Salvation

"Hello, my name is Monica."

"Then we were born as half your subjects."

"We'll all be loyal to you from now on—though you never said whether it was the first half or the second half."

The girl spun around, her emerald-green eyes gleaming like jewels.

She always seemed to be smiling. The oppression and pain weighing on the other Banshees were nowhere to be seen in her. She had been born to be a ray of sunshine shining into the Deep Sea.

An eye opened in the twisted flesh, and cloudy tears trickled down.

Why does it hurt so much...

Pain was an illusion of the mind.

Monica told herself.

She twisted herself like a towel, wringing and squeezing until she managed a few smiles, a little happiness, for her kin suffering through their torment.

It was the only thing she could do. The unspeakable pain and hollow, withered heart—she would keep those to herself.

She swallowed them down with the cold, hard food and bitter seawater.

The body was a prison for the mind.

She was trapped here, in endless darkness.

At least she was about to die.

She hadn't spent many years in this world, but she had already made up her mind.

Next time, she wouldn't come back.

Slavery, endless backbreaking labor.

Partings, watching one clansmate after another leave her behind.

Her people had been saved, the curse had vanished, and light had entered her world—

The little girl looked up.

The swollen, twisted monster gazed around in confusion, then looked at herself.

So that was it. Salvation was nothing but an illusion.

Life was an illusion of suffering.

Just an illusion.

Monica closed her eyes again.

Don't open them again. Let it end here.

She already knew what this world was like. Everyone had their own pain, and everywhere she looked, she saw tormented souls.

She was getting tired of it.

It would be over soon. Very soon.

Suddenly, she felt something touch her.

She hadn't wanted to pay it any mind, but after hesitating, she opened her eyes.

The whole world was blurry. Shadowy figures stood around her—they were so small.

A jumble of voices reached her, like murmuring in her ears as she slept. Everything was indistinct, as if separated from her by thick, frosted glass.

Following the sensation against her body, she looked down at the tiny person on her.

The next moment, her eyes met Theus's.

He didn't say a word, but the instant she saw his eyes, Monica understood what he meant—

"I'm here to save you."

A ray of light shone into her tiny prison.

The glass shattered in an instant, and a crystal-clear voice rang out in her heart. Her dim green eyes flew open.

"Contract—Symbiosis!"

Monica followed his will in a daze. By the time she understood what had happened, the contract had already been sealed.

"No!!!!"

She cried out, watching in terror as Pollution surged through the contract and into Theus's body.

It was over. He was going to be corrupted. Monica knew how terrifying the Pollution was, and her lord was only a mortal.

But the next moment, the Pollution that had surged into him came rushing back far faster than it had gone in. Monica watched in confusion. Was the Pollution inside her... afraid?

Then a flood of vitality surged from Theus's body and flowed through the contract into her. The blazing vitality poured over the Pollution like boiling water over snow, and it vanished with a roar.

Oh no. Theus was only a mortal. Where had he gotten so much vitality? He would be... he would—

Monica looked up at Theus. He smiled at her, showing no sign of his vitality running dry.

"Ah!"

Monica suddenly cried out in pain. The swollen flesh on her body rapidly shrank, as the Pollution bored hole after hole through her skin. In an instant, she was on the verge of death.

But the vitality pouring into her seemed endless. Wherever it flowed, her wounds healed, and the Pollution fled in all directions, wailing.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!!"

Monica screamed. She felt herself being crushed—crushed and restored, over and over. She wanted to pass out, but she couldn't. Her surging vitality brought her back to consciousness the instant she blacked out.

As Monica sat dazed in the prison of her body, she suddenly realized someone had opened the door. At some point, her lord, Theus, had appeared in the doorway.

From then on, everything changed.

Blood and tears fell together. As the Pollution and vitality struggled within her, her swollen body gradually returned to normal. She and Theus fell from the sky, only to be caught by a pair of hands after pair of hands.

Monica looked at the faces of her kin, bewildered.

"Sister Ash... Nini... my lord... what happened...?"

The past was an illusion, pain was an illusion, the body was an illusion, and life was an illusion. Fragments of scenes and memories jumbled together, and for a while, Monica couldn't tell them apart.

But after a moment, she smiled in relief.

The warmth surging through her heart now wasn't an illusion. That was enough.

The Pollution shrieked wildly as it poured out of her body. Once it reached the air, it fled in every direction, as if something terrifying lurked here and the black Pollution would do anything to escape it.

The Banshees gathered around Monica and Theus. They no longer needed a Mind Link to feel one another's excitement.

They tossed Theus and Monica high into the air, catching them again as they laughed and cried in celebration.

A distant rumble of thunder rolled. Dark clouds gathered, and rain began to fall.

Nearby, Connor helped Nora up. She struggled to sit upright, then looked at the Banshees celebrating in the distance and gave a weak smile.

"Castel, fire and light in the storm..."

For some reason, this desolate, remote island gave her a feeling she couldn't quite explain.

The Banshees noticed her too and gradually gathered around.

Theus walked up to her. His once elegant, lavish clothes were now torn and stained with blood, and grime had smeared across them from the ground.

He held out his hand to Nora.

"I can't exactly sign a contract with you," Nora said, her expression blank. "And I didn't save Castel."

"But your blood was shed on this land too. That makes this your home as well."

Theus firmly grasped her hand. Blood and mud couldn't keep their hands from meeting.

"A friendship forged in blood needs no contract to bear witness."

Nora stared at Theus, stunned.

"My name is Theus Corsica Simmons Stuart, Border Count of Castel Island in the Saint Mir Empire. By the Sacred Covenant and the Empress's letters patent, I am the lawful lord of this land. I hereby make this promise:"

"Castel's gates will always be open to the people of the Northern Territory. This, too, will be your home."

"You are no longer refugees. You no longer need to wander."

"Welcome home."

Rain poured down in torrents, washing the grime from her armor and soaking her hair.

Raindrops fell into Nora's eyes. She wiped at them desperately, but they wouldn't stop.