Side Story: The Girl in the Margins
Demons. Beings whose inherent magical power and individual strength far surpass those of humans—a race seemingly born to exterminate all others.
In contrast, the Angels. The progenitors of humanity, transcendent beings who still gaze down upon the earth from the heavens. Adorned with ring of heaven, a magical generator floating above their heads, and wings upon their backs that embody mystery, they stride freely through the skies.
Once, these two races—known as the Ancient Ones—vied for supremacy over the world. But their war was brought to an abrupt end by humanity, a creation of the Angels, whose evolution far exceeded all expectations.
With potential surpassing the Angels and cruelty rivaling the Demons, humanity rose to power. Scattered across the earth, the Demons were driven into hiding, while the Angels ceased all interference in the mortal realm.
Millennia passed. Humanity claimed the earth as its own, ascending to the pinnacle of the hierarchy.
Through coexistence with the primal Dragons and Divine Beasts, they gained the strength to oppose the mighty Demons. And so, an uneasy equilibrium was formed—one that included the non-interfering Angels.
This balance endured for ages… until a single event shattered it.
Years before the summoning of the Corpse King—Hizaki Shiou—and his classmates, a fateful encounter took place between Demons and Angels for the first time in millennia, hidden beneath the shadow of humanity’s wars.
An Angel woman and a Greater Demon. Two races that should never have coexisted intertwined, giving birth to an anomaly.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… my beloved child.”
Forgiveness was impossible. Thousands of years of resentment could never be undone.
[The Unforgiven Life]—that was how the Celestial Emperor judged the newborn.
[The Omen of Rebellion]—that was what the Demon King feared most in the infant.
A stain upon the Angels. A threat to the Demons.
From the moment of her birth, the child was an enemy to both races.
Her mother vanished, leaving her behind. Her father was executed by the Demon King.
Burdened with overwhelming power and a cursed fate, the girl had no choice but to endure a life of solitude.
■
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
A vast, snow-covered forest, blanketed in silence. The snowfall concealed all traces of life, as though no living thing remained.
Beneath the ground, countless creatures surely hid, waiting out the winter.
“…Haaah.”
Quiet. The white mist of her breath tightened around the girl’s chest.
There was no escape from loneliness. Even for a girl who had long since lost most of her emotions, the instinct to fear death remained.
It was inertia. The act of living was nothing more than an escape from the terror of dying.
Hope had already been crushed.
“…Cold.”
Her fingertips were numb, her toes devoid of sensation. Countless lacerations, red with blood, marred her snow-pale skin.
She had once ventured into a human town. But what awaited her there was a whirlpool of depraved desire.
Slave traders and countless others sought to deceive her, drawn by her otherworldly beauty.
She did not fear capture—she had power.
She did not care about defilement—she had long since lost any sense of self-worth.
But… but… the loneliness was terrifying.
So overwhelming that even those humans began to seem precious in her eyes. humans who wanted to kill her. Deceive her. Defile her.
Yet even the slightest conversation, the briefest touch from them… brought her comfort. And that was what truly terrified her.So she could not return to the towns. She did not want to interact with humans.
If I fall once…
Snapping herself out of the thought, she forced her mind into submission.
“…I’m… hungry.”
Even if she tried to scavenge carcasses, none could be found in this bitter cold.
Her thin cloth garments offered no protection. The freezing chill steadily drained her vitality. Her magic barely sustained her, but not for much longer.
The amount of magic she expended outweighed what she could draw from the air. She was running on fumes—within days, her body would sink into the snowdrifts.
It was hateful. There was no hope, no future. And yet, the instinct to keep fleeing from death was hateful too.
“…Lonely.”
She didn’t want to die.
“…Why?”
Her tears should have dried up long ago.
Though she had grown accustomed to the fear of being hunted, the relentless loneliness—something she could never grow used to—threatened to spill out in sobs.
She was simply unfortunate. Born into a vortex of resentment, burdened with malice and history she had no part in.
There was no one to answer her questions. Even if there were, the answer would only be: It couldn’t be helped.
A child of taboo, bearing the blood of Angels and Demons.
A girl crowned with a tainted, discolored ring of heaven, left to writhe in despair.
Night after night, she was haunted by dreams of her mother whispering, “I’m sorry,” as her heart rotted away.
“Stay… with me.”
She wanted someone there.
“…Talk to me… hold me…”
She didn’t need apologies. Just warmth—even if only in dreams.
But her yearning went unanswered. The biting cold never ceased its torment.
“——Ah.”
At last, her knees buckled.
Legs that had carried her for days, for years, now refused to move—as though she had missed her footing on the last tightrope over the abyss of despair.
“U… goh…”
Cold.
“Ah… aahh…”
Despair gnawed at her. Emptiness crawled through her body.
“Someone…”
Even if only at the end.
“Someone…”
Touch her.
“Someone…!”
Smile at her.
“So… meone…!”
—Please, love me.
Her tear-streaked face sank into the snow as consciousness faded into darkness.
■
Crackle… crackle…
A red glow illuminated her closed eyelids, warmth enveloping her body.
The flickering ember of her life, nearly extinguished by the cold, had been firmly rekindled.
“Nn… ugh…”
The sound of crackling firewood reached her ears, dragging her from the depths of slumber.
What met her skin was not the cruel chill, but the lingering heat of flames.
“…Why… am I——”
“—You’re awake?”
“—!?”
Startled by the sudden voice, she reflexively tried to sit up and put distance between them.
“…!”
But her body refused to obey, heavy as if weighed down.
“…Who… are you?”
Her wary gaze met the figure seated across from her—
a man (judging by his voice) wrapped entirely in a gray overcoat, watching her from behind the flickering flames.
With an exaggerated shrug, he remained still. The sudden heat and suspicion twisted her heart into knots. It wasn’t comfort—no, not at all. But this sensation, like being wrapped in warm mud… what was it?
“…Why am I here?”
“I was training when I noticed footprints that hadn’t been there yesterday. Lucky for you. A little longer, and the snow would’ve erased all traces—including you.”
His manner of speech was theatrical, but his voice sounded young. The coat obscured his features, but he seemed to be in his late teens or twenties.
“That doesn’t answer my question. I asked why I’m here, not how you found me.”
“The reason I brought you here? …Well, leaving a dying child to freeze doesn’t sit right with me.”
She didn’t know who he was. She had no reason to take his words at face value. A suffocating silence lingered, broken only by the whisper of wind against stone.
The man leaned against what appeared to be the back wall of a cavern, icy gusts from behind her battling the fire’s warmth. They must be inside a cave.
Attempting to retreat, she found her feet unwilling to move, frozen ground beneath her protesting against the cold.
Her body, still teetering on the edge of death, instinctively rejected the chill.
From beneath his hood, the man observed her trembling before tossing another log into the fire.
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