In the Dungeon, Filvis stood where her companions had died.
The gruesome traces of that day were gone now, but whenever she closed her eyes, she could still see it. She could still hear their voices.
"I'll hold them off—run!"
"Filvis, hurry and get out of here!"
"Fil…"
"Help me…"
Filvis felt deeply apologetic toward Lord Shadow.
Over the past half year, only half of the drive that had pushed her so hard had been for the sake of helping him.
In her dreams, those demonic sisters had appeared nearly as often as Lord Shadow himself.
Thankfully, that less-than-absolute loyalty would end today.
"They're here."
Lord Shadow's reminder made Filvis ready herself for battle.
At long last, the demonic sisters who had haunted her thoughts appeared before her once again.
As for how the Dis sisters had spent the last half year—
Worried that the Dark Faction might come after them, and afraid they would lose control and kill again, breaking their contract, they had left Orario immediately.
To avoid being recognized, they had disguised themselves as well.
Whether that was lucky or not was hard to say, but after disguising themselves, almost no one could tell they were the Dis sisters anymore.
Could a high elf really change her hair color, cut it short, and suddenly become unrecognizable?
That was absurd.
And yet that absurd thing had truly happened to them.
One was an elf, the other a dark elf. Just from that alone, people should have been able to connect the dots, shouldn't they?
Perhaps it was because they had changed too much.
Not just in appearance, but in temperament as well.
Since healing potions had become tightly regulated during the Great Feud, they had been unable to buy any. All they could do was hide and slowly recover from their injuries.
And while they hid, month after month, they had gradually gotten used to that kind of life.
About two months ago, the younger sister, Vina, had suddenly said she wanted to go outside.
Until Lord Shadow summoned them, they could not very well survive by mugging petty thugs forever.
So they had become fishermen.
And in that way, they had lived another two months.
Like ordinary people.
Now, after more than half a year, the Dis sisters had returned to Orario, returned to the Dungeon, and returned to face the person who had lingered in their thoughts ever since.
Faced with Filvis's hatred, they said nothing at first. Instead, they thanked Lord Shadow.
"Lord Shadow, thank you for your generosity."
"After living on borrowed time for more than half a year, we finally understand your intentions."
The two sisters knelt before Cid, making Filvis's eyes widen in fury.
She wanted to say that these demonic sisters had no right to thank Lord Shadow.
Shadow Garden would never accept monsters like them.
But in the end, Filvis did not stop them.
The fact that Lord Shadow had not killed them beforehand was proof enough that they had honored their contract.
Their sins would not vanish just because they had kept their word, but Lord Shadow was merciful—and merciful enough only to let them speak their last words.
"It was merely a whim. What intentions could there have been?"
Cid was genuinely curious.
In the eyes of these elf sisters, what grand meaning could his whim possibly have carried?
"Lord Shadow also knows that the Underworld truly exists. We were always afraid that after reincarnation, we would still carry these sins and these impulses with us—that we would remain beyond redemption for eternity. That is why we wanted the mortal world itself to become a kind of hell. If everything was hell, then perhaps we could call ourselves normal."
"But Lord Shadow was willing to make a contract with us. Willing to trust us. It was only because of that contract that we managed to endure. We finally realized that even we, with all our past sins, could still live like ordinary people."
All that talk about having fallen into the abyss, about losing the ability to live like normal people—
In the end, all it had taken was one contract for them to start living like ordinary women.
Now that they had experienced that kind of life, the Dis sisters were willing to believe in another life after death.
If they could have one ordinary lifetime, then even if they remembered their past lives, they believed they could still go on living like ordinary people.
And if they were to fall into darkness again, then the blame would lie with themselves alone—not with fate.
For them, understanding that was something more important than life itself.
The Dis sisters had once believed that a figure like Erebus, who could lead the Dark Faction and plunge the world into turmoil, was the savior of evil men.
But after meeting Lord Shadow, they had realized that for lost evils like themselves, someone like Lord Shadow was the true savior.
At their core, they had always longed for the light.
What they hated was not the light itself, but the fact that they could never become part of it.
Filvis understood them all too well.
In fact, she was frightened.
The Dis sisters standing before her now were like a mirror.
If she had not met Lord Shadow—if she had remained ignorant and blindly followed that evil god—she might one day have become just like them.
And so her anger grew even stronger.
"Your lives end here. You will not cling to Lord Shadow any longer!"
In the end, Lord Shadow was her savior—not the savior of these demonic sisters.
Those who had already sunk into darkness had no right to fight her for that place.
Now, with old grudges and new piled together, a reckoning was inevitable.
At her words, the Dis sisters rose to their feet and faced Filvis directly.
"We'll fight with everything we have."
The elder sister, Dina, drew her twin daggers.
"Show us that you truly have the power to help Lord Shadow."
The younger sister, Vina, raised her staff.
"I will have my revenge. And I will prove it too!"
"[Illusion ends, soul returns—your body, your bonds, cannot be severed!]"
Filvis chanted and entered her monster form.
This inhuman skill was called Human-Monster Fusion.
This magic, which made two beings become one, was called Ansel.
At first, whenever she entered this state, her body would twist into something grotesque and hideous.
It was only with Lord Shadow's help that she had learned how to transform while retaining a relatively normal appearance.
"Y-you… what is that… what kind of magic is that?"
"The stench of a monster? But you're clearly an elf…"
The sisters had come into this battle with guilt in their hearts, ready to accept release.
But the moment Filvis revealed her true form—and the strange crystal embedded in her chest—their state of mind changed completely.
In their memory, Filvis had been nothing more than a weak little Level 2 adventurer.
They had assumed she had grown this strong only because Lord Shadow had personally guided her, and that was why she now dared to challenge them for revenge.
That alone had made them envious enough.
But reality had shown them something else.
The elf before them had not become strong through Lord Shadow's guidance alone.
She had used forbidden power.
With Lord Shadow's mercy, there was no way he would have forced that power upon her.
Which meant she had always possessed the potential to fall.
Perhaps when she first met Lord Shadow, one foot had already been in the mire.
"How enviable. How hateful. Why is your luck so good?"
"We met Lord Shadow too late. For us, there is no turning back now."
The sisters' bodies trembled slightly, whether with envy or rage—or both.
Ever since experiencing an ordinary life, they had not felt envy so intense it burned like this in a very long time.
But one thing was certain.
From this moment on, for both sides, this battle was no longer just revenge.
It had become personal.
....
My Patreon : patreon/RuneA
If you want to read the novel in advance, you can subscribe for early access. I also have many more novels in my collection that you might be interested in
I upload ten novels a day, with 3 to 4 chapters per title depending on the length. If you're following a particular series, please wait your turn a little
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it