"No, you're destined to never eat people again."
At the very end of her despair, in the instant even her will to live was about to gutter out, the unfortunate young girl heard a calm, clear murmur. Almost in that same instant, her mind returned to her.
As the words fell, before the black shadow before her could react, a dazzling, magnificent flame abruptly swallowed it whole.
There was no struggle, no scream. Though she was incredibly close to that dazzling flame, though she had even touched it herself, she did not feel the slightest pain of being burned.
On the contrary, the flame seemed extraordinarily warm. Just looking at it soothed the fear and despair in her heart.
Living between heaven and earth in this dim, lightless land, this was the first time in her life she had ever encountered such bright, dazzling flames.
It even made one think that perhaps being burned clean away by this flame would not be so bad.
In just the span of a single breath, all the black shadows that had descended into the many human cities around them were burned by that dazzling flame into nothingness, not even ash left behind.
"Ah..."
The young girl collapsed to the ground as if waking from a dream. Everything before her eyes was something she had never seen even in dreams.
And in front of her, a lean, slender figure stood quietly, carrying a relaxed air she had never seen before.
It was a radiance she had never witnessed, something utterly different from the walking-corpse life and experiences she had endured for half her life.
"Ah, ah...?"
The young girl froze, as if waking from a dream. Everything before her was like a dream: all the terrifying demons had vanished, and in their place appeared