Malevolent – Chapter 38 – Things Began to Get Strange

Just as the female recorder was wondering, a melodious yet naturally imposing female voice reached her ears.

—”How’s the situation at the scene? Has Lianna been found?”—

With the landing of dozens of armed fighter aircraft, a one-eyed woman wearing a white-gold Marshal’s uniform and an eye patch leaped down from one of the aircraft and asked her most pressing question.

As the commander of the Fifty-Eight Legion and the person in charge of this search operation, Marshal Xestila, one of the Covenant’s three Marshals, had ordered the nearby troops to surround Cinder Haven the moment she received word that Lianna had appeared there, abandoning all her work to rush to the scene as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately,

Reality still disappointed Xestila.

Faced with the Marshal’s question, the female recorder first saluted, then shook her head nervously.

“I’m sorry, Lady Xestila, we haven’t found Lady Lianna.”

Hearing this,

Xestila sighed helplessly.

“Ah… so I was too late after all. It seems the Divine-Graced Maiden is indeed avoiding us.”

Speaking, Xestila turned her gaze toward Enchino’s dismembered body.

At this moment, a rare flash of astonishment appeared in her eye.

On one hand, she was shocked by Enchino’s modified body; on the other hand, she was shocked by the fact of his death.

As the person who had hired Enchino, Xestila was well aware of his strength.

As a high-position Divine Martial Realm expert with rich combat experience, Enchino was certainly one of the top powerhouses in the Covenant.

With the Argent Cruciform’s biochemical modifications, his strength was probably close to the Divine Departure Realm.

Such a powerhouse? Dead without a sound in this small town?

“Was it Greemir’s doing?”

“No.”

The female recorder shook her head.

“Although the people of Cinder Haven were all knocked unconscious by Lord Greemir, the person who killed Enchino wasn’t him. There’s no trace of Lord Greemir’s spiritual energy on Enchino’s body; the two obviously never engaged in combat. Besides…”

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Speaking, the female recorder glanced meaningfully to the side.

And there,

Was a certain man with his head embedded in the ground.

“Lord Greemir was unconscious before Enchino’s death; it couldn’t have been him.”

“=-=”

Following the female recorder’s gaze to Greemir, the Marshal raised her hand to her forehead, quite exhausted.

“Then who did it, Lianna?”

“Marshal, it probably wasn’t Lianna…”

The female recorder shook her head, her brown eyes filled with confusion.

“There’s also no remnant of Lady Lianna’s spirit particles on Enchino’s body… No, strictly speaking, there are no fresh spirit particle remnants from anyone on Enchino.”

“Hmm?”

Hearing this, Xestila’s expression became strange.

“You’re saying he didn’t fight with anyone?”

“Yes.”

The female recorder nodded:

“He didn’t engage in combat with anyone, and there’s no sign of him being hit by any weapon.”

“Are you trying to tell me that a high-position Divine Martial Realm expert was somehow mysteriously dismembered and scattered on the ground without any trace of another’s spiritual energy?”

Xestila said skeptically.

It’s worth noting that a Divine Martial Realm expert’s physical strength is even more formidable than the Covenant’s main battle cruisers, not to mention a body modified by the Argent Cruciform.

To tear apart such a powerful body without leaving any traces would be impossible.

Even a Celestial Augur Knight couldn’t do that.

“How is that possible?”

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“But from the results, that seems to be the case. On Enchino’s body, especially at the limb fracture points, there are no spirit particle remnants from anyone else. Not only that, but the way his body was torn apart is also very strange, as if the spiritual energy inside him went berserk and forcibly twisted and tore his body apart.”

“How could that possibly happen?”

“Indeed… but from the information collected so far, that’s how it appears.”

Speaking, the female recorder lowered her head in great shame, fearing Xestila’s rebuke.

However,

This Marshal did not issue any rebuke. Her single eye slightly narrowed as she silently recalled the intelligence previously provided by her subordinates.

—”Lady Xestila, the scan report from the Celestial Wisdom Vessel seems to have detected a strange shadow.”—

After a moment of reflection,

Xestila sternly followed up:

“Is there any cursed energy residue on Enchino’s body?”

“Cursed energy?”

The female recorder shook her head:

“No, there isn’t.”

“There isn’t? That’s good…”

“May I ask, Lady Xestila, why you suddenly asked about this?”

“Nothing, just wanted to confirm. After all, it’s not just humans who have their eyes on this border area now…”

After shaking her head with complex emotions, Xestila continued giving instructions:

“Continue monitoring and analyzing Enchino’s body. Report to me immediately if you find any clues.”

“Yes.”

“Lieutenant Wis.”

Xestila turned her gaze to another middle-aged military officer nearby, who was the person in charge of the nearby Twenty-Ninth Fortress:

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“Have you found any trace of Lianna?”

“Reporting to the Marshal, not yet.”

Wis lowered his head and shook it shamefully:

“But following your orders, I’ve contacted the officers in charge of the four nearby fortresses and, working with the search troops that have arrived as reinforcements, established a blockade line. Unfortunately, we haven’t obtained any effective information yet.”

“Keep watching. In such a short time, Lianna couldn’t have escaped your blockade. Even she at her peak wouldn’t have that speed.”

“Yes, Marshal.”

Lieutenant Wis responded gravely.

At the same time,

A young black-haired man dressed as a civil official standing behind Xestila spoke up:

“What if Lady Lianna has fled into the Veiled Domain?”

As these words reached her ears, the grave expression in Xestila’s eye deepened.

After all,

The dense miasma and inherent magnetic interference near the Veiled Domain would cause flying search devices and the astral positioning system to all malfunction, greatly increasing their search difficulty.

Although Lianna probably wouldn’t be foolish enough to actively approach the Veiled Domain, considering this Divine-Graced Maiden’s extremely unstable mental state lately, Xestila couldn’t rule out this possibility.

“Same as before, limit the number of search teams and conduct exploratory searches near the Veiled Domain.”

Xestila decisively issued the order.

However,

Just as everyone was respectfully nodding, preparing to execute the order, the black-haired man who had asked the question spoke again.

“Wait, Lady Xestila. That kind of exploratory search is too inefficient. Why not try them?”

Saying this,

The man meaningfully turned his head to look behind him, and there, dozens of young women dressed in black military uniforms but wearing masks stood motionless like puppets.

“…”

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Looking at those young women whose energy fluctuations didn’t resemble humans at all, Xestila’s eye involuntarily flashed with something unusual, and her gaze toward the black-haired man couldn’t help but carry a trace of disgust.

Hmph, a lackey who’s taken Yue Linglong’s sponsorship…

Obviously, Xestila was quite displeased with this parliamentarian from the capital. But even so, after taking a deep breath, this Covenant Marshal still concealed her inner discontent.

Speaking with a patient tone:

“I’m sorry, but these augmented humans are mass-produced models from the Deicide Project, right? I’ve heard their stability is still uncertain.”

“That’s why we need to test—”

“Parliamentarian Langcheni.”

Before he could finish, Xestila seriously interrupted him.

“If it’s testing you want, please don’t test near the Veiled Domain. I believe you’re also aware of our country’s current situation; we’re using all our national strength to counter the Sky Vassals. At this critical juncture, we must avoid provoking the Earth Vassals. These mass-produced models may be able to resist the interference of miasma and magnetic fields, but if they lose control like they did during last year’s experiment… can you imagine the consequences?”

With these words, a powerful aura was released from Xestila, directly suppressing the parliamentarian so that he said no more and retreated with his tail between his legs.

Regarding this,

Xestila had no intention of continuing to dwell on the issue, after all… for them at this moment, finding Lianna and her daughters was of paramount importance.

From the events in Cinder Haven, they had received one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.

The good news was,

Lianna was still alive; the Divine-Graced Maiden had not been killed by Corrupted Beasts as many had feared.

But the bad news was,

Lianna seemed to be avoiding them…

Thinking of this, Xestila’s expression became increasingly grave, and she slowly turned her head to look at a spot not far away.

There,

A blue-haired man in a suit, with an extraordinary bearing, was casually walking into the restaurant step by step.

—”It seems Lady Lianna is deliberately avoiding us. I wonder if you have any way to find your sister, Mr. Hein-Anloxi.”—