“Why won’t you give it to me?”

Cadel frowned as he asked, and Garuel merely shrugged in response.

“Because it might be useful.”

“You don’t need it. Just driving out Sellev was enough for that drug to have served its purpose. Let’s just throw it away.”

“I refuse. I decline.”

Garuel gently folded each of Cadel’s outstretched fingers one by one. Cadel was too dumbfounded to even speak properly. After all the hell Garuel had just gone through because of that damned stimulant, now he was being stubborn about not throwing it away. Cadel let out a scoffing laugh and reached toward Garuel’s chest to snatch it by force, but Garuel dodged lightly, a slight crease forming between his brows.

“Being assertive is fine, but forcing something isn’t. Please restrain yourself, Knight Commander.”

“What the hell are you saying? Just give it to me already!”

“Have you forgotten how tricky a High Demon Lawrence was? That difficult opponent was defeated just by catching a whiff of this stimulant.”

“Yeah, impressive. But the side effects were impressive, too. I can’t stand seeing you suffer anymore.”

It was a special circumstance. Originally, Garuel’s role was closer to that of a healer. The fighting was up to the other members, and there was no need for Garuel to overextend himself like that. They had already taken down all of the Demon King’s siblings, and all that remained was to regroup with their allies and secure the Stone of Peace.

“You won’t have to use that drug again, Garuel. I get what you’re thinking, but don’t. You don’t have to do that anymore.”

“……Maybe you’re right, Knight Commander.”

Garuel murmured as he let his body relax against the wooden pillar. Then he stretched out his hand in front of Cadel. Demonic energy flickered above it—far deeper in hue than Garuel’s usual aura.

“Thanks to devouring Lawrence’s heart, my power has grown. It’s not as dramatic a change as when I used the stimulant, but I can definitely feel the strength. Maybe, just maybe, this much of a boost will be enough to handle a fight with the Demon King without overdoing it.”

“Then why…….”

“You haven’t finished explaining, have you?”

“Explaining?”

As Cadel looked at him, confused, Garuel clenched his fist, and the demonic energy vanished.

“The tale of Shin Yeohwan. Now that the Demon King’s siblings are gone, is there no longer a risk of war repeating itself? How did stories of this world reach the one you lived in? What does ‘transmigration’ actually mean……? There’s still a lot I haven’t heard.”

“…….”

“Whether this drug is necessary or not, I’ll decide after I hear that story.”

Cadel had momentarily forgotten, overwhelmed by Garuel’s shocking transformation—that Garuel still needed an explanation for the truth Cadel had revealed so impulsively. Now, with the true end drawing near, there was no room left to keep delaying.

Cadel turned his head with a sigh. The pendant he habitually touched remained silent, offering no voice. Only a faintly renewed energy pulsed through it, more subtle than before yet undeniably present. He wished Kunra would just appear and tell him to get back to the castle instead of chatting idly—but of course, no such thing happened.

“……I don’t know where to even begin. There’s too much to tell and not enough time.”

“Then answer this first. After this war ends, will there still be time for me to hear your explanation?”

Did he really have to hit the mark so precisely? Cadel’s lips pressed into a thin line, his shoulders tense and raised. Running his hand through his hair in a tangle of emotions, he cautiously began.

“In the world I was from, I experienced your world as…… a kind of ‘game.’ I thought it wasn’t real, and so I indulged in it more freely. Your growth, your conflicts, even the wars of your world—I believed it was all fiction, just a made-up story. But then…… I ended up in this world. Possessed the body of Cadel Lytos, the main character from the game.”

As he admitted to having ‘enjoyed’ their world, he couldn’t bring himself to meet Garuel’s gaze. With the guilt of a sinner, Cadel began to reveal the secret he had hidden all this time.

* * *

The biggest nuisance—the barrier—was gone. But they didn’t head straight up to the fourth floor. That was because of what Yozen said after sensing the energy from above.

“The Demon King’s energy hasn’t weakened. She’s definitely waiting for us up there.”

The Demon King was up there—not at the very top floor where she should have been, but on the floor directly above them. And she was waiting, unmoving.

“She’s capable of creating clones. Are we sure it’s not one of those?”

“I can tell the difference. That’s no clone. It’s the real one. The true Demon King.”

At his firm conviction, a heavy silence passed among the knights. The one who broke that silence was Modeleine, who had persistently insisted on treating Van despite repeated refusals.

“If anyone has any lingering injuries, speak up now. Once we’re fighting the Demon King, proper healing won’t be an option. If she’s going to sit up there waiting for us, then we’d best go up as prepared as we can be.”

It was a blessing in disguise. They still had a few more floors to climb to reach the top of the castle, but since the Demon King had kindly come down to meet them, it meant fewer enemies to face and less stamina to expend. Modeleine did his best to raise morale with that positive spin, and stepping forward in response was Ector.

“I’ve slightly twisted my back. If I let it be, it’ll affect my fighting, so I’d appreciate it if you could take care of it now.”

“Of course. Please, come here.”

Since the Demon King didn’t seem keen on coming any lower, the knights took Modeleine’s advice and performed their final checks before the battle. They cleaned the dried blood from their swords, calmed their spirits, and tended to minor wounds.

Whether it was due to tension or urgency, the preparations didn’t take long. Once everything was in order, the group gathered before the stairs. At the front, Ector looked around at the knights one last time before giving a small nod and beginning the ascent.

‘So even after coming all this way to the Demon King herself, I still can’t draw this sword.’

At the very back of the line, Lumen gripped the sheath of the demon sword. The uneven surface scraping against his skin brought a sharp sense of reality. He had been carrying it like a man possessed, but despite several attempts, he had never been able to draw it.

‘It’s just a burden. We can’t afford to carry dead weight in a fight like this.’

Had he not seen and felt it himself? That he was overwhelmed even by a mere clone, that even his cherished sword was shattered. The higher they climbed, the more meaningless his hesitation became. With a sigh full of regret, Lumen began unfastening the demon sword from his belt. If it was going to be discarded, better to do it quickly and move on.

But just before the sword was fully released from his belt—

“……!”

A blinding flash of light burst from above the stairs they were climbing. It was too sudden, too intense to be Modeleine’s doing. Instinctively raising an arm to shield his face, Lumen squeezed his eyes shut.

‘The Demon King?’

He hadn’t imagined the Demon King to be one who wielded light, but if it wasn’t Modeleine’s doing, then it could only be the enemy’s. Lumen shielded his eyes with one hand and squinted ahead. Through the foggy blur, he caught a faint glimpse of what lay before him.

“……Mr. Mamil?”

He was gone. Mamil, who had just been climbing the stairs directly in front of him, had vanished. So had the comrades in front of him and the rest of the group as well.

The flash of light had disappeared. Lumen roughly rubbed his eyes, forcing his eyelids open. As he blinked rapidly, his vision gradually began to return. And then—

“This is……”

Lumen realized he was no longer on the stairs. He had stepped into a new space. Gripping the sword sheath tightly, he cautiously moved forward and scanned his surroundings.

‘The fourth floor? No, this doesn’t look like any normal part of the castle.’

A long corridor stretched out in front of him—so long he couldn’t see the end. It was hard to believe it was a real hallway at all. The crimson carpet laid down its entire length only added to the eerie, ominous atmosphere. Lumen stared into the darkness pooled at the far end before slowly shifting his gaze.

‘There are so many rooms.’

On either side of the corridor, tightly packed doors lined the walls. Not a single sound came from behind them, and none were open. Rather than trying to open any of them, Lumen chose to carefully pass by.

‘An illusion…… The Demon King is showing me a hallucination. If that’s the case, then the others ahead of me are likely seeing similar visions. When trapped in an illusion, it’s easy to let your guard down. One wrong move, and it’s over.’

He sharpened all his senses, ready to counter an attack from any direction. Even if sight was deceived, the presence of an approaching threat couldn’t be completely hidden.

‘If it’s Yozen, he won’t have fallen for the illusion. Since we all ascended the stairs together, we must’ve entered the same space. If Yozen senses something off first, he’ll definitely send a signal.’

Until that signal came, Lumen wasn’t going to act rashly. In this kind of situation, a friend could easily be mistaken for a foe. He just needed to move carefully and stay alert to the presences around him.

It was as he was thinking this and continuing forward that—

“You think this is an illusion?”

A soft woman’s voice brushed past his ear like the wind.