There Is No World For ■■
Chapter 131: Interlude - Mara

* * *

Siberia.

Deep within the city once called Verkhoyansk, Mara opened their eyes in a tank filled with a blood-red liquid.

“Ugh, blegh—”

The first thing they did upon waking was vomit the disgusting liquid filling their lungs and stomach.

“Blegh!”

They kept vomiting, gasping for breath, and vomiting again for quite some time.

As their brain, long deprived of oxygen, began to function again, the surroundings came into view.

A massive concrete cavern, large enough to remind them of a dragon’s lair.

One cavern wall was lined with cages filled with live animals and monsters, while the other was packed with glass tubes filled with a green liquid.

The tank Mara had been sleeping in was placed in the middle of the cavern, and had several human corpses floating within.

The undead laboratory… damn it.

Trembling all over, Mara dragged themselves out of the tank.

And the moment their feet touched the ground outside the tank—

- *Screeeeeeecccchhhh!!!*

A skull lying on the floor suddenly let out a piercing scream.

It was probably some kind of magical alarm, and it was fucking loud.

“…Tsk! Shut up!”

Grimacing, Mara snapped their fingers.

Snap! A small gust of wind shot forth like a bullet and shattered the skull.

“What a wreck… who the hell even owns this lab.”

Grumbling to themselves, Mara rummaged about the cavern for something to wear.

Walking around naked with their lower body exposed felt uncomfortable. Could they say it felt like their dantian was getting cold unless they somehow covered it up?

Eventually, they threw on a ragged piece of cloth they found lying around and waited for the laboratory’s owner, intending to find out which bastard dared treat them like an experimental subject.

There were plenty of suspects: Maggot, Star Entrails Seer, Poison Flower, and…

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

Before Mara could finish their thought, the cavern’s wall split open, and the laboratory’s owner entered.

- Who the hell dares to trespass in my workshop…?

The giant skeletal dragon, Kahal Magdu.

Mara had thought the cavern seemed big enough to be a dragon’s nest—and it turned out it really was.

They smiled wryly and waved at the dragon as it stepped inside.

- *Mara?*

The dragon’s eyes—or rather, the blue flames flickering in its eye sockets—narrowed.

- *How did you revive—?*

Before the skeletal dragon could even finish its question, Mara had already fired a Palm Blast in its direction.

Seeing the Palm Blast rip through the air, the skeletal dragon quickly manipulated its mana to erect a protective shield.

Clang!

The force of kungfu collided with the translucent shield, emitting a chilling sound as mana dust scattered in the air.

Kahal Magdu was about to prepare a counterattack spell but quickly remembered this was its own workshop and spoke hastily.

- Mara, wait! Have you forgotten the rules of the organization? We’re not supposed to attack each other.

Seeing the dragon start yapping, Mara ground their teeth.

“Rules? You bastard, you broke the rules first! You dare try to turn me into a jiangshi¹?”

Mara shouted, pointing at the tank they had been submerged in, while the skeletal dragon simply flapped its wings.

If it were a person, the gesture would be akin to shrugging.

- A jiangshi, you say? I was trying to turn you into a Death Knight.

“Same difference, you motherless dragon bastard!”

Mara summoned their mana, ready to blast the dragon’s skull to pieces at any moment.

However, the attack was never released.

Because just as Mara was about to unleash their kungfu, a strange figure draped in tiger skin entered the workshop from behind Kahal Magdu.

“Both of you… stop…”

The low, corpse-like voice carried a certain charisma. Mara withdrew their kungfu upon hearing it but raised their voice instead.

“Star Entrails Seer! Damn it, you owe me an explanation! You handed me over to this damned dragon bonehead instead of trying to revive me?!”

A flicker of light appeared in the dull eyes of the strange figure called Star Entrails Seer. He looked the furious Mara up and down before replying.

“Mara… it was… a misunderstanding….”

“Misunderstanding, my ass! It’s not even been 10 minutes since I walked out of that tank and you say it’s a fucking misunderstanding? Do you also wish to die because of a misunderstanding?”

“In fact… I want… to ask… your soul… had been… annihilated… How… did you… return…?”

“Annihilated? What the hell are you blabbering about?”

The genuine confusion in their tone made Star Entrails Seer nod.

“Even the… filthy gods… of the Church… couldn’t… locate your… soul…”

“…”

“Naturally, I assumed… your soul… had… perished…”

As soon as he finished speaking, Kahal Magdu snorted in interest.

A soul that was supposedly annihilated had returned? Any Necromancer would be intrigued by such a tale.

However, Mara wasn’t impressed. They sneered and said.

“Perish? No way. I’ve been trapped all this while.”

“Trapped…? Where…?”

Mara opened their mouth to answer, but no words came out.

Their lips moved, but only accompanied by an eerie silence.

The moment Mara sensed something had gone wrong and tried to shut their mouth—

Blood gushed out their eyes, nose, and mouth.

“…Damn, cough, damn it.”

Startled, Mara tried to direct their mana to their bleeding eyes, nose, and mouth.

But however much they tried to block their blood vessels or initiate their Regeneration ability, the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

It wasn’t just physical bleeding—it was akin to a bleeding caused by a curse.

Perceiving this, Star Entrails Seer rushed to Mara and clamped their mouth shut.

“You spoke… of a Divine Secret… carelessly… and were cursed… Swear to silence… quickly…”

With their mouth covered, Mara could only nod, but that was enough.

The moment they nodded, the bleeding stopped, and their body turned to normal again.

“You must’ve… been trapped… in a fearsome… place….”

“…”

“Never… speak of it… If you… break the oath again… it won’t… just end with bleeding…. next time…”

At Star Entrails Seer’s warning, Mara could only nod helplessly.

The image of ‘the guy’ who had trapped them appeared in their mind, and they spat out some blood.

“…Life is a real mess; I’ve been through all sorts of crap.”

“I understand… the Divine Secrets… are always… like that…”

* * *

The conversation about Mara’s soul ended there.

Kahal Magdu, who had been paying close attention, grumbled about how boring the conclusion was, to which Mara responded by flipping him off.

“Well… I’m alive, so whatever. Let’s get to business. How far have the plans progressed while I was gone?”

Star Entrails Seer nodded as Mara changed topic.

“Now… it’s time… to seek… the Tear… in Chicago….”

Chicago? Mara tried to recall where that was and suddenly remembered the dwarves of Chicago.

They were the dwarves from Dungan Heavy Industries and they were directly connected to ‘him’.

“…I think we should stay away from Chicago.”

“Why… not…?”

Instead of answering, Mara mimed zipping their lips.

Silence.

The blatant gesture made Star Entrails Seer’s gaze grow cold.

“Hmph… then should we… change course…?”

“That’s just my take on it.”

“Hm, hm…”

Star Entrails Seer made a noise that could have either been a sigh or a cough and turned toward the cages stacked against the wall.

“Then we… will change course… Staying away… from the Divine Secret… will be… the wisest move…”

Saying that, he pulled out a lamb from one of the cages.

Perhaps discerning its fate, the lamb bleated a feeble cry, struggling to escape from Star Entrails Seer’s grip.

However, its struggle didn’t last long.

Just as the lamb tried to bite his hand, he pulled out a dagger and slit its belly open.

With a final bleat, its blood and entrails spilled across the floor. Both Kahal Magdu and Mara grimaced at the sight.

- *How could you do that in my workshop of all places...*

“If you want to divine the future, can’t you just look at the stars instead of guts?”

“The stars… won’t be out… for another… six hours….”

Ignoring their comments, Star Entrails Seer inspected the lamb’s entrails.

It was an ancient shamanic entrail divination.

Compared to the Saintess’ Foresight, which could predict the future as long as mana was present, this method was rather crude and primitive.

However, sometimes, dry kindling burned better than gasoline.

After rummaging through the entrails for a while, Star Entrails Seer trembled as if confirming something.

He then raised his head and looked at Kahal Magdu and Mara.

“Beyond… the Dimensional Portal… the southern… Demon Domain… Dreitherial… Necromancer… the elf… we must… secure the crystal….”

“Demon Domain? Huh! It’s just a wasteland.”

While Mara chimed in, Kahal Magdu leaned forward.

- If we’re headed to the Demon Domain, I’ll go. It’s been a while since I’ve visited my homeland.

“How do you plan to fit that big body of yours through the Dimensional Portal? Are you going to dismantle yourself into pieces again and pretend to be museum cargo? I might as well—”

Star Entrails Seer interrupted them.

“Mara… you… can’t go… you need… to recover….”

Rest, he said? Mara’s expression twisted in annoyance. They were about to retort, but Star Entrails Seer shook his head first.

“Ekatherina… and Kahal Magdu… will go… you… must rest….”

Mara didn’t argue. Instead, they slammed their foot hard against the workshop floor.

- That… that crazy bitch.

Kahal Magdu cursed under its breath as it stared at the cracked floor, but Mara had already turned away.

“…Do whatever you want. I’ll just train.”

Star Entrails Seer watched them leave the workshop for a moment before clicking his tongue.

“The fate… has been twisted… a lot….”

Footnotes

1. 1. A Chinese hopping vampire, a type of undead creature or reanimated corpse in Chinese legends and folklore.

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