Chapter 38: The Answer (Part III)

Alastor held me in his arms, assuming the stance of a protector. The blood-red vines, like living demonic entities, slowly extended and entwined around him.

“Alastor, let me go, quick!” Seeing his already pale skin turn increasingly translucent, I cried out in alarm.

“No,” Alastor chuckled.

Ignoring this guy who seemed smart but was actually stubborn to a fault, I glared urgently at Albus. “Isn't this Colorless Binding yours?! Why are you trying to persuade her! Release us this instant!”

“The Colorless Binding must be undone by the one who cast the spell; I am powerless.” Albus did not look at me, walking straight toward the Queen. “Aurora, let go.”

“Do not come any closer.” The Queen took a step back, swung her hand violently to the side, and the color of the Colorless Binding grew even more vivid. She looked at me with a smile. “Don't waste your strength. I have bound a contract between the Blood of Pure Magic and the Colorless Binding; no one but me can undo it.”

My spirit faltered, and my vision blurred. Was there... truly no escape this time?

“Aurora...” Albus’s voice sounded distant, carrying an inexplicable desolation.

“Albus, aren't you happy? We can be together forever soon, together forever...” Her glass-colored eyes held an impatient fever and joy, shining with an eerie brilliance. “Just wait for me a little longer, just a little longer. Once I have eaten her, we can be together forever. I will possess immense power, and no one will ever separate us again. Those old fools at the Inquisition will never be able to interfere with us again...”

“Don't do this, Aurora. Stop!” Albus’s voice grew slightly stern.

“You like her, don't you? You like her, right?” The Queen seemed to be caught between laughing and crying. “Don't be sad. Once I eat her, we will be the same person. The one you like is me; we were the same person all along...”

Unable to pay any more mind to that child who was both laughing and crying, I felt the pain in my body grow more intense. My form was gradually becoming semi-transparent. In a daze, I saw that Alastor was in no better shape than I was. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sorrow in my heart. “You idiot, let go...”

“I once swore by blood that I would accompany you forever,” those deep blue eyes looked at me, carrying a faint, clear smile. “So, if you vanish, I have no choice but to vanish with you. I will never let go...”

“There are beautiful women everywhere in the Demon Realm and the mortal world; it would be such a waste for you to disappear like this...”

“Yeah, what a waste,” Alastor’s voice grew lower and lower. “But I can’t let go...”

“Let go, I won't blame you.” Seeing his breath weakening, I tried to coax him.

“Vanishing alone would be very lonely. It’ll be a bit better if I’m with you.” Blinking his eyes, Alastor suddenly burst into a smile.

I froze for a moment and rolled my eyes. What kind of timing was this for him to act like a clown?

Persuading him to let go was harder than reaching the heavens. I looked down at the blood-colored vines, closed my eyes, and slowly reached out my arms to embrace Alastor.

Alastor was taken aback, a flicker of joy appearing in his eyes. Taking advantage of his distraction, I gritted my teeth, gathered my last thread of strength, and threw myself sideways into the Queen standing nearby.

The Queen’s expression shifted. She reached out and quickly struck with a blade of light manifested in mid-air. As the light blade flashed past, I had already left a bloody mark on her cheek. The Colorless Binding, sensing the scent of the Blood of Pure Magic, loosened slightly. I used the momentum to push Alastor away and turned to grip the Queen tightly instead.

The Queen looked at me in shock.

The blood-red Colorless Binding spread at double the speed, binding me and the Queen tightly together in an instant. I held her fast, my eyes to her eyes, my nose to her nose—zero distance contact.

“Want to eat me? Go ahead.” Holding her, I spoke through gritted teeth.

The Colorless Binding was a manifestation of Albus’s spiritual power; other than Albus himself, a user had to seal it with a blood contract. Thus, the contract holder's blood possessed a fatal attraction for the Binding.

The glass-colored pupils darkened slightly, and the Queen slowly parted her cherry-petal lips.

“I couldn't ask for more.”

She looked at me and suddenly, unexpectedly, laughed.

Under the effect of the Colorless Binding, I felt a powerful force sucking me into the Queen’s body. Our bone and blood merged.

Pain.

Inexpressible pain.

A fate worse than death.

“Aurora!”

“Aurora!”

Two cries of alarm reached my ears as my consciousness gradually grew hazy.

A crimson ocean. Countless evil spirits hissed and roared in my ears, their faces hideous, their bodies covered in blood and filth.

I felt as if I were trapped in a scarlet mire, sinking inch by inch, unable to move.

Just as I was sinking into panic, suddenly, a melodious song rang out. The singing seemed to come from the distant horizon, yet it was incomparably clear. Along with the song, a white feather drifted down from the sky, spiraling down to land upon that sea of blood-red mud.

“Abolish all original sin; let all return before the throne of God.”

In my mind, there was a gentle and compassionate voice.

Abolish all original sin; let all return before the throne of God...

Abolish all original sin; let all return before the throne of God...

In an instant, the evil spirits dispersed.

The crimson mire vanished.

I slowly opened my eyes and found myself still standing in the room.

Alastor and Albus stood on either side of me, about a meter away. Neither took a step forward; both were staring at me blankly.

I looked around. Everything had returned to tranquility. I was the only one left.

They looked at me with expressions more troubled than my own, like criminals in a courtroom awaiting their sentence.

So, who am I?

Am I the Queen, or am I Aurora?

“Aurora?” Alastor spoke suddenly, his voice carrying an imperceptible tremor.

Trying to move, I felt a strange power surging within my body. My eyes involuntarily turned toward Albus, as if a force were pulling me to walk toward him.

Alastor slowly took a step back, his face deathly pale.

A trace of complex emotion mixed into those frigid eyes, followed by a sense of relief. Albus watched me approach him, and his cold gaze warmed up bit by bit.

“Albus...” I spoke mechanically, slowly reaching out my arms as if asking for a hug.

As usual, Albus opened his arms with a slight smile on his lips, waiting for the Queen to come into his embrace.

I closed my eyes, trying to control my chaotic thoughts.

Deep in my heart, a tiny voice was weeping. She murmured in my soul over and over, “Albus, Albus, Albus...”

I shook my head to clear that voice away. Glancing to the side, I saw Alastor standing in the shadows, looking at me with despair. A single drop of blood-red tear actually slid slowly from his deep blue eyes.

That fool...

I suddenly broke into a grin and held up a hand to give him a victory sign.

Alastor froze, staring at me stupidly, that blood-red tear trembling on his eyelashes, about to fall.

Albus’s hands froze in mid-air. He stared at me blankly, a sense of sorrow slowly surfacing in those cold eyes.

“Aurora!” Alastor let out a dry wail and rushed toward me with an exaggerated flourish, acting as if he had just found a long-lost relative.

I instinctively raised my foot and kicked. With a loud “thump,” Alastor flew out in a parabolic arc.

“Aurora...” Alastor looked back at me resentfully.

“Heh... hehe... my body still feels a bit weird... you'll get used to it, you'll get used to it.” I raised a hand to rub my head and laughed sheepishly.

Looking involuntarily at Albus standing to the side, I heard the sound of the Queen weeping in the depths of my heart.

I won.