Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 455 Mission: 07-1 Divergence

Draco's secret garden is a heart-like landscape that should never be visited by anyone.

Now, a door has been opened on this twilight wasteland that is exactly the same as it.

Only one person was invited to set foot there, and that was her beloved courtier, the poison master Locusta.

——That’s how it should be.

A golden theater stood in the twilight wasteland. Looking at Ritsuka Fujimaru and Lady Avalon who suddenly appeared before him, Locusta took a step forward, blocking the drowsy Draco.

"You actually followed me here, you are indeed worthy of being the Master."

Ritsuka put her hands on her hips and replied, "The Servant's mind is just like the world. I've been to many of them."

"Really...but it won't change anything."

"Locusta."

Ritsuka called out to the assassin who turned and walked towards Draco.

As she said, it was impossible for Ritsuka and Ms. Avalon to defeat Locusta, the guardian of the floor, but she still wanted to give it a try.

Locusta didn't look back.

"You haven't answered me yet." Ritsuka asked, "Draco is no longer a beast. She can continue to live as a Servant. But why do you still..."

"But is that really what Lord Nero wants?"

Finally, Locusta stopped and asked with his back to Ritsuka, his voice a little low.

"No, no. Lord Nero wants the end. She is so beautiful, so gorgeous, she wants and should end in this beautiful posture. An ugly existence like that—"

"Indeed, it is quite ugly."

"Who?!"

The sudden voice aroused Locusta's vigilance. However, the voice's owner remained silent, carrying the message from afar: "Just as the protagonists of this story are about to reach their journey's end, the play ends in a murder, with everyone going their separate ways? It's so ugly, so ugly. The playwright who orchestrated this play should apologize in front of everyone."

"Miss Nero...?" Ritsuka asked tentatively.

"That's right~ it's me."

However, Locusta clearly didn't like Nero's words: "What do you know? This beautiful, peaceful, eternal ending should be the curtain call of the story! Just to stage a sequel just for the sake of attracting attention will destroy the beautiful past as well!"

The two insisted on their own opinions and faced each other tit for tat.

"You're totally wrong."

Nero retorted: "Every scene on the stage has its own life, whether beautiful or ugly, and every time the curtain opens, it is reborn."

Finally, she was no longer just speaking from a distance, but had successfully projected her own image into this theater of the mind.

Nero appeared here and said in a calm tone: "In this world, no play can ruin another. What I see is that you are destroying the stage in front of you - your ending of poisoning is a shameless mess, okay?
"Worse than the boring Deus Ex Machina."

"This kind of thing——"

Locusta still struggled to say something, but Nero simply looked past her and turned his gaze to Draco, who was sleeping with his eyes closed.

"Can you hear me, Draco?"

The petite girl with the dragon tail opened her eyes, but there was no light in her pupils.

"How long are you going to be so willful?" Nero asked again. Ritsuka also spoke again: "Draco—you have been reborn. You are no longer the same person you were before."

"so--"

She raised her hand, and the bright red curse mark on the back of her hand instantly glowed.

"—I command you, wake up!"

A stroke of the Command Seal disappeared from the back of her hand, and the flickering red light seemed to re-energize the puppet-like Draco.

Draco raised his hand—

launched an attack.

"...What an annoying voice."

The awakened Draco launched an indiscriminate attack, and Lady Avalon was the first to block the attacks. Tentacles burning with magic writhed back and forth in the theater, shaking the ground.

"Draco!" Ritsuka shouted again.

"What's wrong, Master Yu?"

Draco paused his attack, and it became clear that her only target was Nero. However, she was just a shadow, unable to be hit by Draco's attack. "There's no need to worry. I won't commit suicide again."

Li Xiang immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."

"It's really quite annoying."

Nero said, his figure slowly disappearing from the world of his mind: "Then the rest of the time will be left to you. Ritsuka, Draco... I will be waiting for your arrival at the final singularity."

"Yeah, see you later." Ritsuka nodded at her, "...Thank you for your help."

"...What a disgusting fellow." Draco watched Nero disappear, finally ceasing his pointless attacks. Seeing this, Rokusta, who had been hiding nearby, emerged tremblingly and spoke timidly, "Lord Nero..."

"It's time you changed your tune, Rokusta." Draco closed his eyes slightly, a helpless expression on his face. "I'm not Nero... I'm not someone who should be called Nero."

Hearing this, Locusta was even more weeping: "Lord Nero... please don't abandon me! I, I... if it weren't for you!!!"

"I didn't say I was going to abandon you..." Draco frowned, his face unfriendly. "But if you keep crying like this, I really won't care about you anymore!"

"Ah! O-okay, Nero..."

Draco withdrew his gaze from Locusta and sighed, "Master is right, I am no longer the same person I used to be. After Nero's story came to an end, I, unwilling to accept that ending, became Draco. And now Draco's story will also come to an end..."

Ritsuka interrupted her.

"Is it really the end?" she asked, gazing into Draco's eyes.

"Of course. Draco, the Beast of Sodom, has completely disappeared. Now I should also..."

"It's not over yet." Ritsuka stopped Draco again. She grabbed Draco's hand and said, "Draco's story has one final chapter left to tell."

If this journey through the spiral world is a stage play, then the final act is nearing. With only one singularity left, the protagonists of this story must step onto the final stage and usher in the true finale.

Should we leave behind the tragic past and move towards a new life? Or should we accept the ugliness of ourselves and embrace transformation and rebirth? Or should we be crushed by the inescapable weight and fall asleep forever on the stage?

"Whether it's a 'Happy End', a 'True End' or a 'Bad End', we'll know when the time comes."

Ritsuka asserted so.

(End of this chapter)