I’m Trying to End This Possession Chapter 217

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Yustio brought her to a strange place. And there, Dana witnessed a truly horrific sight.

 

Carl Windsor. That madman… It was high above the game hall’s ceiling, atop a wooden support beam. Dana was standing there with Yustio, looking down below. And she saw everything Carl had done.

 

“Uaaagh!”

 

“T-The door is locked!”

 

From committing murder, to turning the game hall into a mess, to locking the door and escaping by himself. Dana saw it all. Truly, Carl Windsor was out of his mind.

 

“Your Holiness…” Dana flinched.

 

Yustio’s face had hardened into something frightening. He wasn’t looking at Carl. His gaze was fixed solely on the paladins of Ramun Church. The brown-haired paladin had already been shot in the head by someone and was dead, leaving only the blond paladin remaining…

 

Wait. That knight looks like the escort from back then.

 

It was a few years ago, back when Dana was still Danae Windsor. The emperor had suddenly sought her out and asked her to accompany him somewhere. Dana had followed him, and waiting there had been that very escort. Just like now, having lost his reason and turned into a mutant contamination.

 

Yes. That’s definitely him. But now, he was wearing the uniform of a paladin. Which meant that Yustio had taken him out of the imperial palace and brought him into the church. In other words, he was undoubtedly one of Yustio’s close aides.

 

At that moment, Yustio asked bluntly. “Can he be purified?”

 

No. She had never once saved someone who had rotted this badly. Never, but… “I’ll try.”

 

“If it’s impossible, there’s no need to try.”

 

“Please don’t say that,” Dana spoke carefully. “Isn’t he someone important to you, Your Holiness?”

 

“…”

 

“That’s why, I’ll at least try.”

 

Yustio did not reply.

 

It was after a brief silence.

 

“Then, excuse me for a moment.”

 

Before she could stop him, Yustio suddenly threw himself down.

 

“Your Holiness!”

 

What are you doing?! Dana urgently reached out, but her hand only brushed against his golden hair. She saw Yustio land lightly in the middle of the contaminants below. At once, the mindless, contaminated beings rushed toward Yustio like a pack of dogs that had spotted meat.

 

“Get out of the way!” Dana screamed. No matter how immune he was to contamination, still—

 

“Grrrrrk!”

 

The contaminants swarmed like cockroaches toward the lone sane man. Dana clamped both hands over her mouth. He’s going to be torn apart and eaten—!

 

But then,

 

Huh…? Dana realized she had been worrying for nothing. Isn’t it like… fireworks? Suddenly, she recalled the noisy, colorful fireworks that once painted the skies of her original world, bursting endlessly. That was exactly what was happening below now.

 

Wherever Yustio passed, thunderous red explosions bloomed in midair. The contaminants rushing at him, the barbarians transformed into beasts, everything that touched Yustio detonated instantly, leaving not even a shape behind.

 

Dana stared in shock at the unreal spectacle. She had known his ability to be one who destroyed and detonated anything he touched with his hands. It’s not just his hands. The moment anything touched Yustio, their very body exploded. It was as if his existence itself were a weapon.

 

How long did it take? Eventually, everyone who charged at him had been blown apart, leaving only the blond paladin and Yustio alive.

 

“Grr, grrrrk!”

 

Yustio bound the paladin with chains and tied him to a pillar. Then, after removing his blood-soaked robe, he returned to Dana and extended his arm.

 

“…”

 

Suppressing the unpleasant reluctance she felt at touching that hand, Dana let him lift her effortlessly. A moment later, she stood before the paladin bound in chains.

 

“Then I will attempt purification.” She placed her hand on the paladin’s chest as he struggled against the chains. Light burst from her fingertips, soon flooding her vision. And she knew immediately. As expected, this won’t work.

 

He couldn’t be saved. That paladin could never be saved. However… The more purification power she poured in, the paladin’s bloodshot eyes slowly regained sanity. His beast-like thrashing gradually subsided, as if he had become human again. But that was all. Dana had succeeded in purifying his shattered mind, but that only accelerated the death of his physical body. Perhaps Yustio sensed it too. He looked steadily into the knight’s eyes.

 

“Ah…” The paladin, like someone waking from a dream, stared blankly at Yustio with eyes that had just regained focus. “I-I’m sorry, Your Holiness.” He began apologizing at once. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”

 

“It’s fine.”

 

There was no time. His body, whose physical life had already ended, was crumbling into dust.

 

Sensing the approaching scent of death, the paladin spoke quickly. “However, t-the mission, was completed. We succeeded in retrieving, a single copy of the prophecy, from them.”

 

“Report.”

 

“Yes. But…”

 

Even now, the paladin seemed conscious of Dana’s presence, but Yustio commanded firmly, “It doesn’t matter. Report.”

 

Only then did the knight begin his report, his voice fading endlessly away. “The fragment of the serpent, that rose to the human lands… has become absorbed in, pretending to be human, and doesn’t realize that itself is a demon…”

 

That was all he said. What did that mean? But Yustio seemed to understand immediately and nodded.

 

“I understand.”

 

“I’m sorry…”

 

“No. You’ve done well.” Yustio spoke calmly. “I will take care of your younger sibling to the very end. So—”

 

At that, a single tear slid down from the paladin’s eye.

 

“Rest in peace now, Sir Klito.”

 

That was the end. The paladin’s head slumped. Soon, his body began to crumble down like ash. He was dead.

 

Dana held her breath. Seeing how Yustio knew his name and even his family relations, they truly must have been very close…

 

“Dana.”

 

It was at that moment. Dana whipped around at the voice reaching her ears.

 

“…”

 

Her breath felt suddenly strangled.

 

Ignis was… No. A fake Ignis was there. The fake whose face was melting down like dripping candle wax.

 

“Did you, take the mirror?” He staggered closer.

 

Dana’s heart began to race.

 

“I asked, if you took the mirror, that leads to the Ice Lake.”

 

As he approached threateningly, Dana unconsciously touched her earlobe. The black piercing there was a shrunken black core she’d made. If she detonated this black core and spread contamination… Wait. There’s Yustio. Was it okay to reveal that ability to this man? Show this ominous power to the inquisitor who could kill her at any moment?

 

As she hesitated, fortunately, Yustio moved to repay her for purifying the paladin. He pulled her behind him, shielding her with his body.

 

The fake’s eyes became bloodshot at being obstructed. “Step aside, Your Holiness.” Drip. Drip. His eyelids melted down, covering his left eye. Was he running out of time? He pressed urgently. “Please move aside. I beg you.”

 

Dana realized it. His soul and body were incompatible, so the soul was trying to leave the body. That was why his body was collapsing.

 

“You,” Dana asked sharply. “Rodrigo Windsor.”

 

The man who adopted Ignis, who prevented his disinheritance to the very end. The b*stard who raised him with the intention of taking his body.

 

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

 

He seemed to smile. “Dana. You’re still beautiful.”

 

“What?”

 

“I missed you very much.”

 

What nonsense. As she glared at him with a frown, Rodrigo’s smile deepened even further. Even his lips were melting, so it was only a guess that he was smiling.

 

“Stop this. Right now.” Dana spoke to the monster. “Experimenting with Lord Ignis’s body. Coveting his body. Stop it.”

 

“And if I do?” He laughed aloud. His laughter rang with the sound of metal. “If I stop here, Ignis’s sacrifice becomes meaningless.” His voice began to tear into a harsh rasp. “I contributed greatly to the experiment that turned you into a great human with purification powers. Without my intellect, my courage, and my resolve, it would’ve been impossible.”

 

Rodrigo spewed the words proudly, fervently. “If I hadn’t succeeded in creating you, humanity would have perished. This continent would’ve long since met its end, contaminated into rotten land!” He thumped his chest, only for his hand to drop off completely. “Therefore, my life must continue for a long time. To do that, I need a young and excellent body. But…” Letting out a sigh, he looked sorrowfully at his melting body. “So help me, for Ignis’s sake. To complete this experiment, I need you, your power, and more holy water.”

 

Dana did not move an inch. As expected, there was no reasoning with him. No, there was no need for conversation at all. At this rate, he would melt away completely. She only needed to wait.

 

“Don’t tell me you pity someone like Ignis?” Perhaps growing anxious at her lack of response, he tried, in a ridiculous way, to persuade her sincerely. “That brat was vermin. The son of a slum wh*re. The one who picked up that trash and invested in him so he could serve humanity was me.”

 

“…”

 

“If not for me, he would’ve become a gigolo, or else been trampled to death like an insect early on. I merely made good use of a lowborn worse than a dog.”

 

Rubbish. Nonsense. Not even worth refuting. But—

 

“Do you know why I chose Ignis as my new body?” Rodrigo continued. “My daughter-in-law.” Hohoho, Rodrigo chuckled lowly and stared straight at her. “My son, Demian’s wife, was fond of Ignis.”

 

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

 

“If you’re curious, come to me. Then I’ll tell you. So—”

 

In the next instant, Yustio strode forward and grabbed Rodrigo’s face. And immediately, he shattered into pieces. “How vulgar,” Yustio muttered irritably, shaking the blood from his hand as if it were filthier than any other. “Let’s go.”

 

Dana nodded. As she hurried after him, Rodrigo’s final words clung to her strangely, sticky and lingering. Demian’s wife?

 

Demian Windsor, the previous Duke Windsor who left an enormous inheritance to ‘Danae Windsor.’ He was Viego and Noah’s father. His wife would mean Viego’s mother, wouldn’t it? The former Duchess Windsor, who was said to have died while recuperating in the sanctuary. And also Raios’s biological mother.

 

Duchess Windsor was fond of Ignis? What on earth did that mean?

 

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Carl was in a panic. Where did she go?

 

It was because Dana was gone.