23. Purifying Light
“…”
Ann’s eyes were slightly moist. She stopped struggling and stared blankly at the corner of the basement, seemingly processing the information she had just received.
Reina didn’t miss the opportunity and continued: “Humans who fall into mid-ranking demonhood regain their sanity and memories, and your power is just right.”
“You will be like me, possessing your own personality, not a mindless walking corpse.”
“I will give you the right to choose.”
Reina wasn’t naive enough to think that with Ann’s current state, she could lead her to find other humans and immediately become their leader. That was wishful thinking.
It might be feasible, but it would require not only disguise but also creating time gaps in her maid duties.
And if Calysia discovered these little actions, the consequences would be unimaginable.
If she could obtain information about humanity through the demonified Ann, it would definitely be a worthwhile trade.
But Reina’s ambition didn’t stop there.
If she could use this girl to create a puppet, she could simply give orders to that puppet and achieve the same goal of leading humanity and overthrowing the demons.
As if to confirm the truth, Ann’s voice, filled with despair, held a hint of questioning: “Miss Reina, my father clearly raised me without complaint. Why… why would he do this to me?”
“Would you harm a pet after feeding it?”
“I…”
Ann nodded, a mixture of tears and laughter on her face.
“Then… I can’t collude with demons either. That’s an act of evil. The Goddess of Light wouldn’t allow me to do that.”
Reina also laughed:
“Becoming my subordinate isn’t about joining some friendly club. It’s about superiors and subordinates. I’ll use you to kill humans, and you’ll use me for revenge.”
“Don’t misunderstand, Miss Ann. We just need to have aligned interests.”
“As for the Goddess of Light?”
Reina suddenly remembered the “Goddess of Light” in the mysterious space.
“She’s long dead. Perhaps she’s already been captured by the demons, bound and demonified.”
“…”
Ann nodded.
After another minute, she finally looked up and met Reina’s gaze. There was no anger or sorrow from being deceived, but a twisted expression after a painful struggle, and a fire of hatred burning in her eyes.
She finally understood. Those last words were just self-deception.
There were no gods left in this world.
“Miss Reina, I agree to join you.”
“Mm.”
Reina smiled and waved her hand, and to the astonishment of both Ann and Fire, she casually broke the chains binding Ann with gravity magic.
At this moment, Fire, standing beside them, could hardly contain her excitement.
As expected of Miss Reina!
Using human weaknesses and a wealth of knowledge to make this human willingly fall, even offering information voluntarily, saving the trouble of interrogation!
“Fire, let’s go up.”
When the priest saw the three of them emerge from the basement, his jaw almost dropped:
“La… Lady Reina, I must remind you, that human is a powerful combatant. Don’t let her escape…” The priest remembered the kick Ann had given him when she was struggling.
But he never expected that Ann wouldn’t even glance at him, walking straight to the podium and leaning against the prepared thorny cross without any fear.
“No need, I’ll do it myself.”
“This…?”
The priest couldn’t believe his eyes. When he saw Reina’s confident gaze and Fire Dragon’s proud expression, he understood!
—This is advanced hypnosis magic, as expected of Lady Reina!
The priest coughed, regaining his composure.
He took out a black scripture, opened it to a certain page, and began to chant strange, incomprehensible incantations.
In response, the demonified humans below finally reacted, raising their hands and mechanically chanting in adoration.
“Long live the Purifying Flame…”
“The King grants rebirth, grants everything…”
“Long live the Four Kings of the Realms!”
At that moment, a strange black flame erupted from the scripture, streaking across the sky and converging beneath the cross where Ann stood.
The flames engulfed the thorns, burning brighter and brighter, binding Ann’s limbs like chains, locking her tightly to the cross.
Ann showed a pained expression, but she quickly accepted reality, closed her eyes, and quietly waited for the flames to consume her.
Suddenly, the cross floated into the air, and together with the black flames, transformed into a pure black sun in the sky.
“This is demonification.”
Reina murmured to herself.
It was the first time she had seen pure black flames without any impurities.
The flames were instantly extinguished, replaced by more black thorns.
The black thorns completely enveloped Ann’s body, like a completely sealed black plant-based garment, fixing her to the cross, but the outline of her female form could still be vaguely seen.
“It seems she wholeheartedly accepted the demon’s power, which is why the process was so smooth. If she were unlucky, it could have taken three days of burning with no result,” the priest said with emotion. “It won’t be long before she breaks free from the thorns and completes her transformation!”
Reina’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Fire looked at the thorns happily and said:
“After she finishes demonifying, let her help me and my sister with chores.”
“Don’t you hate humans?” Reina chuckled.
“It’s rare to see a human demonify as thoroughly as Ann. Now, I can’t even smell the stench of humanity on her anymore.”
Saying that, she glanced at the priest: “Much better than some!”
“What are you saying? I’m a true believer…” The priest’s beard bristled with anger.
Reina wasn’t interested in their strange interaction. She first agreed to Fire Dragon’s suggestion, as that was what she had intended to do anyway.
Fire also completely understood Reina’s meaning.
Recruiting troops and expanding their power, capturing humans was like catching mice, it couldn’t be rushed.
She had long felt that some of the useless people around the Dragon King should be replaced. Hoxas was one of them. With Reina around, she was sure to fix the current state of the Dragon Realm.
Perhaps, they could even rule the world.
Before Reina left, the priest, Fire, and Ann all looked at her retreating figure with envy and admiration.
But only Reina knew that she was in such a hurry simply because she hadn’t bought groceries yet!
Expanding her power could wait, there was still a dragon at home who hadn’t eaten!
And just now, to persuade Ann and observe her demonification, she had wasted too much unexpected time. This wasn’t the quality of a proper maid.
Reina quickly rushed to the morning market, took out the silver coins she had scrounged up from the nooks and crannies of her room, and bought some fresh ingredients. After checking off everything on the list in her small notebook, she hurried back to the villa.
At the villa’s entrance, she glanced at her watch: “6:45”
Good. Considering Calysia’s habit of sleeping in and her morning grumpiness, she still had almost thirty minutes to cook.
But as soon as she opened the door, Reina was almost shocked into unconsciousness by the scene before her:
The arrogant Dragon King was already dressed, holding a small broom, and gently sweeping the dust under the sofa.
She was already awake.
And she was actually sweeping the floor!!
For a moment, Reina didn’t know what to say. She could only quickly put down the basket, walk up to Calysia, and snatch the broom away.
Calysia, having her broom taken away, looked somewhat angry: “Little Vassal, why did you take my weapon?”
“Master Calysia.”
Reina bowed slightly. “You doing this is disrespectful to my work.”
“I just want to sweep the floor.”
Calysia crossed her arms and said matter-of-factly. She had just woken up, and her face was slightly damp.
“If you’re interested in housework, you can help me clean the windows.” Reina retorted, walking up to Calysia and smoothing the wrinkles on her collar.
Calysia, however, shook her head: “I only know how to sweep the floor.”
“Huh?”
Reina thought to herself: You only know how to sweep? If you can even do that properly, I’ll burn incense and worship Buddha!
Unexpectedly, Calysia lowered her head reluctantly and said somewhat awkwardly:
“Now, you can’t blame me.”
“Didn’t you say before that I just needed to sweep the floor, and you would do the rest?”
Reina’s heart skipped a beat.
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