Chapter 260 - Cursed

While flying with Amelia in his arms, Lucien keeps his senses entirely on alert. He also warned his wives in the purple world to they get prepared for anything that can happen.

Amelia also looks at the ground very carefully while L.u.s.t and Envy use their magical senses to Its fullest.

Also, Oya runs across the ground using her keen nose, looking for any clues about the mysterious creature that L.u.s.t felt at the top of the mountain.

"Nothing yet?" Lucien asks L.u.s.t.

"It looks like it"s gone..." She quickly replies.

They soon reach the top of the mountain. Looking from the sky, there is nothing special about the mountain. Rocks, trees, some animals like foxes and birds make the place a calm spot.

"Let"s go down." Lucien begins to descend slowly towards the mountain.

Before reaching the ground, he sees light marks on the ground that resemble footprints. Also, there are some deeper marks on the earth, similar to cuts of a blade.

"Someone was here just now. There was a fight. Be ready in case they are still around." Lucien lands near the marks on the ground.

While Lucien focuses his hearing to the max, he can hear birds singing over three miles and even insects walking on the ground two miles away, but there is nothing different like a person or bigger creature like a tiger or something.

Envy and L.u.s.t can"t feel anything special either. No magic trail or anything like that.

They quickly begin to a.n.a.lyze the marks on the ground. Lucien crouches in front of the footprints. "Two pairs of different footprints... were they just two people? But these footprints don"t come from another place and just are here... did they both fly?"

L.u.s.t makes a thoughtful expression. "The aura I felt was like the Earth Realm... Anyone can fly when they arrive at the Sky Realm, but before that, people need to have special characteristics or use magic like Rose to fly."

"Hmm..." Lucien doesn"t see anything in the footprints that indicates something like a different characteristic.

He thinks out loud as he continues to a.n.a.lyze the footprints. "These smaller footprints appear to be from a female or a tiny male. They are also a few millimeters deeper than the larger footprints, which makes it look like it was really a woman much lighter than the other, possibly a man or woman very big."

Envy looks at L.u.s.t. "Did you feel only a presence?"

L.u.s.t nods. "Yes, I only felt like an aura just like the first time, in the mine."

Lucien begins to a.n.a.lyze the cut on the ground, probably made with a blade. "We can"t find out much of this. A sword, spear, or any other weapon with a sharp tip could have made it, or something magical like one of Angela"s ice spikes."

L.u.s.t and Envy try to find any magic traces in the footprints and cut marks, but there is nothing anywhere.

Envy sighs. "They must have camouflage treasures or stealth techniques. Probably one of them was watching us when the other attacked them."

L.u.s.t completes Envy"s thought. "So when attacked, they lost focus, and that was when I felt them. But they soon regained focus on their treasure or ability and fled, causing their attacker to chase them away..."

Lucien looks everywhere, at the sky and earth. "They must be very fast..."

Oya arrives at the top of the mountain, and Lucien tries to make her understand his intent to her to smell the footprints and cut marks.

She quickly brings her nose closer to the footprints but doesn"t smell anything special but earth just like Lucien.

"There are no smells from them. Really impressive." He comments as he starts walking around.

Amelia makes a concerned expression. "I don"t know if it"s worse to know that someone was watching us without our knowledge or that there is also someone as strong as they."

"Whatever they are, they shouldn"t be from this world with that level of power." L.u.s.t comments.

Lucien asks. "Did they know that we would be here? There is a possibility that they come from our world?"

Envy quickly shakes her head. "I don"t think that"s the case. Pride arranged the whole plan with your father. There is no way that his enemies would know about that."

"The crystal mine." L.u.s.t exclaims before explaining. "The medium and superior races have ways of discovering mines in other worlds. Maybe someone has discovered about the mine of life crystals at sea and sent some scouts."

"That looks very likely." Envy agrees. "So, if the scouts from the two groups fought, they will soon call more of their people."

Lucien understands the situation, but something doesn"t make sense to him. "But if they are here for the crystal mine, why was one of them watching us? I mean, it cannot be a coincidence that they were in that mine when we arrived in this world, and here now, while the crystals life mine is so far away from here."

L.u.s.t agree. "Yes, that is really confusing."

"Maybe they were looking for the mine, but they noticed you coming from another world, and so they thought that you were looking for the mine too. That makes sense to them to follow you." Amelia comments.

"Hmm..." Lucien continues walking around the top of the mountain.

*Roar*

Then he smells something different at the same time as Oya does.

Lucien looks up and sees a feather falling from the sky. He reaches out, and the feather slowly falls into his hand.

"A bird?" Lucien thinks aloud as he a.n.a.lyzes the strange feather in his hand.

The feather is about thirty centimeters long, five centimeters wide, and very thin, like a big bird"s feather, but it is black. Also, the feather has a strange smell, unlike anything Lucien has ever smelled.

L.u.s.t materializes her body beside Lucien"s, and he gives her the feather. She makes a shocked expression as she looks at it. "Incredible! I"ve already seen something like it before."

Envy materializes her body next to L.u.s.t while making a surprised expression. "This... it is an angel"s feather, right?"

L.u.s.t shakes her head. "Not the feather of an ordinary angel, but the feather of a fallen angel."

Amelia approaches them to see the black feather. "What is a fallen angel?"

"A cursed angel." Envy quickly responds.

L.u.s.t hands the pen over to Lucien and begins to explain. "Angels are one of the main medium races that serve the G.o.ds."

"Thousands of years ago, the G.o.ds were a rising race, as well as the dragons. At that time, also Alylin"s time, there were many G.o.ds like any other race. But then, they discovered a powerful technique to become much stronger using other people"s faith, and so, the G.o.ds went to war with each other."

"Over time, some G.o.ds got stronger and stronger, but their numbers also reduced a lot. And so, they had to start using other races to gain faith. In return, they offered blessings that were nothing more than treasures, in physical forms, or as knowledge."

"Angels were one of the first races to accept adoring some G.o.ds in exchange for their blessings, which in that case was a rare flower that gave them wings."

"Although the angels never really evolved, mainly because they work for the G.o.ds and give them almost all of their resources, they seem to be quite satisfied with their beautiful white and s.h.i.+ny wings."

Envy can"t help laughing. "Poor idiots... They are willing to be slaves."

L.u.s.t nods as she points to the black feather in Lucien"s hand. "Precisely because the angels care so much about their beautiful wings, the most brutal punishment within their race is to force an angel to drink a poison that makes their wings go black and started to rot until they die a depressing death."

Envy comments. "I have never heard of an angel who died with no feather on their wings because they kill themselves or die looking for a cure before all their feathers are gone. It is a really sad thing for them to lose their feathers."

"Are there many of these fallen angels?" Lucien asks.

L.u.s.t shakes her head. "No. They are very rare because most of the unforgivable crimes in their world are punishable by death. Being turned into a fallen angel is a really excessive punishment only applied in cases where an angel offends their royalty or, in the most common cases, a G.o.d."

Envy continues. "It was the G.o.ds who created that poison to punish angels who did not want to obey them. And as they are terrified of losing their beloved wings, it is rare for an angel to rebel against their G.o.ds."

Lucien looks at the feather in his hands. "A fallen angel... are you sure this feather is from them?"

L.u.s.t nods. "It is identical to what I saw many years ago. Try to break it."

He tries to crumple the feather and realizes that it is really hard, perhaps more than the black metal of his wives" armor. Still, Lucien manages to start to crumple the feather as he uses his demonic energy to boost his strength a little.

L.u.s.t explains. "See how tough it is. Also, this strange smell is because it"s rotting. I"m pretty sure it is the feather of a fallen angel."

Lucien looks at Amelia while thinking aloud. "Angels, G.o.ds... The dangers seem to be approaching us. We need to get stronger quickly so that we can face more powerful enemies."

Amelia blushes while Lucien smiles at her. "Yes... But this fallen angel... why were they watching us? Do they want to use the life crystals to heal their wings?"

Envy looks at Lucien. "There is no way for us to find out about that now. Staying here trying to imagine what they want will not help us at all. Nor can we go around looking for a fallen angel without knowing where they went."

Lucien agrees. "In any way, we have to stick to the plan. We are going to the mine to get as many crystals as we can, and continue... well, getting stronger in our way."

"I agree with hubby." L.u.s.t embraces Lucien"s arm lovingly.

"We should continue traveling to Portgreen." Amelia embraces Lucien"s other arm.

While Lucien smiles at Amelia"s cute reaction, Envy just rolls her eyes. "Gee... Girls in love are so boring."

Lucien tells his wives that everything is fine. Then he puts Amelia riding on Oya again before riding as well and going down the mountain to continue heading towards Portgreen city.

Also, he keeps the black feather in his storage ring. He knows that his family will have to face strange and powerful enemies throughout their journey, which is why they are always doing their best to become stronger.

As Oya runs towards Portrgreen, he continues to pet her and caress Amelia"s waist while kissing her shoulder.

Amelia strokes Lucien"s hand while talking to him. "You know... Things seem to be getting more dangerous... and I know we can get stronger quickly if we do that... I..."

Lucien kisses her ear as he speaks affectionately. "Don"t worry about that, my dear sister. We don"t have to rush things like that. Right now, we are generating this incredible demonic energy just by staying together like this. The best thing is to enjoy everything... and when you"re ready for that, I will know."

Amelia blushes as she smiles and continues to stroke Lucien"s hand. "Yes, brother, I want to enjoy every second by your side... also, forever and always, just like this..."

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Several minutes after Lucien and his group left the top of that mountain, another dark feather slowly fell from the sky.

*Whoosh*

Then a strong wind, similar to when Lucien flaps his wings, makes that feather fly down the mountain.

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