Chimaera's Conquest: The Legend Of The Devourer
Chapter 80: A Familiar Face (2)

Chapter 80: A Familiar Face (2)

The binary stars rapidly rose in the sky, casting warm light everywhere, revealing the horror the Banurs had been subjected to.

A good chunk of the settlement had been burnt, thanks to the napalm, while blood marred most of the place. The little rebuilding they had done was of no use anymore.

Meanwhile, the council was busy securing the Nexarian prisoners, or what little remained of them, since most of them had been slaughtered by the beasts.

Still, a few guards were stationed around the prisoners. But there wasn’t a need for them because the defeated expressions on the prisoners’ faces made it clear that rebellion was far from their thoughts.

While some people attended to the prisoners, the injured were healed using natural concoctions.

The healers went all-out. Yet, it became apparent that some wouldn’t make it, as their injuries were too severe and beyond saving using traditional methods.

Luckily for Akila, that wasn’t the situation. Though he had expended much of his life force, being a Banur meant he still had many years ahead. After all, Banurs were renowned for their vitality, often living for over a century. Thus, he had plenty of time ahead of him, by human standards at least.

But that wouldn’t have been the case if A’Mila and Adrian hadn’t intervened in time, and A’Mila wasted no time in expressing her thoughts on the matter.

As soon as the danger was evaded, A’Mila angrily rushed to her brother’s side. She was more angry than concerned about him when she realised Akila had broken the necklace despite knowing the consequences and would have slapped him senselessly if it had not been for his weakened condition.

"You idiot!" she shouted, grabbing his hand as she knelt beside him. "You could have stalled a bit longer, and I would have made it in time! Why did you have to activate the necklace’s abilities?"

Akila shrugged with a tired smile on his lips. The fight had been unexpectedly tough, and he felt the exhaustion settling in. In his mind, he was longing for nothing more than a good sleep. Yet, A’Mila’s squawking voice repeatedly disrupted his peaceful thoughts of rest.

Meanwhile, Adrian was the only one attending to Malachi. With a look, he knew nothing could be done to save Malachi, which relieved him.

Adrian was worried that the tribe might try to save Malachi to extract some information from him. Although he had little regard for the intel, he was only concerned about the potential consequences if Malachi escaped somehow.

Adrian wasn’t ready to face the Church yet, and letting Malachi live would bring unwanted attention to him.

Malachi kept opening his mouth as Adrian stood over his dying self, trying to say something.

Adrian didn’t care much about it, but it would be a lie if he said he wasn’t intrigued with what a Nexarian commander had to tell him. As it would be his only source of information regarding the ongoing Nexaria.

"What is it?" Adrian whispered, leaning forward.

"...the Pope was right. You are a traitor..."

Adrian raised an eyebrow as it was the first time he had heard anything about being a traitor.

However, it didn’t surprise him. The Church had betrayed many before him, only to frame them as the culprits of some crime instead of the victims that they were, and Adrian had become indifferent to such occurrences.

In his eyes, it was just another instance of the Church undermining his influence over the commoners.

’Nah, he probably did it to promote their unification with the Ravens,’ Adrian mused. ’It is easy to paint them as heroes and me as the villain when I’m missing. Hmm, the Nexarians must dislike me now, huh?’

The idea amused him. Turning people against him? It may have bothered the old him, but now. He couldn’t couldn’t give a rat’s ass about what anyone thought about him.

Then it hit him. Someone as significant as the Pope wouldn’t tarnish his reputation without a cause. It made him wonder if the Church was already onto the secret of his second life or why they would even bother going to such lengths.

But Adrian quickly shoved that thought out of his head. It wouldn’t make sense why they wouldn’t try to take him down if they knew about him.

’Red... could he have tipped off the Church about me? No. Impossible. The guy had no time to spill the beans because he jumped into the crack right after me.’

"What... did I hit a nerve?" Malachi chuckled, showing he hadn’t abandoned his ways even as he stood on the brink of death.

"Was it supposed to?" Adrian shrugged before lifting and examining Malachi’s blade. "Now this, it’s an unconventional weapon. But something is strange about it, don’t you think?"

Malachi’s smile dropped. The sword was his lifeline. It didn’t matter how often he died; he could resurrect sooner or later as it was one of the blessings the Sin of Sloth gave him.

Unless... someone killed him using his sword, in which case the sword would consume him like the others. But it was a secret only he knew! However, the look in Adrian’s eyes told him the hero knew about his weakness.

"Oh, I’m well aware of your little condition," Adrian smirked, stepping on Malachi’s chest. "You’re not the only one who can communicate to the entities, you know, and it seems your sponsor has grown tired of your antics."

"...you’re lying!"

"Am I now?" Adrian mumbled, and a notification flashed before Malachi’s eyes.

[The entity, Sin of Sloth, is annoyed by the User’s lack of respect and poor results. She withdraws her sponsorships with immediate effect. The User is no longer her Vassal.]

"..no! THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!" Malachi roared, forcefully trying to get up, but the blood loss had turned him too weak to do anything. "You can’t abandon me!"

"You got an issue with it, then discuss it with the entity. I’m just doing what I signed up for."

With those words, Adrian swung his blade, severing the commander’s head and allowing the blade to consume its meal.

[The entity, Sin of Sloth, is impressed with the User’s courage and decisiveness. She would like to award the User with the blade.]

"A blade that would grow stronger along my side... the offer is tempting," Adrian mumbled, staring at the rapier. "But I’m afraid it’s not built to my liking."

All the entities wondered why someone like him, who desired revenge, would let go of such a precious weapon. But what happened next took them by surprise.

"Still, the idea of letting a weapon like this fall into the wrong hands doesn’t sit well with me," Adrian mumbled, scratching his head briefly before decisively snapping the sword in half and freeing all the souls stored within. "There, problem solved."