"Ah... is this how that Revan fellow blocked your sword?"
Her voice was smooth, but it lacked the softness that everyone was familiar with. It was almost as if they were facing a completely different person.
Sofamy exerted force on her finger, pushing Sierra back several meters and making her feet land on the ground. Before she could do anything else, Sofamy waved her hand once more, summoning another surge of Vyr directed at Sierra.
In no time, her cloak fell away as well, leaving her in her black robes with her face exposed. Immediately, most soldiers present had their breaths hitch.
Her skin was pale and spotless, her features seemingly carved specifically to charm and weaken resolve. Her jet-black hair pooled around her shoulders, stopping at her waist. Her eyes were ocean-blue, shining with a cold light. Her chest was a size that many found considerably good.
Her black robes hugged her body perfectly without revealing too much. If not for her cold expression, one might outright call her a goddess in broad daylight. She held a sword in her hand, one entirely made out of Amphylette.
Yet, there was another reason why she had shocked everyone. She was on wanted posters!
She was the one who had once tried to assassinate Sofamy!
Sierra clicked her tongue at this, her gaze turning colder than it already was.
But it didn't take long for Marcus to put his attention back on his sister. To him, this woman was a problem to look at later.
"Sofamy... what is the meaning of this?"
The blonde woman still stood with a small smirk on her face, a far cry from the innocent smile she was known to have had. Her own ocean-blue eyes also shone coldly.
"She ain't any Sofamy," Augustus sneered, his own butcher-like sword pointed at her.
Marcus turned to him sharply. "The hell you mean, you fatty?"
The chef had a popping vein on his forehead. "That is an ancient being in your sister's body, having existed for more than a thousand years. Her name is Athyma."
Gasps and murmurs were heard. Marcus's eyes widened in utter disbelief. What was this fat chef saying? This isn't his sister?
"What do you mean by that, Augustus?" Vekas asked, his voice measured, yet one could still feel the tension in him.
Marcus sharpened his gaze. "This person... she has an ability that allows her to reincarnate forever in human vessels the moment they are born, overpowering their soul and taking over their consciousness. She isn't human, though she isn't any random beast either."
"What are you talking about?! Are you saying that my sister has been an ancient monster this whole time?"
"That is exactly what I am saying, Marcus." The chef nodded without even looking at him. He had dropped all honorifics, his expression unsightly.
Vekas turned to Sierra, observing her cold gaze as she readied her sword. She seemed genuinely furious and was oozing with hatred. He recalled how she wanted revenge from Sofamy, but for what? Was this "revenge story" true after all?
Vekas turned to Augustus, but the chef was already looking at him. "I know what you're thinking, so allow me to explain—"
"Spoiling it so soon? You shouldn't forget your foe, you know." Augustus shuddered as he turned sharply where Sofamy stood.
A beam of light shot straight at him. Before he could try defending himself, Sierra appeared and deflected it away with her sword.
"You bitch!" she sneered before dashing at her. Her sword was again blocked by Sofamy's finger, though Sierra didn't let off.
She had already noticed that Sofamy was amplifying her finger with Vyr, which was something Revan had done as well. There was a major difference, however.
She could clearly sense the Vyr oozing from her finger, whereas when fighting Revan, she had merely assumed that he coated his finger with Vyr.
Besides, her attacks were clearly weakening the finger's resistance, seeing the blonde woman's furrowed brows.
The problem, however, was that even this much was strange. She shouldn't be strong enough to resist her attacks with this level of ease. Did her power evolve?
"You should be more polite when talking," the princess chuckled. Her voice was crisp and taunting, nothing like the innocent charm it usually carried.
Darkness coated her finger before turning into a jet-black claw. In the end, she had to create a weapon that would grant better resistance against Sierra's attacks.
At this moment, both women realised something. Revan didn't need to do that back then, meaning that he is on another level.
This all happened in such a short time that the others were still dazed by the light beam Sierra had deflected. It had landed on a wall, revealing a void.
Is that an entrance to the eighth level of the underground base? But then why was she on the seventh level? Vekas couldn't help but wonder.
Marcus, however, wasn't sharing such rationality. "Hey bastard! Tell me what you meant or I'll cut that beard off!"
Augustus, whom these words were directed to, scoffed and stroked his beard absent-mindedly. She then turned to the prince, Vekas, and the rest of the soldiers, his expression grim.
"You all need to understand this. Back when Sierra, the woman with the sword, tried assassinating the princess, she did it because we were aware that it was Athyma inside that body."
"Stop calling her Athyma!" Marcus yelled.
Paying him no heed, the chef continued. "As for why she was even after Athyma, it is because this woman had destroyed her entire family. Her parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, grandparents, grand aunts and uncles, cousins, every single one of them. In fact, had I not intervened back then, even Sierra would've died."
Vekas's eyes widened, his grip on his sword loosening slightly. "Hold on, you're telling me this feud is a thousand years old?"
"Yes. Back then, we told you that it wasn't that old because we didn't want you to get involved. You didn't know her true self, and you also wouldn't believe us no matter what we were to say. Hence, we secretly just dealt with this ourselves."
"Is this why you joined the rebels as a spy?" The general asked.
"No," the chef shook his head. "The rebellion was something that I personally wanted to investigate since it reeked of a high-level being. A semi-spiritual lifeform like you and me. That is also why Sierra wasn't involved with the rebels initially. She only joined after Revan got involved since she was suspicious of who he was."
It was understandable. Revan was too much of an anomaly, and everything he did needed to be studied in the eyes of cautious people. Naturally, having lived for a thousand years, Sierra was such a person.
"No... what? Why? How?" Marcus was at a loss for words. His brain could barely process what he was hearing.
"Wait, he's right, in a way," Vekas's eyes shone. "Why did this Athyma even go after her family? Why did she reincarnate herself in Princess Sofamy's body the moment she was born? What even is she?"
Augustus sighed, his gaze weary as he glanced at Sofamy, who was already engaged in a battle with Sierra. A cold smirk was resting on the princess' face.
"You see, Athyma is a demonic phantom. A semi-spiritual lifeform by birth. The only reason she never existed in the Demonic Realm was that she wasn't a spiritual being." Vekas's breath hitched at this.
He knew well about phantom demons. They were beings born so rarely in the world that the number was almost negligible. They couldn't sustain their forms in the world, so they possessed bodies of others the moment they were born, whether they be animals, humans, elves, dwarves, or even plants. As long as they existed, that was all that mattered.
Killing them was also nearly impossible, since they could just reincarnate in another body. Although they were semi-spiritual lifeforms, they couldn't be struck with physical attacks at all, as their bodies couldn't be considered physical at all. Having a spirit-like form and not being a spiritual being was an anomaly, which led them to become creatures for study in all parts of Varkana.
"Athyma was one to only take humans as vessels. As for why she killed off Sierra's entire family..." He narrowed his eyes, his lips pursed for a while before sighing.
"Athyma is a being whose cruelty knows no bounds. She'll happily spread chaos and ruin wherever she goes. Back then, she and I were mortal enemies, and I had connections to Sierra's grandfather. So, in order to damage my social network, she not only annihilated her grandfather, but also the rest of her family, extracting the Vyr and other techniques from their flesh and blood."
His eyes turned to the two women fighting. "She even tried killing Sierra, but I finally arrived during the chaos and was able to protect her. I felt guilty back then for being the reason why she attacked them, so I helped Sierra out and raised her."
Vekas's eyes shone in understanding. This feud not only extended to Sierra, but also to Augustus personally. What he didn't understand was why Augustus turned against her. Is it because he found her actions utterly evil and wrong?
Sofamy, meanwhile, finally pushed Sierra back to such a distance that she could turn to Augustus. "Hehe, I see you remember our history well."
Marcus was trembling. He took a step forward, his voice shaking. "Sofamy...?"
Sofamy laughed. "You listened to Augustus, right? I may be your sister by the body and blood, but that is not how I truly go by. My true identity is Athyma. That is what I acknowledge myself as."
At this moment, Marcus's world crumbled. This woman, the one he loved and treasured, the one he trusted with all his heart, was actually an ancient demonic phantom that merely possessed the body of his kin.
The worst part was that not only did she resonate well with Marcus and perfectly acted like an innocent and kind woman, but that she had essentially replaced his original sister the moment she was born. Those seventy-six years he spent with her were all actually hollow and meaningless.
"No! I refuse to believe this! I refuse to believe that my sister is not truly the one I know! I can't accept that she is an ancient, cruel, and evil being that merely took the flesh of the children of my parents!" He was screaming with a tone so raw, it revealed his anger and desperation.
Vekas's gaze softened at this, while Augustus merely sighed. The rest of the soldiers were shell-shocked, not finding room to speak at all. They felt like they shouldn't even be here.
"I see..." A voice resounded from the entrance of the seventh level.
Immediately, everyone turned to that direction. Even the women halted for a moment as they turned to see Charlie, his expression grim.
"Back when Cronos mentioned the one he loved being the grandmaster, I suspected you to be behind this, but I didn't wish to believe it. Now that I have heard that you weren't even my daughter all along, I have no choice but to accept this fact."
Marcus turned to him sharply. "Father, don't tell me you actually believe—"
"Hehehe, this is pretty interesting." A laugh came from the side as Revan stepped forward, his hands in his pockets.
"A demonic phantom? Who would've thought?" He wore a small smile on his face as he turned his gaze at Sofamy.
No, calling her Sofamy was inappropriate. She was Athyma.
"So? Why did you start the whole rebellion?" Instead of getting an answer, Revan felt a restricting sensation around him.
It was as if the space was tightening around him, as if trying to crush him. Looking at Athyma, he saw her eyes shining coldly. She was responsible for this sudden tightening of space.
"Hoho? Interesting woman," he muttered, but before he could break this attempt of restriction, Athyma stretched out her palm.
Immediately, darkness gathered around him. It turned into a multitude of binds, wrapping themselves around him from head to toe.
"Hm?" Even his eyes were covered by the dark bindings, making sure no form of resistance could help him.
Before anyone could even react, at the next moment, Athyma smirked.
Poof!
He was gone.
Everyone stared wide-eyed while Athyma merely laughed darkly.