Chapter 740: Gems Inside the Dirty

"Nobody?" Lucien asks while scanning the surroundings using his vision skills to the maximum, but he can’t see any person or creature.

The region around the mountain fortress has always been arid, but now it seems even more lifeless; the few trees have died, even the grass is gone, leaving behind nothing but dust and rocks.

Lucien looks towards the small garden where he played with his mother in his oldest memories, but the entire place has vanished, leaving behind a large crater.

Craters like that are everywhere too, some very large and deep, revealing the sterile rocky interior of the planet.

"It looks like something weird happened..." Wrath voices what all the Sins are thinking.

"Huh?" Lucien stops focusing his vision skill when he notices something is wrong with Eve, her expression turns worried fast. "Sister?"

"..." Eve doesn’t say anything and flies north at her maximum speed, leaving behind a whirlwind of air.

*WHOOOOSH!!!*

"Eve!?!?"

Pride gives Lucien a profound look before dematerializing her body due to the distance from Eve.

"Damn!!" Lucien curses because he wants to fly after Eve to help her with whatever is happening to her right now, but he can’t leave the other girls behind without understanding what’s happening in Belor.

He quickly opens the portal to the Purple World and calls all his wives before looking at Maya.

"I’ll take care of them until you return," she says before he can ask.

Lucien is unsure of what enemies might be lurking in the shadows, but he trusts that the combined power of all his girls, the Sins, and Maya together is not easily overcome.

Without a second thought, he flies in Eve’s direction at maximum speed.

*WHOOOOSH!!!*

Lucien uses his large and powerful wings to propel his speed well beyond that of anyone with the same power level. Even with Eve sharing incredible power with Pride, she can’t stay ahead of him for long.

"Eve?!" He calls her name as he flies alongside her.

"Luci..." Eve casts a sad and apologetic look at him.

Lucien has never seen her like this before; she looks desolate and disappointed in herself. "What’s wrong?"

"I..." Eve struggles to focus while continuing to fly desperately in that direction.

"Eve?!" Lucien is upset at not knowing what is bothering Eve so much. He desperately wants to help but can’t understand what’s happening.

"I have to see something..." She tries to explain. "I think I failed..."

"You have to tell me what this is about!" Lucien urges Eve for an explanation.

But she is too anxious, pushing her body beyond its limits to fly as fast as possible.

All Lucien wants now is to help Eve, even stopping to think about finding answers about his mother or the whereabouts of Michael.

He realizes that Eve won’t stop until she reaches her goal, so he flies up to her and takes her into his arms.

"Luci?! N-" Eve thinks he’s going to force her to stop, but instead, he uses his wings to fly even faster in that direction, carrying her.

"Just tell me which direction." He speaks in a loving tone.

Eve nods and lets him carry her. "Straight ahead."

"Okay." Lucien asks no further and just flies in that direction with Eve.𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He focuses all his energies on flying as fast as possible, but still keeps his senses alert, looking for any signs of life around them.

Lust and Pride also use their magical senses to search for any clues about what happened there.

But all they see along the way is a vast emptiness of dust and rocks. They also pass some cities and villages, but there is no one anywhere.

The cities seem to have been abandoned several months ago, and what is most strange is that there are no signs of battles or any kind of migration; it appears that people and animals simply vanished.

After observing the dead land for a few minutes, Lust and Pride reach the same conclusion.

"It was the work of a parasitic magic," Lust communicates with Lucien mentally.

Before he can ask, she explains. "It’s a type of spell or technique that removes the main resources of nature and transports them elsewhere."

"Why would someone do something like that?" he wonders.

"This type of spell not only renders the land infertile forever but also damages the planet’s structure and is usually used before abandoning a planet permanently," Lust explains.

"So it was planned... but by whom?" Lucien becomes increasingly confused. "Everything Michael did was to conquer this entire world, but things ended up like this?"

"Even though Belor is considered a medium world compared to Argerim, it wasn’t in good condition when we arrived here," Lust comments.

"Probably due to a lack of knowledge and better techniques, the humans didn’t treat the natural resources here well," she continues. "So it wasn’t doing well anyway..."

"So they removed what was left of value and took it to..." Lucien can’t even imagine who is responsible for that or where they could have taken Belor’s resources.

Lust also can’t come up with any hypothesis about that. "Surely they used such a spell here, but that’s all we can be sure of now."

"I see..." Lucien continues flying at super speed with Eve in his arms.

After a few hours, they pass by what used to be the border between Michael’s kingdom and the lands controlled by the Silver Legion.

After hundreds of miles of desert, they see the first city of the Silver Legion, and unlike the previous ones, there are many signs of fights and destruction.

The city is in ruins, with craters everywhere, and there are also thousands of skeletons, either in simple clothes or in shiny armor bearing the symbol of the Legion.

"There are only Silver Legion armors," Lucien comments aloud. "No soldiers of Michael died here... but how?"

Eve frowns. "Everything he did... everything he sacrificed was for this damn war... and in the end, it all ends like this?"

"What are we looking for?" Since Eve has started talking again, Lucien asks her.

"The Pope’s Tower," she says in a worried tone. "It’s the tallest, in the center of the capital."

"Got it," Lucien continues at maximum speed, delving deeper into what remains of the Silver Legion’s realm.

Everywhere there are more signs of conflict, but this couldn’t be called a war; it was more like a one-sided massacre.

All the cities they see are like the first one, thousands of skeletons everywhere. According to the Sins, these are just a small portion of the dead, as most were obliterated to dust, leaving no clothes and armor behind.

The smell of bone dust permeates the air, and the vision of what was once the imposing Silver Legion is now a gigantic cemetery.

Belor is much smaller than the Blue Star, and after nearly fifteen hours of travel, Lucien crosses half the planet with Eve.

They finally arrive at the heart of the Silver Legion, or rather, what it once was. Despite everything being in ruins, the tall tower of the Pope still stands and can be seen from hundreds of miles away.

"It looks like we’ve arrived," Lucien looks at Eve with a curious expression. "Are you going to tell me what we’re looking for?"

"That..." Eve really wants to tell Lucien her biggest secret, but at the same time, a part of her refuses, especially now. "I will tell you, but..."

Eve flies out of Lucien’s arms and heads towards the base of the tall tower.

Lucien grows increasingly concerned about Eve and follows her closely.

Before she can enter the tower, Pride speaks in her mind. "She’s not here... there’s no one here."

"No!" Eve exclaims aloud and rushes into the tower. "She can’t just have... I won’t accept this!!"

Eve becomes increasingly worried and furious as she desperately searches the interior of the tower.

Lucien still doesn’t understand what’s happening, but he begins to search for anything around.

The interior of the tower, with its very refined and incredible architecture, was clearly the castle of the supreme leader of the Silver Legion.

But now it’s in ruins too, with furniture and walls broken everywhere.

"No, no, no!!" Eve screams as she destroys what’s left of the tower in search of clues.

"Eve," Lucien tries to speak with her. "What are we looking for... sister?"

Eve realizes she might bring the entire tower down on her head before finding what she’s looking for, so she approaches Lucien and holds his hands.

"This is very important, Luci," she speaks in a serious tone. "We’re looking for someone... we have to find her, I’ll tell you everything afterwards, I promise. Now just use your senses, please!"

"Alright," Lucien strokes Eve’s hands, bringing a comforting warmth to her troubled heart. "Just tell me what she looks like."

Eve again hesitates as she searches for words to explain to Lucien. "She is... like me."

"Like you?" Lucien becomes more curious and confused.

Eve nods. "Yes... and also, like us."

"Like us?" Lucien grows more confused until an absurd idea springs into his mind. "Do you mean..."

Eve realizes she can no longer bear this pain alone, and a part of her is relieved that Lucien is by her side.

"We have to find her first, explanations later," she pleads desperately.

"Okay." Lucien still doesn’t fully understand the situation, but he focuses all his senses on finding some clue about this person.

Since they are inside a large tower, filled with walls and furniture, his vision isn’t as useful, so he focuses on his hearing and, most importantly, his sense of smell.

Most of the place smells of dust and death, so Lucien pushes his senses even higher, reaching the upper floors of the tower.

"Hmm..." Because most of the scents there are similar, Lucien quickly finds something different.

Eve notices it and can’t help but feel hopeful. "Did you find something?"

"I think so..." Lucien detects a pleasant scent on the highest floor of the tower and focuses on it, which surprises him. "It’s... really like you."

Although this sweet scent isn’t exactly like Eve’s, it’s remarkably similar to her, probably belonging to a woman similar to her.

"Is she your... mother?" Lucien can’t help but think that, but then he notices that this scent also has similarities with his other sisters and even himself.

Which also reminds him of her words. "Like us... our sister?"

Eve’s emotions are already overflowing, and she can no longer hide such a secret, so with eyes full of tears, she nods.

"Yes..." Eve smiles for a second but then becomes worried again. "Where is her?"

Lucien can indeed detect the scent of that woman, but it’s too subtle to be her actual presence, which makes sense since Lust and Pride said there’s no one else in the tower.

"Eve..." Lucien fears that their sister might not be saved.

"Just tell me what you found!" Eve pleads, trying to hold onto any sliver of hope.

Lucien also tries to think positively and takes Eve in his arms before flapping his wings and flying towards the top of the tower.

As he quickly approaches the last floor of the tower, the scent becomes easier to focus on, but Lucien’s senses also pick up another very special aroma.

The more Lucien focuses on that scent, the clearer a memory arises in his heart, shocking him so much that he stops in mid-air.

"Luci?!" Eve is confused and concerned.

Lucien can hardly believe the scent he is detecting, and a very clear image comes to his mind. "This scent..."

"Our sister?" Eve asks.

"No..." Despite being very concerned about the sister he just found out he has, Lucien can’t stop his lips from smiling.

"It’s her scent..." He looks up with bright eyes. "Was she really here all this time?"

"She?" Eve asks.

"My mother..."

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