Chapter 627: Scarlett in Agony
"This is Starnight?"
Upon seeing Starnight transformed into a giant dragon, Laila was somewhat stunned. After all, she had left relatively early and hadn't participated in the final battle against the Angel, so she still didn't know about Starnight's Arcane Ability.
"That's right, Starnight is the Time Witch, having traveled through time from long ago.
"Her Arcane Ability allows her to transform into any creature she's seen before, and she's basically seen every creature in this world."
"This..."
Laila couldn't process this much information all at once. She sat on Starnight's back, stroking the Dragon Scales, hardly daring to believe it.
Mentioning the events of that time plunged Laila back into grief.
For all these years, she had been consumed by self-blame and inner turmoil, regretting why she had chosen to leave back then.
She had originally wanted to avoid burdening Loren, yet when Loren met with disaster, she wasn't there by his side.
She had fantasized countless times about whether things might have turned out differently if she had been there.
Reason told her that even if she had been present, it wouldn't have changed the outcome, but she still wanted to be with Loren, even if it meant dying alongside him.
Now, Starnight had reminded Laila of those events, and her emotions sank lower and lower until she suddenly blurted out an extreme statement to Loren:
"Loren, I will never leave you again. If you die, I will absolutely not live on alone."
She had had enough of this feeling. This time, she would never let something like that happen again.
"I already placed my mark on your soul this morning. This mark is eternal. Now, no matter where you are, I can always find you."
Laila's original intention might have been to protect Loren, but it sounded very much like a yandere.
To prevent things from developing in that direction, Loren promptly interrupted Laila:
"Ahem, speaking of which, what's going on with your Arcane Ability? I remember you couldn't do this before."
"After I learned of losing you, my Arcane Ability evolved. Now my Arcane Ability has no distance limit, and it also gained the trait that my speed doesn't decrease before hitting the target.
"Moreover, it can even provide some initial velocity."
With that, Laila gave Loren a demonstration.
She casually took out a bullet and simply flicked it. The bullet shot straight out, flying toward the territory of the God of Light and Fire.
"I found out you were killed by the God of Light and Fire, so I went over there myself and placed marks on every big shot and Angel in the Church of Light and Fire, casually throwing things at them from time to time."
"So that's how it is?"
Laila's Arcane Ability had changed drastically. Before, it was at most supplementary support. Now, anyone marked by Laila could be sentenced to death.
As long as the mark remained, Laila could attack that person anytime, anywhere, with no restrictions whatsoever.
And the one being attacked would need to stay on guard around the clock, unable even to get a good night's sleep.
This kind of attack was impossible to defend against; even having Bodyguards wasn't necessarily effective.
"How many people have you already killed?"
"I've taken care of over a dozen High-Ranking Members, but I haven't killed a single Angel. This kind of attack doesn't do much against Angels."
Not having killed an Angel left Laila feeling regretful, even somewhat pained.
But now that Loren had returned, those feelings of hers had diminished considerably.
"With you around, it'll be more convenient to kill people in the future..."
Though it wasn't really that much more convenient. For Laila to place her mark, she needed to see or hit the target, and if she had that opportunity, Loren would just raise his blade and cut them down directly.
Even if he couldn't conveniently cut them down face-to-face, Loren could use the Justice Card to store the damage and unleash it later.
If Loren couldn't kill them, then Laila's attacks wouldn't be of much use either.
Speaking of which, there were still many people under Loren's control right now. Not to mention those from the Chailros Family, there were also quite a few Kings and a Bloodline Marquis.
They hadn't been far from the territory of the God of Pain to begin with, and in the midst of their conversation, they had already arrived at the God of Pain's territory.
Next, Laila began giving directions. Scarlett's residence was so hidden that even Starnight in her dragon form couldn't get through, so in the end, everyone chose to go on foot.
"By the way, how did Scarlett manage to evade the Church's searches?"
Unlike Veronica, Scarlett didn't have the ability to evade searches.
"I don't know. She's already almost completely unable to communicate..."
Everyone jumped down from the dragon's back, and Starnight transformed back into a Nightingale, landing on Loren's shoulder.
The buildings here were messy and chaotic, and there was still a considerable distance to Scarlett's residence.
Loren found it hard to connect the image Laila described with the Scarlett he remembered. The more he thought about it, the more pitiful he found Scarlett.
After landing, Loren casually picked up a newspaper and looked at what was on it.
Taking up the largest portion was the situation of the war. Just like everywhere else, the newspapers always reported victory.
After all, faith was tied to the combat power of the Orthodox Gods. Only when believers thought they were winning would their faith remain steadfast, so Loren felt there was nothing wrong with this approach.
Even if he were an Orthodox God, he would probably choose to do the same.
The next largest portion was dedicated to Loren. The newspapers were constantly publicizing Loren's terror, having completely forgotten how they had groveled before him the last time he was here.
There was another rather important matter in the newspaper: a series of serial murders had occurred here.
The victims were mostly couples or family members. Typically, one party would die first, and only after some time had passed would the other die, as if the killer wanted the victims to experience the pain of losing their beloved.
"This couldn't be Scarlett's doing, could it?"
Seeing these reports, Loren had a bad feeling.
However, he wouldn't suspect others without evidence. Generally speaking, when Loren framed someone, he knew that person was even more innocent than they knew themselves to be; suspicion never even entered the equation.
Especially since Scarlett was one of his own, Loren was even less likely to suspect her.
Loren put away the newspaper and headed in Scarlett's direction.
"How strange, Scarlett was right here before. Why can't I find that house anymore?"
Laila arrived in front of a small house and looked around left and right.
Loren realized something was off. He glanced at the house and activated his ability to break illusions, but Laila still showed no reaction.
"Is it this place?"
Loren directly entered that shabby house, but Laila didn't follow. Instead, she became even more frantic:
"Where did Loren go?"
In an instant, Laila's eyes became bloodshot, looking like she was about to go mad.
Loren understood now. There must be some other ability here that shielded cognition, not an illusion.
It wasn't until Loren walked back out that Laila finally saw him:
"Where did you just..."
Loren interrupted Laila and directly pulled her into the house.
Just as Laila was shocked, Loren had already begun surveying the room.
It was empty here, with nothing at all, except for a large box in the corner.
Loren brushed the dust off the box with his hand and only then noticed that the box had a bow and various patterns painted on it in blood, as if someone had tried to make this box look like a gift box.
In the most conspicuous spot on the box were seven words written: "Wishing the master a happy birthday."
"Scarlett is inside."
Laila said this, and Loren looked at the dust on the ground. It was just as thick as that on the box. No one knew how long Scarlett had been hiding inside.