Chapter 380
Through his notes and observations, he now understood what Erietta was truly feeling, the inner turmoil, fear, and despair that gnawed at her from within.
This understanding was invaluable, for it provided context regarding Erietta's state long before a major event occurred, namely before the transformation that would position her as the main boss in Arc One, Episode Twelve, or more precisely, before she became the second antagonist in the grand narrative of the game Flo Viva Mythology.
'As expected, the Bathee family has indeed planned a systematic form of torment.'
That night arrived, draping the Bathee residence in a thick and silent blanket of darkness.
Aldraya, in her flawless disguise as the cold vice leader, stepped into the leader's chamber.
Her movements were smooth, almost soundless, like a shadow gliding through dim light.
She promptly reported the various pieces of information she had gathered after monitoring with extraordinary patience throughout the day.
Her voice was flat, devoid of emotional inflection, as though she were reciting a weather report.
First, Aldraya reported a sight that illustrated the deep rot within this family.
She saw dozens of Bathee family members, in informal gatherings within the living room or corridors, engaged in serious conversation.
However, the topic of their discussion was neither business affairs nor family strategy.
They were earnestly debating what kinds of verbal and non-verbal abuse would be most suitable to inflict upon Erietta.
The conversation was filled with vile suggestions, evaluations of which methods would hurt the most psychologically or which would leave physical marks that were not too conspicuous.
Of course, the purpose of that malicious discussion was crystal clear to Aldraya.
Beyond merely making Erietta suffer, these family members harbored a more sadistic motive.
They wanted to witness with their own eyes how long Erietta could endure.
Her suffering was a spectacle for them, a form of entertainment enjoyed collectively.
Every time they could observe her reaction, every time tears welled in her eyes or her body trembled while suppressing pain, they would laugh.
That laughter was not one of relief, but of dark delight and satisfaction at another's misery.
And from that laughter, their zeal to continue tormenting Erietta would burn even brighter, creating an endless cycle of cruelty in which the victim became both entertainment and the source of joy for her own tormentors.
'The Bathee family is trying to conceal the fact that their descendants at Star Academy were severely injured by me? How ironic.'
Second, from Aldraya's observations while disguised as the vice leader, a layer of deception and fragility within the Bathee family was revealed.
She discovered that several Bathee family members, perhaps those with high authority, were exerting all their effort to conceal an embarrassing fact.
That fact was that all the students, or more precisely the Bathee descendants enrolled at Star Academy, had been easily gravely injured by a single individual.
That individual was a depraved samurai named Theo Vkytor.
The crushing defeat of the family's prospective heirs at the hands of just one man was a great disgrace they tightly suppressed.
Although it could not be denied, the family members, especially the elders, had never anticipated the level of Theo Vkytor's strength.
Internal data from the Bathee family indicated that nearly most of their descendants studying at Star Academy had reached the Human Change stage within the Svenus class, a level considered fairly high.
Some had even attained the Sosh tier and were on the verge of reaching its peak.
Yet all those achievements and relentless training proved meaningless.
They could all be brought down with startling ease by Theo Vkytor, as though their levels held no significance whatsoever before him.
Worse still, the students who had confronted Theo directly, particularly during the moment when the battle between Aldraya and Ilux was underway, reported a strange and terrifying sensation.
They felt the presence of four entities that were not merely aspects of Theo's identity, but also extensions of his will.
'They will offer themselves.'
Third, and most crucial according to Theo, Aldraya reported a very serious development.
She stated that several elders, including the adoptive father and mother who had taken Erietta from the orphanage, along with other Bathee family members of the highest standing and dignity, had held four secret meetings.
These meetings were not ordinary gatherings.
In each of them, they reached the same unanimous and consistent agreement, demonstrating both gravity and clear intent.
The content of that agreement was horrifying.
They had decided to sacrifice something.
Not just anything, but a sacrifice intended for something far greater, for the glory of an instruction from the Gods.
It might refer to higher cosmic entities, perhaps rulers in the Land of the Gods, or another force worshiped or feared by the Bathee family.
What was clear was that this sacrifice was a transaction, an attempt to obtain blessings, power, or legitimacy from what they regarded as divine authority.
And considering the context and consequences Erietta had already caused within the Bathee family, particularly the incident of injuring one of their own who was also her stepsibling, the conclusion became evident.
Erietta was one of the candidates, or most likely the sacrifice that the Bathee family would present to the Gods.
Her status as an illegitimate child, a family disgrace, and now the "perpetrator" of a crime against a family member had made her the perfect scapegoat.
'This is no longer a game. Reality has taken over, along with consequences that cannot be avoided.'
To be honest, when the third piece of information left Aldraya's flat voice, Theo could not fully believe it.
Or rather, he had not anticipated it.
As someone who had once been a player in the game Flo Viva Mythology, he had experienced countless scenarios, defeated numerous bosses, and witnessed many plot twists.
But all of that had taken place on a screen, within the safe boundary between himself and the virtual world.
Even before the game spiraled out of control under Vostraith Legacy and consumed the real world along with ninety-nine percent of himself, the tension he felt had always been "game tension," an emotion controlled and understood as part of a story.
However, this information about Erietta's impending sacrifice was different.
It felt real, concrete, and pierced directly into his new reality that had merged with the game world.
The tension he now felt was no longer that of a player anticipating the next challenge.
It was the tension of an active participant, someone trapped within the narrative, hearing that a girl he had been observing, someone who might hold a key role in this world's destiny, was to be offered as a sacrifice.
The feeling unsettled his heart, a deep and unfamiliar anxiety he had never experienced with such intensity when he had been merely a player behind the screen.
And strangest of all, the physical sensation manifested.
His heartbeat, usually calm and controlled, occasionally throbbed with unusual intensity.
It was a pure bodily response, a sign that the threat to Erietta was no longer mere mission data or a plot point within a storyline.
It was a real danger to a girl whose condition he was studying, whose future he was documenting, and who might possess a connection to the mysteries of this world far deeper than he had ever imagined.
To be continued…