“How can it be Seohyun? Isn’t she dead?” Joohyun asked aloud to everyone in the room, she may be the newest to the demon slayer scene in the room but she had definitely heard of Seohyun.  

Seohyun was an incredible Knight for the church back when Joohyun was still a normal citizen but not long after Joohyun had been introduced into the church, Seohyun was announced dead after a ritual raid held by none other than the Demon Lord of Greed, Seunghyun.

Seunghyun had a particular liking to rituals as he liked to collect bodies of the dead to keep them as puppets, talk about living up to his name as the Lord of Greed. Holding rituals was just perfect for him, feeding off the souls and sins of the people while collecting their bodies for his puppetry at the same time. It was definitely a win-win situation for him.  

“Well, by right she should be...” Seungwan replied seeing as all the others in the hospital room could not bring themselves to answer.

To Jeongyeon and Saeron, Seohyun was like a big sister who took care of them when they were still in the orphan home. Although, the time Yerim had spent with Seohyun may not be long as Seohyun had left the orphan home not long after Yerim had joined, Yerim knew how much of an important figure this person was to Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Saeron.

“Do you think maybe... she became a puppet?” Yerim asked cautiously knowing this was a sensitive topic amongst the three -Taeyeon, Jeongyeon and Saeron- of them. 

"There is a chance she might be." Taeyeon answered Yerim after a few seconds, she then went to Jeongyeon’s bedside and put her palm on Jeongyeon’s forehead. Her palm then glowed hues of teal.

"Yoo Jeongyeon, I hereby order you to speak of only the truth." Fearing that Jeongyeon might have been lying to them, she decided to put a prayer on her. She commended before moving on to her questions, "Tell me, who tempted you into magistery?"

"Seohyun." Jeongyeon admitted with a blank stare as Taeyeon's orders took over her state of mind.

“And how exactly?” Taeyeon asked. 

“After Nayeon's passing, Seohyun came to me by herself and talked with me. She understood the pain I’ve been feeling and offered a chance to help me.”  

“A chance to help you? What did she offer?”  

“A chance to stop the pain.” Jeongyeon answered as she looked Taeyeon in the eye, “Something not even you could do, Taeyeon.” 

***** 

“So, what’s this thing with Seohyun so suddenly? Everyone was so quite just now.” Joohyun asked Seungwan after they had left the hospital with Taeyeon and Sooyoung staying behind at the hospital to take care of Jeongyeon. 

“Seohyun was in the same orphan home as the others, Hyun.” 

“Oh.” They stayed quiet afterward as the mood turned gloomy.  

“This is all your fault, Taeyeon.” Sooyoung blamed as she took a seat by the window of the room facing Taeyeon who was caressing Jeongyeon’s face as she slept, exhausted from Taeyeon’s previous interrogation. 

“Sigh, do you think I don’t feel sad over this? They are my children first and foremost, Sooyoung.” She sighed as sadness filled up her emotions. 

“You? Feel sad? Don’t bull with me, you’re just sad the project ed up again aren’t you?” Sooyoung cussed feeling pissed at Taeyeon.  

“You don’t understand, Sooyoung. No one would ever want to see their children turn into a demon.”  

“You only raised them so they can be subjects for your Prodigy Project, don’t try to twist it.” Sooyoung retorted as she felt disgusted by Taeyeon. 

"Even if they are meant to be subjects for the Prodigy Project, it doesnt mean I don't love them like my children. I raised them, Sooyoung. Of course feelings will be involved."

“Was it? If you really did, we wouldn’t have a second Holy War three hundred years ago.” Taeyeon could only sigh to Sooyoung’s words, she really did love the children she raised but it was true that they were all picked up and raised by the church for the Prodigy Project. 

The Prodigy Project first started after the first Holy War as a reboot of the church's previous project, the ‘Ultimate Weapon’. The project aimed to gather children with high potentials as demon slayers and raised them to the level of Knights as quickly as possible.  

The project was done through the purification of the soul by using the flames of Purgatorio to purify the children. You read it right, Seulgi was not the only one who could summon the flames of Purgatorio. Taeyeon was also able to summon the flames of Purgatorio except the flames she summoned were of bright vermillion.  

The flames of Purgatorio was passed down to humans by the Guardian of the South, the Vermillion Bird. The fire produced by the Vermilliom Bird was said to be so strong it could purify the souls of humans and even purify demons. He was supposed to be mankind’s greatest weapon against the Lord of Pride but was the first one to be taken down by Jiyong as he was the largest threat to Jiyoung's plans. 

When the Guardian of South had passed, he made sure to pass down the flames to humanity so that mankind had a chance to fight against the Lord of Pride but not everyone could wield the flames and summon it. Only pure and strong souls were able to summon the great flames of Purgatorio.  

What the church aimed to do with the Prodigy Project was to use Taeyeon’s Vermillion flames to purify the children’s souls to the purest state and pass on the vermillion flames so there would be more demon slayers who could have the chance to stand against the Demon Lords in the future.  

Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Seohyun, Saeron were all demon slayers who were hand picked by Taeyeon -the leader of the project- as their souls were able to stay close to pure even after going through so much tragedy in life but Yerim was different, Yerim's soul was so contaminated yet so strong that Taeyeon could not let herself witness a child destroy her own life so she decided to take in Yerim and work on her slowly. 

During their period in the orphan home, the prodigies were scheduled to be burnt in the vermillion flames everyday to purify their souls and after their session, their memories of the burning would be wiped out. The process of purification was not easy as cleansing a soul takes a long time, it took Seulgi two hours to barely get Yerim out of her demon state. 

In the last four hundred years since the Prodigy Project started, there had only ever been two prodigies who had been purified to successfully wield the flames of Purgatorio. But, the two prodigies who were supposed to be mankind’s hope against the Lord of Pride was slaughtered mercilessly by none other than the Lord of Wrath during the second Holy War and ever since then, all the prodigies that were picked up by the church had been failures. Some made it into the Knight rank quickly like Nayeon but also died just as quick due to encounters with Demon Lords. 

“And now even Seohyun who had sacrificed her life for the people can’t rest in peace. She’s become a puppet for that Greed bastard and it’s all your fault Taeyeon.”  

“How is it my fault? You think I would want to sacrifice my own children? If I could, I would’ve sacrificed myself back then.” Taeyeon retorted as she regretted her actions from years ago. If she could have arrived earlier back then, things would have ended differently.  

What Seohyun did back then was a sacrifice of one life in exchange for the lives of the thirty man raid team and the fifty victims of the ritual.  

"Well what do I know huh, I wasnt even there." Sooyoung was on the other side of the world hiding when the raid happened years ago.

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