“AAAAAAAH!!! HHHHIIIK!!”
Flames erupted.
From the burned belly, the flames spread all over her body.
Those flames seemed relentless enough to roll around on the ground without ever going out, yet somehow maintained just enough power to not instantly consume her.
That made it all the more terrifying.
The one who was afflicted by the flames had to endure the horrendous pain of their body burning alive for a long time before reaching death.
“GUAAAH!!! IT’S HOT!!! IT HURTS!!!”
The Witch of Lust, Lily, writhed in agony as she screamed continuously.
“AAAAAAAH!!! WHY, WHY AM I IN THIS STATE!!! I CAN’T FORGIVE HER!! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE HER!!!”
In the beginning, Lily expressed her anger towards the one who caused her to endure such pain by screaming.
However, that anger only lasted for a moment.
“No, NO! HHHHAAAAK! I’m sorry!! I was wrong!! So please, stop it!!”
The horrific pain she had never experienced in her entire life and the fear of dying in such terrible agony snatched away her will to be angry in an instant.
“I DON’T WANT TO…! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!! HELP ME!! ANYONE, ANYONE WILL DO, JUST HELP ME…!”
All that remained was the thought of wanting to escape this pain and the desire not to die.
At that moment, while Lily was desperately screaming for help, she heard a voice from somewhere.
“AHAHA, Lily. Your beautiful face has turned into a complete nightmare, hasn’t it?”
Startled, Lily lifted her head at the voice of someone else trailing from somewhere.
There stood a woman in a hood that had suddenly appeared through a black hole in the empty air, just like the first time they met.
She was the one who had betrayed Lily and unleashed the Witch of Gluttony upon the world.
But to the current Lily, such past events didn’t matter at all.
What was most important to her at that moment was that someone appeared who could help her.
So, Lily urgently shouted towards the woman, who was looking at her and smiling.
“HHHAAK!! HEY!!! PLEASE HELP ME, QUICKLY!! DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS FIRE ON ME! WITH YOUR POWER, YOU CAN REMOVE IT, RIGHT?!”
“Hmmm? It looks like a flame that won’t extinguish until you die… I can definitely remove it, but…”
The woman responded with a bright smile after hearing her cry.
“Why should I?”
Lily felt a lump in her throat upon hearing those words.
It was because she sensed pure confusion within the woman’s statement.
She couldn’t find any real reason for the woman to help her, without any other motives.
“As I said before, our relationship was nothing more than a contract, right? Now that that’s gone, we have no ties at all. Why should I help you?”
The woman emphasized that she and Lily were not connected in any way.
Lily knew that she truly thought that way.
If she had thought of Lily as special, she wouldn’t have unleashed the Witch of Gluttony recklessly as before.
However, since she would die if she didn’t receive the woman’s help, Lily had to find a reason to change her mind.
And at that moment, the words spoken by the Witch of Wrath, who had dared to resist despite being under Lily’s control, flashed through her mind.
A relationship so special that it allowed one to resist even while believing that they should submit to their master.
“We, we are friends!”
“…Friends?”
When Lily shouted “friends,” the woman tilted her head in confusion.
Desperately, Lily shouted towards her.
“Y-Yeah! Auria!! We’re friends, right?!”
She even called out the woman’s name, which she had heard before because she felt uncomfortable that only Auria knew her name.
Auria, hearing that, asked as if to say she didn’t understand.
“Friends, huh…? Can you tell me why you think that?”
Though Auria seemed to say she didn’t think that way at all, Lily could see a hint of interest in her expression.
Seeing that, Lily felt this was her only lifeline and clung desperately to it while trying to come up with reasons.
“Auria…! We know each other’s names…”
“I do know, Lily. Even though we’ve referred to each other as ‘you’ and ‘I’ until now. Any other reason?”
“Well, we’ve known each other for a long time…!”
“Yeah, since I first saw you, it’s been close to 500 years, give or take? When you think about it, that is quite a long time. Any more?”
As she tried to squeeze out reasons, Auria spoke as if she wanted Lily to keep talking.
“In all that time, we’ve helped each other and gotten along well…”
“It was a relationship formed because of a contract, but it’s true you’ve helped me with your abilities. Go on.”
As Lily tried to find a reason to say, she felt a strange sensation growing within her.
“You were the one who made me realize I’m a witch…”
“I just thought it was funny that you didn’t even know that yourself and told you. And?”
“You were also the one who gave me the Sacred Remnants, saying it would help me use my abilities…”
“Sure, I needed that so I could fulfill my plans using your abilities, but yeah, go on.”
“So… so…”
Initially, she just tried to appeal to her emotions to survive, but now, she realized something.
“I considered you a friend……”
Ah, I really thought of this girl that way.
More like a frenemy, but Lily realized she had viewed Auria that way all along.
To be exact, she had longed for a relationship like that.
The emptiness in her chest that arose after being sold by the brothel owner she used to call ‘sister.’
She thought that emptiness stemmed from her plummeting confidence, but that wasn’t the case.
Whether family, friends, it didn’t matter—it was the titles that counted.
But she realized that the cause of that emptiness was the lack of a relationship where they could treat each other as equals and special.
And she also recognized that the person she chose to fill that void was Auria.
For Lily, humans were worse than bugs, but Auria was a fellow witch who had helped her in dire situations.
She must have subconsciously wished Auria to take the place of her sister.
That was probably why.
When Auria betrayed her, it infuriated her so much.
She couldn’t tolerate seeing Auria treat her like just a tool with no use left, like the brothel owner who had treated her as merchandise.
But what’s truly absurd is that even after being betrayed once, she still desires a special relationship with her.
She had thought she wouldn’t want to cling on like that to someone, but now, being devoid of choices, her pride and everything else dissolved away as she held on.
So she hoped Auria would consider her a friend.
Not just to survive, but because she genuinely wanted that.
Thinking that, Lily gazed at Auria with deep yearning.
“AHAHA, I didn’t know you thought of me that way, Lily. Friends, huh…”
And Auria smiled at Lily.
“Well, having at least one friend in life isn’t bad. Then, Lily, from now on you and I are friends.”
“R-Really?!”
At those words, relief washed over Lily, and she beamed with joy at having gained what she desired.
But soon, her face tightened again at the burning pain that returned.
Yet, it was no problem.
Now she had a friend who would help her, right?
Lily pleaded with her friend.
“Auria, can you help me now? I think I’m going to die from the pain.”
“…”
But there was no response.
“A-Auria?”
Feeling a sudden anxiety, Lily called out Auria’s name and looked at her.
And then she saw it.
As always, Auria was quietly smiling while staring at her burning body.
Lily shouted.
“What… what are you doing? Help me…! We’re friends…!”
Auria replied with a bright smile.
“Why should I? It’s a rare opportunity to witness a friend’s ‘end.’”
In that moment, Lily looked into Auria’s eyes.
And realized she had been used once again.
Her eyes shone brightly, just like the brothel owner who had sold her off to satisfy her own desires.
Ah, she called me a friend, but once again, I was just used for someone else’s purpose.
Wanting a relationship where she valued me more than her own greed had been too greedy of me.
“AAAH…!”
Thus, the Witch of Lust, Lily, once again screamed in despair for having been betrayed, writhing in agony for a long time.
“AH, AAAAAH…”
She faced a meaningless death.
“…Haa.”
And the woman, Auria, who had watched her until the very end.
“Magnificent…”
With a blissful sigh, she trembled her body.
Auria walked over to the spot where Lily’s burnt body lay for a while, trembling, and picked up a black stone-like object from amidst the remains.
She caressed it affectionately, mumbling.
“Aah, Lily. Lily. You keep giving me gifts until the very end. You were the best friend I ever had.”
Auria’s face as she murmured those words was painted with utmost ecstasy and delight.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.