Two colors of flashes of light ran through the corner of the vast Demon Realm, while thunderous sound rang out in the surroundings.
Just as thousands of tree roots rose like spears piercing the skies, an extremely cold wind blowing down from the skies froze them.
[... !?]
"Kuhh..."
Just like a rush of magic power blowing like storms, two shadows were confronting each other in the center of the trembling atmosphere.
[...Lillywood... Don't interfere.]
"...I can't let you go to the Human Realm, Isis."
The two existences facing each other are both beings that are so known in the Demon Realm that no one doesn't know them.
The battle between they who were part of the Six Kings, the Death King, Isis Remnant, and the World King, Lillywood Yggdrasil, is so fierce that it can rightly be called a natural disaster, and all the things in the surroundings that were as far as one's sight can see have turned into a wilderness.
The beginning of this event started about half an hour ago... When Lillywood tried to stop Isis from going to the gate leading to the Human Realm, and as a result, it had turned into a battle.
[...This is unrelated to you... Lillywood.]
"I'm related to this! Right now, the Demon Realm and the Human Realm have just signed the treaty of friendship, and it's still very unstable. We can't afford to damage the trust that we've finally built."
[...So... Why... are you... stopping me?]
"...Do you really want me to say it? I wouldn't like to say this if I could. However, your existence is dangerous in this situation."
[...Why...]
"The magic power of death that you're clad in is nothing more than an object of fear for living beings….."
[...You're wrong.]
"Stop turning your eyes away! You yourself know of this as well... That you are an "object of fear" for your people."
[...!?!?!?]
The truth is that she didn't want to say such condemning words. Lillywood has an expression on her face that seems like she had bitten down on a bitter wor, but she need to ruthlessly tell her the truth, and when Isis heard those words, her eyes widened and she stiffened.
A moment of silence appeared... But it is quickly broken by the swelling magic power of Isis.
[...You're wrong... You're wrong... You're wrong!!!]
"......…"
With her cries and screams, in response to her fury, Isis's magic power exploded, forming an extremely large magic circle in the sky that shook the air.
Seeing the Extreme Magic that is filled with her killing intent, clearly different from the magic she used before, Lillywood calmly looked at it and formed a magic circle of the same size on the ground.
The Six King's Extreme Magic... It was enough to turn dozens of kilometers around them into ashes, and rather than intercept it, Lillywood aimed to offset it with magic of the same scale to protect the lands of the Demon Realm.
However, before the storm formed by Isis can be unleashed and descend down from the skies, a jet-black magic circle appears superimposed on the bluish-white magic circle in the sky, and with the sound like shattering glass, the magic circle formed by Isis disappeared.
[...!?]
"This is..."
Before the surprised two, Kuromueina appears between them as her coat, which has turned into black wings, flapped in the air.
[Did I make it in time?]
"Yes, thank you for your help, Kuromueina. As expected, there was a limit to how much damage control on the surrounding area with just me alone..."
Lillywood lets out a sigh of relief at Kuromueina's appearance and thanked her, while in contrast to her, Isis clenched her teeth.
[...Kuromueina... You're also….. going to interfere?]
[No, it's not like I'm trying to interfere or anything like that... and I know how you feel, Isis... But could you at least wait until the world is a little more stable?]
[..........]
Hearing Kuromueina's words, Isis bit her lip as if to say that she still wasn't convinced, but she didn't try to force her way through like she did when she was just being confronted by Lillywood.
She might be able to do it if it was just Lillywood, but if Kuromueina joined in, the possibility of breaking through was equal to zero.
After being silent for a while, Isis clenched her fists and silently left the place, her body slightly trembling.
Looking at her departing figure who even looks like she's somehow crying, Kuromueina lets out a big sigh.
[...It seems like she's having a rough day. Isis, I mean.]
"I supposed it can't be helped. The Human Realm and the God Realm have signed a treaty of friendship, and she herself knows it, but still... no matter what happened... She's still thinking about someone who would accept her, even in the Human Realm or the God Realm."
[Isis is pretty lonely after all. Especially since we've been so busy lately that we haven't been able to talk to each other...]
Thinking about Isis who had just left, both Kuromueina and Lillywood had a somewhat sad expression on their faces.
Two years after the treaty of friendship was signed, for the sake of peace between the three worlds that have begun to work hand in hand, both Kuromueina and Lillywood have been going back and forth between the Human Realm and Demon Realm lately, but Isis hasn't visited the Human Realm or the God Realm since the treaty of friendship.
No, it should be better to say that she wants to visit, but she was stopped... Isis, who was always clad in the magic power of death, is an object of fear in both the Human Realm and God Realm, to the extent that those who were faint of heart would pass out just by the mere sight of her.
Therefore, in this situation where the world wasn't stable yet, they couldn't let her move around as she pleased.
"Kuromueina. Why is Isis so obsessed with the Human Realm and the God Realm to such an extent? Are we not enough to divert her out of loneliness?"
[It's just a guess, but I think it's because we can't "truly" help Isis from her loneliness. The reason for this is very simple. We have great power.]
"It's because we have great power?"
[Unn. I think this is what Isis is probably thinking. The reason why we treat Isis normally is that we are powerful enough to oppose her... or to put it in another way, if we didn't have our power, we wouldn't have accepted her. What she's looking for is someone who would unconditionally accept her... Even if she's not strong enough to go against her, someone who will sill take her hand without fear. I think that's why she's trying to get close to the less powerful Humans, because she wants to find someone like that.]
"...I see. However, that's impossible, isn't it? I can hardly believe that there's a Human who can stand before her magic power of death."
[...It certainly is difficult. Even Hikari-chan couldn't do it.]
The being that Isis seeks. A being who would accept her even without power to oppose her... The chances of such a being showing up are almost non-existent.
Even the Human with the strongest heart that they know of, the Hero Hikari, was also unable to face Isis properly. Her body was shaking before her, struggling to get her words out.
That alone would be enough to say that she had a strong heart, but it was quite lacking compared to the being Isis wanted to find.
Remembering the face of Isis, who was about to start crying just now, Kuromueina and Lillywood sadly looked down.
The land of death, in the castle of ice.
Within it lives the Death King, Isis Remnant, who was shedding tears.
[...Uwaaahhh... Why... Why...]
She is a being born from the magic power left behind by a multitude of dead beings. In other words, it can be said that her very existence has the concept of death as her core.
Therefore, from the moment she was born, the magic power of death was kept in her body, and this magic power of hers intimidates the people around her, regardless of her intentions.
It doesn't matter whether or not Isis is hostile to the other person, or whether or not the person she is facing is afraid at all, those things don't matter at all... for the instincts of every living being were rejecting her existence.
Hence, she was lonely.
Isis is perceived as an object of fear by most of the beings in the Demon Realm. She's a ghost, and even though her race was supposed to be quite close to the Wights and Liches... Even those who were under the Undead species feared her.
She is a being who was named as one of the Six Kings, because of the threat she clads in her body, and is said to be the most dangerous of the Six Kings.
However, she has no intention of spreading death indiscriminately. She would even try to be as friendly as possible with those who weren't turning against her, but the magic power of death that her body was clad in won't allow it.
The only people who can face Isis without fear are those who have power comparable to hers, but conversely, those who don't have such power fear her and keep away from her without exception.
That fact gives her a strong sense of loneliness and Isis has spent thousands of years holding onto that smoldering feeling.
It would have been better if things had remained as it is. If she had remained defeated from this feeling, she might have been happy in some way.
Despair... would be born when one hopes.
The moment the three realms, the Demon Realm, the Human Realm and the God Realm, joined hands and her world expanded... A faint hope appeared in Isis's thoughts.
If the Demon Realm is no good... but if it's the Human Realm or the God Realm... If a being that accepts her exists, even if such being held no power to oppose her magic power of death...
The hope she embraced came back to her with great despair.
No one would ever truly accept her for who she is. No one will take her hand , from the bottom of their hearts.
These overflowing emotions turned to tears, and the king clad in death roared alone.
The one she's been seeking for thousands of years... It wasn't until nearly a thousand years later that he appeared...