As he hastily turned toward the direction of the voice, the owner of the voice revealed herself.

“Demon King……”

“Hello. We meet again.”

Emilia tilted her head gently, her hands clasped behind her back. Though her pretty face wore a smile, there wasn’t even a trace of warmth in her demeanor.

Lumen immediately placed his hand on his sword sheath, focusing intently on Emilia’s every movement.

“Answer me. Do you think this is an illusion?”

“……It feels too dreamlike to be real. If this is indeed a real space, then where did you send the others?”

“The afterlife.”

Lumen’s eyebrow twitched at the blunt reply, and Emilia let out a delicate laugh.

“Just kidding. They’re all alive. ……For now, anyway.”

“Are they in the same space as I am?”

“Haha…… Are you trying to extract information from me? Even if you manage to figure things out, it won’t matter if you don’t survive.”

Is this her true form? Or another clone? He had fought one of her clones before, but without seeing the real one, it was impossible to even guess it was a clone—it had such form and power. Lumen tried to recall the features of the clone he had faced, gauging whether this was the true Demon King.

While he was doing so, Emilia, who had been staring at him intently, spoke again, her smile now gone from her face.

“Cadel Lytos. He’s your master, isn’t he?”

“Why do you ask that?”

“Bring him to me. If you do, I’ll let you and the other humans live. I promise.”

She added that she was being sincere and wiggled her pinky finger at him. How could the Demon King know of Cadel’s existence and so specifically desire his life? Faced with this incomprehensible demand, Lumen could only conclude that the situation before him was fake.

‘She’s trying to destabilize my mind by invoking someone precious to me. It’s obvious. I’m not falling for it.’

If the figure before him was just an illusion, there was nothing to fear—but that only meant he had to be even more cautious. There was no telling what might appear once the illusion was gone.

He loosened his grip on the sword sheath and gave a slight nod.

“Alright. I’ll hand him over. But before that, remove this illusion and let me confirm the safety of the humans…… and the one fairy who came with me.”

“You really do think it’s an illusion.”

“If you fulfill my request first, then I’ll also consider yours……”

Lumen remained composed, not allowing himself to be provoked. His mind was rational, showing no signs of confusion or agitation. If anything, the illusion should weaken, not intensify.

“This is reality. As much as you don’t want to believe it.”

When Emilia opened a door to her right, someone collapsed out of it. The blood-soaked body fell face-first to the floor and didn’t so much as flinch. Lumen’s gaze quickly scanned the fallen figure.

‘Sir Modeleine?’

Lumen’s eyes trembled briefly as he recognized him. Though the face wasn’t visible due to the way he’d fallen, the uniform he wore was enough to guess his identity.

‘Is that really Sir Modeleine……? That can’t be. It hasn’t even been that long since I was trapped in this illusion. For him to be in such a wrecked state in that short time……’

It would’ve been impossible unless he had either faced the true Demon King or been ambushed. He was the commander of the Twilight Knight Order, after all. Even though he had focused on healing recently, his combat power was not to be underestimated.

Seeing that Lumen didn’t appear convinced, Emilia raised the corner of her mouth in a slightly troubled expression.

“You’re quite the skeptic. Or should I say, cautious? Well, fine. If you need to see it to believe it, I’ll show you plenty. Take this human, too. See for yourself—touch and feel him.”

With a casual wave of her hand, a gust of wind infused with demonic energy blew, sending the unconscious Modeleine tumbling weakly forward. Even as Lumen caught him in his arms, he never took his eyes off Emilia. And in the next moment—

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The doors lining the hallway burst open with a crash, revealing the scenes within.

“……!”

Inside were his comrades and knights who had been nowhere to be seen. Each room held one person, all engaged in fierce battle with Emilia. That wasn’t all. Each room appeared to be its own separate space-time, with entirely different backgrounds.

One room was a forest, another the sea, one was a cliff, another a volcano, and yet another a snowy field. Lumen turned to look at the nearest room—the one with the forest. Inside, Ector and Emilia were locked in intense combat. Even though Modeleine and Lumen were right across from him, Ector didn’t spare them a single glance. As Lumen tried to step into the room—

“It’s useless. That’s a space-time I created. No one can interfere with it except me. If you lose consciousness like the man in front of you, you might slip out on your own.”

A transparent barrier blocked the room. Striking it with force or sending sword energy at it had no effect. Emilia patiently waited while Lumen persistently tried to break through. And only once he finally seemed to give up, she spoke again.

“Every one of them is fighting one of my clones. As you already know from experience, they’re not ordinary clones. They carry a part of my true soul. You have no chance of winning.”

“……”

“And the one standing before you right now is the real me. Not a clone.”

Was all of this truly reality? Lumen couldn’t even bring himself to check Modeleine’s condition. If this was real, then everyone here—

“The only reason I didn’t trap you in a space-time and let you hear my proposal is because you seemed the smartest of them all. So bring me Cadel Lytos. Unless you want them all to die.”

Faced with the looming threat of complete annihilation, Lumen swallowed dryly.

* * *

Because he rambled on so aimlessly, he ended up revealing most of the secrets that made up who he was. Why did that happen? The more he tried to figure it out, the more cowardly his reasoning seemed. He would still love Garuel even if he became a demon and devoured hearts—so please, love this pathetic version of me, too. It was less a plea than a near-threat.

Garuel listened to Cadel’s long confession without a single question and finally took a slow, deep breath. His eyes, fixed on empty space, were troubled, and his face betrayed no emotion at all.

“To be honest, I thought I wouldn’t be surprised no matter what secrets I heard. Not after learning the truth about Knight Commander’s identity. But……”

Even amid the mind-shattering bombshell of truth that threatened to overload his brain, Garuel didn’t stop trying to understand. He had to understand it all—digest everything. That was the only way he could truly get closer to Cadel.

“But the destruction and rebirth of an entire timeline? I—I don’t even know how to begin wrapping my head around that. I have no memory of anything like that. Have you been fighting that kind of vague, impossible battle all this time?”

Still, the more he thought about it, the more baffled and outraged he became. But the emotion wasn’t directed at Cadel. It was directed at this world. At the god of the world Shin Yeohwan had lived in. At the terrifying force that had tormented him and tried to shatter this reality.

He struggled to hold on to his sense of reality, which kept threatening to slip away. He had to accept—deep in his bones—that Cadel’s suffering, on that desolate path of truth, had been real.

“How was that even possible? How did you endure it? If it were me, I would’ve run away ages ago. Even if I felt guilty about abandoning the members, I’d have closed my eyes and focused on the war that was originally mine to fight. I mean, that would’ve been fair, right? So what if the war repeated? It’s not like that’s unusual—humans have started wars among themselves for far lesser reasons. It sucks that losing the war means the end of the timeline, sure, but it’s not like you’d stop existing altogether.”

Before Garuel, who poured out his words like someone who truly couldn’t comprehend it, Cadel’s response was of a completely different nature.

“You’re not angry?”

“……What?”

“You heard it all. What I did in the original world—how I enjoyed your suffering, how I treated the tragedy you went through like it meant nothing. And you’re still not angry? You don’t resent me?”

Garuel, who had been staring at the barren ground as he collected his thoughts, finally turned his gaze toward Cadel. Cadel looked completely defeated, like a child waiting to be punished, bracing himself for an onslaught of fury. He was tense, watching Garuel’s every move.

Seeing that, a heat rushed to Garuel’s head. The overwhelming emotions surged, threatening to burst out of him. But instead of unleashing them, Garuel pulled Cadel into a tight embrace.

“Why would I be angry at you, Knight Commander? It’s not like you knew. And besides…… to you, that world was just a game. But now, you’re putting your life on the line to protect it. You’re enduring this awful, unimaginable struggle all by yourself. How could I possibly be angry?”

“Don’t you think I’m pathetic?”

“……Stop it. You’re really about to make me angry.”

How much had he bottled up and buried, all by himself? He was someone who could return to his original world whether he won the war or not. But he chose to stay. Chose to throw himself into this world’s chaos, just for the sake of their peace.

Even though Garuel hadn’t finished sorting through all of his thoughts, this foolish Knight Commander gave him no time to do so. Garuel gently patted Cadel’s trembling back and whispered into his ear.

“I’m just so damn relieved to know now. Thank you for telling me. Thank you for giving me the chance to really protect you.”