Chapter 670
Son of the Beast
Egg of Ash
“…An unfinished work?”
“That’s right.”
Cardinal Cyril nodded.
Eivass recalled that among the hundred beast races created by the Beast Lord, the last twenty were imitations of existing races. Just as Trolls were essentially imitations of Giants… Goblins were beastly races that the Beast Lord had imitated from Dwarves.
It was rather like downloading a thesis from the internet and then translating it back and forth twenty times with Google.
Then, was humanity…
“It seems you’ve guessed correctly.”
Cardinal Cyril nodded slightly. “Humanity is the Beast Lord’s imitation of ‘Elves,’ except that this work is incomplete. As the Beast Lord’s final creation, ‘Humanity’ possesses the advantages of all the Beast Lord’s works to date. You could say it’s the culmination of his efforts—the Beast Lord intended to make this race his main race, hence he called them ‘Orcs.’
“However, the ‘Orcs’ were never born. This is because Hengwo, based on her personal aesthetic sense, removed the somewhat abstract and peculiar features that the Beast Lord had added, such as ‘muscles like a Troll’ and ‘tusks like a Goblin,’ making humans visually closer to Elves. Yet, she did not remove the various internal characteristics that the Beast Lord had endowed the ‘Orcs’ with.
“Therefore, humans are as hot-tempered as Giants, as greedy as Goblins, and as arrogant as Elves… Humans inherited the strengths of other races, and also their weaknesses.
“This is also why Elves have always been quite concerned about humans—apart from differences in lifespan and personality, the essence of humans and Elves is very similar. Just as Elves would like Elves, Elves would also like humans.”
…So this is why Elves, as a race, favor humans specifically, and not races like Harpies or Snake People.
Eivass suddenly understood.
No wonder other races in this World either had feathers or scales on their bodies. Only humans and Elves were special… It turns out that the specialness of humans was actually the characteristic of Elves!
Carrying nothing at all was, in itself, a characteristic!
“Then, the Beast Lord’s plan…”
“That’s right, it was to awaken the ‘innate bestiality’ of some individuals. They didn’t fall into darkness due to suffering, but were born with deformed minds and evil wisdom. On the contrary, some of these Sons of the Beast received good education and experienced love and respect, which allowed them to restrain their uncontrolled instincts with reason.”
Cardinal Cyril said sternly, “I regret to say, Miss Lily is one such ‘Son of the Beast’ who has been awakened.”
“…Ah, I think I’ve already guessed as much.”
Eivass slowly nodded.
Lily, as a maid who had never undergone any training, could kill without flinching in less than a month after coming into contact with the extraordinary path. She didn’t feel disgusted or fearful, but rather excited and stimulated.
Her revenge was indeed righteous, but she hadn’t lived with hatred since childhood. Instead, it was after embarking on the extraordinary path that Eivass awakened her desire for vengeance.
But Lily adapted far too quickly.
When Eivass had just started his job as an agent, before he was even the Minister of Affairs, she had even pleaded with Eivass to give her “darker missions.”
It was only because of Lily’s loyalty that Eivass mistook it for a desire for devotion and loyalty.
However, when Eivass later discovered that Lily had no adaptability to the Path of Authority or the Path of Devotion, he had already vaguely sensed it.
Lily was precisely the “exception” that Cardinal Cyril spoke of.
She used her loyalty and love for Eivass, her gratitude to the Moriarty Family, and her own reason and “adaptability” to suppress the burgeoning desires within her heart, hiding them away.
This was the source of Lily’s exceptional adaptability.
It wasn’t simply adapting to her master’s requests as a loyal maid… If merely being a “loyal servant” could grant such adaptability to the Path Adaptation, then Avalon would certainly have no shortage of adapters. After all, such “loyal servants” should be plentiful.
—In reality, Lily was a murderer who had completely hidden her desires through her reason, acting skills, and morality.
The deeper her desire on the Path of Love became, the stronger the power of the Path Adaptation she needed to suppress it. And as her power on the Path Adaptation grew stronger, she repeatedly teetered on the brink of losing control—not of the Path Adaptation itself, but of her Path of Love, which wasn’t even at first level.
In fact, the causality was reversed.
It was the rapid growth of power on her Path of Love that forced her to increase the power of her Path Adaptation to suppress it.
She was not Eivass’s “shadow.” Never had been.
“…Then what about the Grey Heavenly Envoy?”
Eivass retorted, “Lily can suppress the growing wildness of the Son of the Beast… Is it also related to the Grey Heavenly Envoy?”
“Yes, because the Beast Lord’s plan was too… undisguised. Let alone the Heavenly Envoys, many on the ground also knew. If you check the records carefully, you’ll find that we had already warned you people in Avalon at least 150 years ago about this matter.”
“…To be honest, things from over a hundred years ago aren’t records for us, they’re Modern History.”
“Whatever the case. In short, you still have to thank the Grey Heavenly Envoy. Because without Him, Miss Lily would likely have lost control long ago. If she still had her reason, she would have committed suicide before choosing revenge; if she had truly completed her revenge independently, she would have become a killer wandering the streets and alleys of Avalon.”
Cardinal Cyril’s gaze was deep. “It was precisely because she read the ‘Spider Silk Grimoire’ that she was able to survive.”
“…Does the Grimoire have a problem?”
“That’s right. The Grimoire has a problem. That Grimoire is, in fact, a part of the Grey Heavenly Envoy.
“He chose one of his many ‘successors’ to be his vessel for rebirth.
“Miss Lily quickly understood the ‘Spider Silk Grimoire,’ and the reason is simple… The ‘Mysterious Lord Grimoire’ also mentions that ‘knowledge pursues people,’ and ‘those who carve it deeply and mercilessly, like hawks chasing rabbits.’
“It’s not that Lily has any talent that allows her to instantly understand the ‘Spider Silk Grimoire.’ Rather, it was her determination to walk the Path Adaptation, born out of her intense desire to suppress her bestial nature, that led the ‘Spider Silk Grimoire’ to choose her as its successor. If you don’t resolve this issue, the Grey Heavenly Envoy will likely be reborn from Miss Lily.
“And as it happens, you captured that Child of the Moon writer, and Cardinal Loki was also killed by you. I don’t know if there are any other successors to the Grey Heavenly Envoy… but if there aren’t, then Miss Lily will be in danger.”
“—This is why I spoke with you alone and asked those two to leave temporarily.”
“…Is there a way?”
Eivass pondered for a moment before asking.
“What do you want to do?”
Cardinal Cyril retorted, his gaze as sharp as a knife. “Strip away the traces of the ‘Spider Silk Grimoire’ from Miss Lily’s body? Or… create new successors for the Grey Heavenly Envoy?”
This was the Grey Heavenly Envoy’s lie and conspiracy.
Those who realized his plan had no solution whatsoever. The only way to deal with it was to help him cultivate better successors.
Those who exposed the lie were forced to become part of a new lie.
And the latter… certainly would not align with Cardinal Cyril’s moral code.
“—I want to strip away the Grey Heavenly Envoy’s power and let it become Lily’s power completely.”
But Eivass said so.
“…That will be difficult.”
The Old Elf shook his head with a troubled expression. “How can you kill a dead person? Therefore, you cannot stop an Envoy who has already died.”
“Help me, old man…”
Eivass pleaded softly. “I’ve never asked anyone for anything… Count it as owing you a favor.”
No matter what, he did not want Lily to have her body and soul occupied by someone else.
This was likely the reason why Lily’s division was incomplete—because the residual consciousness of the Grey Heavenly Envoy was instinctively preventing her “escape.”
If Lily could complete the division of herself, she could have completely separated herself and then destroyed her own body. Because it was impossible to determine which part Lily wanted to retain, the Grey Heavenly Envoy directly prevented all forms of division.
“…I really can’t do anything about it.”
Cardinal Cyril shook his head. “However, matters concerning the soul… perhaps people at the Spirit Tower might have a solution.
“I cannot leave this room for too long, or I will either petrify or condense into amber. At most, I can write you an introduction letter. Take it with you to Star Antinomy. I’m quite familiar with the first generation of Black Aspects of Star Antinomy… We were friends back in the day.
“—Perhaps he will give me some face. Perhaps.”
