Chapter 15: The Blood Demon Princess’s Vow

“Transform.”

The moment Ira uttered these words with cold indifference, the world seemed to freeze. Even the falling blood rain appeared to hang suspended in mid-air.

‘Upon my return, silence should reign.’

All the black mud at Ira’s feet, including the tendrils that had infiltrated Mona’s body, now flowed out. They converged into the pool of black mud on the ground, streaming towards Ira.

Ira’s remaining clothes vanished in an instant, revealing a physique that seemed sculpted by the world itself.

Her pristine, jade-like feet stepped onto the ink-black mud. The mud, which had been slowly writhing moments before, now swiftly climbed Ira’s ankles, spreading rapidly upwards from her white jade legs.

It enveloped Ira’s body like a second skin, or perhaps a translucent, jet-black bodysuit.

Yet, these black tendrils soon separated in an orderly fashion. Ira bent down, her hands sweeping over her calves. In a flash, the mud encasing her calves gradually faded, transforming into a pair of sheer black stockings. A small portion of the mud became red lace ribbons, tying around the stockings as decoration.

Next, Ira slowly straightened, her hands sweeping over her torso and spreading slightly. The black mud covering her body gradually extended downwards, forming the shape of a skirt. Ultimately, it transformed into a short-sleeved Lolita dress: primarily white on the upper half, with a red crescent moon pattern on the chest, a waist wrapped in black fabric, and a skirt hem that extended downwards in red, white, black, and red sections. Her shoulders were encased in sheer fabric.

Bit by bit, the black mud coiled around Ira’s arms, eventually becoming blood-red ribbons that clung tightly to her.

Her black hair slowly receded, turning a shimmering silver-white, comparable to the brightest moon. Beneath her mask, her purple eyes were gradually replaced by a blood-red hue.

The remaining black mud swirled around Ira’s skirt and hair, intertwining and tangling together. Finally, it knotted into a large and a small bow, adorning her form. The surface of the larger bow was even inlaid with a hexagonal crystal.

Ira landed on the ground. The black mud seemed unwilling to let her beautiful, food-like feet touch the dirty earth; the moment they made contact with the ground, they formed a pair of black snow boots, which she immediately wore.

Dong~

With the resounding chime-like footsteps, the world’s time seemed to restart. The blood rain reverted to normal raindrops, and the oppressive aura that had influenced the world vanished in that instant.

Yet, these raindrops, like before, fell towards Ira and Mona. An invisible barrier, however, blocked all the rain outside.

With all the black mud within her body now controlled and removed by Ira, Mona weakly opened her eyes.

Through her blurred vision, she could barely make out the back of a white-haired girl standing before her. A familiar figure from a similar scene in her mind overlapped with this person, prompting Mona to utter that long-unspoken address once more.

“Brother?”

Even though the black mud no longer contaminated Mona’s body, she was still severely injured. Merely mumbling those two words caused her to lapse into unconsciousness once again.

Ira turned to look at Mona, who lay unconscious on the stone behind her. A faint smile, she noticed, had appeared on Mona’s lips, causing her own heart to tremble.

Her memories and personality had not vanished with the renewed use of the Blood Demon Princess’s power. Ira lowered her head, tentatively clenching her fists, feeling the long-lost power surge through her body once more.

Simultaneously, Ira could now sense a faint fluctuation emanating from a seed deep within the crystal on the bow at her chest. This seed was actively cleansing her body of the black mud’s pollution, an effect that would last for approximately three minutes. Each use would be followed by a twelve-hour cooldown period.

‘It seems Leila didn’t lie to me… she really is…’

Hmph~

Ira let out a cold snort. ‘Even so, the Bone Beast that attacked my little sister was very likely sent by my dear elder sister! Perhaps it was to force me to use the Dark Demon Princess’s power, so I would completely fall into depravity.’

‘What a truly wonderful sister I have!’

She resolved that tomorrow, she would have a thorough discussion with her beloved elder sister about this matter.

‘What if it wasn’t her? After all, Elder Sister would never lie; she promised me she wouldn’t harm anyone…’

Ira immediately averted her face, digging a pit to bury the subconscious gratitude she felt towards Leila.

‘Sure enough, this body is filthy! To actually feel gratitude towards Elder Sister! Does transforming automatically max out my affection for Elder Sister? Tsk, what a truly vulgar body!’

Ira utterly despised her current body, which others envied. The reason was simple: upon transforming into the Blood Demon Princess, she involuntarily idealized her elder sister in her mind. She couldn’t even harbor the thought of calling her ‘old hag elder sister’ as she normally would.

“Ahhh!”

‘That damn elder sister must have added some strange common sense to my brain again!’

‘Regardless, after this use of the Dark Demon Princess’s power, I, Ira, will find a way within tomorrow to keep Mona and the others away from Elder Sister. And I will never, ever use the Dark Demon Princess’s power again.’

‘In a little while, I, Ira, will bid a complete farewell to the Blood Demon Princess!’

‘This is my bottom line! No one can change it!’

Ira swore this to herself once more.

With time being limited, Ira gently picked up Mona’s small body. She closed her eyes and lightly stroked Mona’s wounds.

She didn’t know how to treat wounds. She had known how to when she was Magical Girl: White Rose, but beings of the Abyss were self-centered; they could at most heal themselves, with few knowing how to heal others.

However, Ira possessed her own method to heal Mona’s injuries.

Both black mud and Sacred Relics were special substances born from the Tree Vein. Their properties, while opposing, were also similar.

Just as every Sacred Relic bestowed unique characteristics upon a Magical Girl, Bone Beasts born from black mud also possessed special abilities, which formed the basis for their combat techniques. As the Blood Demon Princess, superior to Bone Beasts, Ira possessed no less than three distinct characteristics.

First, as her name suggested, she could control any blood. This led to abilities such as: if an enemy sustained even a minor injury, the blood from those wounds would not only prevent healing but continuously replenish Ira’s stamina. She could even alter the composition of an opponent’s blood, transforming them into a body that would instantly go limp and roll their eyes upon touch.

Second, her body could instantly transform into countless blood bats. These blood bats could not only attack and move, but as long as a single one remained alive, Ira could revive, even if she had seemingly died.

Her third and most powerful characteristic allowed Ira to manipulate time, temporarily pausing and accelerating it unilaterally. Because this talent was excessively potent, Ira had barely developed it during her five years as the Blood Demon Princess.

Each of these abilities, taken individually, was enough to overpower ninety percent of the Magical Girls in the world. Yet, all three characteristics were concentrated within the Blood Demon Princess alone.

It was no wonder that during the five years Ira was brainwashed into becoming the Blood Demon Princess, she could wantonly defeat the Magical Girls of the surface world.

As for the Dark Demon Princess, Leila… although Ira had fought her and lived shamelessly with her for five years, Ira never truly knew how many characteristics Leila possessed.

She was aware of at least seven or eight.

‘As expected of Elder Sister, truly perverse…’

Ira placed her hand on Mona’s wound, manipulating the blood within her body and accelerating the healing process on a small scale. Combined with Mona’s Sacred Relic, the Soaring Shadow Glaze, which could emit healing sound waves, the effect was potent.

In just ten seconds, Mona’s wound completely healed, leaving not even a scar.

Seeing Mona’s expression shift from agonizing pain to comfortable slumber through her red eyes beneath the mask, Ira’s suspended heart finally settled.

‘My little sister is finally completely fine; this transformation was worth it.’

‘Elder Sister, this time, I’m truly… why am I thanking her!’

Such thoughts arose involuntarily again.

‘You disappointing body and brain!’

‘But if Elder Sister hadn’t planted this seed, given the current extent of the black mud’s pollution, my little sister would probably have fallen into a new crisis.’

‘Tomorrow, I must go and ask thoroughly; such a thing must not happen again.’

A faint smile graced Ira’s face. She gently brushed Mona’s long hair aside and carefully picked her up. Ira watched her little sister instinctively burrow into her embrace, smiling as she and Mona transformed into a swarm of blood bats and flew towards home.

In less than a few seconds, these blood bats passed through the house walls, arriving in Mona’s room.

Ira placed her little sister on her bed and covered her with a blanket.

Next, she had other matters to attend to.

Such as having a ‘good talk’ with the Bone Beast that had harmed her sister. She wondered if, as the Dark Demon Princess, she could smash that Bone Beast into pieces with a single punch!

Just as Ira was about to leave, a small hand reached out and grabbed her arm. Mona turned on her side, mumbling in her sleep.

“Brother~ you’ve come back to see Mona~”

“Yes, Brother is back.”

It seemed only when Mona was asleep could Ira openly speak to her with such tenderness.

“Mona is a Magical Girl now, she can keep up with Brother’s pace~”

“Mhm, my sister is amazing. I’m sure it won’t be long before you surpass Brother.”

“Brother, I also met a good elder sister. She’s as kind to me as you are.”

‘Silly sister, your brother is Sister Ira.’

Ira did not answer directly. She listened to her sister’s innocent sleep-talk, a wide smile spreading across her face.

“When you come back, Brother, you must marry Sister Ira as your wife. I want Sister Ira to be my sister-in-law~”

“Ahaha.”

‘That’s a definite no.’

“I also have a teacher now, Brother. I finally have a teacher. Teacher Belle is kind to us, and even though she says strange things, I feel like she’ll be a good teacher.”

“She is not a good teacher! Mona, you need to stay far away from Elder Sister.”

Ira thought of herself ten years ago, brainwashed into a blank slate, believing many strange things to be common sense under Leila’s guidance.

‘How could such a bad woman, full of twisted humor, possibly be a good teacher?’

Ira swore she would make Mona deeply realize Elder Sister’s wickedness and stay away from her.

“Brother, when will you fulfill your promise to take me to the hot springs?”

“Mona, Mona misses you so much…”

Each word seemed to tug at Ira’s heartstrings, filling her with anguish. Tears gradually welled up in her red eyes beneath the mask.

She did not respond to her sister as she had before. Instead, she carefully loosened Mona’s grip on her hand, leaning against the window to watch her little sister slumbering on the bed.

‘I’m sorry, Mona. Brother cannot fulfill that promise to you right now.’

‘But Brother can swear to you, even for your sake, even if Magical Girl: White Rose has been defeated, she will absolutely not become the Dark Demon Princess!’

‘I will never succumb to Elder Sister’s tyrannical influence!’

After making this silent vow to her little sister, Ira seemed to transform back into the cold, emotionless Blood Demon Princess. Her body shifted into blood bats, exiting the room the same way she had entered.