Episode 8: Offering
This is Eurushia, and I’m currently facing a bit of a dilemma.
” What should I do… “
Sipping on something that looks like cold, bitter tea within the narrowing confines of the [Black Radiance],
I find myself reflecting. Somehow, I haven’t moved an inch from that spot.
Well, maybe I did move a bit? Just a little to shuffle those four around, but when I finished my task and returned, there was no one there anymore.
Sure, I threw in a “catch me if you can” move like a grassland princess, but there were probably half-beast people around, right? Couldn’t you guys smell and track scents? I mean, even those vampire girls, did they all foolishly go searching together?
Seriously?
But hey, I got to verify divine magic and have no regrets about what I did.
All light magic produces white light, but light isn’t only white, right? In the knowledge from the world of dreams, it’s visible light, right? But wasn’t there black in that? Well, let’s just assume magic reflects the imagination directly.
If black light is the attribute of darkness, then maybe the spirits of light and darkness are the same.
If that’s the case, holy magic might be able to use dark magic.
End of speculation.
But, it’s boring. I wonder if those four managed to escape? It’s hard to gauge the situation from within this black light.
“Well, there’s no helping it. I’ll go out there.”
If they’ve escaped, so be it.
But, I don’t want them dead; they might be useful.
“Tei.”
“Gyaa!”
Stepping out of the black light and into the mansion, I accidentally collide with a maid vampire. Smack. Crush.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Can’t hear me, huh? Well, you’re just a stain on the wall now. I mean, wouldn’t anyone be surprised if a bug suddenly appeared?
Ah, turned to ashes. Cleaning is easy, but still…
“It’s oddly spacious here.”
Elea-sama told me that the Auber Count’s family is an ancient lineage in the Holy Kingdom, and the mansion has undergone many expansions and renovations, making it incredibly vast and complex.
How much did they indulge themselves? Oh, right, it was the original count who got fat off of it.
“Hmmm… …… “
I’m not particularly good at detection magic. I have a feline intuition for some aspects, and this time, I’m searching by scent. But… it seems there are a lot of them below?
But how big is this place? It feels like you could play baseball underground. There seem to be minions in the chapel and outside the mansion too. How many are there?
I can vaguely sense the three major ones, but I don’t know which one is Mylene.
Summoning a low-level demon would be convenient, but I’m not good at controlling magic, so if I casually open a summoning gate, “he” might find out…
Probably just once in a fit of rage, I managed to deceive his nose and open a big summoning gate. Opening it more than once would attract his attention. Still, I only need to summon the target once. The protective “self-proclaimed big brother” taught me the magic circle for that.
“…Is he a siscon?”
For now, I wonder if I can meet someone if I just walk around aimlessly.
I wonder if any of those four are around? Or maybe one of the three from the Earl’s family? I don’t want to meet the small fry because they’ll just dirty me… As I thought about that, I found myself in a strange stone room.
Is this kind of room typical in a noble’s mansion?
Chains with restraints were hanging from the walls, there were saws and axes lying around, and a red-black substance was smeared on a wooden bed. The smell of corroded iron filled the air.
…Maybe if it’s a noble family, they might have it.
As I was thinking about that…
Katun!
“Oh my, if it isn’t the saintly lady.”
The sound of high heels echoed in the torture room, and a black-haired beauty with several gorgeous maids appeared. She smiled at me.
“Good day, Countess. What was your name again?”
“It’s Camilla, and that’s just fine.”
“Thank you, Camilla.”
Camilla, holding the tattered child like a doll, and I, standing in the torture room, exchanged smiles.
“So… where did you pick that up?”
“It was a good find. This girl was just perfect as an appetizer.”
Camilla raised the chin of the bloodless and lifeless Christina, and licked the blood dribbling from her fangs.
“Could this be a dropped item from Lady Eurushia?”
Camilla looked at me provocatively while slurping the blood.
Maybe… If I were just a Eurushia, I would have been outraged by the mistreatment of my servant and lost my composure. That’s why…
“Yes, thank you for picking her up, Camilla.”
I replied with a calm smile, and Camilla frowned slightly. But that lasted only for a moment; she quickly put on her mask of a smile again.
“Hehe… The saintly lady seems to have quite the composure…”
Unlike Mylene, Camilla was looking down on me. Despite her strength, she was still just a “person,” and her arrogance as a powerful person made her needlessly verbose, aiming not to kill me but to break me and make me submit.
“Hey, Eurushia? Isn’t it strange how humans are? The blood of humans with strong emotions tastes so sweet… I wonder how sweet Lady Saint’s blood is…”
I see…
She… the vampires don’t know?
That sweet taste, is it the “karma” that humans possess?
“Christina… I’m glad. Did you have such strong feelings for her?”
Calling her gently, Christina’s shoulders trembled slightly, and Camila, who had composure, glanced irritably as she moved.
“…Yes. It’s about time the taste starts to get dull, so I’ll give her to you.”
Camila, speaking a bit faster, threw Christina, who didn’t move, towards me. The maids behind her also threw the three humans at me one by one.
Fontaine, Ninette, Noir… You couldn’t escape either.
“Do you understand, Eurushia? Those kids are still barely alive. What will you do? Lady Saint. Will you use your favorite sacred magic to heal them?”
Looking at my battered servants, Camila provocatively instigated, proudly showing that she had control.
Yeah, I can see it. As Camilla said, these four are barely hanging on. However, healing them with divine magic is not an option.
It’s not an issue with divine magic. The problem lies in the fact that there’s almost no “soul” left within them.
From what I’ve observed, vampires consume the “soul” contained in human blood, exchanging it for their own power.
Why did it come to this? Well, looking at these four who have been sucked dry, I can roughly understand.
Humans whose blood and soul have been drained, unable even to die, transform due to the dilution of their soul, seeking another soul and altering their physical and mental state.
The transformation of a vampire’s victim into a vampire is not due to a curse or an infectious disease, as commonly believed. It’s because the soul undergoes a transformation… So, vampires seek the blood of humans with strong souls in search of the lost soul.
When a living being dies, the soul rapidly disperses into the world.
Only a tiny portion of souls, those with significant experiences, can consume their “experience points” and be reborn while retaining their soul’s characteristics.
Where the dissolved souls go after that, even as a demon, I don’t know. But repairing a dead body won’t bring back a soul that has already dissolved into the world.
That’s why the magic of [Resurrection] doesn’t exist in divine magic.
If these four are left as they are, they will either die or turn into vampires.
Truly pitiable children…
That’s why I ask this final question.
Not as humans but as evil demons—
“Do you still… want to live?”
It’s the simplest question, asking the essence of living beings, the whisper of a demon.
In response to my “question,” the shoulders of Ninette, Noir, and Fantine tremble slightly. And…
“…………”
Christina alone opens her eyes slightly and glares at me with eyes full of hatred.
“I’ll take that as an affirmative.”
The contract is made.
Smoothly, the black, thin chains extending from my hand entwine their souls.
“─ [Let there be light] ─”
As they witness me casting divine magic, Camilla smirks with a mixture of delight and mockery.
“Hahaha, you foolish girl! You really did it! Healing their bodies in that state will definitely turn them into vampires! Hahaha!”
Amidst the laughter, I move on to the final touch.
I’m not saving their bodies. It’s their souls hidden within, their feelings—
“─Bound by the contract, devour the pitiful souls, reveal thy form─”
The incantation I utter transforms into a complex three-dimensional magic circle with intricate layers.
“─!?”
Feeling something from the transformation, one of the maids jumps out and is scattered by the light of the magic circle.
That’s the purpose of divine magic. It won’t allow interference with this [Sacred Ritual of Evil].
Carefully, delicately, I stack hundreds of layers of magic circles, weaving in both the spells and emotions.
I can only use a magic circle of this scale once.
Yet, for what I want to call with this one chance, my feelings are necessary.
This summoning magic circle doesn’t have any compelling power.
However, there’s something that can only be summoned by “me.”
Now then… come.
“─The demoness commands yo—come. My lovely demons─”
Before they realize it, the four attendants find themselves in a place engulfed in “black.”
There is no sky, no ground, no horizon in this world of black. In this world of black where even up and down are indistinguishable, the attendants could only see their own and their comrades’ figures.
No one raised their voice, but it didn’t make any sound. Desperately trying to scream, but no sound came out.
They both started running towards each other. However, the distance between them didn’t close, and even if they tried to escape on their own, the distance widened. In this black world where even the sense of distance was uncertain, only Ninette… continued desperately running as if screaming for something.
Ninette, in the coldness and pain of losing blood, heard the question from the young lady, “Do you want to live?” and emphatically affirmed. She held resentment against the young lady who brought her to such a place, but more than that, she didn’t want to die. So, without hesitation, she sought life more than anyone else.
Then… why was she now being attacked?
Chased, driven, and hurt by something invisible.
She just wanted to live comfortably. She wanted to live without doing anything. For that, what’s wrong with parasitizing, using her twin brother, comrades, and the young lady?
In this black world, while shouting such things, she continued running in fear, and in the end, her lazy soul was devoured by a giant black sheep.
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At that moment, the other three also started running as if chased by something.
Fantine also started running, but her steps stumbled in the empty space, rolled by something invisible, played tricks on, and each time, mocking laughter echoed in her ears.
If she asked whether she wanted to live, wouldn’t someone save her? Liar, liar, Fantine shouted while continuing to run away.
She was being toyed with. She was being treated as a toy. The world belonged to Fantine, and everything was her toy, but why was her life being played with?
The most precious thing in the world should be Fantine, yet, why was her life being toyed with?
The “arrogant” soul of Fantine, who cried out for help, was crushed by a giant white monkey, slowly chewed, and disappeared into the white monkey.
Noir stopped trying to escape halfway through and began desperately begging for mercy, with a faint smile on his face.
In a soundless world, he praised and flattered someone unseen, using sweet words, offering to sacrifice his twin sister and companions if he could just be saved.
Shame and reputation meant nothing to him, but if he could be saved for this small price, it was a bargain, he chuckled to himself.
He would do anything to live comfortably, gathering money to live easily, stealing things, using others’ belongings without permission to live comfortably.
Living comfortably meant taking others’ rights as one’s own.
That’s why he felt no guilt in selling off the rights of his sister and companions. However, the moment it concerned the young lady, the one who had been looking down at him in silence suddenly showed anger, crushing Noir under the hooves of a giant black goat and crushing his “greedy” soul.
Christina continued desperately to flee. She couldn’t die here.
The response to the call of whether she wanted to live was to seek revenge on the one who had taken everything from her and her beloved Lady Ataline.
She was willing to give up everything to seek revenge on the woman who had taken everything from her and her beloved Lady Ataline.
In despair, waving her arms and screaming, Christina threatened the invisible assailant.
She hated that woman who took all the glory from Lady Ataline and Lady Aureline.
She hated that woman who took away happiness from herself.
loathed the woman who stole her happiness.
She hated the wealthy woman.
The happy woman was detested.
The woman loved by everyone was scorned.
The woman with status and power was despised.
The woman with glory and a future was loathed.
Eurushia-von Versenia. and everything in it were hated.
Unfair. I wanted to be like that too.
As Christina shouted, a massive golden snake appeared, smirking as it seemed to see through the human-like emotions at the “bottom” of Christina’s overwhelming hatred.
Hatred is the reverse side of love. Because that existence was too dazzling, Christina could only face it by hating. The snake swallowed her soul, filled with envy, without leaving a single fragment.
Pakiiin…
A clear sound echoed as the light magic circle shattered. As the remnants faded away like snowfall in spring, only the increased darkness remained.
The darkness turned into a muddy, thick substance, tinting the room’s light with a murky color as it flowed like sludge across the floor.
Vampires jumped back, frightened by this dense darkness, and the profound darkness swallowed the four servants like a bottomless swamp…
“What the hell is happening!?”
Camilla’s scream-like cry resounded.
It made no sense. It was incomprehensible, couldn’t understand what was going on.
This was probably a shared understanding among the creatures in this world, the common consensus of living beings in this place.
The darkness filled the room, like a moonless night. Even vampires who thrived in the night seemed scared by this darkness…
From the lake of darkness covering the entire floor, the figures of the four servants gradually rose, silently, eerily.
While identical to their previous selves, they were clearly “otherworldly.”
The expensive clothes provided by the Grand Duke’s family had weathered as if exposed to the elements for centuries…
The four emitted a sinister aura, absorbing the darkness that filled the sea, and turned their dark gaze towards the vulnerable ones.
“Kiiiyaaaah!”
Prompted by Camilla’s sudden beast-like scream, the maids in the room attacked the four in a bestial manner.
In that moment, a shadow swayed…
Slash!
Ninette unsheathed her sword at her waist, and with just one swing, the sinuous blade cut through the maids, piercing them like tree roots.
“──∮∝§￠‡†∴†∝▲§￠￠‡∴∮‡□‡￠†□￠§￠∝†▼†††──”
[Laughter echoes with words unspeakable, shaking even this vast mansion. The vampire maids pierced by swords turned into dust, withering away like ashes, having consumed tainted souls, these humanoid “devils” manifested in the world, embodying the vessel of humans.]
” ………… “
Oh my!
What do I do now? Camila is nowhere to be found! She ran away, leaving me! (In confusion)
[…Mistress… It’s been a while.]
“Uh-huh. Have you been well?” (Recovered)
The four entities that were once my servants kneel before me, bowing their heads. The representative among them, Noir, who served as their coordinator, speaks in a distorted voice.
Oh, right, those kids…
The demons that were picked up by “him” in the demon realm and underwent magical modifications under the guise of my upbringing.
I couldn’t help but think again.
This is just… no…
To be honest, their appearance is out of bounds. Darkened complexion and grotesque features. Constantly wriggling veins or bugs beneath the skin made direct eye contact require some courage.
Isn’t this the same as the evolved monkey demon that ran away during the demon summoning incident? Moreover, that one had just evolved and couldn’t use its abilities proficiently, but these kids, from what I saw earlier, seem to have mastered them?
And what’s with that ominous aura? Just the leaked miasma is making the stone floor decay with a putrid stench!
This is not good. If I bring them to the human world like this, it will cause a huge uproar.
And there’s something else bothering me.
Since the faint souls remaining in those four seemed insufficient as compensation, I attempted to perform a “fusion” with these demons while sacrificing them.
The contract with those four [wanting to live] was fulfilled, killing two birds with one stone! That was the plan, but…
“Christina, is there still a human soul inside you?”
Even though their essence is demonic, how much of the original four remains?
“…Christina?”
I asked the entity that used to be Christina, but the response was weak. Then, Noir, the coordinating entity, nudged her with an elbow, and she finally understood it was about herself.
[Apologies, Mistress. Being addressed by the name of the vessel is a bit… uncomfortable.]
“…… Oh, of course.”
I’ve been living in the world of men for so long that made me forget.
Devil ain’t got no name. To be precise, devils can’t name themselves. If devils were to give each other names, they’d end up devouring each other, and weak-souled humans can’t name a too powerful being.
Even the nickname other than my individual name [Eurushia] took some getting used to.
But, when a statement like that comes out…
” …Could it be that there’s nothing left of the fused soul?”
If that’s the case, might it weaken due to insufficient compensation?
Ignoring my concerns, the entity that was Christina shook her head.
“No, my lord. The soul I chose has indeed fused with me, gaining knowledge, and influencing my way of speaking and preferences. However…”
“However…?”
A bad feeling. Confirming it, the devil with Christina’s face… displays a devilish, twisted expression of delight.
“The majority of the faint soul that remained was negative emotions towards my lord, so I couldn’t resist…”
“…You ate it?”
[ [ [ [ [ […yes…] ] ] ] ]
Everyone answered my words simultaneously.
So, you ate everything except for the way of speaking, preferences, and knowledge?
Well, how should I put it, it’s nice that you’ve grown into such a splendid devil. It’s good that you got a wavelength-matching soul and a vessel…
But, even if they fused only with fragments, I’ve technically fulfilled the “contract.” Probably.
It’s a scam, though.
The important thing is not the size of the soul but the fact that they fused. Weakness doesn’t seem likely.
By the way, it’s a hassle to keep calling them “[entity that was].”
But, if they become as strong as these guys, humans can’t name them. Asking spirits or dragons (if they exist) is also not an option.
But wait, I’m…
“You guys.”
“Yes!”
“Remember my name as Eurushia. From now on, I’ll bestow names upon you.”
Devils giving names to devils.
But the four devils bowed deeply without opposing my words.
Is it trust in me or loyalty that says they’d be fine being destroyed by me?
But I won’t do it without a plan. I used my pre-reincarnation body as a vessel. Even though I’m a devil, I’m close to being “human,” with attributes that even sacred magic can’t affect.
If that’s the case, it should be possible.
We are devils. Spiritual beings. If I believe I can do it and they believe in me, our wishes will surely come true.
Your name is Noah.
That’s what I’ll name the demon that took Noir as his vessel.
Your name is Nia.
To the demon whose name was Ninette.
Your name is Tina.
To the devil whose name was Christina.
Your name is Fanny.
To the devil whose name was Fantine.
Not sentimental, but at least let me give the nicknames of those brats I couldn’t get along with.
[ [ [ [……………………] ] ] ]
The four who received names… no, the four stood silently for a while, then rose without a sound. Their appearance had completely changed.
The ominous presence that was contained by the naming process, combined with their originally well-formed features, resulted in a cold beauty resembling intricately crafted dolls. Their human-like figures had lost any trace of warmth.
Is this too much of a change?
Well, maybe it’s due to the symmetry and the elimination of distortions caused by lifestyle habits, just like me. Naming alone stabilized them to this extent. Claiming to be human wouldn’t be a problem.
But I wonder if they can be accepted as the same individuals they were before?
Oh well, it doesn’t matter.
“Now, follow me for the cleaning.”
“Yes, Lady Eurushia!”
With the four in tow, I begin to walk through the mansion at night.
Shall we begin?
Cleaning up the pests that infest my feeding ground…
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