477 Uh... Yeah, A Lot Has Changed During Your Absence
From nothingness came everything in existence, and everything in existence would eventually return to nothingness — such was the perpetual cycle of life and death of chaosverses. That was, until Chaos was created, enabling infinite growth of existence — an everlasting Chaos.
Vaan couldn't even begin to imagine how powerful a person had to be to create Chaos. It was, without a doubt, an incredibly impressive feat far out of his reach and many others—if not everyone's reach as well.
Nevertheless, he felt like he could partly understand the sheer will of desperation the person had before Chaos was created.
After all, before Chaos existed, the person's only chaosverse was bound for destruction; the power to create Chaos stemmed from the will to save his dying chaosverse.
Vaan had a feeling understanding nothingness was the first step toward realizing the same power that created Chaos.
If he followed the same path as that great being, perhaps he could also reach the same height one day — or so he hoped.
Shortly after Vaan destroyed Helcan's incarnation, he went ahead and settled the remnant unrest within the imperial army and prepared to enter the Holy Knight Empire's capital city with the battle witch army.
But before the last step, he left Zafnir and the other Rank 5 dragons in charge of supervising the two armies before returning to the Red Dragon Clan via Zafnir's spatial magic.
Upon his return, he quickly found out Astoria's emergency treatment had already concluded.
Thanks to the third dragon lord's magic and medicine, Astoria was safely brought out of mortal danger. Although she was still weak, she didn't suffer any lingering trauma miraculously.
"There's no lingering trauma?" Vaan repeated for confirmation with a surprised look.
"None, Supreme Leader," Lord Sondrei confirmed before saying, "Lady Astoria was extremely lucky in this case."
"She would have died from that Early-stage Demigod-level attack if her body had been weaker. And if her body were any stronger, it would have been more difficult for her to recover fully. Fortunately, she's a light-attribute High Witch and received some crucial preliminary treatment."
"Thanks to that, she will not only recover fully, but her body will also become stronger than before. We could almost call it a blessing from a disaster," Lord Sondrei added.
"Destruction and reconstruction, huh?" Vaan muttered thoughtfully.
After Vaan received the medical report from the third dragon lord, he went ahead and visited Astoria in the guest building of Ninth Peak, where she was resting.
"Vaan..."
"Don't move. You are still weak and need to rest."
Astoria wanted to get up from her bed to receive Vaan when he entered her room. However, he immediately advised her against it, forcing her back into bed.
"I did something really foolish this time, didn't I?" Astoria asked with her head down.
"That you did; it was truly foolish of you," Vaan admitted without mincing his words before adding, "However, I don't blame you. I am to be blamed for allowing it to happen in the first place."
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Astoria slowly shook her head and said with a sigh, ""No one could have guessed that Emperor Renardier would still be able to move in such a broken and disabled state, and with such power and speed on top of that."
"But he was a Devil's Contractor. I should have anticipated the possibility and killed him before he was given a chance to make a comeback," Vaan argued before suddenly frowning. "No... he wasn't even a Devil's Contractor anymore at that point but the Great Devil Helcan himself."
"Emperor Renardier must have made a new deal and let the Great Devil Helcan incarnate in his body," Vaan guessed.
Once he realized that, he couldn't help but look down on the person.
"What a weak-willed little bitch," he thought.
Nevertheless, that was the difference between them. Even with two hundred years of life experience, Emperor Renardier was still someone who was born with everything from the start.
On the other hand, he started from rock bottom and made his way up in life. The despair the two of them would feel after losing everything would be very different.
At the very least, he wouldn't be consumed by despair like that puss— Ahem, like that emperor.
"Like I said, you are being too hard on yourself," Astoria softly said.
"You have been blessed with intelligence unlike anyone I have ever seen, but you are still human, not a god, Vaan. You can't see the future or predict it without the necessary information. Unfortunately, we know too little about Devil's Contractors."
"Still, we can learn from our mistakes and do better," Astoria added with a smile.
"That's the issue, Astoria," Vaan wryly smiled back and said, "We make mistakes and learn from them. But sometimes, we don't get that chance. Sometimes, it just takes one mistake to end everything."
"It's a cruel and unforgiving world we live in. We can't afford to make mistakes. I hope you won't be so foolish again. I don't want you to die for me; I want you to live for me. Do you understand?" Vaan stated.
"Mm..." Astoria nodded, feeling guilty.
Nevertheless, she was still a Mid-stage High Witch. It was already a miracle that she was able to react to an Early-stage Demigod-level attack.
She wasn't given enough time to think, nor was she capable of pulling herself back out in such a situation.
Even so, if there was one thing they had both learned from this incident, it was the extent of her feelings.
She was willing to sacrifice herself for Vaan—not because she felt a sense of responsibility to protect him for humanity's future, but because she truly loved him after all.
Although she was able to affirm her genuine feelings, it also cost her greatly. She wasn't oblivious to the invisible wall Vaan had put between them.
Even though he was in front of her, their relationship also seemed to have become more distant.
Astoria was unlike any of Vaan's other women; when she loved someone, she loved them with her life. It was the purest form of love, uncorrupted by greed and self-interest.
However, while her love was as sweet as honey, it was also toxic as poison. Too much of it was deadly. As the saying goes: love makes people stupid and do illogical things.
Furthermore, love was also like a flame; the bigger it was, the faster it died out.
Thus, if they wanted to tread the long path together, Vaan had to kill some of their feelings and love moderately.
They needed balance.
Astoria seemed to have understood that. Thus, she didn't say anything and reflected on her mistake; it had been a valuable lesson for them both.
Since they were both still alive, they could still move forward together.
"Get some more rest now. You can rejoin us after you recover your strength. I will handle everything until then," Vaan said, tucking Astoria into bed.
Although Astoria was unwilling to be absent during such a crucial moment of the kingdom and empire, she accepted her situation.
"Mm," Astoria softly nodded.
Shortly after, Vaan left the guest building and had a dragon lord send him back to the Holy Knight Empire.
Meanwhile, back in the Kingdom of Black Rose, Henrietta had rushed back with Ember and her subordinates after they finished settling down the people of the Kingdom of Verdant Woods.
However, the moment they hastily returned to Blackthorn City, they were immediately stunned by the atmosphere inside.
At first, they thought the city had been deserted for the war. However, they realized the witches were mostly cooped up in their magic towers, producing and refining mana stones.
On the other hand, the supremacist witches that did roam outside didn't abuse or torture the male slaves that passed them.
Henrietta almost failed to recognize her own city under such a strange situation.
Nevertheless, when the witches spotted Henrietta in the city, they stood frozen on the spot instead of coming forward to greet her.
"What's the matter? I was only away for a short while, and you've already forgotten who I am?" Henrietta frowned with a raised eyebrow.
The dumbfounded witches immediately glanced at each other, trying to figure out how they should respond to Henrietta.
After all, all the witches in Blackthorn City had sworn their allegiance to Vaan. Thus, even if Henrietta was still the official ruler of the Kingdom of Black Rose, she only existed in name - since all it would take was a single word from Vaan to turn all the witches against Henrietta.
Nevertheless, they figured that they could still serve her as long as there was no official conflict of interest between Vaan and Henrietta.
"Welcome back, Your Majesty. It's gratifying to see you safely return.
I knew nothing could happen to you. But, uh... Yeah, a lot has changed during your absence..."
"What of the war with the Holy Knight Empire? I heard they invaded us?"
"Rather than explaining, it'll be easier to see the situation for yourself, Your Majesty. We can take the teleportation platform to reach the border region instantly, Your Majesty."
"We have a teleportation platform...?"
"Yes... Alot has changed..."
After the neutral witch briefed her, Henrietta and Ember followed the neutral witch to the teleportation platform in the central district and reached Fort Whitebridge quickly.
But by the time they stopped by the edge of the wall for a look, there was nothing to see, not even a trace of battle. Everything had been cleaned up.
"..." Henrietta was silent for a moment before asking, "So what did you want to show me again?"
"Uh..."
The neutral witch scratched the back of her head, feeling at a loss for a moment. Soon, a light bulb lit up in her head before she quickly pulled a battle witch over for a inquiry.
Only then did they all finally learn the latest news of the war.
"Yes... Alot has changed..."
After the neutral witch briefed her, Henrietta and Ember followed the neutral witch to the teleportation platform in the central district and reached Fort Whitebridge quickly.
But by the time they stopped by the edge of the wall for a look, there was nothing to see, not even a trace of battle. Everything had been cleaned up.
"..." Henrietta was silent for a moment before asking, "So what did you want to show me again?"
"Uh..."
The neutral witch scratched the back of her head, feeling at a loss for a moment. Soon, a light bulb lit up in her head before she quickly pulled a battle witch over for a inquiry.
Only then did they all finally learn the latest news of the war.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l