The entire city wails in flas, black smoke entwines like a giant serpent around the crumbling spires.
Amidst the chaos, a unique army marches in formation through the streets that have turned into ruins.
The knight leading the way holds high a banner embroidered with a golden lion, followed by soldiers in shiny blue armor, chest plates engraved with a winged falcon, their faces beneath the helts like stone carvings, indifferent to the fallen corpses along the path.
At the center of this elite force, a middle-aged man clad in marshal armor rides on a six-legged warhorse with a body of black scales.
As his gaze casually sweeps past the curled, charred corpses by the roadside, a faint and elusive smile curves his lips.
"Your Majesty, remnants of the Fourth Prince’s forces still resist stubbornly in the eastern district." The general beside him reports quietly.
"My useless brother has fled the city himself, yet loyalists remain?" The middle-aged man addressed as king chuckles, dismissively waving his hand, "Leave them for the follow-up troops to clean up. We head directly to the royal palace."
As Elias’s fleeting smile lingers at his lips, the general beside him suddenly springs into action, grabbing the crown prince from horseback and retreating swiftly.
The courtyard wall on the right shatters in a deafening explosion, and nurous thorny branches as thick as serpents burst through, sweeping over with an overwhelming force.
The silver-armored soldiers don’t even have ti to raise their shields before the sudden green tide engulfs them, reducing the elite force to debris in the blink of an eye.
In the swirling dust, Sirean steps out slowly from behind the collapsed courtyard wall.
The elf’s robe is untouched by dust as his erald eyes coldly fix on Elias, guarded behind the general, his tone distinctly impatient:
"Ti is tight. Can’t you just obediently be destroyed? Arthur’s eldest son, Elias."
Having faced such sudden upheaval, Elias remains unflustered, instead examining Sirean with curious interest: "I’ve never seen you in the court. Are you an ally invited by my dear brother? No... Addressing my father directly by na, who are you?"
"There’s nothing to discuss with a fake created by mist." Sirean sighs, his fingertips weaving with a pale green glow.
"A fake?" Elias laughs, "This may be mist, but the mories are real, the will genuine. What makes you think I’m the fake, and you are the real one?"
"Things without a soul pretending to be alive."
Elias’s erstwhile composure finally vanishes, his handso face instantly darkens: "Kill him."
The general, constantly guarding him, steps forward at the command, a fearso pressure erupts like a mountain collapsing or waves crashing, cracking the stone slabs beneath the general’s feet.
Sirean rely stomps his foot softly, countless tender green sprouts erge from the stone slab seams, rapidly growing into myriad fresh branches.
The terrifying battle leveled the entire street instantly.
The combat lasted for a long ti, and when the thorns finally pierced Elias’s chest, this self-proclaid bearer of genuine will shattered into pieces under incredulous eyes.
The surrounding mist begins to churn intensely, dispersing rapidly like receding tide.
Sirean staggers and falls into an enigmatic forest.
He gently pulls down his sleeve, concealing an arm already turning wooden.
Glancing around, a hint of worry flashes through his erald eyes: "I hope Vera and the others are safe..."
...
"Vera? What has happened to you?" Lucia’s trembling voice sounds particularly helpless.
She kneels in a pool of blood, unable to believe the severely injured warrior before her, barely breathing, is the Vera who always smiled at her, her last glimr of hope.
Monts ago, the mist about to engulf Golden Valley City suddenly retreated at the last mont, leaving behind the city in chaos.
Lucia found the gravely wounded Vera at the edge of the retreating mist.
Vera’s lips quiver slightly, unable to utter even a complete syllable.
Frantically tearing her dress hem, Lucia awkwardly tries to bandage the wounds so deep they expose bone.
"I, I’ll find soone to help right away, Vera, you must hold on!" Her voice chokes with sobs, running swiftly in the direction of Golden Valley City.
However, the city, having just endured the fright of the mist, has long fallen into chaos among the military and civilians.
In the chaotic crowd, Lucia desperately calls for help, t only with cold pushes.
So, due to her identity, even unceremoniously swing fists at her face.
Returning to the original spot empty-handed, Lucia finds the ground under Vera drenched in blood, his chest no longer rising or falling.
"Vera? Vera!" Lucia shakes his shoulders in disbelief.
Her cries fail to awaken Vera, but instead attract an unwelco guest.
A sudden blow to the back of her head blinds Lucia, causing her to faint and fall softly beside Vera.
By the ti Sirean finds this place, Lucia is nowhere to be seen.
The elf crouches down, examining the dozens of wounds on Vera’s body.
From the injuries, it’s evident Vera endured several fierce battles, and the large bloodstain on the ground indicates he ultimately ceased breathing due to severe blood loss.
But Sirean can feel that life force hasn’t completely left Vera.
He sighs softly, his voice carrying a hint of apology.
If it weren’t for him, Vera and the others probably wouldn’t have encountered such an unprecedented mist scenario.
"Vera, don’t die. At least... not because of ..."
Sirean brushed away the mycelium trying to spread over his body, and a drop of clear liquid seeped from his fingertip, gently touching Vera’s lips.
A miracle followed, with the savage wounds healing at a visible speed, the pallor giving way to blood, and the silent heart began to beat once more.
If Lin Jun had been paying attention, she would have found the scene of healing quite familiar, but alas, her focus was entirely on the battlefield where Pink Puki was and the feast about to comnce.
In the end, Vera was already breathing steadily, lying peacefully under the tree.
But Sirean’s figure gradually transford into an ancient wooden sculpture, quietly dispersing in the breeze, leaving only a few tender green leaves slowly falling.
[Judgnt of Sacrifice in Virtue]
[Hero Acquisition Difficulty Reduced by 50% (×)]
[Reaping Stage (√), Salvation Value (√), Sacrifice Event (√)]
[Judgnt Passed]
[Achievent Unlocked: Sacrifice in Virtue]
Vera’s lashes quivered slightly, and she slowly opened her eyes.
In the blurred vision, he saw Fei Ling and Fei Yin anxiously rushing towards him...
...
Lucia awoke in searing pain, the first sensation being the cold touch on her ankle.
A rugged iron chain was tightly secured there, with the other end fixed to a wooden stake in the center of the camp.
A Goblin noticed the awakened Lucia, baring its fanged mouth in a shrill laugh.
It casually picked up a stone fragnt and hurled it at Lucia’s forehead.
She did not dodge, nor did she raise a hand to block, letting the stone split her brow bone open.
Warm blood trickled down her cheek, leaving a trail on the pale skin due to malnutrition.
The Goblin’s anticipated sobs didn’t occur; Lucia just sat quietly, her eyes vacant, staring at the ground, as if the impact had been on soone else’s body.
This reaction made the Goblin lose interest and it turned away irritably.
Blood dripped onto the soil, making a faint "tap, tap" sound.
Lucia’s thoughts had long drifted away.
She rembered Vera dying from missing the rescue opportunity, rembered her father’s guilty eyes looking at her for the last ti before his execution in the square, rembered the head maid standing defensively against the Pign, being cleaved by a battleaxe...
They all died.
Why?
This question echoed repeatedly in her mind.
She had clearly had no choice, clearly had done no wrong, so why did everyone who was good to her et unfortunate ends?
Why must she alone live in a world filled with malice?
With her hands, lacking one finger each, covering her eyes, she no longer prayed for help, no longer hoped for tomorrow, only hatred for the world remained in her heart.
"Humans, demons alike, all should just die."
"If only I could have died with the head maid back then."
[Judgnt of Wrath in Seven Sins]
[Hero Acquisition Difficulty Reduced by 50% (×)]
[Reaping Stage (√), Hatred Value (√), Character Importance (×)]
[Judgnt Failed]
The mist silently enveloped the camp.
Goblin’s frantically glanced around, Snake-n Warriors raised their scales, hissing.
Yet the mist thickened, quickly swallowing the entire camp.
From the mist ca the sound of a chain breaking.
Before dispersing, a hand with only four fingers seized the neck of the earlier Goblin, easily snapping it.
[Judgnt of Wrath in Seven Sins]
[Hero Acquisition Difficulty Reduced by 50% (×)]
[Reaping Stage (√), Hatred Value (√)]
[Judgnt Passed]
[Achievent Unlocked: Wrath in Seven Sins]
"All... be destroyed..."
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