V5Ch3: Case closed, yes, let’s talk about the old days! part 7
Translator: Soafp
When Lilim woke up, she was in a carriage.
Her hands and feet were bound. Inside her mouth was the taste of blood.
“I’ll kill you …… all of you, I promise.”
She muttered, and the man on guard snickered.
“I’ll kill you …….”
Her tears had already dried up.
The only thing holding her back was hatred.
All she needed was power.
Knowledge is useless. It cannot protect anyone. Pure power is what opens the way.
“I want power. ……”
Lilim wished.
The power to destroy this restraint, the power to kill the priest, and the power to…
[—-Do you want power?]
A voice echoed from somewhere.
“Ah, ……?”
She looked around, but there was no one there except for the man on guard.
[Do you want power…?]
This time, she heard it clearly. It was a low voice that sounded like it was coming from the depths of the abyss.
“I want ……! If only I had the power ……!”
“Hahaha, the kid is crazy!”
The man on guard didn’t seem to hear it. But it surely reaches Lilim’s ears.
Even if it was an auditory hallucination, or even a demon, it did not matter to her.
She just wanted power.
[If you want power, I’ll give it to you.]
And then, a blue-purple magic appeared in the carriage.
“W-What is this light ……?!”
The carriage stopped and men entered from outside.
“What’s going on? What is this magic!!”
The blue-purple magic power became fine grains and formed a spiral helix.
In the center of the spiral, a shadow appeared. It was a boy wearing a long jet-black coat.
“How did he get into the carriage?”
“Seize him! Drag him out of the carriage!”
[I am….]
The boy raised his jet-black sword at the center of the magic.
The atmosphere trembled with the enormous magical power.
Lilim saw the overwhelming power converging in the jet-black sword.
This is what she sought.
The power to crush everything.
[—-Atomic-ish]
The magic burst forth.
The sound faded, and the world was dyed with a bluish-purple light.
“…… sixty points. It’s still a work in progress.”
The boy’s voice woke Lilim up. It seemed that she had fainted.
“This is not enough. My goal….”
He was muttering in the center of a large crater.
The carriage had blown away and that eerie group had vanished without a trace.
Lilim shivered.
But this feeling was not fear.
“U-uhm….”
“Hmm? You woke up. I’ll heal the demon possession for now.”
Saying that, he released a blue-violet magic power.
It glowed warmly around Lilim’s black bruise.
The bluish-purple magic regenerated her skin as if it were rewinding time.
“Lies…… It can’t be.”
When the light subsided, the black bruise was cleanly gone.
The demon possession that tormented Lilim was easily and effortlessly cured.
“This one is ninety-five. The control is near perfect. It’s exhausting, though.”
“He wasn’t wrong…….”
Tears welled up from the bottom of my heart.
“He wasn’t wrong,…… father wasn’t wrong,…….”
“Hmm?”
“He said that demonic possession is descended from heroes,…… and that there is a man in the east who can cure demonic possession…… he wasn’t wrong at all.”
“That setting, it’s been transmitted to this far…”
“But why…why father, why mother…why…everyone wasn’t wrong…!”
The boy scratched his head.
“……It’s because of Diablos order. Everything is the fault of the Diabolos Order.”
“Diabolos Order ……?”
“That’s right. The men who just came in are not from the Holy Church. They are actually from the Diabolos Order. They are hiding the truth, burying the hero’s child in the darkness of history, and plotting the resurrection of the demon Diabolos. To them, the child of a hero is an obstacle…”
He flipped his long jet-black coat as he said this.
“We are Shadow Garden. We hide in the shadows and hunt in the shadows.”
“Hide in the shadows and hunt in the shadows.”
Lilim’s heart trembled.
Everything seemed to connect.
“Father was not wrong after all.”
“No, he wasn’t”
“There is a cure for demonic possession in the Kingdom of Midgar. That is my mission. Father said so.”
“Hmm? Is that so?”
“You were my mission.”
Yes, this was her mission.
The death of her father, her mother, and her brother.
They sacrificed themselves to bring life to Lilim.
“I want power …… the power to hunt them down!”
“All right, it’s time for her to come.”
“Her……?”
Then the darkness of the night shook.
It was a beautiful golden elf in a jet-black bodysuit.
“I told you to wait a minute! I can’t keep up with your speed.”
She seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood.
“But the mission is over.”
“I know a mission when I see one. It looks like it’s definitely a Church wagon, albeit a shattered one. I always told you to leave evidence.”
The elf girl looked at the boy reproachfully.
The boy scratched his head.
The elf girl sighs in resignation.
“So, she’s the one this time….”
She looked at Lilim.
“Yes, take care of the rest.”
“Eh? Wait!”
“Well, ask Alpha for the details.”
With these words, he disappeared without a trace.
“Mou! He’s disappearing so quickly.”
“Uhm…..who are you?
Lilim asked, and she smiled softly.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I am Alpha. Shadow Garden’s first seat. Nice to meet you.”
“Alpha ……my name is.”
Alpha stopped Lilim from saying her name.
“Wait. You are going to live under another name from this day forward.”
“Eh?”
“We are those who hide in the shadows and hunt in the shadows. For us, the outer form is only a temporary pretense. Shadows are our true form. We may never return to the surface world again…….”
Saying this, Alpha held the mask in her hand.
Her beautiful, clear blue eyes looked at Lilim.
“If you are ready for it, take it. Zeta, six seat of the Shadow Garden.”
“Zeta …… I am Zeta …….”
Lilim muttered to himself.
“You look ready. You have strong eyes. But ……”
“…… I need power”
“You’re a natural. Eventually, you will gain great power. But that hatred will someday…”
Alpha started to say something, then stopped.
She stared at Lilim for a while with her blue eyes. And then—.
“—No, it’s nothing.”
She said sadly. White snow was falling silently from the night sky.