The Eminence in the Shadow 55 Just Look at What You Want to Look At Then

Alexia finds herself in a white hallway. The hallway continues into the far distance, with the end nowhere in sight. On the left and right of the hallway are rooms lined with iron bars, looking very much like jail cells.

There is no identifiable light source, but the place is well-lit. Feeling somewhat like reality, yet somewhat like a dream, this is an airy kind of place.

Olivie is walking in front of their group, with Alpha following close behind. Alexia also hurries after them in order to not be left behind.

The adult body of the beautiful elf Olivie is growing younger with every step she takes, until she is reduced to a small child.

Small Olivie walks through the bars right into a cell, and crouches on the ground.

"Long ago, young children who had nowhere to go were gathered."

Alpha's voice reverberates down that endless while hallway.

Then Alpha walks on.

The cells on the left and right are now suddenly filled with small children. Boys, girls, humans, elves, beast people. Aside from their youth, there are no other common points between them.

"Here, those children were turned into subjects of a particular experiment."

Alpha stops before a cell.

There is a little girl inside this cell. She is rampaging inside her cell, seemingly having lost her sanity. From the way that she is banging her head, scratching the walls, and rolling on the ground, anyone can tell that she is trying to escape some unbearable pain.

Alpha walks on.

Inside the next cell is a bloodstained girl. But that blood is not from self-harm. Due to a strange alteration to her body, blood is dripping out from cracks on her skin.

That blackened and rotting appearance, Alexia recognizes.

"Demon possession..."

So whispers someone.

"The majority of the children did not react positively to 'that', and died."

Alpha walks on.

There is no one in the next cell. However, the ground and walls are stained with blood, and there is a hand print that seems to be crying for help.

Then Alpha walks on, without stopping.

Cell after cell after cell, the same scene is seen repeating itself. Children suffering, and children dying.
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"How terrible..."

So laments Rose with a hand over her mouth. Alexia also mentally agrees.

All of the dying children share one commonality. The girls die with symptoms of demon possession, but the boys die without such symptoms.

"It was only a small handful of girls who were fully compatible."

Then Alpha stops.

Inside this cell is a slightly grown-up version of Olivie. She is not wounded nor suffering. Clutching her knees, all she is doing is staring at the cell across from her own.

The cell across is filled with blood. Then the next instant, the place flickers, and it is clean. Then a little girl appears in it. Then she suffers, and dies. Then another girl appears inside.

Young Olivie watches it all.

"Why would they... something so horrible..."

So asks Rose in a quivering voice.

"Why indeed, Acting Archbishop Nelson?"

Alpha turns to Nelson.

Nelson turns away and hems and haws for a while, before finally answering in a mutter.

"Power was needed to resist the demon Diabolos..."

"That's the Order's stance. Regardless of the actual reason, it is fact that Olivie did manage to chop off Diabolo's right arm. Olivie was but one among a handful of children compatible with 'that'."

With that, Alpha continues walking on.

"You have mentioned 'that' several times already, but what is it exactly?"

Alexia's question causes Alpha to stop for a brief moment.

"Diabolos cells. That's what we're calling it. In order to resist the demon Diabolos, they chose to take in Diabolos' strength."

"Diabolos' strength...? Was Diabolos not a mere fairytale?"

"It's not like we've seen it with our own eyes. All we know is from historic texts. If you believe it to be a mere fairytale, that is your prerogative."

So saying, Alpha resumes walking.

"We're not here to debate on the truth of what happened in the far past. Even this memory, we do not know how much to believe. Memories fade over time, and can change due to hopes and desires."

The cells go by without end.

But the cells gradually become empty, until there is only Olivie left. She is now a beautiful teenage girl. Her face indeed looks extremely similar to Alpha's.

"After having grown up and acquired the power of Diabolos, Olivie was tasked with a certain mission."

"To kill Diabolos...?"

Alpha shakes her head at Rose's question.

"That's what it says in history, but we have determined that to be a fabrication. Most likely, the mission she was tasked with was to gather more Diabolos cells."

"That's complete bullshit!"

So shouts Nelson. With a reddened face, he glares at Alpha. The woman in black tightens her grip on the back of Nelson's neck, causing him to croak like a frog.

"Even after she acquired that power, Olivie remained obedient to the Order. The reason is not clear, but we speculate that it was because she truly believed, from the bottom of her heart, that defeating Diabolos would bring about peace. That is why she cooperated."

Olivie walks out from her cell.

Armor envelopes her body, a sword appears on her hip, and she sets off. Seeing the expression on her face, Alexia agrees with Alpha's speculation.

Olivie was surely hoping for the world's peace from her heart. What was on her face was resolve and hope.

As she walks down the endlessly continuing hallway, the direction that she is heading towards begins being dyed with a bright light.

"But the aim of the Order lay elsewhere."

Then the light fills the world.

"The aim of the Order... was the acquisition of that power itself..."

The light-filled world cracks like a mirror, until it splinters into nothing.

Then an entirely different world spreads out before them.

Chapter end