Warning: Spoilers for That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3, Episode 2

Summary

• A Shocking reveal in Season 3 of Reincarnated as a Slime - The anti-monster Holy Empire is built on dark secret.
• Vampires in charge of the Holy Empire feed on the life force of humans, but maintain peace and prosperity.
• Conflict arises as Hinata and the Vampires see Rimuru and Tempest as threats to Empire's anti-monster religion.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime's third season is starting off with a shocking reveal, as the dangerous anti-monster nation known as the Holy Empire of Lubelius is revealed to be built on a dark secret. While peaceful and almost idyllic on the surface, the Empire is in fact secretly run by Vampires.

Episode 2 of Reincarnated as a Slime followed the Empire's greatest hero, Hinata Sakaguchi, as she went about some of her regular duties for the day. This involved checking in with the Empire's rulers, who were revealed to be the Valentines, a family of vampires led by Luminus Valentine, who's secretly a Demon Lord like Rimuru. Publicly, Luminus is posed as a living god, representing the Empire's religion, which states that monsters are the greatest threat that stands against all of humanity.

Luminus' religion is a bit hypocritical, however, since vampires and Demon Lords can certainly be considered monsters.

The Holy Empire's Dark Secret is Key to its Success

From Hinata's perspective, having the vampires in charge has actually been a great thing for the people of Lubelius. As it turns out, the vampires don't need to kill humans in order to feed on them, instead taking a small portion of their life force. Feeding also doesn't seem to be necessary to their survival, as powerful vampires don't need to feed often, if at all. And for the vampires, the life force of a happy human is far more delicious than that of a suffering one, so it's in their interest to keep the human population of the Empire happy.

In a way, this makes Luminus rather comparable to Rimuru. Both are attempting to build a society where their people can thrive, albeit for very different reasons. In a way, it would almost make sense for them to become allies--if it weren't for the fact that the Empire's religion leaves absolutely no room for "good" monsters to exist. The continued existence of Tempest is seen by Luminus as a problem for their religion, something that could threaten to destabilize the society that they've built.

This puts Hinata in a difficult situation; Tempest has done nothing to warrant being destroyed, but its very existence is an affront to the core tenets of Lubelius' religion. While Hinata isn't exactly a religious extremist, her knowledge of the behind-the-scenes truth of the religion means that she understands how this can be a tremendous threat, and caring for the Empire and its people is her number one goal. If Tempest could put all that at risk, then she may see it as worthwhile to destroy Rimuru and Tempest in order to protect the status quo.

While it's a rather dark turn at the moment, the similarities between Rimuru and Luminus's desire to build stable civilizations may ultimately offer them an avenue for peace at the end of the imminent conflict. Reincarnated as a Slime's big reveal about the truth of Lubelius certainly changes the nature of the battle to come, and just where things could go from here is anybody's guess.

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