Scarlet

I frown as I cross through the Gate to Tartarus, still feeling rather annoyed by the fact that no one bothered to wake me up after the competition ended.

“Well, you literally slept through the eighth competition of the tournament…” Tar points out, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.

Someone could’ve at least woken me up. Instead I ended up sleeping another two hours in the middle of that damned arena after the competition had already ended. So now I’ve wasted an entire two hours of my free time for the evening.

Tar lets out a sigh, apparently deciding not to say anything else.

It’s not my fault the Fae King was sulking over my method of winning the Competition. And it’s also not my fault that your grandmother never considered someone who was immune to corruption of all kinds when she was making this tournament.

The tanuki just sighs again, so I let out a huff as I begin flying through the air towards the Demon King’s Castle. And the moment I arrive, I join the hundreds of dukes and duchesses there alongside the Demon Lords and Gramps himself at the center of a massive ritualistic circle.

“Are you ready?” Gramps asks me, and I immediately nod my head.

“Yes,” I answer. “I am.”

He nods back and focuses on the ritual circle as he says, “Activate the skill with your intent in mind and the ritual circle will do the rest for you.”

“Understood,” I state while walking to the center of the circle, surrounded by hundreds of demons above level 1700, along with the Demon Lords and the Demon King. And after coming to a halt directly at the center, I spread both of my arms out and close my eyes.

Then I activate Bane of Corruption while thinking about the Sins curse on the demons.

Almost immediately, I feel a massive drain appear on my person, followed immediately after by the feeling of Greed, of Wrath, of Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, and Lust all attacking me at once. As if the curse was fighting back against me. And just as quickly, a flood of absolute power from the hundreds of demons around me, enough mana to fill an entire damned planet all at once, pushes back at the Sins, clearing my head immediately before any damage can be done.

The power doesn’t stop there though, instead pushing against the Sins more and more until they leave my body, and I can trace the Sins to their source.

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And I very quickly realize what the source is.

The bright red moon hanging high over Tartarus almost all the time.

All of the power from me and the demons immediately charges straight after the power of the Sins into the moon, making out explosions ring out from high above me. But I can’t see anything since my eyes are closed and I’m too focused on the ritual. So I can’t tell what’s going on other than the explosions of power I sense coming from high above me.

Time passes as the power of the curse fights with the power of hundreds of incredibly powerful demons until, eventually, all of the power of the curse finally gives in and fades away. Like the snapping of a string.

And the very moment it does, I feel breath rushing into me as I realize I had forgotten to breath, making me drop down to my knees while panting in exhaustion. Meanwhile silence fills the air around me.

Once I feel strong enough to lift my head, I find the other demons having all collapsed unconscious, with the exception of the Demon Lords and Gramps.

But even those five look exhausted, with the Demon Lords all on their knees just like me.

The only one who looks fine is Gramps, and I can still see some sweat formed on his face as he grins at the sky.

Even he found this taxing, if nothing else… just how much mana did that take?

At this rate we won’t be able to break the other curse today.

Then again, I’m not really in a rush to permanently rid Tartarus of the technology curse, so I guess that’s okay.

They can wait another day or two after all. It won’t kill them.

Also, what’s Gramps looking at?

“Look for yourself…” Tar says, making me glance up at the sky before blinking in surprise.

“Huh…” I mutter when I quickly find what he’s looking at.

The moon.

It’s no longer blood red.

The moon is now just a regular color again. Just like the moon on Earth.

Wait, wait, wait, the blood moon had nothing to do with the Fractures after all?! That’s what everyone’s assumed. That the moon was blood red because of the Fractures.

But if that’s not the case…

I stare up at the beautiful moon hanging high in the sky for several minutes, not even looking down after I feel Gramps putting his hands on my shoulder as he too looks up at the sky.

“Thank you, Scarlet,” he says as he stands there behind me with his hands on my shoulders. Then I feel him resting his chin on my head with some drops hitting my face, making me glance up to find Gramps crying. “Thank you so much…”

After a second, I smile at him and then reach for one of his hands with my own as I continue looking up at the no-longer-red moon.

It’s sweet how much he cares about his people.

His past actions still aren’t something that should be forgiven, but he did them for his people. And it’s been thousands of years since he did them, not counting the further bad actions he did against Earth.

I think he’s been punished plenty already just from having to live mostly alone for thousands of years like this. Constantly tortured by the Sin of Pride, by his own actions, and by the past.

While others may certainly disagree with this, that’s how they feel. And they’re free to feel that way. Even free to hate him and try to punish him for it if they want.

But I think I’ll just enjoy this moment.

I lean my head into his chest as I look up at the moon with him. And at some point, I think Leonidas joins us. Although I’m not quite sure since I didn’t pay attention to who joined in on the hug.

A calm and peaceful silence fills the area as everyone takes in the sight of the moon.

Of a Tartarus not stained with the crimson light akin to blood.

And of their home without the curse.