Chapter 12: The Dead City
In Bai’s perception, she had only been in the Ice Demon’s heritage space for a short while, about fifteen minutes.
But when she awoke, the sky outside was already a pale, ethereal blue—even in the Abyssal Demon Realm, there was a day and a night, just without a sun.
Of course, in the Frigid Lands, daytime meant a respite from the biting cold. The bone-chilling cold subsided to a level even a Collapse Class being could withstand.
—Yesterday, when Bai and Ara had entered the frozen wasteland, it had already been night.
At that time, outside the towns with their protective runes, the cold had been so intense that even a weak Destruction Class being would have frozen solid.
As Bai awoke, she found herself pressed against Ara.
Ara’s arms were wrapped tightly around her.
“…”
Wait, have I been sleeping like this all night…?
A blush crept up her cheeks. Although they had slept in the same bed before, they had never been this… intimate.
At most, an arm thrown over her, or their heads resting against each other.
“Ugh…”
Just then, Ara stirred, her eyes fluttering open.
“Morning, Bai… ah! Bai is so pretty today.”
She saw Bai’s hair had turned gray, her pupils a gem-like pale blue.
At first, she had almost thought Bai had been replaced, but the unique aura, and their unspoken bond, told her otherwise.
“…Pretty? Oh, I guess it has changed,” Bai said, looking at her long, gray hair, a flicker of nostalgia in her eyes.
The last time she had used her Ice Demon bloodline had been during the Battle of Vikarn, and before that, in Vikarn Port.
After mastering the ability to switch between bloodlines, she had rarely used the Ice Demon’s. It was difficult to control.
It didn’t have the Vampire’s immense physical strength, or the Shadow Demon’s unique talents, or the Dream-Illusion Fox’s versatile abilities… the Ice Demon was more like a conventional mage, a master of large-scale, destructive warfare.
Of course, the main reason she hadn’t used it was because she wasn’t very good at spellcasting.
“I should change back to my Shadow Demon bloodline. Although, in the Frigid Lands, the Ice Demon’s might be more useful… huh?”
She tried to activate her soul vision, to switch bloodlines, but she couldn’t.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t access it.
“Strange…”
She looked at Ara, who was still sleepy-eyed, and her expression hardened.
Ara’s hair was no longer black, her eyes no longer dark. She was back to her usual purple curls and amethyst eyes.
The transformation rune had worn off.
“It seems… after receiving the Ice Demon’s heritage, and with the influence of my ancestral homeland… the Ice Demon bloodline has completely suppressed the others. All my other abilities are gone.”
She sighed. This was going to be a problem. And she didn’t know how long it would take to fully integrate the heritage.
Until then, she was stuck.
“The old method it is. I’ll just use a cloak and hood. Many demons in the Abyss use them anyway.”
She pulled out the cloaks she had kept for so long, the ones she had used in the Savage Lands.
She gave one to Ara, and put on the other.
“Hmm… is something wrong, Bai?” Ara asked, sniffing the cloak, a faint scent of Bai clinging to it.
It wasn’t that the cloak was dirty. Bai wasn’t the type to just toss her clothes aside. She always washed them.
“Not too bad. Just a bit… troublesome.”
She ruffled Ara’s hair, a reassuring gesture.
She had used her Shadow Demon form for convenience.
This was a bit more troublesome, but it wasn’t a big deal.
The only one she had to worry about was Iradace. She was likely the only demon in the Abyss who remembered Bai and Ara, who had seen them as Shadow Demon royalty.
If she suddenly saw her with a different bloodline… well, she didn’t know what the suspicious owneress would think. And with her Ice Demon bloodline, it could lead to a fight.
And in the Frigid Lands, a place perfectly suited for an Ice Demon…
Even the weak Ice Lily had been able to hold her own against a group of Calamity Class demon commanders.
And a Calamity Class Ice Demon, even a mindless Snow Maiden, was a walking natural disaster, a being no one would dare to provoke.
If she was discovered, she would either be attacked by a mob, or become a pawn in the various factions’ power struggles. She didn’t want either.
“I’ll just have to ride it out for now,” she sighed, then took Ara’s hand and left the manor. “No matter what, for now… we’ll have to stay in the arid town, and get some information about the Snow Maiden from Iradace.”
But as she and Ara walked towards the arid town, she felt a strange, dead silence.
“Strange…”
She frowned. Even late last night, the town had been filled with the sounds of revelry.
Why was it so quiet now? Not a single sound.
“Don’t tell me all the demons sleep until noon…”
She scratched her head, and continued towards the town.
The corpses outside the town were still there, frozen in their final moments of terror, their expressions a grotesque mask.
But as she entered the town, she saw a similar scene.
“What… happened here…?” she murmured, her pupils constricting.
The streets were filled with the bodies of demons, their faces contorted in a crazed frenzy, their bodies frozen like ice sculptures.
The bustling arid town had, overnight, become a dead city.
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