The wide-open gate.
Watching my subordinates pour through it, a deep smile began to form on my lips.
“As planned…”
Just as we had discussed beforehand, Mari caused a great commotion in the heart of the city, creating an opening.
I didn’t miss the opportunity and seized the gate, throwing it wide open.
“Kesar-sama!”
Antony entered the fortress interior in one swift motion.
With her face looking slightly flustered, she ran toward me with a demeanor that could only be described as “scurrying,” followed closely by the soldiers.
Thanks to the enemy’s disarray, they managed to arrive without suffering much damage.
Seeing this, I issued my command.
“Well done. You take charge from here.”
“Yes, Kesar-sama!”
Antony answered with a voice that was reasonably disciplined, considering her usual tone.
She then brandished her sword with a surprisingly serious expression and shouted.
“Don’t let a single one escape! Full attack!”
“Attack!”
“Crush the humans!”
Like ink spreading in water, the demons swiftly flooded the area.
With the advantage of overwhelming numbers, and the Imperial Army utterly disorganized from the start, they were annihilated in a completely one-sided massacre.
‘So, their leaders… fled already?’
Despite the main forces being here, General Iskal and his closest aides had been conspicuously absent for some time.
Judging by the circumstances, it was obvious they’d realized their defeat and made their escape. This was clear evidence that our complete victory was within reach.
However.
Even with the situation unfolding more easily than anticipated, an unsettling feeling lingered in my heart.
‘We’ve secured the upper hand far too easily… and yet, Mari-sensei hasn’t made a move.’
Even as she guided us through the secret passage, I couldn’t shake my lingering doubts about her true intentions.
To be honest, the thought crossed my mind that the moment we entered the passage, Mari might suddenly declare, “It’s a trap, you fool!” and aim her staff at my neck.
This suspicion lingered even as she moved toward the administration building to serve as the diversion for our plan.
I had already prepared to escape using magic the instant I sensed any sign of betrayal.
However.
My concerns proved unfounded. Mari-sensei faithfully carried out the mission to the very end.
Right on schedule, she set the administration building ablaze, and the Imperial forces, predictably deceived, poured out in droves, losing nearly half their troops in the process.
I couldn’t deny the faint worry that even this might have been a ruse, but it didn’t make sense for her to sacrifice such a significant portion of the main force for mere subterfuge.
With that in mind, I stuck to the plan, attacked the gate, and opened it.
Yet the unsettling feeling in my heart persisted.
The administration building still burned brightly in the distance, and from that direction, I could sense a powerful and chaotic flow of mana.
The fierce fighting continuing in that area only deepened my doubts.
No matter how superficially she might have betrayed the Empire, Mari had always avoided spilling innocent blood.
Especially in a situation where her alliance with us was tenuous at best, what reason could she have to keep fighting against her own kind?
“I can’t ignore this. I need to check it out for myself…”
Unable to shake the unease, I entrusted Antony with finishing things here and headed toward the burning administration building.
And then.
‘!…’
The scene I encountered froze my expression in place.
“Mari… Sensei?”
The Cursed Child.
That was what they called her in her childhood.
A hybrid of human and elf—a lineage considered unholy and taboo since ancient times.
On top of that, the “accident” that suddenly occurred, taking the lives of her parents…
Perhaps such things were nothing more than superstition.
However.
Human nature is highly susceptible to such superstitions.
“Get lost, will you?”
“You unlucky brat! Don’t ever come near my shop again!”
“They say you’re an orphan, right? Playing with someone like you will bring bad luck.”
Branded as a cursed being, Mari faced persecution wherever she went.
A cold, unforgiving world that directed its disdain and suspicion toward a young girl.
Even after she rose to the rank of the Great Witch, even after she gained what people called “power,” the cold gazes of the world did not disappear.
There was only one difference.
In the past, their eyes were filled with a sentiment called “contempt.”
But after she gained power, the emotions in their gazes changed into something else entirely—something called “fear.”
Just like now…
“AAARGHH!!”
“M-my arm! My arm is burning! GAAAHH!!”
Agonized screams rang out.
One by one, the soldiers were devoured by Mari’s blood-red flames, coiling like serpents around them.
Their faces were painted with unrelenting terror as they watched their comrades suffer the same fate.
The metal of their armor melted and dripped away, their limbs consumed entirely by fire.
They screamed in unbearable pain, but all they could hear in return were the cries of their comrades, also writhing in agony as they died.
“Damn it, dodge!”
“It’s… it’s too late! GAAAHH!!”
The writhing tendrils of flame surged forward.
Within the blaze, buildings were thoroughly reduced to rubble, and soldiers met a gruesome end.
And in the midst of their unspeakable suffering, the dying soldiers saw it.
Not long ago, she was hailed as a hero of humanity.
And now.
She had become a figure that evoked the image of a demon crawling out of hell.
The Great Witch, Mari.
—Whoosh!
Boom!
With every casual swing of her staff, the blood-red flames danced wildly.
The fiery serpents—no, dragons, each spanning tens of meters—engulfed the entire administration district in a sea of flames, reducing every living thing within it to ash.
It was as if the depths of hell itself had been brought into the mortal world.
And at the center of this inferno was its creator.
A faint, dark smile began to form on Mari’s lips.
“You filthy witch!”
“Ugh… damn it… I knew it… I knew she would betray us! That cursed woman should never have been trusted from the start!”
“Disgusting traitor! Even in hell, we’ll curse your name!”
The soldiers spat their dying words at her, their voices laced with pure hatred.
Listening to their curses, Mari spoke softly, almost to herself.
“Good… That’s better… Be honest like this. If you’d spoken so openly from the beginning, I wouldn’t have bothered to hope for anything.”
She thought of those who had once hesitated, those who had smiled at her out of politeness, pretending to praise her accomplishments.
Their mouths would sing her praises, but they would scatter salt where she walked as soon as her back was turned.
But now, their faces no longer bore those false expressions.
Now, there was only one thing left.
Pure, unfiltered agony.
Raw suffering, stripped of all lies.
The masks of hypocrisy that had long disgusted her burned away in the flames, revealing their true faces at last.
She could now fully feel it—the unfiltered terror they held toward her, the raw hatred they harbored, and the deep-seated revulsion that came from their very instincts.
And all of it pushed Mari’s heart further into despair.
It had been easier to face the demons’ murderous intent head-on. At least their emotions had been honest from beginning to end.
But now, with their deceit stripped away and their true selves exposed in the face of death, Mari felt a profound regret settling in once again.
She had believed that she could carve out a place for herself.
She had worked tirelessly, striving with all her might to succeed.
And for a time, she had thought she had achieved it.
But now she realized—her so-called success had been a lie from the start.
Their hearts had never changed. The only thing that had shifted was the facade they presented to her.
In their eyes, she had always been and would always remain nothing more than an ominous elf hybrid.
A monster fundamentally different from them.
Neither more nor less.
“From the beginning… there was no such place, was there? A place where I belong… A place that could accept a monster like me?”
She let out a hollow, bitter laugh at the truth that had only now, in this moment, become so painfully clear to her.
And so, for the first and last time, Mari prepared to wield her staff once more—this time for those whose expressions matched their hearts.
Just as they had never considered her human, she would no longer see them as such.
She no longer regarded them as people, either.
To her, they were nothing more than beasts—simple creatures to be crushed underfoot for the sake of her vengeance.
At that moment, however.
Her hand, raised to strike, froze mid-air.
Her eyes, wide with surprise, slowly turned to the side, toward the person who had stopped her.
The one holding her hand firmly in place.
“…What… what is this?”
The man’s cold, unyielding expression pierced through her confusion.
It was Kesar, the Demon Lord.
His action bewildered her, planting a seed of doubt deep in her heart.
Why?
Why was this man—this Demon Lord who had declared humanity his enemy—stopping her from killing them?
The question took root in her mind, followed by a rising wave of confusion.
And then, Kesar spoke in a calm, measured tone.
“Enough… This is sufficient.”
“!”
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