True King's Ecstasy

Delving kept advancing to the place where Velian fought and almost got killed to find a clue, but at the same time, she didn't forget to keep her eye on the surrounding.

"Commander, what are we searching for?" One of Delviny's underlings questioned her without knowing what to keep his eyes on.

"Something? If you notice something suspicious quickly report it," Even she didn't know, but her only clue was the black smoke that Velian mentioned.

"To hurt him so bad, what rank were they? As much as I know Velian is even stronger than SSS rank," Delviny couldn't even imagine what would have happened to them, if not for Velian.

Despite that, Delviny marched forward with a determined look etched on her face, her heart beating fast in anticipation of what lay ahead.

She was leading a small group of skilled warriors, her trusted underlings, who were just as determined as she was to find the clue that would help her brother, who had fought bravely against this strangely strong entity but had been badly injured in the process.

She still couldn't forget how she almost had a panic attack seeing one of Velian's hands missing.

"It was horrible! I never want to experience it," Her past trauma when Velian got shot because of her started to trigger inside her mind bringing out Delviny, who was a weak maiden causing her to almost break down.

But even then she kept moving forward.

As they approached the place where the fierce battle had taken place, Delviny could feel a chill run down her spine. The air was thick with the stench of blood and the faint sound of buildings crashing echoed through the town.

But she refused to be intimidated by the darkness that surrounded her, and instead, drew her sword and took a step forward, leading her team towards the danger that lay ahead.

The underlings followed closely behind, their weapons at the ready, their eyes scanning the area for any signs of danger. Delviny could sense their unwavering loyalty and bravery, and it gave her the courage to press on, despite the odds that were stacked against them.

"Everyone, I promise I will treat you better after this," Delviny said feeling she was treating them too harshly.

Others laughed at her words and looked at her seriously.

"It is because you trained us so harshly, that we were able to become valiant soldiers like this, we all respect you, commander," All of them said at the same time and smiled showing that they had no grudge inside their hearts for her.

"Everyone!" Delviny felt relieved but soon they saw the scenery in front of them.

As they approached the spot where her brother had fought, Delviny saw a glimmer of light. She rushed forward and saw a small silver locket lying on the ground. She picked it up and examined it closely, realizing that it wasn't something that her brother had been wearing when he went into battle.

"Who's locket is this?" Seeing it's openable, Delviny slowly opened it hoping it wasn't a trap, but inside it was a picture.

"This is-"

Inside it was a hand-drawn picture of a family, which made her wonder who this belonged to.

"Is this Akiyo's?" Delhiny questioned, but she quickly discarded that idea as the man in this figure was really tall compared to Aunt Asumiko's husband and there were only three stick figures in it.

"Commander! There's a huge blood patch here,"

Hearing her underling's voice, Delviny ran to are what this was about but laying there was the skeleton of a man holding a hand, which looked like a demon's arm.

But Delviny quickly identified this arm, by the rings on it.

"No way, it's Velian's hand, No way, what happened to it?" She felt like puking seeing her bother's hand like that.

"Don't touch it, get away from it," Delviny quickly ordered.

Delviny's heart raced as she saw her brother's arm, his skin tainted by a mysterious black demon-like thing. Panic washed over her, and without a second thought, she summoned the flames within her, her hands glowing bright with intense heat.

"Stay still," she said to her brother's arm, her voice trembling with fear as she placed her hands over the corrupted flesh. Her magic surged forth, engulfing the arm in a fiery blaze.

*Boom

Her fiery magic skills gave birth to a dangerous-looking flame, which burned with a bright glow engulfing the whole hand.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air, but Delviny remained focused, her eyes fixed on the dark liquid as it bubbled and sizzled under her touch. With each passing moment, the blackness receded, replaced by blackened and charred skin.

Finally, the flames died down, leaving behind a charred but healed arm. Delviny let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground, her strength sapped by the effort.

She couldn't even understand how or why? But her whole body strength got absorbed by that game to burn the black liquid, which really exhausted her.

Others looked at her with a mix of gratitude and concern.

"Commander, are you okay?"

She nodded, still catching her breath.

"I'm fine," she said, her voice weak.

"But what was that stuff? How did it corrupt an arm like that?"

She questioned hoping someone would know at least something about this strange incident but everyone just kept looking at Velian's burned hand and wondered how massive a loss this was.

Since most of the people didn't know about Velian's skills none of them knew he could regenerate and it felt like a disappointment to them as losing a hand meant the ability to fight also get curtailed.

"Take this burned hand, let's return back, quickly assign a search party and make this area a restricted area for the public," Delviny ordered and hoped that Lyra would manage all the panic that was about to come.

"I know what she's going to do, she might use this to our advantage," Delviny had a vague idea, of what Lyra is going to do.

"With this, I know that Velian is not someone that is omnipotent, I should protect him if needed with my own life,"

Renewing her motivations, Delviny went back to the castle to see her brother and tell him, what she witnessed.