Night had fallen. Atop the administrative building of Mary Geoise, a slender figure stood tall against the sky.
The pale moonlight spilled over her form, coating her in a silver-gray glow that exuded a chilling aura.
She gazed down at the entirety of Mary Geoise. In the brightly lit estates below, the Celestial Dragons were still indulging in their usual depravity, the occasional screams of slaves echoing through the night.
A wisp of black mist slowly drifted across the sky, veiling the bright moon. In an instant, darkness swallowed the land completely. And by the time the mist faded, the figure that had stood atop the administrative building had vanished without a trace.
Inside one of the manors, the lights suddenly went out. From within, faint but sickening sounds of flesh being torn apart echoed ominously, as crimson blood seeped through the cracks beneath the door.
With a crash, the heavy door was blown open by a powerful gust. From outside, one could see a lone figure standing in the middle of the blood-soaked hall, surrounded by severed limbs — it was Lily.
Her face was cold as ice, and at the tip of the long sword in her hand hung a freshly severed head, the dead man's pale face still frozen in terror.
Lily glanced at the head impaled on her blade — this was Saint Jalmack, the very same Celestial Dragon who, in the original timeline, had blasted Sabo into the sea just as he first set sail.
With a twist of her wrist, the blade spun, turning Jalmack's head into a mangled heap of flesh.
As she did it, an odd thrill coursed through Lily's heart. She couldn't help but recall a certain... preference Carl showed during battle, and the corners of her lips curled into a wicked smile.
But the next moment, an image of Carl's infuriating face when he did those "bad things" to her flashed in her mind — her expression instantly darkened.
"That damn bastard... One of these days, I'll... tch!"
With a cold snort, Lily's figure flickered and disappeared. This was only the first stop in her slaughter tonight.
...
Lily's shadow flitted across the many estates of Mary Geoise.
With her strength, she could've wiped out these "swine" Celestial Dragons in far simpler, more efficient ways. But no — she craved the pleasure of cutting them down herself. Only this could fully unleash the hatred she'd bottled up for over eight hundred years.
Kill! Kill! Kill!
The once untouchable Celestial Dragons were hacked apart like livestock by the very queen they had once worshipped, sliced and butchered without mercy.
And though the carnage was anything but subtle, strangely, Mary Geoise's entire defense system seemed utterly paralyzed. Even as Lily stepped out from the last manor, not a single person had come forth to stop her.
Of course, Lily hadn't massacred every last Celestial Dragon — families like Saint Saturn's were spared from tonight's purge. As for the Figarland family, they weren't even worth mentioning in this context.
Lily casually tossed her bloodstained sword behind her, the blade sinking into the corpse of yet another headless body.
Interestingly, each sword she used tonight was different — every single blade had once belonged to those twenty traitors of ancient times.
...
In the Figarland estate,
Carl sat with his eyes closed on the sofa, Sugar curled up on his lap. Monet quietly set a steaming cup of coffee before him, then softly seated herself at Carl's other side.
As soon as Monet sat down, Carl's eyes opened. His gaze shifted toward the hall's entrance, and he absentmindedly patted Sugar's little head.
Sugar, half-asleep, stirred at his touch. She rubbed her bleary eyes and mumbled lazily,
"Young Master, is it morning already...?"
Monet chuckled softly, tapping Sugar's forehead with a finger.
"Not yet, silly. You're just confused from sleep."
"Ohh..."
Sugar blinked at Carl with her round eyes.
"Young Master, aren't you going back to your room to sleep tonight?"
Carl smiled.
"No rush. You go on ahead and rest."
"Hehe, no way. It's comfier lying on you, Young Master! And besides, I can't just leave you alone with Sis Monet — she couldn't handle you by herself!"
Monet's cheeks flushed red, and she grabbed Sugar's face with both hands, grumbling,
"You little rascal! You're getting more and more cheeky! Keep spouting nonsense and I'll smack your butt!"
"Ugh... Bad, bad Sis!"
Whoosh!
Sugar suddenly turned into a puff of wind and flitted behind Carl, hugging him tightly from the back like a little koala.
"Young Master, look! Sis is bullying me again!"
Carl chuckled and reached back to stroke Sugar's head, about to speak — when a figure flashed into the center of the hall.
It was Lily, fresh from her bloody rampage through Mary Geoise.
Sugar's nose wrinkled, and she whispered with a frown,
"Ew... it stinks!"
Monet's pupils shrank slightly in shock as she turned to Lily.
"That's... such a heavy stench of blood. Lady Lily, you..."
Lily said nothing. She just strode over and plopped herself down in the corner of the sofa.
The killing intent radiating from her made Sugar shiver uncontrollably, and she instinctively hugged Carl tighter.
Carl scooped Sugar into his arms and said softly,
"Lily, look at you — scaring my little Sugar like that. You're asking for another punishment, aren't you?"
Lily's mouth twitched before she finally muttered,
"It wasn't on purpose... You know exactly what I've been doing tonight."
"Drop this act, will you? Around here, you need to remember who's the big king and who's the little one."
"...Fine, fine. Why are you so fierce all of a sudden?"
For once, Lily's face showed a rare hint of grievance — enough to leave Monet completely dumbfounded.
Truth be told, Lily had suffered a massive blow tonight, her heart seething with hatred toward those eighteen traitors of old.
Though she'd slaughtered nearly all their descendants, the grief and rage inside her still refused to be quenched.
Recalling the eight hundred years of torment she had endured, Lily gritted her teeth and growled,
"The D... I want to erase that cursed letter from my name!"
Carl's eyes flickered, and he suddenly said,
"Why erase it? You've carried that name for eight centuries. You can't just toss it aside like garbage."
"You're seriously meddling in this too? Don't you hate the so-called Will of D clan?"
"The D clan without Joy Boy is nothing but scattered embers now. They can't stir up any storms anymore. Most of them have been wiped out anyway."
Lily pouted and stared blankly at the ceiling.
But before she could react, a sudden, powerful suction yanked her right into Carl's arms, and he held her tightly against him.
Leaning close to her ear, Carl whispered,
"From now on, D will mean only one thing. It will stand for Dark — darkness!"
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+140 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg