerard shut his mouth when he heard Levy say that he was forced.

He couldn't imagine what kind of fucked-up human being could force such a kind soul into doing a heinous deed like that.

"Will you let us through, Gerard?"

Levy asked with a soft voice, and Gerard looked at him with sadness filling his eyes.

When he last saw Levy, he saw how he was filled with vigor and strength, but now he only looked like the shell of a human being.

Gerard bit his trembling lower lip and looked down.

After a few seconds of breathing to calm himself down, he looked at Levy and saluted.

"Of course, Baron Levy! Please enter!"

But as he shouted, his voice cracked a little from how much sadness he was trying to hold back.

"Thank you... old friend."

Finn, Levy, and Sophie then all walked into the noble district, and after they had gotten a little further, Gerard stopped saluting and covered his eyes with his hand.

He didn't know if he was crying, but he could feel moisture on his hand, so he probably was.

Imagining what Levy had to go through, Gerard closed his eyes and clenched his teeth to stop his mouth from trembling.

'Why is it that the cruel and evil people always destroy the kind ones… Where is the justice that Levy deserves...? I am a knight that is supposed to help catch evil people, but I help them ruin the lives of honest and nice people instead by guarding their wellbeing…'

Gerard then slowly opened his eyes again and continued guarding the gate.

He decided that if somebody came and asked about Levy, he would keep it a secret, even if it were to get him killed.

---

Meanwhile, Finn had arrived in front of the mansion, and Levy's eyes flashed with grief.

"It used to be so beautiful… But now it looks like a ruin."

A sad voice left Levy's dry lips as he nostagically looked at the mansion.

Finn didn't speak and kept walking towards the mansion's entrance.

After walking into the entrance hall, Finn noticed that Rex was already there waiting for them.

When Levy saw his son, he slowly got off of Finn's back and tried to walk towards the floating Rex.

One step.

Two steps.

Levy fell to his knees, but he didn't stop and began crawling.

When he was almost in front of Rex, all the strength left his body, and he fell on his stomach.

But the smile and tears that kept flowing from his eyes showed that he didn't feel any pain from his fall whatsoever.

He then looked up at the floating Rex, who was looking at him with conflicted feelings.

Rex had spent five years blaming and hating his father, so there was no way he could change his way of thinking overnight.

But when he saw how weak his father had become, his heart, which he wasn't supposed to have anymore, started to hurt.

"Rex… You have grown up so much, and it seems you are angry with me… I understand your hatred, and I will accept any punishment you want to give me."

A quiet voice echoed throughout the silent entry hall of the mansion as Levy tried to speak as loudly as he could.

Hearing the pained voice, the floating Rex landed on the ground and walked up to his lying father.

He then flicked his fingers, making a chair float from the dining room and land next to him.

Placing his father on it, he looked at him with eyes filled with grief.

Rex felt all the feelings that he had kept bottled up suddenly arise inside him as he kept looking at his weak father.

"Dad… I was so alone… I didn't know what to think, so I kept blaming you, but deep down I knew it wasn't you who was the one behind everything."

Ghosts weren't able to cry, but they could still feel emotions, and the amount of sadness and pain Rex was currently feeling made him feel so overwhelmed that he knew that he would be bawling his eyes out if he was a human.

"I miss mom's cooking, and I miss sister's head pats. I also missed how you would always ruffle my hair with a gentle smile... Dad I- I have become a ghost, but I can still feel the pain in my chest..."

He squeezed his chest where his heart was and looked at Levy with a grief-stricken expression.

"...M- Maybe I am a cursed existence, dad."

"No, Rex, you are not! You have always been my blessing and always will be!"

Raising his voice, which only amounted to a loud whisper, Levy looked into Rex's eyes.

"The people that destroyed our family… maybe the world gave you a second chance to take revenge."

Levy then raised his hand to ruffle Rex's hair, but his hand went through Rex's head and dropped back to his side.

"I am happy, Rex. I am happy that I got to see you before I die."

Unbothered by this, he smiled at his son.

"What are you saying, dad! We can live here together like before!"

Rex put his hands on Levy's shoulders as he began to raise his voice in worry.

"No son… The assistant that had been taking care of me was feeding me poison every day. I have always been secretly spitting it out, but a month ago he found out and forced me to eat it. I wanted to die, but I was too scared that if I died somewhere in the slums, people would forget us."

Levy looked at Rex with tired eyes.

"I can feel it. The poison will soon kill me, but I am happy that I got to meet you before I go. Knowing that your soul is still in this world made me extremely happy."

"Dad I-"

Rex's voice began to shake, and as he tried to respond, he was cut off by his father.

"Rex!"

Suddenly, Levy put his hands where Rex's cheeks were.

"Begging me to live won't help, and the poison has already entered the roots of my body, so I know that I won't be able to hold on for much longer, so please..."

He looked deep into Rex's eyes.

"Promise me you will make them pay. Promise me that you will show them that no evil deed goes unpunished. …And shouldn't a knight be showing etiquette even to his own family?"

Rex's eyes, which were filled with sadness before, got ignited with newfound passion when he heard that his father also wanted revenge.

"Yes father! I promise to make those bastards pay!"

Hearing that, Levy's hands fell to his sides, and he looked at Rex with a tired smile.

"For the last time in my life… please show me your sword move, Rex."

"…Yes father."

Rex nodded and held out his hand.

SWOOSH

A wooden sword came flying from the upstairs of the mansion, and Rex grabbed it in his right hand.

He was a ghost, but he could touch any non-living object that was inside the mansion, so he grabbed the sword with both of his hands and raised it above his head, preparing to do a vertical strike.

First he breathed in and then imagined that he was one with the sword. He imagined that the sword was his third limb that he was capable of controlling.

SWISH

Then the sword was swiftly brought down, creating an afterimage.

The strike itself wasn't powerful, though.

It wasn't a strike that would impress a sword master, nor was it one that others would fear just by seeing it.

But even Finn could see the pain and loneliness behind that one strike.

He didn't know why, but that one strike seemed to carry so many painful emotions, and by performing it, Rex seemed to be forgiving his father for what he had done.

After witnessing this strike, Levy smiled for the last time and slowly closed his eyes.

"Beautiful… That is my son… my biggest pride…"

Those were his last words before he died. Levy died with a smile on his wrinkled face as the proudest father in the world.

Rex hugged him and didn't let go for at least ten minutes.

Now that Levy was dead, Rex could finally touch his father again, so he gripped Levy's dirty clothes and buried his face in his shoulder.

Finn and Sophie patiently waited by the side.

Suddenly Rex entered Levy's body, and the body started to shake, and after a few seconds, it stood up.

Finn calmly looked at what was happening because he knew that high-ranked ghosts had the power to possess dead bodies, but Sophie didn't know, so she curiously stared at the body.

The old, wrinkled body that had dark green veins everywhere looked as if it had worms moving under its skin, and it slowly changed into a healthy one.

The body that previously belonged to Levy but was now possessed by Rex slowly opened its eyes.

"Thank you."

Rex, who was now inside Levy's body, turned to Finn and Sophie.

"With the opportunity you have given me and with my father's body, I will hunt them all down."

"Wait!"

But before Rex could leave, Finn stopped him.

"I know you are eager to take revenge, but what can you do without your ghost body. As soon as you leave this mansion, you will lose all your powers, and I doubt you will be able to defeat all the knights that protect the nobles, whom you want to take revenge on, with an untrained body like that."

Finn pointed at Levy's body, and although it became healthy, it only returned to its prime, and considering that Levy never worked out, the body lacked muscles.

"…Then what should I do?"

Rex frowned and began staring at Finn.

"Let us help."

Finn looked Rex in the eyes.

"Your father told us that the one behind everything is Marquess Harry, and if you let us help, I know just the perfect way you can take your revenge. All we need to do is..."

He then started telling Rex and Sophie about his plan.

At first, Rex was expressionless, but the more he heard, the wider his smile got.

Once Finn was finished, Rex was already laughing while imagining the face of the Marquess.

After a while, Rex stopped laughing and, with a smile, patted Finn's shoulder.

"I like that plan! Let's go destroy his life!"