“This isn’t fair, Isis.”
A reverberating voice came from all directions, and the vision before Isis began to blur.
whoosh
A gust of wind swept through the carbonizing wood in the fire, causing the flames to flicker unsteadily and sending burning embers flying.
Isis quickly turned her head. Ron beside her had vanished without a trace, and the scattered embers clung to the grass, soon igniting a roaring blaze.
The lawn, the camp, the forest…
Even the lake, smooth as a mirror under the moonlight, was set ablaze.
Faced with such a horrifying scene, Isis instead calmed down.
“My dear Hero~ This proposal is far too unfair to you.”
Isis swiftly spun toward the voice behind her, simultaneously drawing the hero’s sword hanging at her waist.
“Heh heh~”
Another hero with white hair and red eyes walked out from the flames, but Isis knew her true identity—Casalima, the Ashen demon king.
A ghost residing deep within her soul.
“Why do you keep hurting yourself, even willing to sacrifice your life for this so-called Destiny?”
“Why is it always you who compromises and silently endures?”
“And why does that ignorant little girl get to take for granted the companionship of those closest to her?”
The reunion in the Soul World after a long separation began with a barrage of rhetorical questions.
“Shut up, Casalima.”
Isis issued a cold warning.
With the same appearance, the ‘Isis’ controlled by Casalima exuded a seductive, succubus-like charm. She showed no fear of the legendary hero’s sword and even, as she approached, deliberately pressed her neck against the blade.
“What do you want now?”
Isis’s gaze was sharp. She knew everything around her was merely an illusion within her mental world. Every so often, the demon king remnant soul would use this opportunity to tempt her and vie for control of this body.
“Hmm… You’re so cold-hearted~”
“After all, I’m ‘Isis’ now too~”
“When you were slaughtering my kin, you didn’t seem to mind using my power~”
The demon king ‘Isis’ wore a face full of grievance and sorrow. After hearing this, the hero Isis expressionlessly swung her weapon.
“That has nothing to do with you.”
Isis spat out four words, then began to look around as if she had anticipated this.
Sure enough, from within the flames, the demon king’s form she had just killed with a single slash reappeared.
But this time…
“!?”
“Isis, long time no see.”
A gentle, charismatic young man smiled at Isis. He was unmistakably using the appearance Ron had taken when he first contacted Isis.
“Ma-Master…”
This was the first time Casalima had taken Ron’s form.
After a brief moment of shock and hesitation, Isis, muttering to herself, changed her expression. Her trembling hand regripped the hero’s sword, and she charged at Ron’s illusion with determination.
“Heh heh~”
The fearless ‘Ron’ remained composed.
“Why don’t you cut me down?”
As expected, the hero’s sword stopped just a few millimeters before ‘Ron’s’ nose.
“When you were defeating me, you had no hesitation in killing the real master~”
“What’s wrong? Our great Hero now can’t bring herself to strike down a fake?”
‘Ron’ maintained a confident, calm smile. He raised his hand, crossing his index and middle fingers, and casually pushed the hero’s sword down.
“In the end, you still envy and long for it, don’t you?”
“That relationship between Mr. Ron and Destiny… it’s rare for our virtuous Hero to feel such jealousy~”
The demon king, skilled at manipulating hearts, narrowed his eyes and hit the nail on the head regarding why Isis had stopped.
She was moved by the bond between Ron and Lifa, and her buried longing for her master was like a message in a bottle. The harder she tried to press it into the sea of memory, the greater the force with which it rebounded.
“Isis, let me hold you~”
‘Ron’ spread his arms wide, facing the silent Isis.
crack—
‘Ron’ panicked. Seeing Isis’s hero’s sword suddenly slash down, he opened his eyes wide, trying to dodge.
“Hey, hey!”
‘Ron’s’ movement was a step too slow. Isis cleaved him in two.
“Maintaining these pointless forms is also draining your power.”
“Demon king, if you dare to speak another word to me in my master’s form… I’ll make you pay the price.”
Isis stared with disgust at the spot in the flames where a new humanoid form was reconstituting. The hero’s sword traced a beautiful arc in the air.
“Oh? What kind of price?!”
This time, the voice was childish and flippant. Casalima was delighted by the hero’s ‘hissing’ expression but tactfully refrained from using any more transformations, appearing before Isis in her true form.
A petite demon, with a tail, wings, and light blue skin, resembling a young, female elf—a nightmare demon.
“Hey, Isis, I’ve told you many times~”
“Resurrecting the dead is entirely possible. Many of those legendary secret arts and artifacts actually do exist~ Why, I even know of two that can do it~”
Casalima coaxed in a persuasive tone, then rested her chin on her hand, closing the distance to Isis instead of backing away.
“I have no interest in anything you say, nor do I believe a word of it.”
Isis sheathed her longsword as the flames and scenery around them faded with Casalima’s approach, returning to pitch-black darkness.
“Really? No interest?”
Casalima narrowed her eyes.
“Really? You don’t believe me?”
“Don’t be stubborn, Brave Lady.”
The small wings behind Casalima fluttered as she rose to meet Isis’s eye level.
“I’m pretty much another you now. I know your memories, your feelings—I can sense them all.”
The petite demon king circled around Isis, then provocatively placed her hands on Isis’s shoulders.
“You’re afraid I’ll find the origin crystal.”
Isis was convinced Casalima was bluffing. Their confrontations in this mental world were not uncommon.
Most of the time, Casalima only dragged her here when she believed there was a chance of successfully merging and taking over.
This obvious exception made Isis suspect the demon king was actually afraid of the impending suppression.
“Heh heh, so that’s what you think~”
Casalima returned to face Isis, clasped her hands behind her head, and leisurely conjured an illusion of the camp Ron had set up in the real world, along with the surrounding environment.
“What do you want?”
Isis frowned, on high alert.
“Heh, I’m just worried about taking care of you~”
“Isis, you’re always hurting your body and have no regard for your life…”
“Your master definitely wouldn’t want you to be like this~”
Casalima sat down comfortably by the illusory campfire, even materializing a grill and some meat.
“What do you want?”
Isis repeated her question, her tone harsher and colder this time.
“To camp, of course. I was hoping you’d keep me company for a few days, so we can get to know each other better~”
The demon king mimicked the grilling process she had just witnessed and smiled at Isis.
“Oh, and by the way.”
“Let me show you a good show~”