"She plans to meet up with Merek? Eliminate the Elf King…? And slaughter the elves into a breeding stock?" Azel asked aloud in the Queen's voice, the words sounding strange and horrifying coming from his borrowed feminine form.

He was genuinely surprised about the series of revelations, each one worse than the last. The casual brutality of Sylvia's plans was shocking even by the standards of this violent world.

"How does she plan to accomplish all of that?" He pressed for more details.

"I don't know the specifics. I didn't get to stay long enough for that part of the conversation as Merek found me out lurking in the shadows." Gwendolyn said, then looked at his face with sudden surprise as she realized something had slipped out. "But he didn't seem to recognize me despite looking directly at my shadow form."

Azel gave her a knowing, measured look. "Is there anything you want to tell me…?"

His tone made it clear he'd caught the implication. Merek should have recognized her if they'd never met before, which meant there was history there she hadn't mentioned.

Gwendolyn paused for a long moment, her ghostly form flickering slightly with emotional turbulence. Before she finally sighed deeply, the sound carrying centuries of regret.

"Every time… you called me a whore, you were correct." She said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.

She lowered her head, unable to meet his eyes. "I really am a good-for-nothing whore…"

On one hand, Azel wanted to stop her from going down this path of self-flagellation.

They were still technically in a trial, and from the information that she had just revealed, the Elf King was in immediate danger from Sylvia's schemes… Time was valuable.

But on the other hand, there was no urgent need to interrupt her heartfelt confession. Sylvia was in her own trial just like him, separated by the tree.

There was no chance that she would finish it quickly enough to enact her plans immediately, which gave him a window of time.

And Gwendolyn clearly needed to say this.

"When I was really young… I got engaged to a guy named Merek." Gwendolyn began, her voice distant with memory. "At that point in time, we were just children, but we were meant to get to know each other over the years and eventually marry for political alliance. And we did get to know each other… and I genuinely liked Merek as a person."

She fidgeted with her ghostly hands, unable to meet Azel's eyes.

"However, it was not to the point that I wanted to spend my entire life with him or have his children. I wasn't in love, just... fond. But it was not my choice to make anyway." She continued bitterly. "And then… the World War started right before we were scheduled to get officially married, and we were both forced to participate in the fighting."

Her form flickered more intensely, the memories clearly painful.

"Merek with his destruction magic that could level towns, and me with my soul magic and dark magic which earned me the title of 'The Witch,' while he was called 'The Wizard.' We were a matched pair of weapons in the war." She said. "But then I met Yarog during a skirmish. I was close to dying, bleeding out on a battlefield, and he helped me despite the fact that humans and elves were actively at war and slaughtering each other daily."

A faint smile crossed her ghostly features at the memory.

"And I couldn't deny it... we began meeting up in secret, and we did it a lot. Yes, it's exactly what you think." She said, her voice taking on a defensive edge. "And I can't say Yarog was as... physically impressive as you are down there, but I genuinely loved him in a way I'd never felt before."

Azel remained silent, just listening without judgment.

"Merek eventually found out about the fact I was seeing another man while we were still engaged, and well…" She trailed off, then decided actions would speak louder than words.

She turned around and lifted the back of the ghostly gown she wore, exposing her pale ethereal back.

There was a brutal whip mark carved across her skin, raised and ugly even in her spectral form. The scar tissue was clearly visible, a testament to vicious repeated strikes.

As for how Azel knew it was specifically from a whip rather than a blade or spell, he just knew instinctively from the pattern.

"He whipped me... so hard and with such fury that the damage reflected permanently onto my very soul itself." Her voice was hollow now, drained. "How was it my fault that I didn't love you as much as you were obsessed with me? How was it fair?"

She let the gown fall back down, covering the evidence of abuse.

"So from there, I met up with Yarog and we decided together that we would run away from everything. We'd find somewhere far from the war, maybe across the ocean where neither humans nor elves could find us." She said. "However, the elves somehow learned of our plan and gave chase. I was killed during the pursuit and my body was shoved into a mountain cave formation to rot and be forgotten."

Her ghostly tears began dripping out of her eyes, sparkling briefly before vanishing into nothing mid-air.

"But I didn't die, not really… not completely. I reflected my soul outward using the last of my power, and using the concentrated dark mana that had accumulated in the sealed cave over centuries, I created a new physical body for myself which became Wendy." She explained the mechanics of her survival. "It took a week for me to stabilize the form, but eventually I succeeded."

She paused, and even though she deliberately didn't look at him, Azel could see more ghostly tears streaming down her face continuously.

"I searched for Yarog with every ounce of power I could muster… I snuck into the Elf Kingdom despite the danger, searching for any sign of him. I checked the Human Kingdom's territories. I visited our regular secret meeting point a hundred times." She said, her voice breaking. "And I finally found him... on a boat heading south two weeks later."

The way she said it made clear what was coming next.

"He was fucking another girl right there on the boat deck… a human girl with brown hair, laughing at something he'd said. And they were sailing away together like how we had planned to do." Her voice turned bitter and hollow. "So I decided to let my shadow form roam the world while putting my actual soul to sleep in a semi-dormant state. I didn't want to feel anything anymore."

She didn't dare look at his face during this confession. She couldn't bear to see his expression, so she couldn't see what Azel's face actually showed.

She expected disgust radiating from him, maybe contempt. Cheating on a fiancé was considered a serious crime in most societies, and she was sure he would despise her for it.

However, Azel placed a gentle hand on her head instead of pulling away.

"I'm not disgusted or whatever horrible thing you think I am right now." He said calmly as he patted her head with surprising tenderness. "I just think your situation was deeply unfortunate and unfair. You were trapped between impossible choices."

Nothing would fundamentally change either way at this point. What was in the past was permanently in the past, carved in stone by centuries of time.

"Well, in the end… We'll most likely have to kill Merek if he's allied with Sylvia and planning genocide." Azel said practically. "Do you feel any moral obligations against it? Any lingering feelings?"

"Absolutely not…" She looked up at him with fierce, confident eyes that burned with old hatred. "You guys can hang that bastard from the highest tree for all I care. I'll help tie the noose."

"Good." He let go of her head, and Gwendolyn immediately felt strangely empty without the physical contact.

Azel looked around the trial space, assessing their situation. "How can I finish this trial quickly right now? We need to warn the real Elf King."

Just then, reality itself rippled like disturbed water, and Yggdrasil's avatar floated down gracefully from nowhere, settling comfortably on his shoulder in miniature form.

"Papa… you look… fat, especially in the chest area." The tiny spirit said with brutal childish honesty.

Azel looked down at the Queen's extremely curvy body he was inhabiting.

She was calling these voluptuous curves fat? That was definitely a first, and a concerning commentary on beauty standards.

"Hey… what should I call you?" He asked, realizing he didn't have a proper name for the World Tree's avatar.

"Call me Sil." She said with her high girlish voice, which was incredibly hard to reconcile with the same owner of that divine booming voice that had first greeted him. "It's short and easy."

"Alright Sil, do you know how I can finish this trial instantly…?" He asked hopefully, looking for any shortcut.

The tiny spirit placed a thoughtful hand on her cheek, appearing to be deep in contemplation with exaggerated seriousness.

"I doubt that she would tell u—" Gwendolyn started skeptically.

"Alright Papa, I remember the answer…" Sil interrupted while shaking her head, her tiny form bobbing. "The one organizing all these assassination attempts was the Elf Queen's cousin… he eventually succeeded in killing the actual Elf Queen in the original timeline, but I'm sure you can fight against him and change that outcome."

"Oh… I see, that bastard." Azel said with dawning recognition.

The cousin had been in the council meeting room with them earlier, sitting quietly in the back.

Azel had to admit the guy had looked like a harmless, kind man with gentle eyes, but if Sil said he was the traitor then Azel would deal with it decisively.

"Then I have another question. Did you happen to see what Sylvia's trial involves?" He asked, trying to gather more intelligence.

"Sylvia? I haven't checked on their trials at all… It's none of my business and I actively choose to ignore everything that's happening with the other participants." Sil said with a definitive bob of her head. "The only thing I'm concerned about is helping my papa succeed."

'Papa?' Gwendolyn thought with genuine surprise and confusion. When had Azel become the father of the literal World Tree? What had she missed?

"Okay, I want you to go tell this crucial information to the real Elf King outside the trial…" Azel said, then carefully narrated everything that Gwendolyn had told him about Sylvia's plans with Merek, the assassination plots, and the genocide scheme.

Sil sighed like this was a huge inconvenience, then waved goodbye at him as she floated upward. She broke through reality itself like shattering glass and vanished completely.

Just then, a maid came outside into the corridor and saw all the dead assassin bodies scattered across the floor with their blood pooling.

"You there!" Azel commanded in the Queen's authoritative voice before the maid could scream. "I want you to spread the word to the other staff immediately! Gather everyone… every single elf currently in the Castle right now, no exceptions!"

He walked purposefully toward the throne room's front door.

"They should all be assembled in the throne room within the next hour or it's off with your head!" He added the threat for emphasis.

The maid ran off immediately, terrified into compliance.

…

Exactly one hour later, right on the dot with impressive punctuality, all the elves who lived and worked in the castle at Elun'varis were gathered in the massive throne room.

This included the council members, guards, servants, scholars, everyone.

There was the ornate throne at the elevated platform, and Azel sat down on it with deliberate slowness, placing one leg above the other in a pose of absolute authority.

He honestly expected the castle's elf population to be significantly larger, but there seemed to be only about 150 individuals total. Still, that was enough for his purposes.

"I'll have you know… I gathered all of you here to make an example of a certain treacherous person." Azel announced, his voice carrying through the hall with magical amplification.

With that declaration, he stood up from the throne dramatically, slowly advancing forward down the steps and toward where the Council members were gathered in their designated area.

He turned to face the Elf King's cousin directly, making intense eye contact. "Lord Lunescar."

"I have been wondering why assassination attempt after assassination attempt has been happening within my walls… why I can't even fall asleep at night without fear… why I can't drink water without suspecting it may be poisoned." He said, his voice building in intensity. "But I have finally identified the main orchestrator of these treasonous plans, and I will use him as an example of what happens to traitors."

Lord Lunescar's face went pale as he realized he'd been exposed. He had a sinking feeling in his gut as he backed up immediately, trying to create distance.

However, the Elf Queen's body that Azel inhabited turned to him with a predatory grin.

"Where do you think you're going?" Azel asked as the Queen's tri-tone eyes began glowing with building power, all three colors swirling together ominously.

Lunescar panicked and pushed his way through the crowd, running behind civilians and using them as shields, hoping the Queen wouldn't risk killing innocents.

However, Azel's tri-tone eyes discharged a concentrated beam of pure energy that began spiraling through the air with impossible precision.

The beam dodged around the heads of the civilians like a guided missile, weaving through the crowd, and impacted directly with Lunescar's back.

He screamed in absolute agony as he was burned alive from the inside out, his body igniting with magical fire that consumed him completely within seconds.

"I dare you… I dare any of you to try and kill me again!" Azel declared, folding his hands as an overwhelming pressure radiated from him.

All the elves in the throne room were forcibly brought to their knees by the sheer weight of power, their bodies unable to resist the command.

And then the world shattered completely around him like breaking glass.

He was suddenly back in his regular male body, no longer inhabiting the Queen… He stood in a completely black void, a space between spaces.

[You have discovered an Unorthodox method to clear the Trial!]

[Rating: SSS]

[Your Bloodline Awakening is commencing…]

The system notifications appeared in glowing text before his eyes.

Gwendolyn materialized beside him in the void, looking relieved. "Now we can get back to the real world and warn… Azel?"

He suddenly fell to his knees without warning, his body was no longer responding to his commands. Then he collapsed completely flat on the ground, and his body began twitching violently and uncontrollably.

Before Gwendolyn's horrified eyes, Azel's body exploded outward into blood and gore, completely staining the black ground of the void with crimson.

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