800 The Reckoning: Sacrifice for Salvation

"This is the only way to save Lord Azazel. Out of all the possibilities, we only have this one chance."

Everyone exchanged confused looks.

"Save?" Desira asked.

"The only way to what?" Iraelyn questioned through gnashed teeth. "If you don't provide an acceptable answer, I will get mad! And you won't like it if I get mad."

Malifira faced them and sighed. "Do you even know what Lord Azazel would do once he gets all the corruption?"

Desira replied, "Of course! He has a plan."

Malifira scolded. "And I assume that you didn't bother to ask him what that plan was?"

Desira bit her tongue, and Vivi couldn't provide an answer, neither could the others.

"Now that I think about it . . . what would he do with all that corruption afterward?" Elena asked.

Ren didn't know either. He thought that it was part of the story, and no matter how much they asked Azazel about it, he wouldn't tell them.

"I'll tell you what he would do with it," Malifira said, her frown deepening. "Once he gathered all the corruption, he would sacrifice himself to eradicate it once and for all."

There was a moment of silence before a resounding "WHAT?!" thundered in the arena.

"Lethargia had seen it," Malifira continued. "The reason why she's always asleep was that she had exhausted everything she had to travel in different futures to prevent that from happening, and this . . . this is the only solution. She came to me and asked for my help, and the rest was history."

"No wonder that she was sleeping all the time more so than in the past years," Avaris commented.

"No, that can't be . . ." Desira shook her head.

Tears welled in Vivi's eyes. "No. He promised that we would always stay together forever this time! He promised!"

"You're lying," Desira snapped.

Malifira looked her in the eyes. "Am I?"

Desira bit her tongue, and Iraelyn interjected, "She's right."

"Iraelyn!" Desira growled.

Iraelyn faced Desira and Vivi. "She's right. Lord Azazel would do something like that. I always wondered what he would do once he collected the corruption, but he wouldn't say it no matter what.

"Don't you find it odd? Lord Azazel always couldn't help but spill a secret. He wouldn't be able to control his mouth, but this time . . . he was steadfast in not informing us his plans with the corruption."

Desira and Vivi refused to believe, but even Iraelyn could see the whole picture. They couldn't pretend to be blind forever.

"What are we going to do, Ren?" Evie asked.

"Let's just do nothing for now and watch," Ren replied to her.

"Wait . . . so how exactly is Azazel going to sacrifice himself to eradicate this corruption?" Elena asked. "I thought that it couldn't be killed, nor could it be eradicated."

Malifira answered, "Not all corruption, only this excess that threatened to destroy the whole realm. In the past, we didn't know how to destroy it, but Lord Azazel had found a way when his original body got destroyed.

"The corruption is attracted to the soul, and Lord Azazel is a Demon Lord. Thus, the strength of his soul is thousands of times more than an ordinary demon, which is why he could hold this much corruption.

"In the past, we didn't know how to get rid of this menace. However, when Obsidian X died, he had found a way, and years later, snippets of the future and Lord Azazel's plans came to Lethargia's dreams."

"So, what are you pointing at exactly?" Iraelyn asked.

"Cut to the chase," Desira added.

"Lord Azazel plans to get as much corruption as he can and get rid of it once and for all by sacrificing his soul. Once the corruption is inside his soul, it became tangible and can be destroyed."

"W-what . . ." Desira's face paled.

"But if that happened, then Lord Azazel wouldn't be able to come back like the last time. He would truly be lost to us!" Vivi exclaimed and cried.

"Wait, you have found a way, right?" Iraelyn said, hopeful.

Malifira nodded. "That's right. After years and years of meticulous planning, and Lethargia's nonstop travel to different futures, we have finally found a way, a single way, our only chance."

"Why didn't you tell us about this?" Avaris exclaimed.

"You know how it works," Malifira answered him. "Even just one single mistake could lead to a different outcome. We have to be careful and follow Lethargia's laid-out path to make sure that Lord Azazel survives this time around."

Desira and the others couldn't say anything, while Ren's group didn't know what to do.

Malifira then summoned a large jar full of souls. "These are the souls that Salister Kane brought here. I had worked hard for years to infiltrate the Rebellion just so I could take these from him. We will infuse all that corruption inside these thousands of souls and destroy it once and for all. That's the only way."

Ren and Evie were stunned.

"Those are . . . the souls that Salister Kane had collected for so many years," Ren muttered.

"There must be at least hundreds of thousands inside there," Evie added.

"Hoi!" Lorelai's voice echoed in the arena. "What do you mean to say? Are you going to destroy those souls?! You're going to kill countless mortals by doing that! And they won't be able to reincarnate anymore!"

Malifira took a deep breath and said coldly, "Sacrifices must be made. Besides, this corruption originated from them in the first place. It's only right that they pay the price for their sins. It's retribution."

Lorelai gnashed her teeth, and the air crackled around her. "You're not the one to decide that! I won't let you! I won't let you sacrifice those souls for just one demon!"

The air around Lorelai crackled, and rifts appeared everywhere around her.

Lethargia gasped. "S-she's . . . she's going to break my spell."

Malifira was alarmed and said to Lethargia, "Hold her. I will begin the extraction of corruption from Lord Azazel."

Lethargia nodded and focused all her mana on holding Lorelai back.