Chapter 508 - Cruelty By Design

"A tough battle is ahead of us," said the cold princess to them, but Lusica knew that she did not mean him. The rest of the knights were the same, despite how powerful they had grown under the Seika's naturing. 

There were men and women among their group who made the knights shiver. It was none other than the division of freaks, as the rest of the knights labeled. They all gave out bloodthirsty and suffocating auras.

"I want you to stay here, Lusica," whispered Lux from beside him. Lusica's eyes snapped in surprise before he turned toward his friend. "This battle is dangerous for you since it will be far away from the divine tree."

"I will not lose control," frowned Lusica at the lack of trust his friend had in him. "This is also my chance to repay him."

"You can repay him by staying alive," Lux grabbed his arm, and Lusica glared at him. "I feel... uneasy. The enemy is hiding their cards too well. We don't even know how many monsters are going to be there."

"I will not flatter, and I will not retreat. This is what I vowed as a knight."

"Listen to me," Lux gritted his teeth as he leaned toward him. "We are humans before we are knights. All knights are still too weak, but we will be useful without killing ourselves. You are the exception! That technique will not protect you from the darkness when we are outside of Runera."

"I never planned on using it here, Lux," smiled Lusica. "I don't have a lot of time to live anyway. This is my way of repaying the Seika before my death."

"The Seika is far more powerful than you think, and he can cure you once he returns," Lux shook his head. However, Lusica looked at him with grateful eyes that betrayed a secret. "You two talked about this?"

"The Seika does not know why I am still alive even now. We thought that it was because my soul was too powerful for those beings to devour them, but the erosion is ongoing. The Seika can heal my body, but never my soul."

"The world is vast, and heavens have a way for everything," Lux hurried to assure his friend. "I will find a way to fix that. First, we can go to the witches; they are masters of souls."

"I am grateful, Lux, but I want to be more than a burden. So many citizens, who have joined the city just recently, volunteered to fight for the Seika. I will never be at peace if I abandon him now."

"You are an idiot," Lux pushed him away before leaving, and Lusica watched as his friend left the meeting room. Then, he turned toward their current lord and followers, hoping that he would be useful in the upcoming battle.

***

"There are ten thousand Devil Hunters that are capable of fighting, and we are all ready to showcase our powers. This is the last battle against the darkness," Oriole explained while spreading his arms. "All of us want to go home, and this is the time to fight for that."

Diana nodded with a smile. Ten thousand Devil Hunters were powerful enough to threaten Livia, not to mention their other assets. However, she was hesitant about launching such an attack on the kingdom without enough information.

"You are also an alchemist, Oriole," she asked, and the man nodded. "I want to find the odds of resurrecting Arthur," she asked since there was only them in the room.

"I am not sure that he has died, to begin with," frowned Oriole. "I feel like he is trapped in something and awaits our help. However, I can also assure you that you are not making the wrong choice."

As he said so, Oriole gave her a letter. Diana frowned and opened it to read its content. She was amazed when she realized it was from the Hand of The King, warning them about his majesty.

"This looks bad," she said with worry as everything started to fall into place. The plan that Arthur feared might have already been set in motion. "This letter seems to be from a few days ago. This means you gave it to Arthur, right?"

"I did, but he chose to finish the array before anything else. Arthur wanted our city to be safe before he attempts to overthrow the ancient one."

"I fought against one of Kar's vessels once," frowned Diana. "Their ability is regeneration. If they have truly overtaken the capital, then this battle might be more difficult than we thought."

"The Enders and Vampires," pondered Oriole. "These are two of the calamities that he mentioned. This will indeed be a difficult battle."

"Who mentioned them?" frowned Diana as she placed down the letter. Oriole raised his head with confusion as if she should know who he was.

"The Prophet who created Paradise and Arthur's father, Seref Silvera."

"The Prophet," muttered Diana as her hands crumbled the paper. "It has been a long time since I heard that name."

"You know him?" Oriole tilted his head in confusion. "Ah, it explains a lot. You also met Arthur because of him, right?"

"What?" blinked Diana as her hands let go of the letter. "That does not make sense. Why would you say that?" she slowly rose to her feet.

Oriole seemed to have realized that something was wrong, and before he moved, Diana waved her arm to freeze the armor. The man started shivering as frost covered his body.

"We are friends, Oriole," she said, almost sounding like a lie. "Tell me what you mean by that," there was a glint in her eyes that seemed to unnerve him. 

"...A-after he created Paradise," stuttered the alchemist as he confessed. "Seref Silvera asked us to wait for his son and my friend, Arthur. He told me that I had to wait for him and help him fight against the darkness when the time comes."

"And that is nothing but a request, right? After all, how could he have known that Arthur would arrive to this world?" her hands were trembling. Oriole could see how uneasy she was, and he sighed before continuing.

"Arthur met him over a month ago. That man staged everything for his son to arrive at Alka, even the awakening of his powers. I thought that he told you about this."

Her vision was growing narrower as the words sank into her mind. Arthur never told her about this, but she did not know why he would hide such a horrible fact.

"It changed Arthur irreversibly, to better and worse," said Oriole as the frost began to melt. "It made him let go of his attachment to his father and cherish the people around him. However, it also broke him that there was no one to trust anymore."

Diana realized that must have been the reason. It was unnoticeable, but it indeed started a month ago. Arthur still showed her love and care whenever they talked, but he stopped telling her things. It was because he no longer trusted her, nor did he trust anyone.

"I am grateful that Seref found me. Following his instructions made me save people like me and meet my friend. However, he was not the best father."

"I should be grateful, huh?" muttered Dia as her eyes fell on the desk, trembling. "I was a man-made monster that no one can cure. But then, a hero appeared to save me from the loneliness. No one else was able to save me but him."

Oriole was confused, but Diana was not. Things that never made sense to her were now clear. Her mother died because of none other than the prophet, Seref Silvera, who was also behind her birth.

The demi-humans were wary about interspecies marriages because of the conflicting traits that could destroy the host. However, there was always an exception to that rule, and the strongest known demi-human to exist: Diana Eistar.

Her mother was another victim of the endless fight against Freda and the fallen beings. That was the reason she chose to believe Seref Silvera, who promised that her child would help end the cycle of suffering.

However, her child was born deformed, unable to wield any two of his conflicting traits. Then came the happy years where Diana lived with her mother before her death.

Her father wanted to awaken her traits even if that killed her, but her mother refused. So she fled to the far mountains of Ice Spirits, but she could not escape The Duke of Fire.

The coldness of the mountains and the scorching fire were both still vivid in her mind. Diana watched her mother die while cursing none other than the man responsible for their cruel fates, Seref Silvera.

The awakening took away her sight and made her untouchable, but her captor and father never gave up trying to 'fix' her. Then, the only person who could save her appeared, and it was none other than Arthur Silvera, the prophet's son.

"This is too cruel..." her tears flowed and fell on the desk.. "Everything was by design."