Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

'Demonic runes?'

Sara didn't understand what Alephee meant when she mentioned demonic runes. She didn't know that the defective ranking technique she received was given to mortals like her on purpose.

Sara didn't know Reva's contribution to her current situation. But she decided to listen first and ask questions later.

In Alephee's defense, she was already simplifying Reva Rain's defective ranking technique Sara was forced to endure. Alephee adjusted her black-as-ink hair and straightened her posture before speaking informatively.

"Sara would break into the Novice rank without bottlenecks when we implement these changes and enable her to practice the faulty ranking technique. Only this time, the technique wouldn't be defective to practice for Sara.

Basically, we are correcting the previously introduced faults in Sara's ranking technique and making them work in her favor. That way, she wouldn't receive any backlash associated with changing the ranking technique, especially in her case."

This time, Alephee's explanation was specifically directed at Eren. The butcher was slowly becoming familiar with the basics of demonology. So he could understand Alephee's explanation.

Demon magic was not entirely different from normal magic. It followed the same equivalent exchange principles.

Wherever there is a mountain, there's a pit somewhere the same height. Wherever there's an effect, there's a relative cause behind its inception. This was the principle of equivalent exchange.

Even the Faustian contract required demons to fulfill the conditions of the original owners of the vessels they were about to possess The Faustian contract couldn't come into effect without demons agreeing to vessel owners' conditions, however mundane or grandiose they might be.

Demonic possessions were only one division of demon magic. Demon magic was vast like an endless sea. And yet, demon magic wasn't immune to Creation's rules. It was just that demon magic was skewed towards benefitting demons more.

Of course, nothing was completely absolute when it came to demon magic because it was a branch of intent-driven magic. And nothing was truly impossible in intent-driven magic. So obviously, demon magic had some exceptions. But they were available only to those who knew demon magic inside out and manipulated the finer details involved in it.

Eren understood that Alephee's solution to Sara's problem was too effective. Meaning the solution had to have some disadvantages for someone. If the disadvantage didn't fall on Sara, it would fall on someone else involved in Sara's condition.

Eren smirked at Alephee before asking if his conjecture was true or not.

"It seems there's a catch and Sara isn't the target. Aelphee, what will happen to Reva Rain if we make these changes?"

Alephee looked at Eren with an evil smirk before answering his doubts.

"Hehe. I think you will find this hilarious. Reva's technique will be reversed if we implement these changes on Sara. Simply put, Sara and Reva's roles in the demonic ritual will be switched.

Sara will be the sole beneficiary of all the pain the Paladin of Pain processed or will process. She will draw power from Reva's suffering. Sara will also benefit from Reva's suffering.

The Paladin of Pain will labor. And Sara will be able to test its fruits."

Eren and Alephee both laughed, leaving Sara with more questions than answers. The blind girl could only wait until Eren and Alephee had their fun.

Of course, Sara had realized that there was more to her ranking technique than meets the eye. Plus, Eren and Alephee weren't exactly friendly and caring rankers.

To Sara, both of them came across as two evil geniuses who had hatched the most ingenious plan to teach their opponents a lesson of their lifetime. It was as if they removed "benevolence" from their dictionary.

Sara knew the brutality of the rankers' world after hearing about it. But this was her first time encountering it.

For some reason, the butcher felt one of the most potent serotonin highs of his life. He slapped the table with his open palms and almost broke it in half before responding to Alephee's words.

"You mean to tell me that the more Reva suffers from pain and negative emotions, the more powerful Sara will get? And that Sara will feed on Reva's life essence and mana essence as long as the Paladin of Pain feels miserable in some way?"

Alephee controlled her laughter and assumed a ladylike position. Still, she couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she spoke.

"Correct. Sara will improve her ranking status dramatically within a few weeks or months after feeding on Reva Rain's essence. Of course, Reva would eventually get weakened by Sara's progress aswwThe rate and scale of the improvement will depend upon Reva's current condition among other factors.

I'm sure the harlot must have performed her demonic ritual on someone. This is a good time to mess with her as she spends her time in Layos."

***

Reva left many loopholes in her demonic ritual. Since the Paladin of Pain was focused on quantity and not the quality of suffering, she was bound to introduce these loopholes into her defective ranking technique.

In Reva's defense, she didn't see the need to close loopholes in her demonic runes. These runes were etched onto Sara's flesh and soul via a demonic ritual. And the defective ranking technique Reva had spread among mortals and acted as an open channel through which the ritual worked its demon magic on them.

Fixing demonic rune loopholes would have forced Reva to change her targets. That's because the old targets wouldn't remain compatible with the demonic ritual anymore, which she wasn't willing to do.

However, the Paladin of Pain could have never thought that the loopholes in her demonic runes would one day be used against her. She didn't think anyone in Anfang was knowledgeable enough about demon magic to pull off something like that.

What was even more interesting was the fact that Eren and Alephee underestimated how traumatized Reva was at this point. They were not aware that the Paladin of Pain was basically a husk from her former shelf because of her battle with Eren.

AN: Throwback to chapters 1091 and 1092. ;)