The moment Ruthren's figure dispersed into nothingness, the white space also disappeared, and he found his mind going through a rollercoaster before finally opening his eyes to see that he was back in reality.
But what was surprising was that he was sleeping on the ground, and his wives were holding his hands, looking at him with complicated yet relieved expressions.
Behind them were Irene, Elor, and Leon, who also had relieved looks and were glancing at each other with visible confusion.
Even the survivors who were conscious and resting on the ground were looking at him with relieved looks.
"Uh…what happened?" Damien asked Luna since he didn't even realize he had become unconscious and worried about his wives and the others.
"You experienced what we call getting attacked by a Heart Devil. You were about to succumb to it when I decided to get ahead of it and let you deal with it. Now you see how dangerous a Heart Devil is? Had you drowned in that pool, you would have gone into a coma forever. It is a good thing you and your wives are connected through the dual cultivation manual. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to connect with you," Luna said with a shake of her head.
"A Heart Devil?" Damien felt as if he dodged a bullet to the head and remembered what a Heart Devil was.
It was actually formed from a practitioner's negative emotions and other mental barriers which would hinder their training/cultivation. It is an inner belief about life that, when talked about, seems easy for others to deal with, but when trying to work around it yourself, manifest past it, or just try to be alone with it, you feel you are at war with your own mind.
And that was what Damien exactly felt. He was blaming himself, and hating himself before his wives helped him realize how much he mattered to them and how he made their lives better.
He immediately got up, and he hugged all three while they hugged him back as well, very tightly as if afraid they might lose him.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Damien…we were so worried…" Lily said weakly as Reva silently yet firmly nodded with her lips firmly pressed together.
He was glad he finally got rid of it since he felt that this Heart Devil had been slowly growing inside him since his past life, especially whenever he thought it was his fault Sofie and the others died.
"Next time you ever think that we won't want you, I will headbutt you even if it means you become mad at me," Yuria said with an aggrieved look.
"Okay, okay. I am sorry. I know it was silly but…. never mind. I finally know what to do," Damien said with a subtle smirk as he got up while the faces of the three women lit up as well, knowing that whenever Damien seemed this confident about something, it was probably a good plan.
"And Luna…I am grateful that you saved me. I even lost count of how much I owe you," Damien said with an inner smile. He had read about Heart Devils, and even if people don't talk about them much, it was the most dangerous thing a cultivator could have since the chances of surviving a Heart Devil were extremely low if not dealt carefully with a strong will.
Every day lots of cultivators succumb to it, and even some of the strongest cultivators have fallen victim to it.
Right now, he felt like giving her a hug for real. He wanted to hold her and let her know how grateful he was that she was in his life.
"Hmph, stop thinking about stupid things. I only did it because I can't have you dying on me, obviously," Luna said coolly.
"Hey, are you blushing?" Kalypso asked in a tone of disbelief.
"The hell do you know about blushing? This goddess never blushes, pfft," Luna said with a snort while Damien subtly smiled.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Wait…what just happened? Are you all right, Damien?" Irene asked with a puzzled look. She thought maybe, just like others, the black miasma outside might have caused some damage to his body earlier.
But the strange thing was both she and Elor had scanned his body and found that there was no issue.
However, Elor felt that Damien went into a trance-like state, and seeing how even the three girls were momentarily in a trance as well, he could guess what might have happened.
"Irene, it doesn't matter. Look, Damien is well and alive. It's good you are alright, son. If we had lost you, we could consider ourselves dead," Elor said with a heavy sigh.
Damien could see that both Irene and Elor's faces looked as if they had aged by a few dozen years. He could only imagine how much they must be hurting inside after losing so many of their people they had painstakingly protected and nurtured.
Even the experts of the Forsaken, like Blake and Shania, were unconscious after suffering serious injuries. They now know that the Forsaken would never be the same.
"I am not dying, especially not in the hands of that asshole. All of you, don't worry. We will get out of this even if things seem hopeless," Damien said in a tone of confidence that made everyone feel a little better.
Even if things really seemed hopeless to them, especially the survivors of the Forsaken, Damien's confident tone filled them with some strength, and under Lily's healing light, their body was getting better as well.
Even Elor and Irene felt that Damien really had some plan to get out of this which made them feel hopeful, as well as Elor eagerly asked, "How? We are injured; we are not in our best state mentally as well, while Ruthren has his army waiting outside for us. We can't even call for help from any of the other three empires without getting out. The only solution we could see was to stay here like this forever, but who is to say Ruthren and his army won't rush inside?"
"We won't need an army or anything. Only one person is required, and that is me," Damien said with an inner light in his eyes.
