Chapter 113 - Damn Reincarnation

Flames

“I'm finally starting to feel all right.”

He had spent two days confined to bed.

The first time he had used Ignition in his previous body, he had been unable to move for a week. Repeated use had gradually helped him adapt, but even at the level Hamel had ‘perfected,’ the overload from Ignition had lasted three days.

‘Faster than I expected.’

His excellent physique was partly responsible, but the strain of the overload had also passed relatively sooner than in his previous life because the Ignition Eugene used was actually more advanced than Hamel's.

To begin with, the White Flame Formula was overwhelmingly superior to Hamel's mana-training method. The Ring Flame Formula, which incorporated Eternal Hole, was far superior even to the White Flame Formula and was particularly suited to activating Ignition.

Circles woven into one. Within it, circles were continuously created and detonated. That alone resembled a runaway core. With the Ring Flame Formula, however, Eugene could control the process perfectly without straining his core.

Ignition completely removed the Ring Flame Formula's limits. Sending the core and body out of control was the same as in his previous life, but the method of that ‘runaway’ was much more refined.

‘The strain on my body is still dangerous... but it seems to be holding up better than in my previous life.’

Eugene rested a hand over his steadily beating heart as he considered it. Of course, this wasn't a technique he could abuse. Refined or not, its fundamental nature remained unchanged: it ate away at his own flesh.

But there had been an unexpected benefit.

Eugene closed his eyes and focused his awareness on his core. His White Flame Formula had originally been at four stars, but there was now one more star near his heart, bringing the total to five.

He could guess why. Progress in the White Flame Formula was difficult without improving one's understanding of mana, gaining experience in actual combat, and increasing one's total mana. Even with memories of his previous life, Eugene still needed to put in the time to increase his mana reserves.

The Great Forest of Samar was rich enough in mana to rival a respectable spirit vein. By deliberately sending his mana out of control here, he had subjected his overworked core to an enormous quantity of mana, allowing it to divide.

‘If I handle this right, I might be able to use it as a shortcut.’

Eugene rubbed his chin, lost in thought. Progress through overload. In a way, it resembled accelerated muscle growth. The more often muscles were used and torn apart, the more noticeably they grew.

‘Couldn't I advance the White Flame Formula quickly by using Ignition a few more times?’

He considered it, but things wouldn't go as well as they had this time. To make his core grow through overload, he would have to place it under greater strain than before. His body would inevitably be damaged in the process of adjusting that strain, and there was no guarantee his core would divide after such abuse.

In the end, Eugene made no further attempt. He had reached five stars in the White Flame Formula just six years after first learning to use mana. His rate of growth was unparalleled, unprecedented even in the Lionheart family.

Currently, the highest level of the White Flame Formula in the family, including its elders, was seven stars. The main family's head and his younger brother, a generation younger than those elders, were at six stars.

And Eugene was at five. He was still only nineteen, and he could do far more than his level of attainment suggested. What he could do would only continue to increase...

‘Barang.’

For the past two days, Eugene had tried to understand the conspiracy entangling him.

‘A beastfolk who took shelter under the Demon King of Destruction. The sworn brother of Oboron's son, Yagon.’

Objectively speaking, Barang had been strong. Without Ignition, Eugene couldn't have been certain of victory. He would have needed to use Wynnyd, Asphel, Pernoa, and Carbos, support himself with magic, and even draw the Moonlight Sword just to scrape out a win.

In other words, Barang was an opponent even Eugene, as he was ‘now,’ could narrowly defeat. Eugene remembered how strong Oboron had been.

Three hundred years ago, the Demon King of Fury had had Four Heavenly Kings. Fury's children, though they shared not a drop of blood.

The chieftain of the giants, Kamash the Earthshaker.

The Vampire Lord, Sign of Bloodshed.

The beastfolk madman, Oboron the Maleficent.

The dark-elf princess, Iris the Rakshasa.

All of them had been powerful. Vermouth and Hamel had joined forces to bring down Kamash, the largest of them. Sign had kicked the bucket, while Oboron and Iris had escaped thanks to the Demon King of Fury's last desperate struggle.

Yagon was a patricidal bastard who had bitten his own father to death. The fact that he had managed it meant Yagon was at least as strong as Oboron.

Barang had been strong, but not strong enough to be worthy of being Yagon's sworn brother.

‘He said Yagon had nothing to do with it.’

Barang hadn't been searching for the elves' domain on Yagon's orders. Eugene couldn't trust that claim, but for now, he decided to accept it. Rather than reject everything outright, he would provisionally believe it and narrow down the possible culprits.

Which side had leaked the information? Kristina had said it wouldn't be the Holy Empire. He didn't know her precise reasons, but the Holy Empire had nothing to gain from killing both the ‘saint’ and the ‘Hero’ at once.

But what about Lionheart? Doynes Lionheart, head of the Council of Elders. What could he gain by cutting away an overly gifted adopted son who disrupted the family's order...? That choice could hardly be called acting for the family's good, but if Eugene died, Lionheart's succession problem would become very, very tidy.

What did that mean? That the family's discipline would be restored. Eugene wasn't an idiot. A child from a collateral branch had been adopted into the main family and was competing with its legitimate son for the succession.

Even if he never actually became the family head, Eugene's very existence united the collateral branches.

The Lionheart main family didn't want that. For three hundred long years, the family had elevated the main family alone while keeping the collateral branches inferior.

‘It's not just that I'm from a collateral branch.’

The main family's authority. The head of the Council of Elders, who held the family in his grasp.

To him, Eugene's recognition as the Hero by the Holy Empire and the saint would be more troubling than his origins. The Holy Empire, the saint, and a revelation from the God of Light. Throughout history, the only person certified as the ‘Hero’ had been Lionheart's founder, Vermouth the Great.

An adopted son from a collateral branch had received the same recognition as the founder. He had been acknowledged by the Holy Sword.

Moreover, he knew the founder's coffin was empty. There was ample reason to try to kill him. Mindful of the Demon Kings, the Holy Empire hadn't publicly announced that Eugene was the Hero.

If Eugene and Kristina alone were killed, the fact that the founder's tomb was empty would remain unknown as well. This wasn't something the head of the Council could do himself. So he had conspired with demons. If their relationship was close enough for him to make such a request, it must have existed for some time.

The head of the Council of Elders was in contact with demons.

‘... Don't jump to conclusions.’

Eugene glanced down at his fist. He had clenched it tightly at some point, and the veins stood out on it.

‘It might not be the head of the Council.’

That was why Eugene would keep silent for now. Could he storm Black Lion Castle alone, overpower the head of the Council, and interrogate him for the truth? Impossible. Doynes Lionheart, head of the Council of Elders, was known as the Immortal White Lion. He was an old monster who had lived for over a century.

‘If I return alive and well, the bastard behind this plot will make his next move.’

Eugene had chosen this course because killing him and Kristina hadn't been Barang's only objective.

In fact, that had been his second objective. His first had been to confirm the elves' domain. That was why he had followed Eugene for so long without attacking.

‘Why would the head of the Council be interested in the elves' domain...?’

He didn't know. Did the bastard want to find Senya too? No, everyone would want to find Senya.

‘... No.’

A Demon King would also want to confirm the domain's existence.

The Demon King of Destruction.

Eugene didn't want to recall that name or that appearance. He had ‘seen’ the Demon King of Destruction only once in his previous life. Even then, he hadn't encountered it directly. Far in the distance, it had been moving... seeming to move. No... had it simply been standing still?

He didn't know.

That was the sort of being the Demon King of Destruction was. They had only seen it once, but everyone there had instinctively understood. They must not fight that thing. They must not stand before it.

They must not understand it.

Even among the five Demon Kings, the Demon King of Destruction was uniquely powerful and bizarre. Everyone had understood that after seeing it just once. Killing the other Demon Kings was merely a series of steps toward reaching the Demon King of Destruction, toward making the battle against it their ‘final confrontation.’

‘... The beastfolk took shelter under the Demon King of Destruction.’

The Demon King of Destruction was bizarre, but not solitary. Even three hundred years ago, it had had quite a few servants.

Yet it remained bizarre despite not being solitary. Each Demon King bestowed power upon their servants in their own way. Anyone who received a Demon King's power pledged their soul to that Demon King. The same terms applied to contracts between demons.

The Demon King of Destruction had servants, but it didn't bestow the power one would expect from a contract with a Demon King. Its servants didn't pledge their souls to it.

That didn't make the contract useless. Becoming a servant of the great Demon King ranked first was special in itself. A ‘contract’ with the Demon King of Destruction also bestowed a mark that allowed one to wield demonic energy.

However, that mark merely granted an artificial aptitude for handling demonic energy. In other words, it had little value to demons or black mages. If they were going to enter a contract, one with the Demon King of Incarceration promised immense ‘power,’ even at the cost of pledging their souls.

One thing was certain.

Unlike the Demon King of Incarceration, the Demon King of Destruction had no great interest in governing its servants. Its servants weren't connected to their master. That bizarre Demon King didn't interfere with its servants, or with anything else.

‘The Demon King of Destruction is interfering with Senya... after all this time...?’

Eugene stopped trying to unravel the conspiracy for now. All he could do at present was speculate. He needed more information.

What position had that self-proclaimed sworn brother of Yagon held among the beastfolk, and who else had he been connected to?

What rumors were circulating about Raizakia of Dragon Demon Castle?

“Is everyone ready?”

More than a hundred elves had gathered in the village center.

The elves injured in Barang's attack two days earlier had been treated with Kristina's divine magic. None were unable to move on their own.

“Yes.”

Siknard had been treated as well. Neither he nor the other elves looked entirely at ease. They would have to leave the village where they had lived for so long and cross the Great Forest. Once they arrived, they would be able to live far better lives than they had here... but most of the elves feared that the journey might end in failure.

“How are you feeling?”

“... Hmm...”

The greatest problem was the demonic sickness afflicting some of the elves. It didn't progress within this forest, but with bad luck, they might die of it the moment they stepped outside.

“... I think I'm all right.”

Siknard answered hesitantly. His demonic sickness was the most advanced of all the elves', and he was holding a long branch.

No, not simply holding it. He was reverently supporting it with both hands, as though he himself had become a flowerpot or a stand.

It was the branch Eugene had broken off the World Tree. Since the village's barrier was maintained by saplings split off from the World Tree, he had wondered whether a branch taken from it might produce a similar effect... Fortunately, it seemed to have worked as he hoped.

“... I feel at peace, as though I've returned home...”

“Are you sure you're not just imagining it?”

“I'm certain. It's only a single branch... but I can feel the comforting warmth of home from it.”

“... Like stew your mother made?”

“What does a branch have to do with stew?”

“What does a branch have to do with home?”

With that retort, Eugene took hold of Wynnyd.

[It is certain. Spirits of the World Tree dwell within that branch.]

‘So that means we can use Siknard as a mobile barrier, right?’

[... A mobile barrier...?]

‘What? It's true.’

[Hmm... Indeed. You are right, Hamel. The demonic sickness will not progress around that elf.]

‘Can it cleanse the sickness completely?’

[Well... Inside the World Tree, perhaps. But that is merely a branch...]

Tempest considered for a moment before continuing.

[However, if you plant that branch together with the saplings in your domain, they may someday grow into great trees capable of cleansing the elves' demonic sickness.]

‘That'll take ages.’

Grumbling, Eugene approached the World Tree saplings. There were three in total. He had considered putting them inside his cloak, but they might wither and die there.

With no other choice, he decided to uproot them and take them along whole.

[To resort to such a crude method...]

‘What else am I supposed to do? Uprooting them and carrying them with wind uses far less mana than making the ground flow like a river.’

[It uses so little mana thanks to me.]

‘Yeah, thanks.’

Eugene offered that perfunctory acknowledgment and swung Wynnyd. An enormous wind rose, tearing all three saplings out by their roots.

It made for a bizarre spectacle. Eugene would now cross the forest with three trees floating overhead and more than a hundred elves following him.

“This is awful.”

Simply carrying them around wasn't enough. Whenever they rested, he would need to replant the trees and tend them so they wouldn't wither. Fairy trees, said to grow only in Samar, were hardy enough that killing them was difficult, and with the World Tree branch present as well, they weren't likely to wither...

“I'm already sick of it.”

Eugene narrowed his eyes and reached into his cloak.

Uprooting the saplings had completely removed the barrier protecting the village.

Two days earlier, Barang had damaged the barrier with brute force when he attacked the village. Immediately afterward, he had fought Eugene and even blown himself up.

The tremendous explosion had been more than enough to draw the nearby savages. Perhaps because the barrier was damaged, they had realized they were close to a village of wandering elves.

As a result, quite a few natives had stationed themselves nearby. Eugene had no intention of negotiating with them. Whatever he did would attract attention anyway, and unless he abandoned the elves, they would continue to come under attack.

His business in this forest was finished.

They had already been exposed, so there was no need for caution anymore.

Eugene drew a bow from his cloak. It gleamed gold and was far larger than an ordinary bow. Holding the bow, which was as tall as he was, in one hand, he aimed at the sky.

Five stars in the White Flame Formula.

He had only gained a single star, but his mana had easily doubled. Depending on how it was used, the Lightning Bow could guzzle even more mana than the Dragon Spear, but now he could use it without much strain.

“Cover your ears.”

Eugene gave them that warning first. The elves, filled with worries about what lay ahead, looked at him.

Before, they wouldn't have trusted him so readily. But they had seen Eugene fight Barang. They had seen the overwhelming power with which he had defeated that terrifying attacker.

“Yes.”

The elves no longer doubted Eugene. Among them, Narissa and Levera looked at him with something beyond trust—with admiration—and covered their ears as instructed.

“Do you intend to kill them all?”

“What do you take me for, some bloodthirsty butcher?”

Eugene gave a faint laugh and reached out. The bow had no string. As he curled his fingers, a thin line of light formed a bowstring and caught against them.

“I'll fire one shot as a warning first.”

CRACKLE!

Electricity coursed through the drawn bowstring.

“If they still attack...”

Mana amplified by the Ring Flame Formula formed lightning.

“Well, then I won't have a choice.”

His fingers released the string. A small bolt of lightning shot into the sky.

Then—

KRA-BOOM!

An enormous bolt of lightning struck far in the distance.