Yarra's Adventure Notes-Chapter 1510 - 296: The Price

"There was no helping the littering of refuse; after all, even Danacus couldn’t deal with the remnants of sacrifices, so they were simply discarded." Nellie explained helplessly, "Ironically, the Twisted Souls, who should have hated them, instead became tools for their protection. Since Danacus controlled the death authority, his followers, who worshiped him, naturally excelled at playing with souls. This left those Twisted Souls unable to exact their revenge, forced to hover near the temple’s sanctuary, indiscriminately attacking any living creature. As a result, those areas were filled with twisted energy to the extent that no one, apart from the Undead Mages themselves, could easily enter the range of the Forbidden Land of Living Souls. I think if those Twisted Souls knew the outcome, they would be quite resentful."

"But in the end, they did get their revenge," Pannis murmured. "You gave them this opportunity to fulfill their purpose, didn’t you?"

"That’s just a way to comfort myself," Nellie said with a bitter smile. "In reality, my actions weren’t much different from Danacus’s. Although most of the energy from the numerous subsequent sacrifices was transformed by me into the pure Energy of Death to sustain the Realm of the Dead’s children, I likewise couldn’t handle the soul remnants of the victims. So, just like Danacus, I had them all transported to the perimeter of the Forbidden Land of Living Souls. Yes, to ensure your safe and successful entry into the Temple of Danacus, to completely exterminate his followers, I did indeed provide enough Energy of Death to the Forbidden Land, increasing its range. You did not disappoint my expectations and succeeded in your mission. But this cannot conceal the fact that I, like Danacus, have made it so their souls, even in dissolution, could find no peace. If I still have a chance, I will do my utmost to eradicate the Forbidden Land that lingers in the Forest of Death and let those shattered souls find release. Unfortunately, time won’t allow me to do these things anymore. I hope you can fulfill this wish for me."

"Why do you think there’s no more time?" Pannis frowned and asked, "According to what you’ve said, everything has been going well, and you’ve completely eliminated the threat of the Divine Servant. No one will be sacrificing to you anymore, and everything seems to be moving in a positive direction."

"Why say such things, Kyle? I don’t believe you still don’t understand," Nellie sighed, stood up from Pannis’s embrace, turned to face Pannis, knelt before him, and looking into his eyes she said, "Yes, everything is perfect, the plan is going smoothly, but my plan itself is founded on the basis of cutting off all my retreats. You surely can’t be so naive as to really believe that all those sacrifices were entirely without effect."

"Heh, as expected?" Pannis said with a bitter smile. "So those sacrifices were actually you hurting yourself?"

"The three main Deities of Danacus are not fools. They might not be able to determine how much effect each sacrifice has, nor be certain of how much energy Danacus absorbs with each one, but at least they can judge whether any energy was absorbed by Danacus at all. They wouldn’t just believe whatever I say. They have to reach the conclusion themselves that the sacrifice was truly accepted. Only then might they believe that I am Danacus. Otherwise, no matter how hard I tried, I would not have been able to convince them so easily," Nellie said as she patted Pannis’s thigh, softly persuading, "Deceiving yourself is useless. To use one of your own phrases, ’To gain something, one must pay an equivalent price.’ You’re right, and so I’ve paid the corresponding price. With every sacrifice, I had to allow Danacus to absorb a tiny portion of energy. In fact, even if I didn’t lower my defenses, the Divine Soul, even in sleep, could absorb a trace of energy from the sacrifices, just less than now. That means, as long as his followers kept on with the sacrifices, the current situation would have arrived sooner or later."

"But one day later or one day sooner makes a big difference for an individual," Pannis said with a bitter smile. "We’ve seen it, how many people would perform acts beneath moral decency just to live one more day."

"That’s them, not me," Nellie said with a scornful smile. "I would not lose my dignity and steadfastness just to prolong my life by one day, like they do."

"So, knight..." Pannis sighed deeply, "your actions are just burning through the little time you have left. You didn’t have to do this. If in these twenty years, you hadn’t pretended to be Danacus, hadn’t dropped your guard even a little, maybe you could have lasted another twenty years. By then, you could have tried to lead me here to execute your plan, and it would all still be possible. In the end, you sacrificed what might have been decades for the sole purpose of destroying the organization of the Divine Servant early and preventing the increase in the number of sacrifice victims, right?"

"It’s not really as you think," Nellie shook her head forcefully, denying Pannis’s guess. "I’m not as noble as you imagine. If I could live another twenty years, I wouldn’t wish to die prematurely. Indeed, I admit, part of my plan was to stop them from creating more victims, but that’s only part of the reason. The main reason is that I wanted you to face me, not the real Danacus. I wanted everything to proceed within my control. Once it exceeded my control, I couldn’t be sure what might happen."

"Heh, let’s just assume that’s the case," Pannis said with a faint smile, not continuing to argue with his lover about this issue, fully aware that against a true knight, arguing about their sacrifice was pointless as it had become an instinct in their decision-making. Thus, Pannis could only smile wryly and sigh, "Everything has already happened, and nothing can change what has occurred. In any case, the outcome is that the original time frame has been reduced, and Danacus’s condition is becoming increasingly unstable, right?"

"That’s right." Facing Pannis’s bitter smile, Nellie looked down with a touch of guilt and whispered, "Everything is going according to plan, Danacus’s followers have been eradicated, and you’ve come to me successfully. From my side, I’ve managed to face you in a controlled state, everything is going very smoothly, just one last step remains."

"Yes, it’s going so well it’s almost surprising," Pannis said with half-closed eyes, weakly. "Tell me about your final plan."