Covenant?
So, the black witches and that magical beast made a covenant?
They’re going to eliminate me using forbidden magic?
Adriana’s head was spinning.
In short, the beast named Apviel came because of the magic I used out of fear of him.
‘So that’s why the insects didn’t attack me.’
This was the reason his minions were just staring at her.
To monitor whether she was using magic or not.
Tears of helplessness kept flowing.
Her chest hurt so much that she tried to cover it with her hands, but the pain wouldn’t go away.
Why did it turn out this way?
It was futile and empty.
Being caught in the grasp of those insects made her feel incredibly pathetic, foolish, and powerless.
Adriana clenched her fist and faced her end…
“Don’t mess with meee!”
She couldn’t accept it.
It hurt, it hurt.
It was sad, it was sad.
It was foolish, it was foolish.
But she had no intention of dying.
“Stop your thrashing.”
The King of Insects raised his hand, but…
A girl from the Chokugen Faction with white hair appeared, kicking his hand.
“Run!”
Sen, unable to remain still as she thought of the situation caused by her rash judgment, stepped forward.
“……!”
The moment Adriana saw her, she immediately got up, used magic, broke the wall with the window, and leaped through.
‘Ares! I need to get to Ares!’
Thinking that Ares would save her according to fate, Adriana frantically began searching for him.
And in the corridor left behind…
“……”
Sen tried to swing her dagger and deal damage to the King of Insects somehow, but…
He just stared at Sen, not budging an inch, then swiftly grabbed her ankle and threw her to the ground.
“Guh!”
Sen fell, vomiting blood and fainting.
The insects rushed in as if they had found prey, but Apviel stomped the ground, halting them.
“According to the covenant. No one shall take a life except for the witch who committed the sin.”
Although Apviel was salivating at the sight of humans after a long time, he came here according to the covenant.
He aimed to chase after Adriana, who was fleeing.
“Hmm?”
Noticing a strange atmosphere, Apviel slowly turned to look at the girl standing at the end of the corridor.
A girl with long black hair, swept by the wind coming through the wall that Adriana broke.
In an instant, Apviel flinched at her momentum, unconsciously stroking his neck.
‘I thought for a moment I was dead.’
The girl did nothing.
She merely stared at him expressionlessly, and at the moment Apviel clenched his fist in tension…
Thud.
A black spear pierced his side.
“……!”
Casting at a speed that even a powerful magical beast like him couldn’t react to.
‘Is this magic?’
He started to doubt whether this was truly magic, but then he glared at the aura she was emitting.
“Ah, ah! Is she the child she chose?”
After breaking the spear that pierced his side, Apviel glared at Rin.
Rin looked at Apviel as if she had become “someone else,” remaining calm despite the oppressive presence of the insects and their king surrounding the corridor.
“‘The Earliest Apocalypse!’ It’s lamentable that I cannot kill you right now!”
Crack, Apviel gritted his teeth, clearly wanting to twist Rin’s neck but was forcing himself to hold back.
“Once I kill that witch and gain my freedom, I will return to kill you!”
Despite how furious Apviel was, Rin didn’t care at all as black energy spread out around her.
As the displeasing aura reached the insects filling the corridor, they began to dissolve and disappear.
But death didn’t end there.
With Rin’s aura, the insects that touched it quickly revived and began attacking other insects.
Insects that died from the black aura would revive.
Even the insects that were attacked and died would come back to life.
Death’s unyielding cycle didn’t stop.
Ultimately, Apviel’s insects began to submit to Rin, and Apviel, spitting curses, fled after Adriana.
“……”
Once Apviel disappeared, the insects that had been obeying Rin ignited into black flames and vanished.
Thud.
Rin collapsed next to Sen.
*
“Ares!”
Adriana found Ares right away.
After all, she was clinging to Ares before Sen and Rin activated the magic in her room.
“Adriana?”
Seeing Adriana in such a pitiful state, Ares could only be startled.
Moreover, it was a situation where Arni Duratan and Elise were not present.
Ares was with the male students, blocking them from seeing Adriana’s disgraceful appearance, and he asked,
“What’s wrong? Is something happening?”
“Help me! Please save me!”
“What?”
“A beast! The beast is coming!”
As her scream echoed, screams began to arise around them.
It was as if dark clouds were approaching, flying toward them with the insects led by Apviel.
Thanks to Sen and Rin buying time, Adriana was able to reach Ares, but if not, she would have died right there.
“What is that?”
“Isn’t it a beast?”
“Run away!”
Following her friends, Ares tried to run away with Adriana but she shook her head.
“I can’t run! It’s chasing after me! Ares! You have to kill it!”
“I?”
Ares looked back and forth at Adriana and Apviel with a confused expression, then shook his head.
“That’s clearly something I can’t handle. Let’s run away!”
“Don’t be ridiculous!”
Adriana shouted loudly. Her head was in such disarray that she didn’t even know what she was saying, but…
She was pouring out her feelings like a dam had broken.
“Destiny said! You are the one who will save me! So I devoted everything to you! Now you have to save me!”
Logically.
Which man would fight a monster for a woman he hadn’t even met?
That’s why Adriana chose carefully.
The blond man she saw in her fate.
Only having seen his back, all she knew was that he had a strong build and used a sword.
There were many candidates, but they were eliminated.
In the end, only two men remained in front of Adriana.
Ares Helias and Daniel McLean.
Ares was blond, wielded a sword, and he seemed a bit larger, resembling the man from her fate.
On the contrary, Daniel McLean hadn’t even been a candidate until recently.
But when she learned he could defeat Zavalanco, she hoped maybe…
He wielded a sword and had a body similar to the man in her fate. But he wasn’t blond.
So she asked him.
If he had any plans to dye his hair blond.
He flatly stated,
“No.”
Then Ares was the only one left, and Adriana had invested everything in Ares.
“Stop talking nonsense! You think it’s chasing you? L-Let’s run away first!”
Though he said that, Ares broke free from Adriana, who was clinging to his clothes and started running.
Ares, praised for his top-notch athletic abilities, was something a witch like Adriana couldn’t keep up with, and of course, he began to distance himself.
“Ah, aah.”
In the end, unable to catch up, Adriana fell and rolled on the ground.
The insects began to crawl closer.
“Is it time to stop squirming?”
Closing his wings, Apviel stood before Adriana.
A smirk was plastered on his face.
“How pathetic.”
The words of the insect and beast Apviel pierced through Adriana’s mind.
Pathetic?
Me?
Is wanting to live so disgusting?
She slowly looked at herself.
Dressed in revealing clothes to tempt Ares, they were now torn to shreds in this chaotic situation, leaving her in a hideous state.
Her face was smeared with tears and snot, and no matter how beautiful a woman she was, she couldn’t even bear to look at herself.
Her hair was a mess, chewed by insects.
She had unknowingly sweated, mixing with the smell of waste, creating a foul odor.
“Ah.”
I see.
I am so pathetic.
The girl who desperately wanted to survive and see the world finally found the courage to close her eyes after looking back at herself.
Where did it all go wrong?
Injustice and rage flared up, ultimately burning away the desire to survive within her.
Her desire to live turned to black ashes that scattered away.
“Have you given up now? A witch without faith who sold everything for her life, a woman no different from a street whore; even the insects won’t eat your corpse.”
Adriana now wished for someone to kill her quickly.
Trying to completely forget her pathetic self.
“Stop talking nonsense, seriously.”
Apviel was suddenly pushed back by someone’s sword.
The cloud of insects obscured the sky, but the sunlight breaking through the gaps made the man’s blond hair shine even brighter.
A man standing before Adriana wielding a sword.
“Ah…”
Adriana slowly opened her mouth.
It was that moment.
The very scene she had seen in her fate.
Daniel McLean.
He stood before her, becoming strangely blond for some reason. Even in a situation where everyone was fleeing, he charged towards Apviel, swinging his sword.
Daniel slowly turned to look at Adriana.
In what should have been a reassuring situation, Adriana instead felt her face flushed with shame and covered her face with her hands.
“D-Don’t look! Don’t look at me, the pathetic and dirty woman begging for her life!”
She didn’t want to show anyone her disgusting self.
Having thrown everything away to survive, she found herself in a grotesque state.
But Daniel responded with a chuckle.
“That’s only natural.”
What’s the problem, he seemed to say.
He didn’t understand why she was so upset.
“Of course, you want to live; everyone feels that way.”
“But…!”
“Of course, some people risk their lives based on their beliefs. Some may have something even more precious than their lives, but…”
Daniel slowly turned to block Apviel, who was glaring at him.
“Someone like you doesn’t need to be so. You’ve acted in a completely natural way.”
She might not know it, but Daniel deeply empathized with Adriana.
Do you know?
What I’ve seen.
The reality where the world had once perished.
People died, castles fell, and kingdoms vanished.
As if mocking the bloody human life,
The dead rose and killed the living. With the dead turning to the undead to kill more living beings.
In the end, everyone perished.
But even after humanity faced annihilation.
Even though there was no future remaining, there were those who continued to fight, flee, and survive.
Hiding in the forest, using powerful magical beasts as walls, gathering all known knowledge and strength, they thrashed with all their might to stay alive.
A man who has fought the longest, desperately trying to survive from inevitable death.
That’s me.
Daniel McLean.
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