Liana was taking care of the Death Knights one by one with lightning, as if sniping them from a distance and neutralizing their power.
I told her not to interfere, but she must have thought I was in danger.
Crash! Flash!
Everyone probably thought it was because of them.
Everyone must have believed it was their fault.
Boom!
"Arrrrrrrrgh!"
Outmatched in strength, Olivia let out a beast-like scream as she was repelled by my sword.
The Death Knights charging at me were being held back by Liana.
Death Knights are top-tier undead creatures.
But so far, Liana had slaughtered countless monsters in Fort Mokna, never failing in the fort's defense even once.
So the Death Knights were also struck by the rough lightning Liana summoned, their flesh burned and reduced to mere bones, which turned a bright red and eventually turned into ash.
They may be undead, but they are still freshly deceased corpses.
Some of them still have recognizable faces.
As the leader of the Holy Order, Olivia hadn't had many direct encounters with the priests she had dispatched here.
However, Liana had commanded them for a long time, went on missions together, and spent a long time with them.
Liana would know better than anyone who she was killing for the second time.
Due to her sins, she had to summon lightning to strike her comrades' bodies dozens of times, turning the corpses, who couldn't die properly, into ashes.
Olivia had been dominated by evil spirits, and the holy knights who were sent on purification missions couldn't die properly and were resurrected as Death Knights.
They had to fight those who were once allies, not monsters from the gate.
Liana had made a mistake.
She committed an unforgivable sin.
Then what about me?
Judging intentions is a miserable endeavor.
Even if the intentions were good, even if we tried to save everyone.
In the end, it was because of me that all this happened, so is it really unfair for the vengeful spirits who hate me to possess Olivia, someone precious to me, and try to punish me?
As justified as I thought I was.
Isn't the anger of those vengeful spirits justified in its own way?
All the problems in the world would not have occurred if I didn't exist.
The hatred they have for the Demon King, the cause of everything, might not be as unfair and unjust as it seems.
Even as the Death Knights were neutralized one by one amidst the chain of lightning strikes, Olivia did not stop.
The possessed Olivia did not seem to wield her swordsmanship with reason.
"Arrrrrrrr..."
She let out a low growl like a beast, and swung her demonic sword Tiamata at me like a club.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
It wasn't difficult to block her powerful swing.
However, the problem wasn't her rough swing, but the corrupting power Olivia possessed.
Taking Tiamata from Olivia's grasp wouldn't change anything; Olivia quickly reclaimed Tiamata, only stealing the tempo of the fight.
Moreover, unlike me, Olivia could use her divine power even without Tiamata, so fighting for control was a dangerous move for me. Olivia continued to use the powers of corruption and decay even if I took Tiamata.
I could not injure Olivia, so all I could do was focus on blocking her attacks, which in turn exposed my body to the growing influence of corruption and decay.
Necrosis began spreading across my skin, and my body started to die slowly.
As my nerves died, my senses gradually dulled, and even my vision began to blur.
I could not use the healing power of Tiamata.
If this battle dragged on, I wouldn't die by the sword but instead be turned into a living mummy by the power of corruption, like a withering plant.
In the end, I had to make a decisive move.
I had to do something about the malevolent spirits that controlled Olivia.
"Grrraaaahhhhh!"
Olivia lunged at me again, wielding her sword like a wild beast.
Dodging and deflecting would only cause my body to be devoured faster.
I made my move.
-Clang!
I grabbed the blade of the corrupted Tiamata with my bare hand.
-Screech!
As if soaked in some acidic solution, white smoke rose from my clenched hand, and the skin began to die.
But I didn't just grab the sword.
-Thud!
"Ugh…"
With my other empty hand, I seized Olivia's throat.
Now, neither Olivia nor I could escape.
-Bang! Thump! Thump!
Olivia struggled to break free from my grasp, but ultimately, my physical strength was superior.
Though Olivia could devour me with the power of corruption, she could not injure me.
Tiamata belonged to both Olivia and me.
Olivia held the hilt of Tiamata, while I grasped the blade.
Since we both held a part of it, neither of us could take it away or have it taken from us.
But my body continued to die.
"Tiamata…"
Facing the Tiamata, which had been turned into a cursed sword by the will of the vengeful spirits and evil spirits controlling Olivia, I said:
"Become a holy sword."
I gave a command opposite to the one I had given when killing Riverrier Lanze.
-Flash!
Tiamata, which had been spewing dark, corrupting energy, immediately released a golden radiance and returned to its original form.
"Aaargh!"
As if the light itself caused immense pain, Olivia, still held by me, screamed in agony.
Holding the blade, not the hilt, I refused to let go of Olivia's throat as she tried to escape from the range of Tiamata's holy power.
Olivia, too, did not let go of Tiamata despite her pain.
The will to corrupt Tiamata.
The will to restore Tiamata as a holy sword.
The vengeful spirits' will clashed with mine.
-Rumble!
Tiamata, emitting both light and dark energies, stirred a fierce whirlwind in the field.
It was a battle between my single will and the countless wills of anger and resentment.
I shouldn't have been able to win.
A single will could not possibly overcome so much hatred and grudge.
Yet, I never thought of losing.
I would never let go.
Not of the massive whirlwind I had created, nor of anything else I held.
I was always prepared to let go of myself.
However, I was never prepared to let go of someone who loved me, and I had no intention of doing so.
Anyone who loved me.
Anyone I loved.
No matter who they were.
If the only way to achieve peace was to abandon someone...
I didn't need that kind of peace.
I wanted everything.
With everything in my grasp,
I would crush these cursed evils and rise again.
Gradually, it was being pushed back.
The dark energy flowing from Tiamata was slowly being forced back.
Indeed, it was being repelled.
"Ugh... Aaaahhhh!"
Watching Olivia, who was under the control of the vengeful spirits and crying out in pain, I held onto her neck so she couldn't escape.
My already dead and darkened right hand had turned black up to the wrist, but the lifeless hand, beyond my will, wouldn't let go of Olivia.
My hand?
It's just a trifle.
I can afford to lose it.
If I can reverse it.
If there's even a tiny possibility of recovering it.
I can offer more than this.
"Begone..."
To Tiamata, held in my left hand.
To the vengeful spirits that had corroded Olivia's body.
"Disappear... you wretched demons!"
I yelled, not with a wish, but with determination.
-Flash!
The world was engulfed in a red radiance, and I could finally see the spectacle of the evil spirits unable to withstand the divine power and pouring out of Olivia's body as if escaping.
-Groooowwwl!
The vengeful spirits ultimately lost the battle for control against me, and they fled to avoid being exposed to Tiamata's divine power.
The expelled spirits clustered in the air, forming a massive, dark cloud.
It floated above, huddled as if it had received a great shock, taking on a gigantic form.
Olivia lost consciousness and slumped down, and I embraced her.
Could that enormous thing have been controlling Olivia's body?
The floating mass of spirits in the air was even larger than the giant stadium I had seen at the temple.
Even for souls, could something so huge fit into a human body?
There was no way not to know what Olivia had been enduring.
How many vengeful spirits were gathered in that thing?
-Grrrrrrrrrrrr!
It was growing even larger.
As if one vengeful spirit was drawing in another.
I couldn't see ghosts with my eyes, but my keen intuition told me that its very existence was absorbing wandering spirits in the world, growing increasingly larger.
Like a black hole. The more massive the spirits, the stronger the gravitational pull they would exert on others.
The collective souls generated by Liana's massacre were only the beginning.
Now, regardless of its connection to Liana, I could only stare blankly at the increasingly massive swarm of vengeful spirits.
I could somehow expel them from Olivia's body now.
If it grew so immense that I couldn't handle it, would I be able to cope if it ran wild again afterward?
How would I deal with that?
What method could I use to handle such a massive group of vengeful spirits?
Is it even remotely feasible to subdue or purify them?
It was an overwhelming scale.
Driving them away is possible, but I couldn't purify them with the divine power I could wield. It would have been impossible for Olivia as well.
What would happen if it tried to control someone other than Olivia?
Liana, Harriet, Charlotte, Airi.
Or if it clung to Ellen?
I would have to fight the battle I just fought again.
And by that time, the scale of those vengeful spirits would have grown even larger, so dealing with them like now might be impossible.
If it tried to kill me again by borrowing someone else's body.
Would I have to see others, wearing the same expression as Olivia did just now, trying to kill me?
Holding Olivia, I looked up at the writhing mass of vengeful spirits and said,
"Why... Why go to such lengths?"
"If you hate me, and want to kill me, why don't you just try to kill me yourselves?"
"Why are you resorting to this?"
I want to handle what I have to deal with.
I can understand their anger being justified.
So they should attack me. If those vengeful spirits attack me directly, that should be enough.
There's no need to involve the hands of those who love me in this matter.
Foolishly, or rather pointlessly, I spoke to the mass of resentment that has no reason to exist.
I have no idea how to handle this situation.
"Why...?"
But.
I heard an answer.
The massive collective of resentment sends a reply.
It's as if numerous beings are saying the same thing.
No, it was closer to a resonance than words.
With a single, simple word, echoes of countless overlapping voices spread across the field.
"You... Only if you die... Will it be enough?"
Despair and resentment filled that voice.
-Ziiing!
I could hear the souls boiling.
I could feel the emotional turmoil that could only be described that way.
"Why." "My son." "My husband." "My wife." "My siblings." "My daughter."
"Mom." "Dad." "My lord." "My love." "My friends." "My hometown."
"Our."
"Everything."
"Was taken."
"And why."
"Give back only one... Why?"
Numerous fragmented words burst out simultaneously, not entering my ears but directly into my mind.
It couldn't be just one will. The common feeling of a collective?
As if a collective consciousness.
Those vengeful spirits resonate with each other, and with the miserable bond of hatred, rage, and despair, they become one pitiful and sinister being.
A collective called resentment.
It stares down at me from the empty sky.
The enormous vengeful spirits, like clouds, felt like they were staring at me.
I felt the resentful gaze of the countless spirits, too numerous to count.
"Because you took everything from us."
"We'll take everything from you."
"That's... fair, isn't it?"
"We'll kill you, take everything you have, destroy and annihilate it."
"Since you destroyed us."
"We also have the right to destroy you."
"Take everything."
"We have the right. To take."
I heard from Antirianus.
What Sarkegaar said to pressure Eleris right before the Gate Incident occurred.
Sarkegaar said.
Since humanity destroyed Darkland, Darkland also has the right to destroy humanity.
The Gate Incident occurred.
In the end, the words became a boomerang that returned.
Those who were destroyed, those who were robbed, those who were killed.
I speak of the rights of those who were broken.
Only a handful of people were actually involved in this matter.
Most of the vengeful spirits before me were unrelated to almost everything happening in the world.
They didn't make any decisions, nor did they express their opinions.
They were merely sacrificed.
Even those killed by Liana's decision.
For them.
The right to destroy me.
Yes.
Undoubtedly, it exists.
Who else, if not them, has the right to destroy me, hate me, and crush me?
It continues to grow larger.
If left alone, it will grow bigger and bigger until it becomes an unbearable size for anyone to handle.
It will make my loved ones fight against me.
If its purpose is to bring me pain and suffering, then it will do so.
"It seems I must be terrifying."
I speak towards the resentful gaze directed at me.
"Since you don't have the confidence to control me directly, or attack me directly, or to kill me, you must resort to this despicable method of making me kill my own people with my own hands."
There was no response, but I felt the writhing of the massive resentment.
"How many of you are there? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Or even millions?"
"If the result of your anger and desire for revenge is merely this, is it not..."
"Inadequate hatred?"
"Inadequate anger?"
"Inadequate desire for revenge?"
"Is it not too, petty?"
I provoke them.
"You weak beings."
"Because you were weak in life."
"Even in death, you are weak."
Their grudge may be rooted in injustice, but at the core, it's because they were weak and died as a result of that weakness.
If they had been strong, they wouldn't have died.
If they had been as strong as the hero, Ellen Artorius.
If they had possessed power themselves.
There would have been no need to flee or be killed.
I speak towards the grudge-filled beings, the group of weak spirits.
Since they don't have the courage to attack me, this method of causing me pain is ultimately the way of the weak, and is this group not still weak?
The resentful spirits did not answer.
However, their rough squirming and threatening rippling told me everything.
The spirits were furious.
There's no confidence in winning.
But.
I cannot leave the growing resentful spirits as they are.
I cannot allow such resentment to inhabit others.
I don't want to fight with the ones I love.
I can't let them control others any longer.
"Let's test whose hatred is stronger."
"Whose mind is stronger."
If they hate me.
If those spirits hate me, then I must bear it.
I cannot let others bear the burden that I should carry.
I don't think I can endure it, but if it's something I must bear.
Whether it's just or not, if the hatred, anger, and desire for revenge are directed at me.
"Come and inhabit me."
Not in others, but I must let their resentment and hatred inhabit me.
At my provocation, the resentful spirits watch me.
"Why."
I throw my final provocation at them.
"Are you afraid?"
I no longer needed any more words.
Despair-filled bodies of the group began to vibrate.
Rumble!
"Damn the Demon King."
"Yes."
"We shall."
"Curse."
"You."
"With your own hands, destroy everything you love."
The massive darkness, like a cloud, begins to condense.
The spirits changed their minds.
Instead of making me kill my loved ones, that they possesed, with my own hands, they intended to possess me and force me to destroy my loved ones with my own hands.
I spread my arms wide.
"Come, you weak beings."
To those who had no choice but to be sacrificed, to those pitiful beings.
I offer the opportunity to destroy me.
