BXBX NOVEL Chapter 229 Scrambling For Time (1)
After remembering the image in his memory, his face flashed a beautiful yet creepy smile. "It seems like the damaged fragment was located in the territory of my old enemy… Seirende."
He wiped out the purple blood he just spat and laughed with an amused tone.
However, compared to the voice that was used earlier, the timbre of the voice changed along with his eyes.
If before it belonged to a beautiful fallen angel's voice, now it came from a man who only had deep wrath in his being. His previously red eyes turned into amethyst.
In a split second, he turned into another person, "Ahh… Seirende. It is you who always foils my plans.."
He stood from his throne lazily and called out the assistant on the side. "Inform that remaining branch of the family in the Seirende Empire, tell them to move now or else, we will no longer bother to help them for the generations to come!"
"After the side branch is prepared, send a message to the Seirende empire. Tell them that I was offended by their people, and I will bring forth disasters in their country if he would not give me the woman with heavenly power."
With this, an unknown enemy had set their eyes on the Seirende Empire because of the appearance of the one heavenly power.
–
Back in the dungeon, the investigation team had more or less settled the damage to the interrogation room.
This time, they were back in their usual meeting room, with the High Priest presiding as well as the Emperor.
Everyone had stiff expressions on their faces as they discussed the matter that happened during the interrogation. They wore serious and contemplative faces while they watched the recording that remained miraculously intact even after the commotion.
"Just the interrogation of Hasta alone was enough to pin down the crime to the Duke and the Empress. Your Majesty, however, this would bring huge damage and disgrace to your name, your regime, and your entire family. Your Majesty, how do you like to proceed with this?" General Farauld looked at Emperor Valentin with a grave expression.
In the end, the next steps would depend on Emperor Valentin's decision as he was still the leader of the Empire. While appearing to apprehend a great sinner of mankind, Carolina, being his spouse would impact how people would perceive his character and wisdom.
How could he allow and nurture a sinner in his own castle?
The High Priest was also sizing Emperor Valentin's stance.
In truth, he could report this matter directly to the Temple headquarters and have them decide what to do with the information, however, this matter will surely blow up and may alarm unnecessary forces that were still lurking around the empire.
But if the Emperor's resolve was not enough, he would surely take over this decision and not care for the Emperor's jurisdiction.
Because if the leader of the Empire was not resolute enough to destroy evil, the Temple would never turn their heads to the citizens in danger, regardless of whether they belonged to an empire or not.
Emperor Valentin closed his eyes as he sighed in a listless manner.
The moment Hasta and Igor were captured, he was already sure that the Vesalas were guilty and that this time they will be able to gather enough evidence for their crimes. He had long been contemplating what to do with this information he gathered and punish the evil ones.
"I have long decided to condemn the evil ones, even if this would also damage my reputation. The people must be punished according to the results of the investigation. Prepare everything and apprehend all the sinners! Ensure that no one involved in this curse thing would be able to escape!" He steeled his heart and declared his decision.
Upon hearing this, there was a stifling sense of complicated emotions among the people in the group. A part of themselves was relieved to know that the Emperor was decisive regarding this matter, and the other part was feeling sympathy over the consequences of this matter towards their Emperor.
"Alright, Father Emperor, I'll help you in this matter." Leon, who slowly understood the pains that Emperor Valentin was going through as a father, was the first one to express his support.
With Leon's initiative, everyone followed the suit and expressed their support towards the Emperor's decision.
However, Eli remained silent with a bothered expression. To which, the entire group noticed.
One must know that ever since she displayed her prowess everyone was closely watching her either because of curiosity or admiration due to her identity as the Subject of the Oracle.
"Young Eli, is there something that is bothering you?" The High Priest asked Eli, clearly interested in what was in her mind.
"It's regarding the incident earlier that is making me uneasy.." Eli no longer held back what was on her mind the moment she was given permission to talk.
With furrowed brows and a disturbed expression, she continued to explain,
"We were able to know that the curse magic needs replenishment and this could be done by killing a certain number of people. With what happened with Hasta, it goes to say that it was really as he said. However… That thing that was subdued earlier was not a cursed magic but a spirit fragment."
"A spirit fragment?" Everyone perked their ears up upon hearing Eli's words.
"This kind of thing exists?" Nathan blurted out in surprise.
"Uhn, there were lots of temple records about the sightings of these spirit fragments. The dangers for encountering them varied from having a slight change of personality to complete possession." Keren, as the liaison officer of research data for the Seirende Temple, affirmed Nathan's inquiry.
"Yes, that thing really does exist. But Young Eli, why have you mentioned this matter?" The High Priest probed further.
To the people of the temple, they were not foreign to encountering things like spirit fragments as it was something that they commonly exorcize.
Most of the priests were tasked to extinguish full spirits that were not able to transcend to the spiritual realm and tried to regain their humanity by possessing people. Spirit fragments were just a small part of those things they usually encounter.
To him, it was a common existence. It was something he was confident to overcome, unlike the curses which they know so little about.
Eli also understood the High Priest's standpoint. She already knew most of the knowledge needed for the priesthood and knew about their task of defeating malevolent spirits.
However, the spirit fragment she encountered was not the typical human spirit that turned evil.
"That spirit that we encountered was not a fragment of a human spirit." Eli dropped the bomb on everyone.
"..." Everyone was left speechless but in an odd way. They looked at Eli with a bewildered expressions, 'So what if it was not a human spirit?'
"Is it an Elf spirit?" Joab mumbled.
"Hmm, werewolf spirit perhaps?" Nathan followed.
"Maybe a merman?" Kayden also joined the game.
"I bet it's a dragon!" Keren didn't let herself lose the game.
Everyone was trying to guess what kind of spirit Eli was pertaining to. However, none of them were acting the way Eli expected.
Realizing the problem of the matter, Eli immediately facepalmed because she was utterly speechless about forgetting a crucial matter during her explanation.
This was a fantasy world! Unlike her previous world, people here wouldn't think that humans were the only intelligent beings in this world, there were also other races!
"Err.. forgive me for not explaining further. It was neither of the races that exist in our Prasinos… It was something that previously belonged to the heavenly realm, just like the Great Guardians of this world." This time, Eli spelled out everything to them to avoid any misunderstanding.
"My contracted spirit was heavily injured just to give me time to consolidate my actions and fully destroy the fragment. In her words, the owner of the fragment was at least a level of an angel in the heavenly realm." Eli looked at everyone with anxiety in her obsidian eyes.
"Besides, you all have heard its last word. This fragment is sentient! Us encountering this early is like a double-edged sword. If it was an angel, then there's a chance that the other fragments were still alive somewhere and might be aware of what had happened now." She continued.
"In other words, we may have to face the spirit's retaliation any time now."