Way of the Knights

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"A Druid? But that's…" King Alexander hesitated, not entirely sure what to think about this exposition.

"Shouldn't be possible, I know. But I am certain that she awaken such a bloodline for some reason. After all, not just anyone could use a Memory Erasing Ability quite like the Druids do."

"Druids, an ancient race born with the forest and dies with it. All druids are innately close to nature. They could communicate with beasts, have a very strong life force, and could even rouse the power of nature to some extent to aid them in battle. I'm sure she must've shown these qualities, am I right?"

Everyone was stunned, it was Leona who spoke and confirmed Raven's words: "One of her weird traits has always been talking with animals. We always made fun of her for it since we didn't believe it was possible but she repeatedly proved us wrong. She' extremely durable as well, all shallow wounds she received would almost immediately heal. There was even a time when she summoned gigantic vines filled with sharp thorns to protect us from being sieged by beasts."

"So that basically confirms it." Old Lee said in a whisper.

"Druids are innately pacifists." Raven added, "From what I know, they would often prefer to push back intruders rather than killing them. Of course, if it all boils down to it, then they would not hesitate to kill in order to preserve the forest."

"Druids are gifted with the ability to create fake memories or erase them. They often used it to erase the memories of the intruders about what they saw inside the forest or forge a fake ones. The effect is incredibly subtle according to what I know. Some says that one wouldn't even notice that they were already under it's effects. Those who have deeper connections with nature could even erase the memories of a whole country should they desire. No records are left to prove this claim but isn't that the point?"

"While it is possible for a regular human to erase someone's memory as well, no one does it like the Druids. Their technique could only be dispelled by the one who casted it, so we could never hope to recover whatever it is that she's hiding from you all. But this situation is strange since you all shouldn't have remembered anything, yet you did."

"And from what you all told me earlier, it seems that Queen Elizabeth must've erased your memories about her in a gradual manner. As for why she did so, I have some speculations, but I think it would be wiser to ask her myself."

As soon as Raven said this, his eyes glowed a rainbow colored light and a fierce fluctuations of energy started emanating out of his body. 

"Are you planning to…" Morel didn't even finish his question before Raven answered him.

"Yes." He nodded, "I might not have any recollections about her but for you all to be so certain that she is the Queen proves one thing. Uncle told me that she's in there so I will search for her. I will do my best to bring her out."

After saying that, Raven placed a hand on Elizabeth's forehead and closed his eyes. The fluctuation around him vanished and Raven's body remained standing even after his soul left his body.

Raven's soul arrived at the psyche of the Queen. He almost had to immediately start defending himself due to the harshness around him.

"What horrible psyche this is…" Raven said in a whisper, "It is surrounded in poisonous fog. This must be her defense mechanism - well, is it hers? Or Lucy's? I have to find this out."

His soul started wandering out to the vastness of the Queen's psyche. Raven was still in awe on just how unfriendly her psyche is. His defenses are being eroded by the powerful Poison Laws present inside, due to it being her defense mechanism, it's not holding back at all. Fortunately, Raven's actual soul isn't just some prey waiting to be devoured. 

Raven's soul is an adult one. The very same one who experienced the pain and tribulations of his past life. Yes, his soul might be extremely weakened for now but this kind of defense mechanism is nothing but a child's play in front of him.

Raven ventured deeper onto the consciousness of the Queen. He eventually arrived at a place where the poison fog was concentrated the most. A brief wave of his hand and the smoke parted instantly, as if making way for him and revealing what he wanted to see. 

There he saw a silhouette of someone he never seen before. This person is a girl with a purple hair and fair skin tone. She's wearing a sleeveless emerald dress that hugged the curves of her body. One thing that Raven noticed is that she is stuck in a cage like a prisoner. Her hands were chain as well as her ankles, she even appeared to be in constant pain. 

When the girl sensed Raven nearby, she looked up with a horrified look on her face. Raven knew that this girl could recognize him, so didn't bother hiding at all.

"You! B-but…no! How could you be here! How is this possible!? He told me that no one can come here! No! You aren't real! You!! No!"

Raven frowned as he witnessed how horrified she was, knowing that he's here. He took time to observe the scenery around her and once he did, he noticed a few things. 

"You must be…Lucy, am I right?" Raven asked, making the girl flinch inside her cage. "By chance, did you happen notice someone else other than me? You know? The actual owner of this body?"

His words caused the pupils of the girl to dilate. She stared at him in horror, meeting his soul shivering gaze which seemed to see everything in perfect clarity.

At this point, Lucy already knew that what happens after this is her doom. They already knew about her and the other one, and there is no point on denying it, specially in front of this person. His arrival brought a deep seated fear on Lucy's heart, it was like a primal fear, telling her to not go against this man at all cost or flee as far as she could.

Despite this, Lucy is already at the state of madness. Though she is shaking head to toe from fear, she's not afraid to die. In fact, why would she be afraid of dying? Won't that be a release for her? That might be preferable instead of being imprisoned in this place.

"What makes you think that I would tell you anything?" Lucy laughed maliciously as Raven watched in amusement. "What will you do? Kill me? Go ahead! You think I'm scared to die?"

Despite her provocations, Raven's response was chuckle, clearly not taking Lucy's words seriously. 

"What a cute and pitiful Tormented Soul you are." 

His words sent Lucy's mind spiraling. All she could do is to look in horror as Raven walked inside her cage like a phantom without any kind of resistance from the substances around them. At this point, every single fiber of her being was shaking in fear, telling her to flee as far as she could but couldn't since she's chained in here.

As Raven entered her cage, he crouched down and looked closely at her. There no sense of pity nor anger in his eyes, only a merciless indifference.

"On normal cases, I would've pitied you and might've really given you death considering that's what all Tormented Souls wanted." Raven stated, "But something tells me that you wanted this to happen to yourself, and I really don't feel anything towards idiots."

Lucy can't say a thing, she could only passively accept what Raven says due to fear. Besides, it's true anyway, that she wanted all of this to happen but regretting it severely now.

"You know what I want." Raven said, "Either you tell me, or I'll pry your mouth open. I won't wait for long."

Lucy had no doubts that Raven will do what he says, he did it once and had no reasons to not do it again. Specially in the state where he had the absolute upper hand, why wouldn't he take advantage of it? 

Though she hated this, Lucy had no rooms for discussion here. What's in front of her is not just some simple man. He's more of an ancient primordial beast that could careless about mortal struggles. The moment he stepped inside her cage, her fate has been sealed.

"You won't find her here." Lucy said in weak tone, making Raven frown. "When that Pale Monster placed me here, it was also looking for her but not even him could find her."

"I've been using this body like a parasite since then." Lucy continued, "That monster told me that my freedom will be granted once I found her, that's why he placed me here. But I never did, even after all these years. There's nothing here. How am I supposed to search for something that doesn't exist?"

"Believe me." Lucy stated, "No matter what you do to me, or how hard you scour this place.. You won't find what you're looking for here."

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