Chapter 309: Ch 308: Finding Lyra

Kael kept walking toward Lyra, but her signature started to grow fainter.

It seemed like she had started to retreat as soon as she checked up on him and made sure he was fine.

But Kael could not allow that, so he decided to make a cut on his finger and drop his blood into the corruption.

It disappeared completely, but the feeling of Lyra’s magic grew stronger by the second. Kael followed the trail, and he could tell that he was getting closer.

But then, the trail went silent all of a sudden, causing Kael to bite his lower lip before making another slash across his finger and repeating the process.

His hand was throbbing and healing, but Kael paid it no mind and kept walking until he felt light-headed.

"Is this...caused by blood loss?"

Kael questioned as he panted harder than necessary. He was beginning to feel a little too light-headed, which was not normal.

Perhaps his surroundings had something to do with this, but he was not sure.

His legs threatened to collapse, and he went down on one knee, only for someone to finally grab him and try to pull him back up.

"What are you doing? Don’t you know that it’s dangerous? You need to get out of here—"

Kael caught that familiar wrist before the person helping him could disappear, and his eyes met Lyra’s startled ones.

The demon queen tried to break his hold on her arm, but it was too late.

"I...finally...caught you. Do you...think I am...going to...let go?"

Kael asked as he huffed to get his breathing under control, but it was of no use.

His body was feeling far too heavy. And yet, he knew that he could not let go of the wrist in his hand, or the demon queen would disappear.

"You are...such a...bother...now come...back with me..."

Kael was not giving her a choice but declaring what Lyra was going to do now. He could see that she was flustered by his attention, and she bit her lip. But in the end, she shook her head and looked away.

"I cannot do that. I am not someone you need right now. Instead, I am going to hold the corruption back and—"

"We will do it once you and the others are outside...there is no point...cough...in you being here anymore."

Kael stressed these words, and he noticed that Lyra was more than well aware of this fact. The way her lips wobbled said it all—she knew she was wasting time here.

"But I cannot face you and the others. I knew this was not right, but I was desperate, so I...we..."

"I know. We can talk about this later. For now, we need to find Seraphina and Iris as well. I will need you to support me."

Kael’s throat was killing him, but he still could not relax. He needed to find the others in this misty space before it swallowed any more of the world.

Corruption was inherently corrosive in nature, and the more time one spent in here, the harder it was for them to recover. At that point, one had to wonder how such a thing came from the body of a goddess of all things.

Actually, Kael had never paid attention to it before, but it was weird, right? That corruption erupted from the body of what was considered the most sacred thing in this world.

’I have a feeling the answer is not going to be anything I like. But should I still look into it? I can—’

[Error: Forbidden topic found. All records of this will be erased from the user’s mind]

As soon as that thought came to Kael’s mind, it slipped away. He did not even recall what he had been thinking about seconds ago.

’Huh? How weird! I was sure I had an important revelation. But maybe it was nothing.’

Kael let out a sigh as he leaned harder against Lyra. She was the only one leading him through the darkness.

The corruption watched them from the sidelines, but Kael was aware of how it was creeping closer to him by the second. It was touching his calves and creeping up his leg before retreating whenever he used his divine magic.

"Lyra, do you have any idea where Seraphina and Iris are in here?"

Kael asked, and Lyra shook her head to show that she did not know.

"I am sorry. We were all separated once we came here and then given our own domain. We should head to my domain first to check what is in here before we can check anyone else’s."

That made sense. If the three domains were similar, then it was only a matter of finding the weakness of one to unweave the others.

And even if they were different, breaking Lyra out was still important for Kael.

Lyra led him to a translucent gate, where she pressed her hand against it, and it sank a little to open a gate in front of Kael.

He entered the space and immediately noticed that it looked like a cozy yet familiar room. There was even a dog bed in the corner, which indicated what this space was.

"Is this..."

"Yeah. This looks like the room you gave me when I stayed with you, right? But I guess that makes sense. After all, this is the most precious place for me."

Lyra looked around the room with a complicated expression on her face, and Kael could not help but notice how different she seemed from the confident demon queen he had known before. There was a certain vulnerability in her eyes that she was desperately trying to hide.

"So this place is really that important to you?"

Kael asked, and Lyra nodded before walking deeper into the room.

"I spent more time here than anywhere else after you took me in. It was the first place where I did not have to worry about someone trying to use me, kill me, or force me to fight. I could simply...exist."

Kael remained silent for a moment before giving her a small smile.

"I am glad it meant that much to you."