"What are you waiting for? Get to talking," Cipher demanded, his voice cold.

But Elaine didn't respond. She just lay there beneath his boot, her eyes turned to the side, fixed on the floating statue. Tears began streaming down her face silently.

[You need to calm down a little,] the Heavenly Demon said with a sigh.

"The Immortal King killed nearly a billion…"

[I don't care,] she interrupted. [You're not acting like yourself. You're a smart person. You should know when something isn't working and try something else. I've seen you do this before.]

Cipher paused. She was right. He was too worked up. Even if the Immortal King had done all those things, it was all in the future. He could still stop it if he could figure out the secret. He lifted his foot off Elaine and dismissed his gun back into his inventory.

Elaine immediately scrambled to her feet and ran toward the statue, wrapping her arms around it. She began to sob, her whole body shaking.

Cipher sighed, scratching his head. She was too worried about the statue to talk to him. He decided to let her be for a while. She sobbed for about thirty minutes before the sounds reduced to quiet sniffling.

"Have you calmed down now?" he asked.

She remained silent.

"You came rushing here and even attempted to use charm on me. Do you understand why I did what I did?" he asked.

She didn't respond.

He sighed.

He walked closer, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry for shooting you earlier. I don't think you're a bad person. I also don't believe you're working with the Immortal King. Why don't you explain to me what's happening? As for your sister, if she really isn't working with the Immortal King, I can help you lift the curse from her."

Hearing this, she finally turned to look at Cipher.

"Really?" she asked, grabbing his hands. "You can save my sister?"

"That depends on whether or not you're willing to talk," he said.

"I'll talk. I'll talk. I'll talk, so please, help my sister," she pleaded.

"Alright, let's hear it," he said.

[See? I knew you could handle it,] the Heavenly Demon said.

…

Three years ago.

A village bathed in blood.

Bodies lay scattered across the dirt paths, slumped against buildings, sprawled in doorways. The metallic stench permeating the air. A group of people in white robes moved through the carnage, collecting corpses and loading them into carts.

The leader of the group - a man whose robe was dark instead - stopped suddenly. He tilted his head, listening. After a moment, he gestured for the others to continue their work and began walking toward the edge of the village.

When he turned the corner, he spotted her. A girl, maybe seventeen years old, running desperately with another girl clutched in her arms - or rather, the corpse of one.

"Tch. Useless trash. You almost let a witness escape," the man muttered. A shadow tentacle erupted from his body and shot forward, stabbing straight through the girl's heart. She collapsed to the ground, the body in her arms rolling to the side.

The man walked up to her casually. "That's strange," he said, looking down at her. "How are you still alive?"

The girl didn't respond. She just stared up at him with pure hatred burning in her eyes.

The man let out a loud laugh. "What an interesting specimen!" He crouched down, studying her. "Kid, come with me. Join the Church of Eternal Brilliance." He stretched his hand toward her.

The girl kept that same unfriendly expression for a moment longer, then suddenly her face shifted. "Okay," she said.

The man blinked, clearly caught off guard. He scratched his head. "I expected it to be harder than this."

"But I need a favor," the girl said.

"Well, since you're so willing, I'll hear you out," the man replied.

"Can I say goodbye to my sister?" she asked.

The man glanced at the girl who had fallen to the side. As a necromancer, he could tell that she was long dead. "I guess it's okay. Sure."

"Another thing," the girl said.

"Something else?" the necromancer asked, his patience wearing thin.

"I saw you guys carrying the bodies. Is it possible to please let my sister rest? Please." She pressed her forehead to the ground.

"Urgh, fine," the necromancer said. It was just a single girl's body after all. Not worth much, if anything. "Now say your goodbyes quickly." He turned around.

Elara crawled over to her sister's body. "Sister, I'm sorry I couldn't save our parents and the other villagers," she whispered. "I'll erase your memories, so don't come looking for me. I'm sure good people will come here soon. I hope you stay with them and forget about this place." A faint golden light flickered across her arms.

The necromancer spun around. What's that? he wondered. He'd sensed a very repulsive energy.

The golden energy in Elara's arms then turned into a dark energy that covered her sister's body.

"I'm done," she said, turning around.

The necromancer looked at the body behind her, the earlier repulsive energy had disappeared.

"Hmm, must've been the wind. Alright then. Come with me," the necromancer said.

Elara looked down at her hand. Some of her fingers had turned to stone, and it was slowly spreading up toward her wrist.

"So this is the price for one who can't offer their life?" she thought.

She hid her hand in her clothes and walked over to the necromancer.

…

"So you're saying she's your sister who was kidnapped by the cult three years ago when your entire village was slaughtered?" Cipher asked.

She nodded, wiping her tears.

"But you said she wiped your memories. How do you still remember this?" he asked.

"When I awakened my unique skill, I used it to pray for knowledge about myself since I didn't remember anything. That's how I found out about my sister and my village," she explained.

Cipher nodded. That made some sense. But it still didn't explain her suspicious behavior.

Seeing as she had tried to use charm on him earlier, he assumed she had probably done it before when she took care of him after his injuries. It probably hadn't worked since he'd already awakened the Heavenly Demonic Sword Art by then.

"Why didn't you just tell this to the association? Why did you try to use charm on me?" he asked.

"No, I can't. I can't tell the association," she said.

"Why not?" Cipher asked.

"The association is filled with spies from the church," she said.

"Spies?" He supposed that was possible. "But how do you know that?"

"I prayed," she said.

"Ah, right." Cipher paused. "Still doesn't explain why you used charm on me though."

Elaine took a shaky breath. "I wanted to use the association to rescue my sister from the church. But to get the association to go after the church, I'd need support from other executives. All the association higher-ups are quite strong so I couldn't control them. But you... you were a weak member who had just joined the board. I was hoping to control you to gain an extra vote for my side." She looked down. "But it seems I didn't even need that. Things turned out like this anyway."

Cipher nodded slowly, processing everything.

At that moment, footsteps echoed from the cave entrance. The Chairman walked in, followed by Vex, Draven, and Orion. Selene and the rest of Cipher's team entered as well.

…

Author's Corner

"Hmm, must've been the wind" : the actual words is "maybe I'm imagining things" should we change it back?

Quick correction, the previous appraisal of Elara contains the status effect "cursed" that me forgot.

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