Snakes and Stars [6]

NO!'

What Sylvia saw was Theodore's tattered body with the mangled corpse of an unidentified man besides him.

He was lying by the side of her bed, with blood flowing from deep gashed on his arms and stomach staining her bed sheets red.

Sylvia immediately ran up to him, ignoring the strange man's corpse.

"Good, he's still alive!", she sighed in relief as she checked Theodore's pulse.

Picking up Theodore's body, she dashed out of her room to look for help.

Clank—!

Since her room was located at quite an obscure corner of the huge mansion, it took her quite a while to reach her destination - the servants' quarters.

Not wasting anytime, she kicked the door open.

"HELP! THEODORE IS DYIN—"

However, what she saw upon entering the room was so shocking that she almost dropped Theodore to the floor.

'I- It can't be!'

...

Sylvia was sitting in a chair in the garden, her face was still as expressionless as ever. However, that facade did nothing to hide her sadness, which was displayed by streams of tears flowing from her eyes, dropping onto her blood-stained nightgown that she hadn't changed out of.

"Lady Sylvia..."

Hearing the familiar voice, Sylvia slowly cocked her head to the right to see Theodore, who was bandaged up almost like a mummy.

However, she ignored him and continued staring at the ground blankly.

Theodore wanted to say something but he decided to remain silent. After all, he knew better than to disturb her, at least not right after what had happened.

A few hours prior, Sylvia kicked the door to the servants' quarters open only to see the horrifying sight of maids and butler lying on the floor as corpses, with their innards spewing all over the floor.

However, that wasn't what made her so depressed. Instead, it was because of the fact that almost everyone important to her died that night.

'B- Brother...'

Noah Adrancus was found dead in his room. He was killed painlessly via a clean cut on his throat.

'R- Ria, she...!'

Ria Pyrian was also killed. However, her death was anything but painless, as she was a Phoenix.

'Father...'

Her father, duke Evanos Adrancus, was found dead in his office along with duke Freywright Pyrian. There was signs of struggles, but evidences showed that the fight ended rather quickly.

As this was clearly an assassination targeted at 2 Great dukes, investigation teams from the Imperial palace were immediately dispatched.

There had been speculations on what or who had killed 2 <S> ranked powerhouses of the Empire that were the 2 dukes. However, specialized Time mages confirmed that the perpetrator was none other than... a Void prince, the dreaded existence that had reached the rank of <SS>.

Sylvia losing almost all of her precious ones was bad enough for her already fragile mental state. However, knowing the reason why the Void prince even bothered to come here in the first place had shaken her to the core.

She had observed the time mages as they reconstructed the scene, determined to find out who could do such a horrible thing to her family.

===

⌈I sensed a disturbance in the causality of time. Are you perhaps housing a regres—⌋

"DON'T TALK BULLSHIT!", Evanos shouted as he attacked the Void prince.

Sighing, the Void prince muttered. ⌈Well, it doesn't matter anyways. Since I'm already here, I might as well remove some future obstacles⌋

===

Although the Time mages had no clue what the Void prince was talking about, Sylvia knew full well what it meant.

As such, Sylvia was now sitting in the garden, depressed.

"I- It's all my fault...!", she muttered as she grabbed her head with both of her hands.

"I- If I wasn't here in the first place, m- maybe they wouldn't have died!", her eyes shook violently as her teeth gnashed together.

"T- That's right, maybe I should just die already—"

"LADY SYL!"

With a shout, Theodore rushed up to Sylvia and shook her shoulders.

"Stop it! It's not your fault!"

"Wh- What?", Sylvia stared at Theodore coldly.

"The lady Syl that I know is strong, both physically and mentally. She would never even consider doing such a thing!"

Hearing this, her cold and emotionless face cracked. She didn't care about her Eyes infecting other people anymore. She just wanted to let all of her pent up emotions out.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?", she screamed as even more tears fell down her cheeks. "I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT IT'S BECAUSE OF ME THAT FATHER, BROTHER, AND RIA IS DEA—"

Not letting Sylvia continue, Theodore suddenly moved in and hugged her tightly.

"...!"

Sylvia, surprised by his sudden actions, froze on the spot.

Before long, she had came back to her right mind and gradually distanced herself from him, albeit with much reluctance.

"Have you calmed down now?", Theodore asked with a gentle tone.

Sylvia meekly nodded.

Before he could continue, however, Sylvia suddenly jolted up in panic.

"T- Theo! A- Are you alright? Did my Eyes activ—"

"I'm fine. Your Eyes don't affect me, I guess"

After spending a few more minutes inspecting Theodore, Sylvia was finally convinced and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Lady Syl...", Theodore suddenly spoke up as he grabbed Sylvia's hand. "Please don't talk about taking your own life like that"

"..."

"Young master Noah, duke Adrancus, and lady Ria wouldn't want to see you uttering such nonsenses"

"..."

"Besides...", Theodore closed his eyes for a few seconds before continuing. "...Watching you talking about killing yourself so easily like that saddens me. So please, even if you think nothing of yourself, never give up on your own life. After all, this lowly servant will always be there for you"

Something akin to a dam was broken inside Sylvia. To her right now, Theodore wasn't a servant, nor a friend. Instead, he was someone that she could always rely on.

As such, she buried her face into his chest, and cried like there was no tomorrow.

After a few minutes of crying, Sylvia's head cleared up, and her sadness vanished without a trace. Instead, a sense of determination bloomed inside her instead.

'Never give up, huh?'

With the death of her father, brother, and best friend, Sylvia became even more determined than before to find out the secret to her regression.

Having sorted her mind out, she looked up at Theodore again, who was averting his eyes with flushed cheeks.

"Thanks, Theo!"

...

A year had passed since the incident.

The Void fiends became more active after the Empire practically lost 2 grand dukes overnight. And of course, the Kingdom, who had been gathering their forces, had became much bolder now, even to the point of outright murdering envoys sent by the Empire.

Not just that, the politics landscape of the Adrancus dukedom had changed greatly. With Evanos and Noah out of the picture, Annabeth easily gained massive support and became the new duchess.

And Sylvia... her position had not changed much as the Duchess instantly lost all interests in her as soon as she inherited the title. However, that wasn't to say that the twins had spared her. Instead, the bullying only worsened.

'I don't know what I'd do if Theo wasn't here...', Sylvia thought.

Although her willpower was more than enough to deal with the petty twins, she wasn't sure how well she would fare against the harsh bullying without Theodore by her side, especially when her mind was shaken after her father, brother, and best friend's deaths.

Pausing her thoughts there, Sylvia focused on her current situation again.

Donning a pure white dress, she was attending a banquet held in the Imperial palace with her knight, Theodore Gray.

-Greetings, Sylvia Adrancus!

-Lady Sylvia, let me introduce myself!

Noble scions flocked to Sylvia, aiming to make a connection with the duchess. Considering her circumstances and reputation right now, she must have seemed like an easy target to them.

'I forgot how exhausting it is to deal with these nobles...'

All of this flatteries, however, didn't make her feel good about herself. Instead, she felt nauseous as she had to endure through all of this.

'Why do I have to be here again...'

Sylvia was soon snapped out of her thoughts by the sight of the crowed around her splitting apart, followed by a familiar voice, one that she really wished she wouldn't have to ever hear again.

"Are you lady Sylvia?"

It was Max Vermillion.

"Yes, I am", Sylvia responded politely.

'Seems like he's still here in this regression... what did I even expect?'

Oblivious to Sylvia's thoughts, Max gave her a smile. The smile was so charming that even the noble girls who were standing on the sidelines had their eyes widened and their cheeks flushed at the sight.

However, seeing that Sylvia's face was still expressionless as ever, Max's smile turned into that of amusement instead.

'So that's why...', Sylvia had more or less figured out why Max was so obsessed over her now.

He, quite literally, only chased after her because he couldn't seduce her like he did with other girls, not unlike how a spoiled rich brat would throw a tantrum over things that he can't get his hands on.

'...How vile'

Her face then almost contorted into that of pure disgust when she noticed Max trying to get closer to her with a shrewd smile.

"Lady Sylvia, perhaps you don't know who I am yet. I'm the sole heir of house Vermilli— AHHHHHHH!"

Theodore, sensing his liege's discomfort, decided to step in. Using whatever mysterious skill he had, he scared Max witless and made him fall onto the floor while letting out a terrified scream.

"Are you okay, young master Vermillion? Did merely tripping on your own feet hurt that much?", Theodore said with a mocking smile.

Despite his seemingly concerned statement, however, Theodore kept on using his Skill to scare Max, who was already squirming on the ground in fright.

'Pffffffft!', Sylvia almost failed to contain her laughter once she noticed that the crotch area of Max's pants was wet.

Calming herself down, she tapped Theodore's shoulders. "That's enough, let's get out of here"

Theodore nodded and escorted his liege out into the palace's garden, but not before smirking at Max and leaving a final remark.

"It reeks of urine. Who could have been insolent enough to piss themselves in the Imperial palace?"

He then curtly turned around and followed Sylvia, leaving behind Max, who had shrunk back in embarrassment as everyone's gazes were on him, or more specifically, his pants.

...

"Thanks for your hard work", Sylvia said in a monotonous tone as a royal guard in the garden walked away to continue with his patrol.

Seeing that he was out of sight, Sylvia plopped down to a bench and heaved a sigh. "Haaaaaaaah..."

She then turned towards Theodore with a chuckle. "Thanks for the help back there"

Hearing this, Theodore coughed in embarrassment. "No need to thank me, lady Syl. I'm merely doing my job as a knight and a protector"

"Suit yourself then. However, don't scare my potential future husband so much that he pisses himself next time"

"Yes. I will remembe—"

Theodore was startled by Sylvia's statement. His eyes shook violently, but only for a split moment. After all, he noticed the mischievous grin she had on her face soon after.

Sylvia chuckled at Theodore's reaction. "Pffffft! How could you fall for it? As if I'd want to even come close to a guy as creepy as him"

'No way in hell am I forming a relationship with that creepy stalker!'

Of course, her thoughts weren't voiced out as she didn't want to reveal the fact that she was a regressor to anyone, not even Theodore, any time soon.

"I- It's not nice to pull a prank on me like that, y- you know?", Theodore's stutter snapped Sylvia out of her thoughts.

"Okay okay I'm sorry... But what's with your reaction?"

After all, she didn't understand why Theodore was trembling as much as he did.

'I guess he's concerned for my safety but... his reactions were a bit too extreme...'

Theodore's face was flushed red in embarrassment again, much to Sylvia's confusion.

Wanting to calm himself down, he excused himself from her. "Y- You must be thirsty, lady Syl. I- I shall acquire a drink and come back to you!"

"But I'm not thirsty..."

However, Sylvia's voice couldn't reach Theodore, as he was already dashing back to the banquet.

Sighing, she decided to just wait for him to come back. And soon after, she could hear someone approaching her.

Tok—! Tok—! Tok—!...

"Oh, you're back already? That was fas—"

Sylvia was frozen in place upon realizing that the source of the footsteps wasn't Theodore, but instead, Max.

"Lady Sylvia, may I have a word with you?", Max asked courteously.

Narrowing her eyes, Sylvia looked at him with a cold gaze before gesturing for him to continue.

"Your servant, he was insolent! He dared to attack his great heir of house Vermillion!"

"..."

"I request for your permission to punish him! I can't let such a vile commoner taint my reputat—"

"No."

Max widened his eyes in surprise. "Wh- What did y—"

"No. I won't let you touch him"

"Why?", Max was confused. "Why are you defending that commoner!?"

"It's not a matter of social status", Sylvia spoke coldly. "Rather, I'm just defending my only friend"

Max looked baffled at Sylvia's answer. Eventually, he calmed down and replied to her statement with much annoyance.

"F- Friends!? A noble lady like you being 'friends' with the likes of him? How the nobility of the Empire had fallen!"

"..."

Pausing for a while, Max's expressions brightened up as if he had thought of something brilliant.

"Anyways, since you don't want to hand over your 'friend' to me yourself, I'll just ask duchess Adrancus for it. I'm sure she won't mind", he then turned around to leave.

Hearing this, Sylvia panicked.

'NO!'

After all, even if the duchess had no reasons to agree to Max's request, the twins would surely convince her to give him Theodore. At the end of the day, Theodore was merely an honorary noble that could be replaced with ease.

As such, Sylvia swallowed her disgust and shouted. "Wait!"

Hearing this, Max turned his head back with a grin. "Yes, lady Sylvia?"

"D- Don't go to the duchess!"

In response to Sylvia's pleas, however, Max merely looked at her expectantly.

Knowing his personality, Sylvia could immediately guess what Max wanted her to do, and it wasn't a thing that her pride as a dragon allowed her to do.

However, she couldn't bear to imagine Theodore's dark future if Max could do whatever he wanted to him. As such, she bit her lips and relented.

With her resolve hardened, Sylvia got on her knees and begged. "P- Please!"

Smiling in satisfaction, Max spoke while eyeing Sylvia's body like a predator. "I'll consider it if you agree to be my concubine"

Sylvia's face became pale. "T- That's..."

Seeing her hesitation, Max clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Tch! Don't you understand? Being a concubine of this great Max Vermillion here is an honor for a motherless wrench like you!"

"W- What did you say?"

Sylvia was mad, thus her face contorted into that of anger. She didn't care about keeping her facial expression in check anymore.

"Tch, are you deaf, motherless bitch? Or should I say, matrici— ARGGGGGGH!"

Spurt—!

In a blink of an eye, Max fell to the grassy ground of the garden with a pool of blood slowly forming beneath him.

And looming over him was an enraged Sylvia, who was glaring at him with bloodshot eyes.

Staring at her with a horrified gaze, Max begged. "I- I'm sorr— ARGHHHHHH! YOU BITCH!"

Spurt—!

She didn't care about what Max had to say. As such, she continued ripping his flesh out.

"ARGHHHHHHH! P- PLEASE! SPARE M— AHHHHH!"

In fact, Sylvia wasn't really the one who was killing Max, as she had lost control over her body again, just like that time. However, unlike before, she wasn't fighting internally to get back her controls.

"DIE!"

'DIE!'

For once, her thoughts coincided with the action of whatever mysterious forces that controlled her body.

Spurt—!

The disgusting sound of flesh ripping apart was heard again. This time, however, it wasn't accompanied by Max's horrible scream, as Sylvia had just ripped out his throat.

Throwing the ripped throat to her side, she raised his fist up again and infused a small amount of mana into it.

BAM—!

Her punch shattered Max's skull.

It was then that Sylvia regained control of her body again.

Wiping the disgusting blood of her face, she slowly stood up while still looking at Max with mad eyes.

"You can't stalk me from now o—"

Crack—!

"LADY SYL!"

Sylvia was startled by a loud voice coming from behind her.

Slowly turning around with blood still covering half of her face, she locked eyes with Theodore, who had dropped the drink he got from the banquet in shock.

However, he quickly regained his composure and marched towards Sylvia in imposing strides.

"Theo, I—"

"Kuhahahaha!", Theodore laughed, interrupting her. "Excellent, my puppet. To think you'd do as splendid a job as this! I, great Void fiend, Theodore Gray, commend you!"

Naturally, Sylvia was confused. "What do you mean? Why are you acting like that all of the sudden?"

"Oh?", Theodore looked at her with intrigue and annoyance. "It seems that the mind control spell had worn off just now. Guess I'll have to dispose of you then"

"T- Theo? Wh—"

<[Splice]>

Before Sylvia could finish her sentence, Theodore suddenly appeared right in front of her and grabbed her throat with both of his hands.

"W- What are you doin— Kulk!!!!!"

After a few minutes of futile resistance, Sylvia finally succumbed to the lack of oxygen and her body went limb.

Before she lost consciousness, however, she could catch a glimpse of Theodore's previously fiendish expression briefly turn into a sad smile.

...

"Urghhh!", Sylvia groaned as she woke up on an unfamiliar bed.

'I have a bad habit of being knocked unconscious these days...'

However, her thoughts were interrupted by the sensation of a gaze being directed at her.

"Duchess Annabeth?", Sylvia widened her eyes in surprise.

Ignoring Sylvia's surprise, Annabeth sighed. "You are indeed a lucky child. If it wasn't for the Royal guard coming at the right time, you'd have died"

"What do you mean?"

In response, Annabeth threw Sylvia a newspaper. "Tch! Because of bastards like him, the reputation of our house is going downhill fast"

===

[BREAKING NEWS!]

The son of Marquis Vermillion has been assassinated by a Void fiend who was posing as Theodore Gray, a knight of the Adrancus dukedom!

The vile fiend's execution will be carried out by t—

===

Crunch—!

The newspaper crumbled under Sylvia's hands which were trembling with confusion and rage.

"W- What!?"

It was then that memories of that night flooded into her head.

'WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'VOID FIEND'!?'

She knew that Theodore would never betray her and make a contract with a Void fiend, let alone him actually being one himself.

Taking into account the way he had acted in the night of the banquet, and the information contained within the newspaper, Sylvia could only come to one conclusion.

'Was it merely an act to... protect me!?'

That was the only plausible explanation. After all, even Theodore knew that Annabeth would definitely give Sylvia up to the authorities if it meant that the Adrancus dukedom could retain even a bit of its prestige.

Furthermore, even if Theodore was a Void fiend, he would never be so careless as to blabber about his abilities and plans out loud.

'THAT IDIOT! I CAN TAKE THE PUNISHMENT MYSELF!'

Considering that she was the late duke Evanos Adrancus' daughter and the Empress' nephew, she would only be given a life imprisonment full of torture at worst. Though frightening, it was a much better alternative to Sylvia than Theodore being executed.

'I have to save him!'

Sylvia then hurriedly stood up and shouted. "WHEN'S THE EXECUTION?"

Covering her ears, Annabeth frowned. "It's happening now. Jeez, don't need to overreact like that. I know you're excited to see the fiend that almost killed you die but you need to rest"

Ignoring her, Sylvia dashed out of the room.

Looking around the hallway, she could immediately identify the place she was at right now to be a high-class inn located in the Capital.

'I still have time!'

Sylvia ran out of the inn and into the streets. Imbuing mana into her feet, she hastily made her way through the desolated streets to the central square.

A tall wooden platform with a familiar Halfling being detained on top of it could be seen as Sylvia was quickly approaching her destination.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!", she pushed the crowds that were forming around the platform aside.

"What? A kid? You shouldn't be here n—"

"I SAID {Step aside}!"

Her voice, imbued with the [Authorities] of the dragons, forced the crowed to split apart to make way for her.

While Sylvia was frantically running towards her friend, a priest on the platform donning the church of Light's robes declared with a loud and dignified voice.

"Theodore Gray, murderer of the Empire's future great warrior - Max Vermillion, is a heinous Void fiend!"

"As such!", he continued. "The church of Light is responsible for sending the friend back to its disgusting realm!"

-OOOOOH!

-DEATH TO THE VOD FIENDS!

Nodding his head at the reaction of the crowd, the priest cleared his throat and spoke.

"Convict Theodore Gray is hereby executed for Heresy!"

As the executioner standing besides the priest was about to bring his axe down, however, a loud voice interrupted him.

"STOP!"

It was Sylvia.

She had arrived before the platform. However, there was some kind of invisible barrier that prevented everyone from going any further.

"Oh?", the priest frowned. "Who are you to interrupt this sacred execution approved by the Gods?"

"LISTEN TO ME! IT'S NOT HIM THAT KILLED MAX! IT WAS ME!"

Theodore, who had been keeping silent the entire time, suddenly lets out a wicked laughter. "Kuhehahahah!"

"What's so funny, Void fiend?"

"You see that?", Theodore pointed his chins to Sylvia. "My mind control magic is still effect! Come, my puppet! Free me from this filthy place!"

In response, the priest stepped on the back of Theodore's head to shut him up.

He then turned towards the crowds once more. "As you can see, devout believers of the Light Gods and Goddesses, this despicable Void fiend had tampered this young girl's mind"

"I, father Vincent, will free the girl from the Fiend's evil magic right this instant!"

The priest then manifested a sword made of Light and brought it down to Theodore's neck.

"Repent!"

Sylvia tried her hardest to break the barrier apart. She used every magic spells at her disposal, but to no avail.

"N- No! SHIT! JUST BREAK ALREADY DAMMIT!"

Soon enough, Sylvia stopped her attempts at trying to break the barrier. Not because she was exhausted of her mana, but because of—

THUD—!

—Theodore's head rolling onto the ground below.

Cra– Crack—!

As if mocking her, the barrier crumbled down by itself at that very moment, allowing her to take a long, good look at Theodore's decapitated head.

Blood and visceral oozed out of the base of his neck and onto the ground, so much so that her lustrous silver hair was stained with a dark red color.

Staring blankly at Theodore's head, Sylvia's legs lost their strength, and she fell to her knees.

Her heart hurts. It hurts so bad.

Clutching her chest in pain, Sylvia cried as she finally realized what the mysterious emotion that had been plaguing her was.

"It's... Love"

If only she realized it before Theodore had died.

"Hehahah... I- It's too late now... Does it even matter w- with Theo not a- alive anymore...?"

The world around her was then replaced with a cold, dark void.

"Hic... W- Why...?"

The previously loud cheers of joy coming from the crowds could no longer be heard. Instead, the sound of Sylvia's sobs and wails was the only thing that resounded in the empty space.

"Wh- Why did T- Theo have to die...!", Sylvia gripped her own head with her two hands.

Gazing at the void with bloodshot eyes, she muttered like a madwoman. "H- Hehahah! I- Is this the consequences o- of messing with the causality of time...?"

From her grandfather opening displaying a desire to give her the most painful death possible, to her mother, brother, father, best friend, and... Theo dying. Misfortune seemed to always befall those who were closest to her.

It was almost like the Gods were toying with her fate.

"N- No... It isn't about the Gods. R- Rather, it's me that—"

"It's you that are responsible for everything that happened to them, isn't that right, my perfect vessel?"

With her eyes still swollen red from the crying, Sylvia instantly snapped her head to the direction of the ominous voice, only to see a figure with pure black eyes staring at her with a grin.

It wore a black suit alongside black ties and black pants. However, what sets it apart from normal mana-based lifeforms was the foul Void mana spiraling around its body.

"V- Void Fiend...? No..."

The amount of Void mana was too great for it to be a normal Void fiend.

Thus, the existence was undoubtedly a Void lord, powerful entities born from the Void that each had absolutely control over a 'concept'.

Amongst all of the recorded Void lords in the Empire right now, only one fitted the description of the being right in front of her.

"...Iferus!"

"Oh?", Iferus was pleasantly surprised. "You can recognize me even in this state? As expected of my vessel, you're not easy to break!"

"W- What is a Void lord like you doing here?"

Ignoring her question, Iferus grinned. "How is it? The feeling of despair, that is. Your grandfather wanted to kill you, and everyone important to you was killed. All because of you"

Facing such a powerful entity, what Sylvia was feeling wasn't fear or despair, but rather, relief.

'If it's really Iferus then... everything I've experienced are fake! Theo and everyone are still alive!'

After all, according to the records in the Imperial palace, Void lord Iferus held control over the concept of 'Memory'.

However, her relief lasted for but a moment, as absolute despair and self-loath overtook her emotions again.

As Iferus' ability is based on its target's memories, the 'regressions' she had experienced must have been partially based off her memories.

Furthermore, excluding the death of Evanos, Noah, Ria, and Theodore, what if some of what she saw was true? What if Semier really hated her and Iferus had merely unlocked the memory that her subconscious was trying to hide?

Sylvia's mind was in turmoil. She didn't know what to believe in anymore.

Every time she nearly succeeded in convincing herself that everything in the past '13 years' was just fake, her mind jumped right back to being in the state of extreme despair.

Seeing Sylvia struggling with her thoughts, Iferus chuckled. "Hehaha! I've messed with your cognitive functions a little bit. Try as you might, you cannot escape the despair. Just a few more minutes and you will turn into a Void fiend, giving me the perfect vesse—"

Spurt—!

Suddenly, Iferus spewed black blood out of his mouth.

"Wh- What!?"

Iferus was confused, and so was Sylvia.

However, Sylvia was more confused by the fact that she could now convince herself that the 'regressions' were fake.

'Does it have to do with Iferus being injured?'

Her internal question was soon answered by Iferus' mad rant.

"Shit! That guy is killed? USELESSS TRASH! NOW I CAN'T CONTROL HER SUBCONSCIOUS ANYMORE!"

Staring down at Sylvia once more, Iferus collected himself and spoke in an ominous voice.

"Don't you think you can escape me, Sylvia Adrancus. You're already under the process transforming into a Void fiend. Once your transformation completes, I will descend onto your realm once more!"

Iferus' body then turned into Void particles and scattered into the air.

"May your woes be many, and your days few..."

Those were the last words Sylvia heard before the world shifted again.

This time, she was back on the cold, hard floor of the torture chamber.

"Arghhhhh!", Sylvia squealed in pain as agony coursed through her entire body.

She then calmed down her ragged breathings and assessed the extent of her injuries. 'Broken legs, deep wound on abdomen, and dislocated left arm...'

It seemed that Keith hadn't left her physical body alone when her consciousness was in the hell-like 'regressions' created by Iferus.

CLANG—! CLANG—! CLANG—!...

It was then that she heard sounds of weapons clashing against each other resounding throughout the small room she was in.

'Someone's fighting in this room?'

Before she could lift her gaze from the ground to confirm her conjecture, however, something slid into her view.

SCREEEEEECH—!

A horrible screeching sound of metal grinding against the floor rang out as a sword suddenly slid right in front of her.

'Dragonslayer sword...?'

Sylvia could never forget the blood-red sword that her grandfather had always bragged about.

'What is it doing here?'

Before Sylvia could think about it any further, however, she suddenly remembered something.

'That's right... I'm going to become a V- Void fiend soon'

She reasoned that her staying alive for even just a second longer would just bring harm to those closest to her.

As such, she hardened her resolve and picked the sword up with her trembling right hand.

Cuts formed on her hand as she picked Dragonslayer up by its blade. However, she persisted through the pain and pointed the tip of the sword to her own neck.

"I- I'm glad to have been able to meet you, Theo..."

With hot tears flowing down her cheeks, Sylvia thrusted.

Spurt—!