Demons Among Gods

Far away on the Elvin Continent, Elara Willow, the youngest princess of the Willow Royal Family of the Elvin Continent, was currently on a break from her training.

She ambled through the Royal Palace’s blooming garden, occasionally watering the flowers while humming and singing in a great mood.

Ever since she returned to the Elvin Palace, she had been training and pushing her limits to their peaks, along with other studies.

Lysandra Willow, her mother, still hadn’t returned from the void rift. However, she was still alive, though trapped and unreachable, so Elara wasn’t too worried, as all that was far beyond her current understanding.

Elara had taken her mother’s suggestion, so although she was still at the early stage of Rank 1, her training stats had improved greatly—enough to even fight a trained mid-stage Rank 1 Mystical Knight. Of course, she still couldn’t win yet, but against an untrained one, she could easily win.

Seeing her current worn-out condition, her maid Lilaethril suggested taking a break, and so Elara decided to take a stroll through the palace garden while recalling someone she missed dearly.

She was eagerly waiting for the day when she would once again reunite with Eric, and this time, she would no longer shy away and express her feelings openly and clearly!

Lilaethril, Elara’s personal maid, walked a few steps behind her.

Lilaethril wore a gentle smile as she watched Elara take care of the flowers while humming in her sweet voice, which seemed to have grown even sweeter after she had become a Mana Wielder.

Lilaethril had long, flowing dirty-blonde hair that cascaded down her back with loose braids that fell over one shoulder. She wore a simple yet exquisite maid gown made of the finest silk and lace, adorned with intricate patterns of leaves and vines. Her height was slightly shorter than Elara’s, which added to her youthful and graceful demeanor. Yet she was an early-stage Rank 4 Mana Wielder—a Master Rank!

She had watched Elara grow up ever since she was a baby, and so she was like a second mother to Elara.

However, as a maid assigned by High Queen Lysandra, Lilaethril kept her duty foremost in her mind and always accompanied Elara to take care of her every need.

She was quite happy noticing Elara had become a Mana Wielder after returning from the Humancrown Continent. She had seen Elara depressed over the years—no matter how much Elara tried to hide it from others. As the person closest to her, Lilaethril was most aware of Elara’s feelings.

What puzzled her most was that ever since Elara returned, she had been a little too joyful—in fact, too much. And so, her sensitive senses tingled with deep gossip for a long time.

She had already tried numerous times to uncover the deeply hidden secret from Elara, both directly and indirectly, yet it all ended in failure, as Elara was just too good at keeping secrets and did nothing else but focus on her training day and night after returning.

On this fine day, Lilaethril decided to try her luck once again. She asked in a deeply curious tone, "Princ... Elara, who are you dreaming about?" In past, Elara had threatened her to call her by her name when they were alone, so she obliged.

Elara realized that her maid—a friend and almost like a second mother to her—Lilaethril had already guessed she was dreaming about someone, and she grew nervous internally.

She stood up straight and turned toward Lilaethril, laughing nervously. "Ha...haha... What are you talking about, Sister Lilaethril? I was just admiring the flowers..." Since she couldn’t call Lilaethril "mother" as her original demonic mother tended to get jealous, so she called Lilaethril "sister."

Lilaethril giggled knowingly and winked at Elara. "You know, Elara, we’re currently all alone. Why don’t you expose your secrets to me? I’ll definitely keep it as tight as my 100-year-old mouth!"

Elara rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Whatever anyone speaks, the news seems to travel faster through you!" She was still annoyed that some of her smaller secrets reached others without her knowing when.

Lilaethril blushed. She indeed was a bit of a blabbermouth, but she promised this time she would keep her mouth tightly shut!

"Don’t worry, you can trust this sister. I’ll keep the secret hidden deep inside me for another thousand years!" Lilaethril promised, showing that Elara could completely rely on her.

Elara hesitated. She really wanted to share her joy with her trusted friends, but this might end up bringing trouble for Eric—and people would talk behind her back about her, the youngest princess, falling in love with a human.

After hesitating for a while and glancing at Lilaethril’s "innocent" and "reliable" expression, Elara sighed.

*Nope. Lilaethril was not reliable at all!*

It was best if she kept it hidden deep within her until she saw Eric again and could protect him herself.

Just as Elara was about to deny that there was no such "person," her heart suddenly shook violently. She opened her eyes wide, and all color drained from her face.

Lilaethril was confused about what was going on. Just as she was about to ask if Elara was alright, Elara suddenly coughed up a massive amount of blood from her mouth.

Elara’s eyes trembled. Everything in front of her vision disappeared, replaced by the image of a human boy with unkempt black hair, bright piercing blue eyes, and a handsome smile—before he, too, slowly faded away.

"Eric..." Elara muttered, then fell backward, closing her tear-filled eyes. Soon, only darkness remained in front of her.

Lilaethril stood there dumbfounded and horrified. Her expression rapidly changed as she quickly caught Elara before she hit the stone floor.

---

Lyria and Livy sat lifelessly for the next ten minutes.

They didn’t know what to do. They felt they had lost their motivation, life, thoughts—everything.

After another five minutes, Lyria’s eyes suddenly snapped wide open.

She suddenly recalled something very important while she was thinking of any way to revive Eric.

She didn’t hesitate and quickly started searching Eric’s inner pockets.

Livy sat lifelessly beside Eric’s corpse, watching what Lyria was doing. Her own heart felt empty and dead. She felt it was better to die there beside Eric, as she found no further reason to live.

At that moment, Lyria pulled something from Eric’s inner pocket with trembling hands.

Livy, who had been watching motionlessly, suddenly had a light flash across her dead-like eyes as she noticed the pocketwatch in Lyria’s hand. She exclaimed loudly, "That elixir!" Her voice was husky and broken, but it was also filled with newfound hope.

She had suddenly recalled that Eric had once shown them three elixir bottles, which Grandmaster Lysandra had left behind for him.

One cured Mana Veins which all three of them had taken to become Mana Wielders. The second helped a talentless person become a Mana Wielder which both Hannah and Wilburn had taken. And finally, a unique life-saving elixir that could save an Apprentice Rank’s life—or at least postpone their death—even if they lost a vital organ!

Livy grew impatient and wanted to snatch the pocket watch from Lyria’s hand, but she didn’t—she just rushed beside her.

Lyria didn’t answer. Her eyes were still red and swollen. She continuously blamed herself in her heart, thinking, *How could I forget such an important thing?* She had been so emotional and wasted over a dozen minutes! If Eric truly died due to her mishap, she would never be able to forgive herself. It would be better if she killed herself right there!

She quickly activated the watch with her Mana and selected the Life-Saving Elixir from the list. Immediately, the elixir bottle, glowing with a gentle white hue, appeared in her hand.

As soon as the bottle appeared, Lyria threw the watch aside. Just as she was about to uncork the bottle, she was startled—her eyes slowly growing wide.

There was a note in Eric’s handwriting attached to the bottle.

Livy grew impatient and yelled, "Just what are you doing?! Give me—!"

Just as Livy was about to snatch the bottle, she, too, was startled after noticing the note.

She wanted to snatch the note but held back, in case the paper tore, since Lyria had already grabbed it. Instead, she started reading alongside Lyria.

"Ly, Liv, I wonder how long it took you to recall this elixir? Hopefully not more than a minute. If more, prepare to receive your punishment! If I’m still alive, that is..."

Both their mouths spasmed. They wanted to cry—it had already been over fifteen minutes!

*We’re sorry! Punish us, but first, come back alive!*

Fresh tears streamed from their eyes—not of pain or loss, but filled with hope.

They continued reading.

"First, sense my presence. Am I producing the presence of a dead Mana Wielder or not? I’m sure you missed checking this basic thing too!"

Their heads snapped toward Eric. Slowly, their eyes grew wider, and more tears fell.

Livy was about to hug Eric, but Lyria quickly stopped her.

"Brother Eric is injured! Do you want to injure him further?!" Lyria scolded. Livy had already hugged Eric tightly earlier—thankfully, nothing terrible had happened.

Livy came to her senses, but her tears never stopped. She turned to Lyria, who also had tears on her face, and spoke in a trembling voice, "B-Brother Eric is alive! H-he’s alive!"

Lyria shut her eyes and nodded. After taking a deep breath, she continued reading alongside Livy.

"I don’t know if Liv is found or not. I hope you’re still fine and alive—don’t make us worry!"

Lyria understood that Eric had written this note after Livy was flung away—possibly when he was using Space Shield to destroy the spider’s eye guard.

Livy wanted to weep and scream, 'Don’t worry about me! First, tell us why this happened and what we need to do!'

Both of them continued reading and felt their faces twitch.

"If I’m dead, then try to burn this body to ash! If that’s not possible, make sure to bury me with the decomposition ingredients we have with us. And don’t you dare put me in a cage, called a coffin or whatever—let this body cease to exist!"

For the first time, Lyria and Livy *really* wanted to slap Eric.

*Stop writing ominous things and tell us what we need to do while you’re alive!* Both yelled in their hearts.

They didn't know, but Eric actually wrote that first in case he really died. Then, talking about saving or healing would be words that would only bring them more pain.

"You girls must be wondering why this happened. I never informed either of you what my breakthrough requirements were... It wasn’t life-threatening, but I had a feeling that if I successfully broke through, it might become so. Thus, I took precautions to the best of my ability—but I didn’t wish to back off from it either. Anyway, if I’m still alive, check my condition and take the necessary steps."

"If my brain is gone, then I don’t know where to seek help. It’s better you girls bury me or burn me. But if it’s intact, check if other major organs are gone. If only organs are destroyed or injured, use the potion I gave you both a few days ago, I should also have some in my ring. If everything is fine but I’m still half-dead, then I have no idea—probably you girls need to seek out a Mana Doctor. And if they’re not trustworthy enough, travel to the Elvin Continent and seek out—"

Both of them stopped reading and swiftly took out their potions from their space rings.