The Elixir of Life.
He knew full well that this was the item that could save his life at least once. Even so, he didn’t feel the slightest hesitation in using it. The absence of regret surprised even Ian himself.
Granted, it was because Diana was being brought back to life, but even if she weren’t, he doubted he’d have felt any differently. At the very least, he could’ve told himself he’d done everything he could.
“I thought I was imagining it when I saw the golden light... but it really was the elixir bestowed by the Platinum Dragon,” Lucia breathed in awe.
Ian gave a slight shrug. “v and Nasser each have one, too. Guess they never ntioned it to you.”
“They didn’t tell anything about when they t the Great One. They said there were things they couldn’t share. Not even with .”
“Figures.”
Tight-lipped, the both of them.
Ian let out a quiet scoff. Then again, Nasser had been a purifier. Even if he was low-ranked, he’d once been a mber of the Round Table—a secretive council. For soone like that, keeping secrets would’ve been second nature.
“Thank you, Sir Ian,” Lucia added softly.
Tears spilled from her eyes, not because she was crying, but because her lips had lifted into a smile.
Gently brushing Diana’s face, she added, “For using sothing so precious—for Diana’s sake.”
“There’s nothing to thank for,” Ian replied, tossing the empty vial into his pocket dinsion. “I’m just cleaning up my ss.”
He reached out again, lifting a corner of her cloak to wipe the blood and tears from her face.
“What I owe you is an apology. I’m sorry. This won’t happen again. I promise.”
It was a vow he made to himself as much as to her. Judging by Yog’s current state, it wasn’t likely he’d be able to use that power again soon. And even if he could, he had no intention of doing so while his friends were with him.
Of course, part of that was because of the bead of chaos essence. Next ti, he wouldn’t have the help of the Sacred Blood.
“I know it’s a little late to say this,” Lucia said, her voice quiet. “But you were terrifying. Truly.”
She let her face rest against Ian’s hand, a faint smile curving her lips. “More than any archdemon I’ve seen. Honestly, it felt like you might have been the strongest archdemon of them all.”
“Then that makes you the hero who defeated the strongest archdemon.” Ian also returned a smile. He knew it was a joke ant to ease his guilt, even just a little.
“We did it together. You ended it yourself,” Lucia added, her smile deepening.
Rumble…
Just as Ian was about to shrug, a deep rumble echoed from the sky above. Ian and Lucia’s heads snapped up at the sa ti.
Beyond the churning, storm-cloud-like gray sky, a vast violet vortex finally ca into Ian’s view. It was collapsing, its form breaking apart and scattering. Gray sand clouds and the reddish-brown chaos that hung beyond them churned together.
The archdemon’s domain was crumbling. However, that wasn't why Ian's eyebrow shot up.
“I ford a domain?” he asked, his lips barely moving.
Lucia nodded. “Yes. By devouring Yanar Tash.”
“I really… did whatever I wanted, didn’t I…” Ian let out a hollow laugh.
He couldn’t bla the essence bead alone. He was the one who had nurtured it into what it was. It might have been unavoidable in so ways, but that didn’t absolve him of responsibility.
“My goodness. Sir Seren.” Lucia’s gasp ca right after.
Her eyes widened as if she’d just rembered, and she turned to Ian. “We have to check on Moro and Sir Seren! The last ti I saw them, they were both in a terrible state!”
—They’ll be fine.
A whisper, as if on the verge of sleep, drifted at almost the sa ti Ian nodded.
—At least, that’s how I rember it. It just subjugated them. Ian’s chaos is very possessive. It wouldn’t destroy its vassals just for a little resistance…
Yog was clearly forcing itself to stay awake to see everything through to the end. It wasn’t surprising. It always lanted not being able to stay awake until the very end.
As Ian closed his eyes and focused inward, Lucia nodded. “I suppose… that might be true. Your chaos tried to swallow alive, too. Even after I threw the Sacred Blood into your mouth.”
—That’s how it would make you a vassal, Lucy. Of course…
Yog added with a low chuckle.
—This pointy-eared one, though, it was really trying to eat.
“Well, for now, they both seem to be safe,” said Ian, opening his eyes. He t Lucia’s gaze and shrugged. “They don’t seem to be conscious, though.”
“That’s a… relief,” said Lucia.
A tremor ran through the ground just then.
Lucia reflexively ducked, cradling Diana’s face, while Ian crouched and stood, looking around.
Boom, boom, boom—
He thought it might be a yanar, still alive, creating an earthquake. However, that was a baseless fear. The entire desert was trembling in wide and narrow waves, and the once relatively flat Desert of Death was shifting in an instant with its surface now rolling like waves at sea. It even felt, at tis, as if the land itself were sinking.
Rumble, rumble…
The earthquake subsided after a few minutes.
Ian, who had been ready to grab them both, let out a silent sigh of relief and sank to the ground.
Lucia, who had been bent over, straightened up and gasped. “The wound has completely healed!”
The golden light that had been on Diana’s side had now faded. In its place, smooth inner flesh, marked with the texture of muscle, was revealed. The mark where the tentacle had pierced her was gone without a trace, not even a scar.
Saaaa…
The golden light that had followed her veins shimred faintly. Of course, her complexion was still pale, and she hadn’t regained consciousness. But at the very least, her breathing had beco steady.
“Thank goodness… Diana… thank you for holding on…” Lucia crumpled forward, embracing Diana's face.
Sighing silently through his nose, Ian watched them, and then his gaze drifted downward. Moisture was seeping into his palm, which was pressed against the ground.
“Looks like… what I heard before might’ve been true after all…”
A smile touched Ian’s lips once more. There must have been groundwater pooled deep beneath the desert. That would explain why the Desert of Death undulated and why quicksand patches had ford in places. With the fall of the archdemons’ domain, it had risen to the surface again.
“If we’re lucky, we might not have to worry about drinking water anymore,” Ian murmured, looking around at the desert that was turning into a muddy ss. At this rate, it might really beco just as he had heard, with rivers and lakes forming.
“Co on, let’s get up, Lucy. Before it gets any ssier,” Ian added, then his head turned back to the front. His eyebrows rose slightly. “Lucy?”
No answer ca. Lucia had fainted, still cradling Diana like a mother hen with her egg. With the tension completely gone, her consciousness had slipped away with it. Since there was no laughter echoing in his mind, it seed Yog was the sa.
“They didn’t have to fall asleep in the sa strange position,” muttered Ian.
Shaking his head, he leaned forward. He carefully hoisted both the unconscious holy mage and the fairy scout onto his shoulders, even hooking the mask securely onto his wrist.
“I guess I should be a little nicer to Moro,” said Ian as he started walking toward the center of it all, where the black sky of the demonic realm was faintly beginning to show.
***
“Ugh…” With a throbbing headache and pain throughout her, Seren opened her eyes. She blinked blankly for a mont.
“Agent of the Saint!” Her eyes wide, she sat bolt upright and spat out the words.
The mory of what had happened before she lost consciousness flashed through her mind: the archdemon slowly approaching, its outstretched hand, the violet light that flooded her vision, and the chaos that crashed over her, threatening to blow her consciousness away.
Fwoosh—
The blanket that had been covering her fluttered away, and a faint cloud of sand spread out.
“Why are you calling ?”
A nonchalant voice followed from below. Seren, rolling only her eyes to look down the slope, soon blinked blankly.
“Agent of the Saint?”
In the middle of a small lake-like pool of water, Ian was sitting in perfect form. He was even baring his naked upper body.
“I didn’t expect you to be the first to wake up,” said Ian, as he t Seren’s dazed gaze for a mont. He rubbed his forearm with his palm.
Seren’s head tilted slightly. “What… happened?”
“It seems there was a lot of water pooled underground,” Ian answered, cupping water in both hands and lightly splashing it on his face.
“When Yanar Tash died, it seems it all ca up. Thanks to that, I’m taking a bath right now.”
“Uh… no… that’s not… what I was asking…” Seren stamred, shaking her head.
Her lips parted several tis as if she couldn’t quite form the words, then she finally added cautiously, “Is this… your original form? Did you take it on… willingly? Or… am I seeing… a hallucination right now?”
One corner of Ian's mouth curled up as he looked at Seren. Then he shook his head and spat out, “Neither.”
“Then?”
“You’re already looking at the answer, aren’t you?”
“Really… you’ve returned… to being human?” Seren’s one eye twitched as she asked back.
It was impossible. She had witnessed him beco a demon, seen him consud by chaos with her own eyes, and felt all that through her stigmata.
“That’s right.”
“No way.”
Ian’s expression remained unchanged at Seren’s exclamation. He just poured more water over his shoulder with his hand.
There was no madness to be felt anywhere in his eyes, tone, or actions. And so was her stigmata, which was silent. Finally realizing that he had really returned to being human, Seren, who had been gaping, barely parted her lips.
“How?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“You don’t know?”
“Becoming that form, and coming back, were both with Yog’s help.”
“Ah…” Seren finally let out a sigh.
Ian added nonchalantly, “So, get the answer to your question from Yog. It’s sleeping deeply, so I don’t know when it’ll wake up, though.”
“Yes. I will do that, Agent of the Saint.” Seren nodded.
At the sa ti, the unwavering gaze of Priestess Lucifer flashed through her mind. Her belief, which she had thought to be a futile hope, had really beco a reality.
“I have sothing to say to you, Sir Seren,” Ian added then.
Seren, who had blinked in surprise, looked at him again. “Yes. Please speak, Agent of the Saint.”
“But before that, would you please turn your gaze away?” Ian, who had paused for a mont, glanced down slightly. “This is not sothing I can say in this state.”
Seren’s gaze, which had been looking at Ian’s eyes, naturally went down. His upper body, wet with water, glistened. The battle tattoo that covered one arm and extended to his chest couldn’t hide all the well-defined muscles.
It was only after she saw the rippling surface of the water that Seren, startled, shot her eyes up and whipped her head to the side, spitting out, “P-Please forgive my rudeness. I had no other impure intentions!”
“I didn’t say you had any such intentions.” A calm reply and the sound of water followed.
Of course, it was enough to make Seren speechless. She, who had been clenching her lips, soon realized that she wasn’t the only one lying on this hillside.
“Sir Diana!”
The fairy with the mask on her face was also lying on her side, a suitable distance away. She was also covered with a blanket and sleeping soundly. Next to her was Priestess Lucifer, wearing a navy cloak. She was curled up toward Diana.
Grrr…
Seren’s gaze eventually stopped at Moro, who was sitting beyond them. The beast was leaning its head against the top of the slope and just snorting. The reason Seren blinked was not just because everyone was safe.
“It’s gotten more… reliable, haven’t you?”
It was because Moro, who was already big, had gotten even bigger. Its mane had also beco fuller, and the horn on its snout had beco so long and sharp that it could be called a short spear. It was more imposing than any demonic beast or warhorse she had ever seen. In fact, it was a size that made it seem out of place to call it a horse anymore.
“It’s not just Moro,” Ian said from the bottom of the hill, with a voice one step lower.
For a mont, she narrowed her brow slightly. “No way.”
Suddenly widening her eyes, Seren brought her hand to her temple. Her eyes contorted right after. It was because she had finally realized that her horn was longer and more sharply curved than before.
That wasn’t the only thing that had changed. Her hair had beco thicker and stiffer, and her skin was as hard as tanned leather. Her teeth were no different from those of a demonic beast, her canines were especially so. That her vision had beco much brighter was also not just her imagination.
“I….” Seren, who had been caressing her face, finally spat out in a faintly trembling voice. “Have I… shed the bridle?”
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