Seeing the Hornsent caretaker's soul burned away by the Frenzied Flame and reduced to its primordial chaos, everyone present fell silent.
A soul was supposed to be eternal and indestructible.
Even after death, it would eventually find its way to wherever it was meant to go through one means or another.
Whether that meant returning to the Erdtree through the Golden Order, having one's soul reside within the Crucible's horns, or being given an ancient funeral through ghostflame.
The souls of the dead either departed for the afterlife or remained behind in the Lands Between, clinging to objects and places.
It was merely that the Lands Between were currently in such a state of chaos that none of these paths had completely returned to normal.
But the Frenzied Flame could burn a soul away directly.
It was practically the equivalent of flipping the table and declaring that the game was over.
That was precisely why every living being with a soul should fear the Frenzied Flame, and why every civilization regarded it as a taboo.
The Golden Order, which sought to return souls to the Erdtree and desired eternal immortality, was no exception.
Nor were the Hornsent, who worshipped the divine and yearned for the immortality of the soul.
Even souls that should have been eternal and indestructible could not withstand the Frenzied Flame. They could be burned away until nothing remained.
That was the reason the Hornsent hated the Frenzied Flame.
Lucian shook his head, finding the Hornsent somewhat pitiful.
Clearly, what had happened at Midra's Manse was yet another genuine tragedy of playing with fire and getting burned.
For some unknown reason, Midra had come into contact with the Frenzied Flame.
From the words of the Hornsent phantom just now, it was clear that Midra knew about the dangers and terror of the Frenzied Flame.
Even after being sealed away, he had still retained enough sanity to warn others not to approach madness or come into contact with the Frenzied Flame.
And yet this Scholar, who still retained a fragment of his sanity in the present, had not stopped himself in the past despite knowing full well that the Frenzied Flame was taboo...
Or perhaps, by that point, he had already been unable to stop.
In the end, Midra became the Lord of Frenzied Flame, bringing about all the tragedies that followed.
Irina stared blankly at the place where the Hornsent phantom had disappeared, covering her mouth as she murmured,
"How could this..."
"Without even realizing it, everyone in the entire manse became monsters..."
Seeing the bewildered look on Irina's face, Lucian explained,
"That's how terrifying the Frenzied Flame is."
"Once someone is infected by the Frenzied Flame, the first thing it burns away is their eyes."
"Their eyeballs are scorched and ruined under the influence of the Frenzied Flame, accompanied by excruciating pain that is enough to drive a person mad."
"Yet once the Frenzied Flame completely burns away both eyes, causing the eyeballs to rupture and yellow embers to burst from the empty sockets..."
"The patients in the later stages of Frenzied Flame infection actually become calm."
Recalling the cases they had taken in back in Limgrave, Lucian continued,
"The Frenzied Flame burns away the eyes and brings peace to the mind. They believed that this was the light of salvation."
"That was how those whose eyes had been completely taken over by the Frenzied Flame saw it."
Thinking about this, Lucian could not help but glance at Irina a couple more times.
If he had not saved Irina on the Weeping Peninsula back then, she would probably have already embarked upon the path of the Frenzied Flame.
And yet, unexpectedly, Irina had now embarked upon an entirely opposite path.
Hyetta, the Frenzied Flame maiden who sought the distant light beyond the grave, and magical girl Irina, who worked desperately to seal away the Frenzied Flame...
What a cruel twist of fate.
Perhaps this was yet another manifestation of the duality that existed everywhere throughout the Lands Between.
It was obvious that the Frenzied Flame could erode those it infected, driving them deeper and deeper into taboo.
After becoming Hyetta, she would be deceived by the false, fabricated distant light created by the Frenzied Flame and eventually set foot on the path of a Frenzied Flame maiden.
When she was still merely Hyetta, she had been as blank as a sheet of paper. She should never have possessed the despair necessary to come into contact with the Frenzied Flame.
There was no salvation in despair.
The Frenzied Flame simply needed a maiden to guide the Lord of Frenzied Flame.
Combined with Shabriri, who actively spread the Frenzied Flame throughout the Lands Between, this was enough to prove that the Frenzied Flame possessed the ability to actively tempt, deceive, and spread itself.
Perhaps the servants in this manse had been subjected to the same thing.
After becoming completely infected, they had even forgotten the painful past they had once endured.
Lucian looked around the desolate manse and spoke,
"...Everything began as one great whole, and from that One came distinction."
"Once distinction was born, life came into existence. With it came consciousness, differences, and individuality."
"Yet the Frenzied Flame regarded all of this as an 'error.' It sought to melt everything back together and return to the great One."
Lucian took a deep breath.
Returning everything to One might sound appealing.
It was rather like the secret plan Human Instrumentality Project from some other world, where nothing would remain to separate people from one another.
But Lucian could never accept such a world.
"It is precisely because distinction and individuality were born that 'people' can truly live within this 'flawed' world."
"To burn away lives filled with meaning and reduce the world to chaos..."
"I will never allow that to happen. I will never allow it to deny the very meaning of existence possessed by all living things."
Liliana nodded solemnly, deeply agreeing with him.
"Exactly!"
"The Frenzied Flame is the enemy of life. You must always remember that!"
Irina still could not completely understand what Lucian meant, but she silently committed his words to memory and nodded.
Just then, Melina, who had been quietly listening from the side, pointed toward a certain spot in the manse's hall.
"There's something strange over there."
"There might be another space behind it."
Everyone turned to look.
What they saw was a massive painting occupying almost the entire wall.
The scene depicted upon it was a beautiful manse surrounded by flowers and overflowing with life.
Naturally, this was what the valley had looked like before the Frenzied Flame erupted.
Lucian reached out toward the painting depicting the beautiful manse.
The moment his fingertips touched the canvas, the painting gradually became translucent, revealing a passageway hidden behind it.
Seeing through the disguise, Melina gently shook her head.
"Even though the scene is beautiful, it's an illusion."
"Is it trying to imply something?"
"It's almost exactly like the beautiful scenery seen by those afflicted with the Frenzied Flame."
Lucian glanced at the tightly shut door nearby before stepping into the passage behind the painting.
He had originally only intended to take a look, but since there was another path here, they might as well take it first.
The moment he stepped inside, Lucian saw several Inquisitors already prepared for battle, blocking the passage behind the painting.
The moment they saw the outsiders enter, the Inquisitors raised the candlesticks in their hands and fired one golden arc after another.
Seeing the Inquisitors lying in wait for them, Lucian shrugged.
He admitted that the commotion outside had indeed been rather loud.
They had definitely disturbed the neighbors.
But who had given these people permission to block his way?
Lucian extended one hand forward, and two completely different radiances blossomed from his palm.
A pale green Thops's Barrier appeared before him, causing the incoming golden arcs to bend and ricochet away.
At the same time, a purple beam of light continuously gathered and accumulated within his palm.
The next moment, the destructive rays designed specifically to annihilate the Hornsent erupted forth.
A dense barrage of beams swept through the passage.
These Inquisitors were clearly nowhere near the level of the Inquisitor Elder, while the narrow surroundings made it even more difficult for them to evade the attack.
Under the barrage of destructive rays, the Inquisitors were struck without exception.
The instant they were hit, the affected parts of their bodies began to disintegrate. No matter how they tried to use healing incantations, they could not reverse the process.
It happened so quickly that even their screams vanished almost instantly.
Ever since Lucian had developed this Disintegration Ray, dealing with the Hornsent had become remarkably efficient and convenient.
Lowering his hand, Lucian silently continued deeper into the manse.
Once he entered the interior, Lucian was surprised to discover that the place was filled with books.
The corridors on both sides contained no miscellaneous furnishings whatsoever. They were entirely occupied by bookshelves.
The rooms were exactly the same.
Unless the owner simply had so many books that there was nowhere else to put them, there was no other reason for the place to look like this.
Unfortunately, the Inquisitors here clearly had no concept of taking care of books.
Books knocked from the shelves were scattered carelessly across the floor, trampled until they were torn to pieces.
Just as Lucian was marveling at the sheer quantity of books while lamenting their destruction, two familiar figures appeared in the doorway.
Two imposing Hornsent warriors charged toward them one after another, weapons in hand.
Unlike the Inquisitors from earlier, both Hornsent warriors were spirits, meaning they could not be directly destroyed by the Lifeform Disintegration Ray.
There was no need for anyone to remind her.
The moment Melina noticed the enemies, she moved even faster than Lucian.
As she passed beside one of the Hornsent warriors, the blade of the Blade of Calling in her hand struck viciously toward his neck.
Its edge pierced with precision and elegance, passing cleanly through the enemy's body.
The spirit's form instantly collapsed, scattering into points of primordial magical light.
The other Hornsent warrior paid no attention whatsoever to his comrade disappearing in the charge. He simply stared straight at Lucian, who had been designated as his target.
Lucian smiled faintly and charged straight toward the other Hornsent warrior.
The Hornsent warrior had only just begun raising his great curved sword when he suddenly discovered that his head was already in Lucian's hand.
Before he could react, Lucian seized him and sent his entire body flying backward in the direction from which he had come.
By the time his head struck the wall and dispersed into magical light, his spine had already been snapped backward by the force of the impact.
Lucian casually dealt with the Inquisitor hiding nearby who had summoned the spirits, then led everyone deeper into the manse.
It was not long before the true library of the manse finally appeared before them.
Gigantic bookshelves several meters high filled the room, while the sheer quantity of books was so immense that piles of them had formed literal "hills" across the floor.
Looking at the enormous library, Lucian felt even more heartbroken.
He had no intention of personally studying these ancient texts, but their value was obvious.
Besides, professional matters should be left to professionals. As long as the appropriate people handled the research and reported the results to him afterward, wasn't that enough?
Lucian clicked his tongue and could not help saying,
"There are probably more books here than in the entire collection at Stormveil."
"It's just a shame that none of these books can be properly read anymore."
"Otherwise, this manse could still be put to considerable use."
Normally, having several libraries in a private residence would already be impressive.
Even if the residence were particularly large, it would amount to little more than a small library.
But looking at the books overflowing from every corner, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this place was once some enormous library.
There were no enemies here.
They had probably heard the commotion earlier and gone out together, only to be wiped out by Lucian along with the rest.
Suddenly, Lucian heard voices coming from the second floor.
"...Stop, I've had enough..."
"Aren't we all of the same race? Then why are you being so cruel..."
"What did Lord Midra ever do wrong?"
Lucian looked up.
It turned out to be a phantom clutching its head and weeping bitterly, seemingly still trapped within the suffering it had experienced while alive.
From the words of these Hornsent, it was obvious how deeply they respected Midra.
It was not because of his authority.
Their respect came from the heart.
Otherwise, they would never have continued defending him in such a tone even after suffering under the Inquisitors' torture.
"Ah! There seems to be another presence related to the Lord of Frenzied Flame..."
"No, wait. It doesn't seem to be that. It's some kind of very strange presence."
Liliana suddenly spoke, but immediately fell into thought.
The next moment, her figure vanished.
A short while later, she reappeared beside the others.
"I think I've found something, and someone, connected to the Lord of Frenzied Flame."
"Over here."
The group exchanged glances before following Liliana to the place where she had sensed something unusual.
It appeared to be a small study.
Lucian followed the source of the Frenzied Flame's presence with his eyes.
There, sitting limply in a chair, was a woman whose body had withered into a corpse.
In her arms, she gently cradled a spinal bone, upon which a faint trace of Frenzied Flame still burned.
That spine was what had caused Liliana to mistake its presence for the aura of the Lord of Frenzied Flame.
Lucian did not touch the Frenzied Flame-infused spine.
Instead, he first turned toward the writing desk beside it.
Because there was a letter lying there.
[Nanaya's Letter]
Lucian recognized the name.
Wasn't this the wife of Midra, the lord of the manse, whom the spirit had mentioned?
Curious about the truth, Lucian opened the letter.
—
To whoever may one day come here, if such a person exists.
My name is Nanaya, wife of Lord Midra.
It has been a long time since the Inquisitors purged this manse.
Because they feared provoking Lord Midra's heart, I was permitted to keep my life, though I was required to remain here under confinement.
And behind this wall is the lord whom I love.
Though there is only a single wall between us, I cannot see him. All I can do is silently endure the sound of his agonized cries as he suffers his eternal punishment.
My king, Lord Midra...
He refused to touch madness. What a merciful king.
I cannot describe the feelings with which I am writing this letter.
Is it pain? Despair? Or perhaps the joy that has broken through from the depths of my heart?
This manse has already been engulfed by despair, consumed by the Frenzied Flame.
And as I look back upon everything that happened in the past, I have suddenly realized that I was the source of all this sin...
—
Lucian's expression changed when he reached this point.
What was going on?
Was Nanaya actually the culprit behind everything?
Lucian immediately continued reading.
—
I was once pregnant, and should have given the lord a child.
However, the blessed Crucible horns upon my infant's body took my life during childbirth.
Yet I, who should have died, came back to life.
Gradually, I discovered that there was another "me" within my body.
Was it me? Or was it something that was not me?
I cannot tell...
But I survived, and was able to continue spending the rest of my life with my king.
At that time, I was immersed in such blind happiness that I failed to realize I was causing my king to suffer such pain.
This is a pain I can never forgive myself for.
To whoever comes after me.
If you are fortunate enough to find this letter, please give the candle flame I hold in my arms to Lord Midra.
It is the light of hope for my king.
My king, you no longer need to endure.
—
[T/N: The Human Instrumentality Project (人類補完計画, Jinrui Hokan Keikaku) is a secret plan from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise aimed at the forced evolution of humanity by dissolving individual identities and merging all human souls into a single, unified super-entity.
The initiative is primarily driven by the shadowy organization SEELE, who seek to trigger the Third Impact to eliminate human suffering, loneliness, and the "Hedgehog's Dilemma" by removing the AT Fields that separate individuals.]