In truth, upon hearing that Jhin was already dead, Faen didn't take it too much to heart. After all, Jhin was fundamentally just a mortal who possessed a special talent.
Jhin's so-called mystery stemmed mostly from the fear and unknown lurking deep within people's hearts. It was precisely because of this collective mindset that Jhin was once called the "Golden Demon," viewed by people as an evil spirit of the Spirit Realm, or a type of demon. But in reality, Jhin mostly built his advantages through intelligence gathering.
Once he lost his intelligence advantage and the advantage of operating in the shadows, Jhin's actual combat strength left him with absolutely no chance of turning the tables if he was forced into close-quarters combat; his only option would be to think about how to retreat.
But to Faen's slight surprise, Jhin had actually died just like that.
Finding the local elder, Faen saw a septuagenarian draped in a white robe. Upon seeing Faen, or rather, upon seeing the Mark of the Twin Dragons on the back of Faen's hand, the elder bowed respectfully and said in a slightly desolate voice, "Honored guest from the Temple of the Long-Standing, it is a pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is mine." Faen didn't correct the elder's mistake in addressing him. After all, in most cases, something like the Mark of the Twin Dragons was indeed only bestowed upon those from the Temple of the Long-Standing. It was just obvious that this elder hadn't realized Faen's Twin Dragon Mark wasn't a temporary boon granted for a specific task... But that didn't matter. After all, being able to recognize it at all showed the elder was highly knowledgeable.
Thinking this, Faen asked, "Tell me about the Golden Demon."
"Ah, so it really is about that."
Hearing Faen's words, the elder nodded as if expecting it, but then sighed inexplicably. After a moment of silence, the old man murmured, "This happened three days ago..."
Listening to the elder's recounting, Faen nodded thoughtfully.
According to the elder's description, Jhin arrived in this modest-sized town about a week ago. Following two "presentations" performed for the sake of "art," the flaws Jhin left behind allowed the town guards to discover some clues. But judging from the ultimate outcome, those so-called flaws were clearly left intentionally by Jhin. His fundamental goal was to lure those town guards near the orphanage, and have them unwittingly kill the children while trying to save them. Thus, completing Jhin's pursuit of art.
This wasn't Jhin's first time doing this. The guy always loved using "art" as a pretext to orchestrate senseless slaughter and tragedies, then enthusiastically expound upon the philosophical meaning behind them to those who came after. For Jhin, whether it was the lives lost, the minds broken, or the bleak lives ruined, in the very end, they were all merely embellishments in his own history of art.
Except this time, Jhin seemed to have misjudged the situation.
In the midst of desperation, a previously unremarkable young girl in the orphanage suddenly raised her head. And as the ancient etwahl sounded, Jhin's body broke its own limbs while dancing wildly. The sudden turn of events terrified everyone present. It wasn't until Jhin died from excessive blood loss that the people realized the crisis was over, and the one who killed the Golden Demon was a young girl who had suddenly awakened her magical talent.
Logically speaking, under these circumstances, the young girl should have been hailed as a hero, a rising star of magic. But unfortunately, this was Ionia.
Although Ionia's ideology had already undergone noticeable changes, the core areas of this ideological shift were primarily Fae'lor and the coastal regions of the Navori Province. Even in places like the Placidium and Shon-Xan, which were also in the Navori Province, there were still many who believed that this was a violation of tradition and a mistake that would plunge Ionia into endless flames of war. Let alone in the Zhyun region, which was separated from Navori by a strait, hadn't even been touched by the war because it ended so quickly, and had been renowned for its conservative thinking since ancient times?
Within this simplistic mindset, people genuinely believed that all life should be respected, even the cursed Jhin. Although Sona's "counter-kill" saved many people, the fact remained that she took a life, which contradicted their ideals of non-violence.
Furthermore, it wasn't just the townspeople who developed feelings of rejection; even some people within the orphanage began to distance themselves from Sona.
Faen could actually understand this point. Because according to the elder's description, Jhin's death was truly horrific. As Sona plucked the ancient strings, golden soundwaves wrapped Jhin's body alongside a torrent of magic. That cloaked figure seemed to lose all control. Amidst the melodious song, the Golden Demon's limbs and torso danced wildly against his will. Accompanied by intense notes, the increasingly deafening soundwaves also pounded against everyone's minds.
And the Golden Demon's dance grew faster, more flamboyant, and more twisted. In the end, he snapped his own limbs, yet continued to dance frantically using legs and arms that had pale, jagged bones protruding from them.
What terrified them even more was Jhin's state. At first, Jhin let out a few agonized howls, but as the dance grew faster, madder, and more cruel, Jhin actually started laughing aloud.
Some said this was because Sona's music contained terrifying magic that made Jhin unable to distinguish reality from illusion. But others said the surprise they saw in Jhin's eyes didn't stem from the numbness of a magical illusion, but from genuine, heartfelt joy. Some even claimed that before completely dying, Jhin looked at the crowd and Sona, whispering that his art had finally been realized...
Regardless of the truth, one thing was certain: Sona, who was born mute and unable to speak, was becoming increasingly isolated, even feared, by the people because of this incident.
And based on his own understanding of Jhin... Jhin probably did die feeling satisfied at the very end. After all, a self-proclaimed artist assassin being counter-attacked by his own hostages and traps, dying mid-frenzy dance, and ending up seeing the savior who killed him being feared by the very people she saved—to a lunatic like Jhin, there was simply nothing that could excite him more.
"He really got off easy," Faen thought to himself, shaking his head in annoyance. He then said, "Where is the orphanage? I'm going to see that little girl."