In a trance, buried fragments flashed through Theia’s mind.
They were fuzzy images from long ago, carrying the warmth of sunlight.
Her demon father, who always wore a gentle smile and clumsily wove flower garlands for her.
And her beautiful, elegant elven mother, whose voice was like a forest spring.
They once lived in that small wooden cabin hidden in the valley, spending a peaceful time away from the world.
Until that day, when burning arrows tore through the sky.
A human man named "Hero," leading sharp-eyed teammates of different races, stepped into her home.
She still remembered the look of resolve and tenderness in his eyes—the eyes that were always smiling—when her father hid her in the cellar.
She also remembered the feeling of cold tears dripping onto her forehead when her mother fled with her through the forest.
The Elven Forest did not grant them long-lasting sanctuary.
On a certain moonlit night, after entrusting her to a reliable elven friend, her mother departed alone and never returned.
In the Elven Forest, it took her a long time to slowly step out of the shadows.
She tried to fit in and even had new "friends."
However, on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, the power latent within her body erupted uncontrollably.
Her silver hair turned murky, and her eyes flushed blood-red...
In an instant, the eyes of her once-friendly companions were filled with fear and disgust.
"A demon! She’s a demon!"
"Kill her! Don’t let a filthy bloodline defile the holy forest!"
Stones rained down like raindrops, accompanied by curses that were once familiar but now incredibly piercing.
She didn’t understand why an identity could so easily erase all the warmth of the past.
She could only run, wandering between different city-states and wildernesses like a ghost with nowhere to call home.
Until that afternoon, in the grass, a human youth suddenly poked his head in.
...
"Yo, half-demon, you’re awake? Want some water?"
Elvia’s voice pulled Theia back to reality from her chaotic memories.
She took the waterskin and gulped down several mouthfuls.
The ice-cold water temporarily suppressed the dryness in her throat and the burning in her heart.
"Where... are we?"
"At Outpost 7 in the rift; we aren’t far from getting out."
Elvia pointed outside the cave.
"You’ve been unconscious for five days."
"Five days?!"
Theia gasped, and then a strong sense of hunger swept over her.
Elvia handed over some dried meat and flatbread.
Theia took them and quickly began to eat.
She let out a long sigh of relief only after a solid feeling settled in her stomach.
"What about Luo Youyou and the others?"
"They’ve already left," Elvia replied.
"Four days ago, once their injuries stabilized, they decided to return to Caran City first."
"I see..." Theia answered in a low voice.
But her thoughts involuntarily drifted back to that explosion of out-of-control power before she fainted.
Demon energy; she had awakened demon energy.
Panic began to show in her eyes.
"Then... then..."
Lin Gui’s voice came from the direction of the cave entrance, calm and steady.
"Don't worry; only Elvia and I know about you awakening demon energy."
"Aren't... aren't you afraid?" Theia looked up.
In her blood-red eyes, there was a trace of imperceptible vulnerability and fear.
Before Lin Gui could answer, Elvia crossed her arms and spoke in a heavy tone.
"Knowing demon energy means you aren't just a half-demon anymore, but a true demon."
"The terror and evil of the Demon Race are obvious to everyone on the Akara Continent."
She paused, as if listing well-known crimes.
"Setting aside the distant past, just look at the 'Blood Moon Massacre' thirty-seven years ago—an entire border city of tens of thousands was sacrificed to an evil god by demons."
"Fifteen years ago, the demon siege of the Southern Alliance’s capital was orchestrated by the Demon Race."
"Not to mention the rumors of spreading curses, creating plagues, and inciting wars..."
"Almost every time a large-scale Dark Tide strikes, one can vaguely see traces of the Demon Race's activity."
Elvia looked at Theia with a complex gaze.
"Theia, no matter how kind you were before, once your mind is completely eroded by demon energy, no one can guarantee you won’t go mad."
"No one knows if you will turn into a... demon who knows only slaughter and destruction."
Theia gave a bitter smile.
She lowered her head, her silver hair falling to hide her expression.
"Is that so... Then... are we going to part ways?"
Her voice was very soft, carrying a sense of weary resignation.
Lin Gui shot Theia a speechless look.
"You actually believe the words of a noble?"
Theia was stunned.
Elvia retorted in dissatisfaction, "Hey! This is an acknowledged fact on the Akara Continent!"
Lin Gui let out a scoff.
Then he cleared his throat and began to imitate her in an extremely exaggerated, affected noble tone.
"Oh~~ how could so many pariahs have died in my home overnight? It must be those evil, omnipresent demons!"
Next, he switched to a panicked tone.
"Ah! Because the Defense Force commander took a bribe and neglected his duties, we only discovered the demons when they were practically at the walls!"
"This, this must be a spy sent by the Demon Race who corrupted our officials!! Yes, it must be so!"
His imitation was lifelike.
The hypocrisy and blame-shifting in that tone were as if he had personally stood in those magnificent banquet halls and watched coldly countless times.
He turned his head to look at the awkward Elvia, a playful smile on his face.
"El, don’t think I don’t know what you wanted to use Theia’s identity for back in Caran City."
Theia knit her brows and looked at Elvia. "What use?"
Lin Gui was about to speak.
Elvia lunged forward and covered his mouth tightly, her voice low and nearly pleading.
"My lord! I beg you, don't say it! Leave me some dignity!"
Then she turned her head and squeezed out a brilliant smile for Theia.
"Ahaha, it’s nothing, half-demon! He’s just talking nonsense!"
Lin Gui looked at Elvia in this state and smiled faintly.
He didn't continue to tear down that wall.
He looked back at Theia, his tone returning to its usual flat state, but carrying an unquestionable seriousness.
"It's rare to awaken demon energy; remember to train and master it."
"To be able to forcibly grant the arrows of a Low-tier Transcendent a destructive power close to that of a High-tier Transcendent is a god-tier ability in actual combat."
There wasn't a hint of a joke in his words.
Elvia gulped as she listened from the side.
As the Seventh Princess of the Carter Kingdom, the education she had received since childhood was that "the Demon Race is evil, and demon energy is a curse."
She wanted to argue, but her intuition told her that as soon as she spoke, Lin Gui would absolutely shut her down.
Theia hesitated for a long time, a struggle flickering in her blood-red eyes.
"Is it... is it really okay? Training demon energy?"
Lin Gui, on the other hand, showed a confused expression.
"Aren't you talking nonsense? To be honest, I'm actually quite envious of you; I’d like to have demon energy too."
Elvia’s eyelids jumped wildly.
If the lunatics of the Holy Church of Light heard this fellow, they would definitely tie him to the stake.
Under Lin Gui’s repeated—and very "reasonable"-sounding—counsel, a spark of light finally gathered in Theia’s eyes once more.
She took a deep breath and looked at Lin Gui extremely seriously, asking the deepest fear in her heart.
"Lin Gui... if I train demon energy, will you really... not abandon me? You won't drive me away?"
"Yeah." Lin Gui nodded, then seemed to think of something and added.
"By the way, if possible, let me feel your demon energy too. Maybe I can squeeze a bit out of my own body as well."
Theia, Elvia: "..."
Theia was silent for a moment and then asked, "But... Elvia said demon energy would affect one's mind and drive them mad..."
Lin Gui chuckled, his tone carrying unconcealed disdain.
"Heh, you actually believe the words of a noble?"
He pointed at Elvia, who looked frustrated beside him.
"The words of a pig in a pigpen are more reliable than the script she just recited."
"Moreover, I bet that at least four-fifths of those horrifying incidents she just mentioned were committed by nobles."
"..."
Elvia did not retort.
Because it was indeed true.
If one were to calculate based on the number of lives lost to schemes, the Demon Race was nothing compared to the nobility.
But the Dark Tide was different.
The nobility certainly didn't have the ability to control, let alone lead, a Dark Tide.
But the Demon Race could.
Thinking of those so-called guardians they had encountered in the tomb, Elvia’s eyelids twitched.
Rate on N.U.
