Chapter 6: The Heart of the Abyssal Demon Realm
In the North Empire, due to the… diverse clientele of taverns, they were often under official supervision, or even run by the government itself.
The Frigid Lands of the Abyssal Demon Realm were no exception. Although Iradace hadn’t said it, Bai had sensed that she was backed by the ruling power of this desolate land.
Of course, Bai wasn’t worried. With her current strength, although not invincible, she could handle any situation, even being banished to another dimension. She could always escape with Ara.
In a foreign world, when one’s strength wasn’t enough to annihilate all opposition, the ability to escape was far more important.
As Bai followed Iradace to her manor near the arid town, far away in the heart of the Abyss, near the gray hall, Elthorp was greeting an unwelcome guest.
He looked at the figure who had once again assumed her former appearance, his expression grim. “You… are back?”
He wasn’t just referring to her return to the Abyss, but to the return of the “Shadow Lord,” the dark presence that had once haunted the realm.
After the great destruction, after witnessing the Abyssal Lord, Isabelle and Azakana had both gone mad.
But they had also been the only ones to have directly experienced the Abyssal Lord’s power, which was why they had been granted a seat on the Abyss Council—that, and the fact that most other demon commanders had no desire for such a burden.
Isabelle didn’t speak. She looked at the crimson-bound palace, then thought of the strange events at the Wild God Altar, her gaze distant. “So that’s how it is…”
“You saw Shaya, outside the Abyss, didn’t you?” Elthorp asked, his gaze intense. “Can you tell me what happened?”
Isabelle glanced at him, then looked away. “I have no obligation to tell you anything.”
Even in her normal state, Isabelle was a recluse, a trait perhaps born from her Shadow Demon bloodline, or from her pride, which clashed with the equally proud Shaya and Elthorp.
But now, with the weight of the Abyss on his shoulders, and with the mess Shaya had left behind, Elthorp had to swallow his own pride.
“Hmph… Queen Arachne of the Savage Lands is dead. If you and Shaya had nothing to do with it, I wouldn’t believe it,” he said, his voice low. “But if you or Shaya had killed her yourselves, I also wouldn’t believe it.”
“So, there must have been another being present, a being with a deep, unbreakable connection to the Abyssal Lord.”
Isabelle’s long eyelashes fluttered, and Elthorp pressed on. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
“I don’t know.”
Isabelle turned her back to him.
But Elthorp wasn’t finished. “The last time the sealing ritual was broken, it was because of a battle in Vikarn. We don’t know the details, but we know that being was involved.”
“And before that, the first time the seal was broken, it was during the ‘Saint Noyes Incident,’ a disaster that wiped out an entire demon legion. A low-level Calamity Class demon commander was erased without even sending a message.”
He paused. “In that battle, the human Empire only lost a single elite squad, the ‘Sharp Assault’ squad. And now, years later, that same squad has reappeared, leading a new Knight unit, also called ‘Sharp Assault,’ and they participated in the battle at the Wild God Altar.”
“This… has to be connected to the Battle of Vikarn…”
“Enough,” Isabelle interrupted, turning to face him. “Your deductions are accurate, but useless.”
“They’re very useful. You know that being is now in the Abyss, in the Frigid Lands!” Elthorp’s voice rose with a mixture of excitement and fear. “Her target must be here, the heart of the Abyss, the sealing ritual. All her actions have led to the Abyssal Lord’s awakening…”
“That wasn’t her intention,” Isabelle said softly. “And her return to the Abyss… no one could have stopped it.”
“Return?”
Elthorp seized on the word.
He had access to a great deal of information, even during the Abyss’s lockdown. But it was all public knowledge. For more detailed information, he had to rely on deduction.
He had been probing Isabelle, not for answers, but for her reaction.
And her reaction was… confusing.
Was she on the Abyssal Lord’s side, or the Abyss’s? Or… was she on the side of that mysterious being?
“…It’s best not to interfere with her. Let her walk this final journey in peace,” Isabelle said, her voice filled with a strange sadness, not answering his unspoken question. “I have regained my memories, but I would rather have lost them… perhaps knowing nothing is for the best.”
With her memories restored, she now knew Bai’s true identity, and her inevitable fate.
Yes, anyone connected to the Place of Divine Advent rarely had a happy ending.
It was a cursed place, a place even the void feared to approach, a place of unimaginable terror…
This was why she had left Bai. At the end of her journey, only Ara, her “symbiotic weapon,” could accompany her.
It seemed Isabelle had returned to the heart of the Abyss just to see the gray hall one last time, and to give Elthorp a final warning.
With that, her form faded, melting into the shadows.
Elthorp stood there, his brow furrowed, pondering her last words.
But in the end, he made his decision.
“No matter what, I have to find this being, the one with the closest connection to the Abyssal Lord…”
