Two hours later.
They had reached a forest far away from Creek Village. After reaching this far, the enemies shouldn't be able to track them anymore.
Stella and the others gathered in one place, discussing their next move. They never expected there would be such a huge ambush, especially one involving more than ten Devil Bishops and the strongest Devil Saint.
They had to inform their captain and the headquarters about this as there would soon be a huge war between the two organizations.
Meanwhile, Noel was sitting a bit far away from them. Anna was sitting next to him, and her wounds had been treated again.
Noel sat while raising his knees to cover his face. He took this matter far more seriously. It wasn't that he acted recklessly or anything. The opponents were simply too overwhelming.
When looking at Noel this way, Anna couldn't help but recall her previous life.
'In the previous life, I have never seen Noel this weak. He has always put up such a tough front, irritating me. I have never thought about what Noel has experienced. But looking back, there were a lot of sacrifices in the past too…' Anna's expression mellowed a bit, realizing that Noel was human too. He could lose, he could become weak, and he would overcome it.
Anna couldn't help but lean on Noel's as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Noel was startled, but he didn't move his body away.
"You see… There's something I want to talk about." Anna closed her eyes as a small smile appeared on her face.
But before she said anything, Noel asked, "Before that, do you mind telling me what happened to you?"
"Ah. It's true that most of my injuries were inflicted by that Saint, but I'm this weakened because of something else. Have you heard of this… True Spirit Body?"
"!!!" Noel's body shook.
"It seems you've heard of it, but you don't know much about it."
Instead of her, Damian was the one explaining it to him. He had been hiding this whole time and decided to make his appearance the moment she mentioned the True Spirit Body.
"True Spirit Body, the secret technique that allows you to borrow one hundred percent of the Spirit's power. Its power will be beyond everyone's imagination."
"In exchange for this power, you will feel your connection with the spirit weakened for a while due to the burden of that power. And that's what she is experiencing right now."
"From what I can feel, it seems that Dimitri has used the same thing. Unless that Demon Saint is releasing the same ability, he should be able to bring the captains and vice captains away. After all, it will become a big matter if we know the strongest Demon Saint is weakened. Your commander will spare no effort in annihilating all the enemy bases."
"Nonetheless, the more important thing is that… I don't think there will be someone in the Greenwood Kingdom that can match the genius Anna Stargaze. On top of being a Spirit Master at that age, she can even utilize the True Spirit Body."
"Even in this kingdom, I don't think there are more than ten people who can use this power. So, I will give up convincing someone to marry you. Instead, you should rejoice as there is someone who would use that power for you. If I didn't stop her, she would use that power for the second time and suffer unimaginable consequences." Damian looked at Anna, observing her expression.
It seemed she was slightly embarrassed as she hurriedly corrected him, "You are wrong. I did it because I deemed it necessary to stop the enemies. The Demon Banner Army was the front line for fighting the Supreme Devil Organization after all."
"Well, whatever. I have told you everything I need. I will give you time and space to discuss whatever you want." Damian shrugged as he was about to leave.
However, Anna suddenly stopped him. "Sir, I think you have been following Noel for a certain purpose. Considering you are from another kingdom, I'd like to strike a deal with you."
"Hoh?" Damian furrowed his eyebrows.
"I can't tell you about it right now since the reward hasn't been completed yet. But the moment I come to you, you will surely agree to have a deal with me." Anna smirked.
"I'll be looking forward to it." Damian nodded and left them alone.
Noel looked at Anna in silence. He never thought Anna would do something like that for him. In the past, he hated Anna to the very core. All he wanted was just to kill her.
Even after all that, Anna still supported him like this. He didn't know why, but he felt happy about it.
Noel looked up for a minute before saying, "I have two Spirits; one is an Ice Spirit, and the other is a Sword Spirit. Yes, it's Ardagan. The reason why I can become strong is because Ardagan is a living spirit. He has elevated the level of my Ice Spirit, and you can say that right now, I have two spirits with conversion rates above you. That's why I can catch up to you."
Noel only told a part of the truth about Ardagan. He hadn't told her about the deepest secret that Ardagan held, which was the system.
Anna opened her mouth, surprised. She thought and said, "My clairvoyance is not impotent. What I can see is…" Anna paused for a moment. "…the scene of my other life. In that life, I couldn't even describe how bad I was. And you were the one who changed my life. Despite all the hatred you held for me, you didn't stop."
She changed her previous life to an alternate world.
"In the end, we both died in front of each other. When I saw such a thing, I couldn't help but feel the need to change. I thought, if I ended up dying because I kept fighting you, what if I changed myself and became your ally? When I thought about it, I felt like there was a new world opened to me. I felt like I could grasp anything with you."
"That's why I did all this. Noel… Since you told me your secret first, it meant I won, right?" Anna chuckled. "In that case, do you want to go somewhere with me? Just both of us. It's going to be dangerous, but I believe we can overcome the challenge. If we succeed, we will be able to gain enough strength to change our current situation."
