Chapter 574: The Promise is Here

「Ugh! Oh, this is so frustrating! It’s still daytime, why can’t I reach the underground!? 」

Eldith was grumbling without realizing it. Sweat covered the elf’s smooth skin, and impatience filled the blue eyes. She stomped her feet repeatedly, tumbling forward.

Lugis headed for the center and Eldith for the lowest level. It was a foolish strategy, splitting these two precious forces, but it was the best option they had.

Besides, the black water, Zebrililith’s blood, was concentrated in the center and dispersed outwards. Eldith should’ve been able to reach the lowest level without any problems and fulfill her role.

Unless an exception appeared.

「Unfortunately, I’m not choosing between day and night. I’m choosing between sunlight and moon. 」

Saying this, a man…which looked like a vampire…thrust his tensed arm with a roar, piercing through the air. That alone caused waves of vacuum to ripple, and the shockwave struck Eldith from behind.

Eldith didn’t turn around. The vampire’s shockwave would surely pierce and kill her the moment she turned.

「…!」

So Eldith, using the cursed magic still clinging to her hands, offered a curse to the ground beneath her feet.

With just that chant, the rubble beneath her feet deteriorated to the point of rotting and crumbled. It was an application of the technique used by the magical devilish being Drigman to raise the earth with his blessing, and it seemed to have worked just in the nick of time.

Eldith continued to fall, desperately dodging the vampire’s pursuit.

「Are you running away? Or is your goal simply to fall? But you can’t escape me. 」

The vampire, weaving through the darkness, calmly tracked down the falling Eldith.

…And then, he swung his arm again. Eldith, in her fall, had no way to escape.

The shockwave’s vortex struck Eldith directly in the abdomen. Her body spun as she was slammed against the wall. A dull, unwelcome sound rang out.

She had descended as planned. The lowest level was close. However, the price she paid was great. Her entire body, slammed against the vampire’s strength, felt as if her bones and flesh were being torn apart.

Blood gushed from her mouth. Her vision, which was about to be blown away, flickered, and only then did Eldith realize she was still alive.

The vampire landed leisurely before her eyes. Zebrililith’s depths, where no light penetrated, were like his own backyard.

Vampires. Demons of the night. Noble bloodlines…Those who should’ve perished, whose names only remained in legends and rumors.

Zebrililith had countless demon ancestors, and even the extinction of a species could be reversed. No, as long as she existed, the word “extinction” didn’t exist.

Even if the entire race were to perish by suicide, Zebrililith would surely give birth to them and make them her own children.

「Unfortunately, the elves are no match for me. I recommend surrender. The Spirit Goddess will approve of that action. 」

「…I admit we’re incompatible. And it’s quite frustrating. 」

Hearing his rational tone, Eldith thought that he lived up to his reputation as a noble bloodline.

There was a vast difference between the demon beasts or lower-ranking demons who simply attacked and devoured, and the vampire who stood before her.

Of course, he too possessed demonic impulses instinctively, but he had acquired the reason to suppress them. Beings with reason were rare among demons.

Eldith narrowed her blue eyes and sat by the wall, watching the vampire. He suppressed his magical power, waiting for an opening. What should she do?

The elves relied on blessings and curses…liberation and bondage. Growth and deterioration.

However, those only applied to the living. Blessings were received because one lived, and curses were inflicted because one lived. No one cursed the dead.

…In other words, the vampire was the King of the dead. Essentially, he wasn’t alive.

「Just as elves cannot defeat us, demons cannot defeat great demons. This is a chain of fate. Furthermore, no matter how hard you fight, the magic of the Spirit Goddess is embedded within you. Eventually, you will no longer be able to resist. If you are going to surrender, it would be better to do so of your own free will…To be obedient to fate is by no means a sign of weakness, new Fairy King. Listen, both you and that demon can be called heroes just by reaching this point. 」

The vampire spoke frankly, without any pretense or hidden agenda. Eldith, who had slumped to the ground, was looking up at him.

He calmly, yet quickly, assessed his own condition.

Every joint in Eldith’s body was burning, screaming in distress. She was going to be struck by an intense pain once the excitement of the battlefield wore off.

She couldn’t tell if any bones were broken, but it seemed impossible to run away like before.

It couldn’t be helped. She realized she had fallen about three stories high after looking up. She should be grateful she hadn’t been killed by the vampire’s attack during the fall.

「Fate, huh? Do you believe in this thing called fate? 」

「Yes, I do. No one can escape their predetermined destiny. Our destruction was also fate… though that might be a backward way of putting it. 」

Eldith couldn’t help but smile at the vampire’s words. The wound on her mouth ached.

Why didn’t he finish off Eldith, who was barely able to move? The reason was simple.

An absolute power imbalance now existed between Eldith and the vampire. He wouldn’t be killed even if Eldith caught him off guard. The elves’ curse was directed at humans, after all. Eldith’s body wasn’t originally designed to fight evil.

Eldith exhaled after realizing her situation. Her blue eyes softened slightly.

「…I know about fate, too. Things beyond my control. The idea of ​​an elf being powerless against the flow of events is common knowledge. 」

Eldith uttered those words while feeling pain in her mouth. Memories of her life in the tower of the Hanging Gardens of Ghazalia flashed before her eyes.

Eldith had lived a life of aimless decay, trapped in the tower. Her sense of time faded, her spirit began to weaken, and she nearly lost her mind during those days.

She should ideally call the man who rescued her from that tower as “fate”.

No, the sweet life he shared with her in the tower wasn’t so bad either. Even so, if one could say that it was a fated encounter, then it would fill Eldith’s heart with a warm, yet proud feeling. In fact, there were days when she felt that way.

But Eldith’s instinctive feeling now denied that the encounter was fate.

Every time she reflected on the past, and every time she used the word “fate”. She felt the breath of fate more strongly during her imprisonment in the tower. She even wondered if being in that tower was her destiny, an inevitable fate.

It was inexplicable. But she had an intuition.

Eldith’s complete destiny was embedded in that tower.

…That destiny had been destroyed by the hands of one man. Eldith has decided, of her own free will, to take his hand, not through fate’s will.

Therefore, she simply did the same thing she did back then.

「You, a vampire whose name I don’t even know. Thankfully, fate abandoned me a long time ago…And it feels great. This is my choice. Not anyone else’s, but my own! 」

Eldith, showing her cheeks curling, evoked her spell again. She was trying to make the ground collapse.

The vampire showed no mercy now that it had come to this. If Eldith fell again in the same way, the vampire would undoubtedly gouge out her heart. This demon possessed that much power.

「…Oh. 」

But a moment of unease ran through that vampire. Insignificant. But something he hadn’t expected. A loud impact sound echoed along with the sound of collapse.

Eldith didn’t just collapse what was beneath her feet…She cursed and destroyed all the rubble that filled the surrounding area. The vampire, too, was a victim of the collapse.

「However, this doesn’t mean my advantage is lost. 」

That, too, was true. Eldith was already severely wounded; the impact of this fall alone could kill her. On the other hand, the vampire wouldn’t die from a mere fall. It was a cheap way to take her down with him, a pathetic suicide.

That was why the vampire felt neither impatience nor haste. He tensed his arms as before, assuming a stance in mid-air.

Even his demonic nobility vanished at this moment. Only the ferocity necessary to slaughter his prey remained in his eyes that saw through the night.

The vampire looked directly at Eldith, determined to kill her for sure.

「…I win. 」

His blood-stained lips moved as he spoke.

At the same time, Eldith touched the chalice she always carried with her. The Controller Chalice was formed in the royal capital. It absorbed immense magical power.

This was now Zebrililith’s lowest level. There was nothing left to regret. “I’ve finally made it this far”…Eldith said, without waiting for the vampire to raise his arm.

「Let me fulfill the promise, great Fairy King of the past. I have come this far…unlocking the Original Text, “Fairy Realm”. 」

This was a part of the world that a single demon, before she became the ruler, considered his essence and sought to protect at all costs.

A vortex of overflowing magical power pierced the vampire’s body.

—

It was unstoppable. An astonishing torrent of magical power. Multiple layers of magical energy swirled and poured out.

It was no longer merely an outburst of magic. It threatened to fill this place…this space…this world.

No, the world existed within this vortex.

In the vast forested land, fairies danced and played under the moonlight, breathing naturally. No threat existed; eternal peace prevailed in this fairy realm.

This was the ideal world. All the fairy lands that once existed and were stolen. A world where brilliance and color covered the sky.

Eldith, who should have fallen, stood here as Queen.

…Ah, ah. I’ve returned.

A sweet yet melting feeling. Whether it was Eldith’s feeling, or that of the King who once ruled this place, was unknown.

But the feeling was the same.

…Once corrupted by the Spirit Goddess, the previous King lost his beloved Queen and many of his people. Many of the surviving fairies fell into a state of ignorance.

That abominable enemy was here. And now, it sought to take away another loved one.

Was it Eldith, or the Fairy King’s feelings? Eldith moved her lips and spoke.

「I want all of my loved ones back. You will know the pain of loss. 」

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