Chapter 64: The Burden of Memory

Preston looked at the woman seated in front of him. She had been lively once, but now she was reduced to a broken shell. Beside him stood Miss Baker, Lenora’s nanny and loyal maid—for one could never see the Storm Saint without knowing her nanny.

Behind Miss Baker stood three women who had helped Lenora break away from the people who had turned her into this.

Lenora remained completely out of it as Miss Baker gestured toward the doctor and asked, "So, Doctor, explain what you told me to Mr. Preston."

The doctor nodded grimly and began. "Look, we have done extensive checks on Miss Lenora regarding what happened, and why she was unclothed.

First, she was not touched. It appears the drug they gave her was radioactive, which meant everyone handling the drug had to do so without clothing to prevent contamination."

Preston looked at the doctor, unimpressed. "Well, I don’t really care if she is pure or not; that is the Mercer family’s business. Just let me know if she’s fine."

The doctor sighed. "She is not, I’m sorry. At first, after the scan, everything seemed normal. But once we were able to reopen her system status, we found this."

The doctor tapped a console, projecting her system display for everyone in the room to see:

[ STATUS ]

Name: Lenora

Astral Being: GONE

Class: Corrupted

Astral Rank: Human

Astral Burden: GONE

Attributes: System Error

Silence filled the room.

Preston had never liked Lenora because of her suffocating pride and abrasive attitude, so he wasn’t about to shed tears over her reduced state. But this anomaly was deeply unsettling. Unlike before, when she possessed an active Astral Being, it was now entirely gone.

"Before, her body still retained a Saint’s constitution and her Burden was intact as well," the doctor continued. "Now, it looks like she has lost both her Saint-rank body and her Burden entirely. As for the torture—after the police investigation, we uncovered the method.

She was forced to relive the Azure Breach incident over and over. Based on our estimates, she was forced to relive it three hundred and seventy-eight times before you guys rescued her."

Preston let out a dry sigh. "Well, is there any cure, or how do you move forward from here?"

"We have healed all her internal and external injuries, but apart from that, only family can fix her mind," the doctor replied. "She needs to be around people she loves and cares about."

Preston scoffed. "Even her nanny doesn’t know anyone like that." He smiled coldly as he looked at the doctor. "Look, Doc, that woman is nothing more than a selfish bastard who chose to sacrifice her team for power. So who do you expect to actually help her?"

Neither the doctor nor Miss Baker uttered a word.

Preston laughed out loud, stood up, and walked over to Lenora. He grabbed her chin roughly and tilted her head up.

Forced to look straight into his eyes, Lenora’s mind fractured, and the memory she had been reliving flashed violently behind her eyes—and this man had been there, too.

---

The memory pulled her backward in time.

She walked out of a room wearing a tight red dress that traced every curve of her body, heading to her quarters where she stripped off the fabric and put on her captain’s uniform. Lenora looked down at her desk, which held a tactical map of a breach. It was an Eternal Azure Breach in Mazecrest City, District 9.

Lenora wasn’t entirely certain about the Dark One lurking inside the breach, but she hoped her plan would work.

She looked out the window of her room. Outside was nothingness and absolute darkness, framed by brilliant, colorful auroras. She was currently aboard a massive airship drifting through the Astral Plane.

Gazing out into the vast expanse, she saw only empty space and colorful auroras, until a jagged flash of lightning lit up the world for a fraction of a second—revealing a gargantuan, worm-like creature whose gaping mouth looked large enough to swallow the sun itself.

Before Lenora could fully process the cosmic horror, she squeezed her eyes shut, looked away, and walked back to her bed. She had to rest before the briefing tomorrow morning.

The ship glided silently through the Astral Plane as Lenora slept.

---

When she finally woke, a sharp, throbbing headache pounded behind her temples. She sat up on the edge of her bed and let out a long, heavy sigh.

This is annoying, she thought, massaging her forehead.

She swung her legs over the bed to stand, but stopped dead. A woman was crouching nearby, watching her intently. Lenora flinched slightly—shocked that someone had gotten into her private quarters without her sensing an aura—but she quickly forced her expression to stay cold and composed.

"Stormy," the woman chirped, tilting her head. "I heard about your recent travel plans and just thought you might need some help for the journey."

Lenora stared at her blankly. "Let me guess. I have to help you find that weapon in exchange, right?"

The woman leaped down from her perch, beaming. "I knew I could count on you, Stormy! For a woman who can actively wield a Saintess-tier blade, you’re the only one who can handle this. So what do you say? Besides, you’re going to need my help if you want to win against that breach."

Lenora remained completely unimpressed. "Look, Robin... I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with that particular demon."

Robin’s smile widened, a glint of absolute madness in her eyes. "I mean, who doesn’t want to be the master of their own fear? So what do you say? You want the blade?"

Lenora turned on her heel and walked out of the room, shaking her head. "No thanks."

"You know, you’re starting to act like a man!" Robin shouted after her from the doorway, her voice trailing down the corridor. "And I hate men!"

Lenora didn’t bother looking back.

She walked down the long, metallic halls until she reached the main bridge of the ship. The lower decks were quiet, staffed only by the core navigation crew operating the massive dials and glass arrays. As she stepped onto the main deck, every officer instantly snapped to attention, saluting in the traditional Sloane family posture.

Ignoring the formality, Lenora crossed the bridge. "Where is my mother?"

The second-in-command silently pointed toward the primary observation window at the front of the bridge.

Standing before the glass was a tall woman, her back turned, looking out into the void. Directly ahead of the ship, a massive wound ripped violently through reality, bleeding cold light and distorted spatial debris.

The vessel surged forward, passing straight through the tear as the Astral Plane gave way—exiting the rift and breaking back through the sky above Earth.