Vol 1 Chapter 23: The Options of Hope and Despair (Great Labyrinth Arc)

Before Kaim—amidst anger and hatred, hope and despair, and countless other emotions swirling together—I screamed until my throat felt as if it were being crushed.

I don’t remember much of what happened next. All I recall is that Kaim tried to protect Nio. That was when he became enveloped in a burst of explosive magical power.

That overwhelming, chaotic sensation—where only Kaim’s voice could be faintly heard—dissipated along with my consciousness when my body was blown away and slammed into the wall.

When I next woke up, a black demon stood before me—the very one Kaim had been chasing, calling him the Demon King.

Perhaps he had succeeded Nio. As I came to understand that, I realized I had lost both the outlet for my negative emotions and the one person I could cling to: Kaim.

The black demon said, “They both ran away.” At that moment, something inside me snapped. Or perhaps something that had finally been coming together—what Kaim called “hope”—was crushed and torn to shreds in the face of reality.

I could no longer let myself be swept away by negative emotions, nor could I break down in tears.

After all, Kaim did not run away with me; he ran away with Nio.

For me—who had spent hundreds of years alone in the darkness—Kaim was nothing less than the “Knight of Hope.” A hero clad in light, as if straight out of a storybook.

Above all, to me he appeared as a prince on a white horse, come to rescue a captive princess.

So I clung to him. Even though I knew it was blind devotion, I was determined to devote everything to Kaim until I defeated that former hero who had emerged from the darkness and was waiting outside.

That was, until Kaim uttered Nio’s name.

That woman had once approached us, the Ancient Elves, claiming it was to maintain the balance among the three races. We, who had been working independently for the sake of peace, agreed with Nio’s proposal as Demon King, believing it to be the path to peace.

We believed, devoted ourselves, and—alongside our kin—overcame countless near-death experiences.

It was all driven by our belief that the immense power bestowed upon us would not fuel conflict, but rather be able to quell it.

Everyone trusted Nio. They placed everything in her. I was no exception.

And yet, Nio betrayed us. She exploited us and discarded us so that she could secure benefits for herself.

As everyone harbored resentment and hatred, the Ancient Elves were cast out, and one by one, they perished.

Only I—the young one—always managed to survive. The adults refused to let me be the sacrifice; they insisted that if anyone were to be, it should be one of the elders who had trusted Nio and made those fateful decisions.

In those endless days of flight, we learned that the Demon King had changed.

Over the long course of history, we realized that Nio’s way of leading the demons was entirely different from the methods of those who were now pursuing us.

Though we weren’t completely certain, bits of information gradually emerged suggesting that Nio herself was being chased by the demons—and some Ancient Elves believed that this betrayal was not of her own volition.

But if only everyone could accept it so easily, how different things might have been. Even though we knew it wasn’t truly Nio, the ones chasing us were the very demons that she had once led.

A race that deceives other races—a race that relishes in battle. The shadow of Nio, their leader. The truth that they had been betrayed by the demons.

A faith muddied by suspicion is worthless. In the end, with every life lost, we had no choice but to let our hatred for Nio serve as the sole refuge for our will to survive.

If we hadn’t done so, our hearts would have shattered. Even the Ancient Elves who insisted, “It isn’t Nio; it’s not her fault,” eventually perished.

In the end, with everything remaining ambiguous—neither purely black nor white—only I survived. Alone and trembling in fear, I had lost the will to resist. I had no choice but to accept death.

Weary of endless days of fleeing and despondent over the loss of my comrades, I found that death was the only salvation left for me.

And yet, I was kept alive—chained by bonds that could neither let me die nor be broken, sealed away in the depths of a labyrinth.

At first, the demons would come by as if I were a sideshow attraction. I was subjected to unspeakable cruelty. I lost my dignity as a woman time and time again.

But it seems that even among the demons there was a code. After I was stripped bare and relentlessly abused, someone would say, “It’s the Demon King’s order. The Ancient Elf might be used someday, so keep her clean.”

My 【Sticky】, sticky body was washed with cold water, my wounds were clumsily mended with restorative magic, and I was given new clothes.

Then, as if to make it seem like “nothing had happened,” the demons would depart.

In the midst of days filled with pain and terror, only one thing held my heart together.

It was “hatred for Nio.” That woman was the one who had imprisoned me here. Despite knowing I was being toyed with, she turned a blind eye. The demons worship that woman.

That is why I have been subjected to this torment. Even if no one ever visits that room again, it will never fade away—instead, it continues to live on in my heart as pure hatred, with a burning desire for revenge taking the place of my empty spirit.

Someday, I’ll definitely get out of here and take my revenge.
With that resolve in my heart, I harbored my thirst for vengeance for a hundred years, two hundred years… for so long that I lost count.

That was why my heart never shattered. I might have as well become a ruined shell, but instead, the flame of vengeance burned darkly within me, continuously mending its shattered fragments.

…Yet, I had grown utterly tired of those days. No raging fire burns forever; even the fiercest blaze eventually dies down. Over time, my thirst for revenge was gradually worn away until it was on the verge of extinguishing, at which point I began to confront my own sins.

Because of me, so many died. Because of me, the world was twisted. Because of me, my comrades were annihilated.

So I decided to atone for my sins. But how? Ah, yes—I’ll atone by dying. Yet whenever I recalled the chains cursed to prevent my death, the pain would become so excruciating that it felt as if my head were splitting, and I would lose consciousness, only to eventually awaken and repeat those hazy memories.

I lost count of how many times that cycle repeated. But eventually, I began to regain self-awareness.

At last, the moment arrived when my heart truly broke. With both my thirst for vengeance and my guilt completely gone, I simply waited to be ground down by time and darkness.

But then, a ray of light broke through.

That was Kaim. He shattered my chains, granted me freedom, reached out his hand, helped me rise, and gave me a reason to live—he bestowed every hope upon me.

Kaim became my everything. In the span of my imprisoned time, our meeting was as fleeting as a blink—but it illuminated my entire world.

If it means being with him, I’d do anything. I’d give my very self—even if it were blind devotion. He saved me when all that remained was my body, while my heart was on the verge of death. That alone is reason enough to devote myself completely.

So I vowed in my heart.

And yet, of all times, it was at that moment that Kaim—who had saved me—uttered the name of Nio, the one I despised.

In an instant, long-forgotten memories surged back, and the flame of vengeance was rekindled.

Likewise, I began to resent even the very thing to which Kaim was attached. That resentment became kindling for the flames of revenge. I vowed—making sure not to utter any falsehood—that I would absolutely kill her, and I advanced toward Nio.

Even though I was utterly exhausted from hating her, my thirst for vengeance surged uncontrollably, gripping me and refusing to let go.

At last, just one more swing and it will all be over. Then, I will be free—to walk into the future with Kaim.

“We will live in a new world,” he said. Surely, my face—likely twisted by madness—could not possibly reflect the turmoil I harbored within.

I knew that. Yet I couldn’t help but let a smile creep onto my lips, unable to contain my excitement.

But because of that, I ended up fighting Kaim—and he took away the arm I had so painstakingly healed.

I had thought that he, angry at me, would abandon me and run away…

“Kaim…”

Ahead of me, I see him—now missing an arm—still locked in battle with the current Demon King.

Even though he should have fled, he came here. As I pondered why, Kaim’s words and actions—and, above all, Nio’s words, the ones I had once despised so fiercely—told me it was “to save me.”

Both Kaim and I came to know the truth, both were betrayed, and both fell to the depths.

Yet Kaim chose to continue fighting. To honor the promise he made to save me, he threw himself into a reckless battle.

And then, as if to put an end to that recklessness, Nio fixed her gaze on me.

“…Can we win?”

What is it that I must do? Is there a future there? I ask Nio.

She replied without the slightest hint of hesitation or faltering.

“I can’t say for certain,” she said, and then added, “But there is hope.”

“Everything hinges on whether you—yes, the Ancient Elf—lend your strength. That’s all I can tell you now,” she continued.

“My… power…”

The accursed power that once wrought a grievous mistake—the very power that ultimately cost Kaim his arm.

That very power, transcending time, is now needed by Nio once again.

Everything rests on my own will. Do I silently sink back into darkness in despair, or do I cling to hope and accept the proposal of Nio—the very one I once deceived and loathed?

Despair or hope—being forced to choose between the two was one of the possibilities I had longed for in that darkness.

I had often wished that time could be reversed, sparing me from having to make such a choice; I had prayed that, as time passed, my power could change everything.

――Now, right before my eyes, lies the place where the wishes that had once been nothing more than fantasies and delusions can come true.

――Now is the time.

With my body trembling feebly, I summoned every bit of strength and courage to make my final decision, and I faced Nio head-on.

“Tell me what I must do.”

At last, I saw her—a smile reminiscent of the one I had once seen in the mists of time, a smile that never conveyed an ounce of malice.