A thoughtful look flashed across the eyes of the crimson one.

He felt that Vincent had a problem with his memories, and his words just confirmed it.

Only a few people had the power to mess with the memories of the others, and one of them was his father. Thinking of that person caused his crimson eyes to gleam brightly, signifying that he was agitated. Though, the more he got agitated, the faster his thought process became. One after another, he connected dots and hurriedly inched towards a conclusion.

[Detected! The tenth is facing the crimson one and is under the threat of having your consciousness overridden by him. According to the command of the ninth head of the family, as you've met your inner self before you could fully grow and have no chance of defeating him with your current strength, I've temporarily removed the Seal of Blood, allowing you to recover a part of your strength. Now, you can fight on equal ground with him!]

Vincent didn't know what was happening, but he felt as if something in his chest had shattered like glass, allowing something indomitable to surge inside of his body like rolling waves in an ocean. Instantly, he felt as if he had become ten times stronger.

Not to mention, he was oddly familiar with this power. It didn't feel foreign. It was as if it belonged to him, but someone took it away and put it somewhere inside of his body! At the same time, the power of the supreme healing scroll moved inside of his body, circulating throughout his body, from veins and blood vessels to seeping into his tendon, bones, and skin. Immediately, the wounds on his body started to heal, from his broken ribcage to the purple bruises on his body.

Vincent raised his eyes and saw that the other party was too busy to notice the changes happening to him. He didn't make a move, waiting for the healing energy to fix up to his peak conditions.

Maybe the crimson one was so self-absorbed in his thoughts, or maybe it was because he didn't put Vincent in his eyes that he failed to notice that something was changing in him.

'Huh?' Suddenly, Vincent's vision turned blurry, and right after that very moment, a lot of memories surged into his mind. A video of some kind played in his mind, showing him something unbelievable but also valuable.

There were nine seals in his body, each sealing a portion of his strength and a part of his memories; that's what the first part of the flashback told him. The nine seals sealed the crimson one, but he managed to get out because of the specialty of this place, a boundary that manifests one's inner self into the real world; that's what he inferred from the second part. The seals were the work of the ninthhis mysterious father. Because the crimson one managed to manifest in the real world, something his father had expected to happen, he met a condition that allowed Noah to unseal one of the nine sealsthe Seal of Blood. Nothing much about the crimson one was mentioned, nor did he found out why his father sealed his strength.

Anyway, the most confusing part was that his father, Aaron, had expected that something like this might happen, so he left a fail-proof place in place.

It was weird no matter how he thinks about it.

"Noah, what's going on?" Vincent inwardly asked.

Although his voice was calm, the artificial consciousness of the heirloom could feel that it was tinged with bewildered that could easily change into anger depending on how it answers.

[Tenth, listen to what I've to say attentively. The person in front of you is dangerous, but he is not a danger to your life. He may harm you and crush you, even go as far as do his best to break you down mentally, but he will never kill you as he is you, and your body is what he needs. The moment you close your eyes and accept defeat, he will replace you. But know this, he is an extreme danger to everything you care about, and the first he will do after taking your body is killing everyone close to you. So, you must never give up.]

Its answer directed Vincent towards what truly mattered right now. He needed to take down the crimson one at all cost and not let him win.

Anyway, he didn't have much time. So, he decided to begin his counterattack.

He had already recovered by a lot, and the crimson one was still lost in contemplation, so he didn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation and made his move.

As the crimson one pondered over the cause of Vincent's memory loss and the way to restore all his strength, a cold breeze brushed past his ears, and the legs of the person opposite to him wrapped around his neck; viciously clamping down on both sides of it. The crimson one was a bit surprised that his porcelain doll was able to move, but he didn't think too much about it. After all, his fingers were also around Vincent's neck, and he believed that it was enough to threaten him to stay still and not make a move.

"Do you want me to wring your neck?" The crimson one hissed threateningly.

"Haha!" Vincent laughed, not giving a damn about his word. He already knew that the crimson one couldn't kill his body as he needed it for himself.

His laugh caused the crimson one to think that something was wrong. However, it was already too late as Vincent had already made his move.

Vincent put strength in his legs and pulled him closer to himself, causing the crimson one's head to bump into his chest, and then he stretched out his hand, balled them into a fist, and swung them at his head. Without warning, he started raining down attacks on his head. The crimson one tightened his hold around his neck, pressing his windpipe, causing him to start suffocating and even feel that death was near, but he didn't stop and kept on attacking like a monkey pulling out hair from the head of his enemy.

Vincent's crimson eyes glimmered with a cruel brilliance as he became sure that the crimson one wouldn't kill him. Rather, it was that he couldn't kill him. Killing him was the same as killing himself!

"You can't kill me, right?!"

Pa! Pa!

Vincent said while returning the favor.

"So you found out, heh."

Those words had just his mouth when Vincent's next attacks cascaded down in his already deformed head, one after another, each one more powerful and fiercer than the other.

"So what?!" The crimson one had said that when his face once again kissed Vincent's manly fist, causing him to become so angry that he let go of his neck and kicked him away.

"Finally free," Vincent thought while touching his neck.

Right at that very moment, the crimson one taunted him!

"You punch and kick like a little girl, and it barely hurts! I just need to wipe the floor with you until you lose your consciousness! Then, what's your will be mine."

"You're a fool. I was intentionally going easy in you so that your arrogant self would push me away and release the hold on my neck. If you hadn't done that and just pressed on my windpipes for a few moments longer, I would've already blacked out." Vincent retorted, a sly smile on his face.