Chapter 35: I’m Sorry
Bai’s arrival and departure went unnoticed by all except Ara.
Even after Ara had withdrawn her despair field, the others remained trapped in the abyss of their souls, a lingering effect of Isabelle’s uncontrolled power.
However, without the oppressive despair, Isabelle quickly recovered.
As a demon commander skilled in soul-based Authority, she easily found her way out of the abyss once her emotions stabilized.
“Hiss…” Even free, Isabelle felt a tearing pain in her soul, clutching her head, needing a moment to recover.
When she fully regained her senses, the purple-haired little girl was gone.
“Could it be… really…?” Isabelle’s voice trembled, a look of ecstatic joy on her face. “Is it really… the Abyssal Lord…?”
“Have you returned…?”
Suppressing her excitement, Isabelle assessed the situation.
Most of Sugg’s men, the weakest among them, had already succumbed to Ara’s despair, taking their own lives.
Others had died in the abyss, their souls shattered.
The Crown Guard had been decimated, only a few of their strongest captains still struggling. Rolof was in slightly better condition; even without Isabelle’s intervention, he would have escaped soon enough.
The beastkin had fared better. Diana was only a few breaths away from full recovery, the others in similar shape to Rolof.
Isabelle picked up a fallen executioner’s blade and, with a swift slash, dispatched the remaining Shadow Demons, their bodies disintegrating into dust, leaving no trace.
As the Shadow Demon Commander, she didn’t need the noonday sun to kill them.
“My Lord, until you are fully recovered, leave everything to us… we will clear a path for you,” Isabelle murmured, her voice filled with a fervent zeal.
“The Weapon of Vikarn, the North Empire, the Bewildering Forest, the Savage Lands, even the Abyssal Demon Realm… all of them…”
“Anyone who stands in our way is an enemy.”
She glanced at Rolof, then snapped her fingers, freeing him from the abyss.
With that, Isabelle vanished into the shadows.
To prepare for the return of the Abyssal Lord, she had more important things to attend to.
The trivial matters could be left to this greedy human knight.
…
A short while later, Diana and Rolof recovered, their consciousness returning.
They immediately looked towards the execution ground, seeing only empty chains and a pile of “shadow ash.”
—When Shadow Demons are truly killed, their bodies turn to gray dust.
“The execution was successful…” Diana’s chest heaved, her expression grim.
She knew Isabelle was behind this.
After centuries of fighting her, she could sense her opponent’s handiwork.
Even the abyss they had been trapped in, far more powerful than anything Diana had seen from Isabelle before, was undoubtedly her doing, though at what cost, she didn’t know.
“Savage Land friends, your plan has failed,” Rolof said, clutching his head, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead, yet a mocking smile on his face. “You wanted to save the demons… impossible!”
Diana looked at him with pity. This human still didn’t understand what a monster Isabelle was.
No one who dealt with her ever came to a good end.
Even within the Abyssal Demon Realm, she was feared, not just for her devotion to the Abyssal Lord.
Isabelle’s Authority, [Soul Shadow], allowed her to replace a body’s soul with her own shadow, creating countless avatars.
And with the Shadow Demons’ ability to meld with shadows, as long as one avatar remained, she couldn’t be truly killed, even at noon.
Isabelle almost always used avatars. Even Diana, her old rival, had never seen her true form, or even knew which one it was.
Almost everyone who tried to make a deal with Isabelle ended up as one of her avatars.
And this human… his triumphant smile wouldn’t last long.
“You win this time,” Diana sneered, deactivating her bloodline. “But at a heavy cost.”
Rolof’s heart sank, and he looked around.
The Crown Guards, except for the strongest captains, were all dead, their souls shattered in the abyss.
It was a devastating loss, almost as bad as a defeat.
“Clean this up. And of course, you can blame it on us,” Diana shrugged. “That is, if any of us possessed soul-based abilities—which, unfortunately, we don’t.”
A simple examination of the bodies would reveal the true cause of death. And a more thorough one would show that the beastkin had held back during the fight, leaving no grounds for accusation.
Diana chuckled, then, after waking the other beastkin, left the execution ground.
Rolof stood in a daze, trembling as he looked at his hands.
The Sugg incident had been a blow to the Empire’s reputation, but now, during peacetime, dozens of elite knights had been lost in a simple execution…
This was more than just a demotion…
“C-Commander?”
After a while, the remaining captains recovered, their hearts filled with grief as they looked at the carnage, the bodies of their fallen comrades.
“Commander, what happened…?”
But they were horrified to see Rolof slowly raise his head, his face covered in black Demonic Runes, his pupils swirling with darkness. “I’m sorry…”
“Commander… no, enemy!”
The captains, seasoned veterans, suppressed their own pain and raised their weapons, aiming them at Rolof.
But before they could act, several shadowy tentacles shot out from Rolof’s back, piercing their hearts.
“I’m sorry…”
“This is the only way… I can survive…”
“I’ve gone too far to turn back…”
Yeah sure, keep telling yourself that buddy