Zeta was born into the Golden Leopard Clan, the daughter of its chief. (Zeta's original name was Lilim, but for convenience, we'll use Zeta directly.)
The Golden Leopard Clan was a powerful beastmen tribe with a long history.
As the chief's daughter, Zeta possessed an exceptionally intelligent mind. Even in her early childhood, Zeta began reading a vast number of books, acquiring extensive knowledge at a young age.
Sometimes, when her father encountered difficult problems, he would discuss them with Zeta.
Zeta's intellect far surpassed her father's, and he often praised her as a genius. Life continued as usual.
However, in the 12th year after Zeta's birth, she discovered black markings suddenly appearing on her stomach.
At first, Zeta paid no mind, but as the markings grew larger and spread wider, Zeta became flustered and sought help from her parents.
When Zeta's father saw the black markings on her body, his expression turned serious.
"Father, what is this?"
"This is Demon Possession!"
"Demon Possession..."
Having read numerous books, Zeta, of course, knew what Demon Possession was.
Contracting this would completely extinguish her family's hopes, and her parents would also be implicated because of the Demon Possession.
The sensible Zeta looked at her father's worried expression and made a decision in her heart.
"Father, kill me. Only if I die will everything be alright. Otherwise, I will implicate the whole family! For Father, for Mother, for my young brother, don't let me alone bring you all down!"
Zeta's father looked at Zeta's resolute expression, never having imagined this young child would say such words.
Willingly sacrificing oneself—very few people could do such a thing.
"Don't rush yet. Trust Father, there will be a way! Father will definitely find a cure for Demon Possession! I remember the Elven Books have a record of how to treat Demon Possession!"
Zeta's father frantically flipped through the books.
His expression was unusually wild, a gaze desperately searching for a glimmer of hope.
Zeta had read all of the Elven Books and knew perfectly well whether there was a method to treat Demon Possession within them.
"Mother, you should also try to convince Father! Killing me is the best solution!"
Zeta's mother looked at Zeta, utterly unable to agree to her request. She chose silence.
Zeta was obedient and sensible, a very good child. Zeta's father loved her deeply.
Now that such a thing had happened, how could they possibly kill Zeta?
"Found it, it's written here, it's written here!"
Zeta's father handed her the Elven Books.
Tears dripped onto the Elven Books, one by one.
They were Zeta's father's tears.
The Elven Books clearly stated that Demon Possession was incurable.
Zeta had never seen her father cry before; this was the first time she had seen him like this.
Zeta's father embraced Zeta tightly.
"Trust me, I will definitely find a way, trust Father!"
Zeta's mother also embraced Zeta, and her parents cried and wept while holding Zeta.
Zeta patted her parents' backs.
"Father, I believe you!"
...The next day, Zeta's father left, saying he would return in a month.
Zeta's mother wrapped bandages around Zeta's black mark.
"Remember, Zeta, you must not go out. Wait for Father to return."
...More than a month later, there was a commotion outside Zeta's home. Her mother took Zeta out.
All around were members of the Golden Leopard Clan, holding torches, while her father was bound and kneeling on the ground.
Zeta stared blankly at everything before her. The intelligent girl understood everything.
The matter of Demon Possession had been discovered.
She had harmed her father.
"What are you trying to do? Are you planning to betray the clan?"
Zeta's mother shouted at the surrounding people.
Before Zeta's mother could finish, a figure emerged from among the many Golden Leopard Clan members.
"Hmph, defilement has appeared in the clan. Demon Possession must be purged immediately. That is the clan rule, isn't it!"
The newcomer was the leader of a Golden Leopard Clan branch.
The Golden Leopard Clan was an extremely large tribe, with several branch clans.
Zeta's father was the chief of the main branch.
The branch leader drew his sword and stabbed Zeta's father in the shoulder.
"Quick, tell us who the Demon Possession is!"
Zeta's father's answer was only three words.
"I don't know!"
"You don't know, do you?"
The sword stabbed Zeta's father's left shoulder.
The branch leader's goal from the beginning was not to extract the identity of the Demon Possession from Zeta's father's mouth.
He knew Zeta's father was a tough nut, but there were certainly people present who couldn't bear to see him injured.
Zeta's father remained silent.
The branch leader looked at Zeta.
Zeta said nothing, her expression unchanged.
Zeta was very clever; if the other party wanted to interrogate her father, there was no need to do it here. They could have interrogated him after capturing him. Interrogating him here was to make her speak the truth.
Speaking the truth would not save Zeta's father, so Zeta could only choose to remain silent.
Seeing Zeta's lack of reaction, the branch leader spoke.
"How boring!"
"This fellow has betrayed the tribe. I am the new leader of the Golden Leopard Clan. Not long ago, the Holy Church's priest found us and said there was a Demon Possession aura within the Golden Leopard Clan!"
"And in the east, the Holy Church will take away the Demon Possession to cleanse the defilement!"
At this moment, a person walked out from the crowd, dressed in a priest's robe.
He spoke with a hypocritical air:
"The defilement must be cleansed immediately. If left unchecked, it will spread throughout the entire village!"
"You're lying!" Zeta's father said in a hoarse voice.
The priest looked at Zeta's father.
"Beastman, did I say something wrong?"
"All Demon Possessions are lies of the Holy Church."
"What nonsense are you spouting? Everyone knows what Demon Possession is!" the branch leader interjected.
"Beastman, do you have any evidence?" the priest asked, his expression serious as he stared at Zeta's father.
"The Golden Leopard Clan is a race that has been passed down from a very long time ago, and our earliest chief was the Beastman Hero Lily, one of the Three Heroes! The Three Heroes were not men but women. Demon Possession is not a curse but a blessing!"
"Just a fairy tale!"
"This is no fairy tale! This is something only the chief of the Golden Leopard Clan knows. Demon Possession is not a curse but a blessing from the Three Heroes!"
A brief silence fell over the surroundings.
"Hahahahahahaha! That's too funny! I've never heard such a funny joke before!"
The branch leader laughed and shouted.
The people around also started laughing.
Everyone thought Zeta's father was making up stories.
"It is quite funny!" the priest said.
But there was no smile in his expression, and his face had turned unusually grim.
"So, you mean that Demon Possession is a blessing, not a curse, and you want to use your ridiculous delusion to push the entire tribe into danger, is that it!"
The branch leader roared.
"You might find it hard to believe, but this is the truth!"
"Don't joke around!"
The branch leader punched Zeta's father in the face.
Punch after punch landed heavily on Zeta's father's face.
Zeta trembled all over, yet she could do nothing. She had knowledge but no power.
"Speak, where is the defilement!"
"If you don't speak, I'll burn you all to death!"
"Whether I speak or not, you'll do that anyway!"
The branch leader's face sank. His thoughts had been guessed, which made him somewhat angry.
"Alright, then I'll burn you all to death!"
"No, it's me!" Zeta spoke at this moment.
She tore off the bandage on her arm, revealing black markings.
Zeta said, trembling all over, "I... am... the Demon Possession."
Zeta's gaze turned to her father.
Her father looked at her and spoke:
"We are descendants of Lily, one of the Three Heroes who once saved the world!"
"We are a proud bloodline. Why would she bestow upon us heroic stories? Why would she have them passed down from chief to chief?"
"It's because we have a mission!"
Zeta, crying, couldn't hear her father's words at all.
She regretted it, she regretted deeply why she hadn't found a place to commit suicide, why she had to implicate her parents and her young brother!
"You have inherited a heroic bloodline denser than anyone else's. You are my strong, intelligent, and most proud daughter. Go, head east. In the Midgar Kingdom, there is someone who can cure Demon Possession. Your mission awaits you there!"
"Father, I..."
Zeta looked at her father, tears streaming down her face.
"Zeta's father looked at Zeta's mother, 'I'm leaving it to you!'"
Zeta's mother embraced Zeta and Zeta's brother.
"Do you think I'll let you escape?"
The branch leader spoke.
His Golden Leopard Clan subordinates were everywhere.
"Hurry and go! I will block them for you, even if it costs me my life!"
No sooner had he spoken than Zeta's father's body began to creak.
It was as if something was pulsating within Zeta's father's body.
The next moment, a massive amount of magic power erupted from Zeta's father's body.
"What kind of power is this!" the branch leader exclaimed in surprise.
"This is the residual beast blood of the Golden Leopard Clan's hero!"
"Now, let me show you what fear is!"
Zeta's father's fur began to grow rapidly, as if he was transforming back from a human into a beast.
"This is a forbidden technique known only to the chief of the Golden Leopard Clan!"
"You all, hurry and go!" Zeta's father shouted at Zeta's mother.
"No, I want Father to come with us!"
"Take her away! This forbidden technique will turn me into an unconscious monster. Hurry and go!"
Zeta's father unleashed a punch towards the east, and the terrifying magic power sent many Golden Leopard Clan members flying.
One by one, they rolled their eyes, their fates unknown.
Zeta's mother, holding Zeta and Zeta's brother, ran towards the east.
"Interesting, truly interesting. I thought it was just a simple task, to retrieve the Demon Possession. I never expected to witness such a magnificent story!"
The priest laughed maniacally.
Zeta was carried away by her mother, while her father fought with the priest. Terrifying magic power shimmered, illuminating the sky.
Zeta's mother moved swiftly through the forest, without making any sound.
Zeta's mother had always hidden her true strength.
But Zeta's mother still sensed pursuers. They were close behind.
"It seems there are Golden Leopard Clan members with keen senses tracking us!"
Zeta's mother stopped.
"Zeta, let's split up and run!"
"No, Mama, let's go together!"
"Zeta, listen to me. Mama will go southeast. You take your brother, cross the river, hide your aura, and head east!"
"We'll meet in the Midgar Kingdom!"
Saying this, Zeta's mother handed her brother to Zeta.
"Brother should be with Mama!"
"Be good, Zeta. Ever since you were born, you've always made Daddy and Mommy very happy. Your daddy always smiled and said you were a genius. You are our motivation to live. Only when you are safe can Mama have no worries!"
"Okay, then Mama, it's a promise. We must meet in the Midgar Kingdom!"
With that, Zeta kept looking back as she headed east.
Zeta's mother watched Zeta leave from where she stood.
Then, she fled towards the southeast, but her footsteps were unusually loud now.
Zeta kept running, her head down, holding her brother.
At this moment, a figure flew across the sky. Zeta only clearly saw golden hair, and it seemed to be two people. After spotting them, Zeta hid.
After they left, Zeta continued to flee with her brother.
Zeta felt a sharp pain throughout her body; it was the Demon Possession.
Zeta endured the pain and continued to run.
As dawn approached, Zeta ran out of the forest and saw the beach and the endless sea.
Zeta felt a sense of rebirth.
Zeta knew this was the sea. To confirm, she licked the seawater.
"So salty!"
Zeta didn't know where the Midgar Kingdom was. Running east led only to the sea, an endless sea, and nothing else.
At this moment, snow began to fall from the sky.
"There's nothing to the east. Where is the Midgar Kingdom? Mother, where are you? It's so cold!"
The winter night was especially cold, and Zeta's whole body was stiff with cold.
The Demon Possession still pricked her body with pain, and she held her brother in her arms.
Looking at the small life entrusted to her in her embrace.
Zeta exhaled a puff of white air.
"I can only cross the sea!"
She had learned from books that there was a country across the sea.
"I hope that country is the Midgar Kingdom!"
"Father said it was east, so it must be. Mother will also be waiting for me there!"
Zeta walked along the coast and soon saw a fishing village in the distance. There should be a boat there.
"Hahaha, so you're here! Where do you think you're going?"
At this moment, a person suddenly appeared in front of Zeta.
It was the priest.
The priest held a blood-stained chain, making a clanging sound.
"Don't come any closer!"
Zeta hugged her brother tightly.
"Let me guess, where is the Demon Possession exactly!"
Saying this, the priest took out a head.
"Is it him?"
It was Zeta's father's head.
"Daddy..."
Zeta's eyes were vacant as she stared blankly at the head. All her memories with her father flashed through her mind.
"The blood-stained head is enough to prove how bloody the previous battle was!"
"It seems it's not him!"
The head was thrown to the ground by the priest and rolled to Zeta's feet.
Zeta's mind went blank; she couldn't think at all.
"Or is it her?"
The priest took out another head.
Zeta looked at the head; it was her mother.
She opened her mouth but couldn't make any sound.
Her mind was in chaos; her parents' heads made her unable to think normally.
"It seems it's neither of them!"
The priest dropped Zeta's mother's head.
"If it's not them, then there are only two people left! Perhaps it's the one in your arms!"
Hearing the other party's words, Zeta's mind cleared at this moment.
"No, don't hurt my brother!"
"So who is the Demon Possession?"
"It's me! It's me! Don't hurt my brother!"
"You're a good child!"
The priest touched Zeta's head with his hands, which were stained with the blood of Zeta's parents.
Zeta forced herself to endure. For her brother, she had to endure.
"Don't worry, if it's not Demon Possession, nothing will happen, so..."
However, the next second, the priest snatched her brother away.
But Zeta, stiff with cold, had little strength, and the remnants of the demon tormented her body.
The priest easily snatched her brother from her arms.
"I won't let him feel any pain. I'll kill him directly!"
In front of Zeta, he forcibly tore off her brother's head.
Blood splattered everywhere.
"Hahaha! Today is truly a good day! A high-quality Demon Possession! I am High Priest Petos, pleased to meet you! I think we'll be together for a long time!"
Zeta saw this scene. Her heart completely shattered.
"I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you!" Zeta repeated over and over.
"Very good, hatred gives you the motivation to live. This way, you won't die easily. It's truly wonderful!"