Chapter 184
The moment she faced the pouring demons, the nightmare that had occurred in Hilderd came to mind.
That day when demons swarmed in the heart of the Holy Empire.
Cheshire had realized that fairies were mixed within those horrific demons.
Thus, she poured all her power into purifying the demons.
The image of the demons joyfully vanishing amid a shower of white flowers was still vivid.
Cheshire extended her trembling hand.
Splat, a slimy fragment of demon clung to her wrist before sliding off with a slurping sound.
A faint scream brushed past her ear.
It was the agonized cry of a fairy mixed within the demon.
Her head spun dizzily, and Cheshire squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
A ringing echoed in her ears.
The horrific noises spewed by the demons mingled with the tinnitus.
Holy King Sionel’s shout pierced through it all, tormenting Cheshire even more.
“Count Basilian! Summoning demons once again! Are you not afraid of divine wrath!”
His thundering voice, safely hidden behind the holy knights and priests, was utterly fervent.
Kierne burst into a scoff, but his laughter was quickly buried and vanished.
In this place right now, the villain was Basilian.
The Holy King was the hero vanquishing the heretic who defied the will of God.
A nauseating revulsion welled up at the disgusting charade.
‘The one who summoned the demons is the Holy King.’
But where had he brought the demons from?
The Holy King couldn’t have fetched them directly from the Black Forest himself.
That was Kierne’s domain.
No matter how much he was the Holy King, he couldn’t brazenly come and go as he pleased in the Black Forest, which Kierne openly guarded.
The greatest possibility was that they were demons the Holy King already possessed.
Like the one trapped in the wine cellar beneath Hilderd.
However, at that time, Cheshire had purified an enormous number of demons that filled the entire Holy Empire.
Only a little over a year had passed since then.
It would be difficult to create this many new demons in such a short time.
Unless he had turned something existing into demons.
Cheshire’s thoughts raced swiftly and arrived at one conclusion.
‘Could it be… the fairies he had locked up in the laboratory?’
The conjecture that surfaced was horrifying.
She desperately hoped it wasn’t true, but nothing else explained it.
The Holy King had turned all the fairies he held as experimental subjects into demons.
‘Because he doesn’t need them anymore.’
If he could capture just one.
If he could seize Cheshire, the queen, there was no reason to fill the laboratory with other fairies.
Thus, he had found a way to make use of the unnecessary beings.
To erase the evidence of the fairy experiments, while suppressing Hailon with demons and framing the Basilian family—that must be why he orchestrated this gruesome act.
‘Why hasn’t anything changed at all?’
Hundreds of years had passed since the previous Fairy Queen suffered wretched torments in the laboratory.
Yet humans hadn’t changed one bit.
Without reflection or transformation, they still only abused fairies.
Cheshire ground her teeth so hard they made a grating sound.
The flower crown atop her head, which had been glowing softly, gradually emitted a stronger light.
Her eyes brimmed hot with fury.
Just as something was about to snap in her overheated mind.
“You are the queen.”
The crown’s voice reached her.
“Your actions are the queen’s choice, and the fairies’ choice.”
Though the words weren’t immediately comprehensible, they allowed her to regain her composure for a moment.
“…You’re telling me to act cautiously.”
Cheshire murmured lowly back to the crown.
“What do you want? What do you hope I’ll do?”
The crown fell silent.
It merely shed an increasingly bright and intense light.
While Cheshire argued with the crown, Hailon bound all the pouring demons with the Chains of Condemnation.
“…….”
Even for him, handling a horde of this scale alone was overwhelming.
His straight brows twisted in strain.
However, no one could escape outside the banquet hall in this situation.
If he didn’t subdue the demons somehow, something horrific would unfold.
As the Chains of Condemnation focused on binding the demons, leaving him defenseless, attacks rained down on Hailon through the gap.
Kierne swiftly manipulated shadows to block the assaults.
But without his demonic sword, while he could fend off humans, he lacked the power to aid Hailon in dealing with the demons.
Hailon and Kierne’s gazes clashed briefly.
Hailon shot him a cold retort.
“Don’t concern yourself with me.”
With one hand manipulating the chains, Hailon drew a small device with the other.
Upon infusing it with divine power, the tiny device transformed into white light and shot out like an arrow.
The light vanished into the darkness, and shortly after.
Suddenly, lightning flashed in the dry night sky.
In an instant, the surroundings brightened, and twelve lights appeared in the air.
The lights were people.
Their attire varied, but all wore identical masks.
The moment the people of the Holy Empire saw the masks they donned, their faces turned ashen.
“Inquisitors…!”
They were the twelve Inquisitors who had followed the traitor Hailon and left Hilderd.
Having drawn their holy swords, they formed a formation centered around Hailon.
Pure white divine power enveloped the holy swords.
The divine power they generated resonated with one another and amplified.
The Chains of Condemnation also absorbed the Inquisitors’ divine power, emanating even greater strength.
The bound demons let out agonized screams.
It seemed as if they would annihilate all the demons at any moment.
“…!”
The sky rippled, and several times more demons than before poured out from the widening rift.
Creak creak, the Chains of Condemnation, emitting unstable sounds, ultimately couldn’t withstand the resistance and shattered.
As fragments of the chains scattered in all directions, Hailon’s body collapsed.
The sight of him vomiting red blood etched itself into her vision.
“Hailon!”
Cheshire screamed his name as if in a wail.
Before she even realized it, her body lunged forward.
“Goddaughter!”
“Cheshire, no!”
But Serea and Kierne immediately grabbed hold of Cheshire.
Purple magic and black shadows coiled around her limbs, rendering her immobile.
It was only natural.
Right now, Cheshire had no power whatsoever.
Unlike that time when she had purified all the demons, she was in a state close to an ordinary human.
If she approached recklessly, she would be torn to shreds by the demons.
‘But.’
Cheshire watched the demons, freed from the chains’ bindings, rampage wildly.
Kierne and Serea alone were insufficient to stop them.
Serea shattered the magic that had been sealing the banquet hall’s exits and shouted.
“Damn it, Kierne! Call the twins! Tell Belzeon to bring all the imperial knights and troops! Every available reinforcement! We have to do something about the demons first…!”
The Inquisitors surrounded Hailon, protecting him from the demons.
Perhaps due to deep internal injuries, Hailon coughed several times, spitting up blood.
As he wiped the flowing blood, his eyes met Cheshire’s.
The moment she saw him broken, Cheshire fully understood the crown’s words.
If she made the wrong choice, the fairies too would pay the price.
Because Cheshire was the fairies’ queen.
‘Even so.’
Before being the queen, Cheshire was Lichesia the witch, and the youngest of the Basilian family.
‘I resolved not to give up on anything.’
She didn’t want to make a choice that favored only the fairies.
‘I came this far because I want to protect everything.’
Thump, her heart pulsed heavily once.
Flowers began to bloom at Cheshire’s feet.
Amid the demons’ foul stench, a fragrant floral scent spread.
The demons, rampaging chaotically, halted their movements and simultaneously turned toward Cheshire.
And the instant Cheshire’s eyes sparkled.
Whoosh!
Flowers bloomed everywhere.
Along with the flowers filling her entire vision, reality distorted, and a dreamlike illusion unfolded.
It was the illusion realm of the witch Lichesia.
