Salaphertise remembered having been hit by her grandpa and knocked out unconscious… after that, she ended finding herself waking up in her fluffy and comfortable bed.
"Huh? What happened? I'm in a bed?" she wondered.
She found herself in the same bed she always uses to sleep. Her room, of course.
This only could mean one thing, her sect had somehow survived.
But she didn't knew if her grandfather or her grandmother did…
A strong dreadful feeling took ahold of her heart, as she began to realize that something very bad could had happened.
She quickly jumped out of bed and began to walk across the room, putting on some clothes quickly and then walking outside.
She found that everything was eerily in silence. It was already the morning of the next day, there wasn't even a single voice in the background…
"Did… everyone… no… No!" she cried, as she began walking across the corridors, but finding nobody!
"Where is everyone at?!" she cried, as she suddenly heard a faint voice to the distance.
She walked downstairs several floors and reached the first floor.
And there, she found a massive amount of people.
"E-Everyone! Where is my grandpa?!" she asked.
"Ah, Salaphertise-sama!"
"I am glad you're awake, lady."
"You grandfather is okay, he's in this room."
"Lady, Zephyr-sama was revived!"
"E-Eh? So he's alive… phew… I am so- EH?! Zephyr was revived? What kind of bad joke is this?" she asked angrily.
She actually felt bad when he died, but didn't seem to be as affected, she didn't liked Zephyr from the very beginning, having him revived would be both good and bad at the same time, as she really didn't wanted to marry such a person, she could already tell he would be an abusive husband when he were to grow up.
"He's really back!"
"Now that he's back, your marriage can happen!"
"Aren't you happy, Salaphertise-sama?"
"Shut up! Stop messing around! It is impossible to bring back the dead, what nonsense are you speaking about?" sighed Salaphertise, she walked towards the room where everyone was gathered around, and found his grandpa, Zephyr's father, and Zephyr himself sitting over the bed.
"Huh?!"
"Ah, my granddaughter, you're here." Said Thaletus.
"Salaphertise! You're here! Good to see you, look!" said Zetice, pointing at his son.
Zephyr seemed a bit sickly and tired, but he looked at Salaphertise while raising his eyebrows. After undergoing the things he did, he didn't knew what to even say to her.
"…"
"Y-You're not a zombie, right?" asked Salaphertise.
"Zombie? …I don't think so." Sighed Zephyr.
"I see… How? Just how was he brought back?" asked Salaphertise.
"Drake, the new ally we made." Said Thaletus.
"The man that has become my master." Said Zetice.
"Drake? I don't even know such a simpleton name…" said Salaphertise.
"Don't disrespect the one that revived Zephyr!" said Thaletus.
"I don't know him! And what happened with the invaders? Did you killed them?" asked Salaphertise.
"No we are all friends now." Said Thaletus.
Hearing her angry and grumpy old man that was always into killing people talking with his friendly voice and saying "no, we are all friends now" felt utterly alien to the mind of Salaphertise.
She felt like her mind was falling into pieces.
"Eh?! Since when are you so friendly with people?" asked Salaphertise.
"Since they revived a kid! You don't realize how amazing this is? Also he's way too strong, there's no way I am fighting Lord Drake, he's a monster." Said Thaletus.
Her grandpa that was always defiant and confident was now reduced to a relaxed old man…
"I guess he did that. After dying, I went through a lot of things… I barely have faint memories of those times, at this point, they feel more like nightmares than anything… But I do remember haunting Shouta… And I remember… seeing him always so sad… I… I can't believe I was laughing and enjoying such a thing… I feel… disgusted with myself… Was I being of such monstrous hatred? What was I?" he sighed.
"Those were times when you had become filled with resentfulness." Said the voice of a young man, the door opened as a handsome man with long hair and a sharp chin emerged, it was Drake.
"Drake!" said Thaletus and Zetice, rushing towards him and bowing their heads.
"You don't have to be so formal, calm down…" he sighed. he was oddly humble.
Salaphertise glared at him defiantly, he didn't even seemed that impressive, until she noticed his mana presence, and his aura… and she quickly decided to not say anything to him, swallowing saliva and realizing the monster he was. She didn't knew that there was also the aura of Kuro and Kumo mixed inside his shadows, giving that sort of "monstrous" effect.
Drake was actually very good at hiding his presence, but he wasn't that good at doing it with the two shadow monsters, and because they liked to always look outside through the shadows, they unintentionally showed their presences outside for a bit of time every now and then.
"H-He's a monster indeed." She thought as she looked at him walk.
"Resentment?" asked Zephyr.
"That's right, kid. You were filled with hatred of being killed, but your entire life was also kind of a hell, right? So you had a lot more resentment in life. All of that accumulated and made you into a haunting spirit that haunted Shouta. In a way, such a thing helped you have your soul still in this plane, as it would had gone to the afterlife if it wasn't… But I guess at the same time such anger is what got you killed. What you did to Shouta was very awful. You're going to apologize, right?" asked Drake.
"…I will. I have… realized how I've been living and how much hatred I had inside. Perhaps dying and being revived changed me and made me realize my mistakes." Sighed Zephyr.
"I guess you're right in that… Now come, I think you can walk now, right? Shouta is waiting for your apology. But he'll also apologize as well." I said.
