'Something has gone horribly wrong.'
Eren and Alephee both thought the same thing at the same time as they looked at each other with a wide range of emotions painted on their faces.
They remained in their positions, left to deal with the error that had been introduced in the process. Somehow, Eren remained immune to the adverse effects of exposure to these otherworldly mana fluctuations. However, Alephee struggled to maintain her current form.
'What… What happened? Where did we go wrong?'
Alephee asked herself with emotions of regret and self-blaming gripping over her. She looked at Eren and Reen intermittently, as if trying to figure out the root cause of this anomaly.
At this juncture, both Eren and Alephee realized an unprecedented and unexpected event was unfolding. Reen's Soul Seed was rejecting the vessel it had been given, leading to these anomalies.
'Did I fail? How… How did that happen? Reen… will she…'
Eren's expression turned grim as he comprehended that the Hex artifact creation he had labored over was on the brink of failure.
Utilizing the Soul Seed Insertion Array along with his Soul Sense, Eren discerned that Reen's Soul Seed had indeed taken root within the vessel he had prepared for her. However, inexplicably, the vessel transformed into a Hex artifact and was unable to securely contain her soul. Her body showed signs of disintegration due to the substantial spiritual fluctuation generated by Reen's Soul Seed.
Reen had a demon soul fragment within her that remained slumbering because of Eliza's seal on her soul. As a result, Reen was never influenced by her demonic soul fragment for the most part, enabling her to develop her personality from scratch.
However, when Reen committed suicide and died, the seal left by Eliza on her soul vanished and her demon soul fragment was set free to awaken. So when Reen's Soul Seed occupied a new vessel, the demon soul fragment subconsciously wanted to lay claim over it.
Unbeknownst to Eren, Reen's demonic soul fragment that had remained slumbering till her death had managed to awaken, causing this anomaly. He could have never foreseen such a drastic development to take place all of a sudden.
The butcher had a lot of backup plans for problems he could predict coming his way. But he had nothing to counter the problems that he couldn't see coming.
Technically, Eren had done everything flawlessly. However, even that wasn't enough to give him the kind of success he wanted. With the way things were going, the vessel was bound to implode before it could allow Reen's Soul Seed to sprout successfully inside it.
The Hex artifact creation had almost failed. And there was no way to reverse the process. Even Shallot's Mirror couldn't turn Reen's soul into a Soul Seed right after it had germinated inside the vessel. If Eren tried such a trick at this point, all he would get would be a damaged Soul Seed that would have no chance of germinating inside any vessel.
Pangs of regret started to creep up on Eren. He started backtracking in his mind, trying to find the root cause behind his failure. He started regretting not turning Reen into a fiend. The more he started thinking about these things, the more these feelings were taking root in his psyche.
Slap!
Eren slapped himself and the slap was so hard that it bludgeoned his cheeks, rupturing his skin.
'No… It can't end like this. I can't lose her now. Not when I came this far.'
Eren refused to give up. He tried his hardest to contain the mana fluctuations within the third Array Eye. He tried to sheathe Reen's body in a cocoon-like layer once again to keep her from disintegrating.
He kept adding more runic circles with reckless abandon in hopes of stabilizing the situation. But it seemed that it was only delaying the inevitable.
Alephee did her best to assist Eren, but she knew that their combined efforts were akin to using a bucket of water to douse a raging wildfire. Instead of being overwhelmed by the surging emotions, she focused on finding a solution.
Alas, her search only led her to a dead end.
"Eren... Reen... Her demon soul fragment is unconsciously attempting to take control of her body. But the vessel isn't capable of housing such an entity."
Alephee realized what was happening to Reen in a short period. She conveyed the same to Eren.
'I... I understand now. Whose soul fragment this belongs to,' Alephee's eyes widened upon realizing the situation.
'This isn't a coincidence. Beelzebub! This... this is his doing. He has manipulated the fabric of cause and effect to this extent,' Alephee blamed Beelzebub for what was occurring with Reen for some reason.
All this while, Alephee couldn't discern the owner of the soul fragment since it had remained dormant within Reen. However, the mana fluctuations it caused upon awakening were enough for Alephee to identify its origin.
"Is it one of the Demon Princes?" Eren inquired, struggling to contain the mana fluctuations threatening the Soul Seed Insertion Array Formation. The intense power made him think of existences on similar scales as Beelzebub and Samael.
"No!" Alephee responded swiftly. "It's someone much higher up the ladder," she said, sharing Eren's burden. "But that's not important right now," Alephee's voice conveyed a sense of sorrow.
"Eren, you need to let go now. The process has failed because we didn't anticipate this. Reen... she can't be revived anymore. A Hex artifact can't contain someone like her. You need to let her go before she starts hurting you and destroys this world in the process," Alephee tried to remain composed and rational.
"No."
Eren calmly rejected Alephee's suggestion. Although part of him understood her reasoning and the impossibility of binding Reen's soul to the vessel he had prepared, another part of him refused to give up after coming so far.
'There must be something. There has to be something I can do.'
Even though the reality of life came crashing down on him, Eren's visage was hauntingly calm as he tried to think of a solution. Even though he watched years of his efforts go to waste, he was trying his best to find a solution out of the huge blunder.
It was as if a switch had been flipped inside him, which allowed him to keep his negative emotions at bay.
Immortal magic!
A thought echoed in Eren's mind when he was at a loss when he was in his most desperate situation. This one echo spurred Eren to understand his next step.
'If Hex artifact creation has failed, so be it,' Eren tightened his fists, resolving himself.
'I have Elder Ichor flowing through my veins. I'll just create an Elder Seed Artifact.'
AN: Hex artifacts were explained in chapters 878, 1359, and 1360. Immortal Magic was explained in chapter 1385. Elder Seed Artifacts were explained in chapters 1317 and 1318. Beelzebub admits of interfering with the cause-and-effect fabric in chapter 1057.
