Th1s chapter is updated by n)ovel/\bin/\
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
She had been tricked by Suthia's acting madness and killing intent. The real Suthia was totally clear-headed and was just trying to keep her from leaving.
And she had foolishly taken the bait, intending to collect new data on Suthia. By the time she realized her mistake, it was too late to leave.
Suthia, who had taken control of Maria's body through "Mental Control" combined Divine Light and Tainted Miasma, and unleashed a "Mental Destruction" brainwashing attack on Zero.
[Ah... stop... let me...]
Zero cried out, struggling as the red Tainted Miasma started to get into her. She was flailing her legs and trying to pull Suthia's hands off her neck.
But Suthia had no intention of letting go. Her crimson eyes showed only coldness towards Zero.
Once, they had been comrades, even intimate partners. If Emperor Ashen hadn't disappeared suddenly, and for as long as 500 years at that, Suthia felt she could have endured it somehow. She would have been satisfied just watching her Lord from afar.
But even that humble wish had been shattered.
'Five hundred years...'
'Do you know what I went through during these 500 years without my beloved Lord?'
In the first hundred years, she lay in bed, muttering Ashen's name, even scratching her own eyes in agony. That year, Suthia swore that when her Lord returned, she would confess her feelings, no longer hiding them out of cowardice.
In the next hundred years, every action she took, every prayer she made, every meal she ate, her mind was filled with thoughts of Ashen. That year, Suthia swore that when her Lord returned, she would cling to him, whether he accepted her feelings or not.
Three hundred years in, she was locked in the deepest room of the church sanctuary, frantically scratching the walls until they were covered in her claw marks. Physical pain couldn't mask her emotional loneliness; she couldn't bear a life without her Lord, couldn't bear this bleak, dark world. That year, Suthia vowed that when Ashen returned, she would have their child by any means necessary, even if she had to use unconventional methods.
Four hundred years passed, she tried to seal away her memories, attempting to escape everything through deep sleep. Even if she had forgotten everything, even if she lied to herself, the unnamed sadness that rose in her heart in the deep of the night still made her tears flow on their own.
So when she finally meet Zero, the barrier between her and her Lord, within her grasp, she wouldn't let go, no matter what.
'Five hundred years. Heh heh heh hehhahahaa...'
The overwhelming Tainted Miasma from Suthia was too much for Zero, who was merely a long-distance projection.
Her eyes gradually lost focus, her struggles weakened, and the red mist of Tainted Miasma seeped into her like mud. Zero finally mumbled:
[I'm sorry, Master]
[Zero will... save...]
Her voice faded into silence.
'It must be a misunderstanding?'
'Or perhaps, she is just a local guide temporarily hired by My Lord?'
Reassuring herself, Suthia moved behind the projection of Eileen. She took a deep breath, reached her hand to the girl's neck, and lifted her long hair to reveal what was hidden behind.
When her hair was moved aside, revealing the nape of the young girl's neck, Suthia's expression changed dramatically. She, who had returned to her normal nun-like demeanor after eliminating Zero, was now overtaken by a fresh wave of fury, more intense and jealous than when she faced Zero.
Because there, clearly displayed, was a complex pattern resembling a shackle.
'How can Suthia forget what this symbolized?'
It was something she held most precious.
It was her contract with Lord Ashen.
Unfortunately, as Lord Ash had disappeared for five hundred years, the power of the contract had weakened and eventually deteriorated.
'However, this contract on this girl's neck...'
'This new contract!!'
Suthia gripped Eileen's neck, flames of jealousy almost bursting from her eyes. Just as it looked like she would snap the girl's neck, she suddenly released her grip.
"No, this isn't enough"
"I must make My Lord understand that no one is reliable... Only me. I'm the only choice for Lord Ashen"
"Heh heh heh..."
Amidst her laughter and mumbling, Suthia left the Sea Sand Bar. She didn't continue to look for Renji; instead, she returned to the church she had come from.
She had already waited so many years; she could afford to wait a little longer.
She would make her lord understand what true love really is.
Shortly after Suthia left, numerous translucent blue light points appeared in the air inside the Sea Sand Bar. These were the data fragments that should have been destroyed after Zero self-destructed.
Drawn by some force, these fragments began to gather at the bar's entrance, specifically, into the body of a fallen android maid.
All seven members of the 'Emergency Squad' were indeed wiped out, devoid of any life signs.
Six of them had been dismembered and turned into spare parts during the recent battle with Suthia.
However, one of them, the first to be attacked, had only stepped half a step out of the door when she was struck by the Holy Light, Her central chip and various systems were destroyed, but her body's integrity was relatively preserved because she had only been attacked once.
And when the data fragments from "Zero" in the air were passively absorbed by the android's self-repair program as an "external energy source," the central chip, burnt and damaged by the Holy Light, flickered back to life in the dark interior of Sea Sand Bar.