Damned Healer-Chapter 113: Everything Is Gone

It was early morning in the New Arcadia Empire. In the capital city — even in the area where the smaller clans lived — everything was quiet... way too quiet.

In the residential zone, inside a luxurious bedroom at the top of one of the houses, a young green-haired girl stared out the window, her face full of gloom. She was looking toward the city district where the clans were located. free𝑤ebnovel.com

A trail of black smoke could be seen rising from that area. It was faint now, nearly gone. Finally, it was ending — that place had been burning for almost three months.

According to what she'd heard, all the buildings there had been made with magical materials — which explained why it took so long for everything to be completely destroyed.

The bedroom door opened.

A boy her age — her twin brother — walked in calmly and pulled a table closer to her. Then, he set down a steaming plate of food.

He looked at his sister and sighed. He knew exactly what she was feeling. They were both tired of losing again and again... Why did life have to be this way? All they wanted was to fight and protect. But life never gave them a break.

He muttered softly, "Lucy, you've got to eat. Our test's coming up soon, you can't let your mind be worn out. We have to give it our all until he gets back."

She sighed, gave him a glance, then turned back to the faint smoke in the distance.

Lucius went on, "Trust him until the end. Miss Rhea said his mission hasn't officially failed yet... he might still come back."

"Miss Rhea..." Lucy clenched her fists, tears rolling down her cheeks. She'd been holding them back this whole time, but hearing that name broke her.

"You're always acting all tough in front of our brother, but it's always me who has to deal with you like this..." Lucius said with a huff. "If you keep this up, I'm telling Darian everything when he gets back... I know Mom taught you to be strong, but pretending to be strong while hiding the pain doesn't help. You need to actually be strong — believe things will turn out okay."

Lucy took a deep breath, then turned to the soup her brother had made.

The smell hit her hard, and her appetite kicked in right away.

Her brother had freakishly good cooking skills. Not just that — anything involving housework or things that required delicate hands and good taste, he was a natural.

She... was awful at all of that. But unlike him, she was great at reading people, sensing things, and thinking in ways he couldn't. It was like each twin had dumped all their stat points into a different area and left the other with zero.

Still, their way of thinking — the way they saw the world — wasn't opposite. They almost never fought and understood each other in a weirdly effortless way. And it wasn't just the two of them — they also knew Darian well, and understood exactly what kind of person he was deep down.

Those three weren't your average siblings. Not even the twins had normal teenage minds. They'd lived through triumphs and the pain of losing their father young, then their mother... and all the fear and harshness of the life they had. There was no room for drama — they accepted each other's flaws and leaned on each other's strengths just to survive.

After Lucy finished eating, she went back to staring out the window for a moment.

"Darian's taking too long. The whole clan he lived in... it's already been completely destroyed. Everyone's locked up, and the trial should happen any minute now. It's likely that..."

She stopped mid-sentence. Couldn't even say the rest.

Lucius shook his head and they stayed silent. The crime they'd been accused of... there was only one sentence for it, which was why the trial had taken so long — they were gathering as much evidence as possible.

The only outcome was death.

***

There was a reason the capital was so quiet that day. In fact, right in the central district, all the leaders of the top High Human clans in the Empire — along with many of the Empire's higher-ups — were gathered inside a single building.

It was a circular hall. The center was nearly five hundred meters across, with rows of seats rising around it in a circle.

This was the Empire's highest court, used only for major trials involving a lot of important people.

At the center of the courtroom, 115 High Humans stood, all in chains, their arms and legs shackled with black restraints.

In front of them stood Rhea and Damon, both with grim expressions and dark eyes. Behind them... nearly all the members of the Azure Haven clan were present. Only four people were missing.

And standing before them was the Supreme Judge — probably the most feared and respected figure in the Empire, second only to the Emperor himself.

He looked to be in his early thirties, with long black hair tied back, and a calm, strikingly handsome face.

Around him stood Freon, the vice-leader of the Empire's strongest clan, and five other vice-leaders from powerful clans.

The only clan leader present was the one from the Amazon Sentinels. He couldn't send his young vice-leader to this trial — she had a personal connection to the accused and it would've crushed her. Nayara was in isolation deep within the biggest forest in the Earth, training with her Supreme Bow. She hadn't even been told about the trial on purpose.

A bit below all those important figures stood a woman in military uniform, reading aloud from an electronic device:

"All the evidence for the prosecution has been presented. With everything shown, it's conclusive and undeniable that the Azure Haven Clan directly betrayed the Empire by siding with the Solar Federation Empire and causing the failure of the last C-rank mission."

"It's not clear whether the regular members of the clan were part of it. But the three-ring High Human, Rhea, and the clan leader, Damon, acted together."

"Because of their family ties and the perfect timing of everything, it's certain that the two-ring High Human, Leander, was used by them. He was sent on a D-rank mission that was declared a failure ten months ago. There's no solid proof, but everything points to those two planning the failure and the deaths of that group of young people, lining it up with the failure of a higher-ranked mission."

As soon as she finished, the judge turned to Freon. He bowed — as the prosecutor, he had the right to speak last. Then he roared, furious, eyes full of hate:

"That woman sacrificed her own son! She also killed my son and hurt my clan. We lost one of the cores of our Supreme Artifact, and it's gonna take years before we can take part in another S-rank mission. This was permanent damage — even worse for the Empire, considering the two failed missions combined."

The Supreme Judge exhaled loudly, showing a bit of boredom.

Everyone waited for his words, while Rhea, Damon, and everyone behind them could only tremble, helpless. The chains stopped them from moving, using their powers — even speaking wasn't possible right then.

The judge stood, and all eyes turned to him.

"Well... two failures like this have happened before, just like betrayals. Based on history, the effects of these two failures will last at least twenty years. That's going to mean countless High Human lives lost because they won't have enough resources from missions. The punishment for that is level-5 execution."

"As for the betrayal — in this case, it also calls for a maximum level-5 punishment. So... guess what? You're lucky! It's been nearly a century since anyone triggered a level-6 punishment."

He finished with a cheerful and twisted smile blooming on his face.

"You're considered the highest level of threat to the Empire and must be punished immediately, right here and now. Since anyone here might be involved — or not — and level-6 punishment is harsher to ensure the Empire's safety, everyone will be punished together. Bring in the Artifact of the Nine Hells," he ordered in a thunderous voice.

In minutes, a hundred soldiers in military uniforms walked into the chamber. All of them were holding blood-red needles and surrounded the clan members in the center with cold eyes.

The judge gave a small gesture: "First, to set the example, the leader will have his fun. Then the woman. Then the rest. BEGIN!"

One soldier stepped forward...

Without a second's delay, the red needles shot from their hands and pierced Damon all over his body.

There were no screams... he couldn't scream.

But all the hundreds of important figures in that place watched as his skin blackened and dried out, his eyes bulged, and his life force slowly faded...

That thing drained the life out of the body first. Then, the soul would be sealed, to be refined in a level of suffering beyond anything known.

Behind him, Rhea stood motionless, tears of blood streaming down her face as she watched everything.

She had lost everything...

Everything she loved was gone...

A few minutes later.

*Bang*

The flat thud of a body hitting the floor echoed.

When Damon dropped, everyone could feel that his life was completely over.

That first soldier moved and pulled the needles from the dead body. One of them had turned black — he kept that one. Damon's soul was in it, and it would be refined over time.

"Next." — the Supreme Judge ordered.

Then, the needles flew straight at Rhea, hitting her without mercy.

At the same time...

*Toc-toc-toc-toc...*

Rushed footsteps echoed into the courtroom.

It was a military officer from the Empire, who stopped in front of the Supreme Judge and stared at him in silence. The judge stared back coldly, giving him permission to speak.

"The D-rank mission that was declared a failure ten months ago... they... they're back. In fact, they actually completed it!"

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