Chapter 844: Devil (2)
"Should we end it once and for all? How long must we tolerate this filth? Before, we lacked the power... but what of now?"
Silence swallowed the modest old-Japanese dwelling, its tatami floors and paper screens quiet against the biting alpine chill outside.
On the left sat Eleanor, her graceful cascade of flowing silver hair framing a face that could topple empires. Yet her choice of attire was delightfully incongruous, a tight white full-sleeve white shirt that covered her form like a goddess masquerading as some modern scholar. No flowing robes of antiquity, no divine regalia.
Just clean lines and subtle allure, as if she had grown weary of playing the eternal schemer.
The people of Xianthera were, after all, distant echoes of Greek gods once chained in Tartarus.
This fractured realm was Tartarus reborn, a prison turned homeland where bloodlines mingled in chaotic splendor. Kin to the divine, yet forever scarred by it.
Eleanor set her teacup down with a soft clink, exhaling a long, world-weary sigh. "I can no longer make decisions that would alter Xianthera’s core trajectory..."
!!
BANG!
A powerful hand slammed onto the low table, rattling the porcelain wood. Victoria leaned forward, her crystal-blue eyes blazing with uncharacteristic ferocity.
Her usual overwhelming figure, those curves that could make men forget their own names, was partially veiled by long, flowing pink hair. Currently, the strongest publicly known warrior in all Xianthera, a woman who had once matched blows with ancient temple warrior monks and left them humbled in the dust.
"Then who can?!" she demanded.
Eleanor remained unphased, merely tilting her head slightly.
Her gaze flicked sideways. "Her."
Approaching nearby, was a young woman who bore resemblance to Eleanor, silvery-white hair tied in a playful ponytail, the same striking features softened by a touch of innocent charm and fluttering lashes.
She wore a matching tight white shirt, the top two buttons daringly undone as if the room’s modest warmth was still too stifling, paired with a knee-length dark skirt that swayed as she descended the stairs, a thick book tucked under one arm.
Victoria’s eyes betrayed her, drifting unconsciously to the generous swell of the girl’s chest as it shifted with each step.
Her brow twitched. "Her? Are you kidding me?"
"Uh... Are you two talking about me?" Xue Lan paused mid-step, caught off guard by the sudden scrutiny.
She shot her mother a look of pure displeasure, the kind only a daughter could perfect. "Mom, do whatever you want. I don’t want to govern this place anyway." She stuck out her tongue with impish defiance. "I give you full authority!"
"!!"
Before the visibly enraged Eleanor could lunge forward and drag her back, Xue Lan darted up the stairs with a pleasant laugh, ponytail bouncing like a rebellious banner.
"...This girl...!" Eleanor’s face flushed crimson, a rare crack in her eternal composure.
Wang Xiao had forced a child upon Eleanor in one of his more inspired moments, intending to hand her over a successor, and now the girl had grown nearly as tall as her mother, yet she refused every scrap of responsibility with the same stubborn grace as her father.
It was almost ironic, this divine bloodline reduced to self-fulfilling prophecy.
Unbeknownst to the two women below, Xue Lan hadn’t gone far. She crouched at the top of the stairs, ears perked like a mischievous fox spirit, eavesdropping with shameless curiosity.
Back in the living room, Eleanor rubbed her temples tiredly. "Fine. Tell me in detail, Victoria. Why are you so worked up? You’ve been purging these abominations for decades."
Victoria fell silent for a moment, her piercing gaze heavy with suspicion. "You could wipe them all out in a single stroke, couldn’t you?"
"Hmm..." Eleanor did not deny it.
Her power had surged dramatically in recent years. In raw strength alone, she could now stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Aurora, though her soul remained less refined, lacking that immortal core capable of carrying memories through reincarnation.
"Then why haven’t you-"
Eleanor raised a hand, cutting her off gently but firmly. "You know the truth as well as I. I have tried before. No matter how many you slay, the horrors return like weeds after rain. They are the inevitable fruit of our existence, the leaked thoughts and primal wills of an entire people unbound by wisdom. Unless we erased every living soul in Xianthera, this curse would persist. We have maintained this fragile peace only by isolating the evil in one forsaken region, sealing it behind that ancient lantern array. Tell me, Victoria..."
Her voice grew, tinged with ancient melancholy.
"Do you truly believe the realm would remain peaceful once that seal breaks? Could we still hold control over the flood of nightmares we ourselves have birthed?"
"..." Victoria gritted her teeth, her jaw tight as iron. ’Control, control, control, why can’t she ever grow out of this obsession?’
The woman lived as if the entire realm were a delicate tea set she alone must keep from shattering.
Eleanor, sensing the storm brewing, softened her tone. "Enough with the anger. Tell me exactly what happened. How can I help? As for calling him... that is not my decision to make. He would likely refuse regardless."
Victoria’s hands trembled with barely contained fury at the mention of "him," but she shoved the rage down.
Her face paled, as though she had glimpsed something from the abyss itself. "We met a devil this time..."
"!!"
Eleanor’s eyes widened in genuine surpise. "A devil? None have surfaced in the last three hundred years."
Victoria lowered her gaze, voice grim, "Now you’re serious? It was not merely a sighting. A massive gorge has torn open in the black mist, hundreds of meters wide, the very land splitting apart like rotting flesh. The horde of rotten monsters around it has swelled beyond counting. I led a team to investigate... only to walk straight into an ambush. Monk Shin is gravely wounded. The girl from Foreign Relations barely alive, saved only by those two new additions to the Security Council, Seth and Ray. I... I barely escaped with my own hide."
"..."
Eleanor’s expression darkened, a shadow of ancient memory crossing her features.
She recalled the details: the two men, once from rival, now under Victoria’s command as Security Council head.
And Emma, the diligent girl from Foreign Relations, who had insisted on joining to probe reports of theft from the steel mills. The culprits were said to be ratwalkers: ugly, mutated rats capable of crude speech, their various tribes dwelling beyond human settlements.
Emma’s role was to maintain fragile peace with them, lest hostility erupt into open war. A rogue faction had been siphoning steel, rumored to be hiding deep within the mist.
"If not for her..." Victoria suddenly gestured to the small figure cradled protectively in her arms, "I would have perished there."
The child and Victoria shared the same soft, light-pink blossom hair, making them look almost like mother and daughter in the dim lantern light.
Eirene slept soundly, barefoot in a simple white dress that seemed untouched by the horrors of the mist. It was nearly impossible to believe this delicate slip of a girl had survived weeks in that devouring darkness, unarmed and unscathed.
Victoria’s voice carried rare awe. "Are you aware of who she is?"
Eleanor’s face flickered with conflict.
She didn’t recognise the soft, innocent features, Eirene, born during Eveline’s captivity.
Few inside Wang Xiao’s circle knew of her existence.
"Hm...? Isn’t that Eirene?" Xue Lan’s voice drifted from the stairs as she poked her head down, curiosity winning over caution. She set her book aside and padded over, gently lifting the child into her arms.
Eirene stirred briefly, eyes fluttering open before closing again, utterly unconcerned.
"Aunt Victoria, why did you drag her into such a dangerous place alone?" Xue Lan pinched the girl’s chubby cheek affectionately, finding her endlessly cute.
This would be her youngest sister, after all, she had only seen her a handful of times, and the little one had grown so quickly. "If Dad knew, he would be furious."
"I didn’t drag her anywhere," Victoria protested, bewildered. "I left her safe in my castle. She... she simply followed. This girl can teleport! Even the worst attacks bent aside as if the hostile entities themselves refused to touch her."
"Oh." Xue Lan nodded knowingly, having witnessed such strangeness many times before.
Eleanor sighed, a mix of exasperation and fondness in her ancient eyes. "Was it like this?"
Without warning, she hurled a knife toward Xue Lan with lethal precision.
Whoosh!
The blade whistled through like a vengeful spirit, sharp enough to rend steel. Yet inches from Xue Lan’s curved form, it curved unnaturally sideways, deflected by some invisible, whimsical force.
BANG!
It embedded deep into the wooden wall, quivering like a scolded subordinate.
