Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 504

Charlotte, Harriet, Eleris, and even the Senate realized that Reinhart’s condition was abnormal.

As time passed, Reinhart’s condition gradually worsened. Vomiting, fever, chills. The physical symptoms were eating away at the Demon King’s body along with his mind.

But that wasn’t all.

Gasp!

The Demon King woke repeatedly during the night as if tormented by nightmares, unable to have a good night’s sleep. Olivia, who was in charge of Reinhart’s care, requested the Succubus Queen Airi to begin residing in the palace as well.

“Baalier...” Airi said.

“...”

Airi looked into the Demon King’s bloodshot eyes and couldn’t find the words to say.

A demon that manipulates dreams... Airi tried to soothe the Demon King’s dreams so he could at least sleep properly, but even Airi’s power was not enough to completely free the Demon King from the torment of the vengeful spirits gnawing at his mind and body at night.

Everyone knew. The Demon King was dying.

***

Was consciousness like a rubber band? I could feel my consciousness stretched taut like a string, and the moment it snapped, it would be my end.

What I had thought to be a reckless act turned out to be just that—recklessness. The fact that I hadn’t been consumed by such a magnitude of souls was already an impossible feat.

However, as long as I remained in this state, I was engaged in an eternal battle with the souls within me that sought to dominate or kill me.

Was such a battle even possible? I could already feel myself being gradually overtaken as the physical symptoms grew.

Clatter!

“Reinhart...”

“... It’s okay. My hand just trembled.”

I looked down quietly at the cup that had slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor when I tried to drink water on my own.

What fight? I couldn’t even manage my daily life.

In hindsight, it was easy enough to realize what was going on. Humanity’s collective hatred and resentment towards me was being converted into spiritual torment, which was affecting my body.

As soon as I gently loosened my grip on the string that was my consciousness, words of hatred pierced my mind.

I was afraid to sleep. Although Airi was shielding my dreams, how long could she continue to do so? What if, after falling asleep, I never regained consciousness? What would the vengeful spirits possessing my body do then? Would they make me destroy everything I loved with my own hands?

“...”

I couldn’t allow such a situation to unfold.

I did not want to fold like that, and I couldn’t. But how? No matter what resolutions I made, no solutions came to mind.

***

A royal meeting was convened without the Demon King present.

Riana de Granz, Airi, Olivia Lanche, Harriet de Saint-Ouen, and Regent Charlotte de Gradias were in attendance, as was the entire Senate, which comprised Sarkegar, Eleris, Lucinil, Lruien, Galarsh, and Antirianus. Everyone who held significant power in Edina except for the Demon King was gathered.

They all wore grim expressions. They knew how dire the situation was.

The Demon King was holding an unimaginably large number of vengeful spirits within his soul. For the moment, he was enduring it with superhuman mental strength, but if things continued, the Demon King would turn into something entirely different.

If the vengeful spirits that hated and resented the Demon King took over his body and merged with his mind, what would happen? No one knew exactly, but the outcome was sure to be horrific, and no one wanted that.

“We need a solution,” Charlotte said with a firm expression.

She had already experienced something similar, though not on the same scale as Reinhart. As a result of merging with part of the Demon King’s soul, Charlotte’s body had undergone permanent changes. Expecting Reinhart’s mind and body to remain intact after such a large-scale fusion was unrealistic.

“The priority is to separate the vengeful spirits clinging to His Majesty’s soul,” Sarkegar said.

Everyone valued Reinhart, but Sarkegar was the one most visibly anxious and uneasy about the possibility of Reinhart’s consciousness being extinguished.

“Even if we assume it’s possible to extract them, what should we do about what happens afterward?” Lruien asked.

“Yes, from what I’ve heard, when those vengeful spirits entered the bodies of the holy knights and priests, they either dominated the minds of their hosts or caused those whose minds were weaker to explode. Is that correct?” Galarsh said as he looked at Olivia, who had witnessed the scene firsthand.

“Yes, that’s what happened.”

Their minds had either been dominated, or if they couldn’t withstand it, their bodies broke.

Olivia had managed to resist to some extent, but even she had only been partially successful, and her mental defenses had been ultimately overcome when the essence of the vengeful spirits seeped into her soul.

“We’re not talking about ordinary people; even priests and holy knights skilled in Divine Power were dominated. If these spirits start rampaging across Edina, we can’t be sure if ordinary beings will be safe, or even us.”

Galarsh’s concern was reasonable. To save Reinhart’s soul, the spirits already embedded in his mind needed to be extracted. But the problem lay in what came after.

Sarkegar gritted his teeth and glared at Galarsh. “Are you suggesting we leave His Majesty in this state?”

“If you interpret my words in that way, then you might need to calm down. I’m pointing out that acting recklessly without proper preparation could lead to even bigger problems.”

“...”

Everyone shared Sarkegar’s anxiety in their own way, but Galarsh was correct. If they acted recklessly to save the Demon King, the very thing the Demon King feared most could happen. After all, the Demon King had allowed the vengeful spirits into his body, sacrificing himself in the process, to prevent them from causing further harm.

“Is it impossible to separate the spirits from His Majesty’s soul and either annihilate or purify them with Divine Power?” Harriet said, looking first at Lucinil and then at Olivia.

Harriet, like the other Vampire Lords, knew that Lucinil was skilled in magic that dealt with souls.

Lucinil couldn’t give a definite answer. “Since they haven’t fully merged yet... It's theoretically possible, but the scale is too large. We could try, but... the problem is what happens after they are separated.”

“I’d like to remain confident, but I can’t guarantee that I will be able to annihilate them. After all, I couldn’t handle it myself and was dominated..." said Olivia.

Like Lucinil, Olivia seemed to believe that annihilating the spirits after they were extracted was impossible.

“What on earth is His Majesty enduring...?” Eleris muttered in a daze, looking anguished.

Charlotte quietly observed the faces of those present at the meeting.

The Vampire Lords of the Council were among the most powerful mages in the world, and since they had existed for such a long time, their accumulated knowledge was way beyond that of ordinary beings.

At the moment, too, nobody came close to Olivia Lanche’s strength when it came to wielding Divine Power. If they couldn’t find an answer, then there was no answer.

The probability that the spirits could be extracted was slim, and there was no method to annihilate them, whether through magic or Divine Power.

Another possibility lingered in Charlotte’s mind: one of the ancient magics, sorcery. Perhaps Dettomorian might have a solution. However, sorcery was a power with unpredictable methods and outcomes. There was no guarantee that Dettomorian would be able to help the Demon King with his power, if he were even willing to help in the first place.

Almost everyone had lost their homelands, and Dettomorian was no exception. He might be more inclined to harm the Demon King than help him. Trying to save Reinhart in this manner might lead to another threat. Therefore, Charlotte couldn’t bring up sorcery.

“Does that mean that all we can do is hope Reinhart’s mind remains intact even if it merges with the vengeful spirits?” Charlotte asked.

Everyone around the table looked grim. Riana, who could be considered the root cause of this situation, looked the most devastated. She gritted her teeth and stared at the table, unable to cry.

Lucinil spoke up. “Reinhart is already doing the impossible. As we’ve heard, when souls of that magnitude enter the body, it’s natural for the body or mind to collapse.”

The priests and holy knights who had been dominated had all possessed immense mental strength. Olivia, with her special mental fortitude, had been able to resist somewhat. Reinhart, who had moved beyond mere resistance and was suppressing them within his own soul, was doing something even more impossible than Olivia.

Reinhart had already accomplished too many impossible feats.

“It will be too complacent of us to believe that Reinhart will be able to achieve yet another impossible feat,” Lucinil said.

Charlotte nodded quietly. Leaving Reinhart alone to achieve the next impossible feat just because he had already done so before was indeed complacent. Therefore, something had to be done.

“What about releasing the vengeful spirits in a distant part of the continent, far from Edina?” said Airi, who had been silent all along.

She was suggesting that they conduct the dangerous ritual in a remote part of the continent and then escape before the vengeful spirits could possess anyone else. In other words, leaving a dangerous bomb out in the world and quickly returning to Edina.

“Those vengeful spirits might wander the continent, absorbing other spirits into them, grow larger, and eventually attack Edina,” Eleris pointed out. Releasing the vengeful spirits on the continent was merely a temporary solution, one that would stave off the current threat, but create an unavoidable threat in the future.

Everyone agreed. It would only be a temporary solution, and in the long run, the collective of vengeful spirits would grow larger and engulf both Edina and the Demon King. If that happened, there would be no next time. Edina would be destroyed, and the Demon King would not survive.

Nobody seemed to have any solution.

Charlotte stared blankly at the table. She had always been on the receiving end of help. Reinhart had always saved her. Even when she had lost her trust in Reinhart, when she had basically betrayed him and even cursed him to suffer and die in the most painful way, Reinhart had saved her, again and again. Yet, now that Reinhart was in danger, she couldn’t be of any help.

In the end, she had only received help. When Reinhart needed help, she couldn’t seem to provide any. She felt miserable, and everyone else in the room felt the same, in their own ways.

Souls... A conglomeration of souls on such an immense scale. What magic, what Divine Power, could purify or remove them?

In that moment of collective despair...

“What about transference?” The old vampire, Antirianus, cautiously suggested.

***

“Transference...?” Regent Charlotte repeated, and the head of the family of Saturday, Antirianus, smiled faintly.

“If we release the vengeful spirits into the world, they will attack the Demon King and the rest of the world. If we leave things as they are, the vengeful spirits and the soul of the Archdemon will merge. Isn’t that the crux of the problem?” Antirianus said.

“... Yes.”

“Then it seems the problem can be solved if another entity takes those vengeful spirits into their soul.”

Antirianus’s rather simple yet reckless conclusion caused the atmosphere in the meeting room to freeze. To save Reinhart, someone else had to bear the immensely heavy burden.

“Isn’t it better to make someone else a sacrificial lamb than to lose our leader?”

The words made sense, but the way he expressed it was excessively chilling. It seemed terribly malicious. Finding a sacrificial lamb to bear Reinhart’s burden instead... freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

“I...” Riana raised her head. “I’ll do it.”

She was tormented by guilt and self-reproach, unable to offer any help in resolving this situation. It seemed only right for her to suffer the consequences of her actions.

Olivia shook her head. “No, not just anyone can handle it. You might die on the spot.”

While they might find a sacrificial lamb to carry these vengeful spirits, how many could actually handle it? They couldn’t appoint anyone recklessly. Many were willing to volunteer, but it was questionable whether anyone could actually do it.

“It has to be me. At least I didn’t die,” Olivia said.

Reinhart was enduring the torment, but Olivia had also survived, even though she had been dominated by them. The meeting room fell silent, and Riana lowered her head again.

Once again, Reinhart had saved her, and Olivia was ready to die for Reinhart. Seeing Olivia’s determination, Antirianus smiled.

“Even if that person could handle the transference, they cannot remain in Edina, Your Holiness.”

“... That’s true.”

Ultimately, once someone allowed the vengeful spirits to enter their body, their self would change as the souls merged. They would not remain the same being as before.

“Still,” Olivia continued, “if I’m the only one who can endure it without dying, I have to do it.”

The willingness to sacrifice oneself to save Reinhart, even if it meant never seeing Reinhart again, even if it meant wandering the world with that heavy burden... Olivia was ready to accept it.

Antirianus shook his head as if it were very troublesome. “Oh dear... But Your Holiness holds a very important position in Edina. The Great Being wouldn’t allow it, and even if he did, your absence would be significant.

“Furthermore, even if the Thunder Queen could handle this, who would lead our vanguard then?”

“The same goes for everyone else here. Everyone in this room is a crucial and irreplaceable part of Edina. There’s no need for us to lose such critical personnel.”

The regent, the Four Demon Lords, and the Senate—every one of them was essential to Edina. From Antirianus’s point of view, none of them could be considered for this, even if they could handle the transference.

Charlotte quietly looked at Antirianus. “Head of Saturday, what are you trying to say? To resolve this situation, someone has to take on the vengeful spirits Reinhart is carrying, but you’re saying that no one here should. If it’s impossible for anyone here, then it would be impossible for anyone else in Edina. Are you saying there’s someone else who can—”

Charlotte’s face turned pale. She realized why Antirianus had brought this up. Why he said a sacrificial lamb was needed, but that no one in this room should be sacrificed.

“No way... No way...”

Antirianus looked at Charlotte’s pale face and grinned. He laughed as if he couldn’t contain his joy.

“The Hero.”

At those words, everyone in the meeting room turned pale.

“Wouldn’t Ellen Artorius willingly bear this burden?”

Everyone was aghast at Antirianus’s malicious laughter.