I Thought I’d Reformed the Villainous Heroine. But Their True Nature Remained Unchanged, and They Were Still Being Doted On—I Just Don’t Have Enough Lives.

Boy Meets Girl That Started Late

The fierce battle between Ilza and Void Lilah kept going.

Ilza used her domination magic to create dozens of spears from the water surface and fired them like bullets. She even sent tsunamis crashing in, but none of it worked on the formless Lilah.

[Dark Princess! Formless attacks don’t work on something formless!]

“Then I’ll just grind you down. …Spears, waves, whirlpools. Erase that thing.”

[Kuhaha! Useless, useless! Know that the one the princess faces is the only natural enemy in the whole world!!]

All kinds of water pressure slammed into Void Lilah, but the thing just floated around like it was relaxing in a kiddie pool.

Ilza was bad at creating something from nothing.

She didn’t have enough crushing force, and it didn’t work on a collective of shadows.

[Now it’s my turn! Go! Shadow eyes!!]

Countless eyeballs appeared all over Lilah’s body, and purple laser beams shot out from the pupils.

Ilza seemed to have poured magic power into her physical abilities. She dodged at high speed like slipping through spider threads.

[Now it’s tag! Come on, run around!]

“You really like playing. …So you were created just for me?”

Ilza kept dodging but didn’t drop her relaxed attitude.

Still, her clothes were slightly torn, her fluffy hair was wet from the water, and she was covered in mud. She didn’t look like her usual delicate self.

Big brother number three had already been destroyed and was out of commission.

One of Lilah’s lasers flew right past me and I almost screamed. I wanted to run, but my right arm was bound by shadow and I couldn’t escape.

“Upper-being battles are scary…”

Right next to me, Myris was watching the fight with an impressed look.

She seemed to be looking for an opening, but the shadow around her legs had her completely stuck.

“Wow, this isn’t something a regular assassin gets to see. What a treat.”

“I can’t get that fired up.”

“You’re still able to joke around, so that’s impressive.”

I didn’t have any real composure. It was just my usual defiant attitude.

“Why can’t Lady Ilza interfere with the shadow?”

“Probably because it’s a shadow carrying magic that her domination doesn’t reach. …Looks like Void Lilah was made that way on purpose.”

You can’t control what you can’t understand.

That was Ilza’s weakness, and a trait of the Eisenburg family.

Just like Void Lilah said, it really was her natural enemy.

It had also appeared in the game [Yggdrasil Defense Decisive Battle] as one of the demon side’s trump cards. The demons created it thinking about the time when the original Ilza’s madness would turn toward her own kind.

In the original story, Ilza actually bared her fangs at the demons too.

Her madness, malice, and endless desire for domination swallowed her dark brethren.

What started as a cooperative relationship turned into total control, turning them into perfect pawns.

One of the game’s bad ends was [The end where Yggdrasil collapses from the battle between Ilza and Lilah]. No one could step in during that fight between higher beings.

Damn, they already made a natural enemy.

They must have spotted Ilza’s talent a long time ago and seen her as a threat.

[Frustrating, isn’t it? Annoying, right? You can’t control me at all!]

“Be quiet.”

[Dark Princess! The world isn’t yours alone!]

“Be quiet, I said.”

Ilza was stuck on the defensive.

Lilah was an ancient shadow.

Its whole body was made of magic beyond human knowledge. You couldn’t understand it without going past human limits.

The current Ilza… but if…

[Princess! You’ve awakened your unique spell code, haven’t you! If you use it, you might be able to fight me a little more properly!]

“I told you to be quiet. —Great wave, crush it.”

The wave crashed in, but Void Lilah didn’t care at all.

[Kuhaha! How long are you going to keep pretending to be tough!! Or do you like wasting effort? Is that why you hang around with the great sinner!!]

Ilza didn’t answer. She just kept fighting alone.

I wasn’t helping at all.

“Ilza!!”

Even when I shouted, Ilza didn’t turn around. She wouldn’t show me her face.

Come to think of it, I realized we hadn’t made eye contact this whole time.

“Young master. Why isn’t Lady Ilza using her unique spell code?”

“I don’t know either—”

I shouldn’t know, I really shouldn’t… but suddenly I thought.

In the original story, when Ilza chanted [Absolute Domination], she followed her true nature, kept dominating everything, and became a being that spread madness and malice everywhere.

Maybe she was aware of what would happen to her.

Maybe that’s exactly why she still hadn’t let go.

It didn’t feel like Ilza at all. I didn’t understand why.

I didn’t know how to call out so she would look at me.

That… that felt just a little bit lonely.

“Young master?”

I was naturally reaching my hand out toward Ilza. Like reaching for the moon, a girl I could never reach. A girl it was impossible to stand beside.

The girl who, even after falling to darkness, was never understood by anyone and stayed alone.

Because I didn’t understand, I wanted to talk to Ilza, wanted to go to her side.

The unknown felt so frustrating, and not being able to understand felt so sad. Way more than during the dungeon clearing… I was angry at myself.

—There was a soft click, like a gear turning.

It wasn’t my imagination. I definitely heard a gear turn inside me.

The sound of gears turning that the original Gant could never hear.

Proof that I had finally stepped into the spiral of fate.

How my… the Eisenburg family’s magical nature [Control] actually worked.

“You should’ve just told me from the start… Dad…”

It probably wasn’t something you could understand just by being told.

I was the one who had to seriously despair at the unknown before I would try to understand the world.

I could read it. My own letters. My own words appeared for the first time.

I placed my fingers on the sword, knowing this was something the original Gant could never do.

“—Guided Control Active!! Fly, sword!”

The sword shot out like an arrow.

It cut into the fight between Ilza and Lilah and spun around in the air.

I did it?!?!?

A unique spell code the original Gant never had?! And I could control the sword perfectly!

[…What are you planning, great sinner? Don’t tell me you think you can challenge me with something like this?]

Void Lilah glared at me with all its many eyeballs.

I can’t, I can’t win, and I’m scared.

But Ilza was looking at me.

She was finally facing me.

“No way I can win. Even though it’s a nice awakening moment!”

[Then what are you—]

“I’m doing this. Guided Control Active!! Come back, sword!”

The sword that had been spinning in the air flew back toward me with force.

Here we gooooo—!

This way I’ve got nowhere to run!!

And then the sword sliced off my right arm.

…………～～～～～～～～～～～～～～!!!

My eyes were flashing! The constant burning pain from the nerves being cut made my head feel like it was exploding!!

Ha, ha, hahaha—!!!

While standing up, I picked up my right arm that had come free from the shadow binding.

“Heh, hehehe… the pain is making me laugh! Guided Control Active, and now stop the bleeding… Myris, preserve my right arm with magic and reattach it later.”

I tossed my right arm to Myris, who had been blinking repeatedly.

The maid caught it carefully, looked happy even though her clothes got stained with blood, and spoke respectfully.

“Understood, Gant Zie Eisenburg.”

“What’s with that? Not funny at all.”

She doesn’t think I’m some kind of freak and feel happy about it, does she?

I’m not a freak, this is normal.

I walked across the water with normal steps, blood dripping with each one, and stood in front of Ilza.

“Gant brother… Gant brother… Gant brother…”

Ilza’s voice sounded unusually shaken… maybe?

She was so deeply evil that I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

“It’s fine. It went clean off, so it hurts a bit less than the complicated fractures from training.”

“Only a bit less?”

“…Having no arm where it should be is pretty rough mentally.”

“So that’s what you mean by ‘a bit’? …Maybe you should rethink your daily training?”

Ilza gave me a wry smile.

Even if she’s evil, I’d rather she smile.

“Maybe. …Hey, Ilza.”

The silver-haired angel-demon waited for my next words.

She looked a little confused, like she thought she was about to get scolded. It was a very girlish expression.

She really is still a kid.

She acts selfish because she doesn’t want me to go anywhere, works hard behind the scenes because she wants to play together… The process and methods are pure evil, though.

But her feelings are ordinary and average, just like my desire for peace.

If you reach out for ordinary days,

I’ll tell you it’s nothing, even if I have to stretch out the stump where my arm used to be.

“Let’s go home already. Your big brother is tired. Let’s continue the camp. Eat something good, talk nonsense, and then sleep really well.”

Ilza’s eyes widened and she stared blankly.

It was a rare expression. I should remember it.

“Is that all?”

“Yeah. Those are the important things to me, so I came all this way to say it. You wouldn’t even look at me, and it was making me anxious.”

Ilza stopped talking.

Maybe she was so stunned that her emotions got lost. I was scared of her getting closer to the original Ilza, but I wanted to give her a push.

“…I don’t know what you’re hesitating about. No matter what spell code it is, I’m not giving up on our regular camp life.”

This time Ilza looked at me like I was the ridiculous one.

After making a deeply moved face, she said casually,

“I wasn’t hesitating.”

“Huh?”

“Because doing exactly what you’re told is annoying. It feels like ‘don’t underestimate me.’”

I’m pretty sure my mouth fell wide open. Ilza was giggling softly.

Hey hey hey! That’s so like her!

“You’re such a kid!!”

“Yes, I am a kid. …And I didn’t look at you because I was dirty.”

She laughed like a real child, and it was impossible to deal with.

Even after understanding the unknown, I didn’t get a satisfying answer.

That was probably another truth of the world.

“Brother… and I also had a flash of inspiration.”

“Inspiration?”

“Yes, something more… a spell code that fits the current me. But I was shown that I shouldn’t only think about myself.”

Ilza looked up at Void Lilah with a cool expression.

Lilah, who had been swallowed by the atmosphere, came back to its senses and shouted.

[Ah…?! Y-You, great sinner! Are you seducing the princess again! It seems you are a dangerous element! I’ll tear off more than just your arm!]

Shadows, fangs, and eyeballs all locked onto me at once.

It was the moment I even prepared for death.

Ilza smiled and chanted the spell code like she was announcing good news.

“—Love Ego Domination. A world just for me and my brother.”

A heavy pressure burst out from Ilza, and Void Lilah stopped.

No, it felt like the whole world stopped… it really did stop?!

No way———…? Huh??? D-Did the original Ilza dominate concepts?!

Did she stop time?!?!? Eh, ehhh——….

Oh, but it looks like some things can still move a little???

Maybe because I was so shocked, the Ilza who had reached new territory smiled like it was funny.

“It’s a magic barrier. It consumes a lot of magic power, but it slows everything except me and my brother down as much as possible. …It’s a limited magic that only works when you’re by my side?”

Ilza whispered with heated eyes.

Why make it so limited…

“I’ll let Myris into the world too.”

When Ilza moved her finger, the frozen Myris started looking around curiously.

“Haha, when I grow more, you’re gonna grow even faster, so I don’t feel like I can catch up.”

“But you’ll stay by my side.”

“Yeah. If you reach out, I’ll grab your hand.”

Maybe it was my imagination, but my little sister’s cheeks seemed to blush just a little.

…She really has grown differently from the original story.

Love Ego Domination sounds kinda bright and light for a spell code. Big brother is happy.

That’s right, Ilza is trying to walk the path of light.

Thinking of a bright future, we smiled at each other.