Editor : Amethyst00



Before Leo was known as the Hero of Beginnings, there was a time when he was called the Surviving Hero.

In a way, that was a more familiar title than the Hero of Beginnings.

No one knew when the Surviving Hero had started fighting.

Not even the Great Hero who had once been his comrade knew, nor did he ever ask. It was a story of the past left unspoken.

At some point, Kyle was on the front lines of the battle against Tartaros.

He had lost countless comrades, and eventually, he stopped making new ones altogether.

That's why, just as much as the demons hated the Hero of Beginnings—

Perhaps even more so—Leo hated Tartaros and Erebos.

But that hatred wasn't his alone.

Everyone who had lived through the Age of Calamity carried, to some degree, a deep-rooted hatred for Erebos and Tartaros in their hearts.

Therefore, Leo wasn't the only one who hunted demons mercilessly.

"Kyle was just exceptionally intense."

Lysinas stared at the demons with cold, emotionless eyes.

But Lysinas was different.

She had never once shown hatred—or any emotion, for that matter—during her battles with Erebos and Tartaros.

Unlike the Great Heroes who could afford to show their emotions, Lysinas, who had to take responsibility for them, always had to remain calm and assess the situation.

Efficiency was all that mattered to Lysinas.

She only thought about how to kill in the simplest and quickest way possible.

As a result of killing demons like a machine, without a hint of emotion, she became the hero who had hunted more demons than anyone else.

Thus, the title she earned among the demons was none other than the Butcher, the Slayer.

The Hero of Beginnings became a feared existence through the process of earning the demons' deepest hatred.

On the other hand, the Wise Queen was pure fear itself to the demons.

That fear was now being imprinted even into the minds of the ancient demons.

"What the hell is this!"

Karmol shuddered from the fear rising from deep within.

He couldn't make sense of the situation.

Why were the Second Saint's knights attacking one another?

Even within Styx, the Order of Repose Knights led by the Second Priestess were known to be unusual beings.

They were promised eternal resurrection.

As long as they didn't lose their loyalty to the Second Saint, and their faith in the Frozen Death, Nyx, they were essentially indestructible.

On top of that, they were immune to mental corruption.

As long as Ameriol's dominion existed, betrayal from the Order of Repose was unthinkable.

"You traitors! How dare you betray the Saint and the Goddess?!"

Karmol roared in rage and swung the mace in his hand.

KUGAGAGAGANG! KWAANG—!

With the swing of the mace, an invisible physical force swept away everything in front of him.

A part of the city was blown apart by the overwhelming power of the attack.

However, the assault didn't continue.

That catastrophic power halted exactly where Lysinas stood.

Raising her left hand, with Elsie sitting on it, to her chest, Lysinas stretched her right hand out to the side.

An invisible, formless force was blocked by her.

"Amplification of attack? Hmm. Doesn't seem like that."

She began identifying the true nature of the invisible attack through her insight.

"He just swung a mace, yet the city was obliterated with no sign… If it was a power that maximized physical force, there should've been traces of dark mana."

And yet, despite the destruction, there were no such traces.

Lysinas' eyes, like obsidian, pierced through Karmol.

"You vile little reptile! This is all your doing, isn't it?!"

Karmol roared and swung his mace upward from below.

KWAANG—!

Struck by an invisible mace rising from the ground, Lysinas was hurled high into the air at an incredible speed.

Yet she was unscathed.

Instead, she calmly analyzed the situation.

"His ability is triggered through the act of swinging his mace."

Then she saw Karmol draw a longsword.

A transparent, crystal-like blade slashed through the air toward Lysinas.

She extended her right hand.

FLASH—!

A sword of light surged from her hand.

Spirit Armored.

She summoned the Elemental Lord of Light, Laruel, in the form of a sword.

KAGAGANG—!

In midair, the invisible blade and the sword of light clashed.

WHOOSH—! THUMP—!

"I see."

Lysinas' eyes turned toward Karmol.

"A power that manifests thoughts into reality through action."

The thought of destroying the city with the mace.

The thought of cutting her down with the sword.

Those thoughts became real through the corresponding actions.

It was a powerful ability.

No activation signs, no penalties.

"An ability fitting for a demon directly under a Legion Commander."

Lysinas opened her right hand.

WHIRR—!

Returning from sword form, Laruel's core glowed and began to split into claw-sized orbs.

Lysinas was a master of light magic, even acknowledged by Luna.

Though the best match for her was the elemental of Darkness, the one she could control most expertly was the Elemental Lord of Light.

Fifteen mini Laruels turned into orbs of light and shot toward Karmol at tremendous speed.

KAGAGAK—!

The light bullets made from Laruel shredded Karmol into pieces.

Indeed, Karmol's power was worthy of a high-ranking demon.

A normal hero might have been torn to shreds without being able to react.

But his opponent was too strong.

To Lysinas, Karmol's power wasn't just unthreatening—it wasn't even annoying.

It may seem invincible with no dark mana traces and no penalties, but it had a fatal flaw:

The power required a specific action to trigger.

And exploiting that was child's play for Lysinas.

"How… How can you know my actions in advance?! Can you see the future?! Or are you reading my thoughts?!"

Karmol shrieked in disbelief.

CRACK—!

A Laruel bullet blasted off Karmol's head.

He didn't need just hands to manifest his thoughts—he could use his body, feet, or voice too.

But before he could activate the power, the Laruel bullet struck first and neutralized him.

Karmol could only assume Lysinas had the power to read thoughts.

"Reading the future is Aaron's super-sense, and I never quite got the hang of it. And if I could read minds, I wouldn't have suffered so much because of that idiot."

Lysinas muttered bitterly.

"Do you know a game called chess?"

"What?"

"There's something called move calculation."

She was simply reading his next move based on the clues Karmol gave.

Such predictions bordering on precognition were only possible for someone with Lysinas' unimaginable insight.

"As if that kind of thing would—!"

Karmol exclaimed in horror.

Lysinas replied flatly.

"To a high-ranking demon who's relied on innate powers all their life, this level of thought is out of reach. I told you, didn't I?"

The Repose Knights emerged behind her and slashed their swords.

"We're not normal beings."

STAB! STAB! STAB!

"Ggrrraaaagh!"

Blades from all directions pierced Karmol's body.

As they drew their swords, the knights stabbed his recovering body again.

All around, the shattered remains of fallen knights were scattered like ice.

The only ones still moving were demons under Elsie's control.

"Ho… How is this possible?! The Saint's blessing is absolute! How did the knights betray him?!"

["That's what I'd like to know too. Was my power always this amazing?"]

Elsie asked in a bewildered tone.

She understood she now had control over the Order of Repose.

But even to her, this was a power unknown.

"Swearing total devotion to an unchanging being… body, will, even soul. It looks like you'd be promised immutability, but in truth, it's not."

Lysinas, now beside Elsie, gently stroked Laruel's head with her fingertip.

"Once control is lost, that's it."

Lysinas spoke coolly.

"The shadow elemental Elsie here is an Elemental Lord that can exert dominion over its bearers."

"No matter how powerful an elemental it is, the Frozen Death! The Saint, servant of Nyx—her authority—!"

"The Saint? What?"

"What?"

"Sorry, but I'm a dragon who led the subjugation force that defeated Erebos—the one who swallowed the Six Evil Gods."

STAB—

One of the Order of Repose drove a sword through Karmol's forehead.

"Breaking the authority of some Saintess—barely a Legion-level being—is no big deal."

And as soon as she finished speaking, Elsie's power began to dominate Karmol.

The moment he was freed from the Saint's control—

His so-called immutable life came to an end.

"No… this can't be… I… I…"

"This is what you wanted, right? Eternal death."

"I never wanted this kind of death! I wanted to remain forever in my perfect form!"

"Not my problem."

Lysinas turned coldly.

CRUSH—!

A Order of Repose smashed Karmol's head with his own mace.

Eventually, the demons fell into a frenzy and slaughtered each other, until none remained.

["That was surprisingly easy."]

Laruel asked in a stunned tone.

As a contractor of the Hero of Dawn, Laruel knew.

Even so, that demon—Karmol—shouldn't have been defeated like a bug.

Shivering from the overwhelming power of a Great Hero, Laruel said:

"It's because the matchup was good."

["Matchup?"]

"The legions of Tartaros are generally divided into two types."

Lysinas spoke calmly.

"Brute-force types. And sneaky trickster types."

["And these demons were…?"]

"Tricksters."

Lysinas said plainly.

"Tricksters… I've suffered enough from them during the Age of Calamity to find them easy now. The real threat is the brute-force ones."

At that, Elsie tilted her head.

["Then which type is the Lich King?"]

"The Lich King…"

Lysinas sighed softly.

"Both. That's why he's terrifying."

He had no weaknesses as a demon.

Cunning, always thinking several steps ahead.

Even plans for escape, just in case.

Truly one of the worst enemies imaginable.

KUGAGAGAGAGANG!

Just then, a pillar of white flames shot up in the distance.

Lysinas headed in that direction.

["Leo went that way."]

"Leo doesn't really need my help."

She shrugged at Elsie's words.

What she was curious about now was Lunia El Lunda.

As she turned to head toward Lunia—

A summoning circle appeared in the air, and a hand shot out.

"Wha?!"

Lysinas flinched and tried to step back.

But faster than that, the hand plunged into her chest.

It stirred around and pulled out a staff.

Then, it disappeared back into the summoning circle.

Lysinas clutched her chest and trembled.

"You bastard! At least give me a damn warning!"

She screamed in fury at Leo's vanished hand.