Dilan was pretty sure that more than half an hour passed before Marie stopped crying.
She had no tears left but there were still accumulated emotions in Marie that she had to release before she could calm down.
"Can you tell me what happened to you?" Dilan asked after a while. He knew that he had to give her some time to recover and not abruptly throw an inconsiderate question at her. And that it might tear open a recently healed wound in her heart and soul, but it was important for Dilan to know the answer.
However, Marie didn't say anything. Her mouth was sealed and the only thing Dilan could feel was her shaking arms that were trying to embrace him even tighter than before.
Her fingers were digging into his clothes, nearly ripping them apart.
Marie was not even an Ascender but the force she used right now was tremendous and was enough to make Dilan understand that the situation was worse than expected.
"Don't worry, they will never be able to harm you again…" Dilan reassured her as he tried to keep her composure but that was very difficult.
He tried to free himself but that would end up hurting Marie. Thus, he took a deep breath and turned to the Ice Demoness.
"I will obliterate the settlement at your command. With the snap of my fingers, I can burst the Frozen Mana that you spread all over the settlement!" The Ice Demoness spoke in a loving voice, holding her chin with one hand while showing Dilan an expression of utter ecstasy.
Dilan nodded his head, which Marie noticed, causing her to flinch once again.
"Don't obliterate the settlement…there are innocent children, men, and women…" Marie muttered in a barely audible voice.
"I cannot leave this settlement without killing those who have mistreated you. You might think I'm cruel but the world has changed, and I don't want to give anyone the chance to hurt you ever again," Dilan said in a cold but seemingly monotonous voice before he added loudly,
"These bastards have to be killed, one way or another!" He clenched his fists after making the decision.
He grasped his sister's shoulders and forced her to look deep into his eyes. Dilan's sky-blue eyes screamed of seriousness, genuine worry about her future well-being, and the intent to do everything necessary to help her.
"O…ok…I will tell you…" Marie stuttered, not sounding certain at all. She was trying to avoid his stern gaze but Dilan didn't give her much room to escape.
"If you feel uncomfortable telling me what happened, at least, give me or the Ice Demoness the image of everyone who did something to you…" Dilan tried to make a compromise so that Marie would speak to him. His oldest sister still seemed to be afraid of what might happen if one of her perpetrators were to get their hands on her once again.
Thus, he had to do everything in his power to make her feel more comfortable and to show her that she was safe and that he would protect her!
Marie should be comfortable around him and believe that nothing could ever happen to her!
"Give you the image…how?" Marie asked quietly as she slowly calmed down. Her legs stopped trembling and only her hands were still shivering in fear.
Yet, looking at Dilan made her oddly confident, just like her fake walk had been when she had walked into the center of the settlement before.
"You just have to circulate mana in your mind and try to visualize everyone who did something to you," Dilan explained it in simplified terms before he realized something he had missed out on, "Oh…you are not an Ascender, and you don't even possess mana, to begin with…I forgot."
Dilan entered a deep thought and his mind began to rattle in an attempt to figure out an easy way to make sure that only those who posed a threat to Marie were killed, while also reassuring his sister that he did not simply go on a killing spree and obliterated everyone.
"How about I read your memories and eliminate everyone?" The Ice Demoness suddenly jumped into the conversation. She was still warily glancing over to Rory and was ready to do something if the Red Dragon were to even consider attacking her.
It took her a few minutes to realize that something like that wouldn't happen and the Ice Demoness became a lot calmer with time passing.
That was also why she was ready to join the conversation of the siblings.
"You can read memories? That would work as well…" Dilan nodded his head, feeling that it would be extremely beneficial for all parties if Marie's memories were to be read.
To visualize an image, one had to search through their own, most vibrant memories so that the visualized image would be as detailed as possible. This would mean that Marie's visualizations would force her to recall all the horrifying memories she had gone through.
Dilan hadn't thought about his sister's feelings while coming up with that idea and he felt like a piece of shit after thinking about it.
'I really am bad at being considerate…seems like the Primordial Ascension turned me even more inconsiderate to the emotions of others than I was before.
"Are you fine with the Ice Demoness seeing your memories? You won't even feel anything…right?" Dilan first asked before he turned to the Ice Demoness to make sure that his oldest sister would be fine.
"She won't even know that I entered her consciousness. As long as she remains calm there won't be an issue!" The Ice Demoness reassured and Dilan nodded his head.
He was not sure why but he trusted the Ice Demon even without the need to attempt to control her with the use of the Blood Eclipse Necklace. In fact, Dilan felt like the use of the Blood Eclipse Necklace would make things much worse for him right now.
"Just do it…I trust you!" Marie said to Dilan. She didn't trust anyone else but Dilan. Thus, she could also place some of her trust in Dilan's companions. They seemed strong and being befriended by Dilan meant that he trusted them to a certain extent.
And getting accepted by Dilan was definitely not easy!
It was very hard for Dilan to make friends, but Marie knew that those few friends he had in the past had been the most loyal ones…until their father intercepted, pushing Dilan's friends away by ruining their families or giving his friend's families stashes of money to stay away from Dilan.
"I will start immediately then!" The Ice Demoness announced and reached out with her hand as she pointed with a finger against the crease between Marie's eyebrows and closed her eyes.
In the following three minutes, Dilan sensed that the Ice Demoness had used a considerable amount of mana to do something that caused Marie to flinch once.
"I know who these bastards are!" The Ice Demoness shouted out as ice was oozing out of her body. A chill air covered Rory's back and the Red Dragon began to curse out.
[Woman, don't use your anger and annoying freezing cold to kill those bastards instead of frustrating me?!?] Rory shouted, shaking her body while using her mana to hold Dilan and Marie tightly.
The Ice Demoness shrieked out loudly and she was trying to hold onto Rory's back, just for the Red Dragon to release a burst of flames that shook the Ice Demoness off.
"You darn lizard!!!"
This content is taken from freewebnove(l).com