# Chapter 34
Chapter 34
The small body seemed to be overwhelmed by the heat, and its breathing was quite labored.
Thump.
It felt as if my heart sank to the floor.
‘I thought there was a strange energy, so I assumed it had something to do with the demons, but was I wrong?’
Demons are not affected by dark energy.
Similarly, those contracted with demons are also not affected by dark energy.
So, what is this child, really?
“Why on earth isn't purification working on Judias's child?!”
“Well… wasn't His Highness the Crown Prince experiencing similar symptoms?
Perhaps it’s something like that...”
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
Ludbride Judias fiercely shouted.
The priest who made the suggestion flinched and quickly bowed his head.
“Holy power worked on the Crown Prince!”
“But...”
The priest tried to continue, but Ludbride Judias’s face twisted in an instant.
At the same time, a fierce aura burst out.
Seeing the anger so clearly on Ludbride’s face, the priest paled, realizing his mistake, and quickly shut his mouth.
“Holy power worked on the Crown Prince!
It merely slowed the erosion and alleviated his condition, but it wasn’t that holy power didn’t work at all.
You idiot!
You’ve been dispatched to the royal palace multiple times, and you still don’t know this?!
Do you want to start your training all over again?”
“I-I’m sorry!!”
The priest quickly bowed deeply.
Kiriel glanced around with an annoyed look and opened his mouth.
“Since it seems you’re no help, all of you, leave…”
The annoyance in his voice made the entire room fall silent.
“K-Kiriel, my lord!
You’ve arrived?”
“I said leave.
Didn’t you hear me?”
Kiriel Judias’s voice, usually low and calm, was now lacking its usual languid tone.
The flustered priests exchanged nervous glances before looking toward Ludbride.
Kiriel let out a small chuckle.
“Levon, these guys seem to think I'm a joke.
Have I been too quiet lately?”
“Yes, you have been quiet.
You've been holed up for years.
The titles of Hero, Overlord, and God’s Bloodied Lion have worn out from disuse.”
Grrrr—
A blue light began to swirl around Kiriel, and a large, snake-like band of light coiled around his body.
Amid the flickering light, something sharp, like a beast’s fangs, could be seen.
“When he’s in a bad mood, he kills people recklessly.
You all better leave quietly.
When he gets angry, he bites everyone to death.
Though he looks calm now, without the family’s phoenix seal, you’d all think he was an enemy.”
At Levon’s deadpan comment, the priests gulped nervously.
Flinching, they hurriedly backed away and bowed.
“S-Sorry.
We’ll leave right away.”
Kiriel, watching the pale priests retreat in fear, raised his hand and smacked the back of Levon’s head.
Levon’s face crumpled.
“Ow.”
With a stoic expression, Levon rubbed the back of his head with his palm.
“That hurt.
Why did you hit me?”
“I hit you because I wanted it to hurt.
Stop running your mouth.”
“But I wasn’t wrong, was I?
There were times during war when I almost mistook you for an enemy.”
“I know.
You actually did cut me a few times.”
“Really.
Did I?”
Levon responded blandly to Kiriel’s remark.
“Birds of a feather,” Ludbride commented, sounding exasperated.
Soon, only Levon, Ludbride’s lieutenant, and butler Pell, Kiriel, Ludbride, and Bunny remained in the room.
Kiriel, with a grim face, opened his mouth.
“What happened that a child who was fine this morning is now in this state?”
“I don’t know.”
At Kiriel’s question, Ludbride gave a short answer, causing Kiriel’s expression to harden.
Just as Kiriel was about to speak again with a stiff expression—
“The child begged to go to the imperial palace, and I couldn’t refuse, so I took him.
I only told him to wait in the reception room for a while.
But... somehow, he ended up where the Crown Prince was.”
As Ludbride continued his explanation, Kiriel clenched his fists and walked briskly to the child.
He sat down on the bed and placed his hand on the child’s forehead.
A pure white light mixed with a blue spread from Kiriel’s fingertips, slowly seeping into Bunny’s forehead.
With his eyes closed, Kiriel used his holy power to slowly scan the child’s body and then spoke again.
“Go on.”
Kiriel slowly opened his eyes and glanced at Ludbride.
“Continue.”
Ludbride furrowed his brows and clicked his tongue before continuing.
“Based on the witnesses' accounts, it seems the child wandered around the palace.
Then, apparently, he entered the Crown Prince’s bedroom.”
At Ludbride’s words, Kiriel’s brow furrowed even more.
‘This is turning out in an unexpected way.’
Thinking this, he nodded.
“I don’t know the exact details after that.
According to the Crown Prince’s testimony, the child came into his room, placed his hand on his forehead, and said his pain disappeared.”
“His pain... disappeared?”
“Yes, and when we checked, the dark energy that had been raging inside the Crown Prince had completely disappeared.”
At Ludbride’s words, Kiriel, who was pushing holy power throughout the child’s body, clamped his mouth shut.
“Do you think it’s a kind of purification absorption?”
“That’s my guess.
However, normally in such cases, the person would have been able to purify themselves with external holy power.
It’s rare, but some holy powers can absorb dark energy and purify it.”
“...”
“But this child isn’t reacting to holy power at all now.
Not to my holy power, and... likely not to yours either.”
As soon as Ludbride finished speaking, the blue light radiating from Kiriel’s hand began to dim.
It was exactly as he said.
None of the holy power Kiriel was injecting into the child was being absorbed or settling into the child’s body; it was all being returned to him.
Holy power typically works by being absorbed into the human body, but Bunny was unable to absorb it.
There are two possible explanations for this.
One, Bunny’s holy power is so far superior to theirs that their holy power is of no help.
Or two, the child’s body simply cannot accept holy power at all.
For example, a demon, or someone with a special constitution that reacts overly sensitively or not at all to holy power.
But Bunny has holy power and even summoned a divine beast.
So, it can’t be the latter.
That leaves the former.
“…It seems the child will be far greater than we thought.”
At Ludbride’s quiet remark, Kiriel’s lips tightened slightly.
He furrowed his brows in displeasure.
Holy power is typically divided into several categories.
There is holy power for combat.
Holy power to enhance attack or defense in battle.
And then, there are healing and purification types of holy power, among others.
Even purification-type holy powers come in different forms.
There is the ability to purify something by pouring one’s holy power into it, and the ability to absorb impurities into one’s own body, purify them internally, and convert them into holy power.
The latter is rare, but if the user is skilled enough, they can become extremely powerful.
Since holy power is usually generated within one’s own body, its use has limits.
But if one can absorb impurities, purify them, and turn them into holy power, they can infinitely increase their strength—a tremendous advantage.
‘Again...’
As Kiriel clenched his fist, stiff and tense—
“Screech!”
At that moment.
The red jay on Kiriel’s shoulder let out a small cry and, with a solemn expression, spread its tiny wings, no bigger than an adult’s pinky finger.