Chapter 267 - Reasons

At this point, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami were questioning if this independent realm was just an endless snowy forest. 

When escaping from the Shadow Rouge Captain group, their talisman shot them several thousands of miles deep into this realm.

For all Heavenly Transformation cultivators, even for Early Ranks ones, their Heavenly Spirit Senses can expand up to several hundred miles in just mere seconds. 

And for later levels of the Heavenly Transformation realms, cultivators can even reach thousands of miles at the maximum boundary of their Heavenly Spirit Sense. 

It's why Darcel, Aniela, and Masami needed such an outrageous distance to get away from any squadron groups.

And this held true for their current situation. 

The talisman Bella had used far surpassed the one Darcel used. Darcel, Aniela, and Masami couldn't tell how far they traveled, but it was definitely up in the tens of thousands of miles.

They were shooting so far in this independent realm that the trio believed they would've at least some significant change in scenery. However, even after soaring so far off, everything was still an endless plain of snow and trees.

Quite honestly, to make an independent realm this overly expansive would require a prowess that feasibly should stand on top of the summit of the Nine Provinces. 

And such power wouldn't be wasted on just the fourth rank Province.

It was suspicious, to be sure, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami regarded it in the back of their minds for later. 

The reason they couldn't put their entire focus on the seemingly never-ending environment was because they were currently engaged in a tense meeting.

Bella and Darcel's group stood ten feet apart, their gazes evenly matching each other. Immediately when they had randomly crashed over here, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami put a cautious distance between them.

Their current environment was filled with even more trees than the previous area but still looked overall the same. Barring the scenery, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's eyes narrowed tightly on Bella, immense suspicion plainly plastered on each of their faces.

In stark contrast, Bella's casual, relaxed smile never left her face. No matter how hard the trio was scrutinizing her, Bella took it all in with a serene stride. 

"Tch….this woman and her damn smile." Masami had quietly muttered under her breath, only for Darcel and Aniela to hear her. 

Darcel and Aniela didn't say anything, but with their knitting eyebrows, they were in agreement over Masami's wariness. 

Even though Bella went out of her way to save them, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami couldn't remain calm at all. The act of saving their lives should be a reason for them to have considerable trust in Bella.

However, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's minds couldn't so readily accept that. 

Perhaps it was because of what the yellow-eyed woman did to them. Aniela and Masami couldn't say for sure, but they simply couldn't place their utmost trust in Bella.

They both were essentially still ants under Bella's prowess even as she is majorly tried now. In just a second, if she wanted to, Bella could wipe their lives off, and they wouldn't even know how it happened.

A situation like this couldn't quell Aniela and Masami's nerves at all; they were already expecting the worst. 

While with Darcel, he may have more insight into Bella's emotions because of his own Darkness Soul Link. But, it was like something deep in his psyche was preventing him as well from fully trusting Bella. 

Darcel had the clearer mental state of the girls, and he could more readily identify this as an irrational fear.

However, irrational or not, Darcel's mind kept focusing on what if Bella were to turn rogue and kill the girls. After already experiencing what it likes to think he lost Aniela and Masami forever, he had his guard firmly up no matter what.

Even when Darcel met up with Fruna's squadron, he was tense for any sign that she would possibly betray them. 

'Seems like I'm more affected than I thought.' Darcel grimly thought to himself, realizing he still has his own trauma running deep.

Bella, however, wasn't aware at all of Darcel's group thoughts. She simply took in the apparent tension on their bodies with a graceful lazy smile. After a few seconds of suffocating silence that didn't really affect her, Bella finally decided to talk.

Her tone was light and jovial as she said, "So tense and cautious, huh? Well, I guess I can understand. By that fox girl's display, and from what I saw before that, you three really are the number one enemy to numerous people. It's actually quite an achievement to get my prude group, so riled up, I must say."

Despite Bella's tone being obviously light-hearted, trying to ease the tension a bit between them, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami only ended up getting tenser. 

Aniela furrowed her eyebrows as her mind recalled those strong-willed Snow Angel leaders.

"Three eighth level and one-ninth level….we really can't catch a break….Ah!" 

Aniela's sudden exclamation stole everyone's attention then. A more horrifying light swirled within her eyes as her mind recalled one specific woman among their Darkness Servants.

"That Raven Mage! I nearly forgot she was also under our control. Darcy, Sami, we most certainly have to avoid her in the future!"

Right then, a significant surge of dread bubbled within Masami's chest. Her body went a bit rigid, her palms tightly clenched while a tiny bit of cold sweat formed around her forehead. 

Her expression was unwilling as she began to say, "Dammit….I don't want to dread another person. But after seeing those three Raven Mages at full power, she could actually make us suffer in more ways than one."

Even with both girls' newfound determination in getting stronger, they couldn't help but have over caution to anything highly life-threatening to them. 

At this point, they put the survival of their lives at a high value. And Bella's words just reminded that a potentially greater enemy, more threatening than even the Snow Leader Angel Kyrha, would want to kill them. 

Despite how massive this independent realm is, Aniela and Masami were seriously considering just finding a way to leave altogether. 

The same surge of dread was also apparent in Darcel as his expression also turned slightly grim.

Hell, Darcel could tell their situation indeed was rough when even Bella's expression fell a bit from thinking about a potentially powerful Mage enemy. 

Although, this slight change of expression got Darcel to focus all of his attention on her. Still, he couldn't get the reason behind her actions, so he probed at her, saying, 

"Like you said, we do have several powerful enemies inside here. And you know Bella, don't think we don't count you as a potential enemy as well."

From behind him, Aniela and Masami stopped worrying about the future enemies and leveled an even glare towards Bella. 

However, no matter their suspicions, Bella's expression returned back to normal, giving the trio her usual relaxed smile. "Well, I guess you three have some walls up now. But, I really was true to my words, you know? It genuinely felt so good to be a Darkness Servant. In my powerful yet prudish group, I finally felt some value in being there."

"Heh!" 

Masami loudly scoffed at Bella's proclamation. Her expression just said she didn't believe any words coming from her mouth. 

"Is that right? I'll give you this, among the people I've met, your personality is undoubtedly weirder than average. But don't try to fool us into thinking you feel no anger towards us."

Instead of a hot reply back, true to her personality, Bella dawned a brief inquisitive expression. Her eyes closed for a second, recalling the pleasant memories she had under Darcel's group.

A second later, Bella flung her eyes open and gave a casual shrug. 

"I guess I can say I am a bit embarrassed for getting taken down so easily. I mean, I still have some pride in my own prowess. And it is rather odd to have my free will taken away. But I don't know…."

Bella stared directly into Darcel's abyss-like black eyes, her expression suddenly turning serious. "When you got into my soul, it wasn't like you were a domineering force at all. You gave me pleasure and were very gentle to me."

"Hoh? And is that really all it takes? Just Darcy's gentleness to ease up Killing Intent?" Aniela curled her eyebrows and immediately asked without missing a beat.

Right then, it was like a lightbulb went off in Bella's mind. Her eyes widened in sudden realization, and unexpectedly she fervently nodded at the trio. 

"Yes….yes….that's it!" 

This sudden eager change even got Darcel, Aniela, and Masami to all put on odd expressions.

But, before any one of them could question her, Bella spoke first. 

"I get it now. True, your methods were forceful, but Darcel….he genuinely spoke to me, all of us soul desires! Moreover, he also kept true to his words and granted us an ability to help with masking our presence. You see, just think about it, that little fox girl was so hell-bent on killing at least two of you. Yet, with her prowess that greatly surpasses all three of you, she was still hesitant on attacking."

Darcel began to recall his coercion process, lining it up with Bella's thoughts. And truthfully, he really couldn't find any fault in her words. Though he was using power to heavily sway each woman, in the end, they all did willingly accept his Darkness Soul link.

Moreover, he did it by letting them experience what it would be like they were to one day achieve their hidden desires. 

Still, while Bella saw this as a positive, Darcel already knows the others won't. No matter if Kassidy was hesitating, the Killing Intent within her was genuine. 

"Look, no matter what reasoning we can come up with. Your Leaders and all of our other Darkness Servants won't agree at all." Darcel reasoned to Bella.

However, the hope in Bella's eyes didn't die out at all. In a casual tone as if it was the easiest thing in the world, she told the trio, 

"Well, why not just become Mages and fix this whole issue."

Instead of immediately firing back this time, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami paused, their expressions turning genuinely inquisitive as they seriously contemplated Bella's words.