Chapter 46: Split Personality?
Isabelle’s frantic apologies surprised Bai. Her expression seemed genuine, as if she were about to burst into tears.
“Tell me, why did you want to kill me?” Bai sighed, gently lowering Ara’s pulse pistol.
But she kept her soul tendrils wrapped around Isabelle, ready for any sudden moves.
“I… I…” Isabelle hesitated, glancing at Ara, then at Bai, her voice barely a whisper. “Maybe… because Lady Ara likes you?”
Bai: “???”
Ara tilted her head, then, as if realizing the implication, her expression turned slightly annoyed.
Why would you want to kill Bai because Ara likes her?!
“Have you… met Ara before?” Bai asked.
Isabelle shook her head, then hesitated, nodding slightly. “I think so, but I don’t remember.”
She paused. “Lady Ara… might be a lady I once served.”
“The Abyssal Lord?” Bai suddenly remembered Isabelle’s strange address to Ara earlier.
Isabelle nodded eagerly, but didn’t elaborate.
“The Abyssal Lord? I’ve heard of her, but Ara doesn’t seem like…?” Bai looked at Ara, stroking her chin thoughtfully.
The Abyssal Lord was the ruler of the Abyssal Demon Realm; even Bai knew that.
But Ara’s powers were all Imperial Authorities, with no connection to the Abyss or demons.
In fact, she herself, having absorbed Ice Lily’s and now Isabelle’s bloodlines, with her perfect compatibility, seemed more like the Abyssal Lord than Ara did.
“Could it be,” Bai said seriously, “that I am the Abyssal Lord?”
Isabelle looked at her blankly. “Huh?”
“Look at me. Don’t I look just like you now?” Bai asked, pointing at her pupils and Demonic Runes.
“Lady Bai, are you… also a Shadow Demon?” Isabelle asked timidly.
“…No. I only gained the Shadow Demon bloodline and its traits after meeting you,” Bai said. “Before that, I met a demon named Ice Lily, of the Ice Demon clan, and I acquired her bloodline—but I can’t use it now.”
She couldn’t switch between bloodlines at will. During her fight with Isabelle, she had inexplicably transformed into a Shadow Demon and then naturally used Isabelle’s Authority.
Even among the same demon race, no two individuals possessed the same Authority. Authority was the power to control a specific rule, and a single rule couldn’t be controlled by two beings simultaneously.
Unless, like Glaimond, one used a special vessel to contain a fragment of Authority.
The Empire’s analysis of Ara’s nine Authorities was based on this theory.
But Bai, having interacted with Ara, knew she was an exception. She truly possessed all nine Authorities.
And now, Bai was also an exception, though she was just as clueless as Ara about her own abilities.
Isabelle, suddenly realizing this, gasped, then shook her head. “That’s very strange. I’ve never seen anything like it. But Lady Bai, you can’t be the Abyssal Lord.”
“Hmm?” Bai’s interest was piqued. “Explain.”
“I don’t know… but if you were the Abyssal Lord, I would never have had the thought of killing you,” Isabelle said hesitantly. “A long time ago, I swore a blood oath to follow the Abyssal Lord. I have a… sense about these things.”
“Is that because you don’t sense it from me?” Bai asked.
“No, my sense tells me… you would be a threat to the Abyssal Lord…” Isabelle said, glancing at Ara, then quickly looking away as Ara glared at her.
“Why do you think Ara is the Abyssal Lord? Is it also because of this ‘sense’?” Bai wasn’t going to let this opportunity to learn more about herself and Ara pass.
“Not exactly… I’ve never met Lady Ara before, yet she feels familiar. That’s why I suspected she was the Abyssal Lord,” Isabelle said honestly. “And she was immune to my [Soul Shadow], which further confirmed it.”
“I see…” Bai nodded, then quickly asked, “And what about you? Your personality is completely different now. Is it a split personality?”
The Isabelle in the avatar had been arrogant, ruthless, and manipulative.
But this Isabelle seemed timid and shy, as if on the verge of tears.
Isabelle looked troubled, clutching her head. “I don’t know how to explain it…”
“When I’m in an avatar, I have all these… thoughts, and then I act on them, and then… it just happens…”
“Stop, stop…” Bai’s head was starting to ache. “Just tell me, were all those actions yours? Do you remember them clearly?”
If so, then it wasn’t a split personality, but… a split disposition?
Isabelle nodded, then said guiltily, “But I feel so bad about what I did. I even colluded with a human Crown Guard and sent so many Shadow Guards to their deaths to distract Lady Ara. Oh, why am I so evil…?”
She sent demon guards to distract Ara?
Typically, demon guards were elite warriors, equivalent to the strongest Eighth-Order Grand Knights, or even stronger with their demonic physique.
Bai looked down at Ara, who hadn’t a single drop of blood on her.
The demon guards Isabelle mentioned hadn’t posed any threat to Ara. She had underestimated Ara’s strength.
And Isabelle had mentioned colluding with a human Crown Guard.
Bai suddenly thought of the execution ground tragedy, and Rolof’s face flashed through her mind.
Everything… was connected.
Bai looked at the innocent-faced Isabelle, her eyes narrowing.
“This strange little demon commander… might be useful…”
No matter how cute she was, she was still a demon.
And she had just tried to kill her. Bai wouldn’t feel any guilt about killing her.
But for now, this little Isabelle could be a valuable source of information.
Just then, the Shadow Realm, no longer sustained by Isabelle’s power, began to collapse.
