Vol 2 Chapter 44 – The Fairy Princess Dyed in Darkness【Vol 2: The Hero of the Fairy Tribe】

Time dials back significantly to roughly a month and a half after Allen supposedly died in a mutual kill with the Demon Lord.

The Queen of the Amazoness tribe and the Third Seat of the World Knights, Labilia Sigid, had been asked by Nozes—the only one remaining in the Empire—to search for the whereabouts of the Second Seat, the Princess of the Fairy Elf tribe, Eufaria.

Following her traces, she arrived at a destination outside the continent. It was a small island floating in the sea where Labilia found the Great Prison Island Gehenna, a place covered in snow and ice all year round.

Gehenna was the world’s most dangerous great prison housing heavy felons, especially criminals boasting a National-class danger level or higher who possessed a Brave Core.

Normally, a towering fortress constructed of Black Metal upon the icy earth should have been standing there.

“…Don’t tell me… Eufaria…!”

Labilia looked down upon Gehenna from the back of her partner, a massive Spirit Beast bird wreathed in brilliant flames known as the Phoenix Shiranui, only to find the prison completely obliterated without a trace.

About half of the island that should have been covered in ice had melted away, and the fortress was entirely blown away.

“…What happened to the prisoners?! Among the inmates on the lowest level, there should be 【Soul Return】, one of the Eight Demon Generals that Allen captured…”

The rugged fortress looking as though it had been exposed to magma was not all that important because that was merely the living quarters for the wardens.

The actual prison was beneath the icy earth where the prisoners were kept in a tower stretching down into the deep sea rather than toward the sky. If all the prisoners boasting a danger level of National-class or higher were unleashed upon the world, it would fall into a state of panic equal to the threat of the Demon Lord.

She had to find out the details of what had happened here.

“Shiranui. Take us down.”

“Kweeeh!”

Replying with a cry, the flame-bird slowly descended.

A large number of uniformed wardens were hard at work clearing the rubble. Contrary to the disastrous scene, the number of dead was surprisingly small and the wardens seemed to have their limbs intact.

Noticing Labilia in the sky above, the wardens waved their hands wildly.

“—L-Labilia-sama…!”

“What, is it really her…!?”

“That’s the Knight of Slashing Destruction…!!”

The wardens were evenly distributed among the six races. The most numerous was the Human tribe, but there were also many of the Giant tribe.

“…What on earth happened here?”

Dismounting from Shiranui’s back, Labilia surveyed the area with her sharp, almond-shaped eyes.

“…An attacker…! They broke in completely alone and simply blew the buildings away…!”

“U-Umm, they had their hood pulled down low over their eyes so we couldn’t see their face, but they took the six prisoners with a National-class danger level or higher from the lowest level and left…!”

“We fought back, but we were completely outmatched… We are so sorry…!”

Without looking at the faces of the pale wardens speaking incoherently, Labilia touched the cross-section of a melted building and crushed the rubble in her grip.

(A spell powerful enough to melt buildings made of Black Metal, an exceptional metal with terrifyingly high heat resistance… It couldn’t be anyone but her!)

Eufaria. This was all Eufaria’s doing.

“—Labilia-sama… Forgive me, the intruder took 【Soul Return】 with them…”

A man who had just thrown an exceptionally massive piece of rubble into the sea to rescue those pinned underneath approached Labilia. He wore a uniform that stood out even among the wardens, and his scarred face alongside his height of over three meters proved he was of the Giant tribe.

“…Head Warden Zerno.”

He was the strongest guard who managed Gehenna. A battle-hardened Giant who possessed a Brave Core, yet he was now missing one arm.

The cross-section of his wound was terrifyingly clean as if it had been severed by an exceptionally sharp blade.

“…It seems the intruder who attacked was an expert of roughly the same caliber as myself.”

“No doubt.”

Zerno nodded flatly.

“Even I couldn’t handle them. Their swordplay was terrifyingly sharp.”

“…They blew Gehenna away with magic, and then overwhelmed you in close-quarters combat, you say.”

Labilia picked up a fragment of the gate connecting to the prison that was rolling nearby. A massive hole had opened up in the center of the fortress that also served as the wardens’ barracks.

Originally, a great gate connecting to the prison that only the wardens could open should have been here, but the destruction left the inside completely exposed.

A long, massive spiral staircase allowed descent to the lower floors, and as Labilia approached it, a horrifyingly cold chill mixed with the scent of blood drifted into her nose.

“…What about the prisoners inside?”

“They’ve been completely slaughtered.”

“…”

“Except for the six from the lowest level who were taken… all of them.”

Labilia bit her lip hard enough to feel pain.

“Did the attacker say anything when they came here?”

“…Just one thing.”

Pressing down on his severed left arm, the Giant Head Warden spoke.

“—That they were going to bring Allen back to life. And that they would kill anyone who got in their way.”

(…Dabbling in forbidden arts to bring Allen back to life… Eufaria!)

Necromancy is not a miraculous divine act and is considered a taboo for a good reason.

The higher the value of the soul being brought back to life, the greater the price demanded because the price is always another soul. Necromancy is an equivalent exchange and a transaction of souls, meaning Eufaria intended to keep killing humanity until it balanced out Allen’s soul.

Certain that her former comrade had been completely dyed in darkness, Labilia hardened her resolve. She remembered the final sight of the Obsidian Knight burned into the back of her eyelids.

“…’I leave the world to you’… huh. I know, Allen. I’m just going to strike down anyone who disturbs the peaceful world you created.”

Even if that person is a former comrade.