Chapter 252: Zyra walks away.

The moment Lucian dropped to his knees, the rest of the villagers looked at each other. Then, like dominoes falling over, the entire crowd hit the deck.

"Divine Maiden, save us!"

"Please, take us as your people!"

"Don’t leave us to die!"

Men, women, and elders were crying their eyes out, banging their heads on the mud, sobbing so loud it sounded like a funeral.

Zyra rubbed her temples. Why does every day have to be a dramatic theatrical play?

[Host, a friendly suggestion,] the System’s voice echoed in her mind. [It may be wise to find the source of these dark energy stones corroding souls and destroy them. Otherwise, a terrible plague of malevolent beasts will be born, and your peaceful slacker life will be completely ruined anyway.]

Zyra sighed internally. You just love giving me work, don’t you?

[I do not want more beasts to be infected, so yes. I will reward you greatly if you find a solution to this problem.]

She looked down at the hundreds of people crying in front of her. She didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no either. Her brain was fried, and she needed time to think this through without a hundred people screaming in her ear.

She raised her hand. "I am not the Divine soul maiden. This is just a joke between me and my friends. Our group will visit the cannibal stronghold and wipe it out. As for you all, I would advise you to hop the backs of the surviving transport beasts and move to a safer town in the Wild lands. If not, move to the caves in the high cliffs and start over.

Staying here is what has made you targets for so long. I can’t take you with me, because I have nowhere to put you. Use those energy stones that had been saved for the cannibals as tribute to buy homes in other towns here in the Wild lands or move to border towns or find a new place to live. Those are your options."

Silence held for a moment.

"Etania," Zyra said calmly, ignoring the kneeling crowd.

"Yes, Divine Maiden?"

Zyra whispered a set of coordinates into Etania’s ear. "Set the destination to Beast Valley."

Etania nodded instantly. She raised her hand, waved her sleeve, and cut a line through the air. Space cracked open like glass, revealing a glowing, swirling portal that led straight out of the town.

Without throwing a single glance back at the begging people, Zyra stepped straight into the portal. Hunter and the maidens quickly followed behind her.

The portal snapped shut with a soft pop, vanishing into thin air_ leaving the entire town kneeling in the mud, crying tears of regret into the wind.

*****

Outside the Wild Lands, the rest of the world was busy picking up the pieces of their lives. The catastrophic floods had left entire cities in ruins and people’s spirits down in the dirt. But timing is everything, and the timing of the upcoming Tournament couldn’t have been better. New Earth’s rulers were banking heavily on this event to cheer everyone up and get the public distracted.

It was set to happen in the Capital in just seven short days, and the whole city was already bustling with crazy preparations_ decorations going up, banners flying, and vendors selling overpriced snacks.

Inside her quiet chamber, Trinity read a fresh message she had just received from Lita. Her orders to Lita had been crystal clear and dead serious: Keep eyes on Maverick. Send his location at all times.

Lately, Maverick had been a little too careful. He refused to leave the Kaelion Estate, fully convinced it was the safest place on earth. Sure, Elliot made his life an absolute living hell every single day with endless taunting and cold stares, but at least nobody could outright murder him there.

Meanwhile, Alessa was keeping a hawk’s eye on both Elliot and his mother, Sabrina.

Sabrina was in a foul, terrible mood. Ever since Alessa had moved back into the estate with her entire loud, chaotic family and one hundred personal guards, she couldn’t get a single second of peace.

The Kaelion estate was tense and loud, at the same time, and not even Trinity could foresee how things would go in future.

Across the room, Trinity looked up at Julia and delivered the latest update. "Maverick is flying with Grand Elder Ralph to the Capital." She gave a chilly smile. "Do the needful."

Julia narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms. "And what exactly are you asking me to do, boss? Honestly, it would have been so much easier to just crash the plane into the ocean and drown the adopted brat. Simple, clean, effective. But Grand Elder Ralph will be on that flight too. If an elder dies in suspicious circumstances, the nosy clan council investigators will never let it go. They’ll dig and dig until they sniff us out."

Hearing Ralph’s name, Trinity who was sipping tea nearly bit through her porcelain cup. She hissed, her eyes spitting fire.

"I don’t care about that old bum’s life!" Sabrina snarled, slamming her teacup down so hard tea splashed onto the table. "I just want to ruin Sabrina’s life! Make her suffer!"

Trinity gritted her teeth as horrifying memories flashed in her mind_ specifically, images of Sabrina fighting those terrifying King Beasts. Trinity had originally ordered the beast fight to be broadcast live on every TV station across the world, wanting to show off her own godly powers and make everyone worship her. But the universe had a dark sense of humor. Instead of praising Trinity, the entire internet went wild over Sabrina’s insane martial arts skills!

Now, every single Sanctum room was filled with young maidens gushing over Sabrina.

"Did you see how senior Sabrina sliced that beast?"

"She’s so cool!"

"She looks like a real goddess!"

"And she saved lives too."

Media houses, social media, radio stations_ Sabrina was the number one trending topic everywhere! To make matters ten times worse, Soul Maidens were suddenly disappearing out of nowhere. The rich, high-class families had started pulling their daughters out of the academy and affiliating them with powerful guilds the Mystic Sanctum could not bully. Trinity couldn’t even force them to stay without causing a riot and she did not want problems with the first class citizens around the world.

Trinity could feel the balance of power tipping straight toward Sabrina’s side. Sabrina kept pretending she didn’t care about being the Divine Maiden, acting all innocent and detached, but Trinity knew better.

The Divine soul maiden turned her cold gaze back to Julia. "Did you find the sniper who tried to shoot at me during the beast fight?"

Julia let out a long, frustrated sigh. She dragged her hand down her face. "Not yet."

Trinity pinched her lips together, giving Julia a look of utter disappointment, as if Julia was the biggest letdown in her entire life.

"And the new supplies?" Trinity pressed, her voice dropping. "We must find the master creator before Sabrina does."

Julia chewed nervously on her lower lip, shrinking slightly under the pressure. "My people are still searching day and night, but it’s a total dead end. Even Elliot’s network is having trouble tracking the supplier. They dumped goods at once on the black market and vanished."

Trinity waved her hand dismissively, annoyed. "Useless."

She leaned back in her chair, her brain spinning wildly. She had way too much on her plate right now. Most importantly, deciding which clan she was going to back to win that stupid tournament.

"You may go," Trinity murmured coldly.

Julia bowed slightly and turned to walk out. But as she stepped through the doors, a dark, wicked smile crept onto her face.

She was going to personally eliminate Maverick, and she would make absolute sure every single piece of evidence pointed straight to Sabrina.