Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 397: Chapter 397: If Death Didn’t Stop Me, It’s Not Mortals That Would

Chapter 397 – If Death Didn’t Stop Me, It’s Not Mortals That Would

Morenna wasted no more time. After her short but tense exchange with Hel Hood, she headed straight for the Museum, informing Dantes on her way out.

She arrived within a heartbeat, dressed in a stunning red gown befitting her status, her power far too great for such a short distance to take her any longer.

Once there, the Queen found her grandson, three other children, and a few elderly men standing together.

Guards lingered nearby too.

She ignored everyone else, her focus locked entirely on Cassius, who looked somehow even more striking than the last time she’d seen him — more radiant, his eyes sharp yet somehow gentle.

Morenna’s heart melted almost instantly. She approached him and pulled him into a tender hug, entirely indifferent to the onlookers.

"My angel, you might as well accept this title at this point, you know that?" she whispered, and Cassius smiled wryly.

"I gave up fighting it a long time ago, Grandma."

"Hahah." She laughed, ruffling his hair. "Are you alright?" she asked, lifting her head to look at the Elders Council, standing awkwardly nearby. "No one dared bully you, I hope?"

Cassius smiled, glancing at the elders. "Depends on your definition of bullying, Grandma."

"We greet the Queen," the elders, the three students, and every guard nearby said in unison, bowing. "Welcome to the Hushsight Domain!"

"At ease," Morenna said, indifferent, her gaze locking onto the blue-eyed old woman. "Were you the one who threatened my grandson’s life?"

"What?" the Third Elder exclaimed, whipping her head towards Cassius, who merely gazed back innocently, as if utterly baffled why she’d look at him like that.

The elder’s lips twitched, irritation rising fast. Her distaste for Cassius was reaching alarming heights.

"I asked you a question," Morenna repeated, snapping the elder’s attention back.

The other elders watched, expressions cold. Today had already dragged on far too long. Their legendary artifact had been stolen, along with several others. Now they were being hauled into a Call of Justice.

The day only kept getting worse, and the last thing they needed was the Queen adding to this disaster.

But Morenna wasn’t foolish. She was Queen, yes, but more importantly, a Hood. She’d clawed her way up this kingdom’s ladder of power once, arriving as nothing but a foreigner from another continent.

She’d married into the royal family and become Queen through sheer force of will.

Morenna Hood knew exactly when, and how, to act. So when the Third Elder tried to deny threatening her grandson, she simply smiled reassuringly and nodded.

"Alright," the Queen said. "Shall we head over, then? The Deathless Prison’s been informed. Today’s Knight Seat on duty is Widow of Goddess. She’s waiting for us, along with the High Priestess."

"Yes," the First Elder said.

Morenna gave brief nods to Meadow, William, and Diaila. Diaila, meanwhile, sat utterly captivated by the Queen’s beauty and presence.

Something about her made Diaila feel understood, deeply, the same way Cassius had not flinched at her darker thoughts.

’Hood... Desdemona...’ Diaila thought, a dark thrill running through her. ’Now that I’ve become this, I can sense it clearly. They’re like me. Or worse.’

Her eyes glazed over, the red in them flaring brighter.

Morenna caught the look in Diaila’s eyes with one glance. So did Cassius.

"You’ve got someone unstable among your group," the Queen murmured to her grandson, as they began walking ahead, the others trailing behind.

"I know."

"On purpose?"

"Yeah. I’m curious about her."

Morenna smiled. "Guess bloodline never lies." She took his hand, smirking. "How about you travel with me?"

"How?"

"Between the living and the dead, between this world and Vorn’s Kingdom of Death, there exists a small realm called the NeitherWorld. A realm of ghosts, wandering wraiths, lost souls," she said. "I can enter it and travel through it directly. Want to try?"

"What about the Underworld? I’ve heard so much about it. Is it different?"

"Oh, the Underworld runs much deeper," the Queen said, pointing towards the ground. "That’s where corrupted souls and the damned end up. Impossible to enter, except through death or very specific circumstances. Why do you ask, dear?"

"Just curious," Cassius said, smiling. "And yes, I’d love to try traveling your way."

"Alright, dear," Morenna replied, tightening her grip on his hand, essence churning around her. "Brace yourself, will you?"

"Ye—!"

In an instant, both of them vanished.

The onlookers watched, weary, then quickly picked up their pace, well aware they couldn’t keep the Queen waiting long.

"What a cursed day," the First Elder muttered.

And just like that, Cassius headed off towards the Deathless Prison.

...

While Cassius stirred up chaos for everyone around him, his wife, Isolde Amaris, had just completed her transformation.

Isolde still stood inside the Tier Five Fractured Land, though nothing remained around her now but empty darkness.

It was completely hollowed out. Everything within had been consumed to fuel her transformation.

The firstborn of the Amaris was taller now than she’d ever been, her skin marked in places with mysterious black tattoos capable of splitting the skulls of weaker beings with a mere glance.

Her black hair had darkened further, her purple eyes striking, almost hypnotic. Her pupils, though, had changed: her left now shaped like an ’X,’ her right still round.

Yet, despite this transformation into something entirely new, her scars remained, mapping her whole body in marks striking enough to instill genuine fear.

She stood straight, breathing steadily, working to calm herself.

She still remembered everything she’d been through. Leaving the Academy, that last call with Cassius, Hound’s attack, and finally, arriving here.

Then, after a full day fighting the undead, she’d died.

The sensation of her body going cold, her soul slipping toward the Gate of Death...all of it remained painfully vivid in her mind.

And Isolde knew, without question, she’d have broken completely if not for a will hardened by some strange, blurred memories, and by the promise she’d made to Cassius.

Not even death would stop her from marrying him.

And if death itself couldn’t stop her, no mere assassins waiting outside stood a chance either.

"Hufff..." Isolde exhaled, closing her eyes, steadying her heartbeat.

After a moment, she opened them and summoned her status screen, wanting a clearer picture of what she’d become.

A panel flickered before her.

[Name: Isolde Amaris]

[Age: Believed to be 21 years old.]

[Race: True Soulblade of the Damned.]

[Titles: Soundless Slayer, Daughter of the Mother of Assassins, Returnee (unlocked title after recovering fragments of memory).]

[Blessing: Traveler Between Realms (Will of the Underworld — Patron)]

[Aspect: Silent Guide of the Worlds (Evolved Aspect)]

[Skills: Sound Erasure (First Skill); Disrupted World (Second Skill)]

[Ultimate Skill: Forgotten Existence.]

[Attributes: STR: 301; AGL: 301; CONS: 301; PER: 301; CHA: 302; Sound and Damned Essence: 250.]

Isolde studied her status, and found herself with far more questions than she was comfortable admitting to.

She wasn’t human, a Soulblade instead. It was truly unsettling news on its own. But beyond that, how, despite being a Soulblade, was she also daughter to the Mother of Assassins, the very goddess her sect worshipped?

How was that even possible? What linked them?

Was the Mother of Assassins the same woman she’d glimpsed while using the Vision Ticket, alongside Cassius, after the Royal Event?

Too much was happening at once, and Isolde felt thoroughly disoriented.

Most disorienting of all was the fact she’d come back from death carrying new memories entirely. Memories of a peaceful time, in a peaceful world, a man standing beside her.

Who was that man? She didn’t know. But the thought of him hurt, the memories themselves bringing with them a sharp, aching longing.

So much to untangle here, on top of the fact she was now Blessed. Not by a god or goddess this time, but by a literal place.

By the Underworld itself.

"I didn’t even know this was possible," Isolde said, exhaling.

She lifted her head, drawing Cassius’s face up from within herself.

Once she had it, she smiled faintly, her beauty now reaching an almost staggering level.

Close to Theophane’s, now. Perhaps even beyond it, in her own uniquely damned way.

"One more," she told herself. "Survive one more, and you go back to him."

Steeling herself with that thought, Isolde walked towards the Fractured Land’s exit.

She reached it quickly, stepping through without hesitation.

The moment she emerged, Isolde Amaris found herself outside, blood-soaked air tugging at her long black hair, surrounded by a group of assassins with weapons drawn, facing a woman with empty eye sockets.

Killing intent spiked instantly.

The moment her presence registered, the eyeless woman grinned wildly, blood dripping from her empty sockets.

"Ah... Isolde... Olympias... you’re back. You’re finally back." She wrapped her arms around herself, shaking with twisted ecstasy. "Finally! Finally! I can finally bring Cassius to me with your body!"

Hound rose with a menacing grin, brimming with excitement.

Isolde stared at the eyeless woman, her eyes shifting from purple to pure black, essence boiling around and within her.

Daggers materialized in her hands, and...

[The Mother of Assassins smiles upon her daughter.]

"...what did you just say about my husband?"

—End of Chapter 397—