In a corner of the vast Demon Realm, two flashes of light streaked across the sky followed by a thunderous roar that shook the earth.
Thousands of tree roots erupted from the ground like spears aimed at the heavens, only to be instantly flash-frozen by a gale of sub-zero wind howling down from above.
"……!?"
"Ugh..."
A torrent of Magic Power raged like a storm. In the eye of the gale, amidst the trembling atmosphere, two Shadows stood in opposition.
"……Lilliwood…… don’t…… get in my way."
"……I cannot allow you to go to the Human Realm, Isis."
Everyone in the Demon Realm knew the names of the two figures facing each other.
Death King Isis Remnant and World King Lilliwood Yggdrasil. A clash between members of the Six Kings was a literal natural disaster; the landscape as far as the eye could see had already been reduced to a desolate wasteland.
It had all begun thirty minutes prior. Lilliwood had moved to intercept Isis as she headed toward the gate leading to the Human Realm, and the confrontation had quickly escalated into a battle.
"……This has…… nothing to do…… with Lilliwood."
"It has everything to do with me! The Human Realm and the Demon Realm have only just signed a Friendship Treaty, and the situation is still extremely fragile. We cannot allow even a single crack to form in the trust we have finally built."
"……Then…… why…… why do you…… stop me?"
"……Must I say it? I have no desire to do this, Isis. Truly, I don't. But in the current climate, your presence is simply too dangerous."
"……Why……"
"Because the Magic Power of Death you clothe yourself in is an object of terror to all living things."
"……That’s…… not true."
"Stop looking away! You know the truth better than anyone... to humankind, you are nothing but an 'object of terror.'"
"……!?!?"
Lilliwood likely had no desire to speak so harshly. Her expression was strained, as if she were swallowing something foul, yet she forced herself to deliver the cold reality. Upon hearing those words, Isis froze, her eyes wide with shock.
A brief silence followed, only to be shattered by the sudden surge of Isis's Magic Power.
"……No…… no…… NO!!"
"……"
With a voice like a weeping scream, Isis’s Magic Power exploded in response to her raw emotion. A Grand Magic Circle manifested in the sky, making the very air vibrate.
Even as she faced a spell of such intensity—one fueled by a fierce, desperate intent—Lilliwood remained composed. She manifested a Magic Circle of equal scale upon the earth.
A Grand Magic spell cast by one of the Six Kings was powerful enough to reduce dozens of kilometers to ash. Rather than launching a counterattack, Lilliwood intended to use her own magic to neutralize the impact and protect the land.
However, before Isis could unleash her heavenly wrath, a jet-black Magic Circle appeared, overlapping the pale blue one in the sky. With a sound like shattering glass, the spell dissolved.
"……!?"
"This is……"
Kuromueina appeared between the two combatants, her coat fluttering as it transformed into a pair of jet-black wings.
"Did I make it in time?"
"Yes, you’ve been a great help, Kuromueina. Even I have limits when it comes to suppressing collateral damage on my own……"
Lilliwood breathed a sigh of relief and offered her thanks. In contrast, Isis grit her teeth.
"……Is Kuromueina…… also going to…… get in my way?"
"No, it’s not that I want to get in your way. Isis, I understand how you feel, I really do... but could you at least wait until the world is a bit more stable?"
"……"
Isis bit her lip, her expression suggesting she was far from convinced. However, she did not attempt to force her way through as she had when facing Lilliwood alone. With Kuromueina added to the equation, her chances of breaking through were virtually zero.
After a long silence, Isis clenched her fists. Her body trembled slightly as she turned and left without another word.
Watching her retreat—a sight that looked as though she were crying—Kuromueina let out a heavy sigh.
"……She’s hurting, Lilli."
"It is perhaps inevitable. Now that the Friendship Treaty has been signed between the Human and God Realms, she likely understands the politics of it... and yet, she couldn't help but hope. She thought that perhaps the Human Realm or the God Realm might finally be the place to accept her."
"Isis gets lonely so easily. And lately, we’ve all been so busy that we haven't had much time to talk with her……"
As they watched her go, both Kuromueina and Lilliwood wore sorrowful expressions.
In the two years since the Friendship Treaty had been established, both Kuromueina and Lilliwood had been constantly traveling between the Human and Demon Realms to maintain peace. However, Isis had not visited the other realms even once.
To be precise, she was forbidden from doing so, no matter how much she wished to go. Enveloped in the Magic Power of Death, Isis was an object of pure terror in the Human and God Realms; those of faint heart would collapse in a dead faint the moment they laid eyes on her.
While the world was still finding its footing, they simply could not allow her to wander freely.
"Kuromueina. Why is Isis so fixated on the Human and God Realms? Are we not enough to stave off her loneliness?"
"I suspect we can't heal her loneliness in the 'true sense.' The reason is actually very simple: it's because we possess great power."
"Because of our power?"
"Yeah. I think Isis sees it this way: the only reason we can treat her normally is because we have the strength to withstand her aura. In her mind, if we didn't have that power, we wouldn't accept her either. What she really yearns for is someone who will accept her unconditionally—someone who, despite lacking the strength to resist her, will take her hand without fear. That’s why she’s so desperate to reach out to the weaker humankind."
"……I see. But is that not an impossible dream? I cannot imagine a human ever being able to stand before her Magic Power of Death."
"……It’s certainly a tall order. Even Hikari-chan couldn't manage it."
The person Isis sought—someone weak who would still accept her—was a person who essentially did not exist.
Among the humans they knew, even Hero Hikari, who possessed perhaps the strongest heart of all, could not face Isis properly. She had only been able to force out a few words while her entire body trembled with instinctive terror.
While that was a testament to Hikari's willpower, it fell short of what Isis truly craved.
Recalling the look of utter heartbreak on Isis's face, Kuromueina and Lilliwood both lowered their eyes in shared grief.
The Land of Death, the Castle of Ice.
Within her own home, Death King Isis Remnant was weeping.
"……Ugh…… why…… why……"
She was a manifestation of the residual Magic Power left by the countless dead. In a sense, she was the very concept of death given physical form.
From the moment of her birth, she had carried the Magic Power of Death within her. It exerted a constant pressure of Intimidation on everything around her, regardless of her intent.
It didn't matter if Isis felt no hostility, nor did it matter if the person before her was brave. The biological instinct of every living thing was to reject her existence.
And so, she was utterly alone.
To the vast majority of the Demon Realm, she was an object of dread. She was an Undead, and while species like Wights and Liches were technically her kin, even they fled from her in terror.
She had earned her place among the Six Kings solely because of the threat she posed, and she was whispered to be the most dangerous of them all.
Yet, in reality, she had no desire to spread death. She wanted nothing more than to be friendly to anyone who did not raise a sword against her, but the Magic Power of Death she wore made it impossible.
Only those with power equal to hers could look her in the eye. Everyone else feared her and stayed away. This reality had left her with a crushing sense of isolation that she had endured for thousands of years.
If she could have just stayed resigned to her fate, she might have found a measure of peace.
But despair is born only because hope exists.
The moment the three worlds joined hands and the horizon expanded, a spark of hope had ignited within her.
If it was impossible in the Demon Realm, then perhaps in the Human Realm, or the God Realm... perhaps there, she would find someone who would take her hand even without the power to resist her.
That hope had now been returned to her as a crushing weight of despair.
No one would ever truly accept her. No one would ever take her hand from the bottom of their heart.
Her grief turned to tears, and the King Clad in Death howled in her solitude.
The one she had sought for millennia would not appear for nearly another thousand years.