Rebellious Grey: The Demon Girl Rises from Slavery
In the city of Granveld, where human greed turns flesh into currency, demons are born already condemned. Gurei—thirteen years old, horned, hungry, and utterly alone—has known nothing but the stinking gutters of the Ash Bottom slum. When a bounty hunter's iron grip drags her from the rain-soaked streets into the slave market's cold machinery, she is stripped of her name, her rags, and what little freedom she had left, reduced to nothing more than "property" to be priced and sold.
But something b
Rebellious Grey: The Demon Girl Rises from Slavery - In a night untouched by sunlight
The sun had set.
The abandoned church's chapel had become a place entirely different from what it was by day. The smell of mold and old wax soaked into the stone walls mingled with the night's chill, seeping deep into her lungs. Only the moonlight spilling through the broken windows faintly traced the outlines of the floor.
Gurei drew the greatsword from her back.
A heavy, grinding rasp. A hundred and fifty centimeters of executioner's blade. The weight of that woman herself, left behind by the Queen of Cruel Blades. Gripping it two-handed, the cold touch of the iron summoned memories of the arena.
At the far end of the chapel, before the altar, a pale blue light flickered.
It's in that light.
"Hey."
"Y-yeah..."
Yuuto's trembling voice came from behind her.
Gurei spoke without turning around.
"Stay back. From here on, I do the cutting."
"But I can fight too! I'm the hero!"
"The hero's blessing doesn't work after sunset, does it."
She heard Yuuto catch his breath.
That's right. Yuuto, the thirteen-year-old hero summoned from another world, carried the blessing of the Sun Goddess. Under daylight, his holy sword shone and wounds healed. But now that the sun had fallen, that power slept.
"Just stay back, I said."
Gurei stepped forward.
In that instant—
A clattering, clicking sound of bone scraping against bone began to echo from every corner of the chapel.
From the broken windows. From the cracks in the crumbling walls. From beneath the floor.
Countless white skeletal hands reached out.
Skeletons.
The undead soldiers summoned by the Elder Lich.
"Tch."
With a click of her tongue, Gurei kicked off the ground.
She leaped.
She brought the greatsword down on the nearest skeleton.
Crunch.
The skull shattered, white fragments scattering.
(One.)
Turning, a horizontal slash.
Rattle, rattle—three skeletons collapsed, ribs severed.
(Four.)
Gurei didn't stop.
She swung the greatsword as though it were part of her own body. Thrusting, sweeping, slamming, crushing. Bone fragments danced white in the moonlight. Chunks of rotting flesh stuck to the stone floor.
(I don't like this.)
Deep in her chest, a mud-like emotion pulsed.
(This number—)
(There's no end to it.)
No matter how many skeletons she felled, more poured forth. From every shadow in the chapel, new bone soldiers crawled out one after another.
Gurei looked at that pale blue light beyond the altar.
(I'll strike the source.)
(Before I'm overwhelmed by numbers.)
Gurei reset her grip on the greatsword.
And alone, she plunged into the swarm of skeletons.
"Out of my wayyyy!!"
With a roar, the greatsword howled.
Clang!!
She cleaved straight through a skeleton holding up a bone shield, splitting it in two. On the backswing, she lopped off the heads of two more closing in from the side.
Gurei pushed forward.
One step, then another. Crushing bone fragments underfoot as she closed in on the altar.
(I'll cut it.)
(I'll extinguish that light.)
That was when it happened.
"Gurei! I've got your back!"
Yuuto's voice rang out from behind.
Gurei stopped for just an instant.
She turned.
Yuuto had drawn his holy sword and was facing the skeletons. But the blade wasn't shining as it had by day. Just a dull bar of iron.
"Idiot! I told you to stay back!"
Gurei shouted.
But by then, her decision had already opened a gap in their defense.
Because Gurei had pushed ahead, Yuuto's back was left completely exposed.
Beyond the altar, the pale blue light warped and twisted.
"—Oh?"
A low, damp voice resonated through the chapel.
"That boy—his back is wide open, isn't it."
The voice came from within the light.
The Elder Lich.
"...!"
A cold thing ran down Gurei's spine.
(Damn.)
(His back—)
The lich's finger slowly pointed toward Yuuto.
"Arrow of the dead."
A chant.
Pale blue light gathered at the lich's fingertip, taking the shape of a slender arrow.
"Stop!!"
Gurei shouted as she broke into a run.
But she wouldn't make it.
The arrow of light was released.
A sharp, whistling sound.
Thunk.
A dull sound echoed through the chapel.
"—Huh?"
A small sound escaped Yuuto's lips.
The pale blue arrow was buried deep in the boy's back.
The holy sword fell from his hand.
A dry clatter.
Yuuto crumpled slowly to the floor.
"Gu...rei..."
A hoarse voice.
Strength drained from Yuuto's body.
"Yuuto!!"
Gurei rushed to Yuuto's side.
She lifted him into her arms.
Warm blood from the arrow in his back flowed down onto her hands.
(Blood.)
(Yuuto's blood.)
"Kukuku..."
Beyond the altar, the lich laughed.
"It's useless. That blessing of his is powerless after sunset. The Goddess of Light lends no aid to the darkness of night."
The lich's voice echoed off the chapel walls.
"That boy is finished. But I can still play. I'll have my undead devour him alive."
The lich snapped its bone fingers.
Click.
At once, new skeletons began crawling out from all across the floor.
Nothing compared to the number before.
Twenty, thirty—no, more.
"...You."
Gurei laid Yuuto on the floor and stood.
She gripped the greatsword.
"How dare you."
"How dare I, what? A demon-kin, trying to protect a human boy—how laughable."
The lich's voice sneered.
"A monster like you, protecting the hero? Absurd. You are nothing but a killer. A beast who has lived by swinging a sword, cutting people down, lapping up blood—nothing more."
Gurei's hand trembled.
(No.)
(I—)
The lich's words pierced deep into Gurei's chest.
"Those horns, that brand, that collar. No matter how strong you are, you are a slave. A mere tool, used by others, to cut others down."
"Shut uppp!!"
With a roar, Gurei charged into the swarm of skeletons.
She swung the greatsword wildly.
Crunch. Rattle. Thud.
Bones shattered. Fragments flew.
But there were too many.
No matter how many she cut, the skeletons crept steadily toward Yuuto.
"Don't come near him!!"
Gurei swung the greatsword while shielding Yuuto with her back.
That was when.
She noticed Yuuto's blood was smeared thickly on her hand.
(Blood.)
(This sensation.)
In that instant, another memory surged up in Gurei's mind.
Three years ago.
The underground of the arena.
The moment she stabbed her master.
(No.)
(This is different.)
Gurei shook her head.
But her hand trembled.
The greatsword's edge wavered.
Clang.
The blade struck a skeleton's bone shield shallowly and was deflected.
(Damn.)
Gurei gritted her teeth.
(Why now.)
(Why at a time like this.)
The sensation lingering in her palm—the feel of stabbing Serafina.
That awful resistance of piercing flesh.
The sensation of warm blood running down her wrist.
And that moment when life vanished within her own hands.
(I cut her.)
(I—my master—)
Gurei's movements slowed visibly.
One skeleton seized the opening and swung its bone sword down at Yuuto.
"—!"
Gurei instinctively shielded Yuuto with her own body.
Clang.
The bone sword gashed her shoulder.
Pain shot through her.
But more than that—
(I can't protect him.)
(Not even one person—I can't protect him.)
Despair pressed down on Gurei's chest.
"Kukuku... What's wrong, monster? Your movements have grown dull."
The lich's mockery rained down.
"Will you swing your sword to protect that boy? You have no right to swing a sword. Your blade is a blade for taking. A blade for killing. Not a blade for protecting."
"Shut up... shut uppp!!"
Gurei screamed as she swung the greatsword wildly.
But her edge wavered, her strength spinning uselessly.
The swarm of skeletons slowly cornered the two of them.
That was when.
"...Gurei."
A faint voice came from behind her.
"Yuuto! Don't talk, your wound—"
Gurei spoke without turning.
But Yuuto continued.
"Why... when you're so strong... don't you understand... freedom...?"
Gurei's hand stopped.
(Freedom.)
That word again.
Kain's words. Serafina's question. And now Yuuto's innocent doubt.
"...I don't understand."
Gurei forced the words out.
"I don't know what freedom is. Ever since I can remember, there was nothing but senseless cruelty. The only way I know to live is to swing a sword. I've never even thought about freedom."
"I see..."
Yuuto's voice came in fragments.
"But... Gurei..."
Yuuto drew a breath.
"Gurei... you're strong."
Those words fell into Gurei's chest.
Her hand stopped dead.
Her trembling hand, for the first time, went still.
(I'm strong.)
(This Yuuto.)
(This brat who's about to die.)
Gurei reset her grip on the greatsword.
(To protect—I cut.)
(That weight—now, for the first time, I understand it.)
Gurei fixed her eyes on the tide of the dead.
"...Stay back."
Gurei said quietly.
"I'll cut them all."
She reset her stance with the greatsword.
The swarm of skeletons lunged all at once.
Gurei swung the greatsword in a horizontal sweep with all her strength.
Whoosh!!
The sound of air being torn.
Rattle rattle rattle rattle!!
Five skeletons shattered to pieces all at once.
"Not done yet."
Gurei didn't stop.
Thrusting, sweeping, slamming, crushing.
(I protect.)
(I cut.)
(No more hesitation.)
The greatsword caught the moonlight and shone white.
Bone fragments danced through the chapel like snow.
"Oh...?"
For the first time, the lich's voice carried surprise.
"What's with those eyes? The hesitation from before—gone, is it?"
Gurei didn't answer.
She simply swung the greatsword.
(To protect—I cut.)
(Carrying that weight.)
(I move forward.)
The number of skeletons didn't decrease.
But Gurei's greatsword didn't stop.
"Interesting. Then more! Undead—devour that beast!"
The lich snapped its fingers again.
The chapel floor bulged, and even more skeletons crawled out.
"...Tch."
Gurei clicked her tongue.
(Endless.)
(At this rate, I'll be worn down.)
(But—)
Gurei glanced at Yuuto behind her.
Yuuto, enduring the pain, was watching Gurei's back.
(I protect.)
(I will protect.)
Gurei leveled the greatsword before her.
"Come."
The swarm of skeletons surged forward like a wave.
Gurei didn't retreat a single step as she swung the greatsword.
Clang!! Rattle rattle rattle!! Crunch!!
The sound of shattering bone echoed ceaselessly through the chapel.
Gurei's body was already wounded all over.
Blood flowed from her shoulder.
Sweat dripped from her brow.
But the greatsword didn't stop.
"Kukuku... Kuhahahaha!!"
The lich's laughter rang out high and loud.
"Yes, monster! Dance more! Cut more! That sword of yours is, in the end, a blade for taking. Not a blade for protecting! You think you can protect that boy with your sword?"
The lich's words gouged at Gurei's heart.
(No.)
(I—)
Gurei gritted her teeth.
(I cut in order to protect.)
(With this sword, I protect Yuuto.)
Gurei's greatsword accelerated further.
But the number of skeletons, far from decreasing, only grew.
(Damn.)
(At this rate—)
Gurei's foot slid back a step.
Then another.
The two of them were being slowly driven toward the back of the chapel.
"Kukuku... This is the end."
The lich spoke with triumph.
"That boy will be feed for my undead. And you will die there, pathetically."
The lich began its final chant.
Pale blue light swirled around it.
(The end—)
Gurei tightened her grip on the greatsword.
(Not yet.)
(It's not over yet.)
(I—)
That was when.
"Gurei."
Yuuto's voice reached her.
"Gurei... you're strong."
That word again.
"So... don't lose."
Yuuto's voice was on the verge of fading.
But those words reached Gurei's chest, surely.
Gurei raised the greatsword toward the heavens.
(I protect.)
(I protect Yuuto.)
(For that, I cut.)
"UOOOOOOOOOH!!"
Gurei let out a battle cry.
And she slammed the greatsword down into the swarm of skeletons.
BOOOOM!!
The shockwave gouged the chapel floor.
The skeletons were blown away all at once.
"What...!?"
The lich's voice was stained with shock.
Gurei leveled the greatsword at the lich.
"You. I'll cut you down here."
Gurei's voice was quiet.
But her eyes held a burning light deep wit
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