Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

Until now, he hadn’t cared because he thought she would awaken on her own, but not anymore.

“Take a good look, Linbelle.”

As he crouched down, Basil's presence expanded.

Pure white prana swirled from his body and sprang from beneath his feet. The prana that emerged around his sword began to circle around him as well.

As she looked blankly at the scene before her eyes, Allen whispered softly to her, “That's prana.”

“…That’s what it is.”

“Yes, noble, stubborn… It's a powerful force.”

His sword burned bright like the sun, and the knights looked proud as their leader’s waves of power grew increasingly strong.

“Such a strong man…”

“…What a surprise.”

“He still possessed that kind of power?”

The elves hummed, seeming surprised, but Basil concentrated on the huge wall, paying them no heed.

The white light, appearing nearly sacred at a moment’s glance, flickered about. Allen ignored all of that.

“It’s one of the powers you’ll soon possess.”

There was an obsessive desire in her eyes, a hint of greed, and also—

“Me…”

Despair.

“…Can I really do that?”

Her eyes fell with dreary despair.

“You can.”

“That's what you’ve always said.”

She forced herself to hold Pure Black between her trembling hands and, in a hushed voice, said, “You’ve always told me that. Since the very beginning, and… even now, too. I…”

“You know what I always say?” He cut her off. “Prana is a noble power.”

“I know. How many times have you told me—?!”

“That's why I believe.”

Her eyes flared with frustration and disbelief.

“That you can do it.”

Prana was the type of power that responded to strong emotions or vows—power that could be infinitely strong should the user possess a strong will, yet power that could also be lost should the vow acting as its source be broken.

“That you are enough.”

Therefore, users who dealt in that power were more essential than anyone else.

“That you’re more capable of being noble than anyone else.”

The same was true of the noble nature of prana. The very act of using prana proved that the will of the wielder held steadfast.

“So you don't need to worry. It will come so simply to you one day.”

“But…”

She just lacked the motivation.

She lacked a powerful gust of emotion that could draw prana out, the fuel of anger that would have hastened her growth.

“But if you're having a hard time...”

“I—!”

Allen changed his mind at her demonstration of an excessive obsession with power, so different from his memories of her in his previous life.

“You may quit.”

She was momentarily lost for words, her eyes widening. “…What?”

If his expectations went unfulfilled to the point that he abandoned them. If he found it difficult to even look at her as she continued to fail. She, of whom he had once expected so much—

“It’s okay if you can't manage to use prana.”

“What? Why…? No, so everything I've done so far, all that effort…”

Linbelle looked up at him with surprise.

Seeing the confused look on her face, Allen realized that she had been deeply invested.

“Is it because I… I don’t meet your standards?”

“No,” Allen replied dispassionately, with an expression that said it was obvious.

“Because it doesn't matter.”

“What?”

“With your talent, it doesn't matter if you can only use mana and not prana.”

The plan at the Academy wouldn't go quite right, but what would it matter? He was a genius in the sword. He had no doubt that roughly the same result would be achieved.

“So it's okay not to rush.”

He raised his head towards the source of bright light beaming on his face. When he moved his gaze, he saw the light bursting out of the Knight Commander’s sword.

“Even if you need to take a short break, there’ll be plenty of time afterward to continue.”

“Ah—”

As soon as she opened her mouth, the wooden wall was smashed by the pure white attack.

Loud cheers ensued.

“Wow!!!”

“Sir Basil!”

“It's been a long time since I've seen the Knight Commander use so much of his strength.”

Linbelle sighed, quietly silencing Allen's question.

He stayed by her side but never heard her answer.

‘Was it too much to expect her to change everything in an instant?’

If she stayed the same after this, Allen would force her to master mana.

It would be far better to do that than let her continue struggling as much as she currently was.

Allen confirmed that Inellia was approaching them from behind and moved toward the Knight Commander.

Appearing surprised at the power of the Knight Commander, Julius looked at Camilla for a moment before quickly heading over to congratulate him. “Sir Basil, that was really, really amazing. How do you feel? Do you need to rest?”

“This won't interfere with the battle.”

Julius took a moment to admire him before praising his chivalrous words. “…Did I hear that you were the Knight Commander, Basil? With that kind of skill, you’re probably one of the strongest people here.”

Natasha was surprised by the Knight Commander’s strength, but quickly came to her senses, realizing that there were players even stronger than him within the Great Forest.

“By the way…” Natasha frowned when she saw the now unveiled Heavenly Forest. “It's more disgusting up close.”

“It's completely distorted.”

Just as she said, the Forest looked terrible.

From the pitch black trees and land, to the dead bodies of decayed animals scattered about, to even strange, mutated creatures—the Forest was so damaged that it was impossible to even imagine how the original once looked.

Natasha’s ears twitched for a moment before she said to Allen, “I can't believe there’s been no response of any kind to a disturbance of this severity… Isn’t that just bizarre?”

Allen agreed with her.

It was understandable why they hadn’t been attacked along the way. It must’ve been to strengthen the defense here. However, the tree that used to surround the Forest had disappeared, yet no one even came to see what had happened?

‘Are their senses… blocked?’

Perhaps some measure of surveillance had been undertaken, but that would only cover a certain range of sensing.

After thinking it over for a while, Natasha saw Julius and Basil beginning to approach them and replied, “Let’s split up.”

She suggested dividing their forces, claiming it would be too inefficient to stick together within the distorted Forest.

“There may be some danger lurking within the Forest, but having this large of a group is inefficient as well. Given that, why don't we apportion the number of people we have?"

With that excuse, her true intention was obvious.

‘Are you saying that going around together won’t be enough?’

There were only about 100 elves, and in the end, the suggestion to split their ranks was just a roundabout way to say that she wanted to search the Forest.

“We are small in number, so you should allocate the forces under Sir Julius and yourself, Sir Allen…”

Just as Allen had expected, she left with the elves and appointed the two of them to make the decisions. Once she had finished, Julius immediately opened his mouth as if he had discovered the perfect opportunity.

“Brother, I’ll go with the Knight Commander. Do you mind?”

Julius's intentions were obvious to Allen, but he promptly allowed it.

‘The Knight Commander is loyal only to father.’

He came into the family under certain terms laid out by their father, taking the position as Knight Commander. Julius, unaware of this fact, would find this particular endeavor of his to be a fruitless one.

“I don’t, but then, it won’t matter if I take eight knights with me, right?”

“Go ahead.”

Allen took eight of the fifteen knights and divided the soldiers into two groups of 150.

‘You’re so spineless.’

Julius appeared anxious about whether Allen would choose Camilla. Despite knowing this, Allen had no intention of messing with him further, so he chose from the group without much care.

Their role would be to do nothing more than search and shield him, anyway.

“Are you finished?” Natasha asked when the division of personnel was complete.

“To start, whoever’s the first to find the dark sorcerer or the god should send out a signal.”

“Then we can learn where each party is located, yes?” She beckoned, and an elf waiting next to her handed her a small purse. “Throw this in the air, and it will be visible from afar.”

“What is this?” Basil asked while looking at the small purse.

At the same time, Julius mouthed a few words to himself. 

‘Seed… Ball… oon…?’

“It would be best to demonstrate it to you in person. If you throw it up like this…”

She lightly tossed a handful of light-green seeds up in the air. Ascending in a straight line into the sky, they gradually decelerated as they surpassed the height of the wooden wall.

Boom!

The seeds exploded with a spectacular and startling roar.

The knights were flustered by their first experience with the seed explosion, but quickly regained their composure when the elves showed no sign of being at all startled. They seemed familiar with it.

“All you do is throw it, so it won't be difficult to use.”

She distributed the seeds to Allen, Julius, and the other knights in a business-like manner, as if she had low expectations of them.

“All kinds of threats may be awaiting you within the Forest, so if you find anything, please signal immediately. Well then…”

A spirit so powerful that Allen couldn’t even imagine daring to contract it arose from her body and wrapped around her.

“We’ll go ahead of you.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the elves quickly disappeared into the hole created by the wooden wall’s destruction.

Even if the forest was half-petrified, they wouldn't have difficulty searching if they were familiar with the geography of the Forest.

‘I doubt they’ll really send a signal.’

When they disappeared, Julius looked at Allen and began, “Then I’ll aim for the center, Brother.”

His eyes lingered on a particular spot in the air.

‘Are you using the mapping function of the [System]?’

Julius quickly left with seven knights and half of their soldiers along with the Knight Commander.

He had his memory of the , too, so he’d be able to find the location of the dark sorcerer on his own. Even if he didn’t remember, he would find a clue soon. He was just that kind of guy, after all.

A knight next to Allen spoke as the group representative. “Where would you like to go, sir?”

The elves would move based on their knowledge of the Forest’s original layout.

Julius would use the [System] to find the dark sorcerer.

‘Well then.’

Should they simply search around until they found something, or should they search the Forest based on information from the black book?

“We will…”

Just as Allen was about to tell them his decision—

⟬Wait, wait. Over there! Please go that way.⟭

Vestla suddenly cut in, breaking their unwritten rules.

* * *

* * * 

“Ahhhhhhh!”

“Please— Please kill me…”

“Please, please, please, please, please let me live, please.”

A life vanished with an endless scream.

“Urgh… grk.”

Plop.

Another body sucked of all its vitality scattered across the Forest floor. Having sacrificed yet another elf, Carnell turned his head nervously.

“What did you say?”

“The intruders have finally entered the forest.”

“Already? I thought they’d be stuck outside for a day at the very least…”

Carnell was annoyed by the news that his plan hadn’t gone as expected.

“I can’t believe those Reinhart guys are supporting the elves. And the fact that they arrived this quickly?”

It was strange—outright bizarre—that those who had been on such terrible terms joined forces, that they had moved so quickly. Almost as if they knew his current plans.

“Did they figure it out? No, that couldn't be…?”

Alarmed that they were being monitored, headquarters even gifted them an artifact to block the view of the spy a few days ago.

Heaven’s Eye could not be prevented with this kind of artifact, but it was possible to at least muddy the owner’s view.

Even if it weren’t possible, if this place had been scouted out, he would have been able to feel someone's gaze…

“Is there something wrong?”

When he turned his head toward the weighty voice, he saw a figure dressed in gloomy black armor approach.

“No… Everything is alright. So far.”

The ambush they had planned out was being prepared, sending those carrying out the raid into the mountains. 

And now, in a little while, their work with the god would be complete.

Even so—

“Am I a little nervous?”

Regardless, Carnell felt a sense of foreboding. Yes, this… this was…

“Absurd.”

It was anxiety—a feeling that no matter what he did, he would face a predetermined ending.

“Absurd…?”

“Yes.” He collected his thoughts. “Marlock, when was the first dark sorcerer overthrown?”

“Maybe… four months ago?”

“Yes, that’s the problem.” Carnell should have noticed the abnormality back then. “Isn't it strange?”

“What is?”

“Were the ceremony proceedings held in the West so dire that it was necessary for the Duke to do something about it?”

“No, it wasn’t.”

They had focused on the villagers rather than the cities, kidnapping older people or women before going after the healthy young people. They inflicted not a curse, but rather, a chronic disease. That way, it looked more like a natural death than anything else.

“But somehow, the Reinharts found out, and got away with killing a dark sorcerer for their troubles.”

“Isn't that just a coincidence?”

“I thought so, too. Until now.”

Then what about the woman who was freed from the curse?

“Was she a coincidence, too? No, for a commoner to escape a curse in the first place? By luck?”

“That is…” Marlock couldn’t answer.

However, Carnell continued as if he didn't care to hear his answer. “And then it kept going.”

After the curse had spread, he returned and killed the witch.

Now, less than a week after their ceremony began in the Heavenly Forest, troops had been dispatched.

“What about this time? Should we stop the ceremony just before it’s complete? Or should we go ahead and destroy the boundary now?”

As Carnell repeated his doubts, Marlock couldn’t refute him. Noticing the latter’s silence, Carnell's eyes turned to the dark sorcerer standing awkwardly by his side.

“How far have they come?”

The dark sorcerer stiffened when those crazy eyes swung his way.

“Well, that’s…”

“Hurry up and tell me.”

“They’ve divided themselves into three groups…”

“Now.”

Carnell's eyes turned cold, and the dark sorcerer knelt straight down and shouted, “One of the human factions has reached where our people are gathered, and the elves are heading toward the center of the forest! The other humans are going ‘there’!”

“There?”

His eyes sparkled with interest as he removed the heart from the body lying on the forest floor.

“Did it seem like they knew?”

“I don’t know!”

“Hmm… Well, it’s good that they’ve come crawling to their own demise.”

It was a byproduct of the experiment that was run before planning the fall of the god—something forcibly sealed away after the death of the chimera sorcerer who performed said research. After the sorcerer’s disappearance, they couldn't handle it, so they sealed it and had no intention of stopping the intruders if they went to that place of their own accord.

“What are you going to do?”

“Hmm…” Carnell laughed and looked back. There, the god the size of a small hill was half-black and struggling. “It's all about him.”

Bang.

“Clean up your technique right now!”

“Hurry up and bring more offerings!”

“Please save me, save me… Hrrk.”

The god would soon become the devil of legend—a tale he himself had wrought—the spearhead for their holy war.

In order to do that…

“Release all the servants. Have them deal with those intruders. And try to lure the others to their destination in secret.”

“U-understood!”

The dark sorcerer rushed out to fulfill his order with a skull-decorated cane.

“Marlock, you go to the place where our people are gathered and stall for time. For as long as possible.”

“Alright.”

Marlock nodded gravely at his orders without objection.

Carnell turned his head when Marlock disappeared to carry out his orders.

“If this plan goes awry too, then…”

His eyes turned dark.

“That cannot happen.”

He shouted at his compatriots in a covetous voice. “Tell everyone except for the minimum number of people required for the ceremony.”

For his sake, there would be no mistakes.

“The time has finally come.”

Even if they had to pay with their lives.

"Hell-Critica."

For all those who worship.