The Grill-Wielding Saintess of the Dead

Chapter 132: Abyss 2

“One, two, three… four.”

“That’s it. Take a step. Keep your shoulders still, twist your waist…”

Shia’s physical abilities and miracles were strong enough to live up to her name as the Saintess of the Dead.

Even with clumsy movements and little experience, as long as there was overwhelming power to offset them, nothing was lacking.

Shia and Menelapie had always lived together like that, often and closely.

Teaching what was missing. Guiding what was unknown.

They were the closest existence to each other.

But now…

[Kyaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!]

Could they never return to that relationship?

Could they never go back to how things were?

Every time Menelapie saw Shia howling like a beast, tormented by hunger and starvation, her heart felt like it was being torn apart.

The beast, shedding black tears and craving flesh and malevolent energy, was once Menelapie’s most precious friend, like family, and together they had saved the world as the greatest and holiest Saintess of the Dead.

Now, seeing her reduced to a monstrous creature screaming in agony, Menelapie wanted to scream along with her.

The battle that began in the early morning continued without pause until the sun set, the stars lit up the world, and a new day began again.

At first, Menelapie wept, holding onto a faint hope, praying for a miracle.

Someday, if she endured long enough, maybe one day… Shia’s reason would return.

Maybe they could reunite.

Shia, we promised, didn’t we?

We promised to meet often before death.

Shia, we made a vow, didn’t we?

That we wouldn’t leave each other first…

Crack!!

“Ugh…!”

[Graghhh!!]

Menelapie winced as Shia tried to bite the same shoulder she had bitten before.

Pain?

No.

The physical pain would heal quickly.

But the pain in her heart never healed.

Shia would never do this. If she came back, this would never happen… Shia, Shia. Can you really no longer hear me?

[Sundering Strike – Rose Slash]

“Kyaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!”

“Sh-Shia…!!”

With a light swing of her golden rose sword, Shia’s body was sliced.

Blackened blood gushed from the wound like a waterfall, and her pale skin cracked like a doll’s shell.

The thing that wore the face of the Saintess of the Dead screamed in agony and resentment toward the world, and Menelapie bit her lip.

That wasn’t Shia.

Shia had asked her.

Stop hesitating.

Please stop hesitating.

I always kept my promises to Shia.

I was always the hero who protected Shia.

So, what the hell am I doing right now…?

[Graaaaahhhhhhh!]

But I made a promise.

I, I promised you.

I swore to grant your request.

Menelapie clenched her teeth and gripped her sword again.

One strike was not enough to stop.

The body of the Saintess of the Dead was incredibly powerful.

With that body, its monstrous strength, and the tentacles clashing with her, ravenous hunger gnawing at her, if she were to fall into any country, she would devour all humans without leaving a single one behind.

Even an army of tens of thousands or thousands of wizards attacking Shia all at once wouldn’t be able to stop her.

But that didn’t mean she was stronger than the original Shia.

Shia had been kind, merciful, and a holy saintess, guided by ethics and goodness in her actions.

Menelapie knew better than anyone how terrifying and extraordinary Shia had been, using miraculous and unthinkable powers alongside that strong body.

Now, though, Shia was nothing more than a beast, having lost her reason and unable to use miracles.

Of course, to others, a beast devoid of ethics and morality like the current Shia might seem far more frightening, but not to Menelapie.

To the hero who had protected the world, it was much easier to subdue Shia now that she had lost her reason.

Crash!

[Grah… Grrahhh… gah….!]

“…..”

She severed the tendons in Shia’s arms.

Cut the ligaments in her fists. Sliced the tentacles lunging at her.

It was repulsive, horrifying, sad, and nauseating.

This nightmare, beyond words, felt never-ending.

Was what I was doing right? Was it the correct thing to do?

‘Shia, there’s an opening…’

[Kyaaaahhh!!]

Sometimes, Menelapie intentionally left openings in her defense.

Openings that the Shia who had regained her reason would have undoubtedly exploited to knock her down.

But this beast, time and again, behaved like nothing more than a simple creature, as if to say it was no longer the Saintess of the Dead or the Shia that Menelapie knew.

[Gragh!]

Slice!

Its movements were so predictable.

She cut. Slashed. Severed the Achilles tendons in its ankles, then sliced again.

As she mutilated the body of her dearest friend, Menelapie felt as though she were carving up her own heart.

[Grrah… grrr…]

It was all over.

Even the mighty body of the Saintess of the Dead could be disabled quickly as her tendons and ligaments were severed one by one by the hero’s swordsmanship.

It’s over now.

Drip, drip…

As Shia had asked, now, now… to the heart…

“…I can’t.”

Why can’t I?

Don’t stop.

If you leave her be, she will rise again.

Drip… drip…

The impossible body of the Saintess of the Dead, even though wracked by hunger and seizures, would regenerate in no time, no matter how torn her body was.

If I miss this chance, I don’t know when that monster will go berserk again.

‘Get up.’

Shia asked, didn’t she?

Shia asked me… asked me for one last favor…!

So why, why now…?

Why now… am I… doing this… Get up already…!

“I absolutely… can’t.”

Drip, drip…

Shia.

Do you remember?

The day we first met.

The day we won together.

The days we played together.

The days we slept together.

The day we held each other.

The day we went on outings together.

All the days we spent together.

I remember them all… every one of them.

And so… because of that… I…

“I simply…”

I simply can’t…

The fallen body of the dead began to boil once more.

The severed tentacles reformed into flesh and displayed their teeth.

The flesh that bubbled from the black liquid became the body of the Saintess of the Dead again.

The golden opportunity, the chance to kill the Saintess of the Dead, vanished like the wind the moment the Emperor gave up.

If she remained still, Menelapie would be devoured by the beast.

And after Menelapie, it would be the humans somewhere else.

Yet, even so, Menelapie couldn’t move.

She couldn’t take up her sword again.

“I simply… simply…”

“I simply cannot. How could I let go of your hand… Even if, even if I’m devoured by you…”

Kneeling weakly, Menelapie looked up at the beast before her.

Even though it had lost its reason and the light it once had, it still bore the form of her one and only saintess.

My saintess.

My Shia.

How could I abandon her?

How…

How…

“I simply can’t…”

No matter how much you begged, no matter if it was your final request…

The one who disappeared so cruelly.

How could you do this?

I… I simply cannot do it.

I’m sorry.

I’m sorry…

[It’s okay.]

“What…?”

Sh… Shia…?

The touch I felt again was warm.

It wasn’t the cold hand of a beast.

But at the end, it was trembling terribly.

Even though Menelapie had found a thread of hope at the edge of a cliff, she soon realized that it was futile.

The tentacles spewing hunger and starvation remained unchanged.

Shia’s hand, shaking with the pain of hunger, had not been relieved in the slightest.

But even so, it was warm.

“It’s… okay…”

At those weakly murmured words, Menelapie blankly stared at Shia.

There was nothing she could do.

She couldn’t even respond.

It was as fragile as my slowly fading sun, my light.

But still, Shia spoke.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

It’s okay.

As Shia’s eyes gradually dimmed, not black tears but the same clear, white tears as Menelapie’s began to fall.

“Everything will be alright.”

The warmth of our clasped hands was so comforting.

I didn’t want to let go, I wanted to hold on forever like this.

Shia.

Shia…?

Ah, no…

No, no…

Nooo…!

Don’t go, you can’t…!

Ah…?

Why, why, why…?

Shia, why did you let go of my hand, why, why…?

Why did you do that…?

Why, why…?

[Goodbye, my hero.]

…I see.

You’re gone.

Why?

How?

Shia.

Shia…

You’re really gone…

We’ll never… see each other again.

Shia, Shia.

My light.

My saintess.

My Shia…

I’m sorry.

No, I won’t apologize anymore.

I… I… am just an unworthy, useless fool who doesn’t even deserve to apologize to you…

But don’t worry.

Wait for me. Wait for me, Shia…

I’ll soon follow, my light…

●●●●●●●●●●

Some time later, a woman draped in a dark shadow was walking down the palace corridors.

Teresa Katrin.

She had overturned countless knowledge and taboos to try and quell Shia’s hunger attack. And she had achieved some results, but by then, it was too late.

‘If I had just one more month, one more month to endure…’

If I had just a little more time, maybe I really could have solved it.

Though uncertain, the results weren’t completely nonexistent.

But Teresa hadn’t expected things to worsen so much in the brief moment she had stepped away.

‘No, it’s still okay.’

However, she postponed any regrets about being too late for later.

Now wasn’t the time to blame herself or to grieve.

Not yet, not yet…

Although an unexpected event had occurred.

Nothing had been decided yet in this timeline.

“Her Majesty ordered that no one be allowed to enter.”

The imperial guards bowed apologetically, but Teresa gave them a sideways glare.

“I don’t have time to chat with the likes of you. Move.”

“Even if you are the court mage…”

But Teresa, who wasn’t known for her patience, didn’t tolerate it even once, let alone three times.

“Move, you bastard!”

“Ugh!?”

Bang!

With a flick of Teresa’s hand, the body of the imperial guard was forced back as if bound by invisible strings.

The transparent threads soon disappeared, but the imperial guards had already opened the path to the palace doors.

Teresa snapped her fingers, creating purple magic lines around the doors and herself.

“If you show yourself past this line.”

Teresa looked at the guards with cold eyes.

“I’m not as kind as Shia. I won’t clear out anyone blocking my way nicely. If you’re curious about how durable your body is, just cross the line.”

“…Understood.”

Despite her being a hero who had saved the world, Teresa was notorious for her temper and eccentric personality, so the imperial guards bowed their heads helplessly.

As Teresa stepped into the palace, she frowned at the sight of the curtains that hadn’t been drawn properly and snapped her fingers.

The curtains, draped like a veil, were torn open one by one at Teresa’s touch, and dim sunlight illuminated the dark interior where the Emperor resided.

And inside, the scene was a mess.

A table shattered in rage, crushed flowerpots spilling water all over, and broken chairs and walls—it looked more like the house of a madman than the palace where the Emperor lived.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Teresa’s voice cut through the room as she spotted Menelapie slumped weakly in a chair.

“…..”

“I said, what are you doing? If someone asks you a question, you answer, you wench. Or do you want me to start by hitting you first?”

But Menelapie turned her head, as if she didn’t even have the strength to respond.

“…Get out.”

“Hah, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

The hero who saved the world.

The Emperor of this empire…

Not doing her work.

Half turned into a wreck… crying alone in her room like this?

“Hey. What are you doing right now?”

Despite Teresa’s question, Menelapie couldn’t speak for a long time.

Teresa sighed briefly, grabbed a chair from somewhere, and sat down beside her.

Even though she told her to leave, Menelapie knew this witch wouldn’t listen anyway, so she stayed quiet.

In the awkward silence, the two of them could only long for the one who wasn’t there.

“Witch.”

“What.”

“….Do you know what I… I said at Shia’s last moment?”

“What did you say?”

“I said I’d follow soon…”

Pfft…

Menelapie let out a hollow laugh.

“But how could I follow her?”

That child said it would be okay.

When in truth, nothing was okay…

“That child, for my sake, for our sake… went away so tragically, and yet, how can I just throw away my life so easily…”

But Teresa didn’t mourn in response to those words.

“Hah, so what. You’re not eating anything. You’re not doing anything. You’re holed up in your room like a bug, thinking about what you failed to protect. You don’t even have the courage to die.”

She looked at Menelapie with disdain.

No, she didn’t just seem disdainful—her expression was filled with clear disappointment.

“You say you miss her, and this is the pathetic display you put on?”

At that moment, Menelapie grabbed Teresa by the collar.

“Do you even know how I felt the moment that child fell!!! Do you even know what that child felt!!!”

You said you’d find a way.

You said you’d come back! But you, you, you!!

What the hell were you doing!!!

“I don’t know!”

What?

“Because I wasn’t there!”

“…Ugh!”

Would it have changed anything if you had been there?

If you had returned sooner, something, anything…!

“Yeah, damn it! I was out there running around trying to find a way to help Shia while she was struggling, and by the time I barely made it back, the situation spiraled so far out of control that I couldn’t even lift a finger, a useless idiot of a witch! But what the hell are you doing!? Snap out of it!”

At that moment, Menelapie realized something.

Anger at herself?

Both you and me.

Menelapie, and Teresa too.

We were both the same.

We couldn’t protect the one most precious to us. We couldn’t help.

And we were left behind in this nightmare, feeling guilty for letting her go.

So, are you going to stay stuck like this?

“But even though I wasn’t there, I know what you two talked about… and why Shia jumped into the Abyss.”

As Teresa spoke, Menelapie slowly released her grip on her.

“Of course, I can guess. Shia… she was too kind.”

Menelapie knew Shia well, but this Dark Witch…

Teresa knew her very well too.

Sometimes, to a frightening degree.

“Shia wouldn’t have wanted to steal other people’s lives just to continue her own. She probably held on until she could no longer control herself… and then, when she couldn’t endure it any longer, she must have asked you.”

At those words, the memories of that day in the Abyss resurfaced in Menelapie’s mind.

“To stop her.”

Shia’s plea to stop her.

“…Even if it meant killing her.”

It’ll be okay.

Shia’s last words, telling her everything would be okay…

“You couldn’t do it. So Shia made her own choice.”

In the end, it was Shia who made the decision.

She let go of Menelapie’s hand and…

She fell into the deep, dark, endless Abyss.

“That you couldn’t stop her in that situation? It’s understandable. I was alone too, and if that kid had made up her mind in front of the Abyss, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stop her either… So, I’m not going to hold you accountable. I don’t even want to blame you.”

But this time, Teresa grabbed Menelapie by the collar in a raised voice.

“But what I can’t stand is seeing you holed up like a pathetic mess, crying your eyes out! You just said it yourself! Shia made the choice to save you, us, and this world, so you couldn’t just throw your life away!”

At those words, Menelapie’s eyes wavered.

“Get up. Get up and look properly.”

With that, Teresa dragged Menelapie and forced open the window, revealing the world outside.

Not the dim sunlight, but the brilliantly shining sun that lit up the morning of the empire.

The world Shia and we had saved was still shining brightly today.

“You, I, and Shia! We gave our lives to protect this world. And you’re the emperor of this country. You’re the hero who saved the world!”

Are you going to let all of that go to waste?

“Use your head like a leader. You’re Shia’s friend, yes, but you’re also the emperor of this country.”

Shia would be so proud to see you.

“Don’t neglect the things you have to do.”

“……….”

For a moment, light seemed to return to the eyes of the once broken Menelapie.

Now that’s a little better.

“And Shia’s necklace, the half of it. I know you have it. Hand it over.”

“…Shia’s memento, you mean…”

“A memento?”

“You stupid bitch. Shia isn’t dead.”

“…!”

“If you dare to talk about mementos or death in front of me one more time, I’ll tear your mouth apart.”

At those words, Menelapie reached for the necklace still hanging around her neck.

It was a necklace that Shia had made for Teresa and Menelapie by concentrating her holy power into a crystal.

Containing Shia’s vast holy power, it could be considered a relic in its own right.

“Is it precious to you?”

As Menelapie touched the necklace, recalling the missing Shia, Teresa shamelessly demanded.

“It’s precious to me too. So give it to me.”

“What do you intend to use it for…?”

“I’m going to use it to open a path.”

“…A path…?”

Are you saying you’ll pierce a hole through dimensions?

Even calling it impossible wouldn’t be enough.

How do you plan to reach a world that hasn’t even been observed?

With magic? Or with something else?

Such magic or sorcery doesn’t even exist…

“…No knowledge, no origin, no way. Even if there’s a chance, how do you plan to overcome those astronomical odds?”

“Odds? I don’t know. I’m a witch, not a god. I don’t know whether this method will succeed or fail. And if it fails…? There’s nothing okay about that. We’ll disappear without a trace.”

“…It’s impossible with such an uncertain method. And anyway, we haven’t even observed another world…”

“A method like that? Impossible?”

But Teresa shrugged as if she didn’t care.

“I’ll find the way. While you’re sitting here crying like a child, I’ll be taking steps forward, trying everything I can.”

Everything.

“When that child was in the most pain, when that child finally left, I couldn’t do a damn thing. So I’m going to find her. I’m not going to act like an idiot like you. If Shia saw the way you’re acting now, she’d be so happy! Oh, she’d be so proud, watching the two idiots who couldn’t do a thing, crying like fools. ‘I knew it, they can’t do anything without me,’ she’d say, shaking those ridiculously huge breasts of hers and laughing. Then I’d lay her down and… damn, just thinking about it is driving me nuts. I’m never giving up, even if it’s just to see that again.”

At Teresa’s scathing words, Menelapie couldn’t respond.

Yeah. Even from her own perspective, and surely from Teresa’s too… if Shia could see her now, she’d definitely be disappointed…

“…I’ll give you a day.”

Seeing the golden light return to Menelapie’s eyes, Teresa turned her back.

“Get your act together by then.”

“…Thank you.”

“Ha, thank you, my ass. Anyway, if I come back tomorrow and you’re still in this state, I’ll destroy this entire palace.”

With those final words, Teresa disappeared into the shadows.

Off to her workshop… to continue her research, no doubt.

Well, thank you, Witch.

“…Yes, I promised Shia that we would meet again… that I would follow her.”

Then I must keep my promise.

“Shia knows… I’ve never broken a promise.”

Shia.

I promised you.

I’ll follow soon.

But that doesn’t mean through death.

We will, without fail, we will meet again…

I’ll come soon, my light.