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"Dad, Lina... Lina…"
"Yes. Don't worry. She's with Elzen."
Diegon gently brushed the tears from his daughter's face but didn't take a single step from where he stood.
There was no need to.
The enemy had no means of escaping anyway.
"Huff... huff... huff...!"
Humans can generally dive about 3 meters underwater.
Awakened beings can manage around 20 meters.
Among them, direct descendants of the Pashayen, those with aquatic breathing capabilities, could reach depths of 50 to 150 meters with their bare bodies.
And Diegon…
He could descend with a sea dragon to the deepest of depths, even to the ocean trench floor.
The oppressive aura he exuded on the battlefield was so immense that even awakened beings would foam at the mouth and faint under its weight.
And when that darkness was mixed with fury sharp as a blade...
Even the bravest would tremble like insects.
It was only natural that no one could so much as lift a finger in his presence.
"You went so far as to mimic my daughter, and even tried to harm Shupetty?"
His voice was low, even calm at first listen.
But that calmness only existed because he had condensed and buried his rage deep down, for the sake of protecting the daughter standing behind him.
Under the crushing pressure, Luarel felt like her insides were being wrung out, her entire body's pulse twisted out of place. She couldn't even breathe.
"Was it the head of Velarion who made you?"
"…"
"Velarion might be capable of creating a convincing puppet. But not a creature like you. No… what are you? And where did you come from?"
I'm going to die. I want to live. No, I want to die. Just kill me. Please kill me. I want to live, no, just kill me!
As that extreme fear paralyzed her brain, Luarel could do nothing.
Drooling uncontrollably, she merely twitched.
Then, like a lantern flickering in a pitch-dark room, a shadowy figure cloaked in a black hood surfaced in her mind.
'Shhh.'
'Shhh?'
'Good children keep secrets.'
That sing-song, humming voice, whose was it?
She didn't know.
This sudden memory piercing through her thoughts, what even was it?
She had no idea.
'But what happens if a child doesn't keep the secret? What if you're a bad child?'
'Well…'
Ah, right.
That was the last conversation I had, before I was cast out from the world.
So why had I forgotten it until now?
"AAAAAGH!!"
Suddenly, Luarel became aware that she was screaming.
Her body, gripped by the terror of death, was acting on its own, out of control.
Following instinct, she began discarding useless materials from her form, trying instead to draw out anything that could help her escape the situation, but every time she tried, her arms or legs were torn off while still alive.
In the end, Luarel gave up resisting.
What she resorted to was trying to evoke sympathy.
"Hey… Don't you think I'm just so pitiful?"
"…"
"I don't even have a name anymore! I have no face! I've had to live as someone else my whole life! Isn't that just… sad?"
But Diegon gave no reply.
From the twisted, darkened mass of her body, limbs flailed madly, desperate to survive, a sight as pitiful as it was revolting.
'Rip off her legs, and new ones sprout. Tear off her arms, and new ones grow back. Does she only die if I destroy the head? Or will a new head just appear, too?'
It was worth testing.
"This head, these eyes… none of them are mine. Isn't it just miserable, being forced to live like this?"
Muttering like one possessed, the monster's form began seeping an oozing energy that quickly spread across the walls and ceiling.
It resembled the shadow techniques used by Velarion? yet felt entirely different.
Unsettling. Sickening. Vile enough to make one gag...
"How can you only think badly of me? How? How? How? How? How? HOW? HOW?!"
SPLAT!!
Tentacles whipped out in all directions as if lashing out in a frenzy, and grotesque mouths gaped open from them.
Hundreds of gnashing maws snapped wildly in search of prey. At the same time, one of the monster's eyes spun around and revealed a hidden crystal that had been tucked away.
It resembled a bijou, though it clearly wasn't.
And worse, it pulsed like a heart, beating on its own, giving off an eerie, revolting feeling.
Diegon didn't hesitate. He grabbed it and crushed it in his hand.
It was unfamiliar, but he assumed it functioned like a core.
And his judgment was right.
"Dad… I… want… to live…"
CRACK.
SKREEEEEEEE!
With one final shriek, the monster's body went still.
But the dark, soot-like substance that had spread throughout the space did not disappear.
'Is this a creature with multiple cores?'
Just then...
Pop!
'A drop of water?'
He turned sharply at the cold sensation brushing his cheek, only to be met with Elzen's startled face.
At the same moment, he noticed..
His daughter's small eyes had turned entirely blue, no whites in sight…
And then....
"…Aurora?"
Why had that name leapt from his lips so suddenly?
The being who appeared, seemingly to shield Shupetty.
Radiating a pure, cleansing aura that seemed capable of purging all filth and corruption.
The beautiful, majestic Spirit King.
When Diegon saw that presence…
He didn't feel fear.
He felt an overwhelming, bottomless longing.
Swoosh.
Shupetty lifted her tiny, chubby hand.
And the one moving the child.
Was none other than the Spirit King of Water.
Pop, hug!
From the child's fingertips, a water-formed dolphin surged upward and shot straight toward the monster.
The dolphin swam through the air, its body expanding, swelling into a massive bomb of water, and then it dove straight into the creature's gaping mouth.
It swallowed.
And swallowed again.
And again, until it could swallow no more.
Until it had no choice but to regurgitate everything it had ever consumed.
BLEEERRRGHH!!
A retching sound erupted from somewhere.
And then, something was spit out.
A person.
Unconscious, her skin peeled on one cheek, it was Daisy.
Then came a hairless child… a man without eyes… then several young women spilled out one after another… and eventually, even a man with no legs.
Hundreds of them.
Only a handful were still alive. The vast majority had already drawn their final breaths.
The sight was so gruesome that Diegon couldn't help but fall into heavy silence.
But there was something more pressing at that moment.
The Spirit King of Water, descended through the body of Shupetty.
With a translucent body and a faint blue glow, the face of that being…
Looked strangely familiar.
No.
Before his thoughts could catch up, his heart reacted first, sinking with a jolt.
Just one step.
Taking that single step forward felt impossibly heavy for him.
"…Aurora."
His partner, whose face he could no longer remember.
The one he had wanted to die alongside.
The one he lost, since then, every breath he took had felt hollow, as if his lungs were being torn apart.
My love.
My beloved…
[Egon, protect our daughter.]
A faint voice, as if drifting from far, far away, caused his entire body to shudder as though he were being burned alive.
Thud.
As he stepped closer, the small child collapsed into his arms.
Her body was burning hot, and he clutched her tightly while shouting.
"A doctor! Get a doctor, now!!"
The daughter he thought he'd lost had returned to him.
There could be no clearer proof than this.
Shupetty is Luarel.
At last...
This was the moment that answered all his suspicions and hopes.
***
Her tightly closed eyelids slowly opened.
The dazed, water-colored pupils began to regain their light, and with it, the world around her grew brighter too.
'Huh? Where am I?'
Sitting up abruptly, I looked around.
'Where is everyone? That monster, Luarel…?'
I stared blankly for a moment.
And then I realized this wasn't the Pashayen estate.
A strangely shaped square room.
A bed that looked hard and stiff.
Machines beeping quietly.
Wait, machines?
"Mom, guess what, I got elected class leader!"
"Oh my baby, how wonderful. And I couldn't even come to your school…"
"It's okay! You don't have to worry at all. You just focus on getting better, Mom."
Who's that?
Blinking, I ran toward the source of the voices.
There stood a mother and daughter, both with pitch-black hair and eyes.
But… but wait.
'Lady Aurora?!'
The moment I saw her face, I called out to her inwardly.
Her cheeks were thinner, her hair and eye color had changed, but I knew her instantly.
'But… why is Lady Aurora here?'
Who's this other sister?
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