Chapter 352: Suspicion

’Then Soul Possession might work...’

Regis considered Marzana’s answer, recalling the difficulty he had faced when possessing her. Even with his gift, learning to control her chaos energy had taken several attempts. He had never tried anything similar with a tree.

"Are you thinking of doing what you did for me?" Marzana asked.

"Possibly. I need to see her first."

Levada glanced between them, but Anna spoke before she could ask anything.

"Regis, there’s something else about Toran."

He turned towards her, wondering what he had overlooked.

"His Holiness cast [Beacon of Purification] over the city after the portal collapsed. You said you only left after the summoning ended. Were you still there when the light appeared?"

Regis’s fingers tightened around his cup.

How could he forget? He had spent hours writhing on the ground while that golden light burned his body and tore at his soul. Hiding his demonic power had only made it worse.

"Yes."

Anna studied him. She had been unconscious at the time and only learned afterward what Hagios had done to eliminate any remaining demons.

"Then how did you survive?"

Regis managed a faint smile. "Because I’m not a demon?"

"You were still carrying demonic power," she replied, unmoved by his attempt to lighten the mood.

"They forced it into all of us. They were raising suicide soldiers to help Agaroth descend."

"The Devil of Despair and Destruction," Anna said quietly. "We know. But that doesn’t explain how you survived His Holiness’s purification."

Levada folded her arms. "If a devil has found a way to make someone carrying demonic power withstand divine power, we need to investigate it."

Regis almost denied it outright.

’It was my gift. Those bastards didn’t even know what I could do.’

He remembered deliberately concealing his progress in the camp. The people who had kidnapped him had never understood what he was capable of, let alone created that ability.

’Wait, unlike other gifts with recognizable colors, my Perfect Adaptation was translucent... is it a higher grade than even Diamond or...?’

Besides, he had lived in the slums long before they took him. He had been an orphan since...

Regis’s thoughts slowed.

He had no memories of his birth parents. Everything he remembered began with the life he had already been living, and even now, he had no idea where Perfect Adaptation came from.

’Gods and devils work in ways I can’t understand. Who’s to say they couldn’t have done something through some time- or fate-altering shit...?’

The thought made him uncomfortable. He hated devils. The deaths of people he loved, his captivity, and even the ruins surrounding him were all connected to them.

However, hatred would not make their power any easier to understand.

He knew his gift had saved him. Beyond that, there were questions he had never been able to answer, and he did not intend to hand those secrets over just because the executors had their suspicions.

"Do you think they did something else to me?" he asked.

"We don’t know," Anna answered. "That’s why we need to look into it."

Regis nodded slowly. For now, he would listen to whatever they discovered.

***

After resting for a while longer, Regis could stand with assistance. Killian helped him straighten while Aurelia supported his other side, and he waited for the pain in his knee to settle before taking a step.

Vanessa stayed with Perto, Morgana, and Rumi. Auryn and Patti remained behind as well, helping those in the courtyard while the others followed Anna towards the center of Paradis.

They walked slowly, stopping whenever Regis or Marzana needed a moment. Eventually, the broken buildings gave way to enormous roots that rose above the ground.

Regis lifted his head.

Flonaralavenrosa towered over them, her branches spreading far beyond what he could see from beneath them. Much of the canopy was still green, but fallen leaves covered the ground around her roots.

As they moved around the trunk, a ragged opening came into view.

The explosions had stripped away a broad stretch of bark and torn into the wood beneath it. Splinters lay scattered across the ground, while dark discolouration spread beyond the damaged area and disappeared beneath the remaining bark.

Marzana loosened her grip on Raxon’s arm.

"Careful," Aeola said, helping her approach an unbroken section of the trunk.

The elven girl placed her palm against it. For a while, she said nothing as her eyes travelled over the damage.

"Please... let there still be something we can do."

Regis remained beside Killian, looking from the torn wood to the darkened bark. He could sense demonic power, but its presence alone told him little about what had been done.

"This is where some of them detonated themselves," Anna said. "There are other wounds further around."

"Did the discoloration appear after the explosions?" Regis asked.

"Yes. We haven’t been able to determine how far the curse extends inside."

He looked up again. From here, the living branches seemed to belong to an entirely different tree from the wounded trunk before him.

The records might have given them something to compare it to, but most had burned with the city. Simply staring at the damage would not make him understand it.

"I might be able to examine her from inside."

Levada turned towards him. "How?"

"With an evil craft. Soul Possession."

Her expression hardened, and Anna’s gaze immediately returned to him.

"You want to possess the Ancient Tree?"

"He used it on me," Marzana said before Regis could answer. Her hand remained against the bark as she looked towards the executors. "That was how he helped me control my chaos energy."

"You allowed that?" Levada asked.

"Yes."

Regis shifted his weight off his injured leg. "I’m not saying I can remove the curse. But if I can get inside, I might be able to understand what’s happening."

"And if you make it worse?"

"I’ll withdraw if I can’t manage it. I need to understand what’s happening before I can try to change anything."

He understood Levada’s concern. Entering Marzana’s body had sounded simple enough until her chaos energy forcibly expelled him. Something that had lived since before the first elves could hardly be easier to understand.

He could not even tell whether the damage visible on the surface was the worst of it.

Anna approached the damaged trunk and examined it once more before looking towards him.

"Have you possessed anything like her before?"

"No," Regis admitted. "This will be my first attempt."

A brief silence followed. Marzana watched Anna, who eventually stepped aside.

"Then begin with that. Find out whether you can make contact."

Levada looked at her colleague before returning her attention to Regis. "We’ll be watching."

Regis nodded. "My body won’t respond while I’m using it. Don’t be alarmed when that happens."

Killian helped him sit beside a root, while Aurelia carefully adjusted his robe so it would not pull against his bandages. Pandora settled beside his uninjured arm.

"We’ll take care of you, Brother."

Regis gave her a small smile before resting his palm against the trunk. Marzana moved back with Aeola and Raxon, leaving him enough space to concentrate.

He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.

[Soul Possession]

The roughness beneath his palm faded.

For a moment, Regis felt the familiar sensation of leaving his body. He waited for the awareness of another body to replace it, but what reached him instead made him struggle to collect his thoughts.

Pressure surrounded him from countless directions. Something pressed deep into cool, damp earth, while far above, movements too numerous to follow pulled at his awareness.

He instinctively tried to move his fingers.

Nothing happened.

’Right... There aren’t any.’

As he concentrated, the sensations gradually became easier to distinguish. The pressure below came from roots extending through the soil. The movements above were branches swaying, their leaves brushing against one another.

But recognizing them did not mean he could control them. He could barely follow one sensation before several others demanded his attention.

Then the pain reached him.

It spread through portions of the trunk and followed paths he could not yet distinguish. Some places felt distant, while others seemed to be right beside him, making it difficult to tell where one injury ended and another began.

’So much...’

Regis tried to focus on the nearest source. However, before he could examine it, something stirred within the unfamiliar awareness surrounding him.

He stopped.

Amid the pain and the countless sensations, a faint voice reached him.

"Who... are you?"