Demonic Dragon: Harem System
Chapter 519 - 519: Take me there.

Samira closed the door behind her with a firm but discreet click. Outside, in the narrow corridor of ancient stone, the air seemed cooler. Lighter. Or perhaps it was just the restrained relief—the kind that comes when long-buried words finally find air.

She let out a slow, almost inaudible sigh.

"How did it go?" The deep, calm voice came from the shadow on the right.

Strax was there, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, as if he had always been part of the place. His amber eyes watched Samira with an attention that was not curiosity—it was care. He knew what that conversation cost.

Samira didn't answer right away. She just walked over to him, her steps precise, her chin up, but her shoulders... her shoulders had slumped a little.

"She's fine, apparently," she said at last, without looking directly at him.

Strax nodded slightly. "And so are you. I thought you were scared."

"For now." A slight smile—not of humor, but of resignation—crossed her lips. "But some old part of me... died inside."

Strax watched her face in silence. Then he pushed himself away from the wall with a subtle movement and took a step closer.

"Did she understand?" he asked.

Samira raised her eyes. There was weariness in them, but also steel. "I don't know." She ran her fingers over the burn marks on her arm. "But now... that's not my problem anymore."

Strax looked at the closed door for a brief moment, then back at her. "You did what you had to do."

"I did what I needed to do for myself," she corrected. "Not for hurt. Not for forgiveness. Just... to stop carrying dead weight."

Strax tilted his head, analyzing her words. "And now?"

Samira took a deep breath, then lifted the crimson necklace with her fingers. The stone pulsed softly, like an ancient heart awakening.

"Now comes the real burning."

Strax smiled sidelong, but the smile was grim. He recognized that light in her eyes.

"Then let's get everything ready." Samira nodded. She walked beside him toward the end of the corridor. Their footsteps echoed like temple bells before the fire.

The corridor narrowed as they descended. The stone walls absorbed Samira and Strax's footsteps, but they did not muffle the tension that spread through the air like the smell of smoke before a fire. When they reached the spiral staircase, a torch lit itself as Samira approached. The magic recognized her presence now—or feared to resist.

Strax followed close behind. Neither of them was in a hurry, but they both knew that time was no longer on their side.

Downstairs, the old crypt converted into a meeting room was buzzing with silence.

Cassandra sharpened a curved dagger, sitting on the stone railing as if defying the rules of gravity. Monica and Cristine talked in low voices, exchanging maps and notes. Daniela kept her eyes closed, meditating, while Bellatrix stared at the wall as if she could pierce it with her thoughts. Scarlet leaned her shoulder against the farthest pillar, chewing a bitter leaf with studied disinterest. Frieren—older, quieter, and infinitely more lethal than she appeared—sat with an open book on her knees, but her blue eyes were fixed on the staircase long before any sound indicated movement.

When Samira appeared, everyone fell silent. The crimson necklace around her neck pulsed more strongly.

"And?" Cassandra asked, without looking up.

Samira stopped on the last step. "She woke up."

Monica frowned. "And?"

"Fragile. But not broken."

"That's strange," Cristine murmured. "Stella Blazer was the perfect frame for the Duchy. She doesn't bend easily."

"Nor does she act on her own," added Yennifer, sitting down with her elbows on the table. "The old man would never let her. Not without a plan behind it."

"Or she ran away," suggested Rogue, with a crooked smile. "Spoiled children sometimes do that."

Samira crossed her arms. "He wouldn't let her leave. Not her. Not with that name. If she showed up in the square like that... it's because his control is failing. Or because there's something worse behind it."

Bellatrix let out a guttural sound, something between a laugh and a growl. "What if it was intentional? Sending his daughter as bait? It doesn't seem like his kind of move, but... who knows. Old emperors do desperate things when they feel their throne shaking."

Frieren calmly closed the book.

"Stella may just be the harbinger. The crack before the break." Frieren's voice sounded serene as always, but there was a sharp blade under every syllable. "Blazer has always planted fire as a root. Eventually, the tree burns from within. And those two idiots—Vorah and Blazer—hate each other more than they admit. Maybe he just wants to know what Samira is up to here."

Strax approached the central table, where the map of the Duchy lay spread out like an open wound, its contours marked in dark gray, traces of dried blood on the main routes—reminders of burned cities, names erased from history.

He rested his hands on the edge of the stone and looked at the marks with half-closed eyes.

"Aren't we overcomplicating things?" The question came with a brief, almost weary laugh. "We're digging deep, seeing conspiracy in every shadow. But... what if Stella just missed her sister? Longing. That's all."

The words hung in the air for a second.

Then, as if rehearsed by an ancestral instinct, the answer came.

A dry, direct, relentless unison:

"None."

The echo reverberated off the stone walls like an omen.

Strax raised his eyebrows. Cassandra let out a low whistle. Monica crossed her arms, while Cristine just shook her head, as if lamenting someone else's naivety.

Scarlet gave a short, bitter laugh. "If Blazer had left room for longing, Samira would have grown up with flowers in her lap instead of ashes in her mouth."

"Inside," Bellatrix added, "even love is a weapon. And Stella knows how to shoot."

Strax raised a hand in surrender, but there was something more serious in his gaze now. "Right. But then we have to be ready. Because if she didn't come for longing... she came for something else. And it could still be the tip of the spear."

Samira, who had been silent until then, walked over to the map. She touched the ancient citadel of Blazer with two fingers, then looked at the group.

"Take me there. I'm going to kill my father."