Because it was a workday and still daytime, Princess Vera was not dressed in pajamas or a gown like in their previous meetings. Instead, she wore a Loen Army officer's uniform that covered her body, making her look imposing, handsome, valiant, and dashing.
Ebner even felt that Vera in this outfit was more attractive to him than when she wore lace pajamas.
However, business came first. He only gave her a few glances before asking in a deep voice, "Have you already cut off the connection between the 'Primordial Demoness' and reality?"
Princess Vera wore a smile on her face and asked instead of answering, "Why do you think I cut off the connection between Cheek and the other Demonesses?"
"I guessed it…" Ebner organized his words and continued, "During the ambush against me in the outer sea east of Bayam, the 'Saintess of Gray' suddenly lost the empowerment of the 'Primordial Demoness', which was why she was captured by the Spiritual Angel Tolzna.
"This clearly meant that someone sabotaged the connection between her and the 'Primordial Demoness'.
"And the people who know that the 'Primordial Demoness' is sleeping at the end of the 'Ghost Empire' route—that is, the divine kingdom opened by the 'Night Emperor' at the Sefirot leakage point—are only you and me. You were the one who gave me that ring in advance!
"With so many conditions in place, it was only natural for me to 'discern' some of the truth."
Pa! Pa! Pa!
Princess Vera clapped her hands a few times, then said with a smile, "Your reasoning wasn't bad… but I didn't cut off the connection between the 'Primordial Demoness' and reality. Instead, I 'twisted' the content of the prayers made to her by the two Demonesses surnamed 'Cheek', the 'Saintess of Gray' and the 'Saintess of Purple'!
"Take the 'Saintess of Gray' as an example. What she prayed to Cheek for at the time was 'increase the output of power', but I 'twisted' it into 'the battle has already ended'… so she suddenly lost the blessing."
Simply put, you hijacked the "signal"! Ebner immediately understood. After all, in his era, this was a common trick used by certain "scammers".
However, he soon noticed the flaw in this matter and frowned as he said, "The 'Saintess of Gray' Siglinde has already had her mind 'imprisoned' by Tolzna, and she's currently under my supervision, so there's no problem there…
"But if the 'Saintess of Purple' doesn't receive a response from the 'Primordial Demoness' when she prays, she'll probably use other means to contact her…
"For example, carrying out a large-scale sacrifice!"
Princess Vera nodded, put away her smile, and said, "That is indeed very possible…
"And because the 'Saintess of Gray' lost contact, Ushaha has already gone into hiding. Even the 'Saintess of Black', Medea, can no longer contact her…
"Or rather, she no longer trusts the other 'Saintesses' within the Demoness Sect."
"Ushaha?" Ebner repeated the name, an inexplicable expression appearing on his face.
"Ushaha Cheek, the name of the 'Saintess of Purple'… There are rumors that she is the biological daughter of the 'Primordial Demoness'… mm, originally a son." Seeing Ebner's curiosity, Princess Vera gave a brief introduction. "And her father is very likely the 'Night Emperor'!"
Ushaha Cheek… then shouldn't the Primordial Demoness be called Cheek Skaha? He wondered whether this was a coincidence, or whether the "Night Emperor," as a special soul within the "God's Coffer," had problems of his own… Why did everything related to him seem to carry, more or less, a hint of a "transmigrator"?
The "Ghost Empire" was like that, the Demonesses loyal to him were like that… and now there was an imperial prince… an imperial princess!
As these thoughts ran through his mind, Ebner noticed that Princess Vera didn't seem particularly worried at all. He immediately reacted and carefully asked, "You already have a countermeasure? Or rather, you've already guessed where the 'Saintess of Purple' is hiding?"
"That's right." Princess Vera nodded, the corners of her mouth lifting as she smiled. "Just as you expected, Ushaha plans to sacrifice a large number of ordinary people to hold a ritual, using that to bypass my 'twisting' power and establish contact with Cheek.
"But without trusting the Demoness Sect, it would actually be very difficult for her to accomplish this alone.
"So her only choice is to cooperate with certain major powers."
"The Loen royal family?" Ebner immediately guessed who she was referring to.
Princess Vera nodded lightly again and said, "My elder brother just happens to want to divert the Church's attention and shift the blame for the previous large-scale population disappearances onto others, so he agreed to Ushaha's request without even thinking about it…"
At this point, she glanced at Ebner and said meaningfully, "I believe this 'Saintess of Purple' will very soon come looking for 'Pride'!
"Oh, right… she possesses a Sealed Artifact that can create her own clones. With her cautious nature, she definitely won't come to meet you in person."
Very good. His Majesty the King's list of "crimes" had grown by another entry. Ebner noted it down in his heart, planning to settle accounts with him sooner or later, and then began considering how to find the true body of the 'Saintess of Purple'.
At this moment, Princess Vera suddenly smiled and asked, "You seem to place great importance on whether Cheek can still communicate with reality… do you have some kind of plan?"
Ebner came back to his senses upon hearing this. He didn't hide anything from Princess Vera and answered directly, "Yes. I plan to use another Demoness who was bestowed the surname 'Cheek' to set up a scheme, so I naturally need to figure out whether the 'Primordial Demoness' can still interfere with reality.
"From the looks of it now, although there are still loopholes that haven't been resolved, they don't hinder the execution of my plan!"
Princess Vera blinked and asked with interest, "Another Demoness surnamed 'Cheek'? Who is it?"
"Trissy Cheek!"
...
East Borough, inside a room with heavy curtains where almost no light penetrated.
Jet-black, slick "tentacles" intertwined layer upon layer, forming a gigantic sphere.
At the tips of these "tentacles", some were inlaid with distinct black-and-white eyeballs, while others had grown into the shape of venomous snake heads, their mouths slightly open as they flicked their tongues. All of them were bizarre and horrifying.
Suddenly, they either lifted or retracted, and the sphere disintegrated layer by layer.
At the center of the sphere was a young girl curled into a ball. She had an abnormally sweet appearance. Her brows were tightly knit, and her expression was slightly twisted from pain, making her especially pitiful.
Those slick and disgusting "tentacles" had all retracted, rapidly shrinking, and finally returned to their original form—
Strands of jet-black, glossy hair!
The girl covered in smooth, long hair relaxed her expression, then slowly stood up. She walked to the bed that had been cut into many small pieces, picked up the nightdress that had fallen to the floor, and put it on.
This girl was none other than Trissy Cheek, who had just advanced to a Demoness of Affliction.
At this moment, she slightly furrowed her delicate brows, then walked to the full-length mirror, stretched out her right palm, and wiped the surface of the glass.
A layer of black flames ignited accordingly, quietly burning the air before quickly extinguishing without a trace, leaving behind a mirror that had become dim and profound.
Within the mirror, light and shadow fluctuated, reflecting Trissy's spirit body.
Although that spirit body looked exactly the same as her real self, Trissy still keenly noticed some differences. For example, above her head, there was a phantom card that appeared and disappeared intermittently…
Thus, as black flames gathered in her hand, Trissy coldly asked, "You… who are you?"
A moment later, an aged voice sounded by her ear, "I'm just an old man who's using your cover to avoid his enemies.
"You can just call me 'Old Man'!
"I can provide you with a lot of help… generally speaking, you won't be at a loss."
"So it's a 'Parasite'…" Trissy fell silent for a few seconds, then withdrew the flames in her hand and spoke with a light laugh. "Old Man, what help can you provide me?"
Hearing this, the aged voice disappeared for a moment before sounding again, "You trust me just like that?"
With a hint of mockery and self-deprecation, Trissy said,
"I can sense your angel-level status, so I can't resist, right?
"What's more, this might not be a bad thing for me! I believe you looked through my memories before 'parasitizing' me, and you know about my conflict with the Loen authorities… but even so, you still chose to 'parasitize' me, which clearly means you have other schemes.
"And no matter what you want to do, it will definitely trigger a series of conflicts in Backlund. This will very likely cause some truths to surface… so I'm very willing, because it helps me take revenge!"
At this point, she paused, then repeated her earlier question, "What can you give me?"
As soon as her words fell, a phantom image of a card appeared before her eyes.
This card was different in style from the one she had just seen above her head in the mirror, but Trissy still quickly recognized its origin.
"This is… a 'Blasphemy Card'?!
"The 'Demoness Card'!"
Seeing Trissy's shocked expression, Ebner—who was using the extraordinary characteristics of the Error Card and the Trojan Horse of Destiny, along with one Worm of Time of the "Old Man", to perform a secret art and disguise himself as "Pallez"—let out a slight sigh of relief.
(End of Chapter)