Near Nethermoor's lake forest.
Zerath, Silas and Arzan stepped out of the Shifting Vein and found themselves at the same place where they had started in the forest. It was already dark.
Arzan burst into tears. "We're back in Rudaheim!"
Silas glanced at the altar ruins he held. "What are you going to do with those?"
"I'll keep it with me. Besides, studying the runes might help me understand this forbidden ritual a-and hopefully, figure out a way to stop it…"
"That'll be helpful, Arzan," Zerath appreciated his initiative.
His face bloomed at his praise. "I-I'll do my best, my lord! I'll help you catch these people!"
Zerath nodded. After a quiet moment, he whispered, "About the Varkhail's statue you saw back there…I ask you to keep that to yourself."
The revered knight was celebrated across the Demon Realm - but the revelation of that sacred person being the scorned veil-born child of Autumn and Valas would land the most devastating blow of all times. He didn't want Nara's name and valor to be sullied beneath the weight of that identity.
"I won't breathe a word of it, my lord!" Arzan whispered back urgently. "You can trust me!"
Zerath placed his hand on his shoulder in quiet gratitude. He then darted a look at Silas - who didn't look too bothered.
"I like to keep my nose out of other people's business unless they don't bother me."
Zerath smiled. "I realize how I never tend to miss my Master when I'm with you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go."
The three silhouettes moved further into the darkness. Unknown to them, a masked figure slowly stepped out from behind a tree. He looked towards the collapsed cave, eyes narrowed.
"And who you might be?"
He froze. For a long, disoriented moment, he couldn't believe he failed to realize another presence besides him. He turned slowly - and met a pair of ember eyes watching him with a sneer.
"Did I just catch a rat?"
The masked demon didn't waste time. He bolted at once. But a ring of tall flames erupted around him at once and he stumbled backward, trapped.
"We caught the bad guy! We caught the bad guy!" A young girl jumped out of the bushes, celebrating their victory with gleaming eyes.
"Tettia!" Two demons grabbed her arms by both arms and pulled her back. "You're too close!"
"But we caught him! He's definitely the gatekeeper to Hell where Sira disappeared to."
"You and your conspiracy theories again!"
"Enough!"
Irritation flashed across Astaroth's eyes. He shot a deadly glare at his underlings. "For the record - I caught the rat, so why are you so happy?"
Tettia raised her hand eagerly. "Because it was my idea to keep lurking at this site and find clues to find Sira! Otherwise, my lord had already given up!"
His expression twisted. It was true he wasn't much interested in the cave ever since it had collapsed. It was only a pile of useless debris now. He thought it was prudent to invest his energy towards finding more about the disappeared demoness - Sira. His motives were far from noble. Sira was simply a means to an end. A way to expose Zerath, who Astaroth had quietly determined was suppressing information about the disappearances for reasons he had yet to fully unravel.
Tettia, however, had refused to give up and made it a point to visit the forest every single day. It was then that she had caught Zerath's troop heading towards the cave without alerting his presence in Nethermoor. Astaroth had seized on that opportunity and followed him in the forest.
Unfortunately, Zerath hadn't emerged from the cave until it was almost dark. He had been on the verge of blasting through the remaining rubble out of sheer impatience. Eventually, his struggle proved fruitful.
"I heard something interesting from Sir Draconis's disciple just now," his eyes glinted, menacing. "About some forbidden ritual."
Panic flickered across the demon's eyes.
"You were too far to catch on, but I wasn't - and I've this feeling you probably know a great deal about it."
"You're the Hell's gatekeeper, right!" Tettia exclaimed.
Astaroth's brow twitched with her interference. "Did I permit you to speak?"
"No, but I talk anyway because I can move my lips!" Tettia held absolutely no concept of respect, which Astaroth had expected as Nethermoor's lord or someone who belonged to the Great Three.
I'll burn this damn town into crisp one day…and first, I'll cauterize her mouth! If only this halfwit weren't useful, she'd have already been turned to ashes by now!
Astaroth stepped into the ring of himself and smiled at the masked demon. "Let's talk."
A flash of metallic got buried under the light of the bright flames - but Astaroth caught his wrist with ease. A dagger was close to slicing off his neck.
"There was a pesky human who used the same trick before. You think I'll fall for it again?"
Gripping his wrist, embers of flame began to burn his flesh. He gasped hard and dropped to his knees, but not a sound escaped out of his lips.
"So stubborn," he observed. "I need you to talk, and you're keeping your mouth shut. Evidently, the heat isn't hot enough."
The masked demon writhed painfully, the burning smell of his own charred skin reaching his nostrils.
"So will you start talking now or will it only get to your head if I put up your whole existence on fire?"
The piercing agony of the flames digging through his skin was more than enough of a motivation he needed. He began to talk. Astaroth held his hardened gaze on him, listening to his rushed confession.
"...Is that what is going on with the people you abduct?"
He nodded frantically, begging at this point for him to douse the flames. Astaroth did so - and the demon shuddered with a ragged gasp. His wrist was a ruined mess of blood and charred skin. Even a faint trace of his wrist bone was visible through the charcoal boundary.
"Veil-born…"
The two underlings and Tettia were beyond stunned to their core. Even in Tettia's wildest conspiracy theories, she had never imagined that the disappearances would link to a forbidden ritual. The two underlings looked close to being sick, thinking of the forced mating between a human and a demon.
"Si-Sira…what about Sira? What happened to her!" The two exclaimed with horror.
"I…don't know…" he said breathlessly.
"How much does Zerath know?" Astaroth's eyes narrowed.
"T-The Crown Prince hasn't connected the disappearances to the ritual. He can't. It's impossible…It's too far-fetched a notion to even seriously consider."
"It's too far-fetched because it's impossible, you fool," Astaroth grimaced. "You all want a veil-born with both divine powers? How is that even remotely possible? First of all, only someone from the Great Three could be born as the Blessed. You can't just force random people together, have them mate and expect their child to hold divine powers. I don't know if the people above you are too dangerously passionate or plain stupid."
He then added. "Second of all, even if a child is a hybrid, it means nothing. There's no way a veil-born child would house two divine blessings at once. Theoretically, you can babble all you want to make it make sense. Practically, it's impossible."
"It's…possible…" he trembled, searing pain jolting up within his arm. "Only one…there has been only one existence in the past. Centuries ago. That person was a veil-born…We don't know who he was, but he was both a Harbinger and a Sovereign."
"That's foolish. Your higher ups are probably too intoxicated that they're concocting fantastical stories like this," he sneered.
Tettia sprinted towards the spy, nearly breathless. "You said such a person existed centuries ago?"
Her weird enthusiasm unnerved the masked demon. Unlike the other two underlings, her demeanor felt far more disturbing. She should have been throwing up sick like her companions, not shine with delight as though she had found treasure.
"Y-Yes…"
"Was it Sir Valas's child!?" She exclaimed with exhilaration.
"Who?" Astaroth gave a dry look.
"Sir Valas! How could you forget him! The same demon who ran away with the human five centuries ago! The demon who dared to love a human and escape with her!"
Ah, from Fenrik's family, he tilted his head.
"If this person existed centuries ago, doesn't it make sense that that person could have been his child? I've read the story! Sir Valas and his wife were caught and executed almost eight or nine years after they had escaped! It wasn't explained how they were found, but what if someone caught a glimpse of their child? Their veil-born child?"