"The Demon King is dead."
Dark Dimon, who had arrived at their side at some point, stared intently at Ophelia Brad's face.
The Demon King's death meant that the ritual had reached its end.
But at the same time, it also signified the beginning of the "refinement"!
If all went smoothly, Ophelia Brad would not truly die.
The Demon King's First Embrace within her would serve as a sacrifice for the "newborn Demon King," transferring the concept of "reproduction" onto the vampire Vlad, allowing him to be reborn—in the form of a Magic Spirit!
Everything had been arranged in advance.
Dark did not need to do anything. He only had to wait for events to unfold.
Once the Magic Spirit Card of "Vampire Vlad" was successfully refined, Ophelia Brad would also be reborn after the First Embrace was removed.
In a world where souls could be seen directly, as long as sufficient preparations had been made beforehand, death was never the end.
"The professors should be able to enter now as well."
Dark flicked his hand, drawing that wisp of Wind Spirit's Blessing from between his hair and infusing it with a trace of magic.
Then he released it, allowing the wisp of breeze to hide itself back among his hair.
Throughout it all, his gaze never left Ophelia Brad's face.
But the expected commotion never came.
Ophelia Brad had died as ordinarily as anyone else.
Half a minute later.
Dark suddenly looked toward Victor, who was still weeping, and abruptly realized that every word Ophelia Brad had spoken in her final moments had sounded exactly like a last testament.
"What's going on?"
The lingering sense of doubt that had been with him all along suddenly erupted.
Dark instinctively clenched his fist.
After a while, as if realizing something, he