The mist rushed towards Lumiona, like a faithful pet called back by its master.
And the succubus tried to melt into it... but the mist receded. As if it were rejecting her.
Surprised by this unexpected reaction from her dear, tender, old friend, the mist, Lumiona's eyes widened. Her breath caught in her throat.
Never, since her stay with Master Sentios, had the mist abandoned her. Never had the succubus known this inner coldness — this coldness brought on by the absence of her companion, her veil, her second skin.
She wanted to reach out to call it, to command it, to bend it to her will once more.
But only a trembling vapour brushed her palm... before disappearing completely.
"What... No... no... come back..." whispered Lumi.
Her voice trembled. Not with rage this time.
But something older, something she never thought she would feel again — something she had sworn never to feel again...
The feeling that tormented Lumiona and made her voice tremble... was fear...
Indeed, her voice trembled not with anger, but simply with fear... And loneliness.
For a brief moment, Lumiona felt something she had not allowed herself to feel for a long time.
A chasm in her chest. A fissure. An ancient, monstrous void that dated back to before her escape, before Master Sentios, before the mist, before everything.
A void that dated back to the night her soul had been torn apart for good.
...A mother's void.
The mist still vibrated with the remnants of light. Silas lay unconscious on the ground, while Lumiona, trembling, tried to breathe through the burning sensation that consumed her chest.
Lumi should have collapsed after the sanctified but accidental burst of jade light — too strong and pure for a creature like her — long ago.
But something was still keeping her going. Something violent, something tender. Something she refused to accept until the very end.
Attachment.
It was no longer hatred that kept her alive. Nor even vengeance.
It was just this dull fear, this silent panic, that everything would end now.
That night would fall before the farewell, that death would steal from her, once again, what she had never truly possessed.
For the first time in years, Lumiona no longer thought about the village. Nor about the people who lived there, nor about the blood she could have spilt there to exact her just retribution.
She thought only of her.
Of this child, whom she had watched grow up from afar, as one observes a flame too fragile to touch.
Of every stolen smile. Every step watched from the mist. Every time she had looked away so as not to give in.
Lumi thought of her daughter.
Her scent. The way she walked. The way the girl had adopted some of her mother's habits at the same age. The idea of disappearing before seeing that little face one last time stabbed her deeply.
The succubus, burnt and mutilated by the sceptre's glare, tried to get up. Her fingers clawed at the earth, leaving black trails behind them as if her essence were crumbling away.
Suddenly, the jade light released by Silas screamed from the sceptre and burned her side one last time...
...And Mireille went on the attack.
The servant did not hesitate. She ran. She threw herself forward.
The diversion caused by Silas' attack left a tiny opening — but it was real. She rushed in with all the rage and pain she had been holding back.
It was a tiny chance to strike, certainly, but she had to take it. Not for the village — not at all, after what she had finally understood...
...But for her young master.
Mimi picked up her sword halfway to her target, then clung to the succubus with all her strength.
She plunged her dagger into Lumiona's throat with all the violence of a last hope. The impact was brutal, muffled, almost silent.
The succubus fell to her knees, her eyes bulging.
Lumiona couldn't even scream... just let out a sigh of horrible astonishment.
Mireille raised her sword with a broken breath, then plunged it into the creature's chest.
This time, Lumiona screamed. A hoarse, strangled scream that was nothing supernatural.
Just... human.
Too human, even.
The scream cut through the village like an invisible blade.
The men, terrified and too cowardly to act, instinctively took a step back. Some put their hands over their mouths. Others closed their eyes.
The worst thing for them was that, at that precise moment, they were not hearing an evil creature die.
They were just hearing a woman.
Lumiona collapsed. She was not dead — not yet — but broken.
Silence fell. The village seemed to freeze. Even the remaining mist hesitated to breathe.
Lumiona trembled, her skin turning greyish, her blackish blood flowing slowly, almost lazily, as if death itself were struggling to travel through her body.
With a jolt, she turned her head.
Her eyes searched for someone.
And found them.
"...Enalid..."
The little girl, hidden behind a low wall, pale, her hands pressed against her mouth, dared not move.
Lumiona crawled. With each movement, the metal lodged in her heart sank a little deeper. Every centimetre she pulled herself along the ground took an eternity.
Her fingers left dark, irregular marks behind them, as if she were slowly disintegrating.
But she kept going anyway, driven by something other than pain or resentment, driven by an older, gentler instinct.
Mireille followed her with unsteady steps, her arm hanging limply, blood covering half her clothes.
When Lumiona reached out to the child, the maid stepped in between them, blade raised, face hard.
The succubus stopped.
Then—
She smiled.
A sad smile. Worn. Too human for a demon, too melancholic for a witch, too broken for a creature of such beauty...
...But enough for a mother.
"I'm... sorry... little moon..." she whispered.
Hearing this, Enalid jumped. Her little glass tube, hanging around her neck, clinked against her. The girl clutched it as if her heart were trapped inside.
Lumiona continued, her voice cracking like ceramic:
"Sorry for being... so cold. Sorry for... making you... my eyes in the mist... Sorry for... pulling my hands away... when I wanted... so much..."
She didn't finish. Her throat tightened. Her gaze slid to the ground, then back up to the little girl, filled with such intense tenderness that it seemed almost painful.
But in her mind, other words wanted to come out. Words that Mireille would not hear. Words that belonged only to her:
"If I had loved you more... you would have burnt like me. The blood I gave you would have devoured your soul, or would have taken humanity away from you. I kept you away to protect you... because you also carry the cursed fire of my mother's lineage."
Lumiona lay her forehead against the ground, defeated.
"I... am not asking you to forgive me... I have no right to. But... don't forget me... please..." she finally whispered, with great difficulty — the blood in her throat turning her words into a half-intelligible gurgle.
Besides, Lumi knew that no forgiveness would come.
And that was fine.
The young woman had understood long ago that some sins are not meant to be washed away...
...but only to be carried to the end.
At that moment, after hearing the request from the woman before her, Enalid burst into tears.
Without knowing why. Without understanding how. Without even having any idea where the pain came from that was tearing her apart, she let the sobs flow freely for someone she knew only from afar and had always avoided.
The child fell to her knees, clutching the small glass tube. Her treasure.
Her secret.
As far as the girl knew, it was the only inheritance her parents had left her.
The succubus, already half gone, looked up one last time. She looked at Mireille. Long and hard.
"...Take care of her… Please."
The servant did not answer. But she did not back away either.
Lumiona stared at her for a few more seconds, nodded. And finally—
She smiled — a thin, fragile smile — then closed her eyes.
Her body went still. Her breath faded away.
At the same moment, the mist around her slowly flattened, like a piece of fabric falling without its master.
And at the end of this confrontation, Lumiona fell asleep.