Leonel held onto Aina for a long while. He lost track of time, but if he was truly paying attention, it was easily over an hour before Aina’s tears slowed to a crawl.
However, from start to finish, he didn’t say a word. He only held her in his arms, a protective aura manifesting around him. At that moment, he didn’t care who it was who stood before him, he wouldn’t allow a single hair on her to be harmed.
When Aina’s tears stopped, she fell into a deep sleep. Without a care in the world, her cheek rested against Leonel’s beating heart, its steady rhythm lulling her into a world of dreams.
**
City Lord Keafir sat at his desk, a blank look on his face as he gazed at the dim fire lamp before him.
There were countless methods of keeping tabs on one’s life and death in the Dimensional Verse. Since City Lord White was such an important piece of Terrain’s invasion, it was no surprise that the Cities would invest in monitoring her situation.
Though City Lord Keafir had expected to deal with casualties in this war, maybe the last person he had expected to lose was City Lord White. His heart couldn’t help but swim with a torrent of emotions.
His hand reached out, grasping the dying flame and allowing it to dance in his palm. Despite the fact it was a fire, it held no warmth. In fact, it was quite cold.
Taking a deep breath, City Lord Keafir squeezed his palm into a fist, shattering what remained of the flame.
He closed his eyes, images of what happened during City Lord White’s final moments playing in his mind. He had originally paid the ridiculous expense needed for this feature so that he could be aware of any powerful enemies their scouting reports might have missed out on. But, now, this had little to do with strategy and reconnaissance. He needed to see who had killed her.
After a long while, City Lord Keafir unclenched his fists, his eyes opening. His gaze held a slight hint of red within them that slowly dissipated.
At that moment, Aanred walked into his father’s office. His gaze swept across the 12 fire lamps on his father’s desk before he focused on the one that had been extinguished.
His eyes narrowed.
He knew his father well. Despite the fact that he and City Lord White hadn’t had any relations since that fateful night so many rumors had been spread about, his father hadn’t forgotten about her.
Camelot should have been the easiest target. It was a place without foundations and with a people who had yet to awaken to their abilities. Even Anared had made his displeasure known for his father’s decision back then.
City Lord White was most definitely within the top four in terms of fighting prowess amongst the City Lords. Even if she wasn’t tasked with attacking the Capital, she should have, at the very least, been assigned to either White Angel or Royal Blue Province considering these were the second and third ranked Provinces of Earth.
Yet, because his father wanted to protect her, she was sent to Camelot. And somehow… she died in a place that should have been the safest?
Anared didn’t feel any particular affection for City Lord White. No, it was more accurate to say that he wouldn’t lay his life on the line for her. But, he also wouldn’t stand idly by if her life was in danger.
For anyone who knew his personality, this would be quite shocking. Anared was overly protective of all those he saw as his own, but he wouldn’t even raise a finger to aid those he had no relation to.
The fact that he would help City Lord White at all spoke volumes…
But how could he not? He knew well that Rie was his half sister and that City Lord White was her mother.
Rie thought that she was an orphan, but that was only because the little girl was just too simple. Why would a family like the Keafir family treat a mere orphan so well? She lived the pampered life of a princess and in complete oblivion…
“Who killed her.” Anared asked coldly.
Anared’s father remained silent for a long while, the beating of his heart becoming slower with each passing moment. Eventually, it regained its former calm.
“Aina Brazinger.”
Anared’s pupils constricted when he heard these words. He thought that any expert that managed to kill her would have been an unknown. He had only asked as a formality, expecting a description rather than a name.
Even if he did prepare himself to hear a name, this was the very last name he had expected to. He knew the name Aina Brazinger well since that girl had managed to do something he trained for over a decade to do without lifting a single finger.
That said, Aina couldn’t even defeat Jilniya, how could she possibly stand a chance against City Lord White? Was that some sort of joke.
“Could you have seen wrongly?”
“No.” City Lord Keafir responded blandly. “However, she seemed to have used some double-edged technique that left her incapacitated. We have no way of knowing how often she can use it or even if she would dare to use it again.”
Hearing this, Anared finally understood somewhat. So, it was a berserk type ability…
Berserk abilities weren’t too rare. Those who had strength based abilities like Aina’s would often awaken them as they continued to evolve, it was a natural progression. Often, added strength was related to tapping into more of the body’s potential, so berserk skills were the next natural step.
Of course, Anared only thought this because he had no idea that Aina’s ability wasn’t a strength based ability, but rather a healing based one.
“… Should I lead a troop to Camelot, then? Such a skill wouldn’t be able to be activated twice in quick succession. This is a good opportunity.”
City Lord Keafir stood, his visage expressionless.
“No. City Lord Hargrove is already in position and everything is prepared. We need to be swift and strike fast, giving them no opportunity to counter. Go support him.”
Anared nodded and left, a killing intent hidden deep within his eyes.
Rie might not know that City Lord White was her mother, but there was only so long the little girl could remain so naïve. Since they actually dared to harm his little sister like this, Anared would make them repay this debt in blood.
He wondered what Earth would do when tens of thousands of criminals from its own Dark Cloud Prison were suddenly released?