The Sword Ghost Flinches
The Sword Ghost flinched. A razor-sharp blade hovered at Alex's throat, tracing a thin red line as if it could sever his neck at any second.
"...Who the hell are you?"
Alex was clearly rattled. He hadn't sensed the opponent's presence at all until the knife was practically kissing his nape. Having survived countless battlefields before pledging himself to the Barhen family, Alex possessed sharper danger instincts than anyone alive. If even he couldn't react, only one possibility remained.
A master several levels above me. But for a young girl to wield this kind of skill...?
To his eyes, Serena looked far younger than either Philia or me. Yet despite her adorable features, the faint killing intent drifting from her was denser and more suffocating than anything Alex had encountered from the strongest warriors on the battlefield.
This kind of killing intent can't be gained through talent or effort alone.
Extraordinary talent might occasionally produce overwhelming pressure or momentum, but killing intent was something else entirely—an karma that could only be piled up by genuinely killing living beings. And from what Alex could tell, Serena's killing intent was... downright terrifying. It carried the weight of at least several hundred necks. He could practically smell the metallic reek of blood at the tip of his nose. A monster beyond any common sense.
Just as Alex began desperately struggling to break free, Philia—who had been standing outside the training grounds—frowned and spoke up.
"That child is the third daughter of Count Richard. Serena Richard."
"...! Why has the young lady come here?"
Startled by the unexpected identity, Alex immediately dropped his hostility and showed proper etiquette the moment he heard the count's name. It was a perfect blend of battlefield survival instinct and worldly judgment. Of course, whether Alex displayed courtesy or not didn't matter one bit to Serena. She only cared about one thing.
"Brother Ian...?"
Because I was collapsed pathetically in the corner of the training ground. The atmosphere and appearance were quite different from before, but Serena still recognized me instantly. What she couldn't believe was that her idol had lost to someone as weak as this.
Of course, Serena had no idea I'd only been holding a sword for roughly two days.
Just as she started to approach me—
"Huh...?"
She finally noticed what I was wearing. Serena's expression twisted into something hideous in an instant.
A chill ran through the air. The density of killing intent inside the training ground spiked violently.
She was hiding this much killing intent the whole time?
It went far beyond what killing hundreds could produce. Perhaps...
Gulp—
Alex swallowed without realizing it.
It might even be the legendary Ten Thousand Killer.
Killing intent that only someone who had single-handedly butchered ten thousand could emit. The gap in power was palpable throughout his entire body.
Unable to watch any longer, Philia stepped forward with a sigh.
"Serena, leave this place right now."
"...Ha, Sister Philia. Are you joking?"
She frowned openly, not bothering to hide their familiarity. Boldness that didn't spare a single thought for any listening ears. This temperament of Serena's wasn't something her innate nature could simply change.
"If you're a noble, I expect you to visit again with proper formalities. What exactly do you think you're doing?"
"Stop with the pathetic acting."
The continued rudeness made Philia glare at her, but from Serena's perspective it was laughably weak killing intent. Almost cute, even.
"You used to cry and cling to Brother Ian like your life depended on it. You've changed a lot, sister. Or more accurately, you just don't know your place anymore."
"Y-you..."
Philia was rendered speechless by the sudden verbal barrage. And Serena wasn't finished.
"Shut your mouth and watch from over there. If you lay even a fingertip on Brother Ian, I'll kill you. If that bothers you, go ahead and summon some pathetic little demon or whatever."
Her speech was so crude one might mistake her for a mercenary. The Sword Ghost Serena was infamous for her filthy mouth. At first glance the abuse seemed impossible to reconcile with their past as comrades, but this was actually Serena holding back—a lot. If Philia hadn't once been a comrade, Serena would have chopped her into tiny pieces long ago.
Does she even have a brain?
Serena wasn't stupid. On the contrary, she was sharp enough to be called a genius, which let her roughly piece together what had happened just from seeing my clothes. Anyone would see a servant at a glance. It wasn't as if there hadn't been time—several days had passed—yet they'd left me in servant's garb. To her, that was utterly unforgivable.
Considering the grace I showed her before, she should be treating me like a precious guest, yet she dares use Brother Ian as a servant? Has her brain truly been devoured by a demon?
"What kind of rude behavior is this!"
Even Alex, listening from the side, was shocked by the excessive insult. No matter that she was a count's daughter, this could not be overlooked. As a knight of the Barhen family, Alex had to protect his lady's honor even if it cost him his life.
Just as he opened his mouth to roar—
Thud—
"Stay quiet, old man."
Serena instantly slammed the back of his neck with her scabbard, knocking him unconscious. She left the trembling, head-bowed Philia behind and walked straight toward me.
As I watched the entire situation unfold, one thought refused to leave my head as Serena approached.
I should've just pretended to be unconscious.
Richard Serena. She was the younger sister of Andrew, the protagonist of the original story, and in the future she would be called the Sword Ghost.
In the original work, she could be considered one of the more moderately corrupted characters. Actually, since Serena never transformed into a monster or demon, calling it corruption was a bit of a stretch.
The real problem was Serena's unique talent.
Until then she'd been positioned as the protagonist's little sister—a character with slightly lacking talent who grew through sheer effort. But while the protagonist was away after the world's destruction, cleaning up after his comrades...
A demonic realm appeared on the Richard family's lands.
The Infinite Demonic Realm. What made it so horrific was that every living being—child or elder, it didn't matter—had to kill someone every single hour to survive. Like the principle behind Gu poison, the realm wouldn't vanish until only one person remained. Once it took hold, escape became impossible, so countless people fell into despair. At first they rejected the absurd rule, but when those who broke it actually started dying, hell truly began.
The survivors all became murderers. Thanks to the realm's influence, instead of guilt they began feeling pleasure from the slaughter. In that hellish path, only the strongest survived.
Serena had reached a respectable level, but among the family's knights she was on the weaker side. She should have died there too. Instead, she awakened her special talent in that place—a demonic gift that gained accelerating growth with every kill. In the Eastern Continent it was known as the Heavenly Killing Star, a forbidden talent.
After her first murder, she adapted to the demonic realm faster than anyone and began growing at terrifying speed. At the very edge of that realm, she cut down her own father—the Iron Blood Sword Emperor Richard Aslan—and completely lost her mind.
From then on she became a machine that existed only for slaughter. By the time Serena regained her senses, she had already wiped out her entire family with her own hands. As she stood there covered in blood, drowning in emptiness, the protagonist Andrew arrived. Without offering any explanation, Serena fled on the spot.
That event later becomes the trigger for Andrew's own fall into darkness.
Afterward she wandered the continent, seeking out battlefields, eventually earning the title Sword Ghost.
No matter how I look at it... Serena seems to have regressed too.
Judging from her rough speech that didn't match her cute appearance and the way she spoke to Philia, it was obvious. She had definitely returned from the future.
But if Serena awakened as the Sword Ghost, what the hell was the first-round me doing?
I couldn't stop the Saint Aria from being attacked, and I couldn't prevent Serena from falling either? At this point I have no idea what the first-round version of me was thinking.
Step. Step.
As Serena drew closer, my body began trembling on its own. Her eyes held goodwill and some unreadable emotion, but the possibility that she could suddenly flip and take my neck made tension rise naturally.
Just as I tried to say something—
She threw herself at me.
"......?"
"I really... I really missed you..."
Serena hugged me tightly.
Bright, sunny weather. Beneath warm sunlight, the people of the city were enjoying their individual lives. In this place overflowing with human vitality, a man dressed in somber clothing watched the scene with unreadable eyes.
"So this is 'Paradise.'"
The only demonic realm that did not 'kill' people. Here, no one aged or suffered injury. A place comparable to the heaven people often spoke of. The man who had arrived at the Dreamfall Demonic Realm frowned.