After parting ways with Harriet, Ellen returned to the encampment. 0

Harriet had left her with a cryptic message. “I’ll be waiting on the southern plains of the encampment at midnight in two days’ time.” 0

Ellen didn’t know exactly what she was supposed to do then, but Harriet had vanished after saying those words. 0

Ellen was fearful yet curious about the fate that awaited her. She feared that she might lose her own existence or merge with those foreign souls, become a being that despised the Demon King, and end up killing Reinhart. 0

Ellen knew that this choice might eventually lead her to kill Reinhart with her own hands. However, if she didn’t make this choice, Reinhart would die.0

Saving Reinhart now might mean she would kill him later on. 0

But just as Reinhart had had no choice, Ellen had none either. 0

Despite knowing that he couldn’t bear it, Reinhart had tried to contain the spirits within himself to avert Edina’s destruction. Similarly, Ellen had no choice but to walk this path that might lead to future ruin. If her existence were to merge with this conglomeration of souls and she was reborn as a hero who despised the Demon King, people would rejoice. 0

It was a grotesque way to overcome the gap between reality and the ideal she had to live up to. 0

She had no intention of meekly accepting the disappearance of her existence, but it was something she would have to face. And even if she became a hero who wanted to kill the Demon King, if she couldn’t find the Demon King after the Gate Incident was resolved, she wouldn’t be able to fight him even if she wanted to.0

Ellen crossed the encampment and returned to her tent, then sat mindlessly on her cot. She wondered what it would feel like for her existence to disappear. 0

Having never...0