Within a minute, the missing part of Elaine’s soul had been restored anew, and not long after, she groaned and blinked, her eyes stinging as they adjusted to the surrounding light.
When she realised she was in Celestia’s arms, she blinked again, her expression shifting into a mix of shock and confusion.
Celestia, completely unbothered by her reaction, spoke calmly.
[If you’re awake, then get off before I drop you.]
That familiar prickly tone was what finally pulled Elaine out of her daze. She hurriedly jumped down from Celestia’s arms, stumbling back a few steps as she looked around in confusion, trying to understand why Celestia had been carrying her to begin with.
She noticed Berlal, but her mind didn’t properly register her presence, as her first instinct was to look for Arthur instead.
Since Arthur wasn’t far away, she spotted him quickly, but before she could even take a step in his direction, an imnse burst of energy erupted from his body.
Berlal imdiately grabbed Elaine by the collar and pulled her away so she wouldn’t be caught in the shockwave, warning her as she did so.
"Approaching him right now would be the worst decision you could possibly make."
Arthur was currently a Deity in the middle of advancing his Existence Realm Stage. If a mortal like Elaine carelessly approached him under such conditions, she could be blown to smithereens rely by the shockwaves of the energy bursts released from his body.
"Co," Berlal said, waving her hand.
Elaine’s shadow rose up, swallowing her body and plunging her vision into darkness. When light returned to her eyes, she found herself standing in the centre of the Regional Capital’s city square.
Her gaze imdiately landed on the unmoving, half-destroyed Knight, down on one knee.
She rushed toward him in worry, but once she reached his body and noticed the monochro filter covering him, she imdiately understood that Arthur must have frozen him in ti.
Berlal snapped her fingers just then, undoing Arthur’s temporal freeze in a manner that did not break his Authority, thereby preventing him from receiving any backlash, her superior cosmic energy manipulation coming into play here.
As the ti stop was lifted, Knight’s body imdiately began to crumble again. Cracks spread across his arms, and his fingers slowly broke apart into black dust that the wind blew away.
Elaine noticed this and desperately tried to channel her energy to repair his body. However, the mont she attempted to intervene, Berlal smacked her on the back of the head, disrupting her concentration and causing the gathered energy to scatter as Elaine clutched her head and cried out in pain.
"Ouch!"
"Don’t do anything foolish," Berlal warned. "You’ve only just awakened your ability to create creatures of undeath, and you don’t even understand the process behind it.
If not for Arthur’s death law energy, you’d never have succeeded in turning this devil dragon into an Undead, and now, even if you did manage it, his existence is unstable."
Elaine’s eyes widened as she turned toward Knight, worry flooding her expression.
Clearly, she didn’t want him to die again.
Knight, however, seed to accept his impending end, his deanour calm despite the circumstances.
Berlal took note of this before speaking again.
"I can change that, under certain circumstances."
"Certain... circumstances?" Elaine echoed, her eyes widening further as she grabbed Berlal’s arm. "What circumstan—?!"
Her voice vanished halfway through as Berlal muted her, then turned her attention to Knight and addressed him directly.
"You. Do you wish to continue existing, even as a creature of undeath?"
Knight couldn’t imdiately answer, and his silence made Berlal frown.
"I will not tolerate hesitation," she said. "I want imdiate answers. Nod your head for yes, shake your head for no.
Do you wish to continue existing, even as a creature of undeath?"
At that, Knight slowly raised his head and nodded.
Berlal continued. "If you continue existing as a creature of undeath, you will be bound to Elaine for eternity, as she is the one who transford you into what you are now. Do you accept this?"
Silence reigned for a mont, and just as Berlal’s patience began to wane, Knight nodded again.
Berlal paused, then spoke once more. "Do you resent her for turning you into a creature of undeath?"
At that question, Elaine froze. She had been struggling to get Berlal to lift the sound-nullification spell on her, but now her attention snapped entirely to Knight, fear filling her eyes.
’If Knight resented for turning him into an undead...’
She had never once considered that possibility. Now, faced with it directly, dread crept into her heart.
Knight noticed her reaction, glanced at her briefly, and then shook his head.
Relief washed over Elaine’s face, but it was short-lived, as Berlal spoke again.
"If you continue existing as a creature of undeath bound to Elaine, then in the event that her life is threatened and she faces death, your existence will be sacrificed in her place. Do you agree to this?"
Elaine was stunned. She wanted to protest, but Berlal did not even look at her, her gaze fixed on Knight.
This ti, she did not demand an imdiate answer.
Knight, upon hearing the question, was likewise unable to respond right away.
It was one thing for him to choose to continue existing, even as an undead. It was sothing entirely different to continue existing as an undead bound completely under Elaine’s control. And beyond that, there was the final condition being imposed upon him, that if Elaine was ever on the brink of death, his own existence would be offered up in her place.
In simple terms, he would beco a sacrificial gem for her, sothing that would shatter so that she could live.
That was not a small thing to accept, and it wasn’t an easy decision to make.
Elaine kept trying to say sothing, but Berlal didn’t spare even a fraction of her attention toward Elaine’s protests.
As for Celestia, she silently watched the entire exchange from the side, quietly wondering just how much of Elaine’s power had truly awakened as a result of this incident.
’If she can create undead now,’ Celestia thought to herself, ’then she should also be capable of storing souls, shouldn’t she?’
While she asked herself those questions, Knight, who had been down on one knee, finally pushed himself upright.
He staggered forward, dragging his body as he moved, his left leg barely functioning as he limped, while his right arm was already half disintegrated.
Knight stepped off the shattered platform and down onto the ground below, his gaze sweeping across the ruined city around him.
Large sections of it had been destroyed by the shockwaves released during Arthur’s battle with the five Infernal Devil Lords.
He could still hear screams echoing through the city, people trapped beneath rubble, desperately trying to escape.
He could still feel the presence of his forr Hero Companions. At the sa ti, he could no longer sense the existences of the forr Heroes, knowing that this was because they’d all been erased from existence by Arthur earlier.
Knight stared at the devastation in silence as his mind replayed everything that had occurred over the past 24 hours.
Finally, he turned to Berlal and nodded once.
Seeing this, Berlal spoke. "So that is your decision, huh?"
She then glanced toward Elaine, and the muting spell placed on her was lifted imdiately.
Realising she could speak again, Elaine shouted without hesitation, "Why the hell are you trying to turn him into a sacrificial pawn for ? He shouldn’t have to be!"
Before she could say anything else, Berlal cut her off. "He shouldn’t have to be a sacrificial pawn for you? If that’s your stance, then I’ll simply end his existence right now."
As she spoke, she raised her hand, and the disintegration of Knight’s body accelerated imdiately.
Elaine’s eyes widened in panic as she grabbed Berlal’s arm, trying to force her hand down, but her effort didn’t slow the process even slightly.
Turning toward Berlal, she shouted, "Why?! Why can’t you keep him alive without that?!"
Berlal answered instantly, as if she’d been waiting for the question. "Because I have a very useful card in front of , and I’m choosing to play it."
Elaine stared at her, confusion flashing across her face. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Berlal’s reply was calm and delivered without hesitation. "You want to know why I set this condition? It’s simple. To ensure your continued existence, even in a situation where death is all but guaranteed.
I care about Arthur’s existence. I want to see how far he’ll go upon the cosmic stage. I also require his continued existence for certain hybrid races to co into being, sothing I’m very curious about, particularly how the powers of those two races will fuse and synergise."
Pointing at Elaine, she continued, "Arthur cares about your existence. You’re a necessary component for Arthur’s ntal stability and future plans.
Your death would cause setbacks on his cosmic journey, and I simply want to remove that potential obstacle from the path of soone whose journey I intend to observe."
Her voice remained calm as she concluded, "So I’m ensuring that you possess a ans to preserve your life, even when death is the only remaining outco. For Arthur’s sake."
As she finished speaking, Berlal lowered her hand and leaned forward slightly, causing Elaine to instinctively step back.
Then she asked, "So tell , which do you care about more? Arthur, or this devil dragon?"
"Huh? Obviously Arthu—!"
Elaine didn’t even hesitate for a fraction of a second to answer the question, but she clamped her hand over her mouth midway, eyes widening.
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