New Game +

Seven years later - The Battle of the Saint of Ariadne and the Witch's Apostle

The acne scarred woman who was once a maid crumpled on the floor in a splay of brilliant colors was no more. In her place stood a soldier changed. With eyes of shining gold and hair of flaming crimson blowing in the wind, she stared down the Apostle of the Demon Witch.

The countryside lay decimated. The cities piles of rubble. Across the continent, all had been rent asunder, neither brute nor babe had been spared from the Demon Witch's crusade.

"Seven years ago you monsters stole my Lady from me. Now, you shall die by my blade."

A voiceless beauty with peerless ashen skin stood still amongst a strew of slain corpses. It had been 7 years since Cassandra's heart had been touched by darkness, and as the apostle of the Great Spirit, she had plunged the world into hell. With eyes lacking any emotion, her lips furled upwards displaying jagged broken teeth and a rotted mouth. 

A purple ooze slipped from between her teeth and dripped to the earth, and as each drop landed, purple tendrils shot out across the ground in all directions bursting into brilliant flowers of all colors.

Amidst a great valley covered in purple vines, vibrant flowers, and the corpses of a multitude of monsters, a girl bathed in light flew across the grass and drove her blade into the chest of the Witch's Apostle. But rather than bursting into ashes as the Bishops and Priests of the Witch had done, Cassandra merely continued to smile, and with a shocking strength, she wrapped her arms around the Hero of the Goddess.

It had been seven years since Cassandra had spoken a word. Yet from her smiling decayed mouth came a grating, chilling tone.

"Welcome home my beloved maid."

Serena froze, her charge had never spoken in all her years, and yet Serena knew... "My Lady"

The ashen skin of the Apostle's face morphed, shifting like sand caught in the tide to recreate the face of the child Serena had once watched over. 

"I finally have a voice. Isn't it beautiful?"

"My lady... what have you done."

"Look around you, such beautiful flowers, perfectly silent, just like me."

Serena's mind had shattered. The only person who had mattered to her. The child she had discovered lost and alone in the alley that day. Overcome by weakness, she could only stare into the face which had haunted her nightmares since that fateful day.

"Return to me, you've fought so hard. It is time for you to find peace"

As the acne scarred maid stood frozen, the purple tendrils rose behind her taking the form of a young girl.

*Shing* *Plop*

A razor thing purple blade swept through the air and the maid's head fell to the ground, followed by her collapsing corpse.

As the goddess's champion fell, the purple vines proceeded to devour the world in its entirety, a thumbing, undulating mass of purple vines and vibrant flowers.

A world of peace

*Ding - Congratulations! You have completed the achievement "A World of Peace" 0.001% players have completed this achievement*

In a dark room littered with dirty laundry, tissues, floss, plastic utensils, and other discarded garbage, an emaciated man stared glassy eyed at the screen.

What. The. Hell. Was. That.

"Oh come on!!!!"

The emaciated man stood up grasping his head shaking from side to side. 

"You were supposed to be happy! A world at peace! A world at peace means bunnies, flowers, sunshine, not the freaking apocalypse!"

(Do you think you could do better?)

"H Huh? Who, who's there?"

Having avoided any human contact for the last 4 months, the sound of an actual voice not coming from a computer was like light to a vampire. The extreme headache from stress buildup further intensified. The rail thin man, with skin like plastic wrap around his protruding veins collapsed to the floor clutching his head in pain.

(Then show me pitiful creature. Show me you can build a world at peace in a land of such disgraceful beings)

"What are you? Who are you?"

The pain was blinding and Dante could only feel as slick vines wove around his body, his already weak body powerless to resist. But as the vines enclosed his entire body, he suddenly felt a warm touch on his cheek. Opening his eyes, he was surrounded in a world of purple looking at a tragic woman in her 60s wearing a flamboyantly colored maid's uniform.

"Please young man, save my Lady. I will do everything in my power to help you, but there is little I can do from here. Please let my Lady know true peace. Please save our world from her endless tragedy."

A game. It was just a game. After doomscrolling to the 403rd page of results on duckduckgo after searching "Cute red-haired waifu purple vine warrior lady" he found an impossibly beautifully rendered image of a woman with crimson hair covered in purple vines. He could only see her from the back but it was love at first sight. After spending days reverse image searching, and scouring wikipedia pages, and further refining his duckduckgo search queries, he finally found the game. "The Maid-Knight and the Demon-Witch". A browser game with graphics impossibly better than any browser game should be able to run.

"Serena... is that you?"

"I'm afraid it is my dear. I'm so sorry to place such a terrible burden upon you, but please, please help us."

"Of course. I'll do anything."

He had spent the last 2 years in a frenzy trying to complete this game, to find a happy ending. No matter which questlines, which difficulty, or what faction he used, the ending was always an apocalypse of some sort. "A World of Peace" was the final hidden achievement in the game, only obtainable after unlocking the "Witch of Peace" Faction by completing the 19 other factions in the game.

It was an insanely large game. With a world map the scale of the Eurasian super-continent, underground kingdoms, flying castles, magic, and even a faction of underwater jellyfish people called the "Divine Warhead" faction. That entire campaign had been unbearable. 

He gave his life to try and win a happy ending for his beloved Maid-Knight, who had stolen his heart from the first moment he saw her wrapped in those vines. He would gladly give another to win the love of his life.

"Thank you brave hero"

Had Serena known the range of perverse and indecent thoughts the corpse-like man had of her, she may have forsaken her world and used the last of her power to smite him then and there... thankfully, she had no such knowledge.

With a burst of warm light Dante opened his eyes and took in the sight of a beautiful woman in her early 20's with fiery red hair. 

Dante, the agoraphobe with enough experience to scroll 400 pages through search results was familiar with all sorts of isekai. Royal isekai, duchy isekai, warrior isekai, peasant isekai, animal isekai be it cat, wolf, spider, or even a slug isekai. His broken mind was uniquely capable of taking in the absurd experience.

(She's pretty. Maybe I'll turn out okay in this life after all. Just wait for me Serena, I'll win your heart no matter what!)

"Oh sweetie, he's beautiful, congratulations my dear! My first grandchild, how wonderful!"

An older version of the woman he'd just seen came into view. Acne scars check. Flaming crimson hair check... Serena... NOOOOO NO! NO! NO! You're the love of my life. You can't be... my Grandma.

Staring up at the woman in her late 30s or early 40s with big, watery, green eyes, Dante took his first big cry in this world.

On this day three children were born. A boy with crimson hair and bright green eyes, a mute girl, daughter of a strange Viscounty, and far away, in a church proclaiming the power of the divine voice, an ashen faced girl, blessed with the gift of healing.