Chapter 74: The Erasure

Snow was still falling in small drops in District 2, but even with the stormy snow, the weather was brighter as the sun shone down on the district. Lenora was hooked to a monitor, the steady beep of her heart the only sound in the room.

She opened her eyes, trying to get up from the bed, but the pain was too much around her body. Yet as she tried to rise, her body felt clear—and even her mind was clear.

She looked at the nurse trying to help her up, and weirdly enough, she did not feel that same pressure of being looked down on that she had felt since she was a contractor. Her mind just felt clear and simple.

Hmm, what is this weird feeling?

She looked down at her body. It was too painful for her to lift it, but with the help of the nurse, her back was pressed on a pillow as she sat on the bed. Miss Baker, her nanny, was watching her closely and said nothing.

Lenora looked at her. Weird—there was nothing. Wait, a sudden thought appeared in her mind, and she called her system. A prompt appeared in front of her with one single word.

Error.

Lenora looked at the one word. There was nothing but that word.

What is going on? she thought as she tapped the word. Another display appeared in front of her.

Name: Lenora Sloane.

Astral Being: Uncontracted.

Rank: Human.

Class: Corrupted Class—Error. Unable to access your consciousness.

Attribute: Error. Error.

Just then, multiple prompts started to appear one after the other, as if the system was just beginning to understand what was happening.

The System has detected a large amount of error from the contractor Lenora. Beginning update.

Lenora just looked at the system. Her maid, Miss Baker, was still by her side, peeling an apple, so Lenora had nothing to do but wait. And she waited. The system took a while—a long while.

But as the system continued, another memory of her past flashed in her mind. It was the same memory she was still battling with. The Azure Breach War. Lenora did not want to think about what happened, but weirdly enough, her mind was clear enough that she did not try to do so. She just sighed before looking at Miss Baker.

"So, any news on my husband?"

Miss Baker looked at her young lady and smiled. "We have found him, ma’am. But Orson looks to be fighting for his life, ma."

Lenora was surprised. "Wait, where is he? No—don’t tell me."

Miss Baker just nodded. "For now, we have confirmation he is alive, but there is nothing we can do for now."

"Wait, what about Orson’s sister? Where is she?"

"Well, ma’am, she is currently on an expedition to the Unknown Lands in the plane, so she is offline."

Lenora just sighed. "I want you to hear any new reports and tell me immediately. And also—where is Emily?"

Miss Baker’s head looked to the ground. "I’m sorry, miss. We lost her."

Lenora just waved her hands. Her mind was much clearer now—so clear that she did not really care about anything anymore. Everything just felt meaningless.

Just then, the system update finished. Lenora looked at the system as prompts started to display one by one in front of her.

Your tether has been broken.

You have reverted back to your human form.

And then another prompt.

You have lost a soul title.

And then another.

You have lost a soul title.

And then another.

You have lost an attribute.

And then another.

You have lost an attribute.

And then another.

You have lost an attribute.

Your weapon, Storm Blade, has been destroyed.

Your weapon, Ice Steel, has been lost.

You have lost all your weapons and items.

Lenora just looked as the prompts continued, one bad loss after another. As every weapon in Lenora’s system was declared lost, she watched—but weirdly enough, even she did not say or do anything. She just watched as all the weapons she had gotten as rewards or bought were all gone. Another weapon prompt appeared and disappeared, one after the other.

Lenora just watched. Miss Baker, who could not see the system, just continued to peel the apple after her report.

After the weapons were gone, next was the Astral Projections. Lenora had thirteen of them, and each Astral Projection was prompted again and disappeared.

You have lost a Dark One Astral Projection.

You have lost a Dark One Astral Projection.

The message just continued until she watched as all thirteen were gone as well.

Next was the soul innate abilities.

You have lost an innate ability.

And so on.

Lenora watched. If it was her before, she would have been outraged and hunted Emily down for looking down on her. But Lenora did not care. She just watched with a cold, unnerving detachment.

You have lost an innate ability.

Just as the last word appeared, showing just what Lenora had lost, weirdly enough, she did not say anything. She just looked at it. As the prompts kept appearing—

You have descended a rank.

You have descended a rank.

You have descended a rank.

You have descended a rank.

Another appeared.

You have lost your tether and your Astral Burden.

Lenora smiled at the system before looking up.

Just before Miss Baker gave her another apple to eat, Lenora did not feel like moving her body, so she just sat there looking before finally deciding something.

"Have the lawyers prepared the divorce papers."

"But Lenora—"

Lenora cut her off. "No buts. Just find a way. After some thought, I think it will be better if Orson and I divorce. It is for everyone’s good."

"But ma’am, what about you?"

Lenora smiled. "Well, nothing. And you can give Orson half my property. It should be enough."

And with that, no one stopped her. Lenora just smiled as the system finally finished with its prompts, revealing Lenora’s status.