Chapter 70: Stop!

The car door had barely opened when Erik stepped out.

"Stop."

His voice was not amplified by magic, but the square had already been suffocatingly silent. The single word rang out clearly, causing the Succubus holding the torch to freeze.

The flame was less than a meter away from the pile of wood beneath the cross. Her hand trembled violently, making the fire sway with every breath. The moment she heard Erik’s voice, her arm immediately dropped as though someone had just pulled her back from the edge of an abyss.

Erik did not look at the man in the golden robe standing on the platform. He walked straight ahead, his gaze fixed on the woman bound to the cross.

The closer he came, the colder his expression grew.

The red-and-black battle armor covering her body was almost completely shattered. One shoulder guard was missing, revealing badly bruised skin and several deep wounds crusted with blood. Her long blonde hair was covered in dirt and dried blood, clinging in matted strands to her pale face. Metal restraints tightly bound both wrists, and the skin around them had been torn open. She had clearly struggled until the very end.

Even the red-orange horns at her temples had dimmed, like flames on the verge of going out.

She did not resemble a criminal who had just been captured.

She looked more like a warrior who had barely dragged herself back from the battlefield.

Elowen quickly stepped out of the car, walked to Erik’s side, and took hold of his arm. When Sarna saw the sun emblem on the man’s golden robe, she immediately frowned.

The man finally spoke. "Who are you? Today’s punishment ceremony was approved by the Sacred Sun Men’s Council. What right do you have to interfere?"

Erik raised his head and looked at him. "I have a question."

The man frowned.

Erik raised a hand and pointed toward the woman on the cross. "What did she do?"

"You don’t need to know."

"You’re about to burn her alive in front of thousands of people." Erik glanced at the firewood piled beneath her feet. "I think everyone here has at least the right to know why."

Several Succubi in the crowd unconsciously raised their heads.

The man on the platform noticed their reactions, and his gaze immediately turned cold. He faced the woman hanging from the cross, his magically amplified voice echoing across the square.

"Her name is Nivoria, a rebellious Succubus. Not only did she refuse to carry out an order, but she also abandoned her position without authorization, disrupted the defensive line, and ultimately attacked a man."

He paused, his voice becoming even harsher.

"That was not merely a betrayal of her Partner. It was a betrayal of the order that has protected Succubi for hundreds of years."

Erik did not respond immediately. He looked at Nivoria.

The woman barely had the strength to open her eyes, but when she heard the word "betrayal," her dry, cracked lips moved slightly.

It was not fear.

It resembled a cold, mocking smile.

At that moment, a very quiet voice came from behind Erik.

"That isn’t what happened..."

Erik tilted his head slightly.

Several meters away, a young Succubus stood with her head lowered. One of her arms was still wrapped in bandages, and her combat uniform remained torn, as though she had not even had time to change after returning.

The woman beside her immediately tugged on her arm.

"Keep your voice down. Do you want to die?"

"But Nivoria didn’t..."

"Keep talking."

Erik’s voice caused both women to turn pale.

The man on the platform shouted, "Silence!"

They immediately lowered their heads. However, just as silence settled over the square again, another voice came from the opposite side of the crowd.

"Nivoria didn’t run away."

The speaker was a middle-aged Succubus. A newly stitched wound marked her forehead, and her lips were deathly pale, but she still forced herself to raise her head. "She wanted those men to stay."

Erik turned toward her. "Why?"

The woman took a deep breath. "They were preparing to abandon the defensive line. If a Partner moves beyond the range of the Bond, the enhancement granted to the Succubi fighting on the front line will weaken."

Another woman gritted her teeth and continued, "Nivoria begged them to remain a little longer. Reinforcements were about to arrive. We only needed to hold the defensive wall..."

"They refused." A trembling voice filled with anger rose from the crowd. "They said we should die there to buy them enough time to escape."

Quiet whispers immediately spread through the square.

"The defensive wall had already begun to crack..."

"Three men were preparing to leave."

"Nivoria was already injured..."

"They used the punishment device on her first."

The man on the platform’s expression changed. "Enough!"

His magically amplified voice exploded across the square, forcing the entire crowd back into silence.

But Erik had already seen the expressions on the faces around him. Some clenched their fists until they bled. Some gritted their teeth. Others clearly knew the truth but did not dare look up.

It was not that they did not want to save Nivoria.

They simply did not dare.

Erik slowly turned back and looked directly at the man on the platform. "So she tried to stop you from running away, you captured her, and now you’re preparing to burn her alive?"

"You’re distorting the truth," the man replied coldly. "She attacked a man."

Erik looked at him for several seconds before saying, "Release her."

The entire square fell silent.

The man thought he had misheard. "What did you just say?"

"I said, release her."

The man’s expression gradually turned ugly. "Do you know who you’re speaking to?"

"I don’t care."

"This is the Council’s judgment."

"I don’t care about that either."

The man gritted his teeth. "You intend to oppose the Men’s Council over a rebellious Succubus?"

Erik raised an eyebrow slightly. "What if I do?"

His voice was quiet, yet thousands of Succubi raised their heads at the same time.

Elowen stood beside Erik, an unmistakable light flashing in her emerald eyes.

He did not know Nivoria. He had never met her and knew nothing about her talent or value.

But he saw someone who had fought until she was exhausted, only to be dragged onto a pyre because she refused to abandon her comrades.

That was enough.

The man on the platform also understood that if Erik continued speaking, the Council’s authority would be reduced to a complete joke. He clenched his hand and ordered coldly, "Arrest him."

No one moved.

He whipped his head toward the Succubus still holding the torch. "You. Arrest him."

The woman flinched. She looked at Erik, then at Nivoria, and finally at the firewood beneath the cross. Her lips trembled. "My lord... he only wants to save Nivoria."

The man’s face immediately flushed with rage. "You dare disobey an order?"

She turned deathly pale and did not dare answer.

The man reached into his robe and pulled out a small device shaped like a pen. Erik’s pupils contracted.

It was the same kind Zeka had used.

"That thing again..."

The man pressed his finger down.

Click.

The woman’s body instantly stiffened. Then an agonized scream tore through the square.

"AAAAAH!"

The torch fell to the ground. The Succubus collapsed to her knees, both hands clutching her chest. Faint purple arcs of electricity continuously flashed beneath her skin, but the pain in her eyes clearly came from more than her body alone.

She rolled across the stone floor, clawing at it until her fingernails bled.

"Stop... please stop..."

"That’s enough!" Erik stepped forward.

Two Succubi near the platform instinctively moved to block him. Erik clenched his fist but did not attack immediately.

He did not yet know how the device worked. More importantly, he did not know what might happen to the woman on the ground if he killed the man holding it.

Several seconds later, her screams gradually weakened. She convulsed twice before becoming motionless.

The man lifted his finger and looked coldly around the square. "This is what happens when you disobey an order."

The anger throughout the square was crushed beneath fear.

On the cross, Nivoria’s eyelids trembled slightly. The scream had pulled her out of her half-conscious state. She struggled to lift her head, and it took her pale blue eyes a long time to find the woman lying unconscious below.

"...Don’t..."

Only Erik, standing nearby, heard her voice.

"...Don’t... suffer because of me..."

After saying that, her head dropped again.

Even as she was about to be burned alive, Nivoria was still worried about the people who might be punished because of her.

The man on the platform raised the device again. "I’ll give all of you one chance. Whoever arrests that man will not be held accountable for what just happened."

Not one person stepped forward.

"But if you refuse..." His fingers slowly stroked the device.

Several Succubi immediately turned pale. Finally, a woman in battle armor stepped out of the crowd, followed by a second and then a third.

None of them dared look at Erik. Some lowered their heads. Some had trembling lips. One even whispered, "I’m sorry..."

Erik did not blame them.

He had just witnessed with his own eyes why they kept their heads lowered.

Just as the group of Succubi prepared to advance, a figure stepped in front of Erik.

Long silver hair rose in the wind.

Elowen.

"Don’t come near my husband."

Her voice was not loud, but it was perfectly clear.

The approaching Succubi immediately stopped. Elowen raised one hand, and pale green Mana erupted from her palm.

Boom!

A violent gale swept across the square. Hair, dresses, and the flags surrounding the platform were blown taut. Spiraling currents of air wrapped around Elowen’s body as pale green light traveled along her arm and gathered at her fingertips.

She was no longer the girl who liked leaning against Erik or became slightly jealous whenever another Succubus moved too close to him.

At that moment, she was a Succubus prepared to fight for her man.

"Elowen." Erik paused slightly.

She did not turn around. "Stay behind me."

Erik fell silent for two seconds.

Those words sounded remarkably familiar.

The Succubi facing her did not want to attack Elowen. Elowen did not want to hurt them either. But under the pressure of the punishment device, no one dared retreat.

The man on the platform shouted, "What are you waiting for?!"

A female warrior tightened her grip on her weapon. Elowen lowered her center of gravity, and the wind surrounding her grew increasingly violent.

Just as both sides prepared to charge, the sky above the square suddenly darkened.

It was not because of clouds.

A vast wave of green Mana was descending from above.