307. Starlight (2)
307. Starlight (2)
- 1 -
"Master. Preparations for the 'experiment' are complete."
A smile tugged at the corner of my lips.
Combined with our achievements in the Demon Realm, this news would become yet another stepping stone toward my future.
"Did you inform everyone?"
"Yes. They are already on standby. Mure and the four high-rank mages are also ready."
"Then let us go."
I exited the core room and descended the spiral staircase.
The black marble steps glowed of their own accord, illuminating our path without the need for torches.
Leading into the deepest reaches of the dungeon, a domain no ordinary visitor could ever enter.
"Master."
"We have awaited you."
Waiting for us at the very bottom of the staircase were Shue, Ran, and Esther.
Loyalty to their master shone through in their eyes.
Shue, who had been sitting on a sofa with her legs crossed and her usual slightly languid gaze, sprang to her feet. Ran watched me over her fan with a bewitching eye-smile.
We walked together down the dark corridor.
Air cold as the breath of the dead brushed past my skin, yet it caused me no discomfort whatsoever.
Because this place was my home.
"One more person will be coming."
"Lady Sonia is still in Urland..."
I raised a hand, cutting her off.
"Yes. That child is on an important mission. Saya is busy as well. But the experiment requires sufficient personnel, does it not? Mure will fill in."
"This matter is truly an important experiment. Do you trust her?"
"Of course."
To Evangeline's question, I answered with firm affirmation.
"She is someone Shue brought here, after all."
We arrived before a massive obsidian door.
This was the venue for the experiment we would be conducting today.
As I approached, the door opened automatically.
The interior was filled with light, and upon crossing the threshold, we were transported to another location.
Solemio.
The underground chamber of the rural fortress where I had first begun my expansion into the human world.
At the center lay a massive circular stone floor engraved with a map of Orbis, and above it, an intricate magic circle encompassing the entire room radiated a clear and beautiful violet light.
The magic circle was bordered by five crystal pillars, and before each pillar, five high-rank mages had already taken their positions.
"Everything is ready, my lady."
Mure spoke with a slight bow of her waist.
Her gaze was filled with scholarly zeal for this experiment.
"What of the humans?"
"They have been made to reside 'naturally' in the nearby city for some time."
At Evangeline's answer, I nodded in satisfaction.
For today's experiment, I had sent both humans and monsters far away from this vicinity, so that no one would die or be crippled due to experimental errors or malfunctions.
"Everyone, take your positions."
As I headed toward the center, my subordinates moved to their respective places.
They lined up starting from the north: Evangeline, Shue, Mure, Yuran, Esther.
"I shall announce the objective of this experiment once more."
My voice echoed throughout the vast chamber.
"The purpose of this experiment is the next phase of the 'Solar Eclipse.' It is to ensure that all deaths occurring within the territory we control provide energy to my dungeon core."
As I slowly raised my hand and touched the air, a large dungeon core materialized at the center.
This core, from which even systemic intelligence had vanished under human experimentation, would be the linchpin of this experiment.
"The souls of living beings possess powerful force in and of themselves. However, my mages and I have observed over time that, barring certain channels through which ownership is not claimed, the destinations of souls are fixed in three places. Namely, the Celestial Realm, the Demon Realm, and the Spirit Realm."
Of these, souls departing for the Spirit Realm were of no concern. It was, after all, the place from which my power originated.
The problem lay with those souls that departed or were 'dragged away' to the Celestial and Demon Realms.
"I thought to myself. 'Why should I hand over the souls of those I rule to beings who have contributed not a speck to their lives?'"
Of course, among them, there might be those who had actually received aid from the entities of those two directions.
But the vast majority of humans held no faith in the demon race, and it was hard enough for them to receive the aid of a cleric.
Because whichever side's faith they served, they had no interest in the common human.
And my interest lay with that 'vast majority.'
"Therefore, I intend to make them subordinate to me."
Natural death. Disease. Accident. Death by external causes.
Even if they died by suicide or as sacrifices, they would not escape my grasp.
Ran's eyes sparkled.
"Every death of a human becomes our master's power."
"Precisely. But this is to prevent the plundering of my enemies. I have no intention of mass slaughter. I aim to claim that flow as my own, without disrupting the natural cycle."
I held the core between my hands and began to infuse it with mana.
The core, gradually taking in more and more light, began to dye the chamber violet.
"Are you all ready?"
"Yes."
They all answered in one voice, and I responded with a smile.
"Let us begin."
- 2 -
As the core filled with mana, it radiated its light ever more intensely.
What began as a gentle glow gradually intensified until it finally illuminated the entire chamber brightly.
"Territory designation."
Once the order was given, Evangeline placed her hand upon her pillar.
Golden mana flowed from her fingertips, activating the northern end of the magic circle.
"Designating Solemio and a 5km radius around it as the target territory."
On the map drawn within the magic circle, the vicinity of Solemio began to glow white.
The tens of thousands of life forms residing there were detected through mana.
"Mana net formation."
It was Shue's turn this time.
Her hair was dyed completely red, and her eyes blazed crimson.
Immediately after, the second pillar reacted, adding new mana to the magic circle.
"I'll confirm the world's fate bonds... and cast a filter net."
Several thick red lines were drawn on the map.
They represented the boundary lines between death and life, the invisible channels through which souls flowed after leaving the body.
Over them, a black net began to form.
Woven like a spider's web, the net blocked every path of the red lines.
"Spirit recognition."
Once the mana net was complete, I reached my hand out over the map.
The core detached from my hand and moved above the magic circle.
It began to pulse and rotate on its own axis as if it were alive, and several smaller cores followed it upward, orbiting around it.
"Seek them out. The completed deaths."
The cores responded, and small points of light appeared at various locations on the map.
Four.
These were the locations of beings who had just ended their lives.
"Mure."
"I am creating a new path to guide the detected souls."
Having removed her blindfold, her eyes held dense mana, and a blue line was newly drawn upon the map.
All of it converged here, on Solemio.
"It is having an effect."
She spoke while looking at the glass cylinders placed beside her.
The cylinders, designed to fill with mana upon detecting spirits, were now half full.
Saaaaak...!
A moment later, the owners of that light revealed themselves around me.
Two bore merely small shapes of light, while the other two possessed somewhat larger forms.
Animals or unintelligent monsters were likely the former; the latter were clearly...
"Human souls."
Shue observed them as she spoke.
Upon closer inspection, faint human silhouettes hovered beyond the white spheres, each possessing different hues and densities.
They lacked intelligence.
This was because they held neither the grudge nor attachment to refuse death, nor the powerful will to keep their wits about them in the face of it.
"I shall settle these within my domain."
I gently opened my hand and extended it forward.
Fwoosh...!
Yuran activated her sorcery.
Violet flames kindled at the tips of her five black tails, and the fourth pillar became imbued with spiritual power.
"This place shall be your home. Slumber in peace."
The souls began to slowly drift around the core.
At times, they entered and exited the smaller cores nearby, for those cores served as resting places for the souls.
The core shone brighter and more intensely each time a soul gathered.
And then, something anticipated occurred.
"Master. It is them."
With Esther's low whisper, the magic circle began to churn.
Blazing beyond it was a force that radiated sacredness just by looking at it. From my standpoint, it was the power of the 'Goddess,' which stirred nothing but disgust.
This was the reason she, the Saintess, was here.
She was currently veiling their eyes, if only temporarily.
"They have come."
I calmly observed that spectacle.
The entities of the Celestial Realm had sensed the anomaly and, employing some method, turned their eyes toward this place to see what was happening.
But that power was weak. No, it had no choice but to be weak.
'Those who have wallowed in sloth for so long could never accomplish anything properly.'
What had they done for thousands of years?
They had listened to human prayers, occasionally bestowed miracles, and looked after nothing but their own safety.
Watching their clumsy attempts, I raised the corner of my mouth slightly.
'Now, that comfort will come crumbling down.'
I stroked the empty air with my fingertip.
What I touched was the passageway between the Celestial Realm and this world. A fate bond of the world, normally invisible even to magic eyes.
This was only possible because it had become visible to my eyes the very moment they attempted their observation.
Just as one sutures torn cloth with thread, I pinched and sealed the end of the passageway. The churning of the magic circle stopped.
"How can you manipulate the power of the Celestial Realm...!"
Mure looked at me with eyes filled with awe.
In contrast, all my other close aides wore indifferent expressions, as if they had already known I would be capable of such a thing.
"It is thanks to your help. Had you not opened my spirit eyes, this is not something my current self could have done."
"I cannot see the passageways of the Celestial Realm either...!"
Leaving Mure's astonishment behind, the experiment continued.
As the magical domain extended beyond Solemio and gradually took root, souls that had died somewhat earlier yet still lingered, unable to find their way, were also detected and drawn in.
The starlight rising around the core grew more and more numerous.
And around the time three hours had passed, the stars floating around the core were flowing in orbit like countless rings.
"Now then, shall we check?"
I placed my hand on the mana sphere that was to become the 'Orbis Core' and closed my eyes.
The moment the waves of mana flowing through my fingertips enveloped my body and the core, a dazzling beam of light streamed into my mind.
My senses expanded.
The first thing I felt was the mana in the vicinity.
I could clearly sense the mana density around Solemio increasing.
And beyond that, the territory of the 'Orbis Demon Domain,' which had initially been a mere 5km, had grown wider in proportion to the increase in mana density.
"...It has been done."
I nodded in satisfaction.
"The first phase of the experiment is a success. Now we limit the territory, conduct tests in the vicinity for a while, and then relocate it to Atrium."
Mure asked in a voice tinged with curiosity.
"Once this is completed, all of Orbis becomes your demon domain, my lady."
"Yes. For now it is only the vicinity of Solemio, but after the relocation, we will aim to expand it across all of Orbis."
I met the gazes of the women.
"The scheduled timeframe is one week. If there are no issues after that, we will move this core to Atrium, and create a passageway to bind it to my dungeon's core."
"Then all of Orbis will truly become your demon domain, Master."
"After that, once you ascend to high rank, you will not be outmatched by those Demon Domain Great Dukes in sheer force alone..."
Evangeline and Shue spoke the truth.
The significance of this process lay in the fact that the power of my core could be concentrated solely on my dungeon and myself.
Naturally, the larger the dungeon, the greater the mana it required.
And what a dungeon lord maintained was not the dungeon alone. The demon domain was also an element that demanded the dungeon lord's power.
Even if the great dukes shared a portion of their burden with their subordinate dungeon lords, that burden did not vanish entirely.
I intended to eliminate that burden completely.
"Our lord shall stand wholly on his own."
Yuran spoke with her eyes gleaming.
She seemed to be seeing not this present moment, but the future when this task would be accomplished.
"Now."
I clapped my hands to draw the women's attention.
"That is all for today. We shall gradually gather data and confirm the results later. You have all worked hard."
I looked at the Orbis Core once more.
A sphere that shone brilliantly like the star of a solar system, commanding a retinue of souls.
The countless souls drifting around this sphere had now become my power.
And this was not the end.
Before long, this Eastern Continent would lie beneath my feet, and an eternal throne awaited me.
What this sphere would produce was none other than my future.
- 3 -
Tuung!
At the very moment we were about to conclude the experiment, a sudden surge of mana shook the chamber.
The trace of an unscheduled teleportation spell. And right after, a pained groan was heard.
"Cough...!"
What appeared, collapsing before me, was a mermaid with a hideously ravaged body.
Wepar, whom I had sent back to Dantalion as a spy.
Blue blood flowing from wounds all over her body, scales torn apart. And above all, spears imbued with power piercing her form.
Her condition was critical.
"Wepar."
Unlike my composed voice, the expressions of my subordinates stiffened in an instant.
"My lord... discovered... I... li, liv..."
Blood spilled from Wepar's mouth.
The rosemary I had planted within her had saved her.
A recall spell, automatically triggered in life-threatening moments, had snatched her from Dantalion's grasp.
I felt Dantalion's characteristic chill from her wounds. Wounds that should have been red were tinged with blue, slowly freezing over.
"Allow me to assist."
Mure tried to approach, but I halted her with a gesture.
"It is best I do this personally."
I slowly knelt and placed my hand upon Wepar's forehead.
I extracted Dantalion's mana from her and read her last pieces of information.
Within the fleeting fragments of memory, I saw Dantalion's eyes.
At long last, he had begun to move personally.
"Ah... I... loved... him..."
As if her life flashed before her eyes, the dying mermaid's gaze conveyed everything.
The despair and regret welling up in those eyes.
"You did well enough. Rest, for a little while."
Those must have been the last words Wepar heard.
After extracting Dantalion's power, I summoned cold and froze her body completely.
The mermaid's flesh transformed entirely into a sculpture of ice.
"Shue. Place her in a life support device and thaw her out."
"Yeah."
Watching the White Wolf's retreating back, I quietly rose from my spot.
"An unavoidable time has arrived."
The air in the chamber grew heavy.
For the message Wepar's return signified was clear.
"Eve. Refit the entire army. Ran. Activate the full information network."
I spoke in a low voice, with firm resolve.
"The time for war draws near."
The time had come to face Dantalion's forces.