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GARDEN OF POISON
Chomper from the ground (Chapter 149)
Bound in the room, Anastasia struggled to free her feet with the help of the thorns, which moved back and forth along the ropes. However, progress was slow. After a few hours, the door suddenly swung open, and in stepped the man who had previously ordered her to be thrown into the sea.
Wasn't he supposed to be imprisoned in the dungeon? Anastasia asked herself, noticing the thorn attempting to pry her free had moved away from her.
"My, my my." The Vizier clicked his tongue at the thorns projected towards him. "In the beginning, I kept wondering why Dante avoided every other woman but you. Because, you see, archdemons don't have soulmates. It took me a while to realise that, unlike me, who never experienced birth, he was born as a lowly earthling, with his demonic self suppressed. And I finally figured it was your doing."
Unaware of the Vizier's true identity, she asked, "How did you escape from the dungeon? Where is Dante?"
Anastasia saw Noor standing outside the room, watching her with a resentful glare. She then heard the man reply,
"In Versailles, searching for you like a mad man." Magnus chuckled, seemingly enjoying the idea of Dante's plight. He removed his glasses from his face and said, "We have spent so much time together, yet you look at me as though I am a stranger, Anastasia. When all I wanted to do was become better acquainted with you, especially after what you did to me." He crushed the glasses into dust before their remnants dispersed onto the ground.
Anastasia turned stunned and whispered, "You are the demon…"
Magnus used his fingers to sweep his side-parted hair backwards, and he offered her a maddening smile that was capable of unsettling anyone. "Looks like you finally figured out who I am." Looking around the room, where the thorns continued to thrive, he added, "You have built quite a fort here."
When Magnus touched one of the thorns, his skin sizzled, as if he had touched molten lava. He laughed before questioning her, "You think you are safe in this? Think again, Anastasia." He turned to where Noor stood and ordered, "Bring Alrad here."
Feeling worry and nervousness creeping under her skin, she asked, "Why am I here?"
Magnus clapped his hands, his smile ever-constant, which appeared crazy in Anastasia's eyes. He said, "Now that you ask, the curse that you placed upon the three demons weakened me, even though I never set foot inside the coffin you designed for me. I have been waiting for Dante's arrival, but then I realised, I can make use of you too, along with him. You know, one stone, two birds. All I need is for you to be restored to your former power and strength."
"You mean my fae," Anastasia whispered, and Magnus affirmed with a nod.
"You are smart; you grasp things quickly. When the Devil created the realm of the dead, he used pillars, each of them housing a crystal within." He then whispered, "I stole a few of them when I came here. He probably thinks it's Raylen who took them. You see, these crystals are special, and they can enable me to make a world of my own."
So what he wanted was to wield dominion over the world like the Devil did. It appeared that inhabitants of the dead realm were no different from those in the realm of the living—they were perpetually unsatisfied with their current status and forever aspired to ascend higher. She heard footsteps outside the room, and shortly after, her eyes fell upon the Eldest minister, whom she had previously seen in the Blackthorn Palace's royal court.
"The greater the number of people Dante kills, the better for me," Magnus hummed with glee.
"Dante is not a monster like you think him to be," Anastasia stated. With the truth now revealed, the situation had changed. "Why can't you just let him be? He has nothing to do wit—"
Magnus erupted in laughter, and he ordered the Elder minister, "Burn this down," with a serious glint in his eyes.
Alrad positioned himself before the thorns and raised his hands. Anastasia exerted her will to compel the poisonous thorns to hold their ground, but before long, the stems and the vines caught fire, reducing them all to ashes upon the ground.
"Foolish woman, did you truly believe your silly earthling tricks would work on us demons?" Magnus taunted her with a snide expression as he came to stand before her. "I am gathering the souls of the deceased. Don't you wish to see your sister?"
Upon hearing this, Anastasia's face turned pale, leaving her stunned. This demon was deceiving her! There was no conceivable way her sister was within his grasp. She said, "She is in Heaven…"
"Are you absolutely certain?" Magnus asked, and Anastasia shot him a fierce glare. "She still screams, haunted by the wounds of being stabbed and abandoned. I overheard her lamenting about how you left her to die in the palace, how you made plans to run."
Anastasia clenched her teeth and strained against her bound hands, even though she was still no match for the archdemon.
Magnus wanted to restore the fae to her former strength, so that it would unleash not only her power, but also help him resurrect his former ambitions of creating a new world. He extended his hand to grip her chin, prompting Anastasia to swiftly jerk her head away to evade his touch. He said, "Initially, I contemplated corrupting Dante by taking the path that would leave him without his soulmate, but it struck me yesterday that it would be a protracted route. Why wait when I can kill you after using you and hasten his descent into corruption? He will be a good ally."
All these people were insane, Anastasia thought to herself.
The urge to protect herself from the demon surged within her, and a second later, a circle adorned with inscribed words and intricate intersecting lines expanded outward from the centre of her chair. A luminous white light emanated from it, inflicting damage on the demon standing before her. When she opened her eyes, she saw Magnus's skin beginning to dissolve.
However, instead of looking angry, he appeared pleased as he remarked, "I told you, you are an earthling." With a snap of his fingers, a larger circle formed around the one she had conjured, this one black and emitting fumes.
The creepers slithered their way back inside, the vines now resembling moving serpents. But as poisonous as the vines were, they inflicted minimal harm upon the archdemon. All the vines were incinerated by the Elder minister named Alrad.
"Sire!" Another Elder minister rushed into the room and reported, "One of the underlings has sighted Dante heading in this direction."
"That's quicker than we expected," Alrad frowned, as they weren't expecting Dante to arrive for at least another two days.
Magnus's laughter gave way to a sneer. "Seems like the preparations to activate the tower should be done by now. Go tell Mornach to start the process. It should only take four to five hours for him to arrive."
"What about the spirit source?" Alrad asked with evident concern, his gaze shifting to Anastasia.
Anastasia realised that the objective in these demons' eyes was to kill her. She heard Magnus say,
"Then it's time for an intensive crash course so that we can extract the utmost from her," and he threw something in Anastasia's direction.
For a second, Anastasia was still, until a piercing scream erupted from her as invisible wires attempted to burrow into her body, as if coiled around her, intent on cutting her.
"Wouldn't using a dagger be a simpler way to end her?" Noor inquired, her desire to finish Anastasia evident.
Magnus glared at the lowly earthling before he turned back to look at Anastasia and said, "Killing her would be like killing a golden goose. The demonic wires will bring forth her power."
Anastasia had never felt anything like this before, and it surpassed even the lashes she had received from Niyasa. The unrelenting agony was rendering her senses almost numb. Having never had a guide to help her discover her forest fae lineage, her experiences had been limited to playing with flowers and watching them blossom in her hands.
The demons diminished the abilities she thought she could currently employ.
The people in the room departed, leaving her alone while they went to inspect the towers and ascertain Dante's whereabouts. From a distance, she heard the Elder minister say, "We will have her transferred to the tower once she's ready. Stand guard here."
After several minutes passed, Anastasia's throat grew parched, and no sound escaped her lips.
Think, Anna, think. If not the vines, there should be spells, but where could she find them when she couldn't recall a single word of them?! Amidst the persisting panic, she tried to calm herself.
[Music Recommendation: Iron Poetry- Really Slow Motion]
'Papa!' Anastasia remembered jumping into her father's arms. 'Papa!' the young voice cried out, tinged with distress.
'What's the matter, Anna? What has brought you to tears?' Her father scooped her up in his arms, gently wiping the tears from her cheek.
Young Anastasia brought her hands forward, cupped together with gaps between her fingers. She shifted one of her hands to reveal a butterfly struggling to fly. Her father looked at her and asked,
'What happened to this one? Did you find it on the ground?'
The little girl wore an expression of guilt, her gaze fixed on the butterfly with a slightly detached wing. In a small voice, she confessed, 'I didn't see it… I swear. I was walking and didn't see it. Is it going to die?'
'Oh, honey. It wasn't your fault,' her father reassured her as he sat down on their back door stairs, placing her on his lap. He continued, 'Its wing is broken, but… if you want, you can heal it.'
'I can?' The little one looked up at her father with big, brown eyes.
Her father suggested, 'Here, why don't you gently pat the butterfly's wing so that it knows you care and wish from the bottom of your beautiful heart that it gets better?'
The little girl caressed the injured butterfly, her heart aching for its plight, and she whispered, 'I hope you can fly again. I hope you don't die.' Soon, the broken wing reattached to the butterfly's body, enabling it to flap its wings and take flight from her palm.
What if… What if there was never a spell? Anastasia asked herself.
Locked inside the room with guards standing outside, she looked down at the invisible wires that had etched deep marks on her body, tracing lines of blood. Focusing her entire concentration, she willed the invisible lines to vanish, and in the blink of an eye, so did the ropes that bound her to the chair.
She just freed her hands when a distant explosion reached her ears. At this rate, Magnus would transform the living realm into a desolate wasteland, Anastasia said to herself. She shifted her gaze to the ground, and in response, plants began to sprout. Another creeper, stronger than before, snaked its way towards the door, scaling it effortlessly as it reached the top.
Knock! Knock!
Four guards stood outside the door, and upon hearing the knock, one of them opened it. However, when the man set foot inside the room, he noticed the woman still seated in the chair before he sensed something moving in his peripheral vision.
As the guard turned, his eyes widened and his voice caught in his throat at the sight of a huge plant with a head and mouth lined with sharp shark-like teeth. Before a word could leave his mouth, the plant opened its mouth wide and lunged, swallowing the guard whole within its venomous maw.
"Holy plant…" Anastasia muttered, seeing the guard disappear in the plant's mouth. ________
GARDEN OF POISON
Hindrances before the end(Chapter 150)
Music Recommendation: Clockwork - Original mix Hyper
—
On the outskirts of Nightworth town, dust filled the air as one of the watchtowers shattered and crashed to the ground following a collision. The bell ropes were hastily pulled to sound the alarm, though this area wasn't inhabited by commoners; instead, it served as the headquarters for the Elder ministers, who exerted control over several kingdoms beneath them.
"ATTACK ON THE TOWN! GATHER MEN TO FIGHT!" men in the commanding rank shouted at their underlings. The men in service of the Elder ministers were individuals of lower demon blood who possessed strength surpassing that of ordinary earthlings.
One of the officers, having rallied his men at the front, shouted, "The attack is being carried out by Dante Blackthorn! Kill him on sight! I repeat, accept only de—"
A heavy stone hurtled towards the officer, and in the next instant, his body lay on the ground, headless. As the dust began to descend and coat the ground, they glimpsed the silhouette of an indistinct figure, its form appearing unusually wide.
"Officer!" The men nearby gasped upon seeing the lifeless body before turning their gaze back to where Dante stood, and one of them said, "He was supposed to arrive later; how did he come here so quickly?!"
"Did he arrive with reinforcements??" another inquired, and he was about to suggest splitting their forces for battle when they noticed Dante was alone.
Though they had encountered Dante in the past when he was a prince, where his demeanour had been composed, they were now greeted by a completely different person. His appearance and disposition had undergone a notable transformation, not to mention that they couldn't ignore the huge wings extending from his back.
"What the fuck is that…?" whispered someone from behind.
Dante didn't pay attention to the uttered words and let out a resounding shout, as every sense in his body focused on locating Anastasia. But even though he arrived in the town, he hoped the Devil had not tricked him. He couldn't smell his lover, and all he could pick up was the filthy stench of the lowly demons. Without missing a heartbeat, he demanded,
"Where is Anastasia Flores, the one brought here from Versailles? If you lead me to her, I will spare your life."
"Kill him!" someone shouted, and in response, a group of people raced towards him, brandishing their weapons to carry out the command to end him.
Dante's eyes narrowed in annoyance. It wasn't just Anastasia who seemed untraceable, but also Magnus, eluding his senses. If Anastasia was truly here, he would have sensed her presence through their soulmate bond, but suddenly, it felt detached, as if it didn't exist, and that made him furious.
As two men approached him, weapons raised, Dante raised his hands and snapped his fingers. The men exploded into a spray of blood, leaving the onlookers' mouths hanging in shock.
"Earthlings with demon blood are a disappointment," Dante said, wiping the smear of blood off one side of his face. "So, who wants to hit dirt next?"
"I never knew you were one to make a fancy entrance, Prince Dante," one of the Elder ministers remarked as he arrived with another Elder in tow. "First, you killed four of the Elders, and now you're causing damage to our property."
"What happened to you, Prince Dante? You were once so calm and peaceful, and now you have become conceited," said the second Elder minister.
Dante let out a resigned sigh, realising there was no shortcut. Magnus had strategically positioned the Elder ministers as obstacles for him to fight and hinder him, buying time for whatever he was planning. When his eyes moved to look at the lower demons, they quickly moved backwards, not wanting to be the next victim of his finger-snap.
"People are never satisfied," Dante murmured, taking a step forward. The wings on his back disappeared, as if unable to sustain their extended presence any longer, given the strength and speed they had exerted to bring him here. "When I was an earthling, I was called weak and had no power. Now that I am a demon, you see me as a threat and despise me. Pitiful, just like the lowly demons," he remarked.
"Brixton, I will go first," the second Elder minister declared and advanced a step forward. "Your snaps and tricks aren't going to work on the four of us. We possess crystals more refined than the others."
A faint smile appeared on Dante's lips, and he said, "I was going to spare your lives, but if one insists on leaping into a pyre… who am I to stop them?"
The next second, a close combat fight broke out between the two of them, prompting the others to retreat even further away. The minister conjured a staff out of thin air and wielded it against Dante, who deftly dodged its attacks. The man didn't hold back, forcefully thrusting his staff at the archdemon and smashing through any obstacles in his way. They blocked each other's well-aimed punches, swift kicks, and calculated strikes. However, unlike others who heavily relied on their abilities, Dante had nothing to lean on except his honed and practised skills.
Finding an opening, Dante used his hand to direct a forceful blow to the minister's chest, which made the man cough. Simultaneously, he grabbed the staff and yanked it forward, which caused the minister to lose his balance for a second.
And all it took was that second for Dante to plunge his fingers deep into the minister's back, right where the man's heart resided. At the same time, a dark fume escaped from the body as he released it, and it dissipated into the ground.
The eyes of the Elder minister named Brixton narrowed as he witnessed Dante dispatch one of his fellow men with such ease. Cracking his knuckles, he said, "Dante, all you have to do is join forces with Magnus. There's no need for unnecessary bloodshed."
Dante lifted his hand to examine his blood-soaked claws. His bloodthirsty eyes shifted to look at the minister, and he remarked, "I had suggested the same, but none of you chose life, so die."
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