Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Eren didn't fail to notice a particular thing Alephee explained in passing.

'Demon Baron, huh? How much on the Sage-power scale are we talking about?'

Eren asked Alephee as he stared at Steve's back. Alephee chuckled a bit before trying to come up with an answer.

'Let's see... an archdemon is typically more powerful than an ordinary Sage. But not by much. The battle between them can turn either way depending upon the number of Trump cards and other external factors they have in their favor.'

Eren's eyes glowed when he heard about Archdemons being as strong as a Sage. He felt that Archdemon was the kind of existence he needed to see face-to-face before he even thought of existence on the level of Demon Princess.

The butcher wasn't sure if he could pull it off. But he couldn't help licking his lips in anticipation as he thought of devouring an archdemon's soul fragment. The thought of digesting a Demon Baron's gains and all the demonic knowledge it possessed almost made his mouth watery.

Steve felt a shiver down his spine and turned around to see Eren smiling at him. The berserker cursed himself for getting jittery for no reason before resuming to look at the stage occupied by a Sage.

'Are you thinking of devouring Steve? I would advise against it.'

Alephee commented casually. The butcher nodded before replying.

'Yeah. I can instinctively sense it using my bloodline powers. Because of his body-strengthening art, the guy has basically stopped being useful for gaining elemental attainment. I'll be able to boost my body stats to some degree, but that's it. There are no tangible benefits to losing a pawn I have invested so much in just for that.

What I'm interested in is devouring the guy's demon beast. By demon beast, I mean the fragment of a demon soul that resides within Wilber. How would that go?'

Eren could feel Alephee metaphorically shaking her head in denial.

'Refining a demon soul fragment? You cannot use your bloodline powers directly for something like that. But there are certainly other ways.

However, there are various factors involved in refining a soul fragment. You'd need an awakened soul sense, which you already have. The most critical thing is that you'd need a soul sense strong enough to overpower the demon soul fragment.'

Eren was excited after hearing Alephee's explanation. But Alephee reined him in right away.

'Don't get too excited, Eren. Soul-sense only allows you to stand at the starting line.

Demons are the masters of intent-based magic because their expertise lies in soul-related stuff. They scour various worlds using their soul fragments based on that expertise. You are not their match yet when it comes to matters related to souls.

Forget about an archdemon or the demons that are beyond that rank. Even a Greater Demon's fragment is not something you can overpower with your current level even though you have your awakened soul sense.

Let's just say that they are born with an awakened soul sense. How will you overpower their souls using your infantile soul sense?'

Eren scrunched his nose in annoyance when he heard Alephee's response. The latter sighed and softened her voice before continuing.

'Hmm. There's good news. It seems the kingdom has tweaked the continent-encompassing array in this region for the time being to make that giant golden sphere work. It means we have some freedom to discuss this thing.'

Eren looked up above him and saw the giant sphere floating motionlessly in the air when Alephee mentioned it. He didn't know what Alephee was talking about. But he was too focused on his previous question to care about anything else. So he let Alephee expound further on the same topic.

'You have a soul sense that might take over a lesser demon's soul fragment. That is if we are only talking about the soul fragment. But the efforts aren't worth the risk.

As for your earlier question, you need to understand that I'm oversimplifying things here. And that the things I'll mention can't be considered standards. But let's compare the ranking statuses of Anfang and the demon realm just for argument's sake.

Lesser demons in the demon realm can be compared with Master rankers while the greater demons can be pitted against Grandmaster rankers. And just as I said before, the archdemons and Sages can be put on the same pedestal. And forget about the Demon Princess for now. They are existences far above the archdemons.

Hence, I advise against refining the soul fragment of an archdemon. That being said, you definitely need to pay attention to Wilber and Steve if you consider Steve to be an extremely valuable pawn.'

Eren raised his eyebrows when he heard Alephee's warning. He activated Sedated Perception for himself before engaging.

'What do you mean?'

In the pendent abode, the homunculus was busy engraving a special array inside her grimoire. She replied while continuing her work.

'It doesn't matter what kind of demon they are, they don't act out of pure goodness. Wilber is making a contingency plan to take over Steve's body by giving him body-strengthening art.'

A visible shock spread across Eren's face.

'What? How? Didn't the demon soul fragments get tamed by the rankers using the blood ritual? How could they plan against their masters if that is the case?'

Alephee explained patiently.

'The demon soul fragments can't backstab their masters after the blood ritual. But they don't have to.

The body-strengthening art Wilber had given to Steve is genuine. The demon hasn't rigged it at all. But he is the one regulating it.

In Steve's case, the art is making his body compatible with the demon realm. In short, the body is becoming more and more compatible with successful demonic possession.

Wilber will not harm Steve in any way. But everything changes when Steve dies due to external factors and Wilber is left alive. Wilber will be able to take over Steve's body using the link established by the blood ritual.'

Eren had a stoic expression as he listened to what Alephee was saying. He started worrying about his own safety as well. After all, he had tamed two demon beasts. He wasn't sure about Reen but Argo's soul fragment belonged to a Demon Prince. What Alephee said next made him even more concerned.