Shinji Matou at Your Service

Faced with Shinji's provocation, Ciel remained silent.

If she were alone, she would have definitely replied, "Bring it on, who's afraid?"

When it comes to mutual harm, who could outdo her, the massive bug supported by the world's very order? In a simple gunfight, not even the Crimson Moon at her peak could outmatch Ciel.

Vampires possess a limited immortality. Ordinary vampires can be killed by decapitation or having their hearts removed, and stronger ones might just take a bit more effort to kill. Even someone as powerful as the Crimson Moon couldn't recover after being blown to pieces by Zelretch's Second Magic.

Ciel's immortality, however, is limitless. As long as Shinji is willing to keep fighting, she's confident she can outlast his weapons, drain his magic, exhaust his stamina, and ultimately claim victory.

But this time was different. Merem had one foot in the Burial Agency and the other in the Princess's faction, with an ambiguous attitude that couldn't be relied upon. The only trustworthy person, Caren, was seriously injured. If the opposing side opened fire, Caren's chances of survival would be slim.

As the Burial Agency's only remaining conscience, Ciel wasn't as twisted as the other monsters. She still retained her humanity. No matter how much she might deny it, she still worried about her companions' safety—this included not just Caren, but also Merem, and even that damned director.

Should she surrender? Ciel bit her lip and quietly moved closer to Caren.

Shinji noticed her inner conflict and, not wanting to push her too far, voluntarily lowered his weapon. After all, there was no unresolvable conflict between him and the Burial Agency, and he had no desire to provoke such a formidable opponent.

"Ahem, my apologies. Although I'm a magus, I have a passion for modern weaponry. I got a bit too excited when I saw Miss Ciel's armaments. These standard weapons might be good for burning forests and blasting animals, but they're far from sufficient to deal with a member of the Burial Agency."

"You... changed your mind?"

Ciel didn't know why Shinji had suddenly changed his attitude, so she remained cautious.

"Yes, I changed my mind because I thought of a better plan."

"What plan?"

"I'll go ahead, and you follow me later. This way, you don't have to worry about me ambushing you, and your mission won't fail. After all, all you want is the destruction of the Forest of Einnashe. If I succeed, you'll save some effort. If I fail, you can take over then. And if you want to ambush me, feel free, but be prepared to be countered."

As he said this, Shinji slung the RPG around his waist, hoisted the Vulcan cannon onto his shoulder, and began walking deeper into the forest, completely ignoring the hostile enemies behind him.

His arrogant declaration and brash attitude made Ciel grip the trigger of her impact drill several times, ready to fire at Shinji, but in the end, she suppressed the urge.

She knew Shinji was right—destroying the Forest of Einnashe was the primary objective, and everything else was secondary. If she acted on impulse and lost her teammates, leading to mission failure, she wouldn't need Narbareck to hold her accountable; she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.

At this moment, Merem, who had been silently observing, suddenly spoke up.

"The Crimson Core isn't in that direction… or does Sir Knight not know its exact location?"

The Vulcan cannon on Shinji's waist suddenly slipped, and an embarrassed expression appeared on his face.

"Ah, you caught me. I was judging the location based on the flow of blood and the intensity of the forest's attacks, so I didn't know the precise location of the Crimson Core. By the way, I just remembered, your existence is somewhat similar to the Forest of Einnashe, so you should know, right, the exact location of the core."

If he remembered correctly, in the original timeline, it was Merem who guided Shiki straight to the heart of the Forest of Einnashe, ultimately leading to the destruction of this vast, fifty-kilometer-wide blood-sucking forest.

"Let me correct you, it's not similar, it's higher than Forest of Einnashe."

Merem seemed quite insistent on this point.

"Because of my higher existence level, I do know."

"Can you tell me?"

"I can."

Merem nodded, glancing at Ciel, "But it won't be free. Although I'd like to tell you for free, it would cause some trouble later, and I hate trouble."

"No problem. I can afford to pay for the information."

Shinji's straightforward attitude made Merem's smile even more radiant.

"Good, good. Unlike Ciel, you're quite honest. That's how the Princess's knight should be. As for payment, let's go with your proposal: information exchange. I also have something I want to know."

"Go ahead, as long as it's information I'm aware of."

"You know—800 years ago, the Princess hunted down the Forest of Einnashe and indeed eliminated him. So why does the Forest of Einnashe still exist today?"

"It's simple because this Forest of Einnashe isn't the same as the original. If you must categorize it, this is Forest of Einnashe 2.0. Here's what happened."

Forest of Einnashe, like the Millennium Lock, was a Dead Apostle who transformed from a magus, with deep expertise in hypnosis and memory manipulation, to the extent that he could alter memories. He was extremely cautious, and after becoming a Dead Apostle, he modified the memories of everyone who knew of his existence, including Arcueid, who fell victim to his trickery, believing that a Dead Apostle named Einnashe didn't exist. He was an incredibly troublesome adversary.

However, for every curse, there's a cure. Just as there's magecraft that can erase memories, there are magus who can restore lost memories. Arcueid received help from such a magus, nullifying Einnashe's magecraft, and ultimately killed him, wiping out his entire faction. At that time, the Princess was a pure executioner, with no kin, no compassion, and no equal.

Logically, there shouldn't be any Dead Apostles related to Einnashe left in this world. But the Princess was careless back then, failing to completely obliterate Einnashe, instead casually discarding his corpse. The place where she discarded it was under a tree.

Coincidentally, this tree was a blood-sucking plant similar to a carnivorous flower, which instinctively absorbed Einnashe's blood. A Dead Apostle strong enough to be hunted by the Princess couldn't possibly be weak. The tree, having absorbed the blood of such a powerful creature, rapidly evolved and reached new heights, transforming into a plant-based Phantasmal Species that actively attacks and feeds on blood.

Just as vampires can command creatures of their kind, this tree devoured other plants around it. Those plants then also became blood-sucking plants. In this manner, it expanded little by little, eventually growing into its current massive form.

The outside world's two biggest points of interest regarding the Forest of Einnashe—the supposed several-day-long Reality Marble and the myth of the immortal Crimson Fruit—are thus explained.

There's no Reality Marble. The forest is simply composed of blood-sucking plants. Not to mention a few days, it could sustain itself for dozens or hundreds of days.

And the Crimson Fruit is even simpler. It's in a plant's nature to bear fruit, and Phantasmal Species are no exception. The blood and life force absorbed, after using what's necessary to sustain itself, condenses into fruit.

After 800 years of accumulation, the essence of countless lives and blood was concentrated into the fruit. While true immortality might not be guaranteed, significantly extended life is certain. The fruit itself also serves as the highest-grade material for the ritual to become a Dead Apostle, essentially granting a form of immortality.

This is the truth of Einnashe 2.0, the Forest of Einnashe.