Chapter 45: Miss Isabelle, I Win
“Sister Neily… it’s good to see you again.”
Bai’s ethereal form smiled faintly as the surroundings, and the figure in the white lab coat, faded away.
She was falling, drifting through a void.
“But… why?” she wondered, speaking to no one in particular, or perhaps to herself.
She closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face, her consciousness fading.
But as she drifted into unconsciousness, a familiar, childish voice echoed in her ears.
“Bai! Ara is coming to save you!”
She opened her eyes, a small, purple figure appearing before her.
“Ara…”
Her vacant eyes regained their focus as Ara drew closer, her image solidifying.
Bai reached out, and Ara took her hand.
Two small hands, clasped together.
Bai was back.
The void shifted, the gray, lifeless landscape of the Shadow Realm returning.
But now, terrifying, invisible tendrils, radiating a soul-annihilating aura, swarmed towards her from all directions.
“To experience death, and be reborn from it.”
She had succeeded.
Just like at Saint Noyes, she had reached her peak form at the moment of death, possessing the power to annihilate an entire demon legion.
But this time was different. She hadn’t unleashed a wave of indiscriminate destruction, leveling a city.
With Ara’s help, she had retained her consciousness, her control over this immense power.
A purple, ethereal figure stood beside Bai, and a silver one beside Ara.
Their hands, as if transcending the boundaries of the Shadow Realm, were clasped tightly together.
“Bai and Ara are one! Always and forever… together…”
Surrounded by the swirling tendrils, Bai looked up, meeting Isabelle’s crazed gaze, seeing her own reflection in Isabelle’s black pupils.
“[Soul Shadow],” Bai whispered.
Her silver hair instantly turned black, her dark-gold eyes, now devoid of white, becoming deep, all-consuming black voids.
And in her pupils, Isabelle’s soul was reflected.
Countless soul tendrils erupted from behind Bai, clashing with the incoming tendrils, annihilating each other.
“How… you can also… wait, are you a Shadow Demon too? No, impossible!” Isabelle stammered in disbelief.
An unimaginable scene was unfolding before her. Bai had simply looked at her and replicated her Authority.
And now, Bai’s appearance, her aura, was almost identical to Isabelle’s, the image of a Shadow Demon.
No, she was even more powerful.
“Nothing is impossible. I see you, Isabelle,” Bai said, her gaze piercing through Isabelle’s avatar, revealing the true soul hidden within. To ensure Bai’s demise, Isabelle had transferred her true soul to this avatar.
“Now, it’s my turn.”
Bai raised her hand, and a torrent of soul tendrils surged towards Isabelle.
“I’m going to die!”
Isabelle felt the cold grip of death. She had to escape, to transfer her soul out of this avatar, even if it meant abandoning it.
But as she tried, she realized she couldn’t sense any of her other avatars.
The Shadow Realm… was sealed!
She looked around, her creation now a prison, controlled by Bai.
No escape.
“Miss Isabelle, I win.”
The soul tendrils pierced through Isabelle’s avatar, extracting her true soul, and then destroyed the avatar, cutting off her last retreat.
“…”
Looking at Isabelle’s true soul, a small, ethereal figure, Bai tilted her head slightly, her eyes widening in surprise.
“Little… Sister Isabelle?”
Isabelle’s true form was that of a young girl, her long, black hair similar to Bai’s, her face and body covered in intricate, beautiful Demonic Runes, her features surprisingly delicate, lacking the sinister allure of her avatars.
She was slightly taller than Bai, about the same height as Ara.
Stripped of her avatars, Isabelle seemed to have lost all her arrogance.
She lowered her head, her expression one of utter dejection, as if on the verge of tears.
“…”
Bai felt a sudden urge to facepalm.
She had been the one targeted for assassination, trapped in the Shadow Realm.
But now, Isabelle looked like the victim, and Bai the bully.
If she hadn’t taken the risk, hadn’t used death to awaken her true form, she might have actually died.
And if she hadn’t regained control with Ara’s help, the capital would have suffered the same fate as Saint Noyes.
She wouldn’t use that power again.
Just then, Ara’s Shadow Realm shattered, and her ethereal form, still holding Bai’s hand, solidified.
“Bai!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Bai, nuzzling against her like a kitten.
Bai sighed, stroking Ara’s hair, a faint smile on her lips.
“L-Lady Ara…” a small, hesitant voice said. Bai and Ara turned to see the dejected Little Sister Isabelle.
She looked at Ara timidly, then quickly looked away upon meeting Bai’s gaze, as if afraid of her.
Bai: “?”
Why was she calling Ara “Lady”?
Ara frowned, looking at Bai, then back at Isabelle. “Bai, is this… Black?”
It was an understandable question. Bai and Isabelle looked remarkably similar, like sisters, despite their different features.
“…There’s no ‘Black,'” Bai said, rubbing her temples. “This is the one who tried to kill us… or rather, just me.”
She could tell this was Isabelle’s true form, though her personality was completely different from her avatars.
“She tried to kill Bai!”
Ara bristled, then, as if remembering something, pulled out the pulse pistol.
“Bai said… if Ara has to kill someone, she should use this.”
Isabelle, seeing the pistol, quickly bowed repeatedly.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
…
sure, why not?