Helmut: The Forsaken Child - H.F.C Chapter 446 (Part 2):

“How is it that the Grand Duke of Renosa is here?” High Priest Romulo’s voice trembled with anger.

Considering the losses the Temple had suffered, he wanted nothing more than to storm out.

“They’ve succumbed to the power of darkness! The very idea of discussing this matter with them is absurd!”

“High Priest, mind your words. Isn’t it time for the defeated to lower their tails?” Charlotte shot back coldly, her hand resting on the sword at her waist.

Her boldness grew by the day.

Watching her from a distance, Asuka flinched instinctively.

The Crown Prince flinched as well but calmly steered the meeting.

“Though each side requested this audience separately, we deemed the situation too urgent to delay. Aren’t you here to discuss similar matters?”

“Similar matters?” High Priest Levina asked.

She, too, was seething, facing those who had killed her trusted colleague, High Priest Agato.

She wanted to attack them on the spot.

But this was the Empire, and the Empire leaned toward Renosa.

Given the looming crisis, she had to endure—for now. They needed the Empire’s cooperation.

‘And their help, too…’

Biting her lip in humiliation, Levina listened as the Crown Prince continued.

“Renosa wishes to discuss the anomalies occurring in the sacred barrier.”

“And we know the Temple was negligent, unaware of this until recently,” the Grand Duke of Renosa added, his low voice striking the Temple’s side like a blow.

The Temple’s members shuddered with shame. It was an undeniable truth.

But Levina, her face flushed with anger, shouted, “Your so-called heir caused the collapse of the sacred barrier! Because of that, the human world is in danger. If we were negligent, the root of this lies with you!”

“The root lies with those who schemed in Basor to send a Sword Saint to the Forest of Roots,” Charlotte countered sharply. “If the Sword Saint hadn’t taught Helmut the sword, he’d never have left the Forest.”

It was unusual to see her, always polite and courteous, take such an aggressive stance.

Before the argument could escalate further, the Crown Prince intervened.

“Now is not the time to assign blame. It’s time to prepare. Isn’t that why we’re here?”

High Priest Levina barely suppressed her rage.

The Temple’s people lived with a sense of being chosen, a belief in their superiority.

For her, a High Priest and a noble representative of Lumen, this kind of criticism was unprecedented.

Gritting her teeth, she spoke, “Since you’ve already heard from them, I’ll get to the point. The sacred barrier will collapse within two months. When that happens, at the very least, every demonic beast in the Forest of Roots will pour into the human world.”

The Crown Prince asked, “At the very least?”

“If it stops there, we’d be fortunate. But if the Demon King is revived…”

Levina paused, steadying her voice before continuing.

“Each demonic beast is like a ferocious predator, normally not prone to uniting. But there’s an exception—when they’re under the control of a powerful demonic beast with demonic energy. The Demon King’s dominion is even stronger. The beasts, their instincts suppressed, become puppets, obedient to the Demon King until their bodies are shattered and their breath ceases.”

The Demon King’s influence over all beings with demonic energy was as profound as Lumen’s influence over its followers.

“If they fall under the Demon King’s control, they’ll form an army, as they did a thousand years ago. Then we’ll face demonic beasts employing human strategies.”

Charlotte asked, “Why would the Demon King, a non-human, do this?”

“Because the Demon King is a being with intelligence and demonic energy, capable of learning. It has fought humans before, a thousand years ago,” Levina said heavily, her eyes betraying a mix of despair and dread.

The enemy was too powerful.

“This is the memory of the Demon King’s war from a thousand years ago, preserved by the Temple.”

She drew a crystal orb from her robes and held it up.

She had already examined its contents thoroughly.

In the heavy silence, the Crown Prince spoke.

“Show it to us.”

And so, the memories recorded in the crystal orb from a thousand years ago were brought forth and revealed.

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