Since Ves was not making much progress in convincing Ketis to drop her objection by resorting to othering, he decided to switch tracks.
He saw that he could reduce her discomfort towards using the souls of original humans as a resource if he frad it as a second chance.
"If you think about it, I am doing the folks over in the old galaxy a favor." He said with greater confidence in his voice than he actually felt. "Sure, most of them will either end up being devoured by demons, but at least they can live on in another way. They can rest easily knowing that their lives had aning. They have made a small but aningful contribution to the defense of fellow humans who have the misfortune of being trapped in a wartorn dwarf galaxy."
"I do not think that a cow will feel grateful or fulfilled due to the fact that his flesh is being used to fill people's bellies in a restaurant." Ketis sardonically remarked.
"Well it is better than dying a completely aningless death." Ves insisted. "Besides, the analogy does not fit that well because humans are alien to the cow. If you believe the two branches of humanity are still part of the sa group, then the dynamic is different. If a person voluntarily sacrifices himself to save another, then that is considered an act of sacrifice, which is one of the virtues that exemplify honor."
"There is a difference. Sacrifice is done by choice. I doubt that is the case with these exploited human souls." Ketis retorted.
"They wouldn't understand. They are original humans. They don't care about us anymore. Look, willing or not, you cannot deny that we are giving them a tiny chance of earning a second chance at 'life'. Demonization is not a pleasant process, but it gives them the strength and value they need to exist. If I am faced with the sa situation, then I would grasp it without bothering to complain about the less-than-hospitable treatnt. Even if I am reduced to a raw soul that is destined to feed a hungry demon, then I will fight for my right to live to such a massive extent that the demon will end up getting devoured by myself! Nothing is impossible as long as I am given a chance, and I think you will choose the sa! Giving up is not our style!"
"...That may be true, but not everyone is like us. What if these people just want to put down their burdens and rest? What if they just want their existences to et a graceful end?"
"Then I can only say sorry to them as I repurpose their souls so that they can still benefit the living"
Though Ves had not succeeded in converting Ketis' viewpoint, he noted that he still managed to weaken her resolve to object against his actions.
That was enough for the ti being. Ves was more than willing to settle for a partial
success.
"Look, we can argue all day, but I am not going to give up my strategy." He said. "Like it or not, Demoncasting has beco one of the nurous solutions that we can employ to dig red humanity out of the hole. If you want to stop from relying on it to arm our chs with better weapons, then instead of doing sothing as useless as blathering on about honor, you should try and negate the need for this desperate solution."
"And how do you suggest I do that, Ves?"
"I can think of many different ways. For example, you can beco a sword god and can slice the Red Cabal into pieces with the help of the Heavensword. A more realistic way you can help is by investing more AP into the Dinsion Observatory. If you can earn 1500 AP and pay for the Semi-permanent Breach upgrade, you can use the Dinsion Sword to create dozens of gateways into resource-filled dinsions, thereby relieving the urgent shortage of mid to high-end resources."
"Both of these goals are out of reach." Ketis complained.
"I never said it would be easy. They would have been my preferred solutions if they were more attainable than Demoncasting. At least I am doing my best to serve red humanity by fighting for our collective survival. What about you? If you want to beco more than a Journeyman ch Designer, then it is not enough for you to limit your scope of service. You need to think about how you can make a difference on a grander scale. Do you understand what you should actually do? As long as we can solve a problem with upright ans, there is no need for us to resort to riskier and more problematic solutions."
"I guess you have a point..."
He successfully directed her thoughts towards herself rather than him. That was good. The more she thought about solving problems, the less prone she was to create one for Ves!
"I wonder."
"What are you wondering about, Ves?"
"I wonder what the Heavensword thinks about this. He said. "It isn't doing nothing aside from hanging behind your back. It had to be listening in to our conversation. What do you think? Do you believe I am right to favor my own people over others?"
The sheathed sword briefly glowed in white before returning to its previous condition. That was a remarkably mild reaction.
Ketis had spent enough ti with the relic weapon to understand its overall thoughts and intentions.
"The Heavensword... does not feel too strongly about your actions." She reluctantly interpreted. "What I consider dishonorable is... not that big of a deal in its eyes." "You see? If the Heavensword doesn't think this is worth bothering about, then you
shouldn't either."
That provoked a heated response from the swordmaster "I am different from the Heavensword! Do not think that we are aligned to each other! I have my own thoughts and opinions! Ugh! I am getting tired of spending so much ti in the System Space with you! I cannot wait to get out of this place."
He thought likewise. He did not want his Demoncasting activities to get interrupted by these unwelco moralizing argunts.
"Okay, you are right. You are not the Heavensword. However, do not discount its opinion. It is one of the few ancient relics that has successfully withstood the test of ti. It is a survivor. The heavens are fair, but also ruthless. It knows that if you want to save yourself and whatever you consider precious, then you need to do what is necessary instead of what is right. It would be great if the two are equivalent, but if not, then you need to be able to make the hard choices. The side that is more willing to do that is the side that is least constrained by its own self-imposed weaknesses."
Ves understood that there were reasons why laws, morals and ethics existed. In an ideal society, they were indeed good ways to impose restraint and keep everyone under
control.
However, he did not believe that he and other people should allow themselves to get shackled by them in a ti of total war, especially against a coalition of alien species. Tying his hands behind his back when aliens were threatening to clobber him to pieces
was not honorable.
It was stupid!
Ketis slowly understood this as well, even if she was not as willing to let go of the more innocent parts of her humanity as her forr ntor.
"Let's just move on." She grumbled as she took the initiative to withdraw. "You are right. Instead of wasting my ti on complaining, I need to beco a better swordmaster and ch designer and present better alternatives to red humanity. The people have a right to choose how they want to be saved. I will work harder than ever and hope that my solutions will ultimately convince you to return Demoncasting to its original forgotten
state."
Ves smiled at her. "I welco the challenge. Let us compete against each other to see who can gain the upper hand."
After the two ch designers tentatively reconciled with each other, they resud their
original activity.
They completed their examination of the Minor Demon that was trapped inside Demon
Mixer 2.
For all of his rationality, the demon was not willing to identify himself with his forr
human self.
He completely regarded himself as a new and different demonic personality!
"I am the Bringer of Carnage! I am the epito of violence! I will tear all of you to
shreds!"
Neither Ves nor Ketis looked amused at their only attempt to communicate with the crazy Minor Demon.
"This used to be a not-so-successful but still respectable Senior ch Designer?"
"We can be just as emotional and aggressive as ch pilots, Ketis. We just tend to express it in different ways. Not everyone has an easy outlet for their aggression as you. While we can only wallow in our frustrations, you can channel it all out by boarding an enemy ship and hacking a bunch of aliens in half"
"At least we have a na for our demon."
The Bringer of Carnage may still be a Minor Demon, but he had grown so strong that he
was only a few steps away from breaking through.
That made it worthwhile for Ves to keep the demon and find a way to stimulate his breakthrough outside of a gu container.
The Middle Demon that had beco entangled with Demon Mixer 5 was another interesting case.
Despite his energy and strength deficiency, Ves could feel that he was a lot more solid
than the Bringer of Carnage.
"This guy is definitely one of the expert candidates that had the best chance of coming out on top." Ves said. "He has not disappointed my expectations and managed to vanquish over the other Minor Demons that were predominantly derived from civilian human souls. He was fairly young when he died. I estimate his age at 30 to 40 years old. He definitely died in battle. He holds a great amount of grievances about how he died too soon on the battlefield. As for his specialization... I think he used to pilot a swordsman ch equipped with two weapons. He excels at dual wielding."
"Oh? That sounds interesting."
Ketis couldn't help but develop a greater interest towards the Middle Demon. One that
was derived from a swordsman ch pilot may actually be useful in her line of work!
Of course, she still remained uncertain how powerful a D-arms could beco if it
rged with this expert candidate-turned-demon.
Was it worth all of the hype?
Ves could sense her lingering doubts, so he decided to make a proposal.
"Since our ti in the System Space is coming to an end, let's complete one final project.
as a celebration for all of the gains we have made."
"That will eat into our AP"
"It will be worth it." Ves insisted. "I don't want to end this marathon on a sour note. I
think that your impressions of Demoncasting are tainted by the disappointing way the Maiden Knife ended up. Let's try and produce a proper D-arms this ti. We can design and forge a new ch greatsword for the First Sword Mark III or another swordsman ch of your choosing. Then we can Demoncast it with this Middle Demon, but this ti the results will be better because we have a better idea of what we are doing." Ketis did not feel as enthused about this idea as Ves, but she did not see any reason to
reject this proposal.
She was also curious about whether Ves was justified in putting so much faith into
Demoncasting.
Trying to make a proper D-arms was a good way to generate useful data that could
better inform her stance towards Demoncasting!
If the results remained poor, then Ketis had much less reason to tolerate the flagrant abuse and exploitation of so many human souls!
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