IDED | Chapter 116

Episode 116

Azaid was engulfed in flames. Startled, Serena instinctively moved to put out the fire but hesitated.

“Huh?”

At first, she thought Azaid was burning just like the other men.

But upon closer inspection, Azaid was completely unharmed, without even a trace of soot on him. The flames simply swirled around him as if they were protecting him.

What shocked Serena even more was that the fire surrounding Azaid glowed with a blue hue.

Having never seen blue flames before, Serena had no idea what they signified.

“Azaid? Are… are you okay?”

“…”

“Wake up! What’s wrong? Huh?”

Frightened, Serena called out to Azaid. She wanted to grab and shake him, but the flames surrounding him surged protectively, preventing her from doing so.

Even worse, Azaid’s eyes were unfocused, his gaze blank as if he had lost consciousness.

Terrified by his lack of response, Serena gathered her courage and reached out to him.

“Azaid!”

She was ready to pull her hand back immediately if it was too hot. Even if her fingers got burned a little, she couldn’t just leave Azaid like that.

Thankfully, the flames didn’t harm Serena, allowing her to touch him.

This is magic.

Serena instinctively realized that this was no ordinary fire.

She had never seen a mage before, but she had observed magical artifacts from a distance when Lydia and Tyler played with them.

Fire that burned selectively and refused to consume everything indiscriminately could only be magical.

“It hurts…”

Just then, Azaid clutched his chest, his face twisted in pain. Alarmed, Serena quickly pressed her hand against his chest—it was burning hot.

And beneath his thin shirt, an unmistakable blue glow pulsed—a fiery emblem burning upon his skin.

He’s awakening.

As Azaid had predicted, Serena didn’t have many friends. Her only companions were books and the written word.

Thanks to that, she had accumulated a wealth of miscellaneous knowledge. Recently, she had read a magical fairy tale about someone undergoing an awakening.

According to the story, when an awakening began, an emblem would appear just like Azaid’s, accompanied by intense heat and fever. In severe cases, the person could die on the spot.

What worried Serena the most was that Azaid was unconscious. She recalled tales of rampaging mages and felt tears well up in her eyes.

These are the signs of a rampage. If this continues, Azaid might die!

Driven by the desperate need to save him, Serina shook Azaid.

“Azaid, put out the fire! The whole warehouse will burn down! If you keep using magic like this, it’ll take a toll on your body!”

“…”

“We need to get you to a healer. Please! If you stay like this, you’ll only suffer more!”

No matter how hard Serena pulled at him, Azaid didn’t budge. The warehouse fire raged even stronger, and the bodies of the men had already been reduced to ash.

“Say something… Please… I’m scared…”

Serena was stuck. She couldn’t leave Azaid behind, but she didn’t want to get caught up in his rampage and die either. She mumbled weakly, conflicted.

Somewhere outside, the faint sound of metal clashing could be heard, but Serina didn’t notice.

Having inhaled too much smoke, she leaned against Azaid, murmuring.

“If something happens to you… what am I supposed to do?”

At that moment, Azaid looked at Serina, but she was too weak to lift her head and notice.

Serena was the one who had insisted they go to the festival, despite Azaid’s reluctance.

If I hadn’t pestered him, we wouldn’t have been kidnapped like this.

Her mind went blank with guilt.

She was terrified that Azaid might die right in front of her. The helplessness was unbearable.

“Ugh…”

A sudden pain in her side made Serena hunch forward. A faint purple glow flickered from her ribs, but she was too disoriented to notice.

She merely grimaced, assuming it was just a stomachache.

Just then, Azaid, who had remained silent with a cold expression all this time, finally opened his mouth.

“Levin… run…”

Serena’s head snapped up at his trembling voice. His empty gaze remained unchanged, but his voice shook with fear.

Hope sparked in Serena’s heart at the mere fact that he was speaking. She shook her head firmly.

“No. I’m not leaving.”

“If you stay here, you’ll be in danger too.”

Azaid’s weak voice urged her to escape. But Serina clung to him, refusing to move.

“I’m not Levin!”

“…Then?”

“My real name is Se—”

Just as Serena was about to reveal her real name on impulse—

BANG!

A loud crash echoed through the warehouse as someone forcefully tore the doors open.

“My Lady Mydia! We’ve found him!”

A group of armored knights stormed into the warehouse. They immediately tried to extinguish the fire, but magical flames weren’t so easily put out.

Serena, overcome with pain, collapsed onto the floor. Azaid, struggling, barely managed to turn his gaze toward the noise.

Then, a stunning woman stepped into the warehouse.

“My child!”

Ignoring the flames licking at her dress, the woman sprinted toward Azaid and pulled him into her arms. Serena, startled, stared at her.

The woman had the same golden hair and blue eyes as Azaid.

Holding Azaid tightly, she began to sob uncontrollably.

“I’m so sorry. I came too late. I’m sorry, Azaid.”

She kept murmuring incomprehensible apologies as she wept.

“Mother… it hurts…”

Azaid called out to her in a dry, weak voice. Only then did Serena realize—his mother had come to rescue him.

‘It’s real… He’s really been saved…’

I should apologize for calling him a mama’s boy.

But the pain in her side was so intense that she couldn’t bring herself to speak. Even so, Serena couldn’t help but smile, relieved that someone had come to rescue them.

Just as she thought everything was going to be okay, a sudden flash erupted from her side, and waves of violet light began to fill the warehouse.

“!!!”

A startled holy knight turned to look at Serena. Mydia was just as shocked. Even Serena herself gaped in astonishment at the changes happening to her body.

The excruciating pain in her side vanished, and in an instant, the violet waves devoured the raging flames as if they were consuming them entirely.

And they didn’t stop there. The waves swallowed every last bit of fire surrounding Azaid as well.

“Ah.”

At that moment, Azaid let out a faint gasp, then staggered and collapsed. Mydia caught her falling son and cried out.

“Azaid!”

At the same time, Serena, unable to withstand the sudden surge of power, lost consciousness as well.

“My dear!”

Beyond her fading awareness, the last thing she heard was the desperate voice of the golden-haired woman calling out to her.

With that, Serena’s first memory came to an end. And as the next memory surfaced, Serena tightly shut her eyes.

Meanwhile, Azaid went straight to find Raffaello as soon as he arrived at the Temple of Pherianus.

Luckily, it was just after a service had ended, so he headed straight for the chapel. As he entered, he ran into Raffaello, who had just finished tidying up. Seeing Azaid, Raffaello’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Your Majesty? What brings you here at this hour without notice…?”

“Serena—have you not met her yet?”

“…Pardon? Lady Serena came to the temple?”

Raffaello blinked in confusion, unaware of anything. His expression made it clear that he had not yet encountered Serena.

She was supposed to have come here.

Azaid felt a twinge of anxiety when he couldn’t find her. Then, Raffaello asked,

“What brings you here so suddenly, without any prior communication? Even when we invited you before, you refused, saying you were too busy.”

“Raffaello, you need to answer me honestly from now on.”

“Yes, of course. If you wish, I will swear upon the name of Pherianus.”

Raffaello, invoking the name of his god, waited for Azaid to speak. The question Azaid had been burning to ask the entire way here finally burst out.

“Is Levin actually Serena?”

“…!”

Raffaello was caught off guard by the unexpected question and failed to hide his reaction. At the same time, he realized why Serena had come to see him earlier. He swallowed a silent groan.

Seeing Raffaello hesitate, Azaid let out a short, bitter laugh. Perhaps this was inevitable from the moment Lydia mentioned the cross-shaped scar.

“So it’s true.”

A chill laced Azaid’s voice, and a sharp current of mana flickered through the air. Raffaello, being an experienced high priest, was somewhat resistant to its effects, but his legs still trembled.

Yet, Azaid didn’t suppress his fury. The truth he had just uncovered was too cruel to bear.

When Azaid replaced his childhood friend Levin with Serena in his mind, he immediately understood why her manifestation memories had vanished. And he realized that his own manifestation memory had been partially distorted due to his rampage.

Recalling the scar on Serena’s forehead, Azaid clenched his jaw.

So that was the wound from that day.

It wasn’t a coincidence that the scar had reminded him of Levin—it was because Serena was Levin.

In a way, it was Azaid’s own uncontrolled power that had left an irreversible scar on Serena’s forehead.

Technically, the wound was caused by oil coming into contact with her skin, but to Azaid, it felt no different than if he had inflicted it himself.

And to make matters worse, Raffaello had erased Serena’s memories under the pretense of saving Azaid. Without filtering his words, Azaid demanded answers.

“Raffaello. Did you know Serena was Levin from the moment you met her again here?”

“Your Majesty.”

“Answer me. I don’t need that tiresome ‘Your Majesty’—I need an answer, Raffaello. If you try to hide the truth from me again, I will cut you down where you stand.”

In that instant, the lanterns lining the corridor flared violently, casting a menacing glow. It was as if the flames would lunge at Raffaello the moment Azaid so much as opened his mouth.

Raffaello, overwhelmed by the deadly atmosphere, flinched and slowly began to speak.