Evolution: From Little Devil to Devil Empress

Chapter 89: Descent [5] - Heartless

A strange scene soon unfolded in the underground room.

Thin lines of blood emerged from the point where her body had been separated and shot to the side, extending toward her other body part.

These lines twisted eerily and drilled into the open wound, before they began tightening, slowly sewing the two parts together.

As the essence of the Priest flowed through the pulsing crimson veins and poured into her body, the rate at which the separated parts were sewn together rapidly increased.

Finally, with a faint clink, Liora’s lower body reattached to the upper half, becoming whole again.

But as a price, the Priest had turned into a lifeless, ravaged skeleton.

Even his own soul had been taken away at some unknown time, becoming nourishment for Liora.

Staring at this bloody scene and feeling herself become whole again, Liora breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that her gamble had indeed paid off.

The final strike she had exchanged with the Priest was not an impulsive decision of hers, but a well-thought-out calculation.

She trusted her own recovery abilities, and most importantly, she trusted her Myriad Devils Body.

More accurately, she trusted its two brand-new effects, Renewal and Shroud Form, as well as Blood Resonance.1

After checking her condition and confirming that everything was fine with her, Liora shifted her focus back to reality.

Although the fight with the Priest had been cruel and dangerous—to both sides—its duration was actually very brief, lasting less than a few seconds.

Thus, the knights in the room had yet to recover from the Tongue of the Abyss’ impact.

They still stood silently like statues, with various expressions on their faces, such as happiness, sadness, yearning, and sorrow.

Even though Liora was somewhat exhausted and her nerves were tense, she understood that now was not the time to rest.

With no hesitation, she took advantage of their dazed state and launched an attack at the closest knight.

With a loud tear, her nails tore the knight’s armor apart and dug into his body, opening a large hole at the left side of his chest.

With a tightening of her fist, Liora crushed the knight’s heart into pieces, causing his body to collapse on the ground.

The Myriad Devils Body was activated on its own.

As if stimulated by Liora’s injuries, the crimson veins pounced on the dead knight and began absorbing his essence to better help her recuperate.

Feeling her own condition gradually get better, Liora, though happy, didn’t pause.

Instead, she launched another attack at a nearby knight.

Very soon, a quiet massacre was taking place in the underground room, unbeknownst to everyone in this world.

The figure of Liora shuttled through the room with extreme precision, waving her hands coldly and harvesting the lives of the holy knights.

Until her nails sliced through the head of the last remaining knight, none of them had woken up.

They all died in their ”sleep”—quiet and helpless.

Standing at the very center of the room, Liora seemed to have turned into a large black hole.

From her body, blood threads extended in all directions and attached to the fallen knights.

The threads pulsed following a strange rhythm, as they devoured the essence of those knights like hungry beasts, transferring their energy to help Liora heal.

Soon, Liora had not only recovered from her battle with the Priest but had also healed some of the injuries she had suffered while facing the suspected True Devil Fire Elemental.

Just when Liora was busying herself, the last person in the room—the blonde woman—suddenly woke up.

Her eyelids trembled, and she slowly opened her eyes, only to face a scene of carnage—of Liora standing amidst a pile of bloody corpses.

A trace of horror flashed within her blue eyes, and she instinctively crawled back, only to be met with the cold surface of the stone wall.

The woman froze.

The cold sensation against her spine jolted her awake, making her recall the situation that she was currently in.

Her ears twitched, and the sound of the fighting outside reached them—accompanied by loud, sorrowful, and painful cries.

Instantly, the grim situation of her family resurfaced in her mind.

The fear on her face vanished, replaced by an astonishing resolve as she rushed forward and approached the bloody Liora.

Stretching her two weak arms, she wrapped them around Liora’s messy legs, and with tears streaming down her face, she opened her mouth and spoke:

”Please! Please, save my family!”, the woman begged as her blue dress crawled against the floor, gaining a blood-red hue.

Her words caught Liora off guard.

She had never expected that this person would dare to talk to her despite witnessing such a gruesome scene, much less beg her to save someone.

Lowering her head, Liora looked straight into the blonde woman’s eyes, and within them, she saw not only kindness and purity, but also a well-hidden ruthlessness and cruelty.

This cruelty and ruthlessness did not seem to be for other people, but for herself.

As long as it was needed to achieve her own goals, this woman wouldn’t hesitate to heartlessly sacrifice herself.

Sensing the woman’s emotions and feeling the Devil Contract that the two had signed because of the World-Descending Array, Liora didn’t speak.

She casually stretched her hand and placed it on the woman’s head, brushing away the messy hair before patting it lightly.

”Come on, let’s go.”, she said, and after she shook her leg to get rid of the woman’s grip, she clasped her hands behind her back and walked towards the exit of the room.

--

In the outside world, the scene was equally as bloody, if not even more than the one in the underground room.

Throughout the vast Earl mansion, many servants and family members could be seen scrambling around, trying to evade the murderous knights who were ruthlessly hunting them down.

Broken weapons, blood, and corpses could be seen scattered all over the place, making the scene look especially terrifying.

As Liora’s eyes captured those sights, her crimson eyes didn’t show the slightest fluctuation.

Although she possessed the memories of her past life, she had lived in the Demon World for far too long.

The more than a year spent there had long made her accustomed to vicious scenes, and she had even become their participant quite a few times.

However, the person following her—the blonde woman—couldn’t bear to look at it.

Still holding Alpha’s head as if she were afraid that Liora would blame her, the woman walked half a step behind Liora, staring at the scenes around her with fear and hatred.

Watching the familiar people that she had known since she was little die under the sharp swords of the holy knights, the blonde woman couldn’t help but grit her teeth.

[4. Renewal: The user’s regeneration abilities—both in the healing and the energy recovery department—have been massively enhanced. Recovering from fatal injuries is now possible.] [5. Shroud Form: The user can choose to suppress their demonic nature, concealing their Devil traits but weakening their strength in the process. While in this form, the effects of Supreme Adaptation and Renewal are doubled.]