Five days had passed since the recruitment of Shadow Garden began, led by the Seven Shades alongside Gabriel.
Each recruitment force had been divided into several teams:
Alpha with Delta.
Epsilon with Zeta.
Gabriel with Beta.
Meanwhile, Gamma and Eta remained at headquarters, handling post-recruitment treatment and care for those successfully rescued during this harsh winter season.
Now, Gabriel stood within an underground cavern—one of the hidden branch facilities belonging to the Cult of Diablo.
Dim light clung to the darkness inside the cave. Across the stone floor, lifeless bodies were scattered, severed and strewn about in disarray.
Blood splattered the walls and pooled across the ground, forming dark, viscous stains.
Some of the corpses bore precise puncture wounds—clean arrow strikes that left no room for survival.
Amid the aftermath, not far from the heart of the devastation, Gabriel leaned calmly against the cavern wall.
His eyes were closed.
His arms crossed over his chest.
As if this slaughter were nothing more than background noise.
As usual, Gabriel was writing—and savoring—the narrative he was constructing within his own mind, as though the world around him were nothing more than a backdrop for the story taking shape.
A moment later, a faint smile curved his lips. He pushed his back lightly off the wall, straightening his posture.
His eyelids opened.
Within his gaze, geometric rings could be seen slowly rotating—an amalgamation of magic and technology, forming the impression of cold, precise digital sorcery.
Gabriel began to recite the narrative to himself.
In the silent darkness, lifeless bodies lay scattered.
Ash gazed upon the world with eyes that defied interpretation.
He paused.
That faint smile grew into a thin one.
Perfect.
Beautiful in its tragedy.
A fitting scene to portray Ash—the pale mist that watches over the stars.
The narration continued in rhythm with his steps.
His black trench coat, adorned with silver ornaments, fluttered gently as he moved forward.
Ash stepped forward.
Pale mist followed in his wake, as if it possessed a will of its own—bowing in quiet obedience to its master, the sovereign of the pale fog who watched over the stars.
At the same time, Gabriel manipulated Mana with swift precision.
He inscribed a Law.
From beneath the trench coat, pale mist was born—flowing, spreading, swallowing the darkness in a cold, absolute silence.
Without breaking his stride, Gabriel added a final line— his voice low, almost a whisper directed at the world itself.
"Tragedy sinks into the Pale Mist, history dissolves into the endless sea of the void."
He smiled.
There was no doubt about it—it fit.
Perfectly.
Upon his shoulder, Morgan's small astral form slowly solidified—a tiny body no more than ten centimeters tall, glowing faintly like moonlight reflected on the surface of still water.
She crossed her small arms, gazing at the surrounding mist with a flat, almost bored expression.
"…You know," Morgan said, her voice light yet sharp, "that line just now sounded like the epitaph of a world you've just killed."
She glanced at Gabriel from the corner of her eye.
"Poetic. Dramatic. A little excessive."
A brief pause.
"And somehow… very you."
Gabriel's steps never faltered.
The faint smile on his lips didn't fade.
"Excess is the privilege of those who write laws," he replied calmly. "This world doesn't need efficient explanations—it needs meaning."
He tilted his head slightly, just enough to acknowledge Morgan's presence on his shoulder.
"Besides," he continued softly, "if history must sink… then let it sink beautifully."
The pale mist rippled gently, as if in agreement.
Morgan gave a small snort.
"…I'm starting to understand why the stars choose to remain silent when you look at them."
Hearing that, the corner of Gabriel's eyebrow lifted for a brief moment.
Morgan's line about "the stars choosing to remain silent" struck him as… rather cool.
Worth keeping.
He filed it away in his mind—tagged, referenced, ready to be reused someday.
His steps continued, carrying him deeper inside.
There, a prison cell awaited.
Behind iron bars lay a victim of the Diablo Curse. The body had mutated grotesquely; flesh pulsed as if it possessed a will of its own, blackened veins bulging beneath reddened skin. Dark crimson magical energy leaked violently from the body, unstable and chaotic—like something that outright rejected the world's right to exist.
In the same chamber, not far from the cell, Beta stood quietly.
A warm, fur-lined brown jacket was worn over her Slime Weapon outfit, partially hidden beneath her cloak.
The moment she sensed Gabriel's presence, she turned.
On Gabriel's right shoulder, Morgan sat casually—her tiny legs swinging back and forth, as if the oppressive atmosphere meant absolutely nothing to her at all.
Beta glanced once more at the victim, then turned back to Gabriel.
"A victim of the Diablo Curse," she reported calmly. "The mutation phase has already crossed the critical threshold. Their magical energy no longer follows a human pattern."
She took a short breath.
"Ash-sama… from here, I will leave the treatment to you."
Gabriel did not answer immediately.
He stepped closer, his composed gaze tracing the victim's body—as if reading a corrupted text, written in blood and curses.
"I see…" he murmured softly.
He stopped right in front of the cell.
"The Diablo Curse is not a disease," Gabriel continued, his voice low yet resolute. "It is a failed narrative—an attempt to forcibly rewrite a human being with demonic ink."
He turned his head slightly toward Beta.
"And what fails…" a thin smile appeared on his lips, "…must be revised."
Beside him, Beta gave a brief nod.
Without hesitation, she shaped her Slime Weapon in her hand—a pitch-black sword solidifying in an instant. A single, clean swing followed.
CLANG—!
The iron bars split cleanly apart, the severed pieces crashing onto the stone floor with a heavy clang.
The pale mist around Gabriel rippled softly.
He stepped inside.
Morgan tilted her tiny head, looking at the victim within the cell.
"…This is going to be a major revision," she muttered.
Gabriel replied without turning around.
"No."
His steps halted right in front of the victim.
"Just a correction to a destiny with a typo."
The pages of the digital grimoire flickered rapidly, then stopped.
[- Dark Matter Magic: Healing All-Creation -]
Gabriel raised his right hand.
Pale white energy flowed gently along his arm, like light that breathed. His middle finger was pulled back, held by his thumb—
—and then flicked.
Snap.
The pale energy shot forth instantly, piercing space itself and striking the body of the Diablo Curse victim.
The light was absorbed.
Instantly, the mass of cursed flesh convulsed violently—swelling, then collapsing, pulsing in erratic spasms.
Dark crimson mana erupted like wild lightning, lashing against the walls of the cell and the stone floor, making the air itself tremble.
Yet instead of destroying everything—
that chaotic energy was gradually suppressed.
Not by force.
Not by brutal domination.
But by an embrace.
Gabriel's pale white mana seeped into it, calming the raging currents, compelling the cursed energy to adapt—to follow a new rhythm that was stable and orderly.
Behind him, Beta watched the entire process unfold.
Her hands clenched unconsciously.
Her gaze wavered softly—not from fear, but from an undeniable recognition.
"…after all," she murmured quietly, "Ash-sama's mana truly is extraordinary. Cold and terrifying… and yet, somehow, warm."
At that very moment, an old memory began to surface in her mind.
When she had been healed for the first time—there had been a light that pulled her out of the darkness, and a pair of eyes that did not judge a mortal body, but her true existence.
In truth, those capable of curing the Diablo Curse were not limited to Shadow, Alpha, and Epsilon alone.
Gabriel could do it as well.
Beta, Delta, Gamma, and Zeta were all ones who had once been healed directly by his hands.
And now, she was witnessing it again.
Slowly, the victim's body began to change.
The mutated flesh shrank away.
The blackened veins vanished.
The chaotic pulsations calmed.
The dark crimson glow faded, replaced by the gentle shimmer of pale white mana.
At last, the victim of the Diablo Curse revealed her original form.
She sat on the stone floor, eyes wide with shock, breathing raggedly as she stared at the two unfamiliar figures before her.
A young Dark Elf—around six years old.
Shoulder-length silver hair cut neatly into a bob, bangs covering her left eye, while a longer strand flowed down past her back.
Her body was thin and pale. Bare. Unclothed, without a single piece of fabric to cover her skin.
"I–I…" she murmured softly, her voice trembling. "…I'm cured?"
Gabriel immediately turned his back without hesitation. "Beta," he said calmly, "I'll leave the rest to you."
"Yes," Beta replied with a faint smile. "Ash-sama."
She stepped forward, removed her outer coat, and carefully draped it around the small body—her movements gentle, as if even the slightest rough touch might harm the fragile existence before her.
Beta slowly knelt down until she was at eye level with the Dark Elf.
"You weren't hallucinating," Beta said softly. "Your body really has returned to normal."
The Dark Elf clutched the coat wrapped around her, her fingers trembling.
"B-but… earlier I… I was like a monster…"
"My voice wasn't my own… my thoughts were all jumbled…"
Beta gave a small nod.
"That wasn't a demon possessing you," she explained gently. "It was rampaging magical energy—a curse imposed by Diablo."
The child's eyes widened.
"A… a curse?"
"Yes," Beta replied. "That energy was forced to grow inside your body. When it could no longer be contained, it began to erode both body and mind. The world calls it demonic possession, but the truth is… far crueler than that."
She paused for a moment, choosing her words carefully so they wouldn't weigh too heavily on someone so young.
"You are a victim," she continued softly. "Not the perpetrator."
The Dark Elf lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly.
"Then… what happens to me now?" she asked in a small voice. "I'm scared… that all of this might come back."
___
Author's note:
If you enjoyed this chapter, please send some Power Stones, leave a comment or review, and add it to your Favorites. 😉