Chapter 350: Familiarity

Chapter 350: Familiarity

"Marzana!"

Aeola crouched beside her while Raxon reached for her other arm. However, Marzana barely reacted as she stared at the ruined streets, her fingers digging into the dirt.

They had passed through Paradis before entering the sanctuary. The people her mother had ordered to evacuate were supposed to be waiting here.

"Where is everyone...?"

Her voice was so faint that Aeola had to lean closer to hear her.

Before she could answer, a figure emerged from behind a collapsed building.

"Levada!"

A woman with blonde hair and golden eyes hurried towards them, her armour stained with blood. Her gaze swept over the group before settling on Levada’s pale face.

"What happened to all of you?"

"We encountered Aziza." Levada glanced past her towards the smoke. "What happened here?"

Anna’s expression changed at the demon lord’s name, but seeing the people barely managing to remain upright behind her colleague, she held back her questions.

"The fighting has stopped. Come with me first. There are people tending to the wounded nearby."

Levada nodded before turning towards Regis and the others. "This is Anna, the Executor of Justice."

’Another executor...’

Regis could not help but glance at Levada, wondering how much she intended to tell her colleague about him.

Meanwhile, Marzana finally allowed Aeola and Raxon to help her stand.

"The evacuees... Did any of them survive?"

"Yes." Anna met her eyes. "We moved those we could save away from the fighting. We’re still searching for the missing."

Marzana’s grip tightened around Aeola’s arm. Although she wanted to ask how many, she could already tell that Anna did not have an answer.

The group followed her through a street narrowed by fallen branches and rubble. Elves moved between the ruined buildings, calling out names and stopping whenever they thought they heard a response.

Regis watched two of them lift a broken beam while a third crawled beneath it. He slowed down, but Patti steadied him when his injured leg began trembling.

Ahead of them, Levada spoke again.

"Tell me what happened."

Anna’s expression darkened. "While you were fighting in the Sanctuary of Life and Death, some of the elves here began attacking everyone around them. Something had bewitched them, but they kept repeating the same things."

"What things?"

"The Great Purification. They claimed they were cleansing the elves of those who had abandoned their pride."

Marzana raised her head.

"They called half-elves impure and accused those who associated with humans of betraying their race," Anna continued. "Anyone who tried to protect their targets was attacked as well."

"And this was their idea of protecting the elves...?" Marzana muttered.

Her gaze wandered towards a burnt building. Whatever had once stood inside it was now buried beneath its collapsed roof.

Anna followed her gaze before speaking more quietly.

"They were already among the people seeking refuge. Once they started attacking, I had to keep moving between the streets. Every time I reached one group, there were screams coming from somewhere else."

Levada’s brows drew together. "Did you manage to capture any of them?"

"I tried. The moment I restrained them, a curse inside their bodies activated."

"They killed themselves?"

"I don’t know whether they could control it." Anna clenched her hand before slowly releasing it. "They died before I could question them. When I tried to capture others, the same thing happened."

For a moment, only their footsteps and the distant voices of the survivors could be heard.

Levada looked towards her colleague’s bloodstained armour, but did not ask further.

At this moment, Marzana suddenly thought of something.

"Flonaralavenrosa... What about the Ancient Tree?"

Anna’s brief hesitation made her heart sink.

"Some of the demonic elves reached it during the fighting. Before they could be stopped, they used their own bodies to cause explosions against its trunk."

"They blew themselves up?" Raxon asked in disbelief.

Anna nodded. "The tree survived, but it was injured. We also discovered that the explosions had left a demonic curse within it."

Marzana felt Aeola’s grip tighten around her.

The Ancient Tree Flonaralavenrosa had existed long before the first generation of elves. Said to be a sibling of Yggdrasilia, it had watched over the capital built around it for countless years.

Yet even it had not escaped this calamity.

"What kind of curse?" Levada asked.

"We haven’t been able to identify it. We don’t know its exact effects, either."

"Are there no records?"

"Most of the records in the Library of Eternity burned with the city. They’re trying to recover what remains, but..."

Anna stopped speaking as they passed another pile of charred debris.

Edenelia was already in ruins. The records that might have helped them understand the curse had been lost along with the homes of the people who needed them.

"I need to see it," Marzana said.

"You need to have your wounds treated first."

"I can still—"

Her attempt to move faster ended with her stumbling against Aeola. Raxon hurriedly supported her other side, and Marzana lowered her head as pain spread through her body.

Anna waited for them to steady her before speaking again.

"I’ll take you there afterward."

***

The surviving elves had gathered in an open courtyard, where cloth had been spread over the ground for the wounded. Those with less serious injuries carried water and bandages between them, while several others searched for enough clear space to accommodate the newcomers.

Regis let out a strained breath as Killian and Patti helped him sit down.

Pandora settled beside him, only releasing his sleeve when an elven woman approached to examine their wounds. Nearby, Vanessa helped Perto lower himself to the ground while Morgana and Rumi remained close together.

"Water..."

Marzana turned towards the weak voice. An injured elf lay a short distance away, reaching towards a cup that had been placed beside him.

She picked it up and helped him drink before Aeola could urge her to sit down.

"Thank you..." His eyes moved towards her face, and recognition gradually appeared within them. "Lady Marzana?"

Marzana’s hands stilled.

"Did Her Majesty return with you?"

She looked down at the cup before managing to shake her head.

"No..."

The elf’s expression faltered. He opened his mouth, but seeing her trembling hands, he quietly accepted the cup instead.

A few steps away, Anna turned towards Levada.

"The queen...?"

"She died fighting Aziza."

Anna fell silent as her gaze returned to Marzana. After a moment, she lowered her voice.

"And Aziza?"

"Dead. We killed her together."

Levada’s gaze shifted towards Regis, causing Anna to look at him as well.

"You fought the Demon Lord of Lust?"

Regis gave her a tired nod. "I didn’t have much of a choice."

"He used demonic power," Levada added. "When I arrived, I thought there were two demon lords fighting each other."

Anna’s eyes narrowed slightly. "And you brought him here?"

"He helped me kill Aziza. I still intend to find out what he is."

"I’m human," Regis answered wearily.

"You claimed to be a demon lord."

"I already told you that was a joke..."

Beside him, Killian frowned, but Regis raised his uninjured hand before he could speak.

Anna glanced at the companions gathered around him, then at the wounds covering his body.

"We can discuss it while he’s being treated."

Regis shifted as the elven woman asked him to turn. When pain shot through his knee, he instinctively drew on a little demonic power to support himself.

Levada immediately looked down at him. "Stay seated."

"I’m just trying to move my leg."

The power subsided as he settled back down. However, Anna continued watching him, her brows slowly drawing together.

’That feeling...’

It had only lasted for a moment, but something about his demonic power felt familiar.

"Is something wrong?" Regis asked upon noticing her gaze.

"I’m trying to remember something."

Before he could reply, one of the elves called for Anna. She briefly answered a question about the search parties, but her attention kept returning to the white-haired young man.

Where had she encountered demonic power like that before?

A memory gradually surfaced as she watched him lower his head for the elven woman to clean the blood from his face.

Black-red flames rising from a distant part of a city.

Back then, she had been struggling to hold back a Devil’s finger. Upon sensing that corrupt demonic power, she had thought another Viscount Demon had appeared and feared it would attack her while she was helpless.

’Could it be...?’

Anna turned back towards him.

"Regis."

He raised his head, noticing the change in her expression.

"Were you in Toran City when the Devil was summoned?"