"From what I observed, the Demon King's corpse that we killed back then is still inside the Seal, and it shows clear signs of revival."
"In other words, the Demon King hasn't managed to break the Seal."
About half an hour later, everyone returned to the palace of the Kingdom of Chris. Pan Long had hitched a ride too, saving himself the trip back.
Of course, he remembered to bring his spoils. He also left a wooden board for the soldiers from Pike Town who might arrive later, with the words "All is well. I've returned to the capital" written on it.
Back at the palace, Chairman Lawrence, who had gone to inspect the Seal, launched into an explanation.
"But I noticed one detail: the Demon King's reviving corpse showed a distinct lack of reason. Instead of joining its head to its body, the most important task, it was busy reassembling its arms and legs."
"What does that mean?" King Chris asked.
"I think it may mean the Demon King's consciousness isn't in that corpse," Chairman Lawrence said. "Normally, once the Demon King's true self in the Demon Realm discovers that his human-world Incarnation has been killed, he sends another portion of his consciousness into it. That lets the corpse absorb miasma more efficiently and revive as soon as possible. But that clearly hasn't happened this time."
Ellu nodded. "I understand. This time, he sent a new Incarnation into the human world."
"Exactly. But we all know that projecting across worlds comes with severe restrictions. Even the gods can maintain only one Incarnation in the human world at a time—and the Demon King is no exception," Chairman Lawrence said. "If he wants a new Incarnation to descend, he must abandon the previous one completely."
"That price is too high. He'd