“The, the gate! Open the gate! The Scarlet Scales Knight Order have breached the main entrance! Hurry, assist them!”

Dreyfe shouted desperately, mustering the last of his strength as he staggered toward the gate. He shoved his hands into the narrow gap and pulled with all his might. The thick stench of blood filled his nostrils.

“How in the world……? What were the demons inside doing?”

Atlas, who had been momentarily stunned while staring at the gate, furrowed his brows and swung his fan. How could humans have opened the gate from inside the fortress?

There were still guards stationed beyond the walls. And yet, they had failed to stop a mere handful of humans, allowing the entrance to be breached? Were they asleep at their posts in the middle of this battle?

With rage boiling inside him, Atlas furiously waved his fan, unleashing a deadly barrage of razor-sharp feathers toward the gate. But neither Dreyfe, who had his back turned, nor Van, who had poked his head through the gap, made any effort to dodge the attack.

“Charge! Charge now! We can’t let this chance slip away!”

Layers of protective barriers formed above them. Dreyfe’s cry ignited the morale of the allied forces. Following the orders of their commanders, the knights charged madly toward the gate, their eyes gleaming with a near-maniacal fervor. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The chance created by the Scarlet Scales Knight Order was their only way into the Demon King’s castle.

“What are you all doing?! Stop them!”

The narrow gap in the gate—just that tiny sliver of possibility—had turned the tide of battle completely. The knights, exhausted by what had seemed like a hopeless fight, now clung to this newfound hope like demons themselves, swinging their swords with reckless abandon. The magicians, too, prioritized shielding those pushing the gate open over their own defense. They had to keep this momentum going.

“Damn it, this thing is heavy as hell……!”

Even with all his weight thrown into it, the gate wasn’t opening as quickly as they needed. The lingering demonic energy sealing it shut was surely to blame. Van gritted his teeth and glared at Dreyfe, who was struggling to pull from the other side.

“Is that all the strength you’ve got? Pull harder!”

“I, I’m doing my best……! What about your knights? Are they even pushing?!”

Van scoffed at Dreyfe’s indignant retort.

“Hate to break it to you, but I’m the only one here. The rest are still inside the fortress.”

“What? Alone?”

For a moment, the sheer absurdity of that statement caused Dreyfe’s grip on the gate to slacken. Van barked at him to pull properly, snapping him back into action.

‘He broke through the main gate alone? That’s even possible? Is this guy…… a monster?’

Dreyfe had always known Van was a berserker who controlled blood and that he could go on a rampage at any moment, even turning against his own allies. That was common knowledge. Yet, he had never once felt the true weight of that danger before.

And that was because of Cadel.

With Cadel’s commands guiding him, Van had always silently aided the knights, an unfaltering force in battle. Even now, he was helping them. And yet—

“Hurry it up. If you don’t, I might start losing limbs here. Open it already and let me loose on the enemy.”

Van Herdos, without Cadel, was nothing but a berserker. A monster drunk on bloodlust, radiating pure killing intent.

Dreyfe didn’t fully grasp what Van meant, but he pulled the gate with everything he had. More knights arrived to help, and the gap in the gate widened rapidly.

“Uooooooh!!”

“Run! The Demon King’s castle is right ahead!”

Finally, the main gate yawned open.

With triumphant cries, the knights surged forward.

* * *

“That sword…… Why do you have that sword?”

Lumen never imagined that the blade he had wielded for nearly half his life would break so easily. There was no room for grief in a battle like this. Without much thought, he had simply grabbed a spare sword from the armory and drawn it.

“You might as well hand it over. You won’t be able to use that sword anyway.”

Emilia was right—Lumen couldn’t use it.

‘Why won’t it come out?’

The blade refused to leave its scabbard. It wasn’t a matter of rust or damage. It felt as if heavy chains bound the sword in place, as if some overwhelming force was locking it inside.

‘Is it a cursed sword meant only for demons? If so, then it’s completely useless to me.’

Perhaps it would be of use to Garuel, but now wasn’t the time to be picking out gifts for his comrades. Lumen could only block the incoming attacks with the scabbard, stepping back as Emilia’s clones pressed forward. Their attacks grew fiercer by the second, leaving no room for an opening. And with his specialty, sword-drawing technique, rendered useless, his predicament only worsened.

Just as Lumen was desperately racking his brain for an escape plan—

“……Lumen.”

Yozen, slumped over his shoulder, finally spoke.

“Did you think of something good? Please tell me you did.”

His voice carried desperate sincerity, and despite the dire situation, Yozen let out an oddly misplaced chuckle as he whispered. Upon hearing his words, Lumen’s lips curled into a smirk.

“You’re a nasty bastard.”

“We have to make it back alive. Back to Cadel.”

“Agreed. Let’s hold out until then.”

The relentless onslaught from Emilia’s clones forced Lumen onto the defensive, barely managing to parry their strikes. Meanwhile, the demonic energy she unleashed continued to shatter the ground beneath him, accelerating its pace. One misstep—whether in defense or evasion—would spell disaster. The moment they showed an opening, this place would become their grave.

Lumen kept his breath steady, conserving energy as he maintained his speed. Meanwhile, Yozen, fully entrusting his body to Lumen’s movements, focused all his senses on sound. The crumbling floor, the clashing blades, Lumen’s ragged breathing, Emilia’s murmurs—he blocked all of it out.

He was listening for one thing only.

The sound of approaching footsteps.

Just like when he first discovered Lumen, he concentrated solely on that sound, gathering his strength. Then, the moment those footsteps reached the room adjacent to the corridor they were in—

“Now.”

Yozen’s hidden weapon shattered the wall beside them. Lumen, having been gathering his strength, leapt backward in a powerful burst. In the same motion, he struck the castle’s outer wall with the scabbard, while Yozen, having vanished from Lumen’s shoulder, grabbed someone and hurled them between Lumen and Emilia’s clone.

That someone, now caught in Yozen’s grasp and staring straight at the clone, was—

“What, what’s going on?!”

“Just take one hit.”

“Hu, huh? Wait……!”

Garuel. He had been searching for his comrades when he followed the sudden explosion to its source—only to be thrown into battle against the Demon King’s clone.

As the clone’s blade swung toward him, Garuel instinctively unsheathed his sword.

“What the hell is this strength……?!”

The sheer force behind their clash sent an electric shock coursing through his entire body, knocking him back. His balance was completely thrown off—but there was no need to recover.

“This way!”

At the exact moment Garuel withstood the clone’s strike, Lumen shattered the castle’s outer wall. Yozen, still dragging the bewildered Garuel, leapt down alongside Lumen.

“Wa, wait, wait! What the hell is going on?!”

“Well, at least we’ve got someone who can fix broken bones now.”

“He actually proved useful.”

While Lumen and Yozen sighed in relief mid-fall, Garuel’s mind was consumed by a singular worry—how to minimize the pain of the impending crash.

But his concern was quickly resolved.

“Deploy a barrier! It’s the Scarlet Scales Knight Order!”

The magicians charging toward the castle had spotted them just in time. Soft magical barriers caught their descent, allowing them to land unscathed. As Lumen instinctively looked up at the hole they had escaped through, he saw the Demon King’s clone standing at the edge, gazing down at them with its sword lowered.

If that thing descended, their entire formation would be torn apart in an instant.

Lumen tensed, watching warily—but instead of attacking, the clone dispersed like smoke, as if its task was complete. The Demon King herself did not appear.

‘…She’s waiting inside.’

How were they supposed to stop that Demon King? A suffocating weight settled in his chest.

But then—

“Leader is still inside the castle.”

“He might have found Sir Lydon.”

Cadel and Lydon—until they regrouped, nothing else mattered.

* * *

“What should I do with this……? Her Majesty ordered me to use you as bait to lure this one in, but if I play my cards right, I might be able to catch a few more. Heh……”

Why? How did it come to this?

“What do you think? Tell me, pitiful little fairy. How should I make use of this corpse?”

He had lost his father. His father had thrown himself in harm’s way to protect him, only to die. And Lydon had come to avenge him.

But why? Why had he failed to kill his sworn enemy? Why had Cadel lost his heart instead?

Why? The answer was simple.

“Just kill me instead.”

“Oh? I can’t do that. You have to live and watch your comrades die. That’s what makes it entertaining.”

His father’s death, Cadel’s heart being stolen—it was all because he was weak.

What good was his power if it was useless? What was the point of strength that couldn’t protect those he cherished? He should have died instead. The heart in that monster’s hand should have been his.

And yet, here he was, still alive, while his father and Cadel……

“Heh…… Are you crying? You are! Hahaha!”

His mangled body refused to move. His energy was in shambles, and his remaining mana was depleted.

There was nothing he could do in this wretched state. For the first time, Lydon resented himself.

He had failed to protect the ones he loved. Instead, he had dragged them to their deaths with his own weakness.

He didn’t need freedom. He didn’t need dreams or hope. He didn’t need life, meaning, or even love. Lydon, who had lost everything, wanted only one thing.

“Give me back his heart……”

Power. Power strong enough to shatter even the agony of his past.

---

TL/N: LOL Poor Garuel ><