The Damned Demon - Chapter 854

The first thing Ravina noticed was the cold. Not the kind that came with wind or night, but the kind that seeped under your skin—unnatural and biting.

She didn't know what happened though her memories were quickly returning.

She stirred awake slowly, her tiny body tucked against something soft but dusty. As her vision cleared, her eyes fluttered open to a world shrouded in thick, dark mist. She sat up, groggy and confused, the hazy air around her heavy with the scent of mildew and strange herbs.

Around her were a few crooked huts—makeshift homes with tattered cloths flapping like wounded flags, their walls built from dark wood and bones.

Cloaked figures moved between them, silent as shadows, their faces obscured by deep hoods. None of it felt real. None of it felt safe.

She could feel it in her bones that she was far, far away from her home...from everyone.

Her small fingers curled against her chest as she whispered, "Mimi...?"

There was no response. No familiar scent. No comforting warmth. Just the eerie rustling of cloaks and whispers that crawled on the wind.

In the distance, she spotted a group gathered near a crooked stone altar, standing in a circle.

Orbos stood with a small gathering of Mindslayers—the most inner circle among his people. His eyes, always twitching with cunning ambition, glimmered with anticipation.

"She's something else," Orbos said in a hushed, fervent tone. "You all saw how fast she's growing and how potent her aura is. In a week, she looks three years old and is stronger than even beasts! She hasn't even tapped into her full potential yet, and already... her mana signature alone dwarfs most of ours."

The others listened, skeptical yet intrigued. A younger Mindslayer with a silver clasp on his cloak leaned in, his voice low, "You're thinking we can use her? Control her?"

Orbos nodded. "Not just use her. Mold her. Turn her into one of us. With our training and influence, imagine the future. The Bloodburn Princess will grow to be stronger than anyone in this world if she keeps growing like this, reshaping this world under our guidance...just like how our ancestors once ruled this world."

"But... what about Drakar?" another cloaked figure interjected—a cautious elder with grey threads streaking through his beard. "He's waiting for her. If we're discovered, he won't spare us. Not even to leave behind ashes."

Orbos scoffed lightly. "Drakar has his hands full with the werewolves. We use that time to find better places to hide for at least a couple years. By the time he finds us, the girl will be strong enough to make him kneel to us."

"Too risky," murmured another. "If the girl really is what you say she is, then she's more valuable than we imagined. We should just bargain her off to Drakar now and stay alive. We are already starving as it is. We are not good at fighting for resources by ourselves."

Orbos's lip curled in annoyance. "That's small thinking. We've been hiding in shadows for so many centuries. This girl could be the key to us regaining the glory and power of our ancestors. With her, we no longer have to live like rats."

The others shifted uneasily, caught between fear and ambition. Then, just as Orbos opened his mouth to continue, a younger Mindslayer rushed up from the shadows, panting.

"The child is awake," He hissed.

"What?" Orbos' voice spiked in disbelief. "That can't be... I gave her enough of that elixir to knock out a Soul Purger. Wait...did her strength increase while she was asleep??" Orbos mumbled in disbelief upon sensing the increase in the intensity of her aura.

"I told you, she's not a normal child," another rasped. "Look at her. Look at her eyes...She carries that alien bloodline...."

"Bring her another dose. Stronger this time," Orbos ordered hastily, "We'll make her forget who she is before Drakar even sees her."

Ravina heard none of that. Her senses were still swirling. She rubbed her temple gently, trying to focus. But then she noticed someone approaching—a bald, pale-skinned man with crooked teeth and a mud-stained cup in his hands.

"Here you go, little one," he said with a wide, fake smile. "Drink this, and you'll feel peaceful. It's tasty, I promise."

Her face twisted in discomfort as she sniffed the strange liquid, her instincts screaming that something was wrong. "Where is Mimi?" she asked, her voice weak, trembling.

The man didn't answer. He simply leaned closer, moving the cup towards her mouth as if to coax her into drinking it.

"No...Ravina don't want....Ravina wants Mimi..." Ravina said as she tried to turn her heady away, worried about where Mimi was and if she was alright.

The man grinned with blackened teeth and said, "Don't worry, little one. This Mimi will come to you if you drink this," Realizing how stubborn she was still trying to be, he gripped her chin and tried to force the cup to her lips.

That was the mistake.

"Ravina doesn't want it!" she screamed.

With a sudden, instinctive motion, her small hand struck his face, wanting him to just get out of her face.

*Crachkk!*

But the impact was shockingly loud—bone crunched, blood sprayed.

The man was flung off his feet, skidding across the muddy ground, his body limp as he landed with a sickening thud, his bloodied jaw dislocated and lying against the ground while he was slowly bleeding to death.

All heads snapped toward her.

A child—barely more than a toddler—had just broken a grown man's jaw with a casual slap.

"Y-You little..." Orbos stuttered in sheer shock and terror.

"This little monster...! You just...killed one of us..." another muttered, the disbelief in his voice making his words tremble.

One of the older ones wheezed, "This... This is a cursed child. We should have handed her to Drakar immediately. What were we thinking..."

"She's not a child," another spat from the shadows, clutching the side of his bleeding head. "She's a weapon! We have to tame her before it's too late! Orbos is right!"

Ravina's eyes widened as she heard their murmurs, her mind not fully understanding the words but sensing the growing fear and hatred in their voices. She backed away slowly, her tears beginning to fall again. She wasn't used to feeling like this.

"I want Mama... I want Mimi..." she whispered to herself, her voice fragile and small, barely audible over the sound of groans.

"We can't risk hurting her. Put her to sleep," Orbos hissed loudly, "Now!"

One by one, the Mindslayers began to focus, their hidden eyes glowing faintly as tendrils of invisible power slithered into the air, wrapping around Ravina's mind.

They all used their collective Mindforce to knock her out after realizing that trying to physically subdue her could be risky.

"AHHHHH!!!"

Ravina screamed in pain, clutching her head as if knives were stabbing through her skull. Her knees buckled, her voice cracked.

The air darkened. The mist churned violently around her. Orbos and the few dozen other Mindlsayers in the vicinity grit his teeth as he staggered, barely maintaining the link. "She's resisting... I don't believe it."

"She's just a child—how can her mind be this strong?"

"Doesn't matter....Overwhelm her. Now!" Orbos rasped out. It could have been easier if they were trying to crush her mind.

But trying to suppress her mind without crushing her mind was a monumental task, especially when she had such terrifying mental resistance.

As their combined mental assault bore down on her like a tidal wave, Ravina remembered her mother's voice.

"Use your mana wisely... protect yourself when danger comes."

Tears streaked down her cheeks as her small hands came together, trembling with raw, unrefined power.

It was so easy to channel her mana earlier when she practised with her mother. But now the flames seemed to be flickering in and out as she struggled to focus while the knives were trying to inch closer to her mind.

Orbos grimaced, his eyes twitching with frustration as he watched the little girl still resisting their collective Mindforce. Sweat ran down his temple as the mental strain built up—their mental grip was starting to fray.

"Shit..." he growled to himself before closing his eyes briefly, speaking not aloud but through the silent channel all Mindslayers shared.

"One of you—f-force the drink down her throat...while the rest of us hold her mind. We can't let her break loose again."

Immediately, a cloaked Mindslayer in the back, slightly bulkier than the others, nodded wordlessly, receiving the command. He stepped forward, holding the same mud-cup filled with the thick, cloudy liquid meant to knock the child unconscious once more.

But from the moment he stepped into this little monster's range, he felt it.

An invisible, suffocating pressure hung around her—a field of raw, volatile energy pulsing like a living barrier.

The air was dense.

Each step toward her felt like wading through lava thick with rage. His limbs moved, but painfully slow, as if gravity itself was rebelling against his advance.

His boots sank deeper into the damp ground with every forward motion, and sweat beaded along his brow beneath the hood. He clutched the cup tighter with trembling fingers. The child wasn't resisting like a normal being—it was as if a little dragon was fighting back.

Ten feet away. Seven feet. The haze of flickering green surrounded the little girl now. The Mindslayer's legs buckled with every step, his breathing ragged, his vision blurry from the sheer, unnatural tension clinging to the air.

Ravina, panting, her face pale with effort, grit her teeth. Her delicate hands trembled in front of her chest, and yet—between her palms—a sphere of dark green fire began to stir to life.

It was small at first—unstable and sputtering—but it grew fast, humming with barely contained power.

The energy distorted the mist around her, turning it blackened and warped. The grass beneath her sizzled, curling into ash.

The cloaked Mindslayer's eyes widened in disbelief, yet he forced another step forward, reaching out to grab her.

"Don't... come... near... Ravina!!" she screamed, her small voice piercing the air like thunder, her eyes wild with fear and defiance.

With the last of her strength, she hurled the fireball forward.

It sailed through the air—wobbling, glowing like a piece of the void given form—and struck the Mindslayer square in the chest.

There was no sound—only a blinding green flash.

Then the man erupted into green-tinted ash. His body disintegrated from the inside out, his scream silenced before it could leave his throat.

And then—agony.

A wave of backlash tore through the other Mindslayers like a psychic earthquake. Every one of them collapsed, clutching their heads, howling in pain as the mental tether they'd formed to suppress Ravina shattered violently.

Blood trickled from noses, ears, and eyes. The death of their fellow Mindslayer had become a psychic shrapnel bomb inside all their minds.

Orbos dropped to one knee, his vision spinning, his mental defenses crumbling under the blow. He barely caught himself from falling flat as his hands dug into the soil.

"W-What... is she...?" he gasped, voice hoarse.

"S-She's a monster that...can't be tamed..." An old one said with a shaken look, his breath shuddering.

Ravina, in the middle of it all, collapsed to her knees, tears flowing down her cheeks as her chest heaved with rapid breaths. Her body was trembling—but not from fear anymore.

It was rage.

Her tiny fists clenched as the flickers of green flame still danced faintly over her skin.

Ravina wiped her tears with her tiny fist, her chest still rising and falling with quick, uneven breaths. Around her, the eerie grove lay still for a moment—but it was the kind of stillness born of aftermath, not peace.

Dozens of cloaked figures writhed on the ground, groaning and clawing at their skulls, their psychic balance shattered. Some were too stunned to move. Others whimpered in pain, struggling even to rise.

The dark mist still clung to the crooked trees, but to Ravina's eyes, it no longer felt suffocating. Her mind—though still young—burned with clarity, fueled by instinct and fear. Somewhere deep inside, she knew this might be her only chance.

Her feet, bare and muddied, moved before her mind could think further.

She ran.

Tiny footfalls pounded against the damp soil, slipping at times, but she never stopped. Her little arms pumped at her sides as she zigzagged between the makeshift tents and unconscious bodies. She didn't know where she was going—but she knew she had to go anywhere but here.

"S-Stop her...!" one of the Mindslayers weakly croaked, trying to crawl after her, blood staining the side of his mouth.

But Ravina was already gone.

She dashed past broken fences, past crooked, twisted trees veiled in mist. The eerie groves blurred around her as the cool air stung her cheeks, carrying away the scent of ash and burnt cloth. Her little heart thundered in her chest, but she didn't slow down.

"Mama...Mimi...Where are you...?" she whimpered under her breath, but her legs didn't stop moving.

The world around her was vast and unknown—but somewhere out there, she knew, someone was waiting. And she would find them.

Or they would find her.

But one thing was certain.

She would not let the monsters take her again.

And with that fierce thought in her tiny heart, Ravina vanished into the dark forest—her glowing dark golden eyes and lingering flames the only evidence left of her brief but catastrophic presence in that cursed grove.