Demonic Dragon: Harem System
Chapter 521 - 521: Do you want to go back there?

Strax walked slowly through the streets that were once vibrant. Dust still settled on the black cobblestones, stained with soot and memories. Houses had been reduced to charred wooden skeletons, and makeshift tents stood where squares once were. A baby's cry echoed in the distance, mingling with the metallic sound of hammers rebuilding what the dragons' fire had failed to completely destroy.

Vorah's soldiers worked in silence. Some wore scratched armor, others wore only tunics bearing the local coat of arms—a moon broken in half. Few looked at him, but those who did held their gaze a second longer, as if recognizing a shadow before the form. He needed no introduction.

The breeze carried the smell of burnt wood, dried blood, and hot soup. A strange aroma of tragedy and endeavor. Children ran between tents with thin legs and large eyes, some laughing, others just watching, trying to understand why the world seemed so broken, even under the clear sky.

Strax stopped in front of an old stone fountain. Half of it was crumbling, but the water still flowed stubbornly, as if ignoring the attacks that had wounded the city. He bent down, washed his hands—the scars, the dust, perhaps some of the fatigue—and let the water run through his fingers for too long.

"We're still standing, you and I," he murmured, not sure if he was talking to the fountain... or to himself.

So he went to his goal.

Vorah's mansion stood intact, which in itself was unsettling. No cracks, no broken glass, no trace that the world outside had collapsed. It stood as a monolith of privilege, surrounded by well-armed guards and gardens strangely too flowery for the season.

Strax passed through the gates without being stopped. The soldiers retreated at a gesture from the captain of the guard—a man with deep-set eyes who nodded as if acknowledging the inevitable.

Upon entering, he was greeted by polished marble, overly clean tapestries, and a heavy silence, as if time had stopped in denial inside. The candles burned in unison, and everything smelled of wax and exaggerated cleanliness. He hated it. The way the mansion pretended to be intact, as if there had been no siege outside, as if the city were not bleeding.

Diana was waiting for him upstairs, as always. In the glass-enclosed hall where the maps were as numerous as the bottles of wine. She was sitting in a high chair, dressed in dark gray, her hair pulled back in a tight bun, her eyes fixed on a report. The evening light made the windows behind her shine, casting long shadows on the smooth stone floor.

"You," she said, without looking up. "I thought you wouldn't come to see me after you found out what happened to your brothers."

He didn't answer right away. He just walked in, closing the door behind him. He walked over to one of the tables and leaned on it with both hands, looking at the maps. Devastated areas. Patrol rotations. Red marks that seemed to bleed at the edges of the paper.

"You know I couldn't care less. I want to know about the city," he finally said.

Diana put the report down beside her. Her eyes, always alert, met his. There was no formal greeting between them. There never had been. Just the rawness of two people who no longer needed to pretend.

"70% destroyed," she asked. "It can't be rebuilt in such a short time. It should take a year for that."

"What a mess," Strax replied. Although he didn't like the Father and Brothers, Strax knew that Vorah had nothing to do with their internal disputes. The state of the city worried him.

She crossed her legs, resting her chin on her knuckles. "Did you come to give me news about Stella? Or about the attack on Eldoria?"

"Both." He pulled up a chair with his foot and sat down, his elbows resting on his thighs. "The first one seems like she came on her own, she seems remorseful, but I'm still not sure. The second one... Honestly, it's a mystery. Demons attacked Eldoria, but we didn't find much, just a few clues that I'll leave for later."

Diana looked surprised. But it was just fatigue... She had already imagined that something like this would happen, so what remained was exhaustion and overload.

Diana sighed and leaned back in her chair. The upholstery creaked slightly under her weight, but she didn't seem to notice. For a moment, her eyes wandered to the window behind Strax, where the sky of Vorah was beginning to turn amber and gray.

"Demons in Eldoria... That's a clear violation of our non-aggression agreements. Very well... I believe we must make our position clear at this point."

She picked up a dark, unlabeled bottle from the table and poured two short shots into opaque crystal glasses. She pushed one toward him, as if it were a silent agreement: you bring me bad news, I offer you a sip of something to help you forget it—or at least bear it.

Strax accepted the glass, but did not immediately bring it to his lips. He just swirled the amber liquid inside the glass, his eyes fixed on the slight swirl that formed there, as if waiting for some omen to appear at the bottom.

Diana crossed her arms. "What about Blazer?"

Strax didn't answer right away. A muscle in his jaw twitched. When he finally spoke, his voice was lower.

"Samira wants to kill him. I just don't know if it will be with her hands or her gaze. But Stella said he has already surpassed the Emperor Stage."

Diana stared at him and sighed. "That's a big problem. Is that information reliable?"

Strax gave a dry, humorless laugh. "I don't know, but if he's my father's rival, as I've heard, it's quite possible."

Diana sighed heavily. It was a sound full of resignation, as if she were carrying the weight of all the wrong decisions that were yet to come. She ran her hand tiredly over her face and set her glass down on the table harder than she intended.

"So that's it," she muttered. "If Blazer really surpassed the Emperor Stage... we're not just dealing with a defector. We're dealing with a force of nature."

She stood up, walking slowly to one of the windows. The evening light bathed her face in gold, but her eyes remained dark and somber.

"You need to go back to training, Strax."

He frowned but didn't respond.

"Get stronger," she continued firmly, turning to face him. "Much stronger. If Samira is really going to do something—and knowing her, it's only a matter of time—then you need to be ready. Because, in the end, the one who will have to protect her... is you."

Strax looked away, as if those words weighed more than a sword. Not because he disagreed, but because he knew she was right.

"Do you think I can still reach him?" he asked, his voice lower, laden with something rare: doubt.

"I don't know," Diana replied bluntly. "But I do know that if you don't try, he'll go through anyone who gets in his way. And Samira... she doesn't know how to stop. Not when it's personal."

She returned to her chair, but this time she didn't lean back. She sat upright, her hands folded on her knees.

Diana was silent for a few seconds, watching Strax with restrained intensity. The kind of look that weighed more than any verbal judgment. Then, in a tone that mixed proposal and challenge, she said:

"Do you want to go back to the Garden of Spirits of Vorah?"

The question hung in the air like a blade. Strax slowly raised his eyes, meeting hers. There was something about that suggestion that stirred him more than he cared to admit. The Garden... an ancient place, hidden at the edge of Vorah's territory, where spiritual energy was so dense that time seemed to fold in on itself. Where the spirit swords Artorias had conquered hung waiting for their owners.

"It's been a long time," he said, more to himself than to her.

"Yes," she replied, her voice low. "And you are no longer the same man you were last time. Perhaps that is exactly why you should return. To take up new, powerful swords and learn from their battle spirits."

Strax took a deep breath, as if the idea stirred something primal within him. The Garden was no ordinary training ground. There, the spirit faced what the blade could not cut. There, the past bled. There, masks did not hold.

"And you can let me into that place? As far as I know, only the patriarch can go there independently without permission," he asked, seriously.

Diana raised an eyebrow, as if the answer were obvious.

"That's what they say, there's an entrance to that dimension in our garden. Besides, as far as we know, you have Artorias' approval." She said, looking him in the eye.

The silence that followed was not one of hesitation, but of acceptance.

"So he knows," Strax said.

"There's no way he wouldn't know. His sword disappeared from the Garden," Diana said, smiling.

"I see... so it was there," he muttered.