Thunk.
“Ow!”
Beatrice smacked Aurora hard on the head with the handle of her broom.
Aurora cried out in pain, clutching her head and looking at Beatrice with teary, aggrieved eyes.
“Don’t give me that look! I am going to scold you properly today! How many times have I told you—stop meddling in other people’s business!”
“And what do you do? You sneak off without a word and go find a cultist! If I hadn’t shown up in time, do you even realize you’d be nothing but a pile of bones by now?!”
Beatrice scolded her furiously—more furious than she’d ever been before. She couldn’t believe Aurora had been stupid enough to try and take on a cultist all by herself.
When she saw the extent of Aurora’s injuries, her heart nearly stopped. If she’d been even a moment later—if the black slime had finished corroding Aurora’s bones—then not even healing magic would’ve been able to save her.
She didn’t even want to imagine: if Aurora died, what would she do?
“But I promised that little girl… I said I’d help her find her mother.”
“What little girl? You mean that pile of rotting flesh over there?”
She pointed to the bloodied remains that the monster had vomited up—limbs torn apart, with a few strands of green hair still clinging to the mess.
“No—it’s not her! It can’t be her! I spoke to her just before I left—I even held her!”
“You held her?!”
Thunk.
“Ow…”
Beatrice whacked her on the head again—just as hard. This one would leave her sore for days.
“Why’d you hit me again?!”
“Because you hugged someone without my permission!”
“But it was just a little girl…”
“That was a vengeful spirit! If you touch a vengeful spirit, you can become tainted with its wrath!”
“Vengeful… spirit?”
Aurora remembered what the cultist had said earlier. If what he said was true, then that meant… these scattered remains really were the little girl’s.
“Vengeful spirit… How could she be a vengeful spirit? If that’s the case, then why didn’t you tell me from the start?”
“If I told you, you’d just butt in again—chasing after her with a million questions.”
And besides, even without being told, Aurora had still gone and poked her nose into it—she’d even gotten close enough to touch a cultist.
Aurora walked over to the cultist. At this point, all four of his limbs had been shattered from the fall—he was lying flat on the ground, completely motionless, forced to listen to the two of them argue.
He wanted to stir the pot a bit—but the moment he saw that black-haired witch, fear overwhelmed him. He was terrified that if he said a single word, her world beast would devour him alive.
“Hey, didn’t you say that little girl isn’t dead yet?! Where are you hiding her? Spit it out!”
“She’s right there.” Beatrice casually kicked the pile of severed limbs on the ground.
“I– I wasn’t asking you!”
She turned her gaze to the man lying on the ground and shouted, “Tell me where she is! Or I’ll kill you right now!”
The man, barely clinging to life on the ground, stammered, unable to speak clearly. He had hoped to stall for time until his companions could finish their task and come rescue him—but they still hadn’t shown up.
“D-Don’t kill me! I-I have a way to bring her back to life! Spare me, I swear I can revive her!”
Suddenly, a sharp pain tore through his leg. The man felt something biting into his thigh.
“Aaaargh! Get this damned Realm Fiend off me—my leg, my leg!”
His right leg had already been ripped off, and the Realm Fiend was now biting into the other one. With several violent shakes of its head, it tore off his left leg as well.
“Uaaaagh!”
“No! Stop! I’ll die! If I die, you’ll never be able to bring her back! Spare me!”
Terrified, the man stared at the Realm Fiend and crawled desperately toward Aurora. He knew how much this woman cared about the green-haired little girl. If he kept insisting he could resurrect her, maybe he could buy more time.
“Help me! I know how to save that little girl—please, save me!”
The Realm Fiend crept closer, having already devoured both his legs. It lunged toward his arms next.
Just as it was about to bite down, its tail—shaped and solidified like a blade—was suddenly yanked back.
Its body was pulled down, and its chin slammed hard into the ground.
“Aurora! You’re not actually going to believe what this cultist says, are you?”
“I… I just don’t want that little girl to die…”
“But she’s been dead for a long time already! What you saw today was a wraith, don’t you understand?”
“Do you even know what a wraith is? It’s a vessel for resentment left behind after death—in other words, it’s like a living will. Once her grudge is fulfilled, she’ll disappear. So why bother with her?”
“Even so! I want to fulfill her final wish. I want to help her find her mother, help her remember her name!”
“You’re going to be the death of me, Aurora!”
Just as Beatrice was flaring up in anger, something suddenly wrapped around her foot. Her body lurched forward, then was yanked violently backward.
“Beatrice!”
Two men in black robes stood ahead, each with a black dagger at their waist.
Beatrice was ensnared in black mist, her body suspended in the air beside the two robed men.
“So you’ve finally come—hahaha!”
The man on the ground burst into laughter, crawling forward in a futile attempt to reach the two figures.
“You think you’re going anywhere?”
Suddenly, a sharp blade pierced through his abdomen, pinning his entire body to the ground.
“AAAAH! That hurts like hell! You think you can kill me?! You two—cut that woman’s legs off for me!!”
The two black-robed men exchanged glances. Then, raising their daggers, they began hacking at her legs.
Slash after slash, crimson blood spurted out. Bit by bit, white bone became exposed.
Beatrice’s mouth was sealed by the black mist. She struggled with all her might, but not a sound escaped her lips.
“They’ll pay… they’ll all pay!! Let her go!!! I’ll kill you!!!”
The longbow appeared in Aurora’s hands once again. She had lost all reason—there was no thought of drawing the bowstring, no calculation. She simply fired.
Three arrows shot forth—but they were easily dodged.
What followed was a wave of black mist surging toward her.
Her skin began to corrode where it touched her, the pain searing—but her hands didn’t stop. She kept firing arrow after arrow in maddened desperation.
But it was useless.
Even as her magic dwindled to nothing, she couldn’t change anything.
“Damn it! Damn it all!!”
Gritting her teeth through the agony, she charged at the two men. But before she could even take a few steps, the sharp pain overwhelmed her and she collapsed.
“Well well, didn’t you have a lot to say earlier? Weren’t you going to kill me?”
“Let me tell you something—” The cultist sneered. “That girl? She’s long dead. You couldn’t save her even if you pieced her back together, ha ha ha!”
“Give me that knife. I’m going to carve both their hearts out.”
One of the black-robed men handed him a dagger. Grinning, the man crawled over to Aurora and raised the blade high over her chest.
“Die.”
The dagger plunged straight into her heart.
Aurora’s hands clutched the hilt, trying desperately to pull it out—but her strength was fading fast. Her pupils widened, the light in her eyes shattering into nothing. Her arms dropped limply to the ground.
“Ha… hahahaha!”
The cultist burst into wild laughter. He turned to look at Beatrice, whose eyes were now void of all reason.
“We’re not done. I’ll dig her heart out—then I’ll smash it bit by bit in front of your eyes!”
He raised the dagger again, stabbing it again and again into Aurora’s chest.
Her lifeless gaze drifted toward Beatrice. Even as her body trembled with each brutal thrust, her dimmed eyes seemed to be locked onto Beatrice’s.
“Mmm—mmMM—BASTARD!!!!!!”
The black mist covering Beatrice’s mouth was torn apart with sheer will. Her scream ripped through the night.
And at that moment—
A dazzling red light erupted from her bound form. A massive red magic circle appeared above their heads.
“T-That pattern… It’s a high-tier spell! Run!!”
“She didn’t even chant it? How is that possible?!”
One of the robed men reacted quickly, turning into a black mist to flee. The other wasn’t so lucky.
“Sin… be erased… Crimson Flame.”
Boom!!
The instant Beatrice finished her incantation, three layers of high-level magic circles materialized above them. A pillar of blinding red light shot into the sky, turning night into day.
The two cultists were reduced to ash in an instant.