Blades in Memory

Nerves numbed by fear,
driven by instinct,
Allen’s legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground,
trembling slightly as she tried to retreat,
using her shaking hands to push her body backward.

“Thud.”

A dull sound reminded Allen that she had reached the end.

She had collided with something hard.

Perhaps because she feared the imagined shadow behind her,
she had used all her strength to retreat.

This collision not only left her dizzy,
but also caused a piercing pain at the point where her head struck,
so intense that for an instant,
Allen heard a buzzing sound like humming bees.

Perhaps the pain allowed her to overcome her fear.

The imaginary demon before her
had completely vanished.

“Ah… ha…”

Too tired.
Too tired.

Why didn’t I just kill myself.

I can’t hold on anymore.

Lowering her head,
Allen leaned against the wooden wall behind her,
and once again began to think aimlessly,
her thoughts drifting without direction.

Golia.
Who is he.

Why did I have to take my brother’s place
and join this ridiculous war.

With my own abilities and my father’s status,
even as an outcast,
I could have at least lived out the rest of my life comfortably.

Maybe it really was fate.

Just like my brothers said.

Maybe I really am a jinx.

How laughable.
How laughable.

“Hahahahaha.
Hahahahaha.
Haha.”

She laughed loudly,
as if mocking her own incompetence.

Laughing at herself for not trying hard enough.

No.

This laughter was Allen mocking herself
for being unable to escape fate.

Once upon a time,
Allen had been someone who fought desperately for her life.

Yet fate toyed with her again and again,
playing her in the palm of its hand,
giving her hope,
only to replace it with disappointment.

Over and over again.

Again and again.

Until it had seemingly turned into despair.

In the hurried twenty years of her life,
she did not know how hard she had struggled.

She remembered something a philosopher once wrote in a book in her room.

“Those who can control their own fate are gods.”

Those words became all of Allen’s motivation to move forward.

Leaving her bedroom.
Going to Gryffindor.

She had clearly tried so hard.

“Hah… cough cough… cough.”

Her dry throat made it impossible to keep laughing,
and choking forced her into coughing instead.

A useless person.

With her head still lowered,
she continued to let her thoughts wander.

Pulses of pain throbbed through her head,
beating again and again.

Her cheeks felt as if water droplets were brushing past them.

A hallucination.

It must be a hallucination.

Don’t worry about it.

Allen thought to herself.

She was too lazy to care about the strange sensations anymore.

She just wanted to find some way
to numb herself.

“Drip.
Drip.
Drip.”

It sounded like water dripping onto the ground.

It felt disturbingly real.

It must be blood from the back of her head.

It probably wouldn’t stop anymore.

In the vast night,
Allen no longer dared to take even one step away
from the wooden wall that had been warmed by her body.

A cold wind blew from somewhere unknown,
making Allen shiver violently.

She pulled her knees tightly against her chest,
trying to curl herself into a ball,
as this was the best way to retain warmth.

Her thin nightgown
was completely unable to resist
the biting cold of an early spring night.

“Sniff…
sniff…”

Helpless sobbing.

Damn these tears.

If this were before,
back when she was still in Gryffindor,
she would never have cried like this.

Once upon a time,
Allen had sworn
that she would never cry over her own weakness again.

Yet now,
it felt like a cruel slap across her face.

Sleep.

Don’t think about anything.

Damn this night.

Damn this Demon Castle.

Damn this world.

…

Damn myself.

And like that,
Allen drifted into a hazy sleep.

……………………

“Thud.”

Losing her support,
Allen stumbled
and fell heavily to the ground.

The pain instantly chased away all drowsiness.

“Are you an idiot.”

The voice was as sharp and calm as ever.

The scene before her eyes felt both real and unreal.

The room was brightly lit.

Although some areas were still dim,
the entire room was clearly visible.

She was lying right at the doorframe.

That’s right.

This was Lilith’s room.

The place she had to clean every day.

Through her hazy vision,
she saw a mass of black hair.

Arms crossed,
the figure stood above her
with an air of looking down upon all others.

The same style of nightgown as hers,
but in a gloomy, rare black.

What is this person doing.

Still half-asleep,
Allen suddenly felt like complaining to the person before her.

Before she could speak,
fear stopped her cold.

In an instant,
her sleepy eyes turned wide with terror.

This person.

She could kill me at any time.

Very dangerous.
Extremely dangerous.

“Get up.”

Allen did not dare to move recklessly.

“Get up.”

Lilith’s cold gaze suddenly carried a hint of impatience.

“Get up,
or get out.”

Lilith looked at her
as if she were worthless trash.

Only then did Allen slowly stand up.

The ligaments in her legs felt
as if they were about to tear apart from the pain.

The fear from moments ago
still left her trembling slightly.

Just as expected,
the moment she stood,
her numb legs caused her to collapse again.

Tears suddenly threatened to spill uncontrollably.

She raised her head,
trying to force them back.

Unexpectedly,
although Lilith still did not smile,
her eyes seemed to be holding back laughter.

She’s definitely laughing.

Stubbornly,
Allen wiped her tears with her sleeve
and stood up again.

This time,
she was much steadier than before.

The Demon King was very tall.

At least,
to Allen.

Perhaps because she had to slightly look up
to meet the Demon King’s gaze,
she always felt lacking in confidence.

“I saw everything.”

The long-unseen Demon King revealed a playful smile.

“Since you’re pitiful,
I’ll allow you to sleep here tonight.”

“Of course,
this is purely out of sympathy.”

…

“I…”

Allen felt flattered
and suddenly had the urge to refuse.

“You don’t want to.
Then get out.”

Lilith saw through Allen’s little thoughts
and naturally decided to scare her a bit.

Don’t go out.
Don’t.

It’s too dark.

“Thank you very much…
Master.”

“Good.
Now sit on that sofa chair.”

There was no hesitation,
as if issuing an order that allowed no refusal.

Allen obediently sat on the chair.

The bloodstains on her face
had not fully dried,
as if they might drip at any moment.

Standing before Allen,
Lilith slightly closed her eyes
and muttered something.

A mark formed behind her,
constructed of black aura.

Allen was very familiar with this thing.

Extremely familiar.

It could even be said
to have become a shadow in her heart.

It was this mark
that had killed hundreds and thousands of crusaders.

From this mark,
one blade after another would shoot forth.

Unparalleled in sharpness.

Bodies split open.

Hills of corpses.

Rivers of blood.

Rotting flesh reduced to pulp.

“Urgh…
ugh…”

Allen could not control her churning stomach.

She was going to be cut into pieces too.

The intense nausea made her retch violently,
and with rhythmic convulsions,
she vomited everything she had eaten for dinner.

Lilith looked slightly surprised
and stepped aside to avoid the vomit.

The pain was unbearable.

Her stomach felt as if it had been turned inside out,
desperately expelling undigested food.

The floor was covered in regurgitated remains.

“Sniff…
sniff…”

Allen gave up resisting.

She was definitely going to die here.

She wouldn’t survive the night.

She wants me dead.

There’s no need to struggle pointlessly.

I should just accept it.

And like that,
Allen let herself cry freely.

Lilith did not stop chanting.

Allen felt as if the blades
were about to emerge at any moment.

However,
the blades from her memory did not appear.

Instead,
a square wooden box emerged.

Lilith took the box
and pulled out medicine and bandages,
slowly approaching Allen.

Allen was stunned.

Lilith formed a sphere of cleansing water
and pressed it firmly against Allen’s face.

Although it looked forceful,
the water sphere made it surprisingly comfortable.

After cleaning her,
Lilith carefully applied medicine
and wrapped the wound with bandages.

The entire process
was carried out with great care.

Allen felt completely overwhelmed.

The sheer contrast left her unable to react.

By the time she came back to her senses,
everything was already done.

Even her mouth had been cleaned.

Aside from the tears still in her eyes,
all bloodstains and tear marks
had been completely removed.

Lilith did not pause.

She summoned a large water sphere
and slammed it heavily onto the ground.

As if alive,
the water sphere absorbed all the vomit on the floor.

Lilith controlled it to float in the air,
pushed open the window with wind magic,
then used a wind spell
to hurl the water sphere out like a cannonball.

After that,
she calmly walked over
and gently closed the window.

She climbed onto her bed,
pulled the blanket over herself,
picked up the unfinished book on the bedside table,
and continued reading.

Allen sat there,
completely dazed.

Like a statue.

They remained like that for an unknown amount of time.

Suddenly,
Lilith closed her book
and lightly touched the magic crystal lamp.

The entire room went dark.

Once again,
everything fell into pitch-black emptiness.

Allen jolted.

Only then did she realize.

She was turning off the light to sleep.

The sudden darkness
made everything even more terrifying.

Allen panicked.

The corridor from earlier
flashed back into her mind.

As if possessed,
Allen scrambled onto Lilith’s bed.

She hesitated for a long time,
but unable to withstand the unfathomable darkness,
she crawled under the blanket.

Covering her head with the blanket,
the warmth inside
finally gave Allen a sense of security.

There was a faint scent of lavender on the blanket.

Gradually,
Allen fell asleep.