Chapter 51: Chapter Fifty: Decay
The alarm of the holy hall echoed through the secret chamber, accompanied by the sound of footsteps from outside.
Ji Ma ignored the fainted female chess player—she was merely a mortal—and the old woman who was desperately trying to assist her.
The succubus walked to the window, tiptoed to look outside the iron bars, and saw crows exploding under the shimmering light bullets. Each crow had different feathers, blood-stained multicolored feathers slowly falling through the air, refracting mesmerizing light in the sunlight.
Ji Ma caught a glimpse of the Master of Transmutation, the malevolent god who adored constant change. He said he was very pleased with Ji Ma, exceedingly pleased. He appreciated her schemes and her constant transformations, promising to bestow blessings upon her without any hidden agendas. As long as she desired, he would grant her blessings.
Ji Ma calmly pondered, recalling past experiences. It seemed that each time the Master of Transmutation’s schemes were uncovered, he was quite pleased. Within his cult, there was a long tradition of infighting and conspiracy.
Just like the Blood God never questioned where the blood came from.
Of course, more importantly, she pursued power, her restless heart yearning for it. As long as she possessed power, more power, many difficulties would be effortlessly resolved.
Ji Ma softly said, “I wish to have the blessing to see information about my targets.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a white-armored holy warrior delivered a furious strike, slashing through a crow, its blood-stained feather eerily flying straight toward Ji Ma.
The feather expanded in Ji Ma’s vision, constantly changing colors, and she neither dodged nor avoided it. The blood-stained feather stuck to the corner of her eye, and she immediately felt her eyeballs burning, both of them feeling hot.
She felt her eyeballs melting, and everything before her began to change. The oiled iron rods in the window started to dance, bricks began crawling out from the walls, and the colorful feathers outside lost their colors, becoming a dull gray.
This wondrous and bizarre feeling suddenly calmed down.
Ji Ma blinked, realizing that everything had returned to its former appearance. She heard intense prayers behind her and turned to see the old woman casting a divine spell on her.
Ji Ma focused her gaze on her, and with a thought, wishing to know her information, her eyes grew slightly warm. A few lines of common script appeared on the old woman:
“Name: Aodona; Sexual Experience: Virgin; Age: 56; Gender: Female; Supernatural Level assessed as Gold.”
“Currently casting a detection-type divine spell.”
At the same time, Ji Ma felt a slight reduction in her magical power.
The old woman’s divine spell completed, and Ji Ma glowed with shifting colors—yellow, red, blue—causing the old woman to exclaim, “You have accepted the blessing of the evil god!”
Ji Ma completely disregarded the other’s look of hatred and wariness. She opened her personal system and eagerly searched for the information about this blessing in her personal attributes.
“Eye of Insight (Blessing): You have received the blessing of the Master of Transmutation. You can now use your eyes to perform a quick divination, with its effectiveness equal to using a prop for divination.”
Ji Ma was overjoyed; using props to divine usually took her three to five minutes. Not to mention the time spent, its secrecy was terribly poor—she couldn’t just divine in front of others.
The old woman shouted again, “Quickly control the succubus! She has received the blessing of the evil god!”
A group of holy warriors rushed over with swords drawn.
Ji Ma was too lazy to explain, directly covering her eyes. Letting out a gasp, her head tilted and she “collapsed,” fainting on the ground.
Now, the hasty arriving people had no choice but to perform first aid on her, placing her on a stretcher and urgently transporting her to the medical room nearby according to the plan.
When the female priest anxiously applied a full-body treatment on Ji Ma and found not many issues—if there were any, it was merely an evil power, but that was an old issue. A succubus without evil power, was she still a succubus?
Ji Ma slowly opened her eyes and said, “I’m fine, I just wanted to take a nap.”
Saying this, she closed her eyes again and sank into a dream, indifferent even if someone sounded an alarm clock, she wouldn’t awaken. This ability to sleep whenever she wanted was greatly envied by the bishop troubled by insomnia.
Since Ji Ma came to the holy hall requesting protection, the overseeing bishop’s sleep quality had decreased drastically, and he had lost several tufts of hair.
Thus, Ji Ma irresponsibly slept on, ignoring everyone.
This was also part of Ji Ma’s plan. After all, the holy hall was helpless against her; she was currently the only one among the Order who could divine the broken fragments of the Demon King’s crown.
Moreover, the situation was unstable now, and she did not want to return to Kislif City too soon, only to encounter the Duchess as soon as she landed. It would be best to wait until the Duchess left before she returned to Kislif City.
In this way, the poor overseeing bishop of the holy hall, upon receiving the report that the succubus was in a deep slumber, became even more agitated and lost several more hairs.
…
…
Meanwhile, in Kislif City.
Everyone felt pride and honor for defeating the demons.
However, upon learning that the Blue-Winged Elder was actually “Demon King Ji Ma,” the Duchess fell into a deep silence.
At this moment, she carefully reflected on what “Demon King Ji Ma” had said to her that night, realizing something was amiss.
“…Even if the hero kills me with a sword, chopping off my head, it would still be so.”
She remembered clearly that the hero had pierced Demon King Ji Ma’s chest with a sword, killing him, and afterward did not cut off his head, perhaps because George thought doing so would be like offering a gift to the Blood God.
Moreover, since he wanted to “persuade” her, it would be logical to use his slave contract power to threaten as well, right?
Thinking back, it was very likely that the Blue-Winged Elder had grasped some intelligence in advance, disguising himself as Demon King Ji Ma. It was truly ridiculous; she clearly remembered the death of Demon King Ji Ma, recalled it vividly, more clearly than she could her own hand.
Yet upon encountering the false demon king, she was terrified, succumbed to a few sentences, and colluded in murdering her savior.
“Benefactor.” The Duchess spoke, “It was I who incited the rumors…”
Before her husband, she recounted the events of that night in full detail.
Strangely, the Duke of Kislif remained silent, listening quietly, his blood-stained face bearing no expression.
Ah, he must be contemplating how to draft a divorce application.
After George finished listening, he merely nodded and said, “Understood. Thank you for the clues you provided; we can investigate the forces behind the Blue-Winged Elder.”
“Are you resentful towards me?”
“No.” George replied, “You are merely mortal. He has the blessing of the Master of Transmutation, possessing unpredictable sorcery, and insight into people’s hearts through lies. It’s perfectly normal for you to be deceived by him. On the contrary, I admire your awareness in the moment.”
Then, George glanced at the Duke of Kislif and said, “I just hope that your laws can give suitable punishment to those in high positions who do not consider the interests of their subjects.”
He fastened the Shalel helmet without even looking at the Duke of Kislif, stepping over the corpses on the ground, and walked straight away.
Leaving behind the couple, the cold wind swept between them, and the surrounding people busied themselves, as if there were only the two of them in the world.
The Duchess calmly regarded her husband.
