Chapter 9: Betrayal

Stab!

Darius took out his sword and stabbed Emilia in her chest.

"H...uh?" Emilia looked at the sword piercing her and saw the blood flowing out.

"Wh…y?" Getting stabbed by the man she loved left her in shock.

Darius spun the sword and forced it into the wound so that the wound could get bigger.

"Don't make that face. You should be proud of yourself. You are dying while protecting us."

Tears fell from her eyes. She couldn't even scream for help, and even if she did, no one would come to help her.

She slowly looked at Brax and moved her hand towards him, hoping he would save her. But Brax raised his ax and severed Emilia's hand.

Blood gushed out of her hand as she saw him smirking.

"Your blood will protect us."

Brax swung his ax again and severed her other hand.

"Hey! Don't waste the blood, quickly; fill it in the empty bottles," Darius ordered.

Brax took out bottles from the bag and emptied the water from them. Then he started filling the bottle with Emilia's blood.

Darius pulled out his sword from Emilia's chest and stabbed her again at a different spot, "Here. Fast. Fill all the bottles with her blood."

They filled five bottles with her blood before throwing her body into the group of demons. When they threw her, she was still bleeding, and her blood got on some demons.

Brax and Darius smeared and coated their weapons with Emilia's blood and said, "Let's kill them all!"

"The reward is ours!"

By using her blood, killing the demons was like spilling the water on the fire. They kept dyeing their sword with Emilia's blood as they killed the demons. Greater-rank demons and arch-rank demons were no match for the angel's blood.

Once they killed all the demons, they looked at the dying body of Emilia. Darius licked his lips and said, "It's a shame that I couldn't use her body."

"So you were after her body all along, eh?"

"What else? I mean, look at her how beautiful she is. Having a half-angel as your whore. Man, I would have been famous. But..." Darius picked up the crystals, which were now the size of a ball, and said, "Rewards matter to me the most. I can get as many girls as I want with the money."

"If I remember correctly, you have a sister too, right?"

"I do. What of it?"

Darius, Brax, Matt, and Venus, the four of them, were in a party for over two years and knew everything about each other, and that was something Emilia envied. But none of that matters now as everything was a sham.

"Why don't you bring her with you?"

"She lives at the orphanage, and even I haven't seen her in three years."

Creak~

A door opened, and a strong gust of wind followed it. Brax and Darius both started at each other, then looked at the bottle filled with Emilia's blood.

"We have enough blood. If we use it wisely, we can even defeat the demon lord."

They walked to the door as Brax said, "Do they even exist?"

"Not that I have seen one."

They both laughed aloud and walked into another chamber, leaving Emilia to die alone. The door closed behind them.

She watched them go into the chamber. She heard what they talked about her, what they thought about her. Getting betrayed and killed by the man she loved ached her more than dying.

As she cried in despair, her tears fell from her eyes, and her blood flowed towards one of the doors. The chamber had a plain surface. It should be impossible for the blood to flow, but it was flowing—it was floating in one direction, in one trail to the far-away corner.

It was almost as if the blood was being called, as though it was getting sucked by the door. Her tears got mixed with the blood as it kept flowing to the door.

Emilia's vision got dizzy.

Her lips trembled as she said, "O holy mother, grant me the power to summon my friends."

Emilia's body shined as the chamber started to rumble. After the rumbling stopped, two angels appeared out of nowhere in front of Emilia. One was male, and the other was female. The female angel saw Emilia and rushed at her to help her.

"Stop right there, Ava," said the male angel.

"What are you talking about, Liam?! She will die at this rate!" exclaimed Ava.

"Then let her die."

"What are you—"

"This place reeks of demons."

Ava glanced around and questioned, "What is this place?"

Liam looked at Emilia and said, "Getting killed by a demon is a shame to all angels. Even if you were a half-angel, you are a disgrace to all angels."

He then glared at Ava and said, "Come, Ava. We are going back."

"But we can't leave her to die. At least let me heal her!"

"If you do that, I will charge you with treason, and you will die a worse death than her," threatened Liam.

Ava reluctantly stepped back, and both she and Liam disappeared into thin air.

Emilia had lost the will to live. Getting betrayed two times by the people she loved broke her soul. She was praying for death and waiting for her end to come.

Her blood started flowing up to the door, and soon, the entire door was embroidered by her blood and tears.

Soon, the door exploded as Emilia saw another chamber inside the room. It wasn't dark like other chambers; it was crimson red.

Maybe it was because of the blood getting into Emilia's eyes that she saw the room red. Perhaps it was just red.

Suddenly, a thin red-light beam came out from the coffin lying in the middle of that chamber and penetrated everything that came in its way.

The last thing Emilia saw from her eyes was a sharp claw coming out of that coffin as she heard an ear-piercing, high-pitched, ear-deafening scream coming out of that chamber which echoed in the entire dungeon.

"Hmm..." Nero looked at Emilia with a calm yet puzzled face and spoke, "Then I woke and healed you." He nodded.

After recalling everything, Emilia felt the same sadness and despair again.

Nero realized it in just one glance and cleared his throat, "You don't have to feel sad over what happened."

"Easy for you to say," Emilia remarked.

She had no idea Nero had suffered far more greater pain than that.

"They gave up on you and left you to die. If you just let that scene haunt you forever, then it would be no different than dying."

"..."

Deep down, Emilia was aware of that, but it was too much for her to take at once.

Nero looked at Emilia with a calm face and asked in a gentle voice, "So, what do you want to do now?"

"I don't know. I have nowhere to go."

"I am not talking about that," Nero shook his head and continued, "I am asking what do you want to do with those two bastards?"

Emilia immediately looked at Nero, wondering what he meant. Soon, she realized what Nero was trying to say.

Nero then smirked as he reached his hand towards Emilia, "Do you want to take revenge for what they did to you and your other two party members who died because of them?"

Emilia looked at Nero with unshed tears in her eyes as if she had heard words of wisdom. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes but soon opened them as she bit her lips, then grabbed Nero's hand and nodded, "Yes."