I Reincarnated as the Bastard Prince? Well, At least I'm OP!-Chapter 72: The demon king’s vessel

"The demon king's blood?" I repeated, my face masked with confusion. "What are you talking about? What is the Demon King's blood?"

Gwyneria's expression was grim. "It is a concentrate of pure, raw demonic power. In small, controlled doses, it can unnaturally enhance a person's innate magical properties. But in a large quantity, like what you've described..." She paused, her gaze intense. "It doesn't just grant power. It attempts to remake the host into a vessel of equal power to the Demon King himself. It overwrites their will, their very essence."

Raven gasped, her hand trembling as she gripped the edge of the table. "But... where could Richard possibly get something like that? Who would do this to him?"

I clenched my hands into fists, my jaw tightening. My face grew darker, There was only one possible answer.

"I'll tell you where," I said, my face growing dark with realization. "Elysia."

Without another word, I turned around as I slashed my hand through the air, forcing a portal open.

I didn't look back. I didn't wait for a plan.

I just marched through the portal with only one goal in mind. I was going to get answers, and the Chancellor of Luminis Academy was going to provide them.

Raven tried to reach out to me but I was already gone before she could get her next words out.

* * * *

I stepped through the rift and appeared in Elysia's chamber.

I found her standing at the balcony, her hair whipped by a wind that came from nowhere.

She didn't turn. She didn't need to because she always knew when I crossed the threshold.

Her voice drifted back to me, calm as a knife. "You really are something, Archer."

I closed the distance in three long strides, fury tasting like iron in my mouth. "I'm done with your pretence. Tell me where Richard is."

She sighed, as if answering a question from a bored child. "I've been expecting you, Archer. Finally, the moment of truth we've been waiting for."

Heat gathered in my palms. I raised my hand, energy coiling at my fingertips until it thrummed like a trapped beast.

"Choose your words carefully, Elysia," I said, my voice low. "This might be the last thing you hear. Speak, demon. Where is he?"

She turned then, slow as a dance, and smiled. It was an ugly, delighted smile that made the hair on my arms stand on end.

"Oh, I shall speak, all right," she purred. "I've been preparing for this day, Archer. The Demon King gives gifts to those who know how to ask for them. Your friend Archer happened to be lucky to find such favour."

"You used him," I said through clenched teeth. "You gave him that blood."

She laughed, a crystalline sound that split the night. "I didn't give him anything he didn't already crave. I only fed his hunger the right way. The Demon King's blood is a catalyst — a fuel for calamity. Richard had the resentment. He had the ambition. He was the perfect vessel. I simply set the crucible."

Anger ripped through me, hot and sharp. "You turned him into a weapon."

"I turned him into a possibility." She lifted her chin. "With Richard reborn as what he will be, an obedient avatar with the hunger of demon-blood and the loyalty I sharpen, you will have no choice but to fight him on my terms. And if you fail—" her smile widened, "—his fate will be sealed and your friend will fall."

I let my hand drop, the crackle of energy in my fingers dulling as I forced myself to listen. "What is the Demon King really up to?" I asked, my voice flat. "Why place you in charge of Luminis? What's the end goal here?"

Elysia began to pace along the balcony, the moonlight catching her profile like a blade. Her tone was almost fond as she spoke, as if reciting a favorite passage.

"The Demon King was defeated long ago by the first king. His body was shattered, his armies scattered. But a soul—especially one like his—does not simply die. It wandered. For centuries it drifted, hungry, searching for a vessel worthy enough to contain its will."

She paused and looked at me directly, the amusement in her eyes a cold thing. "Many hosts were offered and failed. The soul is picky. It needs perfect compatibility—blood, lineage, and an empty crown of ambition. It refused them all. Until… centuries later, a birth changed the equation."

My muscles went tight. "Camilia? The princess?"

"Yes," she said plainly, like a teacher confirming a lesson. "She was the first true match the Demon King's essence could bind with. Her bloodline carried something that the soul recognized. That's why she had to be taken."

Her words landed like an ax. "You abducted her? To make a host for the demon king's soul?"

Elysia's smile turned warmer, almost maternal. "That is correct. We took her and prepared her body, mind, and spirit for union. You ruined the original plan. You barged in and scattered the ritual at its climax. We were forced to improvise."

I took a breath, the air feeling suddenly thin. "So what did you do?"

"We adapted," she said simply. "We split what we could bind. The host now bears half of the Demon King's soul. The rest is still incomplete—fragmented, searching. That half alone is terrible enough, but it is unfinished. It hungers for completion. That is why you have been targeted. The campaigns, the assassins, including Richard, all of it was meant to draw you away. Keep Archer busy; keep him fighting; keep him from Camilia before the ritual can be finished."

The balcony felt colder. "You were never really after me alone," I said slowly. "You wanted Camilia. Everything else was a distraction."

"Exactly," Elysia purred. "Destroy the closest threat, and the rest falls easier."

I narrowed my eyes at her, forcing myself to breathe through the storm building in my chest. "There's but one flaw in your plans," I said, my voice laced with venom.

Elysia cocked her head, curiosity glinting in her eyes. "And what flaw is that, Archer?" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

I straightened, every syllable sharp as steel. "Camilia is in the Moon Goddess Temple. She's guarded by my strongest orc warriors. Even your most vicious demons couldn't breach the divine boundary of that sanctuary. She's untouchable."

For a moment, her lips trembled—then she broke into a laugh, rich and cruel, echoing off the chamber walls like a bell tolling doom.

She clutched her chest as if I had just told the most ridiculous joke.

"Fool," she spat between laughs. "Do you seriously think we don't know about the temple? Do you think the Demon King's soul cares for walls of light or borrowed holiness? You truly haven't understood."

I stiffened, my gut twisting as her words turned sharp.

"Remember what I told you," she said, pacing now, her smile widening, "half of the Demon King's soul already dwells in her body. Which means from time to time… they split." Her eyes glittered like knives. "The girl and the demon King exchange control. She can project his will for as long as her body allows."

My heart slammed against my ribs. "No…" The word tore out of me before I could stop it.

"Yes," Elysia purred. "The Demon King has already manifested in her. He tore free of her and took command before they even reached the moon goddess sacred temple. Do you want to know what happened next?"

I shook my head slowly, though I already feared the answer.

She leaned close, her whisper like poison sliding into my ear. "Your precious orcs never even stood a chance. She slaughtered them all. And now the vessel has returned to where it belongs… to the Demon King's domain in the Dark Mountains."

The blood drained from my face. My fists clenched until my knuckles cracked. A cold rage flooded through me, heavier than iron.

Camilia wasn't safe. She wasn't even herself anymore.

For a second the world narrowed to the sound of my own pulse in my ears and the moonlight on Elysia's face.

I had been so sure—so arrogant in my certainty that the temple's divine wards and my orcs could keep Camilia safe.

Now I saw it plain and ugly: I had been a fool.

Those orcs. Sir krell. I had sent them to stand between a child and a darkness I only half-understood. I had ordered them into a fight they could not win if the Demon King ever fully manifested. I had trusted my plans more than my fears, and because of that trust they were gone.

Guilt burned through me, hot and immediate.

Elysia watched me, her expression unreadable, and then she spoke again, slow as a winter crawl.

"Now that the vessel is back in the Dark Mountains," she said, "the Demon King's soul will complete itself. When that final union occurs, his awakening will be unstoppable. He will rise as the king of destruction. We have prepared for this. We have amassed an army."

Her voice dropped to a hiss, the words tasting like iron. "Ten thousand demons, Archer. Ten thousand bred, bound, and ready—waiting in the chasms of hell for the command to pour into the world. When released, they'll devour the light. Cities will burn. Men will fall like grain under the scythe."