“Whoa…!”
As Shien Buztout stepped out of his room, a small figure crashed into his arms, startling him.
“Lilith?”
Shien recognized the small figure. It was Lilith, clinging tightly to him, her large eyes filled with relief, worry, and self-blame.
Shien understood.
“It’s okay, it’s not your fault,” he said, gently stroking Lilith’s head.
As Lasha said, this little goddess seemed to blame herself for not being able to help or protect Shien that day.
But for Shien, Lilith being safe and sound was more important than anything.
Seeing Lilith swallowed by her own evil aura that day had terrified him. This little goddess held an extremely important place in his heart.
That was why he lost control, unsealed his Holy Sword, pushed [Samsara of Heaven’s Decree] to its limit, and used all his means.
Thinking back, Shien felt he had been too impulsive. Mara, although she used some method to restrain Lilith, could only restrain her, not harm her.
And it was true.
Mara sacrificed a replica of Lilith’s other half, temporarily wielding Lilith’s power and controlling her evil aura, but she couldn’t use Lilith’s power to harm her.
Her intention was only to make Lilith’s power go berserk and buy some time. Once Lilith regained control, she would break free.
Shien had indeed been impulsive. But he didn’t regret it. Although it led to his identity being exposed and the inevitable troubles that would follow, so what?
As he always said, Shien considered himself an ordinary person, not like those protagonists in novels who could calmly analyze everything from a god’s perspective.
If he had such a strong mentality, he would have achieved something in his previous life.
Therefore, Shien didn’t regret it.
Lilith, still blaming herself, clung tightly to Shien, refusing to let go.
Shien could only let her be, then, taking Lasha with him, he left the room.
Upon leaving, he saw two other people.
“You’re finally awake, Hero,” Leisha said, sitting in the living room, drinking tea, and looking at Shien with a sarcastic smile, “Are you alright?”
Diere was also there, sitting across from Leisha, also drinking tea. Seeing Shien, she put down her cup and looked relieved.
“Sorry for making you worry,” Shien shrugged, walking towards the two girls.
Then, he immediately looked at Diere.
“Are you okay?” Shien asked, looking her over, “Lasha told me you were injured.”
“Just minor injuries,” Diere said indifferently, “Wolram Raifurut didn’t use lethal force, seemingly wanting to enjoy torturing me.”
“Torture…” Shien narrowed his eyes, “I should have taken care of that trash when I destroyed the Raifurut family, knowing he would show up.”
“You did take care of him,” Leisha glanced at Shien, “But it was just his clone. He has many.”
During this month in the Imperial Capital, Leisha had also used her abilities to learn about Wolram’s Unique Skill.
“If he hadn’t messed up and been used and discarded by Mara, it wouldn’t have been so easy to eliminate him completely.”
Wolram had brought his demise upon himself.
Perhaps, the moment he targeted Diere, his fate was sealed, possibly due to the interference of the [Goddess of Fate’s Blessing].
There was no point in discussing him further.
“By the way,” Shien remembered something and asked Diere, “Did you find your horn after that?”
Shien hadn’t forgotten that this was Diere’s purpose for coming to the Imperial Capital.
She wanted to find the horn that was cut off by her mother.
Now, this goal seemed to have come to naught.
“My horn is probably gone,” Diere’s eyes flickered as she said softly, “Mara seemed to have used my horn for something that day.”
Since Mara ascended into the sky and kept bombarding the Imperial Palace with a death aura storm, no one, including Shien, saw what she did.
Diere didn’t know that Mara used her horn as a substitute for herself, creating a clone for the sacrifice, and Shien didn’t know what Mara did to suddenly gain transcendent power.
However, with the sensing ability of [Outer Awareness of Heaven’s Decree], Shien could sense that Mara had performed a large-scale magic ritual, using its power to trap Lilith and fulfill the prophecy in the Empire’s legend.
The sky was indeed shrouded in darkness, and the earth turned crimson. Shien couldn’t have missed these.
Then, something was awakened on this land and fell into Mara’s hands.
“The Branch of Rejuvenation… huh?”
Shien murmured softly.
Perhaps that mysterious supreme treasure, the Branch of Rejuvenation, was the reason why Mara suddenly gained transcendent power.
“Can that treasure allow one to surpass the limits of life and achieve Transcendence?”
Shien didn’t know for sure.
But he knew that Mara had definitely achieved some goal.