In the Crimson Palace, the Demon King private alchemical workshop.
Surrounding him is a bunch of paper nailed into the board hanging from the wall, each has a silk string of different colors attached leading to other papers as it creates a wall of notes and strings.
Some of the content of the paper includes things like, 'Fall of the White Star', 'Buddhist Sect record', 'Sins Manifestation', 'Reshaping the Clay', 'Jade Lotus Seed', 'Asura'.
But much like how the river converges together, each note eventually leads to one small paper in the center of the board.
'Reversal of Karmic Ties.'
Around him is a book about Alchemy that he's been studying to further his goals.
Working alongside the Divine Physician and a renown elemental manipulator Mu Bu who both are currently away handling their own matter; this day he wanted to help the Divine Physician attempt at creating something she called Synthetic Heart.
Created by the Unification of Three Elements, or what the Divine Physician called…
"Three Component Synthesis, a foreign word…"
The Demon King know just how vast this world is, the uncharted Far West where only tales of mystic beast were found, the far North with their Explosive Death Energy and the Far South inhabited by Oro-Oro.
And every world has their own knowledge, their own language and culture. This simple difference in naming makes him realize just how small he is compared to the World and saddens him more.
As a King, he understands just how important knowledge for the masses is, that's why he added the Theorem Class to be held in the Southern Academy and built the Academy Library.
Hazhui is indeed powerful, in martial arts that is. Hazhui falls short in everything else, their most advanced technology here is another nation's obsolete one.
But away from those thoughts, he should focus on the task at hand.
Procuring ingredients used in this recipe written by the Divine Physician, he listed each of the ingredients and spare no expense in its cost.
"Bromine, Iodine, Fluorspar, Zinc?"
Many unfamiliar words were listed, the Demon King clicked his tongue at his cluelessness on the matter.
He knows its an element, specifically chemical elements not the Ba Gua Eight Trigram or the Core Elements.
But where does One procure Fluorspar? What even is Fluorspar? Is that even a real word?
His mulling about mumbles let him grab one of the books written in Hellas ancient script, trying his hardest to understand the foreign script and reading it.
"Where is it… Fluorspar, there it is"
He finds the text he was looking for; he then grabs a translation sheet to properly transcribe the text into the language he knows.
"Poros, is shi hui shi… Limestone then, what's the hassle on just listing the rock rather than the element?"
The Demon King ponders, the Divine Physician is an intellectual scholar who travels the world for their medicinal knowledge, of course she would have some pride.
It's like a Martial Artist who intentionally glorifies their own technique, boasting about it everywhere when the actual technique is just an ordinary move.
He finds no fault in taking pride in One's own work, but it is a hassle still.
Once he listed the limestone, he glanced towards an old book with the letter I.L.Y etched on it, ever since Nanming gave him the book of his late brother, he had no hearts on reading all the sentence inside.
For every word, every scribble, every adolescent drawing inside reminds him of that painful memory. He must brave himself, to fully face the past but he isn't ready yet.
"…"
But his rumination was soon interrupted by a knock on the door, Viren is outside, he can feel it.
"What?"
He said as he clicked his tongue, displeased that someone would interrupt him during his work.
"Apology for the interruption My King, but Lady Elina condition has worsened"
At the mention of her name, the Demon King instantly rises from his seat and walks hastily outside his Workshop.
His step was frequent as it is hastened, stomping on the puddle of rain as he didn't care much about the violent Nyuwek currently showering the earth and its reprisal.
Viren could barely keep up as he strenuously parted the mist to allow the Demon King uninterrupted passage.
Both then arrive at a manor, with the wall etched with an ancient script of Hazhui that reads Sheng Zhi Xing, A Quiet Shape of Voice.
When the Demon King felt his wet face, fiddling with the naked skin as he realized he forgot his mask.
"Viren, go fetch my mask"
"As you wish…"
Viren then melts into the Mist and disappears completely.
Normally, the Demon King would wait for Viren, but he had no time to spare. So, he enters the manor immediately.
Walking pass the countless female servant and possibly the Divine Physician personnel as they greet and bows towards his greatness.
"I greet his majesty the Demon King!"
"I pay my respect to the Demon King…"
"A-ALL HAIL YOUR MAJESTY!"
Yet he paid them no mind, treating the enthusiastic chant as mere background noise. As he arrives at the door leading to her bedchambers, he wastes no time in forcefully opening its sliding door with such force that it creates a loud, deafening sound
BANG!
It's safe to say that the many doctors and apothecaries inside were stunned and shocked, their veiled face instantly bowed at his presence as the Demon King thick red mist falls like curtains to coat their form.
""WE GREET THE DEMON KING!!""
They all said in unison, but the eyes of the Demon King search for Lady Elina who lies motionless in her bed.
Her eyes socket sunken and darkening into a circle, her soft auburn skin turned pale and dry as her cheek bone becomes a prominent feature of her face. This and her brittle hair imply malnourishment and dehydration.
His eyes turned furious, glowing in such a bright red that some Fiendish doctor instantly having a seizure as their skins writhe from insides.
Those who are not affected yelp and shriek in terror as they desperately try to explain the situation with stammered voice.
"W-We tried to feed Lady Elina with a rice porridge grinded a thousand times to no avail!"
"Indeed! Even when we forced feed her, her body expelled those foods outside in a matter of seconds!"
"We apologize for our incompetence! Spare us O great monarch!"
Seeing at their pathetic wailing caused the Demon King heart to falter a second, but as he watches one of the plain white fabrics there was stained in grey, he eased his tension a bit.
"…Leave"
That one command caused everyone to scurry away, but the fiend still cares enough to bow one more time before closing the sliding door with respect before plunging the room into silence.
The Demon King then carries one of the chairs there so he can sit beside Elina. Putting his hand over her forehead to feel that there is little to no warm left inside her.
As he checks on her complexion, he instantly knew what was wrong with her, and it's understandable why the doctors and the apothecaries seem unable to save her.
Withering has taken hold onto her.
The Demon King then shifted all his focus and inhibition inside, channeling his Life Energy to prepare one of the ancient treatment methods.
'Dual Curse Transfer'.
He traded his own Life Energy and take Elina own Withered one.
With careful yet unrelenting focus, he did this until the warmth returns to her form, yet her complexion remains.
He then invoked a name, a name of greatness.
"Aham namam vadami…"
-VACA
Before a voice replied from nowhere, the voice echoes in the Demon King mind with such force it rings his head.
"Pajari"
One of the names of greatness, shamanism only a few people can do. He is blessed enough to be favored by those beyond to be able to invoke their name with little cost.
And as he said that Elina complexion is getting better.
As he retreats his hands, he clutches his heart.
Feeling the Withered Energy coursing through his body, flipping every nerve ends and contracting his blood vessel before his Demonic Energy purge all of it.
The Demon King face wrinkled slightly in the aftermath; the cost of that invocation is 10 years of his Life Energy, that with the amount he injects to Elina added 20 more years of his Life Energy gone.
It's a given, the Life Energy is quite literally a Vital Fluid more important than even blood. Simply because it cannot regenerate, only taken.
It would need him about 30 years of constant cultivation to regain his lost Life Energy once more. But that's not what concerns him, it's the fact that Elina even contracted Withering in the first place.
Withering is process when One's own Life Energy reversed into Death Energy, and when a body of Clay or even Plasmatic met a Death Energy it instantly decayed.
This will not happen unless a procedure called Exhuming is committed, an act of changing an Energy to its primal form hence empowering the One who committed them.
Or…
"What sort of burden did you carry? Perhaps I can lighten it up a bit"
When a person has given up on living. Exhuming would automatically occur, wasting the person's life until they literally rot.
The Demon King inspects her nape, seeing that it is pale. He remembers very well how an angry red mark of rope bit into her skin when she hanged herself.
It's fortunate that he planned to visit her, otherwise she would've really died. Digging up on that memory and being drenched in Nyuwek allows him to memorize more about her.
Wu Elina, her real name is Elina de Croix de La Ruscheff. A noble from the now destroyed Franka, her father who had close ties to the South, had entrusted her daughter to him when he was a prince, and he swore to protect her.
But the Elders bore deep seethed malice towards her father and is keen on discarding her from the start, insulting her as…
'Parasitic worm'
'Scrap eating maggot'
'Life wasting garbage'
And so on, she must've been so hurt hearing those words when she herself didn't choose to end up here and so marrying her was the only way to avoid her being killed by the Elders.
And beyond the mandatory child per-wife, the Demon King did his best to avoid restraining Elina, he allowed her to roam freely and do whatever she wanted, perhaps that's the problem, and it was once again his fault.
As he inspects a fading black patch of her hair, hiding the blonde color underneath, perhaps the Doctors and Apothecaries tried to hide her real hair, he didn't know why though, perhaps they feel like there is a reason why she dyed her hair black.
And there is indeed a reason, it's required for the wife of the Demon King to be a Fiend regardless of their origin, hence the planting of a Blood Parasite is necessary.
But he didn't want to object to her such cruelty, so he told her to dye her hair black. Fortunately, her natural eye color is red so there is no need to repaint them.
All of this is to fool the Sect into thinking that Elina is a fiend while she is not.
Thankfully the one who treated her didn't speak up, who knows what kind of uproar it will be caused not for Lady Elina herself, but her daughter Wu Lixian as well. Being a daughter of a non-fiend.
He should thank them once he met them once more, his action must've spooked them quite a bit.
The Demon King then coughed out blood, rather than red it was colored grey, a signal of decay. But he breathes a sigh of relief that his Demonic Energy has successfully purged all the Withered energy.
He then waits beside her to further observe her condition, accompanied by the constant droning noise of rain and occasional thunder.
.
.
.
After about 5 hours, the Demon King is already in his mask. Watching solemnly at the sleeping Elina and patiently waiting for her awakening, fighting off the creeping sleepiness that is the result of his tiredness.
Around him, the Divine Physician has come to check up on her. Her veiled face looking attentively at any signs of abnormality in her body, noting the rhythmic beats of her heart and the slow breath of her lungs.
He felt a bit sorry to drag her all the way here, but the Divine Physician said that Akiri threw a tantrum and telling her to go check up on Elina.
When she finished reading her heartbeat by pressing her fingers on Elina hand, she turned her head towards the Demon King, then speak in a voice of bewilderment.
"This… This is amazing, she recovers so fast it's almost as if her entire Time itself was…was restored!"
Her breathless voice was a representation of her astonishment when her veiled face could not voice that expression.
"However, I plead you not to be rash in giving others Life Energy, it is beyond reckless, suicidal even"
She bowed her head as she said those words with grave tone, to which the Demon King could only nod while his mask covered his face.
"Lady Elina will wake up shortly after, if I am no longer needed, I shall take my leave…"
She spoke those words with urgency, her feet practically stomping with how much she wants to go back to Akiri.
"I permit you"
"Thank you your majesty, glory to the Demonic Sect!"
The Demon King watch her as she closed the door back on, sighing a deep breath before he turned his gaze towards Elina.
What will he say once she wakes up? Should he keep his mask on, or not? What manner of speech will he use?
A mundane and frankly useless question, but not for him currently, whoever can answer that question will receive his blessing.
"Ngh"
And sure enough, the yelp that signifies her awakening arrives.
…
Her eyes flutter open, the world is grey and bleached off color, sound is muted, her sense of smell is blocked, as if she isn't complete.
As she turned her head, she saw a figure, a tall figure. Instinctively she calls out…
"…F-Father?"
Yet the figure shakes his head, with a voice she loathed he speaks.
"I am the Demon King, Wu Raijo—"
"Get out!!"
She shoved her hands over to his form, yet it was so weak. Her wrist of only skin and bones cannot hope to displace a mountain of a man.
"What are you doing here…"
She said with a low yet dangerous voice, clutching the blanket that covers her form as she backed away.
"…I am here to check on you"
"Bullshit…"
Her accent is still thick, her past still lingers.
"I don't want to see you… You who robbed me of my freedom… You who refuse my salvation!"
With each accusation, her voice grew thicker and land deeper to sink its sharp words to the Demon King heart.
"Why you deny me my death! If you cannot love me then at least Let Me GO!"
"Because I made a promise…"
The Demon King voice rumbles deep, seething growl. Threatens to choke on Elina as she can do nothing but to yelp.
"…To your father, to keep you safe, to care for you"
"And if you care about me, you should just let me die!"
"DO NOT SPEAK OF DEATH SO LIGHTLY!"
…
Heaven and Earth tremble, the building shook, the very space and time itself crackles at his voice filled with energy.
Elina cowers, covering her ears as she tensed her muscle to still the pain coursing through her body.
"…"
In the end, he cannot save anyone… What a joke.
"Anything…"
He spoke, voice in a very low and soft voice. A stark difference from before.
"Tell me anything, and I will fulfill that wish if it does not lead you to your death…"
He let his mask off, revealing a face Elina thought was impossible for him to make.
So outrageously off character that only words can describe it. Pain.
"…Don't waste your life so easily"
He clasped both of his hands, nervously rubbing it against each other in a gesture of anxiety and fear. Why is the one called Black Annihilator…
"Fear Death…"
The One who slays thousands and ends a Kingdom, be afraid of death? Her death nonetheless.
When she is so useless that tall grass is a lot more valuable than herself?
"…Leave me, and let me talk with my daughter"
She said in a weak voice, expecting a no.
"…As you wish then,"
The Demon King donned his mask back on and rise from his seat, a gesture Elina is still wary about, but her worry is misplaced, the Demon King took his leave as he opened the sliding door leading out.
"…"
He paused a bit, as if wanting to say something. But the words didn't come out, and he closed the sliding door.
As his entire figure went out, Elina heaved a breath of relief. How dare he save her when she need not saving?
How dare he deny her freedom?
All she wanted was to join her father in Paradiso, she believed… No, The Lord promised that he was in Paradiso.
"O Lord… Save me"
She clasped her hand; in a gesture of prayer, she solemnly begs. To her savior, to her God.
The First Seat of Camelot, Lord Almighty Hasut.
"…Smite the sinner, smite him! I beg of you!"
Her voice so weak, so pathetic and yet her curse lingers with so much venom it could kill.
As thunder roars, the sound of a woman praying filled the only night of dripping rain.