Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Alephee was pressed for time, so she tried to wrap things up quickly.

As the demons attempt to acquire a corporeal vessel, they know they are prone to their soul fragments being assimilated by the denizens of Anfang. But they also know that some risks are needed to reap substantial rewards. That's how complicated things are when it comes to the soul and there's no way around it.

The demons either don't care or they are too optimistic. They are betting too much on the fact that the denizens of Anfang are not well-versed in these things."

Eren nodded slightly at Alephee. He didn't know anything about the demons or the demon continent. He was also shocked that they were trying to invade the continent of Anfang like monsters.

One had to say as far as invasions were concerned, the monsters were way ahead of the demons. The monsters were limited to Badlands, yes. At least they were using their real bodies inside Anfang.

The demons were forced to send the fragments of their souls inside Anfang. They hope to find a mana beast that is at its weakest so that they can take over its consciousness.

It meant that the soul fragments that get sent inside Anfang could not be targeted for a specific time and place. Or it was just that the demons couldn't pinpoint the location on Anfang where the soul fragments would appear. Alternatively, they couldn't coordinate with their kind present here to come up with an ideal spawning location.

Either way, taking over a mana beast's body was only the start of their otherworldly adventure. They needed to survive in this world and become strong enough to make an impact here. Something they wouldn't be able to do if they got exposed to the denizens of Anfang.

And since the demons had obtained the vessels of the mana beasts, they were subjected to the same fate as them. Being hunted by the rankers of Anfang. At the time of evolution, they were particularly prone to losing a sense of being.

The soul fragment was akin to a chipped part of a large blackboard. When the ranker succeeds in establishing a connection with the demon beast and taming it with the blood ritual, everything written on the chipped blackboard will be erased.

If everything turned out their way, the demons had strategic advantages over the monsters even when they didn't have their original bodies in Anfang. That's because they would have most of their memories intact. They knew who they were. And they didn't need "Clarity" to access the inherited memories.

However, everything would change for the demons if the ranker managed to establish the connection with the beast using the blood ritual. The soul fragments they had sent inside the beasts would act as the conduit for the rankers to tame the beast and imprint it with their soul marks.

As a result, the demon beasts would become extremely loyal to their tamers. The demons would lose the sense of themselves when this happens, subjecting the soul fragments to eternal servitude.

Eren didn't know much about the soul, soul mark, or soul fragment. But he was sure that losing a piece of one's soul would not be a positive thing for the one who has lost it. There would be some repercussions to pay if things turned south for the demon beasts, which was usually the case. The establishments of Anfang were very strict with the demon beasts.

Altashia had explained to Eren a few things about the demon beasts and the blood ritual. She had hinted to him at that time that there was something within the demon beast that was not native to the world of Anfang.

Altashia was also the one who had told Eren that the establishments on Anfang didn't fear the demon beasts because of their crowd-control abilities. They feared them because of their otherworldly roots.

They didn't want the demon beasts to get strong without the native ranker overriding the soul fragment's consciousness using the blood ritual.

The blood ritual completely neutralized the threat demon beasts and the soul fragments within them possessed. And by that extension, it also neutralized the threat of demons having their way with Anfang.

Altashia had explained to Eren that the blood ritual validated the existence of demon beasts, making them part of Anfang finally. But she didn't explain to him that what actually got validated was not demon beasts' bodies but the soul fragments within them.

Even with the little hints given to him by Altashia, Eren had managed to draw a logical conclusion. This was because the demon beasts were the product of mana beasts getting possessed by something foreign to the world. He just couldn't confirm his hypothesis at the time. But Alephee confirmed his theory with her recent explanation.

'So there were parts of Reen and Argo that belonged to the demon continent before my consciousness changed their existences forever. Hmm. This soul-related stuff is very interesting.

Sending one's soul fragment to another world, huh? What would I gain if I managed to do something like this? I need to research it a bit when I get a chance. Maybe I'll be able to pull off something like these demons one day.'

Eren had a random thought. Meanwhile, he processed the information Alephee provided him and filled in the blanks Altashia had left behind.

Alephee was very amused by Eren's thought process. She chuckled a bit before bursting a bubble for him.

'Hehe. Have you already thought about exploring different worlds the demons' way? Sorry to say, Eren. But it is way too early for you. You can't create a soul fragment of yourself before becoming a Sage or beyond.

In my opinion, demons' ways of exploring the Anfang are in fact relatively safe and convenient. I can see why you liked it the first time you heard about it.

However, there is also a big risk of losing control over the soul fragment. Sometimes, the soul fragments develop egos of their own. They might or might not cooperate with their owners in those cases. And the risk of losing control through blood ritual is also very big.'

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AN: Altashia explains things about the demon beasts to Eren in chapter 439.

VEH crosses the milestone of 1M words with this chapter. Cheers! ;)