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Chapter 359 83.2 - Damsel?

\'Where am I?\'

Panic surged through her as she struggled to make sense of her surroundings, her heart pounding in her chest.

For what felt like an eternity, all she could perceive was the suffocating darkness that enveloped her. But gradually, her vision began to clear, and she realized that she was in a dimly lit room.

\'A room?\'

Faint candlelight flickered across the walls, casting eerie shadows that danced around her. The air was thick with a musky scent that made her nose wrinkle in discomfort, and she found it difficult to draw in a breath.

Fear gripped her as she realized the gravity of her situation. She was trapped in this dark, unfamiliar place, with no idea how she had gotten there or what awaited her.

Struggling against the restraints that bound her, Irina attempted to free herself, but her efforts were met with little success. The bindings held firm, leaving her feeling helpless and vulnerable.

\'Mana....I can\'t feel my mana.\'

Then, slowly, everything came crashing. Her memory was recovered.

She had been abducted by that girl whom she had seen before but couldn\'t remember her face. However, as her memory came back, she also noticed someone in the shadows.

Since her access to mana was limited, she was no longer any different from a non-awakened. After all, she was a mage, and even her senses were trained by mana, and without it, she was hopeless.

That was the reason why it took her this long just to recover.

In any case, as she gradually recovered, she looked at the scene before her. The silhouette was doing something on the ground right before her. Her arm was moving constantly as if she was drawing something onto the ground.

"You are finally awake."

But then the voice turned her head to her. Even in the darkness, Irina could see the dark brown eyes. It was a subconscious feeling transmitted to her by the source. With her experience, Irina could tell such things.

Her brain was warning her instinctually.

Irina\'s heart raced as she struggled against her restraints, the gravity of her situation sinking in. But she knew that she had to remain calm, to find a way to reason with her captor.

After all, this was not the first time she had been abducted. She needed to cool her heart down.

"Release me," Irina began, her voice feeling arrogant. " Whatever your reasons for bringing me here, I can assure you that I mean no harm to you. If you let me go, I promise that I will act as though this never happened."

Her words were sincere, but she didn\'t speak them with the hope that the girl would believe in her.

They were true; after all, making an enemy out of an Emberheart was a grave mistake, one that could have dire consequences, but at the same time, the girl would know that she had already made an enemy out of the Emberheart.

This was to instill the idea of the fact that she was just a naïve, arrogant girl in her head so that she could lower her guard.

"Heh..." And just as she expected, a snicker left the girl\'s mouth. Looking at her with a somehow hateful gaze, the girl continued. "Do you think I will be fooled by such words? The moment I release you, you will burn me alive. I know at least this much about you."

Somehow, the girl\'s words made Irina a bit proud, even though it was stupid to feel like that in such a situation. After all, it implied that even people like this girl feared her prowess and character.

"You are so stupid that you got caught in such a situation," the girl continued, her voice laced with disdain. "And then you still rely on your household. I hate people like you, who have everything from the start just by being born."

Irina gritted her teeth at the girl\'s words, feeling a mix of frustration and resentment welling up inside her. How dare this girl speak to her in such a manner?

\'I had everything just by being born?\'

Of course, from the outside, everything looked like she was born lucky, with the talent to be the strongest fire user and the resources of a noble family like Emberheart.

Who wouldn\'t want it, right?

"You were born beautiful, born with talent, born with the resources. You had everything under you as if the world was ready to give you the red carpet treatment."

But as the girl spoke, Irina\'s attention was drawn to the faint smell of metal that permeated the air. It was a scent she knew all too well--the unmistakable odor of blood.

Her gaze narrowed as she surveyed the room, her eyes falling upon the intricate symbols that the girl had been drawing on the ground.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Irina realized the true extent of her predicament.

\'A ritual.\'

What this girl was doing was clearly evident from her actions. She was preparing for a ritual. Even though Irina didn\'t know many details about the ritualistic magic since it was rather disgusting and was used by evil people, she had the basic knowledge.

And she knew most of them used blood as the conjunction point.

As for what this ritual meant or what those symbols meant, she wasn\'t completely well-versed in that topic.

But, it was obvious that the ritual was up to no good. After all, the girl before her was a demon-contractor. The demonic energy she felt was real.

And, if there was a demon contractor, they could never be up to any good. This was the basic knowledge for the students of the Arcadia Hunter Academy as well as a member of the Emberheart Family.

Irina forced herself to remain calm, pushing aside the surge of panic that threatened to overwhelm her.

\'What to do now?\' She knew that getting worked up in this situation wouldn\'t do her any good—she needed to think rationally and find a way out of this predicament.

Her mind raced as she considered her options. She couldn\'t rely on her mana in her current state, and attempting to overpower the girl physically would likely end in disaster. No, she needed to find a more subtle approach.

No matter which angle she looked from, the escape was impossible. She would eventually confront this demon. She had also left her smartwatch so that \'he\' could track it down.

Recalling the message she had sent before she was kidnapped, Irina felt a glimmer of hope. If \'he\' received her message, there was a chance that he would come looking for her.

And if he did, she needed to be ready to seize the opportunity. However, she doubted she would need it.

But this was under the prediction that he would come.

-Irina and I have a history, but that doesn\'t mean I condone her actions. Sometimes, it\'s easier to keep someone close to keep an eye on them rather than risk them causing trouble elsewhere.

Recalling his words, her heart somehow felt clenched. Would he really come? After all, wasn\'t she just a bother in his eyes? Someone he would need to look after and be close to so that he can keep an eye on her?

Wasn\'t this how he viewed her? Why would he bother with coming here? In the first place, would he even get her message?

\'He would. There is no way he wouldn\'t understand something is amiss.\' He was smart and had a weird way of logically thinking about everything. Putting up the clues together was one of his forte. She still remembered how he managed to find the location of the Phantom\'s Land from all these fragments of paper.

Therefore, Irina was very well aware of the fact that he was talented. A talent that she didn\'t deserve?

-After all, I am way better than Irina, aren\'t I? Smarter, easier to talk to, better personality, more beautiful, and most importantly, stronger.

-You certainly are smarter, and you seem to have a better personality.

She recalled the end of the conversation. At this point, she wasn\'t particularly stuck around the comparison. However, now that her mind was clear as she got rid of her \'Mana Exhausted\' state, she could think about his words and clear her resolve.

\'At the end of the day, isn\'t it always the same thing? People will approach me with the intent to get something from me as an Emberheart, just like that woman. Everyone is like her, who only views me as the heir of the Emberheart Family.\'

\'I thought he was different, but I guess he was the same. It was my own fault for trusting someone like him. But why do I feel this bitter? Why does this make me so angry and suffocated? Why do I still remember the times we constantly bicker with each other? Why do I remember how we fought back to back in Phantom\'s Land, how he led in the practical dungeon?\' She couldn\'t reason at all. Even now, she didn\'t know the answer. Yet, in the end, she had resolved herself.

Even if it hurt and she felt suffocated, she needed to accept the reality. She was alone now, and she needed to do it herself.

\'That is right, I will do it myself.\'

She needed to buy herself some time. With that in mind, Irina decided to play along with the girl\'s intentions, at least for now.

If she could keep the girl distracted, she might be able to find a way to escape.

"Fine," Irina said, her voice steady despite the fear that gnawed at her insides. "If you don\'t release me, then at least tell me what you plan to do with me. What is this ritual you\'re preparing?"

The girl\'s smirk sent a chill down Irina\'s spine, confirming her worst fears. It seemed her captor not only understood her intentions but relished in the knowledge that Irina was powerless to stop her.

"Ah, you want to know what this ritual is for? How amusing. Well, let me enlighten you, dear Irina Emberheart. This ritual is a dark and twisted practice. It\'s designed to transfer and absorb the powers of the target into the caster. And let me tell you, it\'s quite effective. Not only will I gain your precious abilities, but I\'ll also inherit a portion of your fate as a negative consequence."

As the girl spoke, Irina\'s blood ran cold. The implications of what she was saying sent shivers down her spine.

"But that\'s not all. Once I\'ve taken everything from you, I plan to end your miserable existence. There\'s no better sensation than stealing everything from someone like you, who has everything handed to them on a silver platter."

The girl\'s smile was so twisted that Irina couldn\'t help but feel the urge to puke.

"Of course, I was not normally going to do it this fast. But this whole senior-freshmen confrontation made it incredibly hard for me to wander at night. But well, thanks to the Lord, I was able to come across you because of that. I guess this is what one calls fate?"

Irina\'s eyes widened in horror as the girl suddenly approached her with a dagger in hand, the glint of metal reflecting the dim candlelight.

"You see, even if you wanted to gain some time, it would be pointless," the girl taunted, her voice dripping with malice. "Your mana is completely sealed, and nobody could find this place. I\'ve ensured that with powerful artifacts, and I would sense if anyone had entered."

Irina\'s breath caught in her throat as the girl raised the dagger, the blade glinting menacingly in the dim light. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she braced herself for what was to come.

Without warning, the girl made a swift movement, cutting Irina\'s cheeks with the dagger and drawing blood. Irina winced in pain, feeling the sting of the cut as warm blood trickled down her face.

"Therefore, we will be all alone until I get everything from you," the girl continued, her voice cold and devoid of emotion.

"And once I am done with everything, I will feed your body to dogs. You will serve a fine meal."

SWOOSH!

But, just as the girl was about to drip Irina\'s blood onto the circle she had drawn, something flew at a rapid speed.

SLASH! Slashing the hand that held the blade.

Someone made their entrance.