Golden Lord Peru, whether she liked it or not, bore the destiny of ruling the nations. To her, who valued human worth above all else, death was something that ran counter to the principles of value. Because her philanthropy was rational, she could not help but be virtuous.
Divine Physician Lil Nightingale bore a yoke. Having shattered the yoke of life and death, she must intervene in the deaths of all people. Therefore, the Divine Physician heals the wounded. So that there would be no cause of death other than her own incompetence, indifference, or sloth.
The regressor Shey sought to save the world. Whether to live or to die, even Shey herself did not know. Yet, regardless of her state of mind, she moved for the noble cause of saving the world.
Three people who wished to save humanity gathered. Moreover, all of them were connected to the Demon Gods. Their abilities were outstanding, and their intentions were noble. If the three saviors put their heads together and deliberated, a brilliant method would surely emerge.
And indeed, a brilliant method did emerge.
Inside the glass tube, the corpse of Thunder Lord Elkid endlessly vomited blood. Like a well that never runs dry, ceaselessly.
Elkid's flesh was formed by the authority of the Golden Mirror. The power Peru wielded was using her body as a factory, endlessly producing blood.
"…."
"…."
"…."
Though they had seen this sight for hours, all three fell silent and grew troubled whenever they passed before it. Turning away, clicking their tongues, or staring blankly. Their reactions differed, but the emotion in their hearts was the same.
A subtle sense of guilt. The unpleasant feeling of having touched a taboo.
Even while acknowledging it was unavoidable, a vague sense of repulsion dominated them.
The one most accustomed to such a sight, the vampire Lil Nightingale, did what she had to do. She contained the blood in the glass tube with her Blood Crafting Art and placed it under her dominion. The blood would not coagulate until it was used for treatment.
Shey, who had the least to do, followed along and asked.
"Did you collect it all?"
"Yes. Thanks to performing emergency treatment with this blood, no one has died from bleeding."
It was a tone as if trying to defend the origin of this blood, and perhaps Lil's inner feelings had seeped out unintentionally. If even a vampire felt this way, how would Shey, who possessed ordinary sensibilities, feel? Especially since the corpse trapped there was her vague comrade.
Shey, who had been glancing at what used to be Elkid, asked cautiously.
"Then should we stop making blood now...?"
An ordinary human might have empathized, but Lil was a vampire. Lil shook her head firmly.
"We cannot. Some people require surgery that exposes their bodies, and in that process, several times more blood is needed. Stopping the transfusion here would be an act that increases the danger."
"...Ugh. I suppose so."
If Elkid had been a comrade she could trust to watch her back, the Divine Physician Lil Nightingale was a lighthouse. In a future where war swept the continent, tragedy spread as daily life, and sin sought out and spread through humans, the Divine Physician was a red flower blooming in the ashes. There were multiple wars that stopped because of her, and even devout temples yielded their place to a vampire.
...As is the case with all flowers that bloom in tragedy, Lil was also brutally trampled and annihilated.
An event that had not yet occurred. Shaking her head, Shey instead spoke to Peru.
"Remnant Green Lord. Isn't there another way without using Elkid's corpse? It's not that, well, it's just that it doesn't look good."
If human value exists, where does it lie? In that great spirit? Or in the flesh where qi dwells?
Peru's belief in value had not changed. But the eyes of the scale that measured value continued to waver. Like her trembling pupils, and like her wavering heart.
To "restore" the Thunder Lord, who was no different from a creation of the Golden Mirror, to a state neither dead nor alive, and use her as a factory to produce blood. Was this truly the rational philanthropy she pursued?
There was no answer until she found it herself. Peru spoke without confidence.
"...Impossible."
"Why?"
"...The power of the Golden Mirror is not creation. Restoration and reproduction. If you don't understand what that is, you cannot make it."
"Don't we have plenty of blood now? Can't we just replicate this as is?"
"...No. Blood is not a material but a structure. Without the process, its functions become too simple."
Peru's explanation remained too brief to make Shey understand at once. Actually, it wasn't just Shey's problem; even if someone else had been in her place, they probably wouldn't have understood.
"You respected Elkid too. Must it be a method that uses Elkid's corpse? Is there no other way?"
Blood performs various roles within the body, and to be faithful to all those roles, its generation process must be reproduced, even indirectly. It was a task as difficult as a miracle, but using the Golden Mirror's authority, it was barely possible. It also helped that the Thunder Lord's flesh had excellent alchemical compatibility.
However, even the Golden Mirror's authority had limits. It wasn't because of Peru but a structural problem of alchemy. Too perfect a structure is difficult to mix with other things. Just as the Golden Mirror's creations destroyed human's imperfect flesh, blood created without a matrix would clash with the patient's body.
Therefore, Peru had to use Elkid's body as an abrasive to contaminate that blood.
However, Peru neither had the ability nor the spare energy to explain all this. Because she was grieving just as much.
So Peru muttered darkly.
"...I want to do that too."
Peru's words were too short to serve as an explanation. But they were sufficient to carry her emotion.
I want to do that too. But I cannot. In the gap between intention and ability, Peru also suffered, and so Shey could say no more. Shey leaned her back against the wall and let out a deep sigh.
"In the end, we can't escape from sin..."
Feeling destiny gradually converging, Shey recalled the past. A past that had not yet occurred, but one that had definitely happened.
The King of Sin.
It had commanded all the powers of the Demon Gods. Shattered the earth, split the heavens, hurled lightning, shot forth light, and twisted perception. Before the King of Sin, humans had to doubt everything. Illusions covered their eyes, and the whispers of demons beguiled their ears. In a situation where not only their sense of direction but even up and down were difficult to distinguish, humans could not know what was true.
Let alone... even the comrades before their eyes.
Orb of Druid, Nevida. The priestess serving the King of Sin. The only living Demon God.
Her power was to bear fruit from which beasts were born on the Tree of Transgression.
The King of Sin bore humans from the top of the tree.
There was neither life nor death. Everything visible was both truth and illusion. Those who died yesterday waved their hands with smiles the next day, those who cried out in faith sought the King of Sin instead of gods, and unable to distinguish between what was created and what was true, humans went mad.
The only way to resist that was to attack the King of Sin.
...Though they never won even once.
Perhaps that was why. Why Shey felt greater repulsion to this method. The King of Sin is completed by blurring the boundaries of humanity.
And perhaps, Peru and Lil's collaboration... was surely a shortcut to the King of Sin.
"But it can't be helped. We have to do it."
She couldn't stop what had already happened. Destroying the glass tube here, cremating Elkid, and then silencing Peru so this would never happen again was the Holy Emperor's Court's way, not Shey's way. If they failed anyway, she would have to regress. If so, it was better to watch how this future would flow.
Instead, Shey compared what was different from the past. Actually, the answer was already determined.
The self-proclaimed King of Humans, Hughes.
He had said with his own mouth that he was an ordinary petty criminal brought into the Bottomless Pit, but in truth, he was the King of Humans hiding his identity. He must have come to the Bottomless Pit to search for the Demon Gods as well.
In any case, once he got involved, as if by a lie, the Demon Gods got involved too. Mother Earth Goddess, Nevida, Golden Mirror, Thunder God. They all passed by in that short time. Whether he sought out the Demon Gods, or the Demon Gods came to meet him. Probably he would continue to be entangled with Demon Gods in the future.
...The Demonic Dao Alliance's Floating City and the Holy Emperor's Court's Silver Branch Forest too, he would surely pass through.
"My intuition isn't wrong. I felt it from the beginning. That he was suspicious."
If Shey were an ordinary person, it would be meaningless to say this now.
But Shey was a regressor. She had no regrets. Because she could reverse what had already happened. Regrets clinging to the past became a step forward to the future for her.
However.
"Of all places, the Mist Duchy... what should I do."
The power of the Mist Duchy was on a different level from the Military Kingdom. In the darkness of the duchy that neutralized most of the Seven-Colored Eyes, vampires who were no different from mysteries by their very existence were ubiquitous. Even for Shey, she could only face one Elder at a time, and if it was a combat faction Elder, she couldn't even calculate her odds of victory.
Shey was a conqueror. She was extremely advantageous in battles that utilized the size and compatibility of power... but like with the Absolute Spear, when faced with pure martial talent, she was driven to a disadvantage. Strip away her overwhelming power and techniques, and Shey was merely a mediocre talent who had gained many fortuitous encounters. If not for the Heavenly Reversal Mirror she learned from the Sword Empress, even twelve regressions would not have been enough.
...Though even the Heavenly Reversal Mirror wouldn't be enough against the Blood Duke Vladamir, who possessed both overwhelming talent and divine authority simultaneously.
With her foundation and power both insufficient, the current Shey had no strength to oppose the Mist Duchy. Shey immersed herself in other thoughts, if only to forget the tragedy before her eyes.
"Ugh. The Mist Duchy should still be intact before the Great Tidal Wave hits. Wait, when did that hit again..."
At that moment, Shey brought her hand to her waist and straightened her body. Her flesh reacted before her mind, and trusting her intuition, Shey extended her senses. From far away, at a distance where one would not notice without paying attention, a powerful presence was slowly walking closer. Boldly, without even trying to hide its identity.
Recognizing the opponent with her Seven-Colored Eyes, Shey muttered.
"Elzebet, and Dogo?"
Monsters capable of destroying a city alone—Elders. For two more Elders to visit a place where they had already swept through?
Looking at it optimistically, they might have concealed their identities to avoid causing trouble. If it had been Ronken or Kabila, people who remembered their appearances would have caused an uproar.
But who wouldn't recognize the Countess and the Mummified High Monk, whose portraits numbered in the tens of thousands across the continent? There were only thirteen Elders in history, and while people might not know their faces, they had their characteristics memorized.
At the very least, Elders wouldn't avoid conflict. Perhaps they were secretly hoping for it.
If that happened, Claudia would be finished. Shey clicked her tongue.
"I could manage with just Elzebet, but Dogo too? I can't win against that."
The resurrected Monk. An immortal who chose corruption over ascension. An ascetic who walked about burning his own skin in sunlight.
Even when alive, he was called immortal. After becoming a vampire, his martial arts reached a new realm. Though somewhat outdated, rather, that very recklessness harmonized with being a vampire, and the Blood Battle Fiend Art became famous as an invincible martial art if possible. In terms of technique, he was next after Vladamir.
One Elder was difficult enough, but two? As things stood, she couldn't win. However.
"Wait. If it's Elzebet and Dogo... it might be possible."
If it were specifically those two. If they were the two whose arrogance could rival anyone's, then Shey could scheme against them. Not victory, but resolution.
It was hard for Shey to save someone with her power anyway. Shey decided to do what she did best. Shey leaped over the railing of the Lightning Rod Tower.