With her mouth agape, eyes wide open, fingers stretched with force, and limbs splayed out, Emilia’s entire body was erupting with black demonic energy. As if her soul were being ripped out, the surging demonic energy shot toward the corridor where Cadel and Garuel stood. At the unmistakable trajectory, the knights’ expressions grew tense.

“That damned demon bastard! If she even laid a single finger on Commander!”

Even though he hadn’t exchanged a single word with the returned Cadel, Van’s eyes turned as he charged toward the demonic energy-covered corridor. The corridor split in half out of nowhere, the dark void spreading endlessly—he didn’t understand what was happening, but surely killing the Demon King would solve everything.

However, Van’s aura-clad strike couldn’t penetrate the black demonic energy shrouding Emilia.

Ka-ga-ga-ga-gak—

The sound of metal grating echoed from Van’s greatsword as it clashed with the demonic energy. He poured all his strength into slashing down at Emilia’s chest. Yet the demonic energy, like a solid wall of iron, easily blocked his attack. That wasn’t all. After silently enduring Van’s strike, the demonic energy suddenly expanded explosively, repelling him backward. As Van was flung away by the strong impact, a new wall of ice formed above him. Scowling in frustration, Van shouted.

“Damn it, Yozen! What the hell is this energy made of?”

Even before Van asked, Yozen had been closely watching the Demon King’s transformation. After a brief pause, he spoke with caution.

“……It’s moving.”

“What? Moving? But she’s not even budging.”

“She’s leaving the shell behind and dragging her soul…… in other words, her essence, to move. To where those two are. She must’ve decided it’s faster than moving her body.”

That was no different from an out-of-body experience. Being able to attack while in a disembodied state? The allies let out sighs at Emilia’s abnormal ability.

“We have to stop the Demon King’s movement. If her essence completely transfers, even the Scarlet Dragon might be in danger.”

They had faced the Demon King before—they knew what she was capable of. Garuel’s healing was formidable, and Cadel’s power, infused with the Scarlet Dragon’s strength, was overwhelming. But even the two of them wouldn’t be enough. They had to work together.

“Damn it, how are we supposed to stop her? This damned demonic energy won’t break!”

Van, desperate to save Cadel, grew more and more anxious. Even usually composed Yozen couldn’t fully control the expression distorting on his face. Ector, Modeleine, and even Mamil were no different. But just one person, despite Cadel’s safe return, had his attention elsewhere.

“……Lumen. Where could he be?”

Hearing Lydon’s quiet murmur, Yozen turned his head. Lydon looked at Yozen and spoke.

“The one who split the corridor—it was definitely Lumen’s sword energy, right?”

“That’s right. I felt Lumen’s aura.”

“Then he made it out of the room alive. He has to be somewhere in one of these corridors, right? Maybe he’s stuck alone somewhere? That loner vibe does suit him, but still, he doesn’t need to stay on theme at a time like this.”

Though the Demon King was briefly shaken by the vibrating sheath of Lumen’s sword, she quickly regained her composure and launched another attack on the knights. In the face of her bombardment, the allies fought back desperately. But having only just regained consciousness, they were slowly being pushed back, and just as the battle was about to shift completely in the Demon King’s favor—

A blinding flash of light sliced clean through the corridor.

The unnecessarily dazzling flash that cut through the corridor was unmistakably Lumen’s sword energy. As soon as they sensed that aura, they were certain he was alive. But since he still hadn’t shown himself, they couldn’t help but worry a little—was that sword energy his final outburst?

“It’s hard to sense any presence here. I can’t even tell what’s going on with Cadel up there. But still…… he’s probably alive. Don’t worry.”

“Hmph, it’s not like I’m worried or anything. If he’s dead, we should at least retrieve the corpse so Cadel will be less sad. That’s the only reason I was curious about his location.”

Even though he didn’t believe Lumen was dead, Lydon purposely spoke in an irritating tone. Yozen turned his head away again, pretending not to notice Lydon’s sincerity.

“To stop the Demon King’s movement, we’ll either have to damage her body to disrupt the flow of her energy or block the energy’s route entirely.”

As he closely observed the Demon King, Ector stepped forward with his greatsword. Though he had only barely clung to life, his condition was far from good, but this wasn’t a situation he could retreat from just because he was hurting.

“If we all attack together, we might be able to break through the demonic energy. Let’s give it a try.”

With no idea how to block the energy’s path, they had no choice but to attempt a physical method. Van and Yozen agreed and drew their weapons, preparing to strike. But—

“If Cadel and his subordinate die while we’re stupidly trying to break through that barrier, it’s over. We should try to block the energy flow directly.”

“We don’t have the strength to suppress the movement of demonic energy right now.”

“Everyone, stand back. I’ll do it.”

Mamil pushed everyone aside and stepped forward. Sweeping his weary eyes over the knights behind him, he took a deep breath and shook out his hands.

“Scarlet Scales Knight Order. You think of a way to bring Cadel here safely.”

* * *

“Garuel, watch out!”

Garuel barely managed to halt his sliding body, gritting his teeth. The corridor, shrouded in dark demonic energy, had a shadowy figure standing in its center. Though her features and limbs appeared perfectly intact, her entire body was composed of nothing but demonic energy. She looked eerily like one of Yozen’s shadow clones. And yet, she was as powerful as the real deal.

“This isn’t a clone! I’ve fought her shadows before—I know the difference. This…… this is the real Demon King.”

Whatever method she used to arrive here, the shadow before them was unmistakably the true Demon King. Hearing Garuel’s shout, Cadel, who had been gathering his mana behind him, grimaced.

‘Just like Teacher said. If I waste any more time here, returning will have meant nothing. I have to regroup immediately.’

If he fell through the broken edge of the corridor, he might land where the others were. Even if things didn’t go perfectly, he’d at least get closer and possibly gain their support. But to leap into the void, they first had to deal with the obstacle in their path: the Demon King, Emilia.

Cadel fired off as many fireballs as he could to support Garuel. If Garuel could find just a momentary opening in Emilia’s defenses, that might be their only chance to escape.

‘The most important thing is to hold out until then. Stay focused. This demonic energy cloaking the corridor…… we can’t dispel it, but it’s dangerously volatile.’

The dense demonic energy surrounding them didn’t drain their strength or restrict their movement. But it lashed out sporadically, trying to strike. Without constant movement and solid defense, they were sitting ducks.

Everywhere was within the Demon King’s attack range. Like a deity of this space, she moved freely through the corridor, oppressing Garuel and Cadel from all directions.

“Knight Commander!”

Garuel, having distanced himself from Emilia, called out to Cadel. As Cadel reflexively turned toward him, he saw Emilia’s dark silhouette warping in a bizarre fashion in the dim light.

“……What is that?”

Emilia’s form was twisting grotesquely, elongating and rising, shedding even the faintest resemblance to a humanoid demon. Sensing something was off, Cadel quickly pulled Garuel close.

“Is she…… transforming?”

“I don’t know. But she’s definitely preparing something…… Now’s our chance. Let’s cross the corridor at full speed.”

They had no intention of waiting politely for her transformation to end. Sensing the moment, Cadel gave Garuel a firm push on the back.

“Hurry! Run!”

Cadel raced after Garuel, pumping his legs with all his might. In what felt like only a brief moment, Emilia had already swollen to fill almost an entire side of the corridor. Without exchanging a word, they split, aiming for the narrow gaps beside her massive form. They flung themselves through the openings. Garuel landed safely and quickly regained his footing, ready to keep running. But unfortunately, Cadel lost his balance and tumbled hard to the ground.

“Guh……!”

“Knight Commander!”

“Don’t come back—keep running! Don’t look back!”

“Knight Commander……!”

“Shut it and run! Didn’t you hear me?!”

This wasn’t the time to be supported by someone else. At Cadel’s harsh order, Garuel hesitated briefly before reluctantly turning his back. Cadel, too, pushed himself up and resumed his sprint.

The end of the corridor was just ahead. Garuel reached it first and turned to wait for Cadel. He shouted for him to jump down quickly, but unable to abandon Cadel, Garuel stubbornly shook his head.

“Damn it, if you’ve got a commander with garbage stamina, at least be ready to abandon him when the time comes!”

Fuming with frustration, he forced himself to move again despite his ragged breathing. But before he could reach the end of the corridor—

“Wha—?!”

The foot that had been pushing off the ground suddenly sliced through empty air, and his body was lifted off the floor. The shock was clear on Garuel’s face as he stood across from Cadel. As the corridor’s ceiling drew closer, Cadel realized what was happening to him.

“Ca……del…… Ly……tos……”

A chilling whisper echoed in his ears, wet and oozing like the sobbing of some grotesque creature. As he stiffly turned his head, he saw Emilia, now airborne. Her form was still pitch black, but from her back extended not wings but four pairs of massive tendrils.

Cadel’s dry throat tightened as he spotted the demonic energy tendrils coiling around his body.

“Knight Commander, put up a barrier!”

Garuel drew his sword and charged forward to rescue Cadel from the grip. But—

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The tendrils on her back began to mercilessly pound the corridor. Like massive clubs, they struck the floor again and again, making it nearly impossible to dodge cleanly. As Garuel desperately tried to push forward through the relentless assault, Cadel attempted to burn the tendril wrapped around his waist.

“Guh……!”

But the tendril, instead of releasing him, shrank tightly and constricted Cadel’s ribs even harder as it touched the flames. Even with a barrier in place, the pain felt like his body could be crushed at any moment. As Cadel groaned in agony, Emilia’s shadow drew closer.

“I’ll…… give you the worst pain……”

What had previously been a pitch-black mass of energy was gradually taking on her original skin. Trapped in the constricting tendril, Cadel struggled as he faced the slowly re-materializing Emilia. The pain made it impossible to keep still. He had no room to even check on Garuel below.

‘I need to get rid of these tendrils first……!’

He wanted to cast a spell that would minimize the shock to his body in such close contact, but a poorly calculated spell might provoke the tendrils and crush his ribs entirely. Accepting the risk of injury, Cadel decided to go for a destructive spell. If he could just break free, Garuel down below could save him.

With bloodshot eyes contorted in pain, Cadel glared at Emilia, who had come within arm’s reach, and ground his teeth.

“Finally seeing you…… What a damn pleasure.”

His broken, mocking laugh made Emilia’s body tremble with rage, and the tendrils around him tightened even further. Blood gushed from Cadel’s mouth, and he desperately clutched the tendrils. At that moment, he summoned explosive mana.

Crack. Craaack.

Just to Cadel’s left—on the wall of the corridor covered in demonic energy—a blue flash carved itself into the surface.