Where Despair Meets Thrill

"I already have more than enough subordinates."

The sight of the young knight princess, kneeling motionless on the cold stone floor, was heartbreaking before the imposing figure of the Demon King, who stood over her after delivering his relentless words.

"What I need now is a top-tier 'figurine' to symbolize the arrogance of this kingdom for daring to challenge me."

As the Demon Lord delivered his icy speech, a brilliant magic teleportation circle began to materialize around the immobilized young woman.

"To see a stubborn princess like you trembling in humiliation, crying and begging for forgiveness at my castle forever... that is the greatest offering you can give me."

It was only then, upon hearing those terrible words, that the young woman's hope completely collapsed...

"No... No, no!"

Breaking down in tears as she grasped the true weight of her fate, her beautiful features were ruined by tears and weeping. She succumbed to pure despair, begging for help that would never come.

"Help me... Big sister, help me!"

However, her pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Goodbye, human."

As a result, the princess's desperate cry was completely swallowed by the blinding light of the teleportation spell before her presence vanished from the throne room. The magic broadcast watched by the entire world cut out instantly as she heard the final sentence:

"I will forever treasure that expression of regret as a decoration in the plaza."

It was the beginning of her hell.

(Fshuuu...!)

The moment the light of the teleportation faded, the young woman's vision was instantly filled with the same hateful gray cobblestones she had been watching from the outside moments before.

"Ah, ah, ah..."

An overwhelming pressure crashed down on her body before she could even process the change of location, pinning her forcefully against the ground in a perfect and permanent bowing pose, her head forced downward.

"N-No way... This can't be happening..."

Defeated, the young magic swordswoman could only murmur in absolute denial, trying to process her new reality with her forehead pressed firmly against the cold stone, her knees forced bent, and her generous chest crushed mercilessly against her own feet...

"...Little sister? Is that... you...?"

...Until a familiar voice, tinged with heartbreaking despair, reached her ears.

"!?..."

Nearby, Claudette, the first princess of the kingdom—who only moments before had been tended to by her younger sister with some food and a quick wash—was watching her with somber resignation.

"...Sister... I'm so sorry. I... I lost..."

Now Claudette was witness to her own blood being forced down to the exact same level, enduring the very same humiliation as the newcomer struggled to force out words in response to her elder sister's stunned gaze.

"There was no way I could win against someone like him... He's a monster... It was only three percent... He was only using three percent of his power...!"

With her sanity shattered, the young woman broke into tears while making futile, desperate attempts to stand, clinging to the faint hope of receiving warm, comforting words... any minimal certainty that everything would somehow be fine.

"Shut up! Please, keep your voice down!"

However, the response to her frantic crying was tragically far from the affection and comfort she so desperately craved.

"Sister...?"

When the young princess managed to lift her gaze slightly, she saw that Claudette's eyes were clouded with overwhelming dread of punishment, reflecting a terror that completely eclipsed any compassion for her sister's plight.

"You can't speak freely here... Any word that isn't an apology to the Demon King will be treated as disrespect. Please, stop crying so loudly... They're going to punish me too..."

Claudette kept her eyes fixed nervously toward the Demon King's castle, tears streaming down her own cheeks as she tried desperately to quiet her younger sister.

"Rookie! Keep your mouth shut!"

A harsh rebuke suddenly cut in from diagonally behind them.

"If you complain, the collective punishment will make it a hundred times worse!"

The voice belonged to the magic swordswoman once celebrated as the "Crimson Witch," who was also fixed in the same prostrate position with her forehead pressed against the floor.

"The other day they sealed my rear and urethra, and I suffered for an entire week! And before that, the monsters were spanking me all night long...!"

Terrified by the coldness of those she once called allies, the newcomer babbled through her tears:

"Solidarity, responsibility...? What is that...? I don't know anything about that...!"

But her words were harshly shot down by the rest of the captives:

"Ignorance is no excuse for responsibility!"

"This is the Garden of Apologies, where we only live by the mercy of the Demon Lord."

"If even one person breaks the rules, everyone suffers equally. That is the rule here."

"...If you understand... then hurry up and recite them! The words of apology to that person!"

Following the strict warnings of the already subjugated warriors, the young newcomer was met not with compassion, but with a mix of open condemnation and fearful glances from the veterans surrounding her. Having been broken and exposed to all kinds of humiliation, those women who once proudly held the title of heroines were now obsessed with only one thing: avoiding punishment at all costs. To them, any hint of rebellion in the newcomer was an imminent threat, turning her into an enemy in an instant.

"It's a lie... Master! Where are you...? Help me, Master!"

The suffocating pressure finally crushed the young woman's will, and she broke into frantic pleading, searching the crowd of defeated warriors for an ally and screaming at the top of her lungs the name of the woman who had taught her to wield the sword.

"...It's useless... I've tried to get up many times before."

Her pleas sank into a fresh pit of despair when a familiar voice, unheard since the drastic fall of the vanguard, echoed from a short distance away.

"!!..."

Turning her head, the young woman finally discovered her master crouched and hidden among the other captives.

"But... every time, the Demon King's voice echoes directly inside my head: 'Kneel and apologize,' it says..."

Seeing the strongest, most reliable figure in her life reduced to such a state left her frozen.

"The time for putting on airs is over. There isn't a single shred of pride left in the kingdom..."

Aware of the devastating impact it would have on her disciple, the master had tried to hide her presence from the moment she saw her arrive, unable to meet her eyes after falling into the very same disgrace.

"I'm sorry... If only I had more power... No, if only I had seen through the Demon King's true strength before things came to this..."

Firmly believing it was a terrible mistake not to have shown herself sooner as a living warning of their tragic fate—causing her beloved student to meet the exact same end—the master began to laugh at herself with bitter self-criticism.

"...I am deeply sorry, Your Majesty the Demon King... I am... a truly foolish woman..."

Without sparing a single glance at her student, she began to recite her apologies in a broken voice, joining the submissive chorus of the others.

"Master...! Sister...! I don't want this... I don't want to spend the rest of my life staring at the ground here...!"

Trembling defiantly in one last desperate attempt at resistance, the young woman triggered a drastic shift in the surrounding atmosphere.

(BOOM!!)

With a deafening roar, gravity across the entire plaza seemed to multiply abruptly in clear retaliation.

"!!..."

Hundreds of magic swordswomen screamed in unison as the newcomer's stubborness activated the automatic "collective punishment" spell set up by the Demon Lord to maintain absolute control.

"Sister! Stop! Please!"

Crushed by the overwhelming gravity, Claudette screamed with her ample chest pressed violently against the cold cobblestones. Out of breath and her eyes flooded with tears of pure agony, she looked at her younger sister.

"We are all suffering because of you! Don't make everyone... and me... suffer even more! Please, shut up! Ask the Demon King for forgiveness! That's all I ask of you... Please, please...!"

Desperate to stop the torture, Claudette repeatedly banged her forehead against the stone, begging the conqueror for mercy with words that felt like a stab of betrayal to her own blood.

"Sister... why are you talking to me like that...? To me, who came all the way here to help you...?"

The young woman was left breathless, unable to utter a word at such a sight.

"You haven't helped me at all! Your presence here has only doubled my humiliation! How am I supposed to feel seeing my own sister licking the floor beside me like this? Oh, I'm sorry, Demon King! My sister doesn't understand your greatness! I'm different! I'm different! Please, forgive this fool...!"

The figure of her noble, refined, and kind sister was so thoroughly broken that she could now only hope to survive by blaming her own kind and servilely flattering the monster who had subjugated them.

"Hey, rookie... Do you get it now?"

As if haunting her, the low, somber voice of the Crimson Witch echoed at her side.

"Here, pride, dignity, and bonds are nothing more than a hindrance. The only thing that matters is absolute obedience to the Demon King."

At that precise moment, the young woman's heart completely collapsed. Her will, her pride, her trust, and even the sacred bonds with her family were reduced to ashes.

"...Now, open your mouth. These are the only words you will repeat tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of times for the rest of your life."

Gazing at the remnants of so many once-heroic figures lying broken as far as the eye could see, she understood the true scope of her hell: a place where every second of her existence was under the Demon King's control, where she wouldn't even be allowed to sleep or die.

"...Ah... e-eh..."

From this moment on, her days would be reduced to feeling the icy cold of the cobblestones and trembling endlessly beneath the shadow of the throne.

"......I-I'm... sorry......"

As soon as the first faltering apology escaped her lips, the overwhelming pressure crushing her body lifted all at once, leaving her pinned to the stone as just another decoration in the plaza.

"...I am so sorry... Lord Demon King... I am so sorry...!"

Despite knowing full well that this was not salvation, but an open invitation to ever-deeper submission, the young woman had no choice but to desperately cling to that momentary release from pain.

"Yes... it's alright, little sister. Let's apologize together... That way, maybe someday... someday they will forgive us..."

Beside her, Claudette laughed with a vacant gaze like a broken doll, talking into the void as, once again, the plaza filled with the impassive, robotic, and submissive chorus of hundreds of beautiful magic swordswomen.

"...Ah...! Lord... Demon King..."

With her vision completely blurred by tears, the young woman stared intently at the cracks in the cold cobblestones, unable to imagine a day when they would receive forgiveness, or the existence of any being on earth capable of defeating such a monster.

"...He is strong... Very strong..."

However, at the same time, in the tiny kingdom of Ironholm, the hooded figure of "Silvia" subtly curved her lips beneath her black hood...

"Aaaaaah... I really want to fight."

... While in the eyes of the rest of the world only despair was reflected.

"...."

In hers there was only a burning emotion on the verge of boiling.