"Got you!"
With Dawn Roar standing down, Charles could devote his full attention to separating the demon blood.
In fact, after stripping away the demon blood on the outside, Charles discovered that inside this Holy Knight named Del there was a core formed from demon blood.
The root of his bodily mutation was that core. Though it had no real mind, it behaved like a living thing, even evading Charles's purification.
The blood of dead demons merging with human magic producing something like this—the Demon Clan really was a bizarre race.
But as the demon blood was mostly separated, the core was clearly exposed and forced by Charles's magic to leave Del's body.
Del opened his mouth, and a dark-red, grotesque creature crawled out of his throat.
It tried to flee, but the moment it left Del's body it was engulfed in flames, let out a piercing shriek, and turned to ash.
As it dissipated, Del's body fully returned to normal, and when Charles withdrew his magic he collapsed limply to the ground.
"Treatment complete. Once he wakes up, we'll know what's really going on in the capital!" Charles said.
...
At the Boar Hat, everyone sat together. Del had woken up and told them everything he knew.
But Del was only a test subject in the end, and he didn't know much.
Even so, he revealed the mastermind behind the unrest: Hendrickson, one of the kingdom's two Great Holy Knights.
At the very least, Del could prove that Hendrickson had experimented with demon blood to create the New Generation—and he himself was a test subject in that process.
There were plenty of fusion failures like him—former Holy Knights who had all been "dealt with."
The Holy Knights of the Kingdom of Liones were not a monolith. Following the two Great Holy Knights' rebellion were opportunists scheming for promotion and a group of Holy Knights who believed their leaders' doctrine about the Holy War and rebelled against the king.
A sizable number of Holy Knights, however, remained loyal to the royal family—Dawn Roar, for example.
After meeting Elizabeth, Dawn Roar, led by Slader, decided to aid the Seven Deadly Sins.
Charles raised his cup. "So our goal is actually simple: rescue the imprisoned king, then take down Hendrickson."
That said, Charles knew the true mastermind wasn't Hendrickson, but the other Great Holy Knight, Dreyfus, who had always seemed at odds with him.
More precisely, it was Fraudrin of the Demon Clan inside Dreyfus's body—the only member of the Ten Commandments to escape the seal.
Charles had considered simply taking out Fraudrin to prevent the seal from being broken.
After all, the Demon Clan represented the world's dark power—their nature was destruction and ruin, and they even fed on human souls.
Letting them out of the seal was hardly a good thing.
You could say the Demon Clan and humans were like wolves and sheep—mutual slaughter was the natural order. Charles was human, so naturally he thought from humanity's side.
If the Demon Clan and humans could coexist peacefully, there'd be no issue, but as long as the Demon King who sought to rule all of Britannia existed, the Demon Clan wouldn't change.
After weighing it again and again, Charles decided to drop that idea.
Because Fraudrin's unsealing was itself part of someone's plan.
Merlin, the Sin of Gluttony—if she wanted to revive Chaos, the Demon King was someone she had to deal with.
And to deal with the Demon King, who held the highest authority over darkness, the only way was to gather the ten commandments and bring him into the present world.
The Demon King's authority would be weakened to the extreme upon descending to the mortal realm—that would be the only chance to defeat him.
So even if Charles eliminated Fraudrin, Merlin would still undo the seal on the Coffin of Eternal Darkness.
Charles didn't doubt her capability—after all, the Coffin of Eternal Darkness had been made by Merlin in the first place; who could say she hadn't left a backdoor on it?
So rather than letting events spiral out of control, it was better to let the unsealing proceed as in the original plot; that way Charles could prepare in advance.
Of course, the Goddess Clan weren't saints either. While they didn't massacre humans at will like the Demon Clan, their ultimate goal was still to stand above all other races.
The "Holy War" proclaimed by those self-styled superior races was nothing more than a war for domination to that end.
Hadn't they also used despicable means to butcher the Demon Clan? There was nothing noble about them then.
Charles was already planning to undo the Goddess Clan's seal as soon as the Demon Clan's was lifted and let the two sides tear into each other.
While Charles was thinking that far ahead, the others began discussing their plan to assault the royal palace.
Slader said, "Leave His Majesty to us! We'll return to the capital ahead of you. Even if we can't get him out, we'll at least find out where he's being held."
The weakened Del took out a pendant. "I can't be of much help as I am now. Please take this to my daughter—maybe it'll get her to give you some assistance."
Slader pocketed the pendant. "That would help us a lot!"
Meliodas said, "Once we rescue Bartra, we'll be able to command part of the Holy Knights. And in the end, we just have to take down Hendrickson."
Ban lifted his cup. "I don't think the kingdom's Great Holy Knight will surrender without a fight, and that New Generation bunch seems to be under his control, too.
"It might turn into one hell of a war!"
Elizabeth looked sorrowful. To her, neither side should be harmed; war simply shouldn't happen.
Stella comforted her. "Elizabeth, we have to stop them now, or there will surely be more sacrifices in the future."
Elizabeth gave a wan smile. "I'm sorry. I won't be weak anymore!"
Stella took her hand and shook her head. "No. Your gentleness and kindness are exactly what make you strong, Elizabeth. You are absolutely not in the wrong, so you don't need to apologize."
Charles nodded in agreement on the side. A goodness that doesn't change even when you're hurt is indeed a kind of strength—and compared to sheer power, this inner strength is far more precious.
Protecting such a precious heart was also the very meaning of strength.
Meliodas looked at Elizabeth gently, then raised his voice. "Since the plan is set, let's get moving!
"Postpone the search for Merlin and Escanor for now. Next up, the Seven Deadly Sins' target is the capital of Liones!
"But before that, let's celebrate Gowther's return to the team!"
Charles smacked his forehead. He had no idea what the Boar Hat had been like when it was just Meliodas; ever since he joined, it felt like they were throwing a banquet every day.
The Boar Hat's finances had always been in the red; even most of the ingredients weren't purchased but gathered or hunted.
The reason was the boss's free-spending ways—none of the revenue ever stayed in the till.
Still, it really was a lot of fun.
(End of Chapter)
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