Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

Eren maintained an expressionless face as he listened to Nira Nightshade's words.

"Hehe. I was never so shallow-minded as to look at half-bloods as if they were the scum of the world. So what if they are labeled as demonkin or demon spawns? This entire kingdom was established because of demonic rankers like us in the first place."

Eren found it difficult to maintain his stoic look when he heard Nira's statement. He had so many questions to ask. But he figured he should let Nira continue talking on her own initiative. And that's what she intended to do all along.

Nira shrugged her shoulders before speaking up.

"You must know about the demon beasts' origins by now. The demons occupy the mana beasts' bodies and turn them into vessels. They can take humanoid forms after ranking up their beastly shells.

Have you ever wondered how the first line of half-bloods was created? It was created when demon-like creatures mated with normal humanoids.

Mana beasts sleeping with the "children of Creation" are already frowned upon by the "gods". And if the act is done while a demon is using the beast's body as a shell, then it becomes taboo.

After all, half-bloods gain demonic roots from birth when they are sired by demons' soul fragments. It is rooted in their bloodlines, making them demonkin. And there's nothing the "gods" can do to change that.

Half-bloods descend from demons. As such, we can say that they are born demons. And in some ways, they are more dangerous than demons born out of chaos."

Eren could have never guessed that one of the long-standing questions he had in both his timelines would get answered like this in this place. His mind was occupied by metaphorical white noise while he stopped thinking.

"This…. This is big."

Eren mumbled to himself finally. Eren had learned a lot about demons and demonic possessions recently. However, the information Nira gave him was like something hiding in plain sight.

Nira wasn't surprised that Eren didn't know about these things despite being a half-blood himself. She knew that most uninitiated half-bloods in the land of the Anfang who hadn't been targeted by the establishments were unaware of their identities and what it meant to be a half-blood.

Edinburgh had the Blood Punisher Force search and destroy the half-bloods found within the kingdom's territory. Other establishments in the Anfang alliance also had their own special units to get rid of the demonkin known as half-bloods.

The Anfang alliance kept tabs on the half-bloods across the entire continent of Anfang. It prevented the half-bloods from ever prospering in the world. It hunted everyone and killed them all without any distinction to prevent a so-called demonic rise.

One could say that the half-bloods belonged to the demon realm from the moment they were born. They had many advantages over normal rankers. They were as powerful as the demonic rankers of their generation without the side effects that the demonic rankers were used to facing.

The half-bloods didn't have to worry about demon soul fragments taking hold of them. Plus, they had mortal bodies that were supported by the worlds they were in, allowing them to enjoy the benefits of both worlds.

Eren had too many questions to ask Nira Nightshade. However, after analyzing Sage's previous words, he decided to prioritize a specific one.

"Sage Nira, what do you mean by the kingdom of Edinburgh getting established by demonic rankers? Do you mean…"

Nira flashed a cunning smile at Eren before confirming his doubts.

"Do you think four Sages would serve the first king of Edinburgh– Emil Edinburgh von Renar because they found joy in servitude? Emil was just the puppet we decided to use as a face.

I, Ivar, Yuffie, and Lin. We were all demonic rankers who had decided to create a kingdom for ourselves so that it would serve as our foundation. All four of us wanted to break our shackles and seek new horizons in new lands.

We couldn't do what we wanted as long as the Anfang alliance was still active. And we couldn't do things covertly either as long as we were not in power. So we had to hide our demonic powers and chose Emil to lead a rebellion against a then-giant kingdom known as Silvermoon."

Eren was quickly reminded of the city of Silvermoon as soon as Nira spoke. The latter nodded at him before proceeding.

"That's right. The city of Silvermoon that exists today in Edinburgh does have a connection with the previous kingdom. After all, Edinburgh and Layos were once part of the same kingdom before it was partitioned."

Nira looked upwards and stared at the ceiling as she recalled the past. Eren didn't need to ask her anything at this point. She smiled lightly before speaking in a casual tone.

"Emil von Renar played his part as the leader of the rebellion well. He invoked a sentiment in humans' minds that they were being oppressed by their elven rulers. This half-truth became the fire that we needed to carve out our own piece of land from the kingdom of Silvermoon and form our puppet government."

Nira started walking towards the stairs, hinting at Eren to follow her. She shrugged her shoulders before speaking further.

"Even as an elf myself, I'll go ahead and say that humans were indeed less privileged to some degree than their elven counterparts. However, Emil played smart. He exaggerated the oppression and downplayed the good that the then-rulers of the Silvermoon kingdom attempted to do.

Many people like to see themselves as victims of their circumstances. It's like they need some kind of reason to justify their failures. It becomes easier to manipulate them once the concept of oppression has been cemented in their minds.

The rebellion picked up the pace for over a century. Things got so out of hand that even most of the elves felt like they didn't want to do anything with the human rebels."

Eren had heard bits and pieces about the history between the kingdom of Layos and the kingdom of Edinburgh. Nevertheless, he didn't know they both hailed from the same place of origin.

Eren had his head down while following Nira. He narrowed his eyes and commented.

"So the rebellion that King Emil von Renar led was successful."