EPIC: Path of Demons and Dragons-Chapter 447: Detention
"Alright, it looks like this is where we part ways. Take care of yourselves. And try not to give me a reason to act against you..." Vahn said, his eyes flashing as a fairly large section of the city became encircled by a wall of otherworldly green, yellow, and orange flames.
"Would you really kill us to protect a bunch of humans living insignificant lives?" Lupusregina questioned, sporting a troubled, notably pouty frown.
"Only if your actions forced me to..." Vahn replied, meeting Lupusregina’s gaze with a hurt expression of his own. The thought of cutting her down pained him, but if he discovered her tormenting or taking pleasure in the slaughtering of the innocent, he would have no choice but to act—for her sake as much as his.
"Well, that really puts a damper on my mood..." Lupusregina sighed, her frown deepening for a moment before she spread her hands, shrugged, and conceded, "But, what can you do? In the end, we’re all bound by our natures, aren’t we?"
Without waiting for Vahn’s response, Lupusregina teleported herself and Entoma away in a flash of bluish-white light.
"There she goes..." Vahn muttered, a faint, exasperated sigh emanating from his nose before he shook his head and leaped down from the clock tower’s ledge. The brick-paved streets were more than a hundred meters below, but he landed softly and began making his way toward the wall of flames while dodging fleeing citizens and tripping up looters.
(*I’m certain that your time together has caused her to reflect at least a little on her views and values. But she also hasn’t seen or experienced a reason to value human lives. After all, while their individuality allows them to pursue countless paths, it also divides and, in many cases, turns them against one another*) Sis expanded, doing her best to help Vahn process the conflicts in his heart.
’I can’t refute that...’ Vahn sighed internally, his expression flat as he used his Domain-powered Telekinesis to prevent a wide-eyed, scar-faced man from abducting a young girl from her mother’s arms. He didn’t know what the man had in mind, but it was clear from the way the mother cried out in desperation that his intentions weren’t pure. What troubled him even more was that those who ran past the scene were more concerned with fleeing with their or others’ prized possessions in hand.
After sending the would-be abductor bounding over the ground toward a group of guardsmen trying to direct the evacuation and keep things under control, Vahn made his way toward the defensive line forming around the wall of flames. Hundreds of guards and Adventurers had raced to the area in response to the high-pitched emergency signal that had been echoing across the city like a loud cowbell. It was an impressive reaction, but due to how big the affected area was, their forces were scattered, and no one dared to venture close to the wall of flames—through which demons of various shapes and sizes could be seen abducting and dragging civilians by their hair or legs.
’Just remember, Demiurge...you’re the one who encouraged me to do as I pleased...’ Vahn thought solemnly, his eyes shifting to luminous gold and a powerful aura radiating from his body and scattering through the area as black, gold-tinged lightning. This garnered considerable attention, but no one who saw him dared to approach as his hair turned white and flickered like ghostly flames. At the same time, a sphere of luminous, golden, nearly white light gathered between his palms, positioned invertedly at the same height as his heart.
’This is...harder than I thought...’ Vahn groaned, luminous golden blood leaking from his ears and nose as his Magic Power kept bottoming out, only for his life force to supplement it. As his vision became unfocused and the sphere began to destabilize, however, the larger-than-life figure of a diminutive old man with spiky white hair and a highly polished crown appeared behind him, mirroring his form.
Feeling a sudden warmth pervade his body, Vahn couldn’t help but smile as he recalled the words of the man who had passed the unique Law to him as a sign of trust. It had been a while since he and Makarov had last sat down to share a drink, so as he released the amassed power, he made a mental note to invite the man out to one of Azazel’s clubs.
Though those nearest to Vahn tried to turn and flee at the last moment, the hemispherical explosion he unleashed spread far too fast for them to escape. Fortunately, the spell he had used, Fairy Law, only targeted and damaged those he regarded as enemies. Any allies within its vicinity had their wounds mended, their fear expelled, and their magic power restored and temporarily increased.
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"So this is the power of a Dragon God? If he gets any stronger, he could become a real threat to Nazarick..." Demiurge groaned, enduring Vahn’s attack with veins bulging across his forehead. He could have escaped as Fairy Law expanded to affect an area of hundreds of meters, but since he could still feel his connection to his stronger Demon subordinates, he was curious to see how his own defenses and resistances held up to it.
Though it felt like he was bathing in lava, Demiurge resolutely endured Fairy Law’s Damage-over-Time while keeping track of his health and the amount of time passing using a golden pocket watch. He needed to know the exact amount of damage it was capable of dealing if he were to plan a countermeasure against it.
’At this rate, I will perish in precisely 122.7 seconds. The bigger issue is this debuff...’ Demiurge noted, his gem-like eyes reflecting a debuff that grew stronger with each tick of damage he sustained. It didn’t deal extra damage, but as the energy of Vahn’s attack invaded his body, it inhibited his Health, Magic Power, and Stamina Regeneration. In other words, not only did Vahn’s attacks inflict true damage, but the damage stuck unless the invasive energy was purged from their bodies. Otherwise, they would need to endure the debuff for the twenty-four hours it took to resolve on its own...
’Twenty-four hours...the Dragon God did mention that his scales and the materials extracted from his body would disappear in the same amount of time. Could this mean his cells, no, his very existence recycles itself every twenty-four hours...?’ Demiurge posed, cupping his chin. He would require much more data to be certain, but if his suspicions were correct, he might have a method to put the irksome Dragon God down for good...
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With his body beginning to dissolve from the continued burning of his life force, Vahn reluctantly ended Fairy Law and took a knee. He noticed that the street below and the surrounding buildings had been bleached a very pale shade of gold, but he didn’t pay it any mind until a guard approached him, his armor, hair, and even his eyes tinted gold.
"Hey, are you okay...?" questioned the guard, setting down his spear and helping Vahn to a seated position. Instead of responding, Vahn looked at the others approaching. They also had pale golden hair and eyes, giving the impression they were a group of wingless angels, and that the gold-bleached city was a fallen section of Heaven.
’Could this be the consequence of designating evil as my target...?’ Vahn wondered bemusedly. He knew that the Yggdrasil-like System governing OL-2138 used Karma as a metric to determine the potency of Holy, Divine, Dark, and Demon Magic. The scale ranged from -500 to 500, representing Extreme Evil and Extreme Good. When a person was influenced by one of the aforementioned Magic categories, it would shift their alignment either positively or negatively. Vahn knew all of this from the Player’s Handbook Ainz had gifted him to help him understand YGGDRASIL’s mechanics, but as he generally used Wounds Transfer to treat people, he hadn’t expected Fairy Law to have such a drastic effect...
’Isn’t this basically brainwashing...?’ Vahn asked himself, frowning deeply as he accepted the guard’s help in climbing to his feet. Not only were they more organized and moving with greater purpose than before, but, as the person who had cleansed evil from their hearts, the way they viewed him was comparable to that of members of his Church. He got the impression that if he ordered them to, they would readily take up arms and crusade in his name—no questions asked...
’So this is the influence of Karma...’ Vahn noted, suddenly understanding precisely why Lupusregina and others were the way they were. As former NPCs with fixed parameters, their Karmic Values were likewise fixed, with Lupusregina’s being -200, also known as Naturally Evil. She could control her urges, but she had a deeply rooted desire to cause harm, particularly to humans who hadn’t submitted themselves wholeheartedly to Nazarick. If he wanted to allow her and the other NPCs of Nazarick to grow beyond the behavioral constraints foisted upon them by their fixed Karmic Values, he would need to free or possibly even recreate them...
The one thing that Vahn was certain of was that he couldn’t force people to change. As evidenced by what he had just achieved with Fairy Law, it was indisputably within his power. But now he was going to have to deal with people, nations, and religious institutions across the world accusing him of having access to Mass Brainwashing Magic...
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With the purpose of Project Gehenna being to distract from Nazarick’s attack and absorption of The Eight Fingers’ assets, Vahn’s use of Fairy Law and the changes it had induced more than sufficed as a substitute. The Kingdom naturally had to get to the bottom of the matter, and with more than a hundred thousand people affected by Fairy Law’s alignment shift, the affected districts needed to remain cordoned off from the rest of the city.
Fortunately for Vahn’s conscience, the effects of Fairy Law disappeared after twenty-four hours. During that period, he naturally submitted himself to detention and questioning, resulting in him being kept in a cell that was more like a royal suite than a dungeon. King Ramposa had insisted that he be given treatment comparable to that of a temporarily detained dignitary, so he even had a trio of Maids operating in four-hour shifts to monitor and attend to his nonexistent needs.
"There are those demanding that you be imprisoned indefinitely or placed in the care of the Argland Council State, but His Majesty has ordered that you will be released once our investigation into what transpired yesterday evening is completed. Princess Renner, in particular, has insisted that you were simply doing what you believed was necessary to prevent a greater tragedy from occurring..." Gazef explained, seated across from Vahn at a long wooden table covered in a red, gold-trimmed cloth bearing the crest of the Re-Estize Kingdom.
"Then please be sure to give His Majesty and Princess Renner my thanks," Vahn expressed, prompting Gazef to offer a solemn, affirming nod before he added, "That said, I will only stay here a maximum of two weeks. What happened yesterday evening wasn’t entirely within my control, and since I ultimately did it to protect this Kingdom’s people, I will not allow myself to be entangled indefinitely by bureaucratic red tape."
"I understand. And I thank you for cooperating with us as much as you have..." Gazef responded, closing his eyes and bowing his head to show his respect. Thousands of witnesses had seen what was occurring behind the wall of flames before Vahn’s arrival. So while The Temple of the Four Great Gods, in particular, was trying to assert that a large-scale demonic incursion hadn’t occurred, it was obvious that they simply didn’t want it to get out that Vahn was capable of saving a hundred thousand people and purging tens of thousands of demons with a release of golden energy that was clearly divine in origin. They were even demanding that he hand over the book he had used to bless those who had attacked The Eight Fingers’ bases, maintaining that it was a holy text stolen from them by an unknown entity, clearly implying that Vahn was the thief.
Unfortunately for the High Priest who had been sent over to confirm the book’s origins, one of its effects was to compel all those within its vicinity to speak the truth. Attempting to do otherwise would cause one extreme discomfort, as, in the presence of absolute truth, all lies and deceptions were invariably exposed...
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