Volume 3, Chapter 9-2 – MAN!

“Help! Help! Damn it, my carriage—!”

In a daze, Stella heard the old demon’s heart-rending scream.

Then came an even more violent jolt.

The wooden carriage shattered under the impact of the giant dragons. Fragments scattered in every direction, and Stella, who had still been holding the curtain open, was thrown completely out of the carriage.

It all happened in an instant.

A dizzying sense of weightlessness swept over her.

The wind howled past her ears, her skirt snapped violently in the gale, and her long silver-and-red hair lashed wildly across her face.

Stella struggled to open her eyes, trying to see what was happening around her.

Then she froze.

It was as though all the stars in the sky had suddenly fallen around her.

Every fixed point of reference vanished from her field of vision. Rolling dark-red clouds and a sky full of stars spun endlessly around her.

From time to time, red meteors flashed past, dragging long flaming tails as they plunged into the Abyss.

They were the distress signals the old demon had launched before falling from the carriage.

Maybe someone would see them and come take a look.

Stella forced herself to raise her head and look toward the sky.

Between the churning red mist and fragments of the shattered carriage, several enormous shadows were circling.

Dark-gold scales, broad leathery wings.

There was no need to guess what they were.

The ones who had just smashed directly into the Nightmare carriage were none other than Lavinia Samael and the Samael Dragon Attendants she had brought with her.

Lavinia was a higher demon, and Stella had also heard of the Samael Dragon Attendants.

The Samael Dragon Attendants were basically composed of higher demons as well.

As dragon-species demons, members of the Samael family all possessed the ability to transform into giant dragons. Those horns and tails of theirs were not merely decorative.

And now, they had used that ability to attack her.

Stella completely understood the logic behind their attack on the carriage.

They had never been patrolling the station at all. As the hounds of the Nexus Council, they had followed the Bone Dragon’s trail all the way to the station.

Then Lavinia had personally witnessed Stella, the newly appointed heir of the Valentine family, voluntarily take the hand of a demon guilty of grave crimes and swagger onto the same Nightmare carriage with her.

So they had simply launched an interception midway through the journey, intending to send Stella, as her traveling companion, straight to the afterlife along with her.

‘A misunderstanding. It was all a misunderstanding.’

‘I had only wanted to bring her cheap little sister back. I was obviously the biggest victim here!’

The thought flashed through Stella’s mind, but she had no spare capacity to think any further.

Because directly below her was an abyss ten thousand feet deep.

A dark-red sea of mist churned beneath her feet, its depths impossible to see.

Under the faint starlight, she could vaguely make out jagged rocks jutting from the mist like the fangs of enormous beasts.

Stella had absolutely no doubt that if she did nothing, she would soon become Stella jam.

She tensed her waist and back, trying to use the bat wings at her waist to fly.

But her broad wing membranes had barely unfolded halfway when the savage downward air current slammed them backward. Cracking sounds immediately rang out as their frames strained under the pressure.

She was falling too fast. The air resistance had practically formed a wall of wind.

Her bat wings flapped uselessly twice, only causing her body to spin and sending her plummeting headfirst.

Her bat wings folded shut.

It wouldn’t work.

That left only one option.

Endure the impact head-on.

Stella glanced once more at the ground rapidly drawing closer.

If she had known she was going to end up falling anyway, she might as well have jumped on her own earlier.

At least she could have chosen a more dignified posture.

But now, no matter how much she didn’t want to die, she could only gamble.

Stella closed her right eye, preparing to switch to the Eye of the Black Mass.

The Pale Sacred Remains were her only hope.

Although a few rib-shaped pieces of pale bone might not be able to withstand the impact of a ten-thousand-meter fall, it was still better than doing nothing.

At worst, she would break a few bones. That was still better than turning into Stella jam.

However, in the next second.

A figure plunged straight down from above, hurtling head-on into the violent turbulence.

The black uniform skirt was plastered tightly against her thighs by the wind, while her crimson hair danced wildly in the gale.

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It was ‘Cheryl’.

No, it was Aetlana.

Almost instantly, she arrived in front of Stella.

Stella froze in midair, still maintaining her falling posture.

Aetlana stretched out both arms and wrapped them around her waist.

The tremendous inertia sent the two of them flipping half a turn through the air. Using the momentum, Aetlana pulled Stella completely into her embrace.

Aetlana pressed Stella’s head against her chest, as though shielding a fledgling.

The wind was still howling, and they were still falling, but all Stella could hear beside her ear were several muffled thumps.

They were Aetlana’s heartbeats, steady and powerful, one beat, then another, then another.

“…I’m sorry.”

Aetlana spoke.

It was the first complete sentence she had said all night.

Her voice was so soft that it was almost swallowed by the wind.

But Stella heard it.

“It’ll be all right soon,” Aetlana said. “Hold on tight.”

Then, almost in an instant.

Stella felt the body holding her begin to change.

Jagged bone wings grew from Aetlana’s back.

One bone, two bones, three…

There were no full feathers, nor any thick membranes.

They were nothing more than a pair of stark white bone wings, so thin they resembled the fragile skeleton of some bird that might snap at the slightest touch. Tattered strips of gray-black cloth even hung from them. Their utterly ragged appearance made it impossible to imagine that they could sustain prolonged flight.

But Aetlana’s broken bone wings spread open in an instant and forcibly cut into the surging currents of air.

Their falling speed abruptly slowed.

Below them was a dense black forest.

Entangled together, the two of them crashed into the canopy.

Thick branches snapped one after another, sending wood chips and leaves flying everywhere.

Throughout the fall, Aetlana continuously adjusted their posture.

She held Stella tightly against her chest, completely exposing her own back and those bone wings.

Every time they struck a thick branch, Stella could hear a heavy, muffled impact against Aetlana’s body.

With a dull boom, dirt sprayed into the air.

Using her own body as a cushion, Aetlana slammed heavily onto the ground covered in dead leaves and broken stones, while Stella rolled into a nearby patch of grass from the force of the impact.

Leaves rustled down all around them.

Stella braced herself against the ground and carefully stood up.

She patted the dirt off herself and instinctively checked her limbs. Aside from a small scrape on her elbow, she was completely unharmed.

Stella looked back.

A few steps away, the ground had been smashed into a shallow crater.

Aetlana lay at the bottom of it. She had already withdrawn her broken bone wings, and her crimson hair lay scattered across the mud. Her eyes were closed, she did not move at all, and even the rise and fall of her breathing was extremely faint. Stella couldn’t tell whether she was alive or dead.

Stella stood where she was.

She didn’t understand.

As someone disguised by Polyjuice Potion, and as a decisive higher dragon-species demon, Aetlana clearly could have escaped unharmed on her own when the carriage fell apart.

Why had she rushed down at the final moment and used her own body to absorb the fatal impact?

Was it simply to protect Stella as the vessel for resurrecting her old master?

If it were only for the sake of protecting a vessel, then the “I’m sorry” she had whispered while holding Stella against her chest had sounded far too sincere.

Naturally sensitive by nature, Stella easily noticed something unnatural about Aetlana’s behavior, but she had absolutely no idea what was going through the mind of this demon guilty of grave crimes.

Stella raised her head and looked around.

Towering black ancient trees surrounded them on every side. Vines coiled around the trunks like snakes, dark-red mist drifted through the forest, and the immense trees blotted out the sky. There was no way to tell north from south or east from west.

Where was this?

The wilderness of the middle layer of the Abyss?

How far was Lilith School from here?

How was she supposed to get back?

Was she going to have to survive in the wilderness?

What was she supposed to do next?

Surely she wasn’t expected to play wilderness survival while dragging around a higher demon whose life or death was uncertain?

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‘Forget it. I should check Aetlana’s condition first.’

At least confirm whether she was alive or dead.

Stella had just straightened up, preparing to walk over and examine Aetlana’s injuries, when the sound of something heavy landing came from deep within the forest ahead, followed by dead branches being crushed underfoot.

Crack, crack, crack.

Footsteps came one after another, neither hurried nor slow.

A figure soon emerged from the shadows.

It was Lavinia.

Stella could see dark-gold scales faintly appearing along the side of her face and the backs of her hands. Two burly Samael Dragon Attendants stood beside her, one on the left and one on the right.

Lavinia’s footsteps stopped.

Her golden vertical pupils swept over Aetlana lying in the crater. Finally, her gaze locked onto Stella’s face.

“We meet again, Stella.”

Lavinia gave a cold smile.

“Or perhaps…”

“Long time no see?”

“Long time no see?”

Several question marks practically materialized above Stella’s forehead.

Even counting this time, she and this watcher from the Nexus Council had only met three times in total.

The first time was at the training ground, the second was on the main road of Nightmare Street, and the third was now.

There was no need to use such a stale greeting between old acquaintances, was there?

Were demons in the Abyss really this bad at math?

But…

Lavinia was obviously here for Aetlana.

Since the other party’s target was a demon guilty of grave crimes, then Stella, as the legitimate heir of the Valentine family, could at most be considered an unlucky student who had gotten caught up in the carriage hijacking.

No matter how overbearing a watcher of the Nexus Council might be, there was no reason for her to mercilessly kill the heir of an Elector.

That attack on the carriage just now had definitely only been a case of Stella getting caught in the crossfire.

As long as Stella behaved obediently, kept a low profile, and slowly backed away, maybe she could leave this damned place.

All right… that was a little self-deceptive.

Come to think of it, Stella clearly remembered that Bathory of Commandments and Punishment was solely responsible for maintaining order throughout the Abyss, wasn’t she?

Then shouldn’t the task of hunting down demons guilty of grave crimes belong to the Bathory family?

Why were Samael’s people here?

Lavinia ignored Stella.

She stepped across the ground covered in fallen leaves and took two steps forward.

“You certainly made me search for you,” Lavinia said softly. “Although I don’t know how you escaped from the Holy See’s White Tower, if you’d kept hiding in the gutter like a rat, there really wouldn’t have been much I could do about you. Unfortunately, you just had to travel all the way to Nightmare Street and leave behind your magical presence.”

Lavinia stopped and casually raised her chin.

“Alright, stop playing dead. You were once a higher demon whose name shook the entire Abyss, the Bone Dragon. A fall from high altitude isn’t enough to knock you unconscious.”

The moment those words fell, Stella saw ‘Cheryl’ slowly begin to stand.

Perhaps because of the extreme fall and impact just now, the effects of the Polyjuice Potion were rapidly fading.

The disguise covering Aetlana began to peel away.

Her crimson hair was like fading watercolor. Starting from the tips, it was gradually swallowed by a deep ice-blue.

The Valentine scarlet faded from her pupils, and sharp golden vertical pupils once again occupied her eyes.

Beneath the badly torn Lilith School uniform, fierce dragon horns pierced through the skin on both sides of her forehead and slowly grew outward.

Aetlana returned to her original appearance.

“…I suppose so. The only person familiar enough with my scent would be you, who once served under me,” Aetlana said indifferently.

“You’re the traitor here, demon of grave crimes,” Lavinia sneered. “You abandoned Samael’s glory to become the lapdog of a madwoman, and in the end, you even dragged the entire family down with you.”

“The Family Head ordered me to do it.” Aetlana shot back, unwilling to yield.

“Who knows?” Lavinia said carelessly.

“…”

The light flickering in Aetlana’s eyes seemed to suddenly go out, as though extinguished by the wind.

“Forget it. There’s no point dragging up these old debts,” Lavinia said, waving a hand. “Let’s talk, Bone Dragon.”

“What do you want to talk about?” Aetlana asked.

“It’s simple.”

“We won’t treat you roughly,” Lavinia said. “After all, bringing you back to Dragonbone Land alive is worth more. And as for you, give up struggling and don’t make any pointless resistance. That’ll save everyone some trouble. Just come back with us peacefully for a little trip.”

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“…Not the Nexus Council, but Dragonbone Land, where the main family is based?” Aetlana said softly. “A private punishment? No wonder it wasn’t Bathory’s people who came.”

She did not look at Lavinia. Instead, her gaze shifted slightly as she pretended nothing was wrong and looked toward Stella, who stood not far away.

“Then what are you planning to do with her?” Aetlana asked.

Stella immediately raised one hand meekly, like an obedient student answering a question in class.

“Um…” Stella said dryly. “I’m just an innocent student who happened to be passing by, and your dragons just sent me flying. Now that you’re dealing with a wanted criminal, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to stay here. May I leave first?”

“Her?”

Lavinia turned her head. She did not answer Stella’s question, instead sizing up the silver-and-red-haired girl with an intrigued look.

Then she smiled.

A smile full of meaning.

“Bone Dragon, do you truly think I’m an idiot?”

Lavinia’s voice abruptly turned cold.

“I was once your subordinate, after all. Do you truly think… I’ve never seen that little girl you raised back then?”

“Tch.”

Aetlana clenched her teeth.

For an instant, an extremely obvious look of regret appeared on her icy face. Lavinia caught every bit of it.

Aetlana pursed her lips and said nothing more.

Lavinia, meanwhile, seemed to be enjoying an exquisite play as she slowly began to speak.

“Come to think of it, the series of coincidences I’ve encountered lately has been fascinating.”

Instead of continuing their conversation right away, she casually paced around Stella.

“An unknown lowly demon mysteriously appeared at Lilith School with the terrifying talent rating of SSS+. Then Vice Principal Mara was exposed, and that same mongrel demon immediately transformed into the legitimate heir of the Valentine family.”

Lavinia’s gaze returned to Stella.

“Not only that, Principal Gehenna, who has always hated trouble, is especially partial toward her. You could even call it doting. Every student is free to enter and leave Lilith School during the leave period, yet Stella… just happens to be placed under confinement right now.”

Lavinia stopped in front of Stella and bent down slightly.

“Precisely when the Bone Dragon arrived on Nightmare Street.”

“At first, I was only a little suspicious. After all, the matter of the Pale Daughter happened so long ago that I’d almost forgotten about it.”

Her voice softened, yet grew even more certain.

“But now…”

She did not finish the sentence.

But her meaning could not have been clearer.

Stella froze where she stood.

She had heard this before.

Just a few hours ago, on the streets of Nightmare Street, Lavinia had said almost exactly the same thing to her.

Back then, Stella had merely thought she was overly suspicious. She never expected…

“You’re overthinking it.” Aetlana spoke, her voice cold. “She’s just an ordinary student…”

“Aetlana, there’s no need to deny it anymore,” Lavinia interrupted her roughly and continued on her own. “You escaped the White Tower, traveled all the way back to the Abyss at the risk of being burned to ashes by Holy Light, and even recklessly came to Nightmare Street despite it being filled with pursuers.”

She enunciated each word.

“Everything you did was just so you could see that girl from back then one more time, wasn’t it?”

Aetlana said nothing.

Lavinia turned to Stella.

“And that girl from back then is her now, isn’t she?”

Stella kept her mouth tightly shut, not daring to speak.

‘Principal, Master, save me!’

‘Your disciple needs you!’

It’s confirmed. It’s really been confirmed. Every piece of hard evidence Lavinia was hammering down was landing on cotton!

‘But I really am a fake!’

If Lavinia captured her as the Pale Daughter now, whether she was taken away to be judged by the Nexus Council or fell into the hands of the Ash Drinkers to resurrect their old master, as a human Saintess filled to the brim with Holy Light, Stella would absolutely blow everything up on the spot!

“Pale Daughter.” Lavinia casually uttered the name that was enough to shake the entire Abyss. “If you hadn’t suddenly appeared, even I would have thought the Pale Daughter had died during the turmoil back then. But now…”

Lavinia took a step back and raised her hand.

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid she can’t leave.”

Scales began covering the skin of the two Samael Dragon Attendants, and dark-gold magical power surged through the forest.

Aetlana stood silently in her own corner.

She stared fixedly at Lavinia, endless pain, regret, and intense hatred showing in her eyes.

She felt that she had dragged the Young Mistress into this.

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If not for her appearance, if not for her selfish obsession with merely wanting to see the Young Mistress once, the Young Mistress would never have been exposed.

She could have lived safely and happily at Lilith School beneath Gehenna’s protection.

Aetlana had ruined all of it.

But…

Aetlana raised her eyes, an extraordinarily violent killing intent igniting within her golden vertical pupils.

It wasn’t as though there was no way to salvage this.

She only had to stake everything and kill everyone who knew.

As long as Lavinia and these Dragon Attendants died in this forgotten black forest, the Young Mistress’ secret would remain safe.

And all of Aetlana’s regrets had actually already been fulfilled.

She had not merely seen the Young Mistress once. She had even been close to her several times.

She had held the Young Mistress’ hand, heard the Young Mistress’ voice, and even embraced the Young Mistress amid the raging winds of their fall.

The one she had embraced was a flesh-and-blood person, not some empty, illusory dream of her own making.

Aetlana smiled at Stella, feeling as though she had indulged in an emotional luxury.

She wanted to tell Stella that a girl should wear some pretty, light makeup, smile just enough to show her beautiful teeth, and speak softly. Only then would people love her.

But Aetlana knew those were not the things Stella needed.

Without realizing it, she had even subconsciously begun to feel that she truly was Stella’s mother, as though she had fallen into some kind of illusion.

She had seen Stella in the past and had seen her again today, yet Aetlana was still afraid she might never have another chance to see her in the future.

Without Stella, was it really so difficult to endure all seven Watches of a single day?

Aetlana did not consider herself a fragile person, but Stella seemed to have cast some kind of magic on her.

She gazed at Stella with eyes full of love, yet the approaching night frightened her. She was afraid of those dreams.

Her life had already been split in two, with day and night fighting for control over her.

The endless exile, the brand of the White Tower, and the soul destined to burn itself completely away at this very moment.

Aetlana half-closed her eyes, wanting to see the clouds and the distant fields of the continent, but she could not.

She would never be able to go there again. Her broken bone wings could no longer fly.

But if death was her fate.

Aetlana’s jagged bone wings slowly spread open, and her claws extended instinctively.

Then…

She had no intention of avoiding it.

Aetlana said nothing more.

Dense sounds of bones shifting out of place came from her body. Her thick dragon tail suddenly lashed out, directly snapping a section of deadwood beside her.

Fine ice-blue scales spread upward from her neck until they covered the edges of her cheeks.

She transformed into her half-dragon form.

Without wasting even half a sentence, her leather boots shattered the stone and fallen leaves beneath her feet as Aetlana charged straight forward.

Lavinia stood where she was.

“So you chose to settle this by force in the end?” Lavinia sneered. “That is your style.”

She casually tilted her head and raised a hand toward the two Samael Dragon Attendants who were preparing to step forward.

“Stand down.”

“I’ll handle this myself.”

The two Dragon Attendants exchanged glances.

Since their leader had spoken, they stopped as ordered and retreated into the shadows beside the trees, sealing off every escape route.

Dark-gold scales surged out from beneath Lavinia’s skin like rippling water. Her hands transformed into razor-sharp dragon claws, while a pair of broad leathery wings spread from her back as well, far more complete than Aetlana’s broken bone wings.

As members of the Samael family, who symbolized wrath and conquest, their battles never involved lengthy spell incantations or flashy magical contests.

Savage claws, thick tails, and hard scales covering their entire bodies were their deadliest weapons.

They believed only in pure, brutal slaughter where every blow struck flesh.

And because of that…

They didn’t really use their brains much.

Translator Note

Next is a very long chapter again!

Finally some real fight!!