Volume 4, Chapter 50 – The Curtain Finally Falls, a Shadow Dispelled by Moonlight

“—I’m a little late, but I’m glad I made it.”

As the voice sounded, Edith instantly lost control of her body. Immediately after, enveloped in a brilliant white light, her battered body gradually returned to health. The wings that had been severed at the roots grew back, and the feeling of weakness faded along with it.

‘Now it’s my turn.’

A familiar voice.

Although the mental pain still lingered in her soul, Edith couldn’t be bothered with it anymore. She directly formed a phantom in the dark space of her mind.

‘Yisi?’

‘I know you have a lot of questions, but let’s deal with the matter at hand first. Hetty hasn’t admitted defeat, and you still have unfinished business. I don’t want to see you become an undead, clinging to your grudges.’

Yisi’s phantom appeared before Edith. As if knowing what she was about to say, she gave her a playful wink and then turned around.

‘Don’t forget that I have a share in this body, so it was never your fight alone from the beginning. I let you do as you pleased before out of respect for your wishes. Now, I will seize victory for myself, so that Count Pescia will prepare a new body for me.’

Not knowing what expression to show Yisi, after a moment’s pause, Edith let out a light snort and clicked her tongue.

‘…Tch, so you’re pulling a stunt like this? You really are a busybody.’

‘This isn’t being a busybody. If this body dies, won’t I die along with it? So this is my responsibility. At the very least, I have to get this body to a safe place.’

‘You—’

Before Edith could finish, Yisi shrugged and cut her off.

‘Of course, I won’t run away with my tail between my legs. I can defeat the likes of Hetty with a wave of my hand. There’s no reason to run. In other words, if you hadn’t been stopping me, Hetty would have been driven away by me long ago.’

Although she couldn’t see Yisi’s face, Edith knew what she was thinking. After that long speech, what needed to be done had already been made clear—to clear out all obstacles until a way was found for both of them to exist independently.

What Edith wanted to do was her freedom; Yisi had no right to interfere from a third-person perspective. But similarly, Yisi could also act willfully for her own sake. She was just fighting for everything for herself, and it had nothing to do with Edith’s will.

Not with anger or a cold laugh, Edith lowered her head, her left fist against her lips, and let out a low chuckle.

‘Hehehe… you… are interesting.’

The low chuckle gradually grew louder, and at its peak, it suddenly stopped.

Edith looked at Yisi with an exceptionally serious expression.

‘Although I promised that if I failed, this body would be yours and I would never appear again, I now have a willful request—leave the final blow on Hetty to me.’

Yisi’s words made her tilt her head slightly, her index finger against her chin, as if in thought.

‘Well… sorry, I can’t agree to that. Opportunities should be earned by yourself. So you should do it yourself.’

The dark space instantly lit up. Edith regained control of her body. The originally tattered body was now fully restored, and even her magic was replenished. Edith’s eyes snapped open.

The moonless night sky was more beautiful than ever before.

Perhaps only those who have experienced death can truly feel the beauty of this rebirth.

Everything became something to be cherished.

For some reason, the surrounding soldiers had disappeared, allowing Edith to stand up from the ground. Although her clothes and the ground were covered in blood, her body felt no discomfort. The pain she had felt before was as if it had never existed. The sense of lightness that filled her body made her feel as if she had fallen into a dream.

She grabbed Gungnir, which was lying beside her.

“Hmph, after such a cool speech, you just left me here? You really don’t know how to be tender with women—but I won’t make the same mistake again.”

She was indeed in a difficult situation now, surrounded by soldiers. It was impossible to escape even if she wanted to. But she had severely wounded Hetty with Gungnir before she died. She just needed one more strike, and Hetty would be completely dead. Then Count Pescia would awaken from the mind control, and the predicament would be broken.

Wary of arrows that could come at any moment, Edith looked around.

And then, a trembling sight unfolded before her eyes.

A blue tsunami twenty meters high appeared on the land. It carried a deafening roar that seemed to swallow everything, making the earth tremble, and it crushed all the blood clan soldiers it encountered.

But if one looked closely, they would find that this blue wave was not actually “water,” but a wave composed of countless, hundreds of thousands of ice slimes. These slimes stuck together and, driven by an unknown force, became a true beast of war.

In front of this beast, the soldiers were like praying mantises trying to stop a chariot wheel. No matter how they struggled—whether they thrusted at the slime swarm or bombarded it with magic—they could not resist this superhuman force. Even if a few magic casters chanted powerful spells, at most they could only tear a small opening. In the blink of an eye, the gap would be filled by new slimes.

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More soldiers didn’t even put up a decent resistance and were submerged in the sea of slimes before they could react. By the time Edith saw all this, the soldiers at the rear of the procession had completely disappeared, and the soldiers in the middle had scattered in panic, desperately fleeing in all directions.

“What on earth happened…”

She opened her mouth slightly in surprise, but quickly shook her head to banish the hesitation from her mind. No matter what happened to the army, it had nothing to do with her need to kill Hetty. ¹ now where’s that so-called pride? you just choose to close your eyes now hm?

Soon, Edith spotted Hetty about thirty meters away, blood flowing continuously from her chest. Only Samael, Count Pescia, and a few scattered soldiers were guarding her. The elite troops had run to the front of the procession.

Those elites had not fled because of the slime wave at the rear, but were ordered to resist a more direct and terrifying existence.

Nearly fifty Frost Giants were charging at the army in a cone formation. If this group of behemoths were to charge into their ranks, even if the army wasn’t completely wiped out, the casualties would be heavy. So the elites had to buy a few moments for their comrades in the rear to set up magic cannons to face the enemy.

Unfortunately, these elites did not realize that the rear had long been in chaos.

“You—weren’t you already dead? How is this possible?!”

The first to notice Edith’s recovery was Samael. His attention was originally on the slime wave, but when Edith stood up, he quickly spotted her.

Not wanting to underestimate the enemy, Edith stopped her advance. From her previous failed experience, she knew that unless she completely killed Samael, she would never be able to safely reach Hetty.

And Count Pescia was giving Hetty a magic potion, with no time to spare for anything else. The most who could help Samael were a few soldiers. Now was the best time to kill him.

Raising her spear in a defensive stance, Edith narrowed her eyes, staring at Samael, who was only ten meters away.

“Come on. I will walk over your corpse.”

“Hmph.”

Also raising his two short blades, Samael stood in front of Hetty and Count Pescia.

However, before the two could begin their fight, two voices were forcibly cut in.

“[Heavy Sword Throwing Technique: Meteor]!”

“[Arrow: Pierce].”

Each trailing a red and green tail flame, two exceptionally conspicuous projectiles shot straight towards Samael from the horizon in the dark night. Samael had to shift his attention to the two imposing flames, crossing his arms in a standard defensive posture.

“[Moon’s Protection].”

BOOM!

Screech—

The former was the sound of the red heavy sword colliding with Samael’s protective barrier; the latter was the soft sound of the green arrow piercing into his wing.

The heavy sword shattered his defense, and the green arrow restricted his movement.

And due to the violent explosion created by the heavy sword, the battlefield within a ten-meter radius of Samael was filled with scattered smoke and dust.

Then, a chill ran down Samael’s spine. As a fallen angel, he had the talent to sense danger. His intuition told him that if he didn’t respond quickly, the only outcome would be death.

Subconsciously, Samael dodged to the right.

Swish.

As expected, with the sound of a sharp weapon piercing the air, a burning spike appeared where he had just been standing. If he hadn’t dodged, he would have been pierced through the heart by now.

A serious and cold voice sounded from within the smoke and dust.

“As expected, you’re tricky. Sera, retreat.”

“Okay.”

Her figure once again disappeared into the smoke and dust.

An opponent with the same ability.

This was Samael’s first reaction.

If I don’t give it my all, I will die here.

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It was at this moment that the originators of the two flames appeared as the smoke and dust cleared.

—Clementine and Akarin.

“Yo, this is the first time I’ve seen a fallen angel. Looking at you now, the so-called fallen angels are nothing special.”

“Don’t be careless, Clementine.”

“Hahaha, I—” He was about to continue using his rough way of addressing himself, but under Akarin’s glare, Clementine rubbed his nose and awkwardly corrected himself, “…I know.”

Then he pointed his heavy sword at Samael.

“Interrupting revenge is an unromantic act. We will be your opponents. I owe Miss Yisi two favors. Now I’ve repaid one.”

After speaking, Clementine even deliberately gave Samael a smirk, his gaze pointing towards Hetty behind him. After a moment’s stun, Samael understood what he meant.

Since they were sent by Yisi, there was only one thing left for him to do.

—Pretend to be fighting seriously.

If it weren’t for the slave contract, Hetty would have long been a ghost under his blade. Samael thought about how to kill her every day. Now that Yisi was actively cooperating with him, he was of course happy to accept, not to mention that acting carried no risks.

A smile that was uglier than crying appeared on his face. Samael raised his short blades.

“I’d be happy to oblige.”

At the same time, the blood clan soldiers who wanted to help Samael were blocked by another group of people.

They were Sera, who had the ability of [Group Invisibility], Shinku, who could enchant her weapon with flames, and three other sturdy, brown-skinned elf women. The ones who had failed to assassinate Samael earlier were Sera and Shinku.

The red cat ears on her head twitched. Shinku nudged her chin towards the stationary Edith.

“You have your own mission. Go do your own thing. Miss Yisi is buying time.”

Coming back to her senses from the drastic change, Edith’s lips curved into a slight smile.

“Hmph, you even called over the maids from Margaret? Although I don’t know your names, allow me to thank you later.”

A fire was reignited in Edith’s azure eyes. Now all obstacles have been removed. The only one standing in her way was her own father.

Realizing the situation, after pouring a bottle of magic on Hetty, Count Pescia put her down, stood up, and drew the longsword from his waist.

“I will not let you harm my daughter.”

“…Thank you, Father.”

Plunging Gungnir into the ground, Edith bowed to her father. His protection of Hetty now was actually a protection of her. In the same situation, she would have received the same protection from him.

Then, Edith once again assumed an offensive stance.

“But please forgive my willfulness in defeating you.”

Among purebloods, if she, as the heir to the countship, were to defeat her father, Decreya Cyril Pescia, in public, it would be a declaration to everyone that the current Count Pescia was old and needed a new one to succeed him. It was a kind of humiliation.

However, this was something she had to do, not just for things like honor, dignity, and pride, but also to not disappoint someone’s hopes, and to live on, to do something she hadn’t noticed before and wouldn’t say out loud even if she did now.

Taking a deep breath, Edith’s Gungnir pointed directly at her father.

“Well then, Father, please make your exit.”

The long spear and the longsword clashed.

…

At the same time, on the other side.

Standing on the hillside behind the army, Yisi, who was pushing the slime wave with wind, tilted her head and looked at the anxious Refina standing beside her.

“Are you very anxious?”

“Yes… Although I know you’ve found a lot of helpers, Miss Yisi, I can’t help but…”

Mary stepped forward and comforted Refina with a very serious smile.

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“Don’t worry, Miss Refina. With Master’s help, Miss Edith will definitely win.”

“And me.”

As if in protest, Tiffany pouted unhappily and puffed out her chest at Mary, asserting her presence.

Fran also stood out.

“Me too. This is my first time in the blood clan’s territory. I didn’t expect them to really march at night.”

Camilla looked at the soldiers being swallowed by the wave.

“The blood clan’s night vision is much better than during the day. It’s very normal for them to choose to march at night—Onee-sama, you can reduce the force a little. The ‘wave’ is about to reach Edith and Clementine.”

“Okay~”

Yisi weakened the wind output, and the speed of the slime tsunami immediately slowed down a lot.

—As for what exactly happened here, it all started with Yisi spending a full day on preparations.

First was rescuing Refina.

Because Refina was already face to face with Hetty at the time, for the reason of not scaring Hetty away, Yisi waited until the last moment when Refina’s assassination failed and she was about to be killed before making a move—using illusion magic to create an image of Refina’s death, and then using [Spatial Leap] to take her out of the mansion.

Then, in order to weaken the conflict between Edith and herself and Camilla in the future—if she directly helped Edith, she might be criticized by her—Yisi decided to help her indirectly, that is, by finding others to resolve the crisis.

So Yisi naturally thought of Clementine. According to what he had heard in Antonio City, Clementine wanted to leave the human world and travel in the blood clan’s territory. The current Pescia territory was a perfect opportunity for him to show his skills. So Yisi went to Antonio City to find Clementine on the day Edith was asleep.

Then Yisi naturally remembered the existence of the former guild master of the Conquerors of Flame, Akarin.

Through the Omniscient Map, Yisi found Akarin and the three elf women by her side on the road and sent them all to Clementine. With just one glance, Clementine recognized Akarin’s identity. After a moving reunion, Yisi timely threw out her proposal to Clementine and Akarin, and they readily agreed.

However, the matter did not end there.

Facing a blood clan army of up to twenty thousand, even if she called on all the adventurers in Antonio City, it would not be an equal fight. Yisi needed a way to resolve the matter peacefully. The fallen angel’s goal was to greatly weaken the Pescia territory’s strength. If helping Edith resulted in a large number of soldiers being killed or injured, it would be indirectly helping the fallen angel.

Yisi thought of the slimes that Tiffany had commanded. If she had the slimes just swallow the soldiers without digesting them, she could achieve the goal of incapacitating them without injuring them.

So Yisi asked Tiffany if she could find more slime companions. The answer was yes, but at most she could only find a few hundred slimes willing to help in one day. A few hundred slimes would be difficult to form an effective suppressive force. So Yisi thought of Fran, who could also communicate with monsters, and the frost crystal on the snowy mountain that had caused a monster riot.

Then, Yisi first returned to Margaret and called on Fran—during the process, Shinku heard that a battle was about to break out and took the initiative to bring along Sera, who had the ability to be invisible, to participate in the operation.

Then Yisi brought Fran and the others to the ruins of the Hermion Snowy Mountain and found the existence of the frost crystal that had attracted a large number of snowy mountain monsters. Perhaps because the magic she had used to cool down, [Advent of the Polar Night], was too powerful, the monsters living on the original Hermion Snowy Mountain had all grown to a great extent, especially the most numerous ice slimes.

Then, Yisi found a small slime near the frost crystal that was harder than steel. Tiffany said that this was a high-ranking individual among the slimes and could directly control most of the slimes on the snowy mountain. So Yisi, through Fran, spoke with this slime noble and promised that if it ordered the slimes to help, she would move it and the frost crystal together to the far north, which was more suitable for ice-attribute monsters to live.

So Yisi took the frost crystal and the small slime noble to the far north.

After arriving in the far north, Yisi happened to see the Frost Giants. For the reason that one more helper was one more helper, she also conveniently subdued three tribes of Frost Giants. This was the origin of the fifty or so Frost Giants that were blocking the blood clan army.

Finally, Yisi spent a whole night constructing a super-large teleportation magic circle, connecting the Hermion Snowy Mountain, the far north, and the Pescia territory, ensuring that hundreds of thousands of ice slimes could be teleported to the Pescia territory in a short time. This process cost Yisi more than a three-digit number of magic potions, and it was only by borrowing the double stat effect of the third form awakening that she barely completed it in one night.

This was the plan constructed by Yisi, and also a plan that only Yisi could complete.

“I just didn’t expect you to be able to do something this ridiculous… Are you really human, Onee-sama?”

Being told by Camilla that she wasn’t human was a bit hurtful. Yisi lied with an “ahaha.”

“I didn’t do it alone, you know? Actually, I called a lot of friends to help, and we barely managed to complete it.”

“A lot of friends…” Camilla stared at Yisi’s deliberately widened, innocent big eyes, then sighed. “You made new friends again when I wasn’t looking.”

“It’s so good that you didn’t do it alone, Miss Yisi… otherwise I wouldn’t know how to look at you normally.”

Fran showed a look of relief, and Yisi was relieved as well.

It seemed this lie was very necessary.

Refina spoke up hesitantly.

“Um… Miss Yisi, what about the Hetty in the mansion? Will she escape because of this failure?”

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“The mansion? Hmm… I’ve thought about this. When I brought you out of the mansion, Refina, I put a mark on those pets. No matter where they run, I can find them, so you don’t have to worry about Hetty making a comeback. After Edith has settled this matter, I will hunt them down one by one.”

“You really think of everything, Miss Yisi…”

For some reason, Refina lowered her head, a complex expression flashing across her beautiful face.

Because she was shorter, Mary quickly noticed Refina’s strange expression. Her purple eyes widened, and a mischievous smile appeared on her cute face as if she had thought of something.

“Ehehe… Miss Refina, you haven’t fallen for Master because of her charm, have you?”

“Huh? N-n-no, that’s not it at all!”

Waving her hands in a flurry, even her purple side ponytail and light purple skirt hem swayed violently. Refina’s golden eyes were full of anxiety.

Sensing that something was wrong, Camilla turned to look at her.

“Mary was just teasing you. To be so nervous, it’s rather suspicious…”

“I… I was just worried that Master would become interested in you because of this, Miss Yisi. I absolutely, absolutely have no improper thoughts about you!”

Perhaps because she was at the height of her anxiety, Refina’s speech gave the impression that she could bite her tongue at any moment.

Yisi couldn’t help but smile wryly. While patting Mary’s head, she explained to Refina.

“Mary is just a child—”

“I’m already an adult!”

Ignoring Mary’s protest, Yisi continued.

“So she sometimes makes groundless guesses. You don’t have to take it to heart, Refina.”

“Oh, it seems my boss is a strange person too.” ² fran likes… you know

Fran whistled in a manner unbecoming of a lady.

…

Three minutes later.

Refina, being a vampire, was the first to speak.

“The magic light has disappeared.”

“Yes. Hetty’s light dot has disappeared, and Edith’s condition is much better than Count Pescia’s. Edith has won.”

“What about you, Onee-sama?”

“Me?”

“Are you going to send the slimes back first?”

Subconsciously, Yisi looked up at the sky. The clouds that had been covering the Pescia territory for days had finally dissipated, and a bright new moon slowly revealed itself before everyone. The land was then covered in a mysterious, pale blue color.

She couldn’t help but smile.

“Well… let’s go welcome the victor first.”

“I want to go too~”

“A child should stand behind me and Onee-sama.”

“I’m not a child anymore!”

“Jealousy. Camilla is jealous.”

“It’s always so lively around you, Miss Yisi.”

“I agree… I’m going to welcome Master too.”

Finally, amidst a clamor of voices, Hetty’s plan ended in failure, and the Pescia territory would welcome a new beginning.