The Demon King's Hero Of Light 188 Chapter 188 The Crown In The Storm

"Oh, right," she sighed. "You're some hero, being afraid of heights."

"It's not something I'm proud of," he said, straightening his shirt and looking around after she had teleported them deep in the forest to the west. The trees had all lost their leaves to the relentless wind, and most of their branches, but they seemed to still be holding on. Too much more, and they would start toppling though.

"We should be near the first village that was on the map," Aella said, looking around as well.

"Look! Over there!" he shouted, pointing at what was obviously a cut tree stump.

Moving together, they investigated the stump, but it was impossible to tell which direction the people would have taken the fallen log.

"We're going to have to fan out and look for them," said Alfred, preparing to zip away.

"No," said Aella, tilting her head to the side. "I can hear voices."

Alfred glanced at her incredulously, but she was already grabbing his shoulder and teleporting them in the direction of the noises.

Standing in a clearing, where the beginnings of a village were obvious, they gaped at the damage the storm had wreaked on the area. Several of the new homes had been pushed over and collapsed from the strong winds.

"There are survivors over here," said Aella rushing towards one of the cabins, and they started lifting logs out of the way.

A young mother, with her lower body crushed, lay cuddling her two small children. The moment the mother laid eyes on Aella and Alfred, she smiled in relief and pa.s.sed out. The children were too terrified to put up much of a fight as Aella and Alfred grabbed the three up and teleported back to the field where Josephine was supposed to be.

The water hero hadn't arrived yet, and Aella was worried the mother would die before Josephine arrived, so she placed her hands on the crushed pelvis of the demoness and tried to heal her. It was way easier than it should have been. Aella couldn't see, so much as feel the bones reknitting and tissue moving back to where it should have been.

"I don't know if she will ever be able to have kids again," said Aella, grinning at Alfred, "But she should be able to walk at least."

"Wow, that's way better than you've been able to do before," exclaimed Alfred, staring at the reformed body.

"I… I know how a demon body is supposed to look like," mumbled Aella as a flash of memory hit her.

"Are you okay?" asked Alfred, glancing up at her with a worried look.

"I'm better then I've been in a long time," Aella said, giving him a wide grin.

Turning to the mother as she started to wake up, Aella said, "You should be better. The Water Hero will be here soon, and she can help you more. I need to go look for more survivors, alright?"

The demoness nodded, clutching her children to her, who couldn't seem to take their eyes off Aella. "Do I know you?" she asked in a rough voice.

"I am your king," said Aella, giving the demoness another smile before grabbing Alfred's shoulder and teleporting back to the village.

They found several more survivors crushed in their homes, but there were many more that they found who had not survived. Aella chose to leave their bodies to the elements, since it would do no one any good to bring them back dead.

"The people could bury them, and have closure for their deaths," suggest Alfred, as she went to move on.

"Do we have a place for the dead within the walls?" asked Aella, pausing. "The advisors said the dead can bring disease if not dealt with."

"There will need to be if this storm doesn't let up for three months," said Alfred. "It's very unrealistic to think that no one will die in that time."

Aella glanced back at the dead bodies she was going to leave and sighed. He had a point. The lions would probably be willing to help dispose of the dead, but she didn't think anyone would appreciate that. With a nod, she quickly teleported the bodies to the other end of the field, noting that Josephine had arrived and was doing what she could for the injured.

Finishing with that village, Aella searched for others with Alfred helping her. Not all of the villages had survived as well as the first one, and they had to give up on finding the last one. The village that was supposed to house the baby-eating cult had retreated into a cave, but a fight seemed to have broken out. By the time Aella arrived, all of the men in the group were dead, their bodies having been eaten by the women and children to survive.

"My King!" cried one of the women when they first arrived, taking in the scene in one quick glance. "Please! Save us! We will renounce our faith if you will take us back to the safety of the city!"

With a nod, Aella did as they asked, not willing to voice her opinions of them renouncing their faith. She was personally thrilled, as the thought of eating the dead to preserve their memories didn't sit well for her, but she didn't want word to get out that she had forced them to change in order for her to save them. She had eaten the dead before, and even some demons that weren't yet dead, but those demons had been killed by the system, not her. She had merely been the hand of the system when she ended their lives.

"Aella," said Alfred, grabbing her arm.

They had teleported back to the cave, to decide whether they should finish disposing of the bodies or not. Aella was thinking no one would be upset if the lions got these bodies.

"Yea?" she asked, turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What happened to you? Your skin is gray, your eyes aren't black, and your powers seem to be even stronger," said Alfred, stepping back to look at her better.

She was suddenly hit with the memory of what the realm had done to her, and Aella turned away from him. "It was painful. It would rather not talk about it."

"Too painful to talk about? You?" laughed Alfred, shaking his head. "You're the one who used to say that pain was good, because it helped you grow and get stronger."

"This pain did help me get stronger, but that doesn't mean I want to talk about it," she insisted.

"The realm did this, didn't it? You kept saying it wouldn't let you die, and the last time I saw you, you were pretty close to death."

"We have to go, Alfred. I don't have time to reminisce with you," she said, reaching to grab him and teleport back.

"No, Aella. Not this time! We are going to talk this out!" he said, shaking his head more firmly. "Aella, when Vesh cut off your head, there wasn't any blood!"

Scrunching her brow, she ran through the memories of when her head was cut off. There was that b.a.s.t.a.r.d's smile, as he stepped back away from her headless body, the horrified look on Precious' face, and then Alfred's immaculate boot. He was right. There hadn't been the customary spray of blood when her head went flying.

"Tell me what happened!" demanded Alfred. "You know that I'm not the only one who wants to know."

"But you're the only one who will ask," said Aella, meeting his eyes.

"No, I'm sure Bridgette will ask," he said, scratching his chin.

"Ugh, you're right. Look, I was dying from too much mana. Mana poisoning, like Bridgette called it, was causing my organs to be torn apart, and my skin was dying and peeling faster than I could heal it and grow more. My fire and air were going crazy, trying to cook me and blow me away at the same time. The realm…" her words died away as she remembered what the realm had done.

It had hurt so bad, her throat had bled from the screams. She didn't scream easily, but she had screamed at that. When she didn't have the energy to scream, she had laid there as the realm forced the mana into every cell of her body, forced her body to heal and then forced more mana into it. She looked down at her gray hands and clasped them together.

"The realm rebuilt me. I don't know how else to explain it. I remember seeing parts of myself that no living person should ever be able to see and live to talk about later."

"Well, thank G.o.d you're better then," said Alfred, deciding to drop the line of questioning.

"Which one?" she asked. "If you're going to thank a G.o.d, you should specify which one. Otherwise you have them arguing over who should receive the thanks."

"There's more than one?" asked Alfred, confused.

Aella waved her hand and shook her head. "Never mind, let's go check on those humans you wanted me to save."