Chapter 295 – Consequences (1) Translator: Atlas / Editor: Regan Cerdina had much in common with Estia. She had been beautiful. Everyone considered her to be the fairest woman in the Empire. But no one would think so, looking at her now. Cerdina came back to consciousness in an alley, and instead of the beautiful gowns she had always worn, there were only tattered rags. She had been stripped of her jewels and all her other splendid decorations. As she rolled over in the filth of the alley, her eyes turned up to the sky. The black clouds were gone and white clouds were flecked against the blue sky like paint. Blankly, she gazed up at the picturesque view. The pain that suddenly struck her was hellish. Reflexively, Cerdina grabbed for her arms with both hands, only to find there were no arms, there were no hands, it was only thoughts, automatic and futile reflex. “......!” Her body wouldn’t move the way she wanted it to, and Cerdina looked at herself with trembling eyes. Where her arms were supposed to be, there were only scars from where they had been ripped away. The pain was a phantom pain from limbs that were not there. Cold sweat poured down her face at the agony of the missing limbs. One by one, she recalled the events that had happened before she collapsed, the memories flashing through her mind. Her red blood. Piercing screams. Overflowing rage. Her body weakened as she convulsed, her eyes shaking wildly. It would have been better if she had died. She would rather have died. Her heart would have hurt less if she had died at Blain’s hands. She could do anything for her beloved son. She wouldn’t have been afraid to give her body to him. She would have loved it if he had eaten her heart. If she could have given everything she had to Blain, she would have died in peace. Tears slid down her cheeks and fell to the ground. Cerdina gritted her teeth, her face hardening. It couldn’t end this way. Somehow, she would have vengeance. She would kill Leah before that barbarian’s eyes, so he would know her despair. She wouldn’t mind dying, after that. She swore bloody vengeance as she gritted her teeth, but suddenly, a question came to her mind. Why had the savage even let her go free? He was a barbarian, cruel and brutal by nature. She hoped he had gotten his fill of torturing her, considering how much she had made Leah suffer, but Cerdina couldn’t believe he would let her go so easily. Maybe she had slipped through his fingers somehow? Perhaps one of the Tomaris had spirited her away. Blood was thicker than water. Even if the barbarians had deceived them for a little while, perhaps the Tomaris had belatedly come to their senses. Countless theories raced through her mind, even as the stink of rotting garbage filled her nose. First of all, she had to get out of there. But it wasn’t easy just to lift her body. Cerdina staggered, off balance without her arms, and fell back against the wall as she caught her breath. But then she realized that she was being ridiculous. She was behaving like a pathetic human. Cerdina smiled bitterly. It would be hard to draw a magic pattern without her arms, but she could still use her power. In an instant, black smoke billowed out from her body, but the instant she confidently reached out with her power, something happened. “...Argh!” Vomiting blood, she collapsed to the floor. It had been so hard just to get up off the ground, and now she had fallen again. The black smoke swirling around her disappeared. Her power wouldn’t work properly, and suddenly she remembered the long sword the barbarian had stabbed into her body. She clearly remembered its strange, dark red color, and the burning agony she had felt when the blade pierced her. What if... Cerdina turned pale. Again, she tried to raise her power, and again, but nothing happened. The smoke rose up only to drift apart in the air. That longsword had been forged with the blood of mutants. When it entered her body, that god-like power had vanished like a dream. Magically, it was as if she had mutant blood flowing through her veins now, diluted to the level of a weak sorcerer, fit for nothing but simple potions. Lying on the ground, Cerdina cried out. She sobbed, and no one even turned to look at her. After an endless period of madness, nothing had changed at all. “......”