A battleship anchored in front of the frozen island to pick up Rasmus and the others. Arka personally ca down the ship to understand what had happened. However, when he looked around, he only found Aris, alone on the island.
Arka used Aura to protect himself from the extre cold and the fact the frozen island was also burning made it bizarre. The fla was dark purple, ominous and dangerous from seeing it alone. He knew he wouldn't be able to survive if he walked deeper into the island, at least with his current ability.
"Lady Aris, where's Count Blackheart and the others?" Arka asked, still looking around for Rasmus.
"He's here, but he doesn't want to et with anyone at the mont," Aris answered, her expression stoic and unreadable. "We will continue our search for the source of the corruption. This ti I know where they are, and we will get rid of them," she said and walked past Arka toward the battleship.
Arka followed Aris from behind, but he looked over his shoulder at the island. He wanted to know what was happening, and what was that colossal demon that they had defeated. So many questions in his mind but there was no answer to satisfy his curiosity.
Rasmus was sitting on a block of ice, his gaze distant and unfocused. He still processed what had just happened to him, especially to Videl who was still unconscious after he got defeated by Aris.
"She doesn't want to co out?" Serena looked at Rasmus as she let her divine energy purify the hellfire that had engulfed the island.
"No," Rasmus shook his head. "Let her be, she wants to be alone, just like everyone else," he added.
Serena humd as she sat down beside Rasmus, staring at Videl's vulnerable state. She didn't know what to say and at the sa ti had so many things to say. She could sense that things would be different from this mont, sothing bad.
"Thank you," Rasmus said, his gaze fixated on his reflection. He stared at sothing that he didn't recognize, his own face.
"No..." Serena shook her head slowly. "You're not safe yet. You're not even in the right state to be so calm either. I failed once and I failed twice. I don't want to fail for the third ti," she turned to look at Rasmus with a serious expression, her eyes stared into Rasmus' heterochromatic eyes.
"You think I didn't know? Your body is also affected by corruption," Rasmus glanced at Serena, seeing the corruption within Serena's body that persisted to corrupt her body and resisted divine power. "Take care of yourself first," he pointed out.
Rasmus' senses sharpened almost ten tis more than before, nothing could hide from him anymore, not even the corruption of energy. He also felt stronger, way more than before. However, he didn't know if he could use those different powers without disrupting the balance within him.
"What are you planning to do?" Serena asked, her gaze shifted toward the dark sky that had gone lighter. "Sothing happened to all of us. For , I wanted to go back, to rest and to..." She paused to clench her jaw. "I don't know..." She sighed as she looked down at her reflection.
When Serena tried so hard to save Rasmus, she muttered sothing that she shouldn't, God's na and how she had requested Him to help her. She felt bitter all the way to her core because not only was she desperate, God didn't listen to her request at all. She was disgusted by her own incapability and the fact she had to beg the one that had made her suffer for sothing trivial.
"I know what you did," Rasmus muttered, his gaze still fixated on his reflection. "Sohow I gained Rullein's ability to see the past but without having to touch the person's body first," he added.
Serena was shocked and wished that Rasmus didn't know what she had done.
"Can you keep it to yourself?" Serena asked, and her voice showed vulnerability.
"I'm planning to do so," Rasmus nodded.
"Thank you," Serena knew that Rasmus wouldn't use her weakness or what she said against her. She was glad that soone like Rasmus existed.
While the two of them were reflecting on the situation they were in, they heard loud explosions in the distance. They realized the naval fleet had bombarded an island with everything they had got. The echoes of the explosions were enough to tell that they had found the Womb of the Mother on one of the islands.
"Looks like they have found one," Serena said as she looked up at the sky.
"With Aris' awakened power, I don't think anything can hide from her anymore," Rasmus nodded. "She's becoming the thing she hated the most," he muttered to himself.
"We all are, aren't we?" Serena turned her head to look at Rasmus, her voice barely above a whisper.
Rasmus didn't say a word, not even denying Serena's question. Aris had awakened the power of a True Dragon, Videl lost his pride because he was being controlled by the very thing that he believed he had control over, Serena who relied on the being that had condemned her and punished her, and Rasmus who began to lose his identity and no longer had control over himself.
Hours had passed, Aris and the naval fleet had checked every island, killing countless demonic beasts and demonic sea beasts that road on the islands and sea. If it wasn't for Yur's help, they wouldn't be able to eliminate danger this fast and would take days. At the sa ti, Videl had regained his consciousness, and just like Rasmus and Serena, he also had a bitter taste in his mouth for what had happened to him.
Aris went back to the island with Yur and it was no longer frozen or engulfed by the hellfire. Arka's battleship would co to pick everyone up, but it would take a while until his ship arrived on the island. She noticed the atmosphere on the island was heavier than before, and the fact that the energies that Rasmus's body released had grown dangerously denser. However, she noticed that Videl was nowhere on the island.
"Where did Videl go?" Aris asked, she still didn't want to let Videl unwatched, not after what had happened to him.
"He wanted to be alone and wished to be left alone undisturbed," Serena answered. "With the power he possesses, he's capable of commanding humans that had been turned into demons. With his influence, he could bring all the demons to his side instead of roaming around the continent unchecked and bringing chaos to the continent. He wanted to control them before the Fallen Watchers did or even before Satan did," she explained.
"Why? He shouldn't be left alone," Aris asked again, her expression cold and expressionless.
"I want to be left alone as well," Rasmus said as he stood up and walked past Aris.
"I also want to be alone for a mont," Serena looked at Aris with a soft smile on her face. "I believe we all want the sa thing," she added.
Aris turned around to look at Rasmus, and without hesitation, she called his na.
"Rasmus," Aris furrowed her brows. She wanted to say a lot of things, but she couldn't form a single sentence, not when everything felt complicated. "What are you going to do? Should I remind you that you're still in danger?" She asked.
Rasmus paused his steps before he looked over his shoulder, his heterochromatic eyes stared into Aris' eyes, sothing that felt foreign and dangerous to Aris.
"I know, but you wouldn't have to repeat yourself if you already knew how to help , wouldn't you?" Rasmus asked back.
Aris knew Rasmus all too well that sotis it made her feel seen even through the ambiguity. Rasmus was right about it and Aris couldn't deny it when she didn't know how to help his condition. However, there was a thod that could help him overco his condition, it was just that she didn't know if it would actually help or only make things worse.
"There's a solution," Aris said before Rasmus could take another step away.
"I know, but you're unsure. Rather than speaking about sothing that you're unsure about, why don't we all have our ti alone to think things thoroughly first?" Rasmus raised his brows.
Before Aris could say a word, she felt a dense demonic energy in the sky. It wasn't just her, Serena, Rasmus, and Yur also felt it. That was when they saw thousands of demons flying up high in the sky like a flock of birds migrating. They all watched as the demons flew toward an island.
"So that's where Videl is?" Aris asked with her brows raised.
"Looks like it..." Rasmus humd, watching the demons ignore their existence.
At the sa ti on the island, Videl was standing still with his arms crossed, watching dozens after dozens of demons land around him. They all bent their knees, kneeling and their heads touched the ground with their wings folded, showing utmost obedience toward the King of Hell. However, there was a being that didn't belong with the crowd of demons, and that was when Videl's smirk appeared on his face.
"I owe you one once again," Videl said as he stared at the being wearing a burning ragged robe with ashes floating around it.
"Corruption waits for no one, and it will never stops until the end ti," Belial said as he raised his head to stare into Videl's eyes. "You take sothing that you shouldn't possess. When the ti cos, the debt will collect itself. You can fool them, but you can't fool corruption," he warned before he disappeared.
Videl chuckled, brushing off Belial's warning and watched thousands of demons worship him. He finally had his own army of demons, sothing that he could use for his next plan.
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