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{3rd Pov}
Crusch Karsten's life began within the distinguished House of Karsten, one of the highest-ranking noble families in the Kingdom of Lugunica, known for their unwavering loyalty to the Royal Family and the royal institution itself.
Born as the sole heir to the house, Crusch displayed an unusual level of maturity from a very early age—well beyond that of other children her age.
While many noble girls spent their days hosting tea parties, playing with dolls, and engaging in polite social gatherings, Crusch's interests lay elsewhere.
She was drawn instead to swordplay, military strategy, and battle tactics.
At the age of nine, Crusch encountered Felix Argyle, who at that time was suffering under the cruel abuse of his father due to Felix's demi-human heritage.
When word of the situation reached the public, Crusch's father saw an opportunity to strengthen the Karsten family's standing. Leveraging the scandal, he stripped House Argyle of nearly all its properties, leaving them with only a small portion of cultivated land and a single mansion.
To young Crusch, this act appeared to be pure justice—a necessary punishment for the mistreatment of Felix.
Even years later, she would remember it as such.
Her father took Felix into the Karsten household, and over time Felix became not just a ward but one of Crusch's closest and most trusted friends.
As Crusch grew older, her preferences for attire and demeanor began to deviate further from societal norms.
She preferred to wear masculine clothing and devoted herself wholeheartedly to martial training, something her parents found troubling.
They feared the consequences of their daughter openly rejecting the expectations of noble society.
To appease her father, Crusch reluctantly wore women's clothing in public, though her heart was never in it.
This changed when she met another close friend, Fourier, who encouraged her to embrace her true self without concern for convention.
With his support, she abandoned overly feminine clothing altogether and continued honing her skills, her confidence and abilities growing steadily over the years.
Felix and Fourier remained by her side, aiding her personal and political development.
On her seventeenth birthday, disaster struck within Karsten territory.
An incident involving the legendary Great Rabbit broke out, threatening the safety of the land.
Crusch took command of the response, playing a decisive role in forcing the Great Rabbit to retreat.
Her leadership during this crisis impressed her father to such a degree that he formally passed the title of Duke to her. Under her governance, the Karsten Duchy prospered.
Years later, another crisis emerged—this time connected to House Argyle.
Felix's father, driven mad by the death of his wife, turned to forbidden magic: the Sacrament of the Immortal King.
Using its power, he created an army of corpse soldiers to serve his will.
What followed was a sequence of dangerous events: Crusch herself was kidnapped; she was later rescued by the Karsten household's maid, who was secretly Felix's true mother; and eventually, she participated in putting an end to the madman's schemes.
Crusch returned to her duchy afterward, but her respite was short-lived.
During this time, Fourier, her dear friend, fell gravely ill—just as members of the Royal Family had begun dying one after another.
Despite her hopes, he passed away in her lap.
To Crusch's outrage, his death was treated as an insignificant matter, brushed aside without ceremony.
The kingdom's Wise Men and other officials were more concerned with re-establishing the ancient contract with the Divine Dragon than with mourning the death of a royal, however minor they considered his position.
Having grown up reading stories of the Lion King and the monarchs of Lugunica from before the Divine Dragon's pact, Crusch had already come to believe that the kingdom's reliance on the contract had made its rulers complacent and apathetic.
Fourier's death solidified her conviction: the current system was flawed, and the Divine Dragon's contract was a key part of the problem.
When the Divine Dragon's prophecy for the Royal Selection was announced and Crusch was revealed as the first Royal Candidate, she resolved to win the throne and end the contract once and for all.
It was during this period that she encountered Wilhelm van Astrea, who had been temporarily imprisoned after clashing with the Wise Men over their refusal to provide troops for his quest to slay the White Whale.
Crusch met with him, listened to his grievances, and earned his loyalty by promising to aid him in his revenge.
Everything seemed to be aligning in her favor—yet another opportunity to prove herself, to rise higher, and to secure her claim.
When the Royal Selection began in earnest, Crusch entered with overwhelming momentum.
She was widely regarded as the strongest candidate.
In her mind, there was no realistic threat: how could a nameless baroness cursed to kill her husbands, a common-born slum dweller—even with the aid of Reinhardt—and a half-elf with an uncanny resemblance to the Witch possibly compete with her?
Even Julius Juukulius, a knight of considerable prestige, had sworn his loyalty to her only months prior.
She secured alliances with Chuden Agri of Hoshin Company and Russell Fellow, bringing them together to assist in her upcoming campaign against the White Whale.
Her plans were thorough, her forces elite, and her partnership with the Hoshin Company of Commerce ensured supplies and resources.
She was confident in her tactics, bolstered by the presence of Wilhelm, Felix, Julius, and the Iron Fang mercenary group.
Yet when the time came, disaster struck in a way she could not have predicted.
The White Whale appeared suddenly, without warning, catching her forces unprepared.
She later struggled to understand how such a basic error had occurred—why she had failed to send scouts ahead and how she could have made such a rookie mistake.
Pushing aside her doubts, Crusch ordered a full-scale assault.
The battle was fierce and chaotic.
To her shock, the White Whale generated clones of itself, confusing her soldiers and thinning her ranks.
Even with every ounce of her skill and the combined might of her allies, the fight was brutal and costly.
Through a series of calculated maneuvers, heavy sacrifices, and unrelenting effort, they managed to slay two of the White Whales, leaving only one remaining.
Even though her forces had been reduced to nearly half their original strength, Crusch still saw victory within her grasp.
The chance to bring an end to one of the Four Great Mabeasts in the world was right before her eyes, a moment that could define her legacy. She believed she could seize it.
But then, in an instant, that belief shattered. The White Whale regenerated its clones, revealing the horrifying truth—it could create them infinitely.
There was no limit. There was no end. The battle was now unwinnable.
With the tide irreversibly turned against her, Crusch was forced to order a retreat. More of her soldiers fell, and Ricardo was among those who perished.
In the chaos, Wilhelm made his decision. Realizing that if he fled now, there would never be another opportunity to avenge his late wife, he chose to remain behind.
He would hold the White Whale at bay, even if it meant his own death.
For him, dying in battle was far preferable to living on as a coward who had abandoned his cause.
He fought with everything he had. And while he kept the beast occupied, Crusch, gritting her teeth in frustration and grief, focused on saving the lives of those who remained.
With Julius and the Iron Fang mercenaries covering their withdrawal, she managed to pull back what was left of her forces.
When she returned to the royal capital, her head hung low.
She had been defeated—utterly, unquestionably defeated—and the loss struck a devastating blow to her reputation.
Yet, despite the shame and humiliation, she refused to leave things as they were.
To honor Wilhelm's sacrifice and to avenge the soldiers who had fallen under her command, she petitioned the Wise Men to deploy Reinhardt himself and finish the White Whale once and for all.
She knew that such an act would inevitably raise the popularity of the Felt camp, Reinhardt's allies, but that didn't matter.
What mattered was ensuring that the monster that had claimed so many lives would never roam free again.
The Wise Men refused.
Their official explanation was that the latest information on the White Whale confirmed it to be an even greater threat than anticipated.
Deploying Reinhardt, they claimed, was no guarantee of victory, and if he were to fall, the kingdom would lose one of its most powerful defenders.
Absolute Bullshit!
To Crusch, it was nonsense.
She knew they were not motivated by concern for Reinhardt's safety. They had their own hidden agendas, and the lives already lost meant nothing to them.
The denial only deepened her resolve.
She became even more determined to ascend the throne and dismantle the ancient contract between the kingdom and the Divine Dragon.
Her heart burned with hatred, with guilt, and with grief.
The following year was spent rebuilding her political standing, repairing the damage done to her name after the White Whale defeat, and quietly planning for another attempt at slaying the beast.
It was during this time that a letter arrived—an unexpected one. It was from Roswaal L. Mathers, speaking on behalf of the Emilia camp.
Crusch was well aware that Emilia's popularity had risen sharply after defeating the Sin Archbishop of Sloth.
Under normal circumstances, the victory might not have been so significant, but coming so soon after Crusch's own disastrous failure, the contrast was glaring.
The letter contained Roswaal's proposal: an alliance between all the Royal Selection candidates.
At first, Crusch found the very idea absurd—how could rivals competing for the throne unite in any meaningful way? Such an arrangement seemed destined to collapse.
However, she also knew that if Emilia managed to unite with the other candidates while she refused, it could leave her politically isolated.
She decided it was better to attend the meeting, if only to keep her options open and prevent the other camps from forming an alliance without her.
The gathering place was set: the Water City of Priestella.
Crusch arrived several days ahead of the meeting, as did Felt and Priscilla, both of whom had grown their support significantly over the past year.
They waited for Emilia's arrival, but soon received another letter from her camp.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, her group would be delayed for several days, and they expressed their apologies for the inconvenience.
Crusch thought little of the delay and was content to wait.
But the very next day, before Emilia could arrive, the city of Priestella fell under sudden attack—by the Sin Archbishops themselves.
In the end, the Royal Candidate Felt was captured by none other than the Sin Archbishop of Greed. Her abduction made it clear that the Sin Archbishops' sudden attack on Priestella was not a mere display of chaos—it was a calculated strike.
Faced with such a threat, Crusch and Priscilla set aside their rivalry and formed a temporary alliance.
Both understood that survival, as well as the safety of the city, depended on coordinated action.
Together, they devised a plan to divide the enemy forces and tackle them separately.
Reinhardt would face the Sin Archbishop of Greed directly, his overwhelming strength making him the most suited for the task. Priscilla, driven by fury after learning that the city's beloved Songstress had been killed by the Sin Archbishop of Wrath, took it upon herself to deal with Wrath personally.
The Sin Archbishop of Gluttony, meanwhile, became the responsibility of the Iron Fang mercenaries, who happened to be in Priestella on a commercial mission for the Hoshin Company of Commerce.
As for Crusch, she chose her own target: the Sin Archbishop of Lust, who had seized control of the city's floodgates and was threatening to unleash devastation.
She would lead the assault alongside Julius and Felix.
Their progress was quickly interrupted by the sudden appearance of corpse soldiers—undead monstrosities animated to serve as shields and distractions.
Julius, recognizing the danger they posed to the mission, engaged them head-on to keep the path clear. His intervention allowed Crusch and Felix to press forward toward Lust's position.
Crusch's confidence remained high. In her mind, the Sin Archbishops, while dangerous, were not invincible.
Emilia had proven as much when she managed to kill one—even if the feat had been accomplished with the aid of a Great Spirit but most importantly it was without the backing of a trained army.
If Emilia could achieve such a victory, then Crusch, who considered herself a far more capable and disciplined leader, could certainly do the same.
Even her previous defeat against the White Whale had not shaken her conviction that she was superior to the other candidates, especially a silver-haired half-elf whose resemblance to the Witch was impossible to ignore.
But in the end?
Her belief became her downfall.
Felix was struck down and rendered unconscious, and Crusch herself suffered a crushing and humiliating defeat at the hands of Lust.
They lost. Completely.
She did not know what had become of Reinhardt, Priscilla, or Julius, but she knew one thing for certain—the Sin Archbishop of Lust had overpowered her and Felix.
Then came the humiliation.
That vile woman—Capella, the embodiment of Lust—decided to amuse herself further. With her twisted magic, she transformed Crusch into a grotesque monstrosity resembling an oversized fly, yet cruelly left her mind untouched.
Crusch remained fully conscious, trapped within a repulsive, alien body.
"Haha! Look at you!" Capella laughed, her voice dripping with mockery. "Now why don't we see if your loyal little knight still adores you… even when you're nothing but a beast?"
'Please! Stop this!' Crusch screamed in her mind, but the sound that emerged from her new mouth was nothing more than garbled, insect-like suction noises.
Capella, ignoring her silent pleas, moved to Felix's unconscious form.
With deliberate malice, she used her own blood to curse him, jolting him awake with the searing pain of her corruption.
"I-It hurts! L-Lady Crusch, where are you?!" Felix cried out, clutching his body in agony. His eyes burned with anger as he looked toward Capella.
"What have you done to Crusch-sama?!"
"Oh? Asking about your precious Lady?" Capella's lips curled into a cruel smile.
"Tell me where she is! If even a single strand of her hair has been harmed, I swear I'll kill you—even at the cost of my own life!" Felix roared, his voice raw with both rage and desperation.
Capella's grin widened, her amusement plain. "Oh, you want to see her? Then why don't we bring her to you? Say, Crusch, why don't you come greet your lovely knight?"
Felix's expression shifted to confusion as a massive, Witch Beast-like creature stepped forward.
His body trembled, but his voice rose again. "Where is Crusch-sama?"
Capella burst into hysterical laughter. "Do you see this ugly, revolting thing? This foul creature? I made it. I turned your beloved Lady Crusch into this. And now, here she is, standing right in front of you!"
Felix's face went pale, all the color draining from it as he stared at the enormous mosquito-like abomination.
'Please… don't look at me like that!' Crusch begged silently. But her monstrous body betrayed her, moving forward toward him against her will, her suction-cup mouth drawing closer and closer.
Felix stumbled backward, falling to the ground in horror.
When she came within reach, the grotesque appendage near his face, he gagged violently and vomited, bile and half-digested food splattering across her.
"No… no! Lady Crusch cannot be like this! This is not Lady Crusch! She cannot be this disgusting!" Felix broke down, his voice cracking as tears streamed down his face.
Crusch was devastated by Felix's words.
She had expected pain from Capella, humiliation from being transformed into a monstrous form—but not this.
Even if she knew she was no longer human, even if she understood she had lost any semblance of beauty, she had believed, deep down, that Felix would still recognize her for who she truly was.
She thought that, regardless of how far she had fallen physically, he would see through the degradation and find a way to help her.
But when she saw him recoil in disgust—pissing himself, vomiting on her, and screaming as though she were nothing but a nightmare—something inside her cracked.
Capella, of course, reveled in their mutual suffering. The more they broke, the more she seemed to enjoy herself.
And the days that followed were far worse than the moment of defeat. Each morning, Capella would transform Crusch into a different form—always hideous, often barely recognizable as a living creature.
Sometimes she was reduced to an amorphous, bobbing mass of misshapen flesh that could not even be described as an animal.
Through it all, Capella left Crusch's mind untouched.
She was forced to remain fully aware, trapped in a body she could not control, moving and speaking only at Capella's command.
Felix, meanwhile, deteriorated further with every passing day.
Crusch watched him lose more and more of his composure, his sanity fraying until he began to lash out at her monstrous forms.
He struck her, clawed at her, and sometimes outright beat her, all while shouting denials and refusing to believe she was his Lady Crusch.
She tried to tell herself that Capella was twisting his mind, forcing him to act this way.
But when Capella, with a mocking smile, revealed that she wasn't doing anything to influence him—that he was acting on his own—Crusch felt her heart shatter completely.
Her life became nothing but pain, degradation, and abuse.
She prayed for rescue. She prayed for her kingdom to send help. She even prayed for the Divine Dragon—the very being she had sworn to oppose—to come and save them.
But no one came. No army. No allies. No miracle.
As the days dragged on, she began to turn inward. She thought about every choice she had made, every battle she had fought, every word she had spoken. She began to feel guilty even for things she had never done.
'It's my fault,' she told herself.
'All of it is my fault. If only I hadn't been so foolish… If only I hadn't tried to defy the Divine Dragon… If only I had realized my failure long ago… If only I had given up on the throne from the start…'
A single tear rolled down the distorted eye of her current form.
This form, ironically, was perhaps the most "humane" she had been in weeks—an obese, bloated version of herself, weighing hundreds of kilograms, unable to move without assistance, and barely able to speak.
Every word was a struggle, every breath a labor.
Still, she thought maybe—just maybe—Felix would look at this form and remember her.
That seeing something closer to her old self, even in this grotesque state, might spark his loyalty again.
She was wrong.
"Die! Die! Die! Give me back my Lady Crusch! You are not Ferris' Lady Crusch!" Felix screamed, stabbing into her massive body with a dagger over and over. His face twisted into a mad, almost feral expression as he struck.
'Please stop,' Crusch begged silently, her vision blurred by the folds of bloated flesh that covered her eyes.
'Please, Felix, stop!' she cried again in her mind.
"I… it… hurts…" she managed to choke out, her words mangled by her deformed mouth.
Felix froze for a moment, his eyes widening. But then, instead of recognition, disgust overtook his face again. He turned pale, gagged, and vomited for the second time.
In his mind, this thing in front of him could not possibly be his Lady Crusch. She was supposed to be beautiful, proud, charismatic, intelligent, wise, and compassionate. Not weak. Not pathetic. Not a revolting mass of flesh.
Not this.
He resumed stabbing her, again and again, until the curse Capella had placed on him finally took its toll, rendering him unconscious.
Crusch no longer cried.
The pain from the countless stab wounds was unbearable, her body bleeding heavily—but she knew she would not die. Capella had made her body resilient enough to endure these injuries, just so she could keep suffering.
An hour passed in silence. This time, she did not even bother to hope.
Whatever will to fight or endure she had left seemed to fade away completely.
And then—
"Oh man, this is worse than I thought."
She heard a voice. A voice that was not Capella's, not Felix's, not one of the jeering Sin Archbishops.
She didn't know it yet, but her salvation had finally arrived.
To be continued...
(A/N: I am planning to make this version of Crusch an love interest, do you like the idea?)