Chapter 1053

「…Is this hell…?」

「No. What do you remember?」

「My last memory is of Seedran getting overrun by those bastards from Raydoss, who captured my sisters…」

It seems Raydoss incited a civil war in Seedran, allowing Marle’s traitorous brother to capture her and her sisters. However, this brother was then betrayed by some underlings in league with Raydoss and forced to flee the country. Thus, Raydoss took practically full control of the country.

『Could Suarez be her brother?』

「Suarez?」

「You know him?」

「Nn, we’ve fought once.」

He’s a former Seedran royal, who descended into piracy with his Water Dragon Battleship. Uhh… What happened to him again?

Pretty sure we captured him and turned him over to the Beast Kingdom… No clue what they did with him though.

「We captured him and handed him to the Beast Kingdom.」

「I see… So my foolish brother has fallen as far as it goes. Well, I’m not one to talk with a body like this…」

Marle looked down at her hands and scoffed self-mockingly.

「Haha… I come back to my senses and realize I’ve turned into a monster that slaughtered my people. What kind of nightmare is this?」

Marle seemed to be acting tough, but I could tell her heart was filled with grief.

No wonder, since she woke up one day after turning into a literal monster. I found myself as a sword one day too, but it’s not like I murdered my friends and family.

Marle’s long eyelashes quivered slightly.

「Your race is Demonoid Ogre.」

「What is that even…? At least I have this monstrous body to thank for being able to escape the curse of servitude…」

The slavery curse apparently only works on people, so it failed to control the no longer human Marle. Her collar continued to emit mana, but Marle showed no signs of falling under its domination.

That said, her freedom was not perfect either.

「Hmm… I can’t end myself.」

Marle attempted to drive her claws into her own chest, but her body suddenly stiffened. It seems her orders were still effective, in particular, the one preventing her from committing suicide.

「I am sorry to ask this of a stranger, but… would you kill me?」

「!」

「Please…」

「…I might be able to get your collar off.」

「Even so, that isn’t good enough. I may be in control for now, but I know very well that I am losing myself. I don’t know how long I can maintain my sanity even without the collar.」

With an apologetic expression, but in a firm tone of voice, Marle asked Fran to kill her.

「You are the only one I can ask. Please, let me die as a human.」

「…!」

「Too much to ask, huh?」

The girl’s face atop the giant body looked at Fran pleadingly. Her tone of voice was haughty, but her expression was that of a girl about to burst into tears.

「I’ll…do it. It’s fine. I’ll cut… you down.」

「Ah, I see… Thank you.」

Marle exhaled in relief.

『Fran, are you really okay with this?』

「Nn. I’m fine.」

Fran’s behavior now seemed to be unrelated to her previous trauma. She gave a strong nod.

It seems Marle’s direct appeal allowed her to resolve herself.

「My name is Marle. Marle Seedran.」

「I’m Fran.」

「I see… Fran, you have my gratitude.」

「Nn.」

Marle smiled softly, before closing her eyes and lowering her head. A very impressive midair dogeza.

The posture for offering one’s neck.

In front of the silent Marle, Fran quietly raised my blade.

「I am glad to have met you here, Fran. Fuhaha, it was a short… incredibly short time, but I sensed a strange familiarity. It’s as if we’ve met before somewhere.」

「Nn. Me too.」

「I see. Oh, can you also free my water dragon? It will leave without a fight after my death. Our kingdom is gone, so they deserve their long-awaited freedom too.」

「Okay.」

「Thank you… Farewell my sisters, I’ll be going on ahead…」

「…Rest in peace.」

As the girls exchanged their goodbyes, I felt one of my skills reacting strangely. Like, as if it was talking to me?

Perhaps my skills were trying to respond to the inner wishes of the wielder, Fran. My intuition told me to trust this.

『Fran, aim for the magic stone, just to the right of the heart. You see it?』

「…Got it.」

With Marle settled down, we could now sense her inner mana. Fran also recognized the location of the magic stone.

Rather than an overhead swing, Fran folded her arms back in preparation for a thrust. Then, she delivered a precise stab.

「Haah!」

「…!」

I felt myself stabbing through the magic stone within Marle. A huge amount of mana flowed into me, but I didn’t have time to be happy about it. I began activating multiple skills.

Making full use of my auxiliary skills such as Wisdom God’s Blessing and Data Processing, I pushed my Magic Absorption, Spirit Detection, Spirit Hand, Arch-Sorcerer, and Golden Hue skills to the utmost limit.

Especially important was Spirit Hand and Golden Hue. Though incredibly faint, I sensed the aura of a spirit coming from Marle. Meanwhile, Golden Hue was practically screaming at me to use it.

Golden Hue was evolved from the Mixed Slayer skill, an ability for dealing with beings that were made from an unnatural mix of multiple creatures. This is effective against antidemons as well as beings like Marle.

In addition, the magic stone embedded within her must have come from a monster similar to a spirit. Therefore, both Spirit Hand and Golden Hue had an effect here.

I really doubt I can do anything to return her humanity, but maybe I could stabilize her existence and prevent her from losing control again.

Monsters weaken and die after losing their magic stone. They require mana to maintain various bodily functions, so losing their magic stone is equivalent to a human losing their heart.

But Marle was originally human. Maybe she could do without the stone? At least, that’s what I was thinking.

『The mana is spilling out…』

「KWAAAAAAAAH!」

But doing so wasn’t a simple matter. As much as I tried to stabilize her existence, her mana refused to stop spilling. A fountain of mana with as much vigor as her screams.

『Shit…』

Was I trying to perform an impossible task in the first place? Did I fail to consider something? As I tried desperately to regulate Marle’s mana, the two girls suddenly spoke up.

「Is this… Marle’s mana?」

「This… warmth… Is this Fran’s mana?」

W-What’s going on now? Fran and Marle’s mana began mingling together…

《Detected the activation of spirit magic. A contract has been formed between individual Fran and individual Marle Seedran.》

『Eh? Spirit magic?』