Chapter 504
Even Charlotte, Harriet, and the Senate, including Elerith, recognized that Reinhardt’s condition was not serious.
And, as time went on, Reinhardt’s condition was gradually getting worse.
Vomiting, fever, chills.
The physical symptoms were eating into the body along with the demon king’s mind.
And that wasn’t all.
“Huh!”
Suffering from nightmares, the demon king repeatedly wakes up as soon as he falls asleep.
In a state where she couldn’t even sleep properly, at the request of Olivia, who was in charge of Reinhardt’s management, the succubus queen Airi also began to reside in the royal castle.
“In Bali… … .”
“… … .”
Airi couldn’t find words to say when she saw the demon king’s bloodshot eyes.
A demon who manipulates dreams.
Airi touched the demon king’s dream so that she could sleep properly.
However, in the end, even with Airi’s power, it was not possible to completely restore the demon king’s sleep from the harassment of the ghosts who were eating away at the demon king’s mind and body.
Everyone knew.
The demon king is dying.
* * *
Is consciousness like a rubber band?
I thought that the moment when the string of tense consciousness was severed would be my last.
What I thought was reckless was really reckless.
It is true that it has already achieved the impossible just by not being encroached on.
However, as long as it exists like this, it does not change that we have to fight eternally with the souls.
Is that even possible?
I already felt myself being dominated by physical symptoms.
– Clink!
“Reinhardt… … .”
“… … are you okay. It’s just that my hands are shaking.”
I was trying to drink water by myself, but I lost my strength and looked down at the cup that fell to the floor and broke.
what is the fight
Even everyday life is impossible.
Humanity’s hatred and resentment against me are replaced by my spiritual pain, which is affecting my body.
As soon as you loosen the strings of your consciousness a little, hateful words run through your head.
afraid to fall asleep Airi is protecting my dreams, but how long will that last?
After a certain moment of falling asleep, I wonder if I can’t regain consciousness again.
Then, what will the grudges that occupy my body do with it?
Will I destroy the things I love with my own hands?
“… … .”
We cannot tolerate such a situation.
In this way, at a moment like this, I don’t want to and can’t.
But how.
I could promise, but I couldn’t think of a way.
* * *
A royal meeting was convened. Except for the Demon King.
It featured Liana de Granz, Airi, Olivia Ranze, Heriot de Saintoine, and Regent Charlotte de Gradias.
and the entire Senate.
Sarkegar, Elerys, Lucinil, Lruen, Galarsch and even Antirianus.
All the people with the most important power in Edina were gathered except for the demon king.
Knowing that the current situation is not usually serious, everyone’s expression had to be hardened.
The demon king is holding an immeasurably gigantic ghost in his soul.
Right now, he is enduring with superhuman mental strength, but at this rate, the Demon King will become a completely different being.
What would happen if the ghosts of those who hated the demon king took over the demon king’s body and fused with the demon king’s mind?
Nobody knows. However, it is clear that it will have very dire consequences and it is important that not everyone wants such a situation.
“We need a countermeasure.”
Charlotte said that with a firm expression.
Charlotte has had similar experiences, though not on the scale of Reinhardt’s.
As a result of merging with a part of the demon king’s soul, permanent changes occurred to Charlotte’s body. This happens even with one-on-one fusion, but it is difficult to expect Reinhardt’s mind and body to be unharmed in a fusion of that scale.
“The top priority is to separate the ghosts that cling to your soul.”
Everyone valued Reinhardt, but Sarkegar was the one who couldn’t hide his nervousness and anxiety the most when he heard that Reinhardt’s mind might die.
“If that is possible, what should we do about what happens after that?”
That was Lluen’s question.
“As I heard, those ghosts were separated arbitrarily and controlled the minds of paladins and priests, or those with mental strength that could not stand the domination exploded. Am I right?”
After hearing Lluen’s words, Galarche looked at Olivia, who saw the scene just before.
“Yes, I did.”
Being dominated, or being unable to bear it and disintegrating the body.
Olivia was able to resist to some extent, but even that was only part of it. As the main body of her ghosts permeated her mind, she couldn’t stand it and was captured.
“Not ordinary people, but priests and paladins who have mastered the divine power are dominated. If something like that starts rampaging in Edina, I don’t know if we, let alone ordinary beings, will be safe.”
Galarsch’s doubts were reasonable.
To save Reinhardt’s soul, you must extract the soul that has already entered the mind.
But then comes the problem.
“Then, let’s leave Her Highness as she is now, shall we?”
Sarkegar gritted his teeth and glared at Galarsh.
“I think you need to calm down a bit. I just wanted to point out that if you act recklessly without properly preparing for it, bigger problems may arise.”
“… … .”
Sarkegar’s anxiety was felt by each and every one of them.
But Galarsch is right.
If you act recklessly to save the demon king, something the demon king least desires will happen. In fact, the fact that the demon king accepted the ghosts into his body was no different from sacrificing himself so that the ghosts would no longer cause additional damage.
“Separating the soul from Reinhardt’s mind, annihilating it with divine power, or ascending to heaven… … . Would it be impossible?”
Harriet looks at Lucinil and Olivia alternately.
Harriet knew that Lucinil had mastered the magic of manipulating souls, and all the Lord Vampires in the Council knew.
“Because it’s still in a state before we become one… … . It’s not impossible in theory, but it’s too big. I could try, but… … . It’s a problem after splitting it up.”
Lucinil was in a difficult situation to give a definite answer.
“I want to say it confidently, but I don’t have the confidence to destroy it. In the yard where I was dominated because I couldn’t cope with it… … .”
Olivia’s judgment was that it seemed impossible, just like Lucinil.
“how… … . What is Your Highness enduring… … .”
Ellerith muttered blankly with a hopeless expression on her face.
Charlotte silently looks at the faces of the people sitting in the senate meeting.
The Lord Vampires of the Council are powerful wizards that can only be counted in the world, and since they have existed for a very long time, the total amount of knowledge was inevitably different from that of ordinary people.
Olivia Ranze can handle a level of divine power that is impossible to compare the divine power she possesses with anyone else at this point.
If you don’t get an answer here, there will be no answer.
The possibility of soul extraction is also slim.
It is so huge that there is no way to destroy it.
There is no solution, even with magic or divine power.
Then Charlotte thought of another method.
One of the ancient magic, witchcraft.
If it was Dettomorian, wouldn’t there be a way?
However, witchcraft is a force whose intentions and conclusions are difficult to predict.
Not only is it unknown whether Dettomorian’s power can help the demon king, but there is no guarantee that he will help the demon king anywhere.
Almost everyone has lost their homeland, and the Dettomorians are no exception.
The desire to harm the demon king may be greater than the desire to help.
It is more likely that the conclusion that puts him in another danger to save Reinhardt will come out.
So, Charlotte couldn’t discuss witchcraft.
“Are you saying that we can only hope that Reinhardt’s mind will be fine?”
Charlotte’s words made everyone look miserable.
In particular, Riana’s expression, which could be seen as the cause of this situation, was the most disastrous.
I couldn’t even shed tears, so I just stared at the table with my teeth clenched.
Lucille opens her mouth.
“Reinhardt is already doing the impossible. Originally… … . As I heard last time, it is natural for the body to disintegrate when a soul of that size is mixed.”
Priests and paladins who ended up being dominated already had tremendous mental power.
Olivia, who was able to resist it, had a stronger mental power than that, and Reinhardt, who went beyond resisting it and suppressed it in his soul, was doing an even more impossible task than Olivia.
Reinhardt has already accomplished too many impossible things.
“It’s too complacent to believe that Reinhardt can do even more impossible things here.”
At Lucinil’s words, Charlotte nodded quietly.
It would be too complacent to leave Reinhardt unattended, believing that once an impossible task has been accomplished, the next impossible task will also be accomplished.
So, something must be done.
“Not Edina… … . Why don’t we release the ghosts dwelling in Reinhardt’s soul somewhere far away on the continent?”
Those were the words of Airi, who had been silent all along.
After conducting a ritual too dangerous for Edina in a remote part of the continent, they run away before the ghosts try to infiltrate someone else.
In other words, returning to Edina leaving a dangerous bomb in the world.
“Those ghosts roam the continent, absorbing other ghosts and becoming bigger and bigger, and eventually they might attack Edina.”
Everyone agreed with Elleris that releasing the ghosts on the continent was just a stopgap measure to postpone the current threat to an absolute threat later.
It could be an immediate countermeasure, but in the long run, the ghosts’ colonies that would have grown larger would attack Edina and the demon king.
If so, there is no next
Edina will be destroyed, and the Demon King will not survive.
Everyone has no solution. Charlotte was staring blankly down at the table.
always got help
Reinhardt always saved himself.
He even didn’t trust Reinhardt, did something tantamount to betrayal, and even cursed him to die while suffering the most in the world.
Nevertheless, Reinhardt saved himself again.
However, now that Reinhardt is in danger, there is no help.
He only gets help until the end, but when Reinhardt needs help, he is of no help.
All of them felt similarly, albeit in different ways, about the misery that Charlotte was feeling right now.
soul.
A soul on such a grand scale.
With what kind of magic, with what kind of divine power can it be purified or removed?
A moment when everyone is in despair.
“How about transition?”
The old vampire, Antirianus, cautiously expressed his opinion.
* * *
“Transition… … What?”
Toyo’s head, Antirianus, smiles at the regent Charlotte’s question.
“Isn’t the point of this problem that if you release the ghosts into the world, they will attack the devil and the world, and if you leave it as it is, the souls of the ghosts and Archdemon will become assimilated?”
“… … that’s right.”
“If that’s the case, it seems like a problem for the being who will handle the ghosts instead to accept them into their own souls.”
The atmosphere in the meeting room froze at Antirianus’ fairly simple, violent conclusion.
If you want to save Reinhardt, you just have to have someone else shoulder that heavy, gigantic burden.
“Rather than losing our leader here, wouldn’t it be better for someone to become the scapegoat?”
That’s right.
However, the expression was overly malicious and eerie.
Find a scapegoat and have him shoulder Reinhardt’s burden instead.
“I am… … .”
Liana raised her head.
“I will do it.”
It’s a problem that comes from yourself, so it’s right to shoulder it yourself.
A sense of shame and guilt for not being of any help in resolving the situation was tormenting Riana.
“Not everyone can afford it. You might die on the spot.”
But Olivia shook her head at Liana’s words.
You can find a scapegoat and have him bear it instead, but how many people can afford it? The reality was that no one could be made a scapegoat.
There are many who want to volunteer.
However, it is doubtful even if there are people who can actually pull it off.
“I have to do it. Because I am not dead.”
Reinhardt endured, but Olivia, though dominated, did not die. So at Olivia’s words that she would take on the ghosts herself, there was silence in her conference room, and Liana shook her head again.
This time, Olivia was saved by Reinhardt and is ready to die for Reinhardt.
So, looking at Olivia who said she would take it back, Antirianus smiled.
“Regardless of whether or not you can handle the transfer, once that is possible, the being that became the scapegoat cannot be in Edina.”
“… … I guess so.”
As long as the ghosts are accepted into the body, the ego is altered and the soul is fused. If so, it cannot be the same existence as before.
“Still, if I’m the only one who can endure it without dying, then I have to do it.”
A desire to save Reinhardt even at the expense of oneself.
Even if I could never see Reinhardt again, even if only the future of wandering the world carrying that heavy burden would remain.
Olivia was ready to accept it.
“this… … . However, the headmaster holds a very important position in Edina. A great being wouldn’t allow such a thing, and even if he did, the vacancy of the headmaster would be very great.”
Antirianus shook his head as if that was very difficult.
“Also, even if the Thunder King can handle this task, then who will be in charge of our vanguard from now on?”
Antirianus says so calmly.
“So is everyone else in this seat. They are very important beings in Edina that no one in this position can replace. There is absolutely no need to suffer such catastrophic loss of personnel.”
Four Heavenly Kings, including the Regent.
and the senate.
Each and every one of them is necessary for Edina.
So regardless of whether they can afford it or not, it was Antirianus’ opinion that even if they could afford it, they shouldn’t do it.
Charlotte stares at Antirianus.
“Patriarch of Toyo, so what do you want to say? To solve this situation, someone has to carry the ghosts that Reinhardt is carrying, but no one in this room should do that. If it’s impossible for those in this room, it’s probably impossible for anyone else in Edina. You mean there’s someone else who can carry it… … .”
As she said that, Charlotte’s complexion turned white.
It’s because I realized it while I was talking.
Why did Antirianus say such a thing?
He said he needed a scapegoat, why did he say there was no reason for anyone in this room to sacrifice himself?
“no way… … . no way… … .”
Antirianus grins as he sees Charlotte’s pale complexion.
I giggle and laugh as if I can’t stand it because I’m happy.
“Warrior.”
At those words, the complexion of everyone in the conference room turned blue.
“Wouldn’t Ellen Artorius be willing to shoulder this burden?”
Everyone was startled by Antirianus’s evil laugh.
