Chapter 22: Scars.

While in the city the remaining knights and soldiers gathered bodies and helped the people, Harpya continued searching for Isz and Hyogo.

Harpya: -Please, be alive, boys, our freedom is almost within reach.

Harpya, tired and lost, hears a very loud thunderclap emitting a purple and blue light. He follows it and finds the ruins.

Harpya enters and finds the bodies of the two.

Harpya: -Isz, Hyogo, my God, what have they done to you?

The place was full of blood and signs of an intense battle, so intense that it still smelled of electricity and burnt metal, as if something very strong had melted metal.

Walking through the place, Harpya notices that Hyogo is dead, but a voice speaks to him.

Lightning Beast: -Subordinate of the Silent Voice, come to my vessel, he is alive and well, don't worry about his injuries or what he will eat or drink.

Harpya: -What are you talking about? How do you know about me?

Lightning Beast: -That doesn't matter, do you want to save your friend or not?

Harpya: -Yes, I will save him no matter what.

Cerberus seems to bow in respect at the presence of the voice. Harpya notices and trusts her new ally.

Harpya bids farewell with tears in her eyes as she looks at Hyogo's body and makes an improvised grave, asking: -Where are we going?

Lightning Beast: -Return to the forge. I will guide you both to a safer place later, and don't even think about returning to the city. Continue with the plan, but don't act immediately. The enemy has already achieved what he wanted, but he wasn't counting on my presence.

Harpya: -You mean we lost? All that war, the deaths...

Lightning Beast: -That's not what I said, boy. Vein is lost, but you're going to leave here. She doesn't know my vessel is alive, and neither do you. Now take the golden sword and keep it with you. It will save you from many spirits that will hunt you, and I will protect you with my lightning. Send my regards to Flora; it's been a while since I've spoken to her.

Harpya: -Flora?

Lightning Beast: -The one you humans call the Silent Voice.

Harpya: -Thank you. I don't know what you intend to do, but you don't seem to be an enemy.

Lightning Beast: -And I'm not, I want to help my vessel leave here, and you can go on with your life. When they leave, don't reveal that you were once a knight.

Harpya and Cerberus return to the forge carrying Isz in a coma. On the way, some spirits try to attack, but the dog defeats them all, and the sword scares away the rest. They hide until the new order of the beast arrives.

The next day, Helena and Mary ask Gray to go on a search mission to identify the dead scouts and hoping to find someone alive.

Gray agrees, and the two prepare to go to the ruins, as it was the last location where two scouts went alone. Another team went after the farm.

Helena: -Master, will you come with us?

Anna, with a sad look, stares intently at the horizon.

Helena: "Master, are you alright?"

Anna: "Yes, I won't be going with you... Good luck with the search. When you return, I need to tell you something, Helena."

Helena: "Alright, Master, Mary and I are going."

Helena and Mary talk along the way. Helena expresses her concern for Isz; Mary knows and confirms that she also has a bad feeling.

Arriving at the ruins, Helena looks everywhere and only sees blood. Mary senses something different, and her purple eyes turn crimson red. The rain didn't stop, and even though it was daytime, a red moon could be seen.

Helena: -It can't be, what happened here... Isz's spear was broken.

Helena puts her hand to her mouth and, with tears in her eyes, kneels down, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Helena: -No, there's no body here, so he might be alive.

Mary: -No, Helena, this is too much blood, and this blood is indeed Isz's, you know it is, I can smell his sweet scent, oh how I wish I could smell this blood without it being cold.

Helena, crying, receives a hug from Mary who says: -But he might be alive among us, you want him, don't you?

Mary takes some of Isz's blood and licks it, startling Helena, but she seems to want to do the same.

Looking with a malicious gaze, Mary takes more blood and kisses Helena's mouth, leaving her surprised and frightened by her friend's action.

Isz's blood dripped between their mouths, Helena's eyes turned as red as the moon, and small fangs appeared on her teeth.

Helena: -Mary, I don't feel the same way about you.

Mary: -Shh, don't say anything, you like his taste, don't you?

Mary kisses Helena, who ends up hallucinating about Isz and seeing him kiss her, which she reciprocates.

Mary slips her hand inside Helena's pants while kissing her neck and says: -Nothing for our nature, surrender to me, I wish he were here with us, but since he's not, we're just the last two Liths remaining.

Helena, hallucinating about Isz, says: -Isz, I love you... go slowly...

Mary, laughing and licking Helena's neck, begins to remove her overcoat and unbutton her shirt, licking her body, running her hand over her breasts and laughing at what seemed to be a ritual of the Voice of Lust.

Helena has a lapse of consciousness and realizes she was tasting the blood of her friend, whom she believed to be dead, and returns to reality.

Helena: -What are you doing, Mary?

Mary: -Why are you scared? Do you want more of Isz's blood?

Helena, disbelieving, reprimands her friend, but notices that her purple eyes were red and Mary lunges at her friend.

Mary: -Ah, I'll make you feel what it's like to be a Lith.

Mary holds on tight and tries to force Helena to continue, but Alphonse, who had followed the two girls, decapitates her.

Helena looks at Alphonse in relief and hugs him.

Helena: -Alphonse, thank you so much, she started it and had Isz's blood on her mouth and-

Alphonse suddenly kisses Helena, who pushes him away.

Helena: -What's wrong with you two?

Alphonse: -Helena, I love you and now it's just the two of us. Let's rebuild the city and be together like it was before. Isz died, but many others died, didn't they?

Helena: -I'm sorry, Alphonse. I like you, but not in that way, and maybe I didn't express myself well with you and Mary, but I need time to process my emotions. Several friends died, and I'm not in the right frame of mind for this.

Alphonse makes an angry face and turns his back, saying: -I should have let Lith continue what she was doing. Maybe you would have learned not to despise those who love you.

Helena is shocked to hear that. She had lost two male friends and a female friend on the same day, and she runs back to the city center.

Alphonse leaves frustrated and on the way to the forest he meets Irineia.

Alphonse: -Since when have you been here?

Irineia: -I arrived with the girls, but I stayed behind in case there was an enemy. You seem frustrated.

Alphonse: -I shouldn't have spoken to Helena like that. I was an idiot. She was vulnerable, and I didn't understand her feelings.

Irineia: -Idiot? She was enjoying it, and you weren't here to see it. She never wanted anything with you.

Alphonse: -What are you talking about? I saw her being attacked.

Irineia: -She wasn't being attacked, Alphonse. They were having sex, and probably when you arrived, she pretended it was an attack.

Alphonse: -Enough with the lies.

Irineia: -Lies? When I arrived, I saw them from afar licking the blood that was on the floor, Helena saying she loved Mary and kissing her back with blood in her mouth, Mary putting her hand inside Helena's pants, then I left and only heard moans, and you, who just arrived, think I'm lying. You know, this blood thing reminded me of some descriptions of lust rituals, I don't doubt that these two were faithful.

Alphonse remembers their red eyes and says: -You're right, they were indeed using blood and had red eyes, damn Helena, how could I fall in love with a woman like her, she's one of the culprits for the chaos in the city, I don't doubt that the two performed this ritual for the entry of demons into the center of the kingdom.

Alphonse: -Sorry for doubting you, it seems only we see something beyond this place. I think what happened to Vein wasn't a curse, but a blessing eliminating the scum, but it seems some remained.

Irineia: -It's alright, I didn't believe it when I saw it either, but we see the world differently. I like your knowledge and discernment, Alphonse. I want to follow your ambitions.

Irineia approaches Alphonse and kisses him; Alphonse reciprocates.

Irineia: -I'm going to give you what Helena never gave you. We're going to rule the world, and you'll be with me.

They have sex in the forest, and Alphonse looks into Irineia's blue eyes, shining like the night.

Alphonse: -Your eyes are beautiful; it's as if a constellation is inside them.

Irineia: -You can look at them whenever you want. This is my first time, but it won't be the last.

Irineia takes a glowing blue potion and gives it to Alphonse to drink, marking him.

Irineia: -From today on, you will be my conquering king, and I will subdue my enemies. You are my chosen one.

Alphonse kisses her back as the rain falls and the night grows darker; the moon, which was previously red, turns blue.

Cerberus in the forge notices the change and howls at the moon. Isz also emits a small lightning bolt, signifying his will to fight. Harpya realizes it's a bad omen.

Lightning Beast: -It seems she has already chosen her partner... Harpya, I will try my best to make you leave here; the advent of this place is already consummated.

Harpya: -I noticed from Cerberus; it seems it's time to put the contingency plan into action.