Why and how did this happen?
Amelia could guess. This thing was no longer under her control, and it did not listen to her commands. After being imbued with the dark power of Destruction, it had transformed into something more than a mere undead, a Death Knight, or a specter.
After losing the original body of the Stupid Hamel, she had crafted a crude reconstruction. As such, it was still an undead. But now, it had become an existence that could no longer be classified as mere undead.
And the chains of servitude had broken in the process. Amelia couldn't command it anymore, nor did it need her power to exist.
That was all. They couldn't command each other. They had formed a relationship of perfect equality.
Equal? No, now this creature was overwhelmingly superior to Amelia. If it wished to kill her, she would not be able to resist.
'Why?' Amelia questioned.
She understood that the chains binding them had been broken.
But why? Why was it doing this?
Amelia thought she had treated it, the specter, very well. She knew she had been excessively cruel to Hemoria. If Hemoria had broken free, a betrayal would have been completely understandable.
But the specter's betrayal didn't make sense. She couldn’t understand its reason for treating her in this humiliating fashion.
Had she treated it cruelly? Never. She never used violence or harsh words. Amelia had always treated the specter with utmost respect. Even though their relationship had been that of a master and her vassal, she had never shown disrespect. Even if its memories were fake, she respected its pride as a great hero from three hundred years ago.
That wasn't all, either. She thought she had given it everything it needed.
Hatred, vengeance, and all those negative feelings she had instilled in the specter were real as far as it knew. Therefore, she respected its desires and impulses. She had helped it fulfill its longing for hatred and revenge and had been planning to continue doing so.
What about when it returned after being defeated by the young hero? If Hemoria had returned in such a state, Amelia would have scorned and mocked her, but she didn't do that to the specter. She sincerely consoled it.
Even after the specter lost the precious, one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable body of the real Hamel and returned with just a soul, she found forgiveness and understanding. When it wanted to become stronger, she prepared the grounds for it.
She had done all that for the specter. She had shown grace and kindness.
So why was it doing this to her?
"..…" Amelia wasn’t sure what the answer was and felt wronged.
However, she was unable to voice the boiling emotions and complaints. Instead, she remained silent. She knew exactly what would happen if she spoke carelessly.
The humiliation of being used as a chair while lying naked…. It reminded her of a past she didn't want to remember. It reminded Amelia Merwin of her pitiful and weak days. It was a time when she had to do anything just to survive.
Amelia didn’t want to die now, just as she didn’t want to in the distant past. She was willing to endure any humiliation to survive. She could even stoop to licking others’ toes if it were necessary for her survival.
The power of the specter was truly overwhelming, to the degree that she was entertaining such thoughts.
Everything happened in an instant. After extracting the dark power of Destruction from Amelia and regenerating her body, the specter demanded to know what had happened during the months he was asleep.
After hearing Amelia's answer, the specter suddenly grabbed her by the hair and dragged her out of the mansion. Until that moment, Amelia was too shocked to scream.
After exiting, the specter first dealt with the mansion. It didn’t just cause the mansion to collapse but destroyed it explosively with a loud bang.
The explosion echoed through the silent city and drew demons from all directions. Leading them was, naturally, Alphiero. He was astonished to see the specter revived with a body.
He did not attack.
It was the same with the other demons. Being vessels of the Demon King of Destructions, the demons felt instinctive reverence towards the specter.
But the specter did not accept the reverence of the demons. Similar to how it had dragged Amelia by her hair and destroyed the mansion, the specter rampaged unhindered.
Although the demons were in awe, they did not simply stand around. They had no intention of letting the specter destroy them.
Alphiero and the demons resisted as best as they could.
However, it was futile.
Even in Amelia’s eyes, the gap between the demons and the specter was like that between ants and humans. These high-ranking demons had reigned for centuries in Ravesta, but it didn’t take long for them to be completely defeated.
After the turmoil, the specter sat on the prostrated form of Amelia and became lost in thought.
"What am I?"
When the specter suddenly uttered this, Amelia wondered whether to respond or keep quiet as a proper chair should. In the end, she chose to remain silent, which proved to be the right decision.
If she had said, "You are Hamel Dynas,” the specter would have unleashed further humiliation on her. It would have rendered him unable to contain his boiling fury.
".…." Silence ensued as both Amelia and the specter were immersed in their own thoughts.
Finally, after composing his thoughts somewhat, the specter turned his gaze towards Amelia. He didn’t intend to humiliate her by making her lie naked in such a manner. Neither Hamel nor the specter had such a perverse hobby.
It had been simply unavoidable. Amelia's body had been half-destroyed and submerged in fluid. Although her body had regenerated during the extraction of Destruction’s dark power, her clothes did not regenerate along with her body. In the first place, Amelia had been stark naked as she soaked in the fluid bath.
The specter was in a similar situation. After its crude body disintegrated, it was reborn as an Incarnation of Destruction and obtained a new body.
However, unlike Amelia, he at least wore pants. He had not wanted to rampage naked.
“What to do with you,” the specter mused as it stood up.
The weight pressing down on Amelia disappeared. She flinched and raised her head.
“I feel like killing you,” he said.
The specter had every right to kill her.
He genuinely believed this. Although Amelia created him, the self-awareness he possessed couldn’t accept that he was born this way. He really loathed his creator for giving him such an existence.
However, was the hatred he felt greater than the real Hamel’s?
Was it greater than Eugene Lionheart's?
‘I have every right to kill her,’ the specter thought to himself.
Eugene Lionheart, too. In fact, he had more right than the specter to kill Amelia Merwin.
It was the same with Sienna Merdein as well. Amelia Merwin was a black wizard who defiled and turned a precious comrade’s body into an undead. If Sienna was the same as the woman in the specter’s memories, she would be plotting to tear Amelia apart with her own hands.
It would be the same with Molon Ruhr. He always laughed like a fool every time his comrades called him stupid. But the specter “remembered” how terrifyingly brutal an enraged Molon could be.
Compared to the specter, all these heroes of the past would have a more intense desire to kill Amelia Merwin. And they had every right to feel that way.
“What are you… thinking about?” asked Amelia.
As the specter’s gaze grew colder, Amelia gulped and shrank back. She couldn’t ignore the chilling, murderous intent in his eyes.
Seeing those eyes, Amelia said, “I don’t understand why you’re acting this way. We are—”
“I have a pretty good idea of what you want to say,” interjected the specter. It no longer addressed Amelia as Master.
This truth colored Amelia’s eyes with despair.
“It’s better if you stop talking,” advised the specter.
What went wrong?
The chains were broken. The specter was free. But that alone didn’t justify this hatred and murderous intent. Why did he see her as an enemy?
‘It realized the memories are fake.’ Amelia came to a sudden understanding.
Yes, of course, that would cause anger.
‘But why doesn’t it kill me?’ wondered Amelia.
The specter recognized that his memories were manipulated, that the sense of vengeance towards his comrades was artificially created and implanted.
‘Then it should naturally try to kill me,’ Amelia thought.
Amelia created the specter's soul based on Hamel’s memories. Knowing all this, it should want to kill her. She had chained it to prevent such a tragedy.
‘Even after realizing the truth, it doesn’t kill me…,’ Amelia realized.
The truth?
How much of the truth had it perceived?
Amelia swallowed her agitation and gazed at the specter.
“…Who are you?” she asked. It was a risky question, but one that had to be asked.
“Who knows,” he said.
The specter's emotions became quenched at her question. He still couldn’t decide who he was or if he even had the right to choose.
Yet, if he dared to desire, the specter still thought of himself as Hamel.
‘He realized that he’s a fake,’ Amelia told herself.
It was an unexpected development. Amelia had never thought about what to do in such a situation. Even the breaking of the chains had been beyond her expectations.
‘He found out the truth, but he’s not killing me. Why is that the case? Because I created it…?’ Amelia’s thoughts were a chaotic mess.
It was clear that the specter was confused about its identity. So, it seemed best not to touch on that topic. Regardless of their relationship as a creator and a creation, there was a huge gap in power between them.
Amelia needed that power. She had endured all these humiliations because she had a fervent wish.
She wanted to start a war. She wanted to start a massive war that would turn the world upside down and possibly extinguish all life on the continent. She wanted a war where hundreds or thousands of human lives would be as insignificant as ants. She wanted to be responsible for initiating such a war.
‘With my own hands,’ she thought.
What she really wanted was for the world to end through the war.
‘I can do it with my own hands,’ she reaffirmed.
With the cooperation of the specter, now the Incarnation of Destruction… she might indeed be able to bring about the world's end.
“You.” The specter spoke first. Just as Amelia thought, the specter had come to a conclusion.
He wasn’t sure if this was the right decision, but he had made up his mind.
“Go to Nahama,” he said.
“…What?” she said, sure she had misheard him.
“Isn’t that what you want? To start a war? You’ve been preparing diligently for that, haven’t you?” said the specter with a smirk. “Now that there's no reason to stay in Ravesta, go to Nahama. Start a war there.”
He knew about Amelia’s situation, as well as what was happening outside.
It seemed that Eugene Lionheart wanted her to start a war. He planned to use the chaos she created to crush Nahama and the demons of Helmuth and hunt her down. He intended to use the war to unify the continent’s allies.
Eugene wanted it.
Hamel hoped for it.
The specter, acting on this realization, pushed Amelia forward.
"Harpeuron has perished. Although that bastard was an insignificant force, his death, if taken lightly, would upset the demons of Nahama," said the specter.
“……” Amelia wasn’t sure how to respond.
The specter continued, “Isn't it so? Whether the demons feel camaraderie or not, if you… don't keep your promise to them and continue to hide here, nothing will happen. The demons will withdraw from your war, and you’ll end up with nothing.”
“Even if you didn’t say anything,” Amelia continued after a pause. “I was going to go to Nahama anyway. My body is free now, and I have things to do, things I want to do. But… what will you do?”
She wasn't sure what response to expect. While she wanted to ask more directly, she couldn’t risk it, given the power dynamics between them. Nervously, Amelia waited for the specter’s answer.
“If you go to Nahama first....” The specter lifted its head and gazed at the sealed ceiling of the underground city. The ceiling blended with the sky, and it was teeming with giant monsters from the past.
“...I’ll follow you later,” he said.
“Does that mean… you also want war? To cooperate in my war?” Amelia's voice trembled as she asked.
“Yes.” The specter nodded.
However, obviously, it had no such desires. Pushing Amelia to go to Nahama and start a war was solely for Eugene’s sake. The specter had no intention of getting involved in the war himself.
“…..” Amelia was stunned into silence at this simple admission.
Was this really true?
If in the midst of the war Eugene perished, or if the specter killed Eugene….
He saw the image of Sienna weeping in his mind. When was this? Right. It was when Iris ruthlessly killed the elf rangers. Sienna cried in the burnt forest, in front of the charred bodies of elves who had been burnt alive with their forest.
‘...She must have cried like that when Hamel died,’ the specter thought to himself.
The specter had no memory of that moment. His last memory of Hamel was a betrayal by comrades, leading to his death. The last memory of Sienna’s face that he remembered was one with no tears, only a mocking smile.
It was absolutely disgusting. It was disgusting that he had believed such memories and hated everyone.
“Then we can go together and—” Before Amelia could finish, the specter kicked her. He had failed to control his emotions. She couldn't even let out a scream. She didn't fly far like a ball. Instead, she clutched her stomach and gasped for air.
“I said later,” he said curtly.
The specter couldn’t follow Amelia to Nahama right away. He hadn't decided who he was yet.
What did he want to do? What could he do? Why did Vermouth spare its life and make him into the Incarnation of Destruction? He didn't know.
What should he do as the Incarnation of Destruction?
What could he do?
What did he want to do?
‘I don't know,’ the specter realized.
If Vermouth had given clear instructions or a request, he wouldn't be in such a quandary. But Vermouth told the specter nothing.
So, he had to think and decide for himself.
‘…..’ The specter closed its eyes and focused on his breathing. There was something he needed to confirm first.
‘The Demon King of Incarceration,’ he thought.
Could he fight him?
‘If I can, the power I possess now… might help Eugene, might help Hamel,’ he told himself.
Was that the truth? Was this what he desired? The specter ignored the sinister doubts clinging to his thoughts.