I clutch the blue flower, red droplets falling. Drip, drip. Each pulls at my consciousness. I cling to it, panting like a dog. Scattered flesh, once human. I swallow hard, barely suppressing the urge to crawl and devour.
"…You okay, Lady Aura?"
Linie's voice. She's beside me, supporting my faltering steps. She followed. Eating that apple to curb this urge. So efficient—Himmel's training. And me? Pathetic, staggering, drunk on instinct. Barely conscious. Laughable. I can't mock that monk anymore.
Then—
"It is you, Aura."
The hunt's master appears.
Gross, unchanged from yesterday, save for the blood on his armor and the gore on his axe. His strength and size shred humans instantly. This is the result—a mesmerizing carnage.
"What's wrong? No complaints? Or are you finally in the mood?"
He misreads me. Understandable. I don't know why I'm here myself. Driven by impulse, no thought for what's next. "In the mood" isn't entirely wrong.
"Too late. Hunt's over. Some escaped, but you can handle that."
The hunt's done. Pity. If I'd arrived sooner, I could've joined. If I'd realized earlier, my ■■ wouldn't have been stolen.
"…Kid."
The word slips out, delirious. Yes, a kid. My ■■ was a kid.
"What?"
"No blind kid…?"
I need to find him. I marked him yesterday. Rare ■■. Mine. Stolen by this brute. I promised to meet again. I have to keep it.
"Dunno. Killed some fleeing kids, but I don't check. Your prey? My bad."
I get it. Vir was my prey. I came to keep him, not lose him.
That's why this feeling—anger, jealousy. My prey taken, my hunting ground violated. I restrain myself, yet he indulges.
But I deny it. I have no right. This is familiar. I've done worse, rampaging, plundering, turning corpses into puppets. The village chief, the monk, asked what I felt. Nothing. That was my answer. So why deny a demon now?
"Why… did you attack this village?"
I echo Vir, questioning myself. I know the answer—no reason, just desire. Yet I know it's more. This scene isn't just that. It's—
"Odd question. I told you. Your permission. I don't trespass without it."
My fault. My careless words to him. I didn't see it, triggering this.
No. It's irrelevant. He'd have attacked anyway, sooner or later. Weak humans, destroyed by unrestrained demons. I don't need to care. Pointless.
You too, Himmel.
I realize. I'm like him. Himmel, who let a demon child escape, causing deaths, carrying that sin despite none existing.
He said I, a demon, have no sin, no malice. True. I'm a demon. No guilt. Yet something swirls inside me, not human but real.
"You said the Hero's powerless. No need to hold back."
I can't let this go. To purge this gnawing feeling, to punish the one who did this to me.
"Right. No need to hold back."
Like a demon, I let impulse guide me, summoning the scale to avenge my prey—
"…Big sister?"
An impossible, familiar voice stops me.
"…Vir?"
I'm shocked I remember his name. I shouldn't recall human prey. Yet I do. I know him. Unmistakable—a blind kid with a staff, unique.
He's blood-soaked, but not his blood. Others'—humans who shielded him, let him escape. Human instinct.
Foolish instinct. He risks his life again. If he'd stayed hidden, my voice wouldn't have drawn him out.
"Good. Run, big sister! A demon's attacking the village…!"
Exposing himself, oblivious. Fatal for any creature.
"Survivors, huh? I'm slipping."
Gross approaches the prey. Vir can't see, can't tell human from demon. He wouldn't survive nature.
"You said you're an adventurer…"
"Blind, huh? She played with you. Quite a hobby."
Even with sight, he'd be fooled. So easily deceived by a demon like me.
"Do it, Aura. Your prey, right?"
Gross signals me. It takes seconds to grasp. Too quick.
"No… he's not prey…"
I step back, nausea hitting, collapsing. Beyond hunger—starvation meeting fresh human, a child. I can only endure.
"Fine. I'll clean up."
Gross swings his axe, no hesitation, bored, to finish it.
"Stop—!"
I shout, too late. My body won't move. Not just hunger, impulse. Doubt. Why save a human when I'm free, unbound? The price of delaying that answer.
This is my sin. Postponing because I'm a demon, with time. The judgment falls—
I see a hallucination.
"Him…mel…?"
I whisper his name, transfixed. Gross, arm severed, axe dropped, writhing.
Behind him, the Hero, cape flowing, sword in hand, shielding a child. My friend, once fearsome, my guide.
"Okay, Vir? You didn't show, so I got bored."
"Huh…? Linie…?"
The vision fades. Not the Hero—a demon. His mimic, Linie, holding Vir casually, ill-fitting for her size. To blind Vir, more so.
"Why…!? A demon saving a human…!?"
Gross, clutching his stump, screams. Natural—he, a general, was bested by a low-tier demon. Worse, a demon saving a human is unthinkable.
"Obviously. It's what Himmel would do. Right, Lady Aura?"
Linie answers, certain, echoing the Hero's Party's nonsense.
My doubts clear. I'd seen this countless times in those fifty years. Yet I nearly forgot.
Linie, Himmel—my guides.
I must remember. The accessory, their words, Linie's embodiment. Even if I forget, I'll recall again.
"What are you…!?"
Gross, bewildered, tries to move but freezes, soul seized.
"Like you said. I'll do as I please."
I place his soul on the scale, not with beastly instinct but clear intent. My will, no one's permission needed.
"I command: 'Obey me.'"
I invoke my magic's true form, first since freedom. Unlike fifty years ago—
"What's this? Not killing, not puppeting…?"
Not as Guillotine, but as Scale. Gross, expecting death, is baffled, forgetting to beg. Understandable—unthinkable for the old Guillotine. I pass judgment. Not on humans, but demons. Demons aren't judged by human sins. But I can. I'm Aura the Scale.
"Right. Instead, I'll chain you. 'You can't eat or harm humans. Ever.'"
A shackle, a curse. A death sentence for demons. Worse than death. Unable to kill or eat humans, his honed skills, demonic pride, ruined. Mocking magic itself. I know how unbearable it is. But—
I had friends, neighbors, showing another way. He has nothing. Let him live, fearing humans, suffering hunger, scorned by kin, unable to die.
"!? Don't mock me—"
"Dissatisfied? It's lenient for murder. Or want the guillotine now?"
"…!"
"Leave. Before I change my mind."
The moment I chose to live as the Scale. My atonement—
"Is something wrong, big sister…?"
"It's over. Stay here. Survivors will bring help. You can manage alone, right?"
"Y-Yes…"
After Gross flees, I take Vir to an intact house. As he said, escapees will return with a hunting party. There's water, food—he'll survive. He's lived blind. I can't stay. I might lose control again.
I sear the scene into my mind. The village, redder than sunset. Unforgivable. I place the bloodied freesia on the ground, mimicking Lily's burial rite. Meaningless, maybe fake, but hoping it becomes real, following him.
"You're… the Scale…?"
Vir, calming, full of questions. I blink. We talked about that. Self-loathing hits—I'm like Himmel, secretly helping.
"I told you. Demons lie. Be wary of strangers."
"See ya, Vir! Keep your promise next time!"
I brush it off, bidding farewell like Himmel. To not be ashamed at our next meeting. Linie's the same.
As we take flight, birds soar too. I remember. Vir taught me their name—