"Jade!"
Ren cried out, her face etched with unease.
"Um... first of all, congratulations. And thank you for hosting such a wonderful banquet. ...The atmosphere seems to have changed a bit, but I guess that’s expected now that you’ve become a lord. It can’t be helped, right?"
Ren managed to force a smile as she spoke, but her expression grew weaker with every word.
And for good reason. The gaze Jade directed at her was incredibly cold.
Ren looked as if she were about to be crushed by the silent pressure, but she steeled her resolve and looked straight ahead.
"Jade, talk to me! It might be boorish to bring this up during a banquet, but I want you to tell me everything—what’s happened until now, what’s going to happen next, what you’re thinking, what you’re feeling... everything! Just like we used to! ...I’m so worried I can’t stand it. Please. Don't look at me with such cold eyes..."
By the end, her voice was barely a whisper.
Seeing this, Jade’s lips curled into a thin smile.
"My, my. Just who gave this pig permission to speak?"
His tone was gentle and admonishing, but the words themselves were utterly dismissive.
As Ren stared back in shock, a massive amount of mana suddenly surged around her.
"Kh... hah...!"
The Magic Concentration was so high that a normal human wouldn't have been able to survive, and Ren fell to her knees.
Panting heavily, she looked up at Jade.
"Ja... de...?"
"Hoh, I’m applying enough pressure to kill, yet... I see, so this is what a 'Cursed One' is. ...Let's see, was your name Ren? The 'Cursed One' who spits poison."
Jade looked at Ren as if he were observing a specimen of a rare beast.
"And then there's Galilea, Talia, Babylon, and Crow... yes, these are all the ones Jade used to lead. I'm starting to remember."
Jade shifted his gaze, and I saw that Galilea and the others were already lying facedown.
They must have been hit by the aftershocks of the mana he had gathered earlier. They weren't dead, but they had lost consciousness.
"Every...one...? Jade! What... are you... saying...?"
Ren seemed lost in a fog of confusion at the way Jade spoke about his comrades—and even himself—as if they were strangers.
Jade is... no, that thing isn't human.
He looked at the flustered Ren and laughed as if it were the funniest thing in the world.
"Ahahaha! ...I see, I see. Of course. It would be a bit pitiful for you to vanish without knowing anything. Very well, I’m in a good mood, so I’ll tell you. I'll tell you exactly what is happening right now."
His mouth twisted into a sneer as he continued.
"—The Jade who led you all is dead. I killed him and stole his body. His abilities and his memories are, naturally, mine now. You would have understood if you'd read the contents of the letter I sent the other day, wouldn't you? I wrote that using Jade’s memories still lingering in this body. Well? Even the handwriting was a perfect match, wasn't it?"
"Th-That's a lie!"
"It is not a lie. Or rather... kuku, don't you already understand the truth in your heart? That's why your face is so pale."
"...!"
Seeing Ren bite her lip, her face drained of color, he narrowed his eyes in delight.
He took over the body... which means this guy is a Majin. Since Majin lack physical forms, they have the power to possess the bodies of humans and other creatures to make them their own.
"By the way, though it might not matter anymore, the contents of the letter were true. Jade was the third son of a noble family here, and he used you all to kill his meddlesome parents and siblings. It seems it was also true that he intended to call you back once things had settled down. However, I appeared before that could happen. He was a very unusual 'Cursed One'. I wanted that power, so I came all this way. He put up quite a fight... but well, as you can see, Jade has become me."
"No way...!"
Ren's eyes were dyed with the hue of absolute despair.
"Oh yes, it seems Jade went around causing incidents using your names while I was dormant. He was probably trying to make it look like his own doing to drive you away from here, wasn't he? My, what a heart-wrenching tale. Wringing out his last fading bits of consciousness to let his comrades escape. ...But it was all for naught. Jade's consciousness has now completely sunk within me, and this body is entirely mine. Ahahahaha!"
The entity burst into a fit of loud laughter.
The soldiers followed suit, their laughter echoing through the hall.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
When he raised his hand, the soldiers stopped instantly.
"For your information, I’ve had these soldiers' bodies possessed by the subordinate Majin I brought from the Demon World. Since I’ve come all this way, I thought I’d crush a country or two on my way back to test their abilities. Tonight is the eve of that festival."
"You... intend to start a war...?"
Of all things, he was planning to make Ren and the others do that—the very people who had championed War Crushing under the original Jade.
Ren glared at him with pure resentment. Blood seeped from her bitten lip.
"That's right. A killing banquet that makes the blood boil and the flesh dance. Rejoice, for you all get to participate as well. Aha!"
He let his cloak flutter and rolled up his sleeves. Several black human faces surfaced on his slender arms.
"Now then, let's get to the main point. There is only one reason I called you 'Cursed Ones' here: your bodies. Majin and 'Cursed Ones' have extraordinary compatibility. You'll make excellent military assets. I shall have you become the Vessel for the Majin subordinates I brought from the Demon World! Hahahahaha!"
Once again, he laughed loudly.
Ren hung her head in despair, her knees buckling.
Amidst the chaos, his eyes met mine.
"Oh? You... why do you look so unfazed after receiving my pressure? You're acting quite high and mighty. Kneel."
As he spoke, he concentrated the surrounding mana onto me.
Even denser mana swirled around me... but it didn't really bother me. No matter how much the surrounding Magic Pressure is raised, if your own Magic Concentration is high, it has no effect.
"Hmm... this is a surprise. I'm applying pressure that would turn a normal human into mincemeat in an instant, you know? What on earth are you?"
"Just a prince. The seventh one."
"The Seventh Prince... ah, I've heard that name once or twice. If I recall, your name is Lloyd di Salarm. A prince with tremendous talent for magic who is also an eccentric that never neglects his efforts. You've conducted several unique magic research projects, and your subjects are incredibly diverse. Jade really wanted to meet you. He was also researching magic to control his own abilities, you see. He said he wanted to hear what you had to say."
"What a coincidence. So did I... but you went and ruined that."
"How unfortunate for you♪"
I glared at the man as he laughed mockingly.
You bastard... you went and robbed me of a precious opportunity to obtain a valuable research subject like Jade. If I could have met and talked with someone as deeply knowledgeable about magic and abilities as him, new ways to use abilities or combinations with magic might have been born.
And then on top of that, a war? If you do something like that, precious people I don't yet know might die.
You've got a lot of nerve, doing whatever you please in a human kingdom... I don't care if you're a creature worth researching, I won't forgive this.
"...I remember hearing that Majin can be defeated if you hit them with a massive amount of magic."
Magic supposedly doesn't work on Majin, but they do take infinitesimal damage from things like the shockwaves produced upon activation. Therefore, if you hit them with a massive amount of magic at high speed, you can defeat them without any problem.
"Hm!?"
I covered his body with a Barrier and loaded a massive amount of magic inside it.
And then, I triggered them.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom! Countless spells activated inside the Barrier.
The man was swallowed by the continuous clouds of explosive smoke. I must have kept firing for dozens of seconds. Slowly, the smoke began to clear.
"...Hmm, that certainly is a staggering amount of Spell Formula Deployment. Both speed and power are impeccable. There probably aren't many mages of your caliber."
He emerged from the smoke. His body was like a gathering of mist, possessing no physical form.
As expected, he's a Majin... but why didn't my magic work?
While I was lost in thought, I suddenly noticed my palm was trembling slightly.
"This is bad... why is someone like this in a place like this...!? I-It's impossible...!"
"What's wrong, Grimo?"
"You should run away immediately. Master Lloyd, he's not a Majin... he's a Demon!"