Chapter 233: Putting An End To Insanity and A Demon

His gaze moved across the room until it landed on Ambrose.

Unlike the others, Ambrose appeared calm. He lay still on his bed, staring at the ceiling without moving or speaking.

He looked… normal.

Ambrose’s demonification hadn’t completed.

He was still human enough to maintain composure, but the process had progressed far enough to keep him this way.

Aiden let out a sigh at the rest of scene before him with growing revulsion.

“These demons,” he muttered, with his voice carrying a sharp edge of hatred. “Look what they’ve done to these people.”

Thamoryn stepped closer. “I’ve tried everything I know,” she said. “Healing magic, purification spells. Nothing works.”

Aiden said nothing at first, then the thought of what to do came to his mind almost as quickly.

He muttered to himself, “… perhaps it could also undo what the demons have done to these people.”

“What?” Thamoryn turned again towards him, uncertain what she heard or if he was speaking to her.

Aiden raised his right hand and positioned his fingers into the same hand seal Va had used.

Thamoryn stepped back, giving him room. She had called him here for this very reason. For if anyone could attempt something beyond conventional magic, it was him.

“All things must return to their rightful state,” Aiden whispered.

Nothing manifested outwardly, but the change happened instantly.

The woman who had been clawing at her face suddenly stopped mid-scream. Her hands fell limply to her sides as her breathing steadied.

The wild, frantic look in her eyes faded, replaced by confusion, but also clarity.

Talen as well, exhaled and his posture relaxed. He looked down at his own hands, then around the room, as if seeing it clearly for the first time.

One by one, the comatose members also began to stir, and wake.

Some groaned slightly as they pushed themselves upright. Others sat up slowly, disoriented but undeniably awake and aware.

Ambrose, who had been lying still and silent, suddenly drew in a deep breath and opened his eyes fully into several blinks.

Thamoryn smiled at the sight before her as every member of the Fractured Stars Guild slowly regained consciousness. The madness had finally lifted.

Aiden never ceased to amaze her.

She turned toward him and said;

“I’m not even going to ask what it is you did this time,”

Aiden didn’t respond. He only gave a faint smile as he looked over the recovering mages one final time.

At that moment, new system messages appeared before him.

[The System commends you once more]

[You have granted +3 level ups]

Without another word, he turned and walked out of the infirmary.

——

Much later that day, toward the evening, Aiden opened a portal and stepped through into the dimension where Cassian was being held.

Katherine had also followed close behind him, with her red sword already drawn and resting against her shoulder.

The time variant standing guard nodded at Aiden’s arrival before stepping aside.

Cassian sat slumped against the invisible wall of the space prison, still restrained by the cuffs Aiden had placed on him.

His grey skin looked duller now, and his horns cracked slightly at the edges.

When he saw Katherine step through the portal behind Aiden, his lips curled into a sneer.

“Ah,” Cassian said mockingly. “The captain herself. Come to watch me rot?”

Katherine’s expression remained cold, and she gave no response.

Cassian’s grin widened despite his weakened state. “Tell me, captain, do you still dream about your precious guild members screaming as they got cut down that night?”

Katherine’s grip tightened on her sword, but she didn’t rise to the bait.

Aiden stepped forward, with his gaze fixed on Cassian with an unreadable expression.

“Earlier today,” Aiden began, in calm voice, “I had to save people from the real damage your wickedness caused.”

He stopped just outside the prison’s invisible barrier and widened it further to accommodate both he and Katherine within

“You’re going to be of use to me one more time.”

Before Cassian could respond, Aiden raised his hand.

“Psyche Reveal.”

A magic circle spread out underneath the demon and both their eyes glowed instantly.

Cassian’s mocking expression faded in an instant, his face turning blank as the spell took hold.

Aiden plunged deeper into Cassian’s mind than he had before, tearing through every memory.

And there it was.

Cassian’s past unfolded before him in vivid detail.

At the start of the war a hundred years ago, he had been human. A mage living in a small town near the borders of Delheim.

Then Malachar’s parasitic leech found him.

It burrowed into his brain, latching onto his mind and slowly twisting him from the inside out.

The demonification process took weeks to months, but by the end of it, there was nothing left of the man he’d once been.

When Samael, his demon lords and the rest of the demons were sealed away, Cassian was pulled into the demon realm along with them.

Half a century in that realm had its effect; the demonic energy saturating the place pushed his mutation even further, reshaping him toward true demon form.

And when Samael finally gained enough strength to send demons through dungeons into the human world again, Cassian was among the first chosen.

He was given specific instructions by Malachar, all of which he eventually succeeded in carrying out.

That was how he’d done it all, posing as Captain Cassian of the Fractured Stars Guild while secretly orchestrating downfall of the Kingdoms from within.

His real name, the one given to him by Malachar after his transformation, was Var’kart.

Aiden pulled back from the spell after gaining access to every memory he deemed relevant.

He turned toward Katherine and gave her a nod.

Katherine stepped forward without hesitation.

She raised her red sword slowly, gripping it with both hands as she stood before Cassian.

“It’s unbefitting of a warrior,” Katherine began, “to kill one who is unable to fight back.”

She paused for a moment.

“But you are the last thing to be given such sympathy.”

“This is for humanity. For all the innocent people who lost their lives to your cause.”

She raised her blade higher.

“And ultimately… this is for my guild.”

Katherine swung downward with tremendous force.

The red blade cleaved cleanly through Var’kart’s neck in one swift motion, and his head tumbled forward and rolled across the ground before coming to a stop several feet away from his body.

For a moment, there was only silence, then Aiden snapped his fingers and flames erupted instantly across both the headless body and severed head, consuming them in seconds.

As the fire burned, something moved within the ashes, a grotesquely fat leech, larger than any of the others Aiden had dealt with before, wriggling desperately as it tried to escape the flames.

But it couldn’t.

The fire caught it mid-crawl and engulfed it completely. It let out a shrill screech before disintegrating into nothing but blackened dust.

Aiden watched until there was nothing left of the demon before turning away.

Katherine lowered her sword slowly, exhaling as she stared at where Cassian had been moments before.

“It’s done,” she said.

Aiden nodded. “Yeah.”

He opened another portal leading back to their world without another word, and together they stepped through it.

The Time Variant had remained there of course. It still had a duty to fulfill.

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