Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 503

Reinhart hadn’t underestimated the spirits. There was no way he could.

Even Olivia had not been able to withstand possession by those vengeful spirits, so he didn’t think he could endure it either. He knew that his actions were reckless. However, he had no choice. If it grew any larger, the swarm of spirits would become an uncontrollable problem.

If they were able to take control of Olivia, they could dominate anyone.

Port Mokna would be devastated, and Riana, who was as hated as he was, would also die. Therefore, he decided to imprison the swarm of spirits within himself.

No one else but him had to endure it. Since the hatred was directed at him, he had to withstand it. No other option came to mind.

As the wave of spirits threatened to engulf him, he felt a strange sensation. It was as if his soul was under attack.

Reinhart wondered if Olivia had felt the same way. If consciousness was like the moon in the night sky, and the self was the world illuminated under the moonlight of that consciousness, then it felt as if the moon had suddenly grown too distant, dimming into starlight in the night sky.

Starlight could not illuminate the world. As the moonlight grew more distant and failed to illuminate the world of the self, he felt himself also growing distant, as if he himself was being swallowed by darkness and disappearing.

Since they had entered his soul and his mind, Reinhart could feel their anger and hatred not on his skin, but in his soul.

He could never know the names or identities of each spirit that made up this enormous mass. However, the brutal and despairing images that passed through him were polluting his mind.

A mental nausea, or perhaps a form of retching, was rising—a chilling sensation that dominated his soul and pulled him into the abyss.

If he gave in, it would be over. He hadn’t brought them in to be dominated by them but to imprison them. He couldn’t fall.

Thoughts came to him while he was in the dark, as he felt the sensation of his consciousness fading and his self being engulfed in darkness. These victims had every right to hate and despise him since they were oblivious to everything he had experienced and were merely victims of all the circumstances that stemmed from him. They had the right to hate him, despise him, be angry with him, and wish to destroy him.

However, Reinhart had no intention of giving himself to them. He intended to endure. He planned to imprison their hatred, anger, and desire for revenge within himself so they couldn’t draw in any more spirits.

He acknowledged their right to destroy, but he had not accepted that it was okay to be destroyed by them. He felt sorry for their sacrifice, pitied them, and felt guilty. But, unfortunately, Reinhart wasn’t going to die for them.

In Rijaiera, Reinhart had reached Master class. However, what he learned in Rijaiera, from Luna, Ronan, Lena, and Arta, was not how to wield a sword, but how to wield the heart.

The power to handle the heart... Becoming a Master was merely an emergent property, a result of reaching that extreme.

He had mastered how to handle the world of the mind, soul, and heart. Though consciousness had become distant like a star, and the self was engulfed in darkness, in the end, stars do not easily die.

Even if the light of distant stars couldn’t illuminate anything, it was still light. Even if it was a weak light that seemed about to go out, if it was the light of his consciousness, it would be immortal. Even if that starlight couldn’t illuminate the self, it was merely trapped in darkness, not gone.

Reinhart knew nothing about the mysteries Luna Artorius used. He couldn’t wield the power she had demonstrated as an avatar of the gods, but the mind and soul were the world of the heart, and in his heart, he was the only god.

Reinhart had always reigned as the god of his will and his heart, through the power known as Self-Deception. The spirits surged into his mind, trying to destroy and collapse it, and his consciousness and self were gradually fading.

But that starlight, and the power Luna used... Luna had enlarged the moon and drawn a mystical moon sword from it.

Although it wasn’t the same method, Reinhart still reached out to the distant starlight, with a sense of pulling it in, drawing back the distant consciousness so that it shone like the sun, not the moon. He resisted the night of faded consciousness that the dark souls trying to devour his self were dragging in.

He would endure. He would withstand it.

While imprisoning those spirits trying to devour him within himself...

“Did you really think... it would be easy to devour me...?” Reinhart said.

“Did you really think... it would be that easy...?”

He would let them live inside him, and he would return to the world of reason and reality.

***

“...?”

Eventually, when he pulled his senses out from the depths of the world of consciousness and back to reality, he found himself not in Port Mokna, but in his bedroom in the royal castle of Rajak. He was on the bed, and Olivia was embracing him.

Olivia’s eyes went as wide as they could when she saw him open his eyes. “R-Reinhart?”

“Why am I here...?” Reinhart mumbled.

“You... You woke up! You woke up! You woke up!!!”

Tears welled up in Olivia’s eyes, and though she was already holding him, she hugged him even more tightly.

Reinhart was sure he had been on the outskirts of Port Mokna just moments ago. Why was he here?

Though his time in Rijaera had felt long, it had been a fleeting moment in reality. In contrast, though he thought he had been in Port Mokna just a few moments ago, it seemed quite some time had passed.

“Reinhart. I, I was scared,” Olivia said, sniffing and sobbing. “I thought you wouldn’t wake up. I was afraid you wouldn’t wake up...!”

She continued to hold him tightly, crying sorrowfully.

How many days had passed? What had happened? Reinhart didn’t know.

He struggled to embrace Olivia, who was sobbing while holding him. His whole body felt weak. Was his energy depleted?

“How about you... Are you okay?” At Reinhart’s question, Olivia’s lips twisted as tears streamed down her face.

“Is this the time for you to worry about me?!”

Despite the situation, Olivia cried even more loudly, upset that that was the first thing he’d said upon waking.

“Wait... just give me a moment...” Reinhart said.

“Yeah. D-do you need anything?”

Reinhart separated himself from Olivia and tried to get up.

“Ugh...”

But the splitting headache made it impossible for him to maintain his balance.

“Reinhart! Are you okay?”

“Yeah... I’m fine...”

Reinhart was sure he could maintain himself.

“No, you’re not. Look at yourself...” Olivia, crying, supported him and led him to the mirror.

“...”

Looking in the mirror, Reinhart saw that his hair had turned white. Though he had succeeded in imprisoning countless spirits within himself, it was clearly affecting his mind and body.

***

After the battle between the spirit-dominated Olivia Lanche and the Demon King at Port Mokna, the Demon King had absorbed the massive conglomeration of spirits into his body and remained unconscious for a week.

The leader of the Holy Order, Olivia Lanche, who had regained herself, was also in a weakened state, but as the one with the most powerful Divine Power, she stayed by the Demon King’s side 24 hours a day, caring for the unconscious Demon King.

The Senate and everyone in the royal family came to see the Demon King when they heard he had regained consciousness.

The Demon King, whose hair had turned white, looked haggard. It wasn’t just that his energy was depleted. No ordinary being could endure life while imprisoning a collection of wills that was trying to kill him within his soul. Even an extraordinary being would not be able to easily handle it.

It was as if he was dying in real time, but managing to hold on with sheer mental strength.

To prepare for any possible emergency, the leader of the Holy Order, Olivia Lanche, stayed by the Demon King’s side 24 hours a day even after he regained consciousness.

***

The Demon King was indeed maintaining his hold over himself. However, everyone could see that his condition was becoming increasingly severe.

“Ugh... ughhh!”

“Reinhart... are you okay?” Olivia watched, biting her lip, as Reinhart sat down in the corridor along the castle wall, retching.

“I’m okay... I’m oka—”

Reinhart, who kept repeating that he was okay, clearly didn’t look okay to anyone.

Though his hair, which had turned white, had returned to its original state thanks to the Dreadfiend’s Ring, the Demon King constantly suffered from high fever, headaches, and nausea.

Just as the mind affects the body, the soul also affects the body.

Olivia supported Reinhart, who staggered to his feet after retching. The spirits trapped in Reinhart’s mind could not be removed with Divine Power.

Though they couldn’t affect the outside world, they directly affected Reinhart.

Olivia could heal the decayed and rotten hands and feet from the battle. She could replenish the Demon King’s depleted energy with Divine Power. She could heal the physical effects, but the matters within his internal self were beyond Olivia’s reach.

The massive number of spirits imprisoned in the Demon King’s soul could not be purified or healed.

***

The Demon King found even daily life challenging, let alone handling state affairs, so he was kept secluded in the royal castle of Rajak, receiving care from the leader of the Holy Order.

The fact that the Demon King was becoming increasingly weak was kept top secret. Since Regent Charlotte was handling all state affairs within Edina, there were no issues in Edina. However, the mood among Edina’s high-ranking officials, who knew the Demon King was weakening, was universally gloomy.

Naturally, the operation of Port Mokna was not just put on hold, but terminated completely. Since it was unclear whether the threats in the vicinity had completely disappeared, a large-scale withdrawal was underway.

Ultimately, the responsibility for this entire situation lay primarily with Riana de Granz, the commander of Port Mokna.

“...”

Reinhart, who seemed to find even sitting in a chair difficult, was sitting in his bedroom, supported by Olivia, quietly looking down at someone.

Riana de Granz, who had never presented herself to the Demon King in such a way before, was kneeling before him, with her head bowed.

“It's all... my fault,” she said.

Reinhart quietly looked down at Riana. The massacre that Riana had carried out on her own initiative was the seed of this disaster. The first price had been paid by Olivia Lanche, and to save Olivia Lanche, the Demon King had chosen to imprison those spirits within his soul.

The Demon King’s soul was his for now, but it was gradually dying.

Riana had not been able to take responsibility for everything that had happened because of her actions. Others had been made to pay the price for her sins.

She was unable to bear it and was tormented by it.

“If you tell me to die, I’ll die.”

That was the only thing Riana could say to the friend who had paid the price for her.

Olivia watched the scene in silence.

Reinhart looked down at Riana, who had declared she would pay with her life if necessary.

“You couldn’t have known this would happen,” he said.

“...”

“Of course, you knew it was a sin, but you couldn’t have known this would happen. Surely.” Reinhart’s voice quavered, cracking. Gone was its usual strength, and just listening to it was enough to plunge Olivia and Riana into anguish.

“If unforeseen and unintended things happen because of your actions, and others are made to pay the price... If you have to die for that... then shouldn’t I die too...?”

“...”

Strictly speaking, what both Reinhart and Riana had done were qualitatively different. However, if one thought about it only in terms of results, then in both cases, unforeseen things had happened, and others had been made to pay the price.

Reinhart’s wish had ultimately resulted in unintended consequences that led to the Gate Incident.

Riana’s actions, taken to protect Edina and Reinhart, had resulted in unintended consequences, and now Reinhart was dying.

Since both situations shared similar characteristics, if Riana had to be punished with a death sentence for hers, the Demon King Reinhart would have to receive the same punishment.

Reinhart quietly watched as tears flowed down Riana’s cheeks, dripped from her chin, and fell to the floor.

He knew better than anyone the misery of being unable to do anything about the problems caused by his actions.

“We talked about this kind of problem a long time ago...”

“...”

“Let’s continue to live this life and make a change.”

At Reinhart’s words, Riana’s shoulders began to tremble.

The Demon King, who spoke with a voice that kept cracking, was suffering from a high fever and looked as if he could die at any moment. Reinhart was enduring the unbearable. Everyone knew that. And Reinhart himself was aware of it as well.

***

Perhaps punishment was a necessary consequence for the actions that the Demon King had not ordered, which had now resulted in a significant problem for him. But Reinhart knew that nothing could be gained by taking a life.

Riana de Granz was too important to Edina to be executed under the guise of making an example. Hence, Riana de Granz was not punished.

Though Reinhart was being cared for by Olivia, others naturally came to visit.

“This is madness, you know.”

Lucinil, the head of the House of Wednesday, was referring to the incident at Port Mokna.

“There was no other way,” Reinhart replied.

The conglomeration of spirits was too massive to be destroyed with Divine Power, and it had been growing in real time. Imprisoning them within the prison of his soul and enduring it had been the only immediate solution available.

Lucinil wasn’t afraid to show her anger in front of the Demon King. “This isn’t a solution. Do you even think this is going to work out?”

“I have to make it work,” said the Demon King with a weak and haggard expression.

“You’re not making anything work. You’re just enduring it.”

“...”

“You haven’t forgotten Charlotte’s case, have you?” At Lucinil’s words, Reinhart fell silent.

Charlotte’s soul had ultimately become one with the previous Demon King’s.

Since the Demon King’s consciousness had disappeared, their personalities had not mixed, but the sheer number of consciousnesses that had entered Reinhart’s mind was too many to count.

“In the long run, your soul will merge with the souls within you and become one,” Lucinil said.

Reinhart remained expressionless, but Olivia, standing beside him, turned pale.

“W-what would happen then?” Olivia asked.

“I’ve never conducted an experiment on such a large scale,” Lucinil said to Reinhart, “so I don’t know the details. But your true self will disappear, and you’ll become a completely different being.”

Though he was maintaining his consciousness for the moment, as the other souls within him gradually began to assimilate with him, the existence known as Reinhart would disappear like a handful of sand scattered in the desert. Not dying, but becoming a completely different being.

Olivia grew even paler, and she almost looked blue.

Lucinil was the foremost expert in soul magic in the world, having dealt with the most number of them, and she had conducted numerous experiments related to this. Hence, if Lucinil said it would happen, it would happen.

Reinhart heard Lucinil’s warning, but only looked tired and said nothing.