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ArabicArknights: The Scarlet Devil of Terra — Chapter 13
Chapter 13: The Awakening of Talulah
Hearing Frostnova’s words, the atmosphere in the room grew heavy once again. Talulah’s eyes flickered with deep confusion.
“Of course, I can only be Talulah. So what exactly happened?”
Buldrokkas’tee reached out, his massive, armored hand gently pressing against her feverish forehead. He held it there in absolute silence for a long moment before finally pulling away.
“I feel no traces of witchcraft.”
A collective breath left the room. The suffocating tension eased slightly.
“What exactly happened?” Talulah asked again, realizing with a spike of frustration that she could only manage to turn her head. Her limbs felt like lead.
Frostnova stepped forward, her voice quiet as she recounted the chaotic events of the previous night.
“So I fainted, and then my whole body was seriously injured?” Talulah murmured, her bewilderment growing. “You think Kashchey did this?”
It made no sense. If Kashchey possessed that kind of overwhelming, invisible power, why hadn’t he used it to crush her on the battlefield? She would have been dead without a doubt. There was no logical reason she would still be lying here, breathing and conscious. What was the old snake’s true aim?
Recalling the fractured memories of the previous night, Talulah felt a creeping wrongness in her bones, but the exact truth slipped through her fingers like water.
“Waking up is a good thing,” Frostnova said, standing up from her chair. “The Old Stubborn predicted you would be trapped in a coma for a long time.”
Now that Talulah was awake, the camp’s morale would stabilize. Before turning to leave, Buldrokkas’tee paused at the threshold. He asked his initial question once more: what did she think of Patriot’s methods?
Talulah fell silent, her gaze fixed on the ceiling. After a long moment of deliberation, she stated that since His Excellency Buldrokkas’tee had successfully stabilized the situation, she would temporarily reserve her judgment. However, her core belief remained unshaken. The Infected should not slaughter one another. Even if their ideals clashed, they could simply walk their separate paths. If one path ultimately succeeded, they could reach back and pull the others up.
Hearing her unwavering response, Buldrokkas’tee finally exhaled a complete sigh of relief. Her mind was sharp, her will unbroken. It was enough to confirm that she had not been consumed by the Deathless Black Snake. Naturally, it could all be a flawless pretense, but a mask would eventually slip. He would simply keep a vigilant eye on her condition.
After the towering Wendigo left the room, Alina immediately threw herself over Talulah’s chest, burying her face in the blankets and wailing. The gentle Elafia had been paralyzed by terror the entire night, not daring to close her eyes for a single second. Every time she blinked, the horrifying image of Talulah collapsing in agony flashed behind her eyelids.
Exhaustion finally claimed her. As she sobbed, her breathing gradually evened out, and she drifted into a deep sleep right there against the bed.
Talulah looked down at her dearest friend. She wanted nothing more than to reach out and pull the thick blanket over Alina’s trembling shoulders, but her muscles refused to obey.
Just then, the heavy wooden door creaked open.
A small, blonde head peeked in from the hallway.
Talulah looked up, caught sight of Flandre Scarlet, and managed to force a weak, difficult smile.
“Flandre… do me a favor. Cover Sister Alina with the blanket next to me.”
Flandre floated into the room, her crystalline wings chiming softly. She picked up the heavy wool blanket, draped it carefully over the sleeping Elafia, and then hovered over to inspect Talulah.
“How do you feel? Is your body any better?”
Talulah blinked, genuine surprise crossing her face. She hadn’t expected the terrifyingly powerful little vampire to show such mundane concern.
“Much better. Thank you for your concern.” Talulah paused, studying the girl’s innocent expression. “Were you scared last night?”
“Are you talking about that black stuff on you?” Flandre tilted her head, her ruby eyes blinking innocently.
“You could see it?” Talulah stared at her in shock.
“Mm-hmm, of course! When that ugly black gas started leaking out, Flandre saw it right away. And then Flandre crushed that black gas into tiny pieces. Isn’t Flandre amazing?” Flandre puffed out her chest, her face practically glowing with a desperate plea for praise.
“So… the reason I fainted… the reason I am paralyzed… was you?”
Talulah stared blankly at the ceiling, completely unsure of what expression she was supposed to make.
“Er…” Flandre rubbed the back of her head, a bashful, slightly embarrassed flush creeping onto her cheeks. “I lost control of my strength just a tiny bit. But Flandre thought your body was so tough, Talulah, that you would definitely be fine!”
“Alright. Can you still see that black gas now?”
“Nope! It’s all gone!”
Knowing the true cause of her misery, Talulah felt a massive weight lift from her soul. She had spent the morning dreading the possibility that Kashchey had unknowingly hijacked her mind. Now she understood the reality: Kashchey had indeed attempted to seize control, but Flandre had violently intervened.
The method was absurdly reckless and impulsive. The lingering agony in her bones told her these injuries wouldn’t heal for at least a week or two. But it was a small price to pay for her freedom.
Fortunately, the deep winter had set in. With the relentless blizzards burying the tundra, the Reunion camp was effectively snowed in. There were no immediate crises demanding her attention. Lying in bed for a few days would not bring the world crashing down.
With her mind finally at ease, a heavy wave of drowsiness washed over Talulah. She closed her eyes and surrendered to the dark.
A short while later, Flandre’s sharp ears twitched. She sensed hurried, heavy footsteps crunching through the snow outside. She quietly opened the door and slipped out into the freezing corridor.
Frostnova stood there, her breath pluming in the frigid air.
Flandre immediately shook her head, pressing a finger to her lips. “Sister Talulah and Sister Alina just fell asleep. Do you have something to see them about?”
Frostnova looked down at the diminutive vampire, her expression tight with anxiety.
“You will do just as well. According to our scouts, a mysterious opponent has encroached from the southwest. The Old Stubborn has already gone out to intercept them, but I am worried. I originally wanted to tell Talulah that I would go back him up myself. But since you are here… could I trouble you to go assist the Old Stubborn?”
Flandre nodded enthusiastically, indicating it was no problem at all. She then asked for the specific direction. While she wasn’t exactly directionally challenged, the endless, blinding white expanse of the Ursus tundra made it impossible to tell north from south.
Frostnova pointed out the exact coordinates. Flandre gave a cheerful salute, kicked off the ground, and shot into the sky, flying rapidly toward Buldrokkas’tee’s position.
Ten minutes later, she spotted the towering figure of Buldrokkas’tee and his imposing wall of Shieldguards.
Standing alone in the snow before them was a terrifying silhouette. It was an Emperor’s Blade. The figure was clad in pitch-black armor, radiating a suffocating, unnatural aura. The pristine white snow beneath the intruder’s boots had been dyed a sickening, oily black, making the freezing air feel even more desolate and chilling.
Flandre tilted her head, swooped down from the sky, and hovered right in front of the ominous opponent.
“Aww… no, you’re not Rumia!”
Flandre crossed her arms, her face falling into a mask of pure disappointment. The heavy wind and snow had obscured her vision from afar. Combined with the opponent’s pitch-black attire and the thick, negative miasma bleeding from their body, she had genuinely thought she had stumbled across the darkness-manipulating youkai who occasionally wandered around the Misty Lake.
On the ground, Buldrokkas’tee stared in absolute surprise at the girl who had just dropped from the heavens.
She seemed completely immune to the Emperor’s Blade’s oppressive aura. In fact, she looked mildly bored. She had called the terrifying Ursus elite ‘Rumia’ before immediately dismissing the thought. Did this mean the child knew a woman who was similarly contaminated by the Demons of the North?
Buldrokkas’tee kept his theories to himself. Regardless of her bizarre behavior, her monstrous strength made her arrival a massive advantage.
At that exact moment, the Emperor’s Blade was experiencing a rare surge of shock beneath his mask. The fear-inducing aura of a Collapsal fragment was an absolute force of nature. Even the most hardened, iron-willed Ursus veterans would tremble in its presence.
Yet, looking into the crimson eyes of this floating girl, he saw absolutely nothing. No fear, no hesitation, no pressure. For a fleeting second, the elite assassin actually doubted whether the Demon sealed inside his armor was still functioning.
Flandre lazily drifted back to Buldrokkas’tee’s side.
“Old Stubborn, what is this guy doing with a lump of weird, disgusting stuff stuffed inside his body?”
Hearing Flandre casually drop that specific moniker, the highly disciplined ranks of the Shieldguards visibly wavered. A few coughed into their gauntlets. They all knew ‘Old Stubborn’ was Frostnova’s personal nickname for Patriot. She only ever used it in private, fiercely maintaining her adoptive father’s imposing dignity in public.
But Flandre Scarlet cared nothing for military decorum. Buldrokkas’tee’s actual name was far too long and tongue-twisting, and she absolutely refused to call him ‘Lord Patriot’ like the ordinary soldiers. After a brief internal debate, she decided Frostnova’s nickname was the most fun to say.
Patriot ignored the breach in discipline, his glowing red eyes narrowing beneath his skull helm. He was deeply shocked that Flandre could perceive the Demon fragment sealed within the Emperor’s Blade.
“You can see it?” Buldrokkas’tee asked, his rumbling voice low.
“Yeah! It’s way more conspicuous than that sneaky guy hiding inside Sister Talulah’s body. But it feels different. This one is a lot more disgusting.” Flandre wrinkled her nose in distaste.
Standing a short distance away, the Emperor’s Blade felt a cold spike of alarm pierce his chest. He stared warily at the floating girl. In the very next second, he raised his hand.
A concentrated orb of Arts, swirling with highly condensed negative energy and the terrifying power of the Dominion, shot from his palm directly toward Flandre Scarlet.
“Watch out!”
A massive, heavy tower shield instantly slammed into the earth, completely blocking Flandre’s front. The dark magic orb detonated against the metal with a deafening screech, failing to push Patriot back a single inch.
Flandre peeked her blonde head out from behind the massive slab of iron.
“He launched an attack on Flandre! Does that mean Flandre gets to kill him now?!”
Hearing the childish, gleeful excitement in her voice, the Emperor’s Blade suddenly felt an overwhelming, apocalyptic pressure lock onto his very soul. The shadow of death loomed over him instantly.
“Wait!” Buldrokkas’tee slammed the shaft of his halberd into the frozen earth, blocking Flandre’s path.
He turned his towering frame toward the Emperor’s Blade.
“Leave. And I will let bygones be bygones. Stay, and there will only be death.”
The Emperor’s Blade hesitated for less than a second. Assessing the impossible threat radiating from the girl and the immovable wall that was Patriot, he decisively turned on his heel and vanished into the swirling snow.
“Why let him go?” Flandre asked, her wings drooping in disappointment. “He was right there.”
“If he lives, we are safe. If he dies, Ursus will be enraged. We will not be safe.” Buldrokkas’tee explained, his tone carrying the immense patience of a weary grandfather.
Flandre shook her head, clearly not understanding the political logistics of empires and armies. But Buldrokkas’tee was an adult, and as a good child, she would respect the adult’s decision.
After ensuring the terrifying assassin was truly gone, Buldrokkas’tee ordered the Shieldguards to slowly fall back toward the base camp.
Upon returning to the camp and learning that the intruder was an Emperor’s Blade, Frostnova was struck by a wave of lingering dread.
In the frozen empire of Ursus, the Emperor’s Blades were a far more terrifying nightmare than the Ursus Patrol. The patrol merely sought to capture the Infected to fulfill quotas or sell them into slavery. But wherever the Emperor’s Blades walked, they left nothing but a trail of blood, absolute terror, and silent death.
Perhaps a naive fighter would think it was fine to simply kill the assassin and bury the body in the snow. But that would only invite a catastrophic price. The death of an Emperor’s Blade was never a small matter. Their vitals and movements were constantly monitored by the state. If one died in a specific sector, the full might of the Ursus army would descend upon that location. They would systematically purge every living soul in the vicinity to uncover the cause of death. No one would be spared.
That was exactly why Buldrokkas’tee had intervened to stop Flandre from turning the man into a bloody mist.
As for whether letting the Blade escape would cause future trouble… the very fact that the assassin had found them meant the trouble was already here. Whether they killed him or spared him, the Reunion Movement had officially caught the eye of the Ursus high command. Forcing him to retreat would only invite suspicion; killing him would guarantee immediate annihilation. Buldrokkas’tee had calculated the odds perfectly.
The next morning, inside Alina’s warm room, a makeshift “public trial” was underway. Flandre Scarlet sat in the center of the room, surrounded by her peers.
“So you are telling me that Talulah being paralyzed and battered like this… was entirely caused by you, Flandre?” Alina stared at the vampire, utterly incredulous.
“No, no, no! I helped Sister Talulah crush that ugly pitch-black thing hiding inside her body! I just didn’t expect to use a tiny bit too much strength.” Flandre raised her hands defensively, holding her thumb and index finger a millimeter apart to emphasize just how ‘tiny’ her mistake was.
“This is not Flandre’s fault. None of us discovered that Kashchey had actually planted such a vile curse deep inside my body, and kept it so perfectly hidden,” Talulah spoke up from the bed, her voice carrying a rare, gentle warmth.
“Although Talulah has to lie down and recover for a while, Flandre’s intentions were pure. And according to Flandre, she completely crushed the vast majority of the Deathless Black Snake’s power. It will be incredibly difficult for Him to attempt to seize control of Talulah’s mind again. When winter passes, we can seek out a master of Originium Arts to examine her and strive to settle this curse once and for all. Old Stubborn, do you have any way to contact the Liches or the Banshees?”
Frostnova, leaning against the wall, was quite pragmatic about the whole ordeal. Although Flandre’s surgical method was terrifyingly reckless, the result was undeniably positive. If she hadn’t acted, Talulah would likely be a puppet of the Deathless Black Snake right now. Suffering a few broken bones and torn muscles was an absolute bargain for her soul.
“Are you talking about Banshees? I know one!” Flandre suddenly raised her hand high in the air.
“Ah? You actually know a Banshee?” Alina blinked, her stern facade breaking. With a genuine method to help Talulah escape the ancient snake’s grasp, she couldn’t maintain her anger over Flandre’s recklessness.
“Remember Rhodes Island? If Flandre remembers correctly, there’s a Banshee there. His code name is Logos. His name… Ermengarde… yeah, it seems to be that name. He is a Banshee, and also a descendant of that Banshee Queen, Ramalline.”
Flandre spoke haltingly, her eyes unfocused as she constantly dug through the fragmented memories of the soul she had merged with upon arriving in this world.
“Is that the truth?!” It was Buldrokkas’tee who spoke, his massive frame shifting.
Others in the room might be ignorant, but the ancient Wendigo knew exactly how terrifying the Banshee Sovereign truly was. Her direct offspring—especially one permitted to walk the earth after the Banshee valleys were sealed—would absolutely not be some weakling.
This time, the vast majority of the Deathless Black Snake’s insidious power had been shattered by Flandre’s bare hands. It would likely take the ancient entity several years to recover enough strength to make a comeback. They had more than enough time. They could wait until the new year to formally establish contact with Rhodes Island and invite this Royal Court Banshee to conduct a thorough inspection.
“Anyway, after the new year, we will know exactly what is happening when our envoys return from Rhodes Island.”
With a solid plan in place, Alina finally let go of her lingering frustration toward Flandre.
Instead, Frostnova looked at the little vampire with intense curiosity.
“Speaking of which… you have been with us for so long, and I have only ever heard vague rumors about your abilities. You are always talking about ‘crushing’this and’crushing’ that. What exactly are your Originium Arts?”
Flandre scratched her blonde hair, her brow furrowing. She didn’t really know how to explain her innate, god-like destructive power in terms these people would understand. She could only try to simplify it.
“Flandre can see certain things. The ‘eye’of everything. Those things are connected to the object itself. As long as Flandre destroys that’eye’, the thing connected to it will also be completely destroyed.”
To demonstrate, she asked Alina to crumple up a piece of scrap paper into a ball and place it on a wooden desk a few feet away. Flandre stood on the opposite side of the room. She raised her small hand and made a gentle, effortless gripping motion toward the distant paper ball.
The paper ball violently twisted in on itself for a fraction of a second before silently detonating, crumbling into a fine pile of microscopic paper dust.
“Just like that!” Flandre beamed.
“What about… us?” Frostnova asked, a chill running down her spine.
“Everyone has them! But Flandre will always try her very best not to touch the eyes of her friends.”
Alina suddenly remembered the Ursus soldiers in the blizzard who barely looked human anymore. She clearly recalled that Flandre hadn’t even touched them, yet their bodies had simply exploded into mist. They must have met their end through this exact, terrifying method.
“Then wouldn’t it be incredibly dangerous? What if you accidentally touched one?” Frostnova asked, her voice laced with genuine shock.
Flandre Scarlet simply shook her head, a bright, innocent smile on her face.
“Nope!”