Chapter 232: The Bloodline of Nefarion

Erza continued watching the demon as countless possibilities passed through her mind.

"If what I’m sensing is truly connected to what I think it is..."

Her violet eyes narrowed.

"...then this war may eventually become a war between worlds."

Sara’s expression immediately changed.

A war between worlds?

Until this moment, she had believed the demonic conflict was already approaching its worst possible stage. Humanity had spent years fighting creatures capable of destroying cities, infiltrating governments, kidnapping civilians, and performing rituals whose purposes remained unknown. Yet Erza had looked at all of that as insignificant.

Now, for the first time, the Dragon Queen sounded genuinely concerned.

"A war between two worlds...?" Sara asked carefully. "What exactly does that mean, My Queen?"

Erza didn’t answer immediately. Her violet eyes remained fixed on the demon sitting beyond the observation glass while she considered everything she had sensed.

"No."

Sara paused.

"I won’t give you an answer based only on suspicion," Erza continued. "I need to confirm it myself before I tell you anything."

Without another explanation, Erza began walking toward the entrance of the interrogation chamber.

Beyond the reinforced glass sat the captured salesman demon.

At first glance, there was almost nothing demonic about him.

He looked like an ordinary man dressed for business. A perfectly pressed black suit covered his body without a single visible wrinkle, accompanied by a bright white shirt and a deep-red formal tie resembling the color of dried blood. His dark hair had been carefully slicked backward, while his polished shoes reflected the harsh white lights surrounding him.

Even now, after everything the Agency had done to him, something about his appearance remained strangely professional.

His old leather briefcase was no longer in his hand, having been confiscated after his capture. It now rested outside the interrogation room among the evidence taken from him, its worn edges and repeatedly repaired straps looking completely out of place beside the Agency’s advanced equipment.

Had someone encountered him on an ordinary street, they might never have suspected what he truly was.

He looked like the kind of salesman who would knock on someone’s door with an overly pleasant smile, offer an unbelievable deal, and disappear before anyone realized what they had agreed to.

Except now...

That salesman was chained to a reinforced chair.

Erza stopped before the glass entrance.

"Open it."

Sara immediately looked toward her.

"My Queen?"

"I want to confirm something myself."

Sara hesitated only briefly before looking toward the security system.

"Sunday, open the high-security interrogation room."

Sunday responded immediately.

"Yes, Chief. Order received. Releasing interrogation-room security."

Several heavy locks disengaged one after another. The transparent entrance slowly separated from the surrounding frame before sliding aside with a quiet mechanical hiss.

The salesman demon immediately raised his head.

From inside the interrogation chamber, he hadn’t been able to see through the observation glass. He knew people had been watching him, of course, but he couldn’t tell who they were or how many stood beyond it.

Now the entrance was open.

Sara stepped through first.

The salesman demon’s familiar smile returned almost immediately.

"So..."

His chains rattled softly as he adjusted himself against the chair.

"Someone finally became eager enough to meet me."

His voice carried the same irritating confidence it had possessed before his capture. Even restrained by holy chains and surrounded by the Agency’s highest security, he behaved less like a prisoner and more like a businessman waiting for a customer.

Then another foot crossed the doorway.

Then Erza stepped inside.

Her foot touched the white floor.

The salesman demon’s smile remained for barely another second.

Something inside him reacted before his mind could.

His blood ran cold.

Every instinct buried within his demonic body suddenly screamed at once, warning him of a danger he hadn’t sensed moments earlier. His muscles tightened against the chair while the chains around his wrists gave a faint metallic sound.

For the first time since his capture, the salesman demon stopped smiling.

The salesman demon slowly raised his head, and the moment his eyes met Erza’s violet gaze, something inside him collapsed. The fear wasn’t caused by killing intent or any visible aura surrounding her. Erza hadn’t released any power at all. She was simply standing there, looking at him, yet his instincts reacted as though he were staring directly at something that stood far above his existence.

His breathing immediately became uneven.

"Who... who are you?"

The confidence that had remained on his face throughout every interrogation was nowhere to be seen. His fingers tightened against the restraints as he desperately tried pulling himself farther away, only for the holy chains to prevent the chair from moving even an inch.

"What kind of monster are you...?"

Outside the interrogation chamber, everyone watching through the observation glass became silent. Fiona’s eyes widened while Lily stared at the prisoner in disbelief. Even the twelve elite soldiers accompanying Sara exchanged confused glances, because this was the first time any of them had seen the salesman demon react this way.

Since his capture, the demon had smiled through everything.

Threats hadn’t frightened him. Torture hadn’t broken his confidence. Even when Raven had captured him and the Agency chained him inside its highest-security room, that irritating smile had remained on his face as though the entire situation were nothing more than entertainment.

Yet Erza had done absolutely nothing.

She had merely walked into the room.

And somehow, that alone had terrified him.

Erza continued forward without answering his question. Her expression remained completely emotionless, and her violet eyes never left the demon’s body. Each quiet step she took only made the salesman more desperate, until the chains began rattling from his attempts to pull away.

"Stay away from me!"

His voice echoed throughout the white chamber.

"Do you even know who I am?! I’m a Upper Blood Demon! I was personally chosen by the Demon King himself!"

Erza didn’t react.

The title meant nothing to her.

She continued walking until only a small distance remained between them. Sara followed several steps behind, careful not to interfere with whatever the Dragon Queen intended to do. She had expected Erza to question the prisoner or perhaps examine his aura more closely, but Erza suddenly raised one hand toward the demon’s chest.

Before anyone could understand her intention, her hand moved.

It pierced directly into his chest.

The salesman demon’s entire body jerked violently against the chair as Erza’s hand disappeared through flesh and muscle. She had controlled the movement carefully enough to avoid immediately killing him, but there had been no weapon in her hand, no spell surrounding her fingers, and no visible enhancement strengthening the attack.

She had simply pushed her bare hand into him.

Sara stopped mid-step.

Outside the chamber, the reaction was immediate.

"What the hell...?"

One of the elite soldiers unconsciously moved closer to the observation glass.

"She used her bare hand."

Another soldier stared at Erza’s arm in disbelief.

"That shouldn’t be possible. Demon flesh doesn’t behave like human flesh. We’ve broken blades trying to penetrate higher-ranked demons."

"Forget ordinary demons," another whispered. "That thing is a High Demon."

The twelve soldiers exchanged uneasy glances. None of them had forgotten what had happened inside the training facility, and none were foolish enough to interfere now.

"We don’t know what she’s doing."

"Then stay quiet."

"After what we saw upstairs, I’m not giving her a reason to notice us."

Fiona and Lily said nothing.

Their eyes remained fixed upon Erza.

Both captains knew exactly how durable a demon’s body could be. Their human appearances were deceptive; beneath that familiar exterior existed flesh considerably tougher than that of ordinary humans. High Demons were even worse, often requiring specialized weapons, aura, or magic merely to inflict serious wounds.

Yet Erza had penetrated one with her bare hand as though his body offered no resistance at all.

Sara remained the closest person to the scene, and even she couldn’t understand what Erza was attempting. She could only watch as the Dragon Queen kept her hand buried inside the demon’s chest, deliberately avoiding the vital organs that would kill him.

That was when Sara realized something important.

Erza hadn’t attacked him out of anger.

She was searching for something.

The salesman demon’s eyes widened as Erza’s hand remained buried inside his chest. His mouth hung open, but for several seconds no sound came out. The attack had happened so suddenly that his mind hadn’t even registered the pain yet. Then, just as quickly as she had struck, Erza pulled her hand free.

Blood immediately covered her fingers.

The salesman demon gasped violently, his entire body jerking against the holy chains as he desperately tried to catch his breath. He stared down at the hole in his chest, unable to comprehend how easily she had penetrated his body with nothing more than her bare hand.

Then something unexpected happened.

The wound began closing.

Flesh twisted together almost immediately, repairing the damaged muscles before new skin formed across the opening. Within seconds, the wound had completely disappeared, leaving behind nothing except the blood staining his clothes.

Sara’s eyes narrowed as she watched the regeneration.

Even after everything the Agency had learned about demons, witnessing such rapid healing remained unsettling. The salesman demon, however, looked more disturbed by the fact that Erza had managed to wound him in the first place.

He lifted his head toward her, fear and anger mixing across his face.

Fear had already consumed him, but desperation forced arrogance back into his voice.

"You have no idea who you’re dealing with."

His breathing remained heavy as he pulled uselessly against the chains.

"You don’t know who I am... or who stands behind me. Whatever kind of monster you are, you’ll pay for this."

Erza didn’t even look at him.

The threat meant absolutely nothing to her.

Her attention remained entirely focused on the dark blood covering her fingers. She slowly moved her hand beneath the white light, examining its thickness and faint traces of energy. The aura she had sensed earlier was present within it, stronger and far easier to identify now that she had obtained the demon’s blood directly.

Then, before anyone understood what she intended to do, Erza raised one blood-covered finger toward her mouth.

She tasted it.

Everyone behind the observation glass froze.

"Did she just..."

One of the elite soldiers stared through the glass in disbelief.

"...taste demon blood?"

Another soldier’s face immediately twisted.

"She did."

"Isn’t demonic blood poisonous?"

"It is to humans."

The first soldier slowly looked toward Erza again.

"Then... is she even human?"

None of the others answered.

Fiona and Lily were equally stunned. They knew perfectly well how dangerous demonic blood could be when introduced into a human body. Even accidental exposure could cause severe reactions depending on the demon’s rank, yet Erza had deliberately tasted the blood without the slightest hesitation.

For Erza, however, poison wasn’t the concern.

A dragon’s body was capable of consuming substances that would kill most lesser beings. She hadn’t tasted the blood out of curiosity, nor because she enjoyed it. She needed to confirm something that aura alone couldn’t prove with certainty.

The instant the blood touched her tongue, Erza’s violet eyes sharpened.

She recognized it.

The structure of the blood.

The aura buried within it.

And most importantly...

The bloodline.

A smile slowly spread across Erza’s face.

"I knew it."

Sara turned toward her.

Erza stared at the blood remaining on her fingers as though she had finally found the missing piece of a puzzle.

"I fucking knew it."

Even the salesman demon became silent.

Sara could no longer suppress her curiosity. If this discovery was enough to make the Dragon Queen react this strongly, then whatever Erza had discovered couldn’t be insignificant.

"What did you find, My Queen?"

Erza slowly turned toward her.

"Do you know about Primal Bloodlines?"

Sara’s eyes widened slightly at the unexpected question.

"Yes, My Queen. The Holy Saint mentioned them in several records she gave us, but..."

She glanced toward the restrained demon.

"What does a Primal Bloodline have to do with him?"

The smile gradually disappeared from Erza’s face.

When she answered, her voice had become completely cold.

"Our enemy isn’t some ordinary group of demons."

Sara stopped breathing for a moment.

Erza’s violet eyes returned to the salesman demon.

"They’re Nefarions."

Sara’s pupils immediately contracted at the unfamiliar weight behind that name.

"Nefarions...?"

She looked toward the restrained salesman demon, trying to connect Erza’s words with everything they had just discovered.

"Does that mean this demon is..."

"No."

Erza interrupted before Sara could finish.

"That’s not what I meant."

The smile slowly disappeared from Erza’s face as she turned her attention back toward the salesman demon. Now that she had tasted his blood, there was no longer any doubt about what she had sensed hidden within his aura. The traces were faint, buried beneath the demon’s own blood and power, but Erza had lived far too long to mistake something so distinctive.

"This demon isn’t a Nefarion."

Sara’s confusion only deepened.

"Then what did Your Majesty mean?"

Erza slowly lowered her blood-covered hand, her violet eyes remaining fixed on the salesman demon. The creature had gone strangely quiet compared to only moments earlier, and that silence didn’t escape her notice.

"I sensed something inside his blood that doesn’t belong to him."

Her gaze became colder.

"Something older... and far more powerful."

Sara followed Erza’s gaze toward the demon.

Erza continued calmly.

"This creature carries traces of a Nefarion’s bloodline within him. Not enough to make him one, but enough for me to recognize where his power has been touched."

The salesman demon’s expression stiffened.

Erza noticed immediately.

And that tiny reaction told her more than any interrogation could.

She stepped closer to him.

"You said you were chosen by your Demon King, didn’t you?"

The salesman demon remained silent.

Erza’s violet eyes narrowed.

"Then I believe I finally know what your so-called Demon King really is."

Sara’s breathing became quieter as she waited for the answer.

Erza looked directly into the demon’s eyes.

"Your Demon King..."

"...is a Nefarion."

The color immediately disappeared from Sara’s face.

"Nefarion...?"

To Be Continued...

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