“Ahhh!!! Hiiik!!”

Flames erupted.

The fire spread across her entire body from the place it was struck.

It was a stubborn flame that seemed like it would never extinguish even if it rolled on the ground, yet curiously, it maintained only enough intensity not to incinerate her completely.

That made the flames even more terrifying.

The victim of the flames would take a long time to die, suffering the horrifying pain of being burned alive the whole time.

“Kuahhh! It’s hot!! It hurts!!!”

The Witch of Lust, Lily, writhed in the agonizing pain of her body burning, continuously screaming.

“Ahhhh!!! Why, why am I in such a state!!! I won’t forgive you!! I will definitely never forgive that b*tch!!!”

At first, Lily screamed, expressing her rage toward the one who inflicted this pain on her.

But that didn’t last long.

“Ah, no! Hwaaaak! I’m sorry!! I was wrong!! So please stop!!”

The terrible pain she had never experienced before, along with the fear that she would undoubtedly die in this horrific agony, quickly stripped Lily of her will to be angry.

“I don’t want to…! I don’t want to die!!! Help me!! Anyone, anyone at all, just help me…!”

All that was left was the desire to escape this pain and the wish not to die.

As she desperately cried for help, that was when it happened.

“Ahaha, Lily. Your once pretty face has turned into quite a terrible sight, huh?”

Upon hearing another voice from somewhere, Lily gasped and looked up.

There stood a woman who suddenly appeared through a black hole that had formed in the empty air, just like when they first met.

She was the one who had betrayed Lily and unleashed the Witch of Gluttony into the world.

But to Lily, who was currently suffering, such past events were of no concern.

No matter what had occurred between her and the woman in the past, the fact that someone had appeared who could help her was the most important thing right now.

So Lily anxiously shouted towards the woman who was smiling at her.

“Hiik!! Hey!!! Help me out, quick!! Please do something about this fire on my body! If it’s your abilities, you can take it off, right?!”

“Hmm? It looks like a flame that won’t go out until you die… I could take it off for sure if it’s that, but…”

The woman, hearing Lily’s cries, smiled broadly and replied.

“Why should I?”

Lily was left gasping for breath at those words.

It was because she felt a pure doubt in the woman’s words.

She couldn’t find a good reason why the woman would help her without any other motives.

“As I mentioned before, our relationship is strictly contractual, isn’t it? Now that there’s none of that, you and I are nothing to each other. Is there any reason for me to help someone like you?”

The woman emphasized that they weren’t anything to each other.

Lily knew that she truly believed that.

If she thought of Lily as someone special, she would have never released the Witch of Gluttony so recklessly as before.

However, since Lily would die if she didn’t receive help, she had to find a way to change the woman’s mind.

And at that moment, a word uttered by the Witch of Wrath, who had resisted until the end despite being subjected to her powers, came to Lily’s mind.

It was a thought that one must definitely obey their master, yet it was a special enough connection that it allowed for resistance.

“We, we’re friends, right?”

“…Friends?”

When Lily called out that word, the woman tilted her head.

Desperately, Lily shouted at the woman.

“Y-Yeah! Auria!! We’re friends, aren’t we? Right?!”

Using the name of the woman, or rather, Auria, that Lily had once felt uncomfortable because she knew it while Lily herself didn’t—

Upon hearing that, Auria asked in a tone that suggested she didn’t quite understand.

“Friends…? You and I? Can you tell me why you think that?”

Auria spoke as if she didn’t think so at all, but Lily noticed a hint of interest in her expression.

Seeing that, Lily felt this was her only lifeline to survive, desperately grasping for it as she scrambled to come up with an explanation.

“Auria…! We know each other’s names…!”

“Sure, I know it. Lily. But in the past, we usually just called each other ‘you’ and ‘I’… So, what’s next?”

“W-We’ve known each other for a really long time…!”

“Yeah, from the time I first saw you, it was roughly around 500 years or so, wasn’t it? Thinking about it that way, it has been quite some time. And? What else?”

As she kept trying to think of a reason to present, Auria spoke as if encouraging her to continue.

“During that long time, we’ve helped each other out and gotten along…!”

“Although it was a relationship formed due to a contract, it’s true I benefited from your abilities. Go on.”

The more Lily tried to find a reason and explain, the more she felt a strange sensation.

“It was you, Auria, who made me realize I was a witch…”

“Pointing out what you didn’t even realize was amusing. Next?”

“It was you, Auria, who gifted me the sacred relic saying it would help me use my power…”

“That was because I needed it to accomplish my plans using your abilities, but sure, go on.”

“And so… and so…”

Originally, she intended to plead for her life, but as she spoke, she came to a realization.

“I… thought of you as a friend…”

Ah, so I really viewed her that way.

While it should be called more of a frenemy, Lily understood that she had been thinking of Auria in that manner all along.

To be precise, it was what she wished for that kind of relationship.

The emptiness she felt after being sold by the owner of the brothel who she called sister.

While she had thought that it stemmed from her lack of confidence, that wasn’t the case.

Whether family, friend, or just a title, it didn’t matter.

What truly made her emptiness was that she lacked that kind of equally special relationship where both regard each other equally.

And she realized that Auria was the one she had chosen to fill that void.

To Lily, humans were lesser beings than insects, but Auria was also a witch who had helped her in difficult times.

She must have unconsciously wished for Auria to take the place of her sister.

Perhaps that was why.

When Auria betrayed her, she felt such immense rage.

It was because she could not accept that Auria saw her as a disposable tool, just like the brothel owner who treated her as a commodity.

Yet, the really funny thing was that even after being betrayed once, she still longed to have a special relationship with her.

She thought she’d never engage in such a one-sided dependency on anyone, but without any alternatives, her pride vanished, and she found herself clinging.

So she wished that Auria would consider her as a friend.

Not merely because she wanted to survive but because she truly desired that.

With such thoughts, Lily gazed longingly at Auria.

“Ahaha, Lily, I never knew you thought of me that way. A friend, a friend…”

And Auria smiled at Lily in response.

“Well, having at least one friend in life wouldn’t be bad. Then, Lily, from now on, we are friends.”

“Re-Really?!”

At those words, relief flooded through Lily along with joy for receiving her much-desired outcome.

However, her face soon twisted again in burning pain.

But there was no problem.

Now she had a friend who would help her, right?

Lily pleaded with her friend.

“Auria, can you help me out now? I feel like I’m going to die from the pain.”

“…”

However, there was no answer returning.

“A-Auria?”

Feeling a sudden wave of unease, Lily called Auria’s name, looking toward her.

What she saw made her heart sink.

As always, the woman was gazing quietly at Lily, smiling broadly while watching her burn.

Lily shouted.

“What… what are you doing? Please help me…! We’re friends…!”

In response, Auria replied with a bright smile.

“Why should I? It’s such a rare opportunity to witness a friend’s ‘end.’”

In that moment, Lily looked into Auria’s eyes.

And then she realized that she had been used once more.

Her eyes sparkled and shined, just like the brothel owner’s eyes did when she sold her out to fulfill her own greed.

Ah, she called me a friend, but once again I’ve been used for someone else’s purpose.

Hoping for a relationship where I am valued more than her own desires was my greed after all.

“Ahhhhh…!”

Thus, the Witch of Lust, Lily, screamed out in despair, realizing she had been betrayed again, suffering for a while longer before crying out.

“Ah, ahhh…”

She met an empty and meaningless demise.

“…Hah.”

The woman, Auria, who had watched until the very end, looked on with fascination.

“Such a thrill…”

Auria trembled for a while, then walked over to where Lily had burned and picked up a black stone-like object from the ashes.

She stroked it tenderly, murmuring softly.

“Oh, Lily. Lily. Even in the end, you’re giving me a gift. You were the best friend I could have.”

The expression on Auria’s face was filled with pure ecstasy and delight.