So He Was a Traitor?
Alright, let’s start the special lecture for our dear Jerato.
“During the process of turning a person into a demon, a massive amount of mana erupts. When that power is injected all at once, it drives the victim insane. In that moment of madness, malice and demonic energy slip in, starting with the brain and corroding the entire body.”
“What the hell are you trying to say?”
I wonder what I’m trying to say. Seeing Jerato’s face grow more and more uneasy, I decided to play the role of teacher for a while.
“To put it simply, the order of turning someone into a demon using this corrupted magic stone instead of a mere fragment is as follows. First, the stone fuses with the body, centered on the spot where it was embedded. Second, the body’s mana clashes with the demonic energy sealed inside the stone and begins to run wild. At that point, either the rampage occurs or the demonic energy starts eroding the flesh. Third, the demonic energy that has invaded the brain corrupts the human and turns them into a demon.”
Normally, there is no miracle in this process. The victim is simply devoured by the demonic energy, and a new ego—filled with nothing but malice toward humanity—is born.
“Just what are you—”
“The chance to prevent demonification by the corrupted magic stone exists in the second stage. If the victim regains their senses and absorbs every last bit of that rampaging mana, the demonic energy is instead consumed by the mana.”
If they endure it, the one who absorbed the corrupted magic stone grows even stronger. Their resistance to demonic energy skyrockets, granting them immunity against all but the most powerful corruption.
“You dare lecture me? Your body is already no different from a witch’s! And that is the Demon King’s fragment! There is no way to stop the transformation into a demon!”
Well, he’s not wrong. My skin is definitely turning paler, and it feels like my eyes and every inch of my body are burning. My chest tightens and pounds. My ears itch as their shape shifts. I can sense the very structure of my cells and organs changing. A mage must always pursue knowledge. So this is how it works. The sensation itself is rather unpleasant. At this critical juncture, the victim is flooded with pleasure. It’s as if the process itself is teaching them exactly what becoming a demon feels like. The pleasure it grants is more intense than anything sexual. The actual feeling is even stronger than I expected.
Above all else, because my body is already in a mana fusion state, the physical changes caused by the demonic energy feel strangely muted. But precisely because of that, this fragment suits me perfectly.
“It’s a gamble, but it’s also possible during the erosion phase itself. Unfortunately, Olivia’s body is physically rather frail. You’re right—it is the Demon King’s fragment. That’s why choosing to absorb it in the second stage is difficult even with a mana-fused body. The real opportunity comes when the demonic energy forcibly injects mana in order to seize control of the human body and complete the demonification.”
The change in the final, third stage is the true gamble. It means keeping your sanity while nearly your entire body is already being overwritten by demonic erosion.
“You think you can stop the Demon King’s fragment while it’s turning you into a demon? If you truly absorb it completely, you’ll become the Demon King yourself. You’d probably attack the imperial capital!”
Is this guy seriously brain-dead? One look at his eyes told me he had already lost it. Yeah. This idiot has always been like this. Whenever things don’t go his way, he throws himself into the drama like a madman having an episode.
“Watch closely, Jerato. This is an experiment you could never perform, since you’re a pathetic inferior student who can’t even achieve mana fusion.”
Having reached mana fusion, I can suppress all of it. I simply need to endure the final, nail-driving surge of ecstasy and crush it down. Inside my body, I blanket the invading demonic energy with my own mana. When I do, the mana doesn’t scream as it’s eroded—instead, the demonic energy is swallowed whole. It surrenders its information to my mana and melts into it, vanishing as though it had never existed.
“What the— You’re turning back into a human?”
The shock on Jerato’s face was all the proof I needed.
“In the end, it’s a battle of mental strength. It’s a question of whether the corrupting power inside the Demon King’s fragment can overpower my mind or not.”
“That’s impossible! That’s the Demon King’s fragment!”
Ah, he really is an idiot.
“It’s a fragment of the Demon King. Not the Demon King himself. I already told you, didn’t I? If the subject endures it, they gain tremendous power instead. So what do you think will happen if you absorb a fragment that possesses malice and demonic energy strong enough to overwhelm ordinary corrupted magic stones?”
“You… gain even greater power?”
Good, at least his head can manage basic arithmetic.
“Exactly. Looks like your brain is finally working again. On top of that, the demonification grants you physical abilities far superior to those of an ordinary person. So—”
Jerato’s face twisted. He shook his head as if begging me to stop. But I don’t like Jerato. Seeing him from the perspective of a noble lady somehow makes his trash nature feel even more vivid. This guy is the kind of garbage that shames every man alive. So of course I had to twist the knife.
I smiled brightly.
“Thanks for the tonic?”
I ate it quite deliciously. At this level, training should be a breeze.
“That’s impossible. By that logic, wouldn’t you end up becoming a demon anyway?”
“You could call it half-human, half-demon. But it doesn’t matter. Demonification can be controlled like this.”
I changed my own body at will. My skin grew pale. My eyes and ears transformed. There was no mirror, so I couldn’t see it myself, but Jerato could.
“How could a mere noble bitch—!”
He still wanted to think of me as nothing more than a noble girl. How troublesome.
“The people of the Land of Destruction were originally like this, and we received this kind of magic-stone implantation training from childhood.”
“Weren’t you an Ashtar?”
Me? I am an Ashtar. I am Olivia Lapa Ashtar, the eldest daughter of the Ashtar ducal house. And I am also Noah.
“Now you’ve roughly figured out who I am, haven’t you?”
He shook his head. The atmosphere around him screamed that he could not accept this impossible reality. But what can you do? That’s exactly right. What should we do with our poor little Jerato?
“No. That’s impossible. There’s no way. That bastard is dead. How could—”
I took one slow step forward. Then another. He immediately began backing away. How pathetic. Just die here already. Why are you acting so disgracefully?
“I can’t explain the details, but my body is Olivia’s. Nice to meet you. I am the eldest daughter of the Ashtar family, Olivia Lapa Ashtar. Will that do?”
“Wh-what the hell! Why are you interfering with me, Noah!”
“I told you, I’m Olivia. Noah is dead.”
Why does he keep calling a dead man’s name? It’s bad luck. After everything, the bastard’s face finally crumpled into a pathetic sob.
“Whether you’re that damned Ashtar bitch or Noah, it doesn’t matter! Why are you interfering with my great cause! Why are you obstructing my grand dream of destroying the empire!”
What an idiot. When he was with the hero party, the empire had to exist so the kingdom could receive support. Now it’s because I’m an imperial citizen. Huh? Wait a second.
“I see. So that’s how it was.”
Come to think of it, I don’t recall seeing him active in the kingdom very often. Why did I only realize that now? We’ve rarely crossed paths inside the empire either, but he was witnessed far more frequently in other regions—like the Seven Stars. So all this time, he’s been trying to destroy the empire, not the hero or the kingdom? Ah, now every piece of the puzzle finally fits. I clapped my hands and laughed.
“What? What did you realize this time? Why do you always figure out ten things every time I say one?”
“You have almost no record of direct activity inside the kingdom, yet you used it thoroughly as a testing ground for black magic. You’ve been witnessed far more often in the empire than in the cramped kingdom where the hero resides. You interfered with the kingdom’s support from the empire and tried to sap the empire’s national strength.”
Come to think of it, he had also tried to sow conflict among the nobles. He attempted to alienate the border warlord families using black magic. Even that had been stopped by me. Now that I thought about it, everything this guy had directly touched was connected to the empire. Even though I had dismissed Jerato before, his magic formulas had always been ancient. And looking at his clothing, it was subtly different from both imperial and kingdom styles.
“So?”
“You’re not simply a member of the Demon King’s army. You’re someone who distrusts the empire. Then where would that leave us? There are many countries leashed by the empire, which means quite a few that would love to earn its hatred. The Holy Kingdom maintains a neutral relationship. Pastia, founded by Kart refugees, may harbor ill feelings toward the empire, but after fifteen hundred years they wouldn’t join hands with the Demon King just to topple it. Anti-imperialists… No, there’s no need to look far. Human nations themselves have no reason to split apart the empire—the only country with the power to fight the Demon King.”
It wasn’t that no one had tried. There are always fools. Some nobles and madmen had dreamed of borrowing the Demon King’s power to fracture the empire and claim pieces for themselves. The problem was that every last one of them had been beaten half to death by me.
“What are you even talking about?”
“When the fragment was corrupting me earlier, I saw something. I was killing people and laughing like a lunatic. And then, with a truly unpleasant laugh, I heard your voice. ‘I’ll use you until the day Armenia falls.’ Armenia can refer to the empire, but it’s also the old name for the Von Empire, so now everyone simply calls it the empire. Yet you deliberately called it Armenia and showed clear hatred for it. Not toward the hero. Then it all connects to one conclusion.”
Ancient spells only seen in the era of the old Kart Kingdom. A grudge against the empire. Obsession with the empire. Putting it all together…
“You were a descendant of the Kart royal family, weren’t you?”
“!!”
“That face tells me I’m right. So of course you wouldn’t look kindly on Atlina or the empire’s nobles. Actually, I see it differently now. To have carried on the legacy of the Kart Kingdom—its culture and customs—for fifteen hundred years. You must have been the one inciting the anti-imperialists as well.”
Wow. So this bastard had a whole tragic backstory.
“Yes! That’s exactly it! I am the last legitimate bloodline of the Kart Kingdom! And the Armenia imperial family that now rules the empire is the whore’s house that spread its legs for the traitors who betrayed Kart’s last holy king and trampled our nation! Olivia. If you’re truly an Ashtar, you must know the empire’s history. Queen Armen was made empress, and the Von family scum promised to rename the empire the Armen Empire. She fell for their lies and defiled Kart’s sacred bloodline! Your empire’s greatest noble houses were nothing but short, thieving savages long ago!”
Hmm. He’s spitting facts one after another. That’s right. The original people of that bloodline had black hair, short stature, and rough features. Yet modern imperials all look exactly like Kart’s descendants. There’s nothing to be done about it. When blood mixes over centuries, these things happen.
“How can a whore’s family claim hegemony over the world? It’s impossible!”
In my eyes, you are the impossible one. Of course you’d think that.
“By the way, have you lived more than fifteen hundred years? Or are you actually the Kart king who was betrayed by Armen back then? Inheriting a grudge for fifteen centuries?”
That’s ridiculous. The Kart royal family wasn’t some divinely descended bloodline. Besides, Queen Armen wasn’t merely a whore who clung to Elfric to seize power. Thanks to the Armen family accepting that proposal, the feuding alliance kingdoms finally unified into the Armenia Empire. The endless infighting vanished, and a true empire was born. In other words, the positive effects far outweighed everything else. They had barely managed to build a great empire with unified strength.
“What would you know! This grudge that is carved into my very bones!”
“I don’t know, and I have no intention of knowing. My ears are actually starting to hurt from listening to you. So in the end, you’re just a traitor, huh? Surrender quietly.”
“Damn it!”
The fifteen-hundred-year-old grudge that had finished monologuing turned tail. Trying to run?
“Running away again? With that body you can’t even teleport, and you can’t use any scrolls, can you?”
Since you can’t use magic either, the best you could do was try to embed more magic stones, right? You can’t use teleportation or scrolls.
“Noah! Did turning into a bitch rot your brain? My mana circuits were repaired by Lady Clanice! And this place doesn’t stop at the fifth floor! It goes all the way to the seventh! You’ll never reach me there!”
Whether I’m Olivia or Noah, what kind of bastard keeps switching between two names without any consistency?
“In the end, you’re still just running away.”
He ran confidently into a hidden passage at the end of the fifth-floor wall. He was probably planning to descend to the seventh floor, hide, recover his mana, and then teleport out. Or maybe he simply believed Clanice would eventually come to save him. The fact that he had chosen to fight the decisive battle here without installing a core on the seventh floor meant the lower levels were still unfinished.
“There’s no need to go any deeper.”
Even though I had gained power, I still needed to stabilize my body. Above all, it was simply too much of a hassle. There was no reason to drag my feet all the way down there looking for him. I didn’t bother giving chase and simply left the dungeon. That didn’t mean I was giving up. There were plenty of ways to kill him from the outside. It was only common sense to make someone who had holed themselves up come out on their own.