I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 191

There was no way this was happening. Dana snapped herself back to her senses. This isn’t Carl.

 

Carl is currently locked up in an underground prison. He’s bound by hundreds of barriers, magic chains, magic restraints, and no less than 666 binding spells. There was no way he could have broken out of all those terrifying things.

 

Then could it be? Did I fall victim to a mental attack spell? But the sensation of a hand caressing her cheek felt all too real. His warm temperature, his gentle gaze, his soft breath—everything…

 

“Does it hurt a lot? Huh?”

 

Even the sweet affection of this person…

 

Dana squeezed her eyes shut. Get a hold of yourself. This is fake. See? It’s effectively messing with your mind.

 

There’s no way this is real. Carl isn’t here. Dana forced herself to be stern. The very trait of this spell was to make you believe it was real. Maybe I was a bit late in defending myself. Maybe she was under the spell’s influence, and that’s why she was seeing this hallucination—

 

“Huh?”

 

At that moment, Carl made a silly sound. He seemed to realize what she had stepped on was a part of a human body.

 

“It’s not a snake.”

 

“…”

 

“Aah, no wonder it seemed way too short for a snake…”

 

Even that foolishness was exactly the same. The Carl in her memories was being perfectly recreated.

 

I’ll know if it’s an illusion once I purify it. Dana summoned her purification powers once again. If it were an illusion, it would disappear. Soon, a blinding white light burst forth, engulfing her vision.

 

After a moment, as the searing white light faded from her retina, Dana lifted her eyelids. There was nothing in front of her. As expected. Her mind had been attacked.

 

Dana let out a sigh. Right, there’s no way Carl escaped from that prison… Then who killed those paladins? Could Noah be hiding and protecting her? But there’s no way that arrogant guy would do that. Didn’t she deliberately injure his pride so he’d leave the mountain? He would never swallow his pride to follow her.

 

Growing less and less certain, Dana decided that as soon as she returned to the Grand Cathedral, she’d go check the underground prison. If Carl had broken out, it would be chaos by now. But before that. First, let’s go.

 

Dana walked toward the direction the mist was coming from, pretending to be hypnotized, shuffling along. Toward those who had set the trap for her. To do something very bad.

 

* * *

“W-We’ve been wiped out!”

 

A paladin with a tree branch stuck in his forearm ran up to Miona.

 

“S-Some kind of a monster, no, a monster!”

 

That paladin was completely out of his mind.

 

“Some-Someone was hiding and throwing tree branches. T-They pierced through like arrows.” As he spoke, he seemed about to cry, and shouted in a frantic voice. “They got skewered and killed by tree branches! Tree branches! Just the crudely snapped branches twaaack!”

 

What nonsense is that? Throwing tree branches through someone? Is that even possible? Miona soon regained her composure. “It’s just a casualty during the mission. Don’t get agitated—”

 

That was when it happened. A crow flying in the sky landed on her shoulder.

 

[What about Noah?]

 

Then, moving its black beak, it spoke.

 

[Did Noah Windsor make it down from the mountain safely?]

 

A chill ran down her spine. She resisted the urge to swat the crow away and answered calmly. “Yes. Lord Noah has gone down the mountain safely.”

 

[Good. As long as Noah, that boy, is safe, that’s all that matters.]

 

Fufufufu, the crow laughed sinisterly.

 

Creepy.

 

The person speaking through the crow right now was the second-in-command of the anti-church leader faction and the leader’s closest aide. This crow was a messenger bird. It was a chimera, an experimental creature capable of transmitting words from someone far away.

 

Controlling animals was a special ability of the former Emperor Wilhelm, and this chimera was an experimental subject created using that power. There was talk that former emperor Wilhelm, who was originally infertile, was cured of his infertility in exchange for cooperating in experiments to replicate his ability.

 

[Do your job properly, Miona Kruz. You must bring Dana back.]

 

Tsk, the crow clicked its tongue.

 

[Trusting a nonbeliever who doesn’t even participate in the sacred ceremony, why does the leader entrust such things? I just can’t understand.]

 

For a moment, Miona felt a surge of anger. Why does she have to listen to such unfair words?

 

“You’re being unreasonable. I manipulated the memory of Lord Rumie, the dearest brother of my closest friend, Allice. Thanks to that, Dana lost Rumie, her strongest shield.” Miona replied, holding back her anger. “If Lord Rumie still had his memories, do you think things would have gone this smoothly? If he did, he would have dug up the truth no matter what and hidden Dana somewhere safe and protected her completely.”

 

[…]

 

Was it too hard to deny? After a moment, the crow pecked its beak, grumbling.

 

[Hmph. Still, a priestess who doesn’t participate in the most important sacred ceremony is only half a believer.]

 

Was that the end of the conversation? The crow flapped its wings and flew away.

 

Miona controlled her feeling of disgust. Disgusting vermin. She had to endure it. It was just one of the hardships she had to suffer to have money, power, and men—all three.

 

“Lethe.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“What about the mental attack spell? Did it work on Dana?”

 

“Yes. She’s being lured here now.”

 

According to Lethe, Dana had regained her memory. And she now trusted Lethe again. But Miona could hardly believe that.

 

“Dana trusts you again? Even after you betrayed her once?”

 

“She asked me to prove my loyalty with the Judgment of the Soul.”

 

“So, did you?”

 

“Of course not.” Lethe lowered his gaze and spoke in a calm voice. “I just showed her a spell that looked similar enough to make her believe.”

 

Naive Dana. Miona felt sorry for her. How could she give her trust again after being betrayed like that? Well, she was pampered and loved like a princess everywhere she went, so it’s no wonder.

 

Still, who knows? There was a chance Lethe had truly switched to Dana’s side. I don’t trust Lethe. That’s why Miona had brought multiple holy magicians on purpose. Not just that; there were plenty of archers hiding nearby in stealth as well. Because the leader had forbidden guns, they used bows instead. Anyway, even if Lethe betrayed them, it would be easy enough to take Dana.

 

“Shall we go get her ourselves?” The paladin who had come as Miona’s guard asked.

 

Miona shook her head. “No. There might be traps, so we’ll stick to the plan.”

 

At that moment, Lethe furrowed his brow. He closed his eyes and spoke. “There’s someone—no, two people else under the spell right now.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Noah Windsor.”

 

Miona’s expression clouded at that name.

 

“Noah Windsor is under a mental disturbance spell? Why? Didn’t he go down the mountain?”

 

“Seems he came back up. And the other one is…” Lethe trailed off, then murmured quietly. “Why is that person here?”

 

* * *

As Dana staggered along, she looked around at the mess. They said Carl broke all the barriers.

 

Noah’s words were true. The rotten energy of rotten was oozing all over the place. Moreover, the scattered signs and chains added to the eerie atmosphere.

 

No one else could sense the rotten like Dana could. She was an expert in that field. I used to purify rotten land with Raios in the past.

 

When she was Dana Windsor, she spent about a year traveling the continent purifying rotten land. Her companion was Raios. She would track down the rotten land, and Raios, unaffected by it, helped her purify it. They grew closer during that time, and that’s when her romantic feelings for Raios began to develop.

 

The more Dana thought about it, the more it gave her chills.

 

“I corrupt, you purify. Don’t you think we make a perfect pair?”

 

Insane b*stard. She really didn’t want to remember.

 

Walking along, Dana finally found what she was looking for. Something that existed in the rotten land during its dormant period. A black core. A core filled with condensed corruption, yet to be exploded.

 

I once extracted and purified the black core sleeping within the guardian tree in the Windsor territory. It felt like a distant previous life, and Dana smiled weakly.

 

There were plenty of black cores on this mountain. Dana found the one easiest to retrieve. It was buried very shallowly, so after digging a bit with a branch, she easily pulled it out. Holding the black lump carefully in her hand, she kept walking.

 

“You’re here.”

 

Walking as if entranced, she finally reached her destination. Who greeted her was Miona.

 

“Welcome, Dana.”

 

And the many paladins protecting her, and… Lethe.

 

Dana signaled to Lethe with her eyes. It meant to run. Everyone was focused only on Dana, so no one would notice if Lethe ran away.

 

Having understood the signal, Lethe quietly backed away, disappearing before anyone noticed. He’d quickly run off using holy magic, just as she told him.

 

Yes, hurry and go. Far from here, as far as possible.

 

 “I have no ill will toward you… wait.” Miona, who was approaching Dana, frowned. “Right now… Dana, your body is glowing.”

 

As if realizing something, Miona spun around. Lethe was gone. He had disappeared!

 

At that moment, Miona understood everything and gave the order to the paladins. “Dana—!”

 

And then, a fierce light exploded from Dana’s body. The light exploded from her pure white hair, her face, her hands, her entire body, enveloping her and soaring high.

 

At that unreal sight, not only Miona but also the paladins were momentarily speechless. They forgot everything they were about to say. A holy sight like the return of a god. That was…

 

“The power of purification…” Someone murmured.

 

It really was. She was purifying something now.

 

Was there a rotten thing that nobody knew about? Was she purifying rotten even in a situation like this? Just like when she purified the continent during the great calamity, when the land was rotting away, even now?

 

“I…” At that moment, Dana’s lips moved. Even her voice seemed to shine with white light.

 

Miona shivered. That woman really was like a saintess. The one the entire continent revered as a saintess. The same one who purified the rotten and saved the world.

 

Miona’s heart sank. What am I doing? How dare I ruin such a woman? A wave of guilt washed over her.

 

Dana smiled. “Shall I show you something interesting?”

 

At that moment, the light was snuffed out. Like a candle blown out by the wind, it vanished in an instant. Maybe because the dazzling light was gone, the world seemed even darker for a moment. No—it really was darker. Something pitch-black was wavering in the air, as if it were dyeing the very atmosphere.

 

The blackness pouring from Dana’s hand gushed out and flowed onto the ground.

 

“I-I-It’s the rotten!”

 

It began to spread rapidly. Darker than night, darker than shadow. The black contamination surged forward like a wave.

 

“The land is rotting!”

 

“R-Run away!”

 

And Miona saw it. Dana’s pure white hair, blowing in the wind, was gradually turning a deep black. Their eyes met. Dana’s eyes slowly turned jet-black. The woman who used to be all dazzling white…

 

“How is it? Isn’t it interesting?”

 

Now shone like an abyss.

 

Dana was corrupting the land.