The repeated inhalation of drugs didn’t do much good for Garuel’s body. Though the strengthened energy did breathe vitality into his form, a strange sense of unease surged within him. He couldn’t quite tell whether what he was feeling was motivation, greed, willpower, or bloodlust.

But Garuel was certain he wouldn’t lose his sanity just yet. Because Cadel was here. Somewhere beneath the trees of this forest, the man he had to protect was waiting.

“Cadel, where is Cadel Lytos?”

Despite the simplicity of the question, a deafening roar swept through the forest. Garuel lightly shook his head to brush off the noise, then flared the wings of demonic energy and took to the sky. They weren’t the same as a demon’s wings, so prolonged flight wasn’t possible—but it was enough to attack the giant form of Sellev.

“Don’t bother. Our Knight Commander’s type is a silver-haired pretty boy who’s half demon, half human.”

Spinning like a whirlwind mid-air, Garuel slashed mercilessly at Sellev’s left arm with a blade wrapped in demonic energy. Without any reinforcement, the flesh was torn clean through, and violet blood splattered. Sellev’s massive fist targeted Garuel in the air, but he dodged and landed straight onto the ground.

“Uaaaaaah!”

Sellev let out a furious roar at the battle that wasn’t going her way.

“So damn noisy.”

Garuel narrowed his eyes and readjusted his grip on his sword. Sellev’s size was certainly threatening, but it also meant she had a larger area to be hit. It was practically like having her weak points enlarged.

Garuel had completely figured out the vulnerabilities of the giant-form Sellev, and with his small frame, temporary flight, and enhanced abilities, he steadily brought her down.

Rolling her eyes to locate Garuel, Sellev bit her lip. Even in her giant form, fighting Garuel was overwhelming. That her body was weakening little by little due to the bracelet’s dwindling effect was also part of the reason.

‘His demonic energy is stronger than mine? That’s ridiculous. Even if he took a stimulant……’

Deep wounds had been carved across her body, and demonic energy surged to regenerate, but the bleeding didn’t stop. At least for this moment, Garuel’s demonic energy was more destructive than her own. How could that be?

‘Did he chug a whole batch of drugs I’ve never seen? There’s no way he could wield this kind of power just from sniffing it. That idiot only has half a demon’s power!’

It was incomprehensible. But just because she couldn’t accept it didn’t mean Garuel would stop attacking. Letting out a rough breath, Sellev raised both fists and summoned her demonic energy.

‘This guy is stalling me. Which means, somewhere in this forest…… Cadel Lytos is here. It doesn’t look like I’ll get any information out of him, so I’ll find him myself.’

There wasn’t much time left to use the power of the bracelet. Once its effect ended, her body would suffer the backlash of drawing on that energy. Facing Garuel in such a state would mean certain death.

Sellev decided to settle things within the time she had left. A dense mass of demonic energy gathered around her raised fist, forging into a sleek, iron-like finish. Taking a deep breath, she sharpened her eyes. As her arm thrust forward, countless afterimages of her fist trailed behind it.

[Black Fist Barrage].

Her ultimate move that delivered fifteen straight punches in a single second. The rain of black fists pounded the forest without mercy. The murderous power upturned the earth, shattered boulders, and flattened trees.

With an attack like this, there would be no place for Cadel Lytos to hide. Sellev’s lifted eyes searched restlessly for his location. But then—

‘Demonic energy……?’

Everywhere she looked, there shimmered a mist-like demonic energy. The source of the demonic energy blanketing the forest was Garuel. Instead of blocking Sellev’s unrelenting strikes, he had layered his own demonic energy across the forest.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but if you don’t rush to Cadel Lytos right now, he’s goi—!”

Sellev’s eyes widened mid-sentence. Beneath the wavering demonic energy of Garuel, the ravaged forest was being restored to its original state. The rocks that had been pulverized, the earth that had been cracked open, even the trees that had been forced to the ground—everything was returning to how it had been, as if time itself were rewinding. Garuel’s demonic energy was restoring it all. An impossible feat. A power that shouldn’t exist.

Finally, the last strike of [Black Fist Barrage] slammed into the ground. And between the upright trees surrounding her, as if to make a point, the shattered bracelet fell.

* * *

The vibration of the forest, loud and violent, reached even the underground burrow where Cadel was hiding. Despite the chaos above, Cadel remained focused, gathering his energy in preparation for a single blow that would kill the Demon King’s siblings. But just as his mana took form—

“Kunra……? Why……?”

All traces of Kunra’s energy that had been mixed in with his own suddenly vanished. It wasn’t by Cadel’s will. It was a forced, wrenching withdrawal, as if a gift was being snatched away. A note of panic rang in Cadel’s voice. He could still feel Kunra’s energy within him—lingering, latent. And yet, whenever he tried to draw on it, it rebelled violently, thrashing in refusal.

A signal clearer than anything else: Do not use my power.

But why? It couldn’t be because Kunra feared the system—this had been their plan from the start, hadn’t it? They had endured in silence, hiding their movements, all for this moment: to strike down the Demon King’s siblings.

Even if saving Hyron had triggered a restriction, that limitation should have ended the moment they whisked the siblings away. This was supposed to be the time Kunra lent his strength, no matter what the system tried to do.

Cadel couldn’t begin to grasp Kunra’s silence.

“……Fine. Do whatever you want, you damned lizard.”

With Kunra’s power gone, Cadel simply summoned more of his own. He knew this would leave him at a disadvantage against Emilia, but he had no other choice.

Cadel’s gaze shifted to Emilia’s sister. His curled fingertips pressed against her withered chest. As his mana flowed into her, a glowing red magic circle formed over her heart. Strange hieroglyphs carved themselves into the pulsing seal, and a violent surge of mana began to whip through the cramped underground space.

‘This should be enough.’

A spell that would incinerate her heart and erase her completely. The moment Cadel’s eyes gleamed with intent, the wild mana converged beneath the spell circle. Then—

Crunch. Crrkk.

A grotesque, squelching sound, and her body spasmed. But only briefly. The magic circle lost its glow and vanished, and where her heart once was, her chest gaped open, torn apart in the exact shape of the sigil. Her body, now heartless, sparked into flames, and the corpse began to burn.

A clean, absolute death. Cadel had killed her with a spell that left not even a seed for resurrection. And just as if it had been waiting for that moment, the system window appeared.

「This is your final chance. Submit to fate.」

The blood-red message flashed repeatedly, obstructing his vision. Submit, submit, submit. A blaring warning echoed in his head, and a sickening nausea washed over him.

But Cadel simply gathered more mana in silence.

“Not everyone lives the way you decided they should.”

* * *

“Sellev……”

The humans climbing the castle had long since ceased to matter. Emilia’s lips parted slightly as she stared into the crystal orb reflecting Sellev’s image. Across its surface flickered a scene of brutal carnage—Sellev, savaged and torn. Without the bracelet’s power, she was utterly defenseless against the relentless onslaught.

Every time Garuel’s demonic energy, shaped like the wings of a demon, flared across the orb, Emilia’s fury surged. The chamber trembled with her rage, and a dark, flickering demonic energy writhed around her like smoke licking the edges of a fire.

And when, at last, Sellev collapsed to her knees in the orb, completely spent—

“Lawrence!”

Her scream shattered the air. A faint movement stirred just beyond the door, followed by a low, composed voice.

“You called, Your Majesty.”

Hands shaking violently, Emilia clenched them into fists, then stormed to the door and flung it open. Standing before her, head bowed, was Lawrence. Without hesitation, she seized him by the collar, yanking him down to force eye contact.

Her gaze was ablaze with fury and bloodlust. Lawrence stiffened under the intensity, and Emilia’s voice—quivering with a fear that hadn’t been there before—cut through the tension.

“Go. Save Sellev. If she is killed by your nephew, your family will be drenched in blood before this war even ends.”