Chapter 108 – The One that Chose the Name Soaked in Sin (4)

Laura spoke.

"First…  Everything he told you was the truth."

"They really gather humans, and brainwash the human to make them into members of the organization?"

"Yes.  It isn’t something I saw myself, and I haven’t partic.i.p.ated in it.  However, I do know it has been going on.  It is as he said.  Everyone within the Plains of Darkness has an inherent distrust of humans.  The humans are viewed as beings that will eventually be ruled, but since they can’t be trusted, the normal convention is to train them thorougly. These humans are molded into tools, and one of the more popular strategy is to infiltrate the human society using them.  They won’t be detected by the Guardian Shadows if their ident.i.ties as Dragon Demon king wors.h.i.+ppers was never exposed."

Azell’s body shook from rage. It wasn’t enough that they were manipulating the world from behind the scene.  They were trampling the rights of humans.  They took away innocent children, and their human nature was destroyed to make tools that will move to their whims.  This was something they hadn’t even dared to do during the Dragon Demon War.

'No.  Maybe, they had no reason to try this during the Dragon Demon War….'

This wasn’t an open warfare being waged against the humans. They had created a secret society within the darkness, and as they bided their time, they were making the world sick.  This was why they were using such methods.  Moreover, if they focused their plan on only the Dragon Demons and Dragon Majin, they would run into the problem of being short on manpower. This was why this method was so effective for them.

After looking at him for a brief moment, Laura continued to speak.

"The existence of Yuren Rizester was a highly sensitive issue amongst the senior officers. It was such a problem that we were pitted against each other in a race for his capture. From the information I received, he had already destroyed over 10 secret facilities, and he had killed a lot of Dragon Demon king wors.h.i.+ppers. He even infiltrated the developmental inst.i.tutions to a.s.sa.s.sinate the trainers…  We also received reports that something incomprehensible was occurring…."

"I'm guessing you are talking about my work in undoing the brainwas.h.i.+ng done to the specimens used for experiments."

Yuren glared at her as he spoke.  Laura received his sharp gaze, but she nodded in an indifferent manner.

"Yes. I’ve heard there had been several incidents before.  This was why the risk posed by you was upgraded to the highest category."

"It was the dreams from the guide."

"Mmm?"

"I’m able to transmit the dreams I receive from my guide to other people.  This isn’t just a one on one event.  I’m able to sync the dreams of large number of people.  The only limitation is the fact that the people have to be within the range of my magic."

"Is this some kind of a Dream Technique?"

Azell intruded into the conversation.  In the past, Azell had manipulated Enora’s dream after she was overwhelmed by a frightening experience.  Spirit Order, Dragon Arts, and magic….  They all possessed techniques dealing with the mind.  One could use these techniques to plant illusions using dreams.  There were even techniques that allowed one to control the mind of others.

Yuren gave a reply.

"I think it is something similar. I don’t know about the other inst.i.tutions, but the children being used in experiments….   These children do not know their fate even when they are about to be slaughtered.  Without the children’s knowledge, they judge whether if the children are suited to become their tools or not.  The children, who are considered to be disqualified, suffers a fate worse than death."

Yuren had attacked locations where they used children for Black Magic experimentation or as sacrifices for summoning the Demons.  When he destroyed the facilities of the Dragon Demon king wors.h.i.+ppers, he was able to gain information regarding such sites.  Yuren couldn’t ignore it.

"But… Maybe if we…."

"Yuren. I told you to shut your mouth in regards to that issue."

Yuren was about to speak words expressing his regret, but Leticia shot back at him with cold words.  In the end, Yuren hadn’t been able save a single specimen being used for experimentation. Only the two of them survived the escape attempt.  Yuren had instigated their escape, yet all of the children, who had been used in the experiments, had died.

"…I’m sorry. Anyways, I sometimes wonder if the guide is watching me even at this moment from nearby.  If a powerful magician was watching over me to talk to me through the dreams, it would be easier for me to accept this situation."

"I don’t feel any gazes on us…."

Azell mumbled those words as an afterthought.  

Leticia reacted to his words.

"Are you saying you mastered the ‘Gaze Detection’?"

"That means you learned it too?"

"That is surprising.  In recent times, the only ones to mastered that technique, are the Dragon Demon King wors.h.i.+ppers residing within the Plain of Darkness……"

She continued to speak.

"Anyways, I agree with your opinion.  I’ve travelled with this guy for only a month, but I’ve never felt any strange gazes on me."

"So does this mean you weren’t comrades with Yuren prior to a month ago?"

"I didn’t know him at all.  I had come across a facility of the Dragon Demon king wors.h.i.+ppers.  I was about to attack when I encountered him.  Since our goals coincided, we decided to work together.  I was unlucky."

Leticia grumbled. After the conclusion of that particular task, she had been dragged into Yuren’s absurd stories about his dreams.

After looking at her for a brief moment, Azell spoke.

"As I said before, I don’t like conspiracies."

"Mmm?"

Yuren and Leticia was puzzled when Azell spoke those words out of nowhere. Azelll continued to speak.

"It is inevitable to keep thinking up conspiracy theories to come up with an explanation…  I don’t like conspiracy theories, so let’s not talk about my suspicions for now.  I’ll just keep my eyes on you all."

"What the h.e.l.l?"

Yuren couldn’t hold back his laughter.  As he laughed, Yuren spoke to Azell.

"Let us cooperate with each other for a while.  We can share information regarding the Dragon Demon king wors.h.i.+ppers, and we can pool our strength to fight them."

"Thank you.  I’ll work hard not to disappoint you too much."

"You better.  If you betray me, I’ll cut you down."

Azell let out a cold laugh as he spoke, and Yuren gulped.

5

Soon Azell turned to Laura as he spoke.

"Well, I’ll take my time in talking to both of you…  I still have questions I have to ask this person here.  You guys can listen in."

"I also want to ask you another question."

"If you truthfully answer my question, I might think about answering one more of your question."

"You probably won’t give me a proper answer."

"It depends on the question."

At Laura’s grumbling, Azell answered in a sly manner.

"Anyways, I’ve always been curious about one thing…  Why did you guys try to kidnap the Dragon Demon Princess and the Dragon Demon Prince of the Rulain kingdom?  Ah.  Is it true that you guys think they might be blood-related to Atein?"

"That’s correct. How did you…  I gave you the clues."

"I thought you intentionally dropped the clue, so I could figure it out.  If that wasn’t your intention, you were very careless."

"Until that moment, I have never failed before…  I never planned for the eventuality of me losing."

Laura still had a blank expression on her face, but she was acting a bit coy.  It made her seem young.  Azell asked her a question.

"So the two of them are blood-related to the numerous offsprings left behind by Atein.."

"It isn’t a certainty.  The senior officials of our organization believed that the current generation of the Rulain Kingdom's royal family show the clearest characteristics that indicated that they hold the blood of Atein."

In the Dragon Demon Royal Family, it was very rare for the Dragon Demon Princess to become the next Dragon Demon Queen.   The Dragon Demon Queen usually was a Dragon Majin or a Dragon Demon married into the Royal Family.  When the Dragon Demon Queen has children and the children grows up safely, the queen is given a different t.i.tle, and she is allowed to live a new life afterwards.  Then a female Dragon Majin or a Dragon Demon from a different family was picked to become the next Dragon Demon Queen.

The current Dragon Demon Queen was a retired Guardian Shadow.  She was the daughter of a family totally unrelated to the Dragon Demon Royal family.  However, unbeknownst to her, she was a descendant of Atein.  However, there was another reason why the Dragon Demon king wors.h.i.+ppers were targeting the children instead of her.

"I don't know everything, but the current Rulain Royal Family has a very strong trace of Atein's blood."

Basically, Atein and Seigar were a product of two of Atein's descendants marrying each other.   They had special characteristics present his descendants, and they were worth monitoring by those in the Plain of Darkness.  The fact that they possessed Dragon Demon magic compared to other Dragon Majins and Dragon Demons was a huge indicator.

Azell furrowed his brows.

"I see.  Still, I don't see why that would merit the targeting of those two?  I wound understand it if they were direct descendants, but there are several generations gap.  Why obsess over descendants so far removed  from the direct line of descent?"

"They are ingredients that’ll be used to complete the King’s Bowl."

"Mmmm?"

Laura looked at the puzzled Azell, and she casually dropped a shocking truth.

"The official up high believe that the King's revival is imminent.  They just need the Bowl that'll hold the soul of the King.  The King will once again be born into the world.  The Rulain Kingdom's Dragon Demon Princess, and the Dragon Demon Prince were chosen to be the materials that'll be used to made this happen. "

"What?"

Azell was struck dumb by the statement.  It wasn’t just him.  Everyone gathered there was also struck dumb.

6

Leone was a Keeper of the Prophecy.  The Undead Zeta followed him around, and Zeta was one of the 'Sleepless Guardians'.  Basically, his memory as a human was muddled

It couldn’t be helped.  It was similar with the evil spirits.  Undeads had a hard time remembering anything other than memories of deep attachments.

This was also the reason why Undeads lose their minds easily, and they step into a path of destruction.  The memories of sensation one felt in real life is forgotten, and one's reasoning skill starts to slip in a sporadic manner.  The loss of one's reason lead to insanity.

In terms of those problems, Zeta and the other 'Sleepless Guardians' were very special.  They lost many memories, but they remembered how to fight.  Moreover, the memories after they became an Undead was crystal clear.  They had lived as Undeads for several dozen years, yet their sense of reason remained intact.  Of course, one of the memories that remained intact was the memory of how they died.  

Zeta was also murdered by the Demon King wors.h.i.+ppers.  His whole life was destroyed then he lost his family.  In the end, his life was also taken.

However, there was a difference between Zeta and the other Guardian Shadows.  Keeper of the Prophecy Leone witnessed Zeta's end.  Zeta had received a critical wound when he attacked the Dragon Demon king wors.h.i.+ppers in an act of revenge.  Leone had shown up with the other Guardian Shadows, and they had been a step too late.  Leoned asked Zeta a question as he faded away from life.

'Do you want revenge?  Do you want it even if you be tormented, and you will never find peace again?'

…he hadn't even needed to think over his answer.  He made a contract with Leone, and he had forgotten his name.  He became a being, who was fueled by grudge.  He became Zeta.