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And the issue was rather serious, apparently Rosenheim had woken up and Elfriedden had recently brought her breakfast, but after trying for a while, she was unable to channel her spiritual energy and her spirit orb seemed⦠"empty" for some reason.
It was something I had expected to happen, after all Mammon drained the spiritual powers of all the citizens that were infected by his demonic soul parasites and used it to ascend into the near god-level being he had almost become.
However, I still held the slight hope these people would recover their spiritual energy over timeâ¦
"H-Her Spirit Orb is empty? How is that possible?" wondered Erika. "W-What about her Spirits?"
"She says there are none, they were completely⦠destroyed, or taken away, I canât tell," Elfriedden sighed.
"It must have happened because of Mammon, right?" Chris wondered. "That dude used thousands of spirits against us, he had transformed them into demonic thingsâ¦"
"Right! I remember that too!" Erika nodded. "Then that means, he drained all the elves from their spiritual energy?"
"But can they recover it? If they have their Spirit Orb, then surelyâ¦" Elizabeth muttered. "It might take some time but-"
"No, she canâtâ¦" Elfriedden sighed. "She said the Spirit Orb was empty completely, and dried⦠It had turned red; she could feel its strange color. It could no longer harbor spirit energy, or perhaps, not something similar to it." Then, he looked at Erdrich.
"Hm, so youâre suggesting⦠That they went through something similar to the Demon Cultists? Their Spirit Orbs were mutated due to the demonic energy, their spirits were taken awayâ¦" said Erdrich. "If that is true then⦠Yeah, thereâs no chance for them to recover what they lostâ¦"
"T-This canât be! Is there no solution at all?!" Alberta wondered.
"There must be! R-Right? Blake?" wondered Eric, looking at me.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"I could try something⦠I recently obtained a Spirit, a weird one," I said. "The power that Mammon stole from the people is what helped him reach this level of divinity. I spent most of it turning everyone back from monsters, and also by reviving Chris. But there was a part of it that was left."
"It became a new Spirit? like, connected to your Spirit Orb and all?" wondered Elfriedden.
"Yes, it was very strange. At first it resembled a star made of rainbow crystals, but it quickly took upon my appearance, it imitates me completely, and I seem to be able to inhabit it with my soul, essentially having two bodies, it can also use all my abilities when I am possessing it as a vessel," I explained. "Yet at the same time, it was originally part of Mammonâs Demonic Spiritual Divinity.
That power I used to transform temporarily, to save everyone⦠The leftover of everything, it crystalized into that, which I absorbed, turned into a spirit, and well⦠here we are."
"Uh-huh⦠I think I got lost where you said it was a rainbow crystalâ¦" Erika said. "But you have some new spirit, so thatâs cool!"
"Wait, does this means you can wield those powers again?!" Elfriedden wondered. "Maybe you could�!"
"Iâll have to try first, and I am not even aware of that spiritâs true powers yet either," I answered plainly. "Donât raise your expectations, Elfriedden, it might not be what you expect."
"Hm⦠I understand, but if thereâs even a little hopeâ¦" he sighed.
"I know, Iâll try," I nodded. "But Iâll need time, perhaps a couple of days, to assess all of the spiritâs true powers and see what it can do. Also, the rest of the victims have yet to wake up, right? We must first confirm if everyone has been affected in the same way and see their development in the incoming days."
"Not wrong," Cattalina nodded. "Youâre as insightful and thoughtful as ever, Blake."
"Perhaps I owe this trait of mine to the knowledge Asmodeus passed to me," I nodded. "Thereâs also something else I gained, a power connected to this star, I have yet to fully utilize it as well as test it either. So Iâll need some time, I hope everyone can understand."
Also, I think I could make something to repair their Spirit Orbs, my Alchemy, my Creation Abilities, and the materials I could harvest, especially from that rainbow tree.
Perhaps thereâs a chance to do something there⦠Yet ultimately, it might all depend on luck as well. After all, as much as Iâve studied, I have yet to fully comprehend and understand how Spirit Orbs truly work. Your next journey awaits at m v|l-eâm,p| y- r
I might only have a week at most for now, after all, the monsters outside are there, waiting. And Fafnir might probably not like how Mammon got defeated out of nowhere.
I am fairly sure that both were allies, or something close to that, they werenât attacking each other after all and were even cooperating with one another to an extent.
But for now, to concentrate on other things firstâ¦
"We get it, donât worry," nodded Cattalina. "I can help in anything you feel like. Iâve been sorting out the minds of the people and healing them. I think that taking away the traumatic memories of what they experienced could be good⦠to an extent."
"I donât know if that would be too good though, they wouldnât be able to rationalize the reason they lost their power," I answered. "And that could result on an uproar of the elves who donât know what happened to them."
"S-So youâre suggesting we should leave their traumatic experience as monsters?!" Chris wondered. "But thatâs too much dudeâ¦"
"I know, but itâs necessary⦠Right, Elfriedden?" I asked.
"â¦Yeah," Elfriedden, one of the people whose family had suffered the transformation, agreed with me. "Itâs not good to take away memories like this, even more when there was a huge loss because of this. People might feel bad, they might even feel sick with themselves⦠But elves are wise and long-lived, they will slowly improve and learn to do better, to forgive each other and themselves."
"Well said, my friend," I nodded. "For now, letâs go check Rosenheim, I need to first analyze her Spirit Orb completely, if that doesnât bother you."
"Not at all, anything to help my beloved, letâs go, Blake," Elfriedden nodded, leading the way.
It was going to be a long dayâ¦
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have completed the {Main Quest}: [Defeat the Archdemon Mammon and Save the Elves]!]
Oh?
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