The Arctic

Cynthia walks through the Gate in a hurry after changing out her magi-tech armor in an instant and leaving behind her terminal and other modern technology as her mind goes wild considering every last possible event that could’ve happened to Scarlet. But she doesn’t get long to think about it before the group of people close to Scarlet including herself are all enveloped by a large sphere of blood. And just seconds later, the sphere of blood vanishes, revealing a large castle courtyard around them.

Unlike the rest of them, Amelia doesn’t gape at the castle or the incredibly powerful demons around them. She simply begins flying through the air while dragging everyone else including Cynthia with her before passing through a balcony window and entering a bedroom where they all find Scarlet lying unconscious on a bed surrounded by two men. Both of whom are blood lycans.

<-[{Demon King} {Sovereign of Blood} {Blood Immortal} {Beast of the Apocalypse} – Blood Lycan – Level 2500]->

<-[{Blood Lord} {Blood Calamity} – Blood Lycan – Level 1946]->

Cynthia barely wastes a second identifying them before she rushes to the bed, uncaring of the results despite the chill that runs down her spine at the sight of them. Because she has more important problems right now than the identity of the two in front of her. And the others are all the same as they rush up to the bed.

“What happened?” Amelia immediately asks as Cynthia kneels down next to the bed, her gaze not leaving her adopted daughter who looks incredibly tense despite lying on a bed fit for royalty.

After a second, the Demon King, whose gaze hasn’t left Scarlet since they came in, answers, “A Noble who had lost himself to his Sin attacked her, ripped apart her reality to a recoverable extent, and was punished. But not before Scarlet partially lost herself to her own Sin and tried to forcefully turn her body into blood.” And the entire time he speaks, Cynthia can feel the anger behind his words despite them lacking any form of emotion while also feeling distant. Like he’s not addressing them or even considering them as people but merely objects he needed to bring here on his granddaughter’s behalf.

Cynthia doesn’t care about that though. She just reaches for and puts a hand on Scarlet’s waist, unconsciously staying away from her hand due to the Demon King holding it.

“I can’t do anything more to treat her now,” the Demon King continues, his voice still sending shivers down Cynthia’s spine even when she’s not paying attention to him beyond the contents of his words. “The only one who can do anything for her is herself.”

Silence fills the room as everyone surrounds the bed, and after a few seconds, Cynthia’s eyes widen slightly and she whispers, “She moved…”

Everyone tenses up as they noticed it as well, but Scarlet returns to being completely still again and stiff as a board.

Eventually Cynthia hears Scarlet’s cousin Aria quietly ask, “Did… did that movement mean anything?”

Cynthia finally turns her gaze away from Scarlet, and to her surprise, so does the Demon King and Blood Lord. Then the Demon King lightly nods his head and turns his gaze back to Scarlet as he says, “It looks like it was the right decision to bring you all here.”

“She’s started fighting against her Sin, hasn’t she?” Amelia asks, making Cynthia feel slightly relieved the moment she sees the Demon King nodding his head in answer, albeit stiffly.

Everyone returns to silence once more, their gazes locked on the unconscious girl lying on the bed.

Time passes and seconds quickly turn into hours, but Scarlet never moves again. Eventually the group is interrupted when a maid walks in, filling the room with her aura of power that easily makes her the third most powerful person in the room, even stronger than White. And since so much time had passed, Cynthia has finally managed to recover enough to speak and think clearly now, so she turns to look at the maid fully, finding a kitsune standing at the entrance with her hands held together in front of her as she bows towards the Demon King.

|Raiden Akuma – Kitsune – Level 1793|

The Demon King’s terrifying head maid that Scarlet mentioned.

“Your Majesty, you are needed to intervene in a dispute between dukes,” the maid declares, staying bowed down for a second before she stands up straight again. “We understand your need to stay with the Princess, and therefore I would like to stay behind with her as added protection while you are away should you choose to leave.”

Cynthia feels surprised at the sight of the maid trying to tell the Demon King offhandedly what to do, even if she isn’t directly stating it. And what’s even more surprising is that the Demon King actually vanishes from the room for an instant, following which a scream echoes from somewhere else in the castle and he reappears again at the bed, saying, “It’s been dealt with.”

The maid blinks, showing a vague amount of surprise before she bows again and walks to the side of the room where she goes silent.

Cynthia turns to glance at Allen, but her husband doesn’t show any interest in what had just happened. Instead Cynthia finds him in a glaring match with Leonidas with the two seemingly fighting over holding Scarlet’s hand and eventually settling on one holding her hand and the other her forearm.

How long have they been doing that?

She pauses at that thought for a second before looking at the others and finding Scarlet’s friends having fallen asleep at some point with the exception of Belle and Arthur, the kids lying on the ground. At least, until the maid takes it upon herself to pick them up with clouds filled with red and blue energy, says, “I will be showing them to a guest bedroom,” and leaves the room in an instant with them before anyone can say anything.

Silence once again fills the room, only to shatter when the Demon King slowly says, speaking to Cynthia, Amelia, and everyone else who had come including the ones who fell asleep, “This is a one time event. Should you choose to come to Tartarus again in the future, I will not be so accommodating. You will be captured and held as a forceful guest in a palace far away in the Bloody Duchy to keep you out of the war.”

He turns to look at Amelia, seemingly not believing anyone else in the room to be any sort of power capable of representing their group as he finishes, “Is that clear?”

Amelia nods without complaint and everyone returns their attention to Scarlet.

Please get better soon…