Chapter 605

I had grown used to being hated and despised by strangers. It seemed like an unavoidable part of my life.

This time, though, it was the complete opposite. People who didn’t know me were beginning to treat me with admiration and love, even within the Church of the Five Great Gods.

Just as Ellen was celebrated as a hero, there were those who believed I was the true champion of Alse and Ouen, even if the rest of the world didn’t see it.

Many had witnessed my final argument in the grand hall.

Among them had been high-ranking members of the clergy and holy knights from the Church of the Five Great Gods. They knew my subordinates were behind the Gate Incident, but they also understood that I had never desired such an outcome. It seemed only natural that some within the Church would secretly support me.

Rowen stood firmly with the radicals. But where there are radicals, there must also be moderates.

While the moderates believed the Demon King had his reasons, the radicals were convinced the Demon King had been entirely exonerated.

Both factions had started out with the belief that I was trustworthy.

Did this mean that, at some point, most of the high-ranking members of the Five Great Gods Order had come to be on my side?

The popes weren’t exactly betraying humanity; they were simply following the prevailing trend.

Even Illeion Volten, who was preoccupied with battlefield matters, spoke as if this was nothing new to him, which said a lot.

The Five Great Gods Order had, at some point, grown into a group of my supporters, merely waiting for my arrival.

“So, what do the radicals claim?”

“That you are not the root of all this, but the Empire and humanity.”

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

These were the people who couldn’t bring themselves to trust me.

The argument was simple: if I wasn’t to blame, then those who doubted me were at fault.

“Some of them want the Empire to fall.”

In the end, someone had to take the blame, and that someone wasn’t me.

Rowen was devoted to me, almost to the point of worship, and she despised the Empire.

She had tried to uncover the Empire’s corruption, but the Commander of the Order of the Holy Knights had stood in her way and even attempted to kill her.

“Rowen must have resented me for not letting her reveal the Empire’s corruption...”

The fire.

She had tried to draw attention to the scene, hoping that there would be many witnesses.

“Now, she must not only distrust and hate me, but the entire Order of the Holy Knights as well.”

The radicals believed that both the Empire and humanity were to blame for the current state of things.

This also suggested that the Church of the Five Great Gods wasn’t entirely innocent. Holy knights, priests, and even popes had to have been involved in the cover up.

If the public saw civilians being captured, tortured, and killed within the temple of the Ouen Order, which already had a bad reputation, it would have ignited the already-volatile public sentiment.

A bloody conflict was inevitable, whether it was crowds turning their hatred and violence against the Church of the Five Great Gods, or the Order of the Holy Knights having to defend themselves with swords against civilians.

And if such a conflict arose, the Empire would not have stood by silently.

Without its people, an Empire cannot stand, which would mean that the Empire would have to eventually confront the Church of the Five Great Gods.

“Would it be an exaggeration to suggest that a civil war nearly erupted in the capital...?” I asked.

Illeion Volten nodded thoughtfully. “I can’t say for certain, but it might have been possible.”

From the beginning, Rowen was a staunch believer in the idea that the Empire was fundamentally at fault for the fall of the world. Illeion Volten likely saw Rowen as a threat and had sought to remove her.

If given the opportunity, Rowen would surely aim to topple the Empire. If left unchecked, the tension between the Great Gods Order and the Empire could have spiraled into a full-blown, bloody conflict.

Perhaps having her removed was the wisest decision for the Commander of the Order of the Holy Knights. Rowen seemed like the kind of person who, if she came across a bomb, would rather set it off than steer clear of it. It was no wonder Illeion Volten made the decision he did.

Leaving Rowen unchecked would be a recipe for disaster, and so they had tried to intervene, but with their failure, Rowen was sure to become even more dangerous.

The Order she had devoted her life to had just tried to kill her. Expecting her to stay sane was unrealistic.

Illeion Volten’s claim that she needed me suggested that Rowen saw me as a prophet, and meeting her might be the key to resolving everything.

I had to find Rowen before she did something drastic in my name.

***

Vertus guided Ellen and her group to the underground laboratory beneath the magic department of the Temple’s university.

What they saw was stark and terrifying.

They looked around in silence, taking in the scene in the basement of the research building.

Resurrected corpses stood alongside those in the process of being brought back to life.

They could see the bodies themselves, what the Empire was doing to them, and how they were intended to be used.

Ellen, Ludwig, Louise, and Heinrich were witnessing the same chilling sight the Demon King had seen not long ago.

Words failed them.

Not only were fallen warriors being revived, but heroes from a distant past as well.

They saw it all.

“As I said before, no matter what you think, I have no intention of abandoning this plan,” Vertus declared with unwavering resolve.

He was committed to the process of restoring these corpses, of reattaching flesh and blood to them.

“So, if someone dies in the future, will you keep bringing them back like this?” Ellen asked, her voice tinged with concern.

Vertus nodded firmly, fully demonstrating the weight of his resolve.

The implications were heavy.

Even if Ellen were to die, even if Sabioleen Tana were to fall... They would merely be resurrected and sent back to the battlefield.

Such a fate seemed unthinkable.

But in the end, what was a corpse but a lifeless shell?

If it could serve a purpose, shouldn’t it be utilized?

“Did you bring Ashir back this way...?” Ludwig asked, his voice tinged with hope.

If they were resurrected and could speak just as they had when they were alive, possessing the same memories, then wouldn’t that be truly bringing them back to life?

Vertus shook his head, a shadow passing over his face. “It failed.”

“You really couldn’t bring him back...?” Ludwig pressed.

“Yes,” Vertus admitted.

However, this resurrection was only a shadow of what it could have been—an incomplete attempt, more about creating a weapon than restoring life.

Bringing Delphine back wasn’t even an option; they had not been able to find her body.

But what if it were possible to truly bring the dead back? Not just in form, but with all their memories intact?

This half-baked resurrection, even with the possibility of only partial success, filled people with misguided hope.

Louis Ankton, Anna de Gerna, and Cristina were the heart of the research team.

“I want to see,” Ludwig said softly

“It’s better not to,” came the quiet reply.

As Dettomorian had said, discovering Ashir would reveal everything. But they hadn’t found Ashir yet.

“If the procedure failed, how did it fail...?” Ludwig wondered aloud.

They hadn’t seen the results for themselves yet.

“I’m going to need to see it...” Ludwig said, his voice tinged with determination.

Vertus sighed deeply, glancing at Ellen and Heinrich, who seemed to share Ludwig’s resolve.

***

Unlike the chaos that had surrounded the Demon King’s visit, not everyone was made to abandon their posts this time. The four of them looked on as the mages worked, absorbed in their tasks.

Their attire gave no clues as to whether they were alchemists or dark mages. They simply went about their work with complete focus.

A single evil mage might create a dungeon and conduct horrific experiments. This was the same dreadful work but on a national scale, involving hundreds of mages.

In a secluded corner of the underground laboratory, they came across a familiar face.

Cristina.

Anna de Gerna.

Louis Ankton.

“How... did you guys...?”

Louis Ankton was stunned to see the four people who had suddenly appeared with the emperor. Cristina and Anna were just as taken aback.

But really, there was no reason to be shocked about meeting in such an unexpected place.

After all, there was only one pod in this isolated area.

“That is... Ashir...?” Ludwig murmured, staring in disbelief at the contents of the pod.

Unlike the other corpses, which had been meticulously restored into a pristine state as if through taxidermy, the body in this pod was nothing more than a grotesque mass of flesh.

Ellen turned pale, as did Heinrich, and Louise averted her eyes, covering her mouth in horror.

“What... What is that... That can’t be Ashir. What... What did you do? What is...” Ludwig stammered, his voice trailing off as he stared at the abomination before him, a twisted result of a chimera experiment gone horribly wrong.

Anna and Cristina were momentarily taken aback by the sudden arrival of the visitors.

Once they realized Vertus had granted them access, the situation became clear.

Cristina, usually so cheerful, now shook her head with a stern expression, as if her previous optimism had been a mask.

“We just haven’t succeeded yet.”

“What...?”

“There are still many methods we can try. Not long ago, it could even speak. It was just repeating what it was told, but it could. It definitely could...”

Anna and Louis bit their lips, watching the change in Cristina’s demeanor.

They had tried to bring back a friend, and failed.

Yet one person refused to accept that defeat.

Inside the pod lay a mass that seemed a mere shadow of what it had once been. To everyone else, it was a failure, but one person still clung to hope.

“Nothing is impossible in this world,” she insisted.

If they could bring the dead back halfway, why couldn’t they resurrect them completely?

Cristina was the only one who still believed she could achieve this.

A fragile possibility that offered both despair and a false hope.

Cristina, ensnared by that possibility, had already lost her reason.

“If you’re going to talk about failure,” she said, “then just leave.”

Inside the laboratory, Cristina was a completely different person.

Faced with the possibility of bringing a friend back to life, Cristina found herself constantly working with Ashir’s remains.

After each failure, they tried a new approach.

And if that failed, they tried yet another.

Relentlessly.

They believed that after dozens, perhaps even hundreds of attempts, they could eventually revive their friend.

The result of those countless attempts was a grotesque mass, something that couldn’t even be called a chimera.

Despite this, Cristina refused to give up.

Anna and Louis had already accepted the failure, but Cristina couldn’t.

Ellen stared intently at the pod, her expression resolute.

Inside it lay what had once been a person, now reduced to nothing after countless experiments.

They had found Ashir, but there was no trace of the life his body once held.

Even if it seemed impossible... What if they succeeded?

What if they could bring back the dead?

Could the world accept such a thing?

Ellen couldn’t decide.

Yet, Cristina, who had appeared fine while in the Allied camp, had been shattered long ago.

If Ellen died before the Gate Incident was resolved, she might also end up like this.

Fighting, even after death.

Helping others, even after paying the ultimate price.

Was that a blessing or a curse?

Either way, she never wanted to become a lifeless shell, unable to help anyone.

Ellen couldn’t stand to see Cristina clinging to false hope in this nightmare.

“This... this is...”

Isn’t this wrong?

Shouldn’t these things be forbidden?

It was obvious they had already crossed a line.

There was just one reason why this could not continue: it was tearing Cristina apart right before their eyes. She was pushing forward, refusing to admit that success was out of reach. In the end, it would only bring heartache and despair to everyone involved, both the living and the dead.

Ellen noticed that Anna and Louis were reluctantly staying by Cristina’s side, not to assist with the research, but to prevent her from going too far. It was obvious that Vertus had also tried to intervene, but failed to stop her.

This had to end. If it didn’t, Cristina would only spiral further into madness.

They had come to find Ashir. And although they had finally found him, there was barely a trace of him left.

“Stop... Just stop this...” Ellen finally said, giving voice to what everyone else was too afraid to say.

Cristina turned to meet her gaze. “Why?”

Cristina’s question hung in the air, demanding an answer, and Ellen met her eyes with quiet resolve.

“You know it can’t... It won’t work... You’re only making it harder on yourself...”

In Cristina’s eyes, deep and dark like the abyss, Ellen saw nothing but despair.

They were not the eyes of someone with genuine hope.

They were not the eyes of someone who truly believed in possibilities.

Cristina was clinging to hope, wishing for a miracle, because it was all she had left.

Even if it worked, even if the body could speak like Ashir and held Ashir’s memories, could it really be called a resurrection?

Using the dead as tools to create weapons might be justifiable. But if those who were brought back retained their memories and could speak, that would cross a line that should never be crossed.

Cristina was attempting to do just that.

Everyone else remained silent, yet they silently agreed with Ellen.

Anna and Louis, who had been watching, lowered their heads with sorrowful expressions, a testament to the truth of Ellen’s words.

They wanted Cristina to stop, but they couldn’t bring themselves to say it, so they were reluctantly helping her instead.

Her stubbornness was tearing apart not only Cristina, but the two of them as well.

‘You know it can’t be done.’

Ellen’s urging to her to stop her work and let Ashir rest in peace only made Cristina’s eyes, already deep and dark like the abyss, grow even darker.

“You... If it were Reinhart standing here. Would you say the same thing?”

Those words alone were enough.

“What?”

The mere mention of that forbidden name chilled the air.