Book 5 Chapter 1.5 - Darkness and Hope
A moment later, Persephone appeared outside a small village. At this time, the sky had already brightened, and wisps of smoke began to rise from the village. People were busy about. This village was located at the edge of the snowy line, inside only a dozen or so households, as well as a few men with one or two levels of ability. The village was located within the Holy Crusaders' territory, the main reason for its location the gathering of logs, as well as offering supplies for those who were preparing to cross the mountain ridge. There was abundant prey in the nearby forest, allowing the people in this village to live rich and peaceful lives.
In this era, the mortality rates of infants were extremely high. In addition, due to the substantially increased birth rate, people didn't attach much importance to newborns either. Most newborns would develop various mutations upon birth, so pure-blooded humans were extremely rare. Several decades of experience already proved that pure-blooded humans without mutations possessed more talent for abilities, which made pure-blooded infants exceedingly precious.
Persephone placed the child under a large tree at the entrance of the village before silently leaving. She knew that two hours later, a few men would come out from the village and pass through this place, thus seeing her child. The little fella's tender skin would immediately make others believe that it was a pure-blooded human, and with large organizations like the Holy Crusaders or Black Dragonriders, there was no way they wouldn't understand the significance of a pure-blooded human. They would likely bring this child back and slowly raise him. As for whether or not they would discover this child's secret, Persephone could only pray that they wouldn't. By leaving this child here, he had at least a small chance of survival. If he followed her, that would definitely be a road to death.
Persephone organized her clothes and hair, put her glasses back on, and then produced the final pencil in her collection. She then disappeared towards the snowy mountains without turning back.
It wasn't that she didn't want to, but rather that she didn't dare do so. She knew that if she turned around and gave him a single look, she might never be able to leave again. At that time, she would only be bringing destruction and disaster onto her child.
Two minutes later, several men with automatic rifles slung over their shoulders left the village while chatting and laughing. They passed that large tree, discovering the swaddling clothes under the tree. However, only the swaddling clothes were left, the infant inside nowhere to be seen.
When darkness fell, Eileen suddenly released a soft cry of surprise, the expression on her face extremely strange. O'Brien discovered the change in her expression, only, he was too preoccupied to ask about it. His face was deathly pale, doing everything he could to suppress his rolling stomach, struggling to prevent the stuff inside from coming out from his throat. In reality, apart from gastric fluids, there wasn't anything else inside of his stomach. It had already been two days since he ate anything, only drinking a few mouthfuls of water. His heavy injuries had yet to heal, and then with how Eileen carried him on her shoulder for an entire day to prevent him from slowing her down, O'Brien's skeleton already felt as if it was about to separate. However, as long as they could catch up to Persephone a bit earlier, he could endure any pain and humiliation. Inside the Hebilu's land of fantasy, O'Brien had experienced a suffering tens of times worse than this.
"I can already sense Persephone. She is actually heading straight for me. It really is strange." Eileen muttered to herself. Persephone's actions were undoubtedly no different from death. It was because as long as they were far enough, Eileen would only know a general direction, unable to precisely determine her location. If Persephone could run a bit further, Eileen might even lose track of her.
Eileen was always someone who would rather take action instead of repeatedly thinking things over. She didn't want to think too much, so she grabbed O'Brien with one motion, and then her body floated up, suddenly increasing her speed to the max, flying towards Persephone at full power.
An hour later, Eileen and Persephone confronted each other. Her large eyes continuously looked at Pesephone's smooth stomach region, the expression on her face revealing more and more shock.
"You already gave birth? Where's the kid?" Eileen finally couldn't help but ask.
"Do you feel like you I will tell you where my child is? Don't waste any more time. Didn't you want to kill me? Then just come!" A pencil danced between her fingertips, the spinning pencil tip releasing sharp whistling sounds.
The current Persephone was smiling beautifully and seductively, and there even seemed to be a faint layer of radiance surrounding her. Eileen finally acknowledged that her own appearance couldn't compare to this general who had just become a mother. However, her mood was surprisingly not as dejected as she expected.
While looking at Persephone, Eileen stared blankly for a moment, and then said with a soft sigh, "You… you returned to give your life away? All so that I won't find your child?"
Persephone smiled, tacitly agreeing. When she saw Eileen seem to relax a bit, she suddenly released a grunt. Her body abruptly rushed forward, the pencil piercing towards Eileen!
Only when the pencil was about to pierce through her throat did Eileen seem to wake from her shock. As a Magic Domain true holy level expert, with just a slight shift of her body, several defensive force fields already appeared. However, the force added to Persephone's pencil was powerful and fierce, only pressing forward and not moving backwards, deeply reflecting her personality. Even with only six levels of power, the pencil still tore through Eileen's force fields one after another, the final bit of force causing the pencil to brush across her cheeks, leaving behind a light streak of blood on her tender skin.
Eileen finally sensed danger, seven or eight treacherous and strange magic abilities simultaneously bombarding Persephone's body. None of these magical attacks were direct attacks, all of them negative status or mobility restraining abilities. Restrictive magic abilities are extremely rare, and even eighth level Magic Domain users would often only know two or three abilities of these types, while Eileen had to close to ten she could display instantly, her terrifying talent in the Magic Domain truly astonishing.
Persephone was instantly restricted in midair, unable to move an inch.
Eileen suddenly asked, "Is doing this worth it? Is this for your child, or is it for Su?"
Persephone who was awaiting her fate to arrive was extremely calm. She carefully thought for a bit, and then said, "Probably both!"
Eileen sighed, and then she dispelled all restrictions on Persephone with a wave of her hand. "I don't want to kill you anymore. Just return with me."
Persephone directly turned her down. "Impossible! You should know that as a woman, I would rather you bring my corpse back than become a captive!"
"This time, it's for Su?" Eileen's eyes flickered with a continuously fluctuating radiance.
Persephone took a deep breath. She smiled extremely brilliantly, saying, "Perhaps."
Eileen didn't say a second word. It was unknown what she was thinking, but she was thinking hard. After a bit, seemingly unable to find an answer, she shrugged her shoulders in a somewhat vexed manner, deciding to just toss all of the random thoughts aside. Eileen dragged over O'Brien who had already went unconscious, shook his body a few times in front of Persephone and said, "He already agreed to become the father of my future child as the condition of exchange. I won't kill you, nor will I capture you. That's why you can relax, we aren't enemies anymore."
"What did you say?!" This information was too sudden. Persephone didn't dare believe her ears.
At this time, O'Brien finally woke up in a daze. Pain, along with hunger and fatigue tormented him endlessly. Even though he was awake, he could only barely stabilize himself by leaning against Eileen's body. The first moment he opened his eyes, he saw Persephone, immediately calming his heart. O'Brien could only weakly smile, unable to even speak any words.
Persephone gave O'Brien a look, and then looked at Eileen. She suddenly reached out to grab O'Brien's face, fiercely pinching it while saying, "Your new job doesn't seem that bad! Alright then, you have work hard, fuck her ruthlessly, have her make quite a few!"
"That is what I have in mind as well." Eileen said.
Persephone was stunned. When she saw Eileen's incredibly serious expression, she was finally defeated.