Senior Isobel woke her up.
“Where... is this?”
“This is a very secluded place. Shetiel, it has been a long time.”
Shetiel nodded with a tremble. In truth, she felt a trace of disappointment upon realizing she hadn't died.
She hated humans, yet they couldn't even kill her for good.
“I am a magical beast... Sister Isobel, please stay away from me, okay?”
“Do you hate me?”
“How could I ever hate you, Senior Isobel?”
“...”
Wait, I don't hate her...
Shetiel finally saw her clearly.
She still looked just as she did years ago, but the aura radiating from her was vastly different from before.
She had been through a lot, perhaps driven by some trauma; some unforgettable events had turned her into what she was now.
She could clearly sense Senior Isobel's resentment.
This seemed to be her unique talent, one that distinguished her from humans and allowed her to recognize her own kind.
Yes, Isobel was also a magical beast.
Shetiel wanted to stand up, but her body wouldn't move.
“Shetiel, your power is incomplete. You need to sleep here for a while. This is your forest, and it is the safest place for you.”
“Did you save me, Senior?”
“Mhm~”
Isobel had a reassuring, gentle smile on her face.
“Just hide well in this forest until an existence called the ‘Demon King’ comes to collect you.”
“The... Demon King?”
“Mhm. She is the sovereign of us magical beasts, our shared older sister. You will recognize her the moment you see her. There will be magical beasts following and serving her, and the resentment inside her body surpasses any of ours.”
Isobel paused here, seemingly lost in thought or perhaps hesitating.
“Being bullied by humans must have been very painful, right?”
“Don't worry. The Demon King and her attendants will lead us to establish a ‘kingdom of magical beasts.’”
“I will do as you say, Senior.”
...
Shetiel only found out later that it wasn't just her; Senior Isobel had placed all four Saintesses in the forest.
They had died, just like Shetiel herself.
However, something still lingered within their bodies.
An existence akin to a "soul."
This, too, was thanks to Senior Isobel.
Shetiel tried to communicate with them, tried to wake them up.
She placed everyone's bodies in the very center of the forest, kneeling on the ground every day to pray for the girls.
She didn't know how much time had passed—months, or perhaps years?
One by one, the girls also opened their eyes.
“Ugh, where is this?”
“This is wonderful, Sandra~”
“I am... ugh, I am an apprentice Saintess...”
“Mhm, you remember.”
“Are you... Master?”
Shetiel smiled, taking Sandra's pale little hand.
“From today on, just call me ‘Sister.’ From now on, besides the Demon King, I am your only sister~”
Only later did Shetiel realize that they had become thralls.
My thralls.
In reality, the Saintesses had not come back to life; they had only awakened by borrowing her power. Without her power, her little sisters would disappear, dying just as they had before.
Therefore, before the "Demon King" appeared, she would do exactly as Senior Isobel said and never take a single step out of the forest.
Until now, when she met the Demon King.
The resentment inside her body, the two of their kind by her side—no matter how she looked at it, everything matched Senior Isobel's description perfectly.
She was undoubtedly the Demon King.
All eyesore humans would die.
And now, the miasma filling the sky spoke to this truth.
A magical beast had been born. Her power commanded instinctual submission; even the pressure from her birth made Shetiel realize that this was the older sister she was meant to follow.
But...
“Sister Isobel, is this really okay?”
Shetiel blankly stared at the massive crater blasted open by the Cardinal, posing her question to the pink-haired sister beside her.
“What's wrong~?”
“She wasn't originally the Demon King, was she? Sister Tina was originally just a human bound by her obsession. You guided everything, and you were the one who put her in this forest.”
Isobel nodded. She didn't deny it, maintaining a mysterious smile instead.
“Why did you do this?”
“In a place far away, she is my Demon King.”
Shetiel didn't understand, but she didn't ask anything more.
Just then, a disheveled man slowly walked toward them from ahead.
He looked like a drunkard, staggering as if he were crawling along the ground.
He didn't seem to see the crater beneath his feet; right now, he was solely focused on escaping.
His right hand was gone, and several bloody holes pierced his body. He was barely hanging onto life by a thread, having struggled all the way here.
He was Ulrich.
Just now, he had witnessed a battle—or rather, he had personally experienced a battle of disparate strength.
He had seen that masked woman and the legendary Sword God team up to subjugate that wicked girl.
And they had failed.
Now, he only wanted to keep moving forward, find a quiet place to hide, and then make a comeback.
Just like how he had escaped from prison, hidden in the airship's engine room, and arrived in this despair-filled forest.
He would definitely abolish this damn Church's system! He would absolutely eradicate the so-called Saintess Selection!
Yes.
Everything had failed.
To be reduced to such a pathetic state by a girl of unknown origin... in the end, even joining forces with the Sword God hadn't been enough.
Of course, even those who had helped him deserved to die.
It shouldn't be like this. It shouldn't end like this!
Stopping before the crater, he blankly stared ahead with his hollow eyes. As the black mist dispersed, he could now see everything in front of him.
In a daze, he saw the ash-gray-haired girl and the girl standing beside her.
“Shetiel? Is that you, Shetiel?”
Ulrich called out hoarsely.
Was it a hallucination? Was he seeing what he desired right before his death?
She was supposed to be dead.
He crawled forward. His breathing had already stopped, but his movements didn't.
Even if it was a hallucination, he had to find out.
The girl walked straight toward him.
So it's not a hallucination...
“Father,” Shetiel said as she stood before Ulrich, looking down at the man who was crawling on the ground like a beggar, her voice incredibly gentle.
“She... tiel?”
“Yes. It has been a long time.”
“...” After a brief silence, Ulrich trembled.
His hoarse throat vibrated slightly, squeezing out a few words.
“I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...”
“I...”
Then, he reached his hand out to Shetiel and died quietly.
Shetiel squeezed his hand briefly, her face showing no particular emotion.
Isobel caught up. “Is this the person you were waiting for?”
“He was my father, the honor of the Stett family, the Sword Saint.”
Shetiel looked up, seemingly nostalgic and filled with emotion.
“That year, he had me participate in the Saintess Selection to complete his unfinished life's work, wanting me to become someone stronger than him.”
“What a pity.”
Isobel turned around after saying this. Not a shred of sympathy for humans appeared on her face; people like Ulrich only disgusted her.
After a short while, Shetiel walked in the opposite direction. The distance between them grew wider and wider until they could no longer see each other's backs.
She and Isobel would meet again, though she didn't know when.
Right now, she was going to follow her older sister, the Demon King.
Together with her little sisters, they would create a kingdom of magical beasts.
Rate on N.U.
