Chapter 10
“BUT NOW WHAT’S GOING ON?” Mira asked.
“Well, actually, this is the first time I’ve seen something like this…” Wallenstein answered.
“It seems kinda weird, huh?” Meilin added.
A closer look at the demon they’d managed to free from the mass of flesh revealed several mysterious things about it.
At first glance, it looked like the same kind of light demon as Barbatos and his comrades. And yet, the tips of its toes as well as its back were covered in the same black skin that dark demons had.
Basically, the demon looked as if it were neither a dark nor a light demon, but something in between.
“And its face… I remember it. His name is…Marchosias. I heard that he’d agreed to be the guardian of a special seal, so I suppose this was what he was guarding,” Barbatos continued, saying that he recognized the demon even though they’d only crossed paths a long, long time ago.
But, at the same time, a troubled look came onto his face. He recalled how the guardian of the seal he’d heard about had been required to sacrifice themselves in such a way.
“I remember him as well. Or rather, there’s no way I could forget him. Marchosias… To think you’ve been in a place like this…” the Spirit King said, visibly surprised. It sounded as if he were speaking to himself unconsciously, and his voice was full of the kind of bittersweetness one speaks with when they’re grieving for an old friend.
“Miss Mira,” he continued, “his hand…”
This was not the case, but Barbatos nevertheless felt hurt by this misunderstanding. Agreeing to let the Spirit King speak with Barbatos, Mira quietly walked over to him and touched his hand.
According to the Spirit King’s story, Marchosias was the demon who’d agreed to step up and seal the Monster-Ruling God’s sword.
After the divine Trinity and the Spirit King had placed layer upon layer of seals upon the sword, Marchosias had brought it to the spirit leylines and used them to complete the seal.
Marchosias was the only one who knew where the spirit leylines were, and so, from there on out, he assumed the role of a guardian who periodically checked to make sure that nothing was wrong with the seal.
The Spirit King had received countless reports from Marchosias in the past saying that the seal was holding just fine.
However, as they could now very well see, the sword of the Monster-Ruling God was not only broken but also nowhere near any spirit leylines.
Clearly, something had happened.
Looking at it chronologically, whatever had happened, it was after the Spirit King was no longer able to leave the Spirit Palace.
“…At any rate, once he wakes up, we can get to the bottom of what happened,” Mira concluded simply, after listening to the two discuss various things.
Why was the sword of the Monster-Ruling God there? And why had Marchosias been sealed there?
The demon himself would be the one most likely to know the answers to these questions. He would give them the quickest explanation, should he be able to wake up, if he were even alive.
“Yes, good point,” the Spirit King said.
“Indeed. Let’s rouse him,” Barbatos added.
Then, Wallenstein turned toward them and said, “It would seem you’re done talking,” before revealing what he’d learned after examining Marchosias.
First, he’d gotten no response when he tried to speak to him. Moreover, Marchosias didn’t respond the least bit to any stimulus whatsoever.
It was as if he were a corpse.
And yet, after duly using [Biometric Scan], Meilin had discovered that there was no issue with his vital signs, despite the state he was in.
“…And so, in a word, the seal he placed on himself is perfect. Therefore, we won’t get anywhere until we first lift the seal,” Wallenstein said, thus concluding what he’d gathered. Furrowing his brow, he added that this would be yet another troublesome task.
After investigating the seal in detail, he’d confirmed that there were very specific conditions for lifting it.
“So, just what are the requirements? We’ve got to figure those out first,” he continued.
According to him, if they tried to forcefully undo the seal without first meeting these conditions, it’d cost Marchosias his life.
“What the…?” Mira gasped, shocked at this development.
And yet, a cursory look hadn’t revealed anything nearby that said anything about the seal. Wallenstein had apparently looked through several of Marchosias’s possessions, but he hadn’t uncovered anything that might help them lift the seal.
“Conditions, huh? I wonder what they could be?” Barbatos pondered, before glancing about the room in search of something which might give them a lead.
“Hrmm… What could they be?” Mira groaned, unable to even venture a guess as to the nature of the conditions. At the same time, she understood just how committed Marchosias had been.
Some time earlier, Barbatos had mentioned that he himself had placed the seal.
Depending on how things turned out, the seal could’ve held forever, which would mean the demon’s death. Even so, Marchosias had placed such a seal on himself, meaning that he must have had a good reason for doing so. That told her just how committed he’d been.
So, what were the conditions necessary for lifting the seal that Marchosias had put on himself? And for what reason, for what dire purpose, had he placed the seal on himself? Did it have something to do with the sword of the Monster-Ruling God, as she presumed? Or was there some other reason?
And so, while Mira and her companions were racking their brains about all of this, someone suddenly spoke.
“Hmm, are you sure? It looks like he’s stuck mid-transformation. And because he didn’t finish, he looks like this,” Meilin said, while staring at Marchosias.
They took another look to see what she was on about. Meilin was talking about what they’d originally noticed.
That is, Marchosias looked to be neither light nor dark demon, but something in between.
“That…is certainly conceivable,” Wallenstein said.
“I see… That’s a good point. Come to think of it, he definitely isn’t in a normal state,” Mira added.
It was just as Meilin said. Marchosias’s body looked as if it were in the middle of a transformation.
When Mira realized this, a single idea popped into her head.
Maybe to stop it, he…
Judging from the seal that’d been placed on the earlier door, which could only be modified by someone of the same race, Marchosias had still been a regular demon at that time.
But for some reason, he’d begun transforming into a dark demon. And to suppress this transformation, he’d sealed himself before he fully became one.
Or so Mira hypothesized.
“So, he must’ve been…fighting against becoming a dark demon,” said Wallenstein, who’d had the same thought as Mira.
The moment he said this, he glanced toward Barbatos as if to ask what his thoughts were.
“It’s certainly plausible. Were I to feel that I’d once again be controlled by that black will, then I might very well seal myself as securely as he,” Barbatos said, agreeing that it was certainly conceivable.
Were he to realize that he was going to become a demon, he’d certainly be willing to seal himself. Also, he added that the transformation would probably just continue if the seal were broken without doing anything about it. And so, he’d make addressing this a condition for lifting the seal.
“It seems like it’s worth a shot,” Mira said.
“It is indeed,” Wallenstien agreed.
Given the situation, it certainly seemed plausible that one of the conditions for safely lifting the seal was to Stop Marchosias’s transformation into a dark demon.
“The issue is, how do we go about stopping it? That’s your guys’ specialty, isn’t it? Do you know how it might be done?” Mira asked.
Dark demons were indeed Wallenstein and his companions’ area of expertise.
“This is my first time seeing a demon half-transformed, but I assume the same thing is causing it, so why don’t we give it a try?” Wallenstein said.
“So, we try the usual way, then,” Barbatos added.
After answering Mira, they quickly began preparing.
They arranged all the tools they normally used for the ritual to transform dark demons into light demons around Marchosias.
The tools were used to seal away demons’ key ability to transform demonic power, which was what was behind them transforming into dark demons.
If they could remove what was making him transform into a dark demon, then they could likely fulfill the condition necessary to lift the seal. And then, once Marchosias had woken up, they should be able to unravel the rest of the mysteries that lay before them.
“Okay, let us begin.”
After preparing, Wallenstein and Barbatos set about sealing this ability.
Billowing waves of light then began to swirl about, soon growing even brighter.
Then, once the light became brightest, it was suddenly absorbed into Marchosias’s body.
After observing him for several moments, Wallenstein nodded approvingly and said, “Good, it worked.”