True King's Ecstasy

"Do you know this man?" Showing a sketch done by Lyra, according to Naomi's and Akiyo's eye witness, Delviny went around the city searching for the origin of his power.

She wanted to find out how he got hold of that black power which corrupted Velian's hand and what relationship it had with the prime minister.

Even the smallest clue was useful to them in the investigation.

"Isn't it, little miss? What can we do?" As soon as Delviny entered the building, everyone looked at her like she was their worst nightmare remembering how they got treated like dogs by her last time when they tried to attack her.

"Did your organisation have anything to do with this man?" Showing the sketch, Delviny questioned all the remaining mob bosses in the city that got tamed by Delviny's army.

But she didn't get any useful information except, how he came to them hoping he can support human trafficking.

"Why did he need slaves? Was he planning something?"

Delviny got no answers to her question. She had some wild guesses, but without any evidence back them, she didn't want to be delusional.

But as soon as she entered the prison, where Luck's old friends are supposed to be, she heard rather interesting news.

"Ohhh~ so he came to attack us during the rebellion and escaped the battle when we started our attack,"

Normally, she would disregard this as a normal incident, but the next day, he left the army and this really bothered Delviny.

She looked at the former commander and one superior of Luck, who is now imprisoned because of his criminal records waiting for his verdict.

Delviny knew that his story would be one that would haunt her for a long time to come.

He explained how they notices Luck's daughter and used a noble's name to kidnap her and sell her to a slave trader.

"So once Luck got to know about your crimes? What did he say to you?" Delviny questioned.

"Nobody believed him, nobody wanted to be a part of his failure, so Luck had to leave the army the next day, and on the same day my family didn't make it home,"

Even though he was talking about something rather sad, he had no tears in his eyes since he knew he was not someone that should cry after all the horrible things he had done.

Delviny left the prison cell with all this information, and she didn't know what to make of this.

After a long day of going back and forth to find clues, Delviny went back home tired.

"Our only option is to conform that prime minister or Andriya, but it is dangerous at the same time going to battle with them without any information," She felt like they hit a true dead end this time until something clicked inside her mind.

"That locket! Why didn't it burn with my fire? It shouldn't be that strong to withstand my heat," Like she had a great revelation, Delviny quickly went to see it.

"Delvi, where are you going?" Velian noticed his sister running in a hurry, so he questioned.

Delviny told him what she discovered and couldn't help but wonder why he didn't think about that.

"Brother, where did you keep that locket?" Delviny questioned.

"I kept it in the barracks in treasury, I didn't want to put it in the royal treasury," Velian said.

Delviny and Velian made their way to the barracks, where the locket was kept. The journey was uneventful, and they reached their destination without any trouble. However, as soon as they found the locket, something strange happened.

"This is strange! This locket didn't look like this when we kept it here," Velian saw a dark hue coming out of it, and his senses screamed to get away from it.

[Master, it has the same mana qualities as the medium that tried to invade your mind]

[Quickly, get away from it until I try to examine it]

Velian jumped back with Delviny, who was surprised by his action.

A black smoke emanated from the locket, filling the room with its foul odour. The soldiers who were present in the barracks began to act strangely.

"What is happening?" Delviny questioned feeling something was odd.

"It is the same black thing you encountered the other day, as expected it hid some of its parts in the locket and slowly tried to take over us," Velian didn't expect this object to be intelligent, but now he had to be extra careful because something told that this things object was occupying Velian's body.

The soldier's eyes turned red, and they started attacking each other. Delviny and Velian were caught off guard, and they had to defend themselves against the crazed soldiers.

"Delvi, don't kill them, hold them until I try to analyse them," Velian shouted and quickly defended himself.

Delviny was quick to react, and she drew her sword to fend off the attackers. Velian, on the other hand, used his magical abilities to subdue the soldiers. The battle was intense, but eventually, they managed to quell the soldiers' rage.

None of them could even threaten Delviny or Velian, as they were far inferior to both of them and none of them looked abnormally powerful, except for their behaviour which looked more like mindless zombies.

As the smoke cleared, they realized that the locket was cursed. It had been imbued with the same thing that attacked Velian but in small amounts, and whoever touched it would be consumed by its power.

Delviny and Velian knew that they had to destroy the locket before it caused any more harm, but even at the cost of people's lives, if they kept it they knew the advantage would be nice since they will get more information about this strange thing.

"Sister, if this thing corrupts me again, cut my hand, I'm going to analyse it," Delviny hesitate but, looking at Velian's expression she knew believing him was the only choice now and she decided to take the high responsibility of her brother's life.