Chapter 261: Continuation of the Experiment

Without further ado, Marzana took a deep breath as she placed her right hand over her left chest, feeling her beating heart.

Ba— Dump! Ba— Dump! Ba— Dump!

The rhythm of her heartbeat and breathing synchronized as the surrounding mana began to surge.

Not minding the pair of blood red eyes that were staring needles at her, she slowly opened her lips.

"I, Marzana le Floralith, a child of nature, humbly call upon the holy name of the World Tree; the Root of Beginnings, the Pillar of the World; Yggdrasilia.

With your divine might, please oversee this oath.

I hereby pledge to Regis, and swear upon your name, to keep eternal silence on all matters pertaining to him, save by his express permission, from this hour until I return to your roots."

Woong—!!!

The mana in the surroundings started to fluctuate wildly as a translucent image of a giant tree branch hovered above them.

A sea of fog could also be seen surrounding it, as if preventing anyone from looking any closer to the divine tree.

"Oho?" Regis could not help but let out a sound as he looked above.

He could feel the strain in his eyes worsening the more he gazed into it, but he did not stop.

The more he looked at the gigantic branch, the more amazed he was.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if the branch was infinitely far, despite its looking like it was just hovering above.

’This is... divine power.’

Regis thought in amazement as he saw vague golden energy with emerald green specks within.

He remembered the scene in the Realm of Evil wherein various colors also tainted the rivers of black demonic power.

’Like with the Devils, these emerald specks might be because of the authority of this God...’

Sensing the pure golden divine power in his heart, Regis felt that his hypothesis had a high chance of being true.

"Hey!"

Marzana shouted in a hurry as she noticed what he was doing, "You mustn’t look at it directly—"

SPLAT—-

However, before she could finish speaking, a loud sound permeated the area.

’Ah!"

Marzana could not help but lose her focus on what greeted her sight.

This was because the loud sound earlier was none other than both of Regis’s eyes suddenly exploding.

Furthermore, he did not even budge from his position—as if what exploded were not his eyes.

Just as Marzana was about to cancel her oath, another strange thing happened right at the next instant.

Her eyes widened as she saw flesh bulging as Regis’s eyes recovered without a scratch.

What surprised her further was the fact that he continued looking at the branch of the World Tree directly without his eyes ever receiving damage from it again.

’This...’

Marzana immediately stopped herself from being more distracted as she focused on completing the oath.

Meanwhile, Regis remained oblivious to her inner turmoil as he continued looking at the branch above.

SHING—

Translucent chains made of what seemed to be vines soon came down from the illusory image of the giant branch, shooting towards Marzana’s heart.

The elven girl kept her eyes closed, as if she had fallen asleep while standing.

What happened right afterward made Regis widen his eyes, "This is interesting..."

He could not help but mutter under his breath as he saw that the divine vines seemed to be restricted by a pure black energy that surrounded the elven girl’s heart.

Regis supported his chin with his right hand as he fell into deep thought, "The information we got about her merely mentioned how she was the black sheep of the Elven Royal Family. She’s called by many names, like the cursed, the one hated by mana, and the like..."

’But it seems like her condition isn’t as simple as being cursed... Good thing she agreed to make an oath, it means that I can go all out with her.’

He knew just how sacred an elf’s oath was.

It was not a mere magic contract, but something far deeper and more serious.

An elf’s oath was a vow to the World Tree itself, with their whole being as collateral depending on the terms of said oath.

Just as Regis was immersed in his thoughts, a strange phenomenon happened once again.

More vine-like chains began to descend from the illusory branch of the World Tree and headed straight for Marzana.

This time, they were larger as the pure black energy that was restraining them seemed to run out.

As the divine vines made contact with Marzana’s heart, a blinding golden light with emerald green specks covered her and flooded the entire area.

Even Regis, who had just come to his senses, could not help but squint his eyes at the sight.

The blinding light lasted for a few moments before suddenly disappearing—making everything that happened look like nothing but an illusion.

"Haaa..."

Marzana let out a groan as her knees suddenly gave in.

Plop—

Fortunately, Regis reacted fast enough as he pulled a chair over for her to sit on.

He observed carefully as the elven girl massaged her temples.

Seeing that she made no strange expressions, he could not help but ask, "Did you feel anything strange when you took your oath with the World Tree?"

"Huh? Well, no. Why did you ask?" She replied, glancing at him in the process.

Regis tilted his head, "Hmm, nothing. You may take your time resting before we start."

He then sat at the wooden bench just a meter in front of her.

"No, I’m fine." Marzana shook her head as she looked him in the eye.

’There’s no way I’ll wait longer after you made me swear an oath...’

Regis could not help but let out a laugh as he could guess what she was thinking in her mind just by her expression alone.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am."

"No takebacks, okay?"

"Okay."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promi—"

Before Marzana could finish speaking, a sphere of divine power was suddenly shot towards her.

Her eyes widened as she saw the sphere being restricted by the pure black energy that her body was emitting.

’H-How can he use divine power—’

Marzana felt her mind go blank at the sudden surge of information, to the point that her brain had a hard time processing it all.

Just the fact that Regis had both mana and aura already shook her.

’Now you’re telling me he can use divine power as we—’

Thump—!

Marzana was not even able to finish her thoughts before her pupils dilated and her heartbeat threatened to deafen her.

She felt goosebumps covering her body as her long, pointed ears began to twitch.

A dreadful feeling washed over her entire being as she slowly raised her head, looking forward with her trembling gaze.

’T-This...’

Marzana’s body trembled as she could not even form a complete thought.

Everything went blank as soon as she saw a black sphere in Regis’s hand that immediately shot towards her in the next moment.

Unlike the pure black energy that her body emitted, the sphere of energy’s color was gaseous black that seemed to contain all the evil in the world.

’W-What have I done...!?’

Was Marzana’s last thought before she lost consciousness.

Regis immediately appeared beside her and carried her to the cushioned bench nearby.

"I might’ve gone overboard..."

He whispered as he lay her down on the cushioned bench.

Fortunately, the cushioned bench was wide and long, making it a perfect temporary bed.

’It’s a good thing that I prepared this makeshift bed for incidents like this...’

At this moment, the double door to the underground training hall opened as Killian, Pandora, and Aurelia entered one after the other as they talked amongst themselves.

However, after seeing the elven girl lying unconscious on the cushioned bench, they quietened their voice.

Killian glanced at the unconscious elf before raising both the paper bags in his hands towards Regis, ’This is the food brought by Aurelia. I’ll just set it here, okay?’

Regis nodded as Killian placed the paper bags of food down at the wooden table nearby.

Pandora was still carrying her comically large magic book, not even sparing Marzana a glance as she took a seat near Regis.

Finally, Aurelia had a paper envelope in her embrace as she walked towards Regis, saying, "I’ve brought copies of the final drafts of the contract. "

Regis nodded in gratitude, "Thank you for your efforts. I think I’ve gone a little overboard with my experiment with her, but she should wake up soon."

The three nodded in understanding, knowing that this matter was really not as simple as it concerned a direct descendant of the elven royal lineage.

Just like that, the four sat together, chatting in low voices as they waited for Marzana to regain consciousness.

Fortunately, it only took about twenty minutes for the elven girl to wake up on her own.

"Ugh, my head hurts..."

She said in a low voice while caressing the back of her neck.

However, she seemed to have realized something in the next second as she noticed Regis nearby.

"D-D-D..."

Goosebumps ran over her entire body once again as the events from earlier began repeating themselves.

Her arms trembled, but she still managed to point at Regis.

Then, with a voice full of panic, she shouted, "D-Demon!"