The carriage was passing through a pathway in the forest. The path was uneven and had many bumps on the way.

Two knights were looking at Emilia in the cage and ogling her body.

“Stop here!” the knight yelled.

The carriage stopped, and one knight got down from the front of the carriage and walked to the back of the carriage.

“What’s wrong? We still have a long way to go.”

Two knights jumped out from the back of the carriage, and one of them said with a smirk on his face, “Let’s have some fun.”

“What do you mean?” the first knight asked with a puzzled look on his face.

“Oh, come on!” the second knight placed his hands on the first knight’s shoulders, then pointed his gaze at Emilia, “That’s a rare fruit. Don’t you want to taste it?”

“What are you talking about?!” the first knight whispered vehemently.

“What? Don’t tell me you don’t feel like messing with her after looking at her body?”

“But… she is Darius’ property. We can’t do anything.”

The third knight came in and placed his arm around the first knight’s shoulder. “Look, you know how Darius is. We have sold and kidnapped many girls of different races to him, right?”

The first knight nodded. “The number count is in three-digit.”

“He uses them to his heart’s content, and when he gets bored, he kills them and feeds them to his hounds.”

“Exactly!” The first knight shrugged the other two knights and turned around. “If we do something to this angel, then he will kill us.”

“What if he doesn’t know? We can silence this angel.”

The first knight gasped lightly, then pondered for a while and said, “What if she tells him?”

“She won’t, and even if she did, we could just say she is lying,” the third knight replied.

The first knight pondered for a while, then walked to the front of the carriage to talk with the fourth knight.

Meanwhile, the second and the third knight looked at Emilia with wicked smiles on their faces.

The first knight came with the fourth knight. They looked at each other and then nodded. “Time to taste the forbidden fruit.”

They all walked to Emilia’s cage and opened it. “Come out.”

Emilia didn’t move an inch and just glared at them.

The second knight grabbed Emilia’s hand and pulled her out of the cage, “Come out, bitch!”

They dragged Emilia outside the cage and took her to the side where no one could see them— but not far from the carriage.

“What are you doing? This is not capital!” Emilia had no idea what the knights were planning to do to her, but she was still resisting to walk.

The third knight slapped Emilia on the face and yelled, “Shut up!”

Emilia tried to use her powers to break free from the shackles, but she couldn’t use her powers.

“Give it up,” said the fourth knight. “These shackles are called ‘Letra’, and they are made from god’s blood, and an exquisite alloy— that seals all the powers— even high races like angels and elves can’t use their powers when they are chained with these shackles.”

Emilia then tried to break the shackles with her bare hands, but she couldn’t do anything.

The second knight kicked Emilia in the back, and she slammed into the tree. Emilia’s forehead started bleeding as her vision got blurry.

“How does it feel to become a normal human?”

Emilia gritted her teeth and bit her lips. “You will pay for this! Nero will—”

The second knight pushed Emilia to the ground and shouted, “Quickly! Hurry up and grab her legs.”

The first and the fourth knight grabbed Emilia’s legs, and the third knight grabbed her hands.

“Stop! What are you—” Emilia tried to scream, but the second knight sat on her stomach and punched her in the face.

Emilia tried to retaliate, but she couldn’t do anything. Her powers were sealed by the shackles, and her body was physically fragile—as it still hadn’t fully healed. And now that her powers were sealed, her old wounds were aggravating, and her body was internally bleeding.

The pain she felt from the punch was nothing compared to the pain she was feeling across her body.

Emilia started sniffing and sobbing. “Please let me go.”

She tried to move her hands and legs— she tried everything she could, but as the knights were pinning her legs and hands, she couldn’t do anything.

The second knight punched Emilia again, and she started bleeding from her nose and mouth.

“Heh! This is fun,” he said with a smirk on his face as he punched Emilia again, then again, and again— he just kept punching Emilia with a wide grin on his face.

Emilia’s face was swollen, and she was barely conscious, but the second knight kept punching.

“Hey! Stop it, dude!” the first knight stopped him.

The second knight turned his face to the first knight and yelled, “What?! Do you want to punch her too?”

“Look at her face. It’s swollen. If Darius gets to know it was us, he will kill us.”

“Tch!” The second knight clicked his tongue and moved his hands towards Emilia’s breasts.

Emilia barely had any energy left to say something, but she was trying her best to fight back and not to lose consciousness.”

The second knight squeezed Emilia’s breasts as he said, “They are not as I expected, but… not bad.”

Emilia tried to resist and move her body, but the powerless and injured girl was no match against the four knights.

The fourth knight tapped on the second knight’s shoulders. The second knight looked at the fourth knight with an annoyed expression on his face, “What? Don’t tell me you want to go first?!”

“No,” the fourth knight showed him a pouch and said, “This was in her pocket.”

The second knight snatched the pouch and opened it, then laughed. “Well, well. Who knew we would get some extra dough.”

“Let me… go. You can take the money, but… let me go,” Emilia begged. She knew it was useless to beg but did nonetheless.

The second knight looked at Emilia’s crying face and said, “Fine~ We will let you go for the money.”

He stood up and turned around as the other three knights watched him— then, he suddenly turned back and kicked Emilia in the stomach, and she coughed some blood.

“Do you think I would say that?!” he grabbed Emilia’s face and started ripping her clothes.

“Fear… him,” Emilia said in a weak voice. She was about to lose her consciousness.

“Fear what?! Gods?” the second knight mocked, and all the other knights laughed. “Gods stopped answering humans centuries ago— after the holy war between humans and angels. And you are not even a real angel, so there is no way heavens would help you.”

“Ne…ro…”

Suddenly, the clouds rumbled with thunder, and lightning flashed across the sky as the rain started pouring.

“Are you kidding me? Is this how your god would rescue you?” he joked.

“God won’t come for your rescue,” uttered the third knight.

BOOM~!

With a loud bang, crimson lightning fell on the carriage, and it was razed into pieces. The horses were freed, and they ran in the opposite direction.

The rain got more aggressive, and the clouds had completely covered the moon. It was too dark for human eyes to see anything, and then they heard a demonic voice that sent chills down their spines.

“But a demon will.”

When all this happened, Nero was still in the town. It started raining when Nero soared in the sky, and he landed here when the rain started pouring— meaning, Nero found Emilia in a matter of seconds as soon as he jumped, then landed here.

When Nero jumped, he could hear the screams and yells coming from the forest. Then he heard a faint voice calling his name.

He had no idea about the situation, but what he saw after landing was enough for him to understand everything.