Theia’s voice echoed in the silent street.
Meeting the gazes that were either astonished or still vigilant, she took a deep breath and began her story.
"I come from the Elven Forest."
There was a trace of an undetectable tremble in her voice, but it was clear.
"On the day of my coming-of-age ceremony at age twenty-five..."
"My bloodline... unexpectedly awakened."
In her mind's eye, she seemed to see the scene of that day once again.
A grand ceremony, surrounded by friends and relatives, with moonlight draped like a veil.
Then, without warning.
A stinging, burning pain flared in both of her eyes.
Everything in her vision was instantly covered in a layer of inescapable blood-red.
The congratulations and laughter all around her came to a jarring halt.
They turned into gasps of horror and ill-concealed loathing.
"My pupils... right before everyone's eyes."
"Turned from emerald green to the red they are now."
The days that followed were like falling into an ice cellar.
Companions who were once close avoided her from a distance, their gazes as if they were looking at a monster.
Her respected mentor’s eyes held only cold scrutiny, which finally transformed into a chilling killing intent.
"They said I had defiled the noble elven bloodline."
"That I was a... stain that had to be purged."
She pursed her pale lips.
"There was no trial, no chance to explain."
"I was stripped of all my honors, and my weapons were confiscated."
"Like a stray dog... I was ignominiously driven out of the Elven Forest."
Her voice grew lower and lower, every word soaked in the despair she once felt.
"Afterward... there was wandering."
"In the city-states of humans, a half-demon is worth less than a wild dog."
"Insulted, driven away, having stones thrown at me... nowhere would take me in."
"The entire world, it seemed, had no room for me."
Theia looked up, deep pain and loneliness churning within her blood-red eyes.
She paused for a moment, as if recalling a small but crucial instant.
"Until once... at the mouth of a filthy alley in a human city-state."
"I heard a few human children at play, singing a nursery rhyme."
She closed her eyes, and her ethereal voice softly rose.
That singing drifted through the cool early morning air:
"'Underneath the crown reached by no moonlight, blood waters the branches of power.'"
"'Legend says there is a city across the way named Avalon, where there is no oppression, no divide of rich or poor.'"
"'The shadow of demons cannot reach there, and the bells of freedom ring day and night...'"
Her singing was very light, yet it possessed a strange piercing quality, as if it could burrow into one's heart.
The originally tense atmosphere around them unknowingly loosened.
The residents holding farm tools gradually replaced the vigilance in their eyes with a look of daze and recollection.
Many of them seemed to have the strings of their hearts touched by these familiar words.
The song stopped.
Theia opened her eyes, her gaze carrying a bit of self-deprecating bitterness.
"It was clearly just a nursery rhyme children sang unknowingly..."
"Yet I clutched at it like a lifesaving straw, burning it into my mind."
"While feeling ridiculous, I couldn't help but fantasize..."
"Could such a city-state... truly exist?"
Her voice was somewhat choked.
"It was clearly just a nursery rhyme from children!"
"Yet it became my... greatest wish."
She took a deep breath, and her gaze slowly swept across the scene before her.
It swept over the human woman who had shielded her behind her back.
It swept over the beastkin with a pitchfork and sheep horns.
It swept over the gnome who was nervous but still stood in front.
It swept over every resident who was using their body or weapon to vaguely protect Winnie behind them.
Finally, her gaze fell back onto that green-haired, timid half-demon Forest Elf.
The pain and loneliness in her blood-red eyes receded like the tide.
In its place was an almost burning, trembling light.
The residents on the opposite side did not know.
How much this unintentional gesture of theirs had shocked Theia.
"I always thought Avalon only existed in fantasies."
"But..."
Her voice was very light, yet incomparably clear, carrying a certainty as if the dust had settled.
"It really does exist."
Winnie, who was protected behind many residents, stared blankly at Theia.
Every sentence Theia told was like a pebble thrown into the still lake of her heart.
The pain of being driven out, the bitterness of wandering, the despair of having no one accept her...
How similar they were to her own past.
Only, she seemed to be... far more fortunate.
Winnie couldn't help but shuffle forward a small step, her fingers curling nervously.
She looked at Theia and asked in a soft yet clear voice:
"That poem... was written by Miss Hannah a long time ago when she was traveling across the continent."
"Could it be, you are also..."
An inkling of cautious expectation appeared in her eyes.
"Following the song of Avalon, under Miss Hannah's guidance..."
"A new resident who found their way here?"
Avalon had not had a newcomer join since Mr. Roger.
Hannah also no longer went out to travel and return with new residents.
If possible, Winnie also hoped Theia could join them.
Because their experiences were so similar.
"No."
A cold, dry voice abruptly interjected.
"They are not."
The owner of that voice stepped slowly out from behind the crowd that automatically parted.
He was a standard, pureblood demon.
He was tall, with a sickly pale complexion.
Atop his head were two curved horns with dark spiral markings.
A pair of eyes were pure blood-red, cold and sharp.
On the exposed skin of his cheeks and arms, he was partially covered by black, armor-like natural keratinous layers.
Behind him, a pair of folded leathery bat wings had edges that shimmered with a metallic dark red luster.
His arrival caused the surrounding residents to immediately show respect and... a trace of undetectable fear.
The crowd silently retreated to both sides, opening a path.
Behind the demon man followed several well-equipped warriors dressed in simple leather armor.
There were humans, beastkin, and even a tall goblin.
Their eyes were sharp and their steps were unified; they were clearly well-trained and possessed extraordinary strength.
The weakest among them had the strength of the Low-tier Transcendent rank, worlds apart from the ordinary residents holding farm tools.
The demon man walked straight up to Winnie.
His blood-red eyes seemed to soften for an instant when he looked at the green-haired Forest Elf.
He reached out, his fingers tipped with keratinous layers gently rubbing Winnie’s hair.
"Winnie, step back."
His voice was still cold, but when he spoke to Winnie, his tone lightened considerably.
"Do not go near them."
Winnie shrank back a bit, nodded obediently, and retreated behind the demon man.
Immediately after, those warriors who followed stepped forward, quickly and orderly replacing the original residents.
Clang, clang.
The crisp sounds of metal being unsheathed rang out one after another.
They pulled out longswords and battle-axes from their waists or backs with clean, swift movements.
In an instant, they formed a perimeter far tighter and more filled with a killing aura than before.
Cold blade edges reflected the light in the brightening dawn, locking firmly onto the trio of Lin Gui in the center.
The leading demon man first locked onto the strongest, Theia.
His blood-red pupils contracted slightly, as if carefully perceiving something.
Soon, the corner of his mouth curled into a cold smile without any warmth.
"A half-demon elf?"
His voice reached everyone's ears clearly, carrying an unquestionable certainty.
"That pure demon energy on your body..."
"Is not something any mixed-blood could possess."
He raised his hand and pointed at Theia, his fingertip seemingly condensing a cold sharpness.
"You are no half-demon at all."
"You are one who has awakened bloodline power..."
"A descendant of the Demon King."
"A direct descendant of the Seventy-Two Pillar Demon Kings."
The moment his words fell,
The entire street fell into a deathly silence.
The residents who had previously shown sympathy and relaxed their vigilance due to Theia's story...
The expressions on their faces instantly froze.
Immediately, they were replaced by even stronger shock, disbelief, and a deep-seated fear and rejection that spread rapidly.
"A... a descendant of... the Demon King?"
The human woman holding the hoe loosened her grip, and the farm tool hit the ground with a clatter.
The sheep-horned beastkin half-demon’s eyes widened, and he unconsciously retreated half a step.
Even that previously clueless Husky werewolf.
At this moment, it let out a low whimper from its throat and tucked its tail.
Winnie covered her mouth, her eyes filled with confusion and alarm.
She looked at Theia, then at the demon man in front of her, completely at a loss.
The trace of warmth and expectation from fellow suffering that had just arisen,
Seemed to be completely extinguished by a bucket of ice water in the face of those four words, "descendant of the Demon King."
Replacing it was an instinctive sense of detachment and fear when facing a higher-tier, purer "abnormality."
The demon man slowly drew the weapon at his waist.
The edge of the blade shimmered with an ominous dark light, pointing straight at Theia.
"Now, tell me."
"Who exactly are you?"
"What in the world did you come to Avalon to do?"
His strength was fully at the High-tier Transcendent rank.
Even though his rank was enough to crush the three of them...
The demon man’s hands were currently seeping cold sweat.
No one had ever come to Avalon without the guidance of the City Lord.
Those enemies who tried to cross the Wailing Corridor, whether Legendary or Epic, had all died outside!
How the hell did they get over here?!
Rate on N.U.
