Editor : Amethyst00



Lyl looked at Elena with sparkling eyes.

"As expected, Senior Elena is the best in school!"

"Hmm. What are you talking about when the current student council president is right here?"

"Shouldn't you be the exception, Hyung?"

"Well, that's true."

"Then it means Senior Elena is the best!"

Beaming, Lyl ran toward Elena to hug her.

It was a puppy-like gesture she showed from time to time when she couldn't control her excitement.

"Don't come."

"Huh?"

"We haven't completely taken down the enemy yet. Stay alert."

"Ah! That was careless of me!"

As Lyl hastily shifted into vigilance mode—

"What are you doing?"

Thud—!

"Eek?!"

Leo approached from the side and tapped Elena's shoulder, causing her to scream and collapse.

"Trying to act tough in front of juniors, huh?"

Leo clicked his tongue as he looked at Elena trembling on the ground.

Elena, eyes blazing, looked up at Leo.

Leo grabbed her wrist and helped her up.

"Ow! That hurts!"

"You pushed yourself while using magic—your magic circuits are overloaded. It's like a muscle cramp. Stretching like this will help relieve it."

"Ow ow ow!!"

Elena had a naturally sturdy magic circuit, so this was her first time experiencing an overload like this.

Holding both her wrists, Leo moved her arms around like a doll.

Each time he did, Elena screamed in pain.

Eventually, unable to take it any longer, Elena tried to kick Leo.

But her overstrained body only brought her more pain instead of landing a hit.

Finally, completely worn out from the pain, Elena drooped.

"Lyl."

"Yes, Hyung."

"Carry this one for me."

Leo passed Elena off to Lyl like a piece of luggage.

"Sunbae, why didn't you say you were in pain?"

"Shut it."

"But Hyung was stretching you because he cares. Don't be too mad."

"One day, I'm going to punch that jerk's smug face!"

Elena snapped in response to each of Lyl's words.

Despite her fierce snarling, Lyl didn't seem to mind.

Rather, she seemed confused by something Elena said.

"Why do you call Hyung a 'jerk'?"

"Because he acts like one."

"Hmm… he does have a sort of dandy charisma."

"Charisma, my foot. He's just an annoying jerk."

"Huh? But Hyung's cool, isn't he?"

"……"

Lyl widened her eyes in disbelief.

Still sulking while being carried by Lyl, Elena bit her neck.

"Eek! Sunbae! Why are you biting me?!"

"Hmph!"

Elena snorted irritably.

'They're close.'

Listening to their exchange, Leo approached the second Priestess.

Since being struck by Elena's final attack, the ice tentacles had stopped forming.

The second Priestess remained silent.

But Leo sensed it—the calm before the storm.

From Ameriol, demon of Styx, came an ominous presence.

Sensing it, Leo concentrated magic at his fingertips.

Swirling mana formed into a spell.

Ameriol's eyes snapped open.

KA-KRAAANG—!

Hundreds of ice tentacles burst up from the ground.

CRRRK—!

Leo instantly created hundreds of magic shields to block the attack.

Effortlessly deflecting the tentacles, Leo grinned.

Seeing him, Ameriol spoke.

"For a slave race, your tricks are impressive."

"And here I thought your weak attacks were just pitiful for a general."

With a blank face, the Priestess replied:

"I will forgive being compared to those hideous monsters of Tartaros only once. Remember that."

"Then what should I call you?"

"Priestess."

"Oh, so you were the one that demon kept calling 'priestess.'"

Leo nodded in realization.

Then his face turned nonchalant.

"Why give a sanctimonious title like 'priestess' to someone so unholy? 'General' suits you better—"

CRASH—!

Before he could finish, a massive ice blade crashed down where he stood.

"Foolish slave. Had you not been rude, you might have left behind a corpse."

Ameriol's voice was cold.

CRACK—!

"……?"

Cracks formed in the massive blade of ice.

SHATTER—!

It exploded into shards.

From the crater, Leo rose.

He had levitated himself using magic and landed softly.

"This ice isn't ordinary, is it?"

Leo grinned as Ameriol stared in disbelief.

"What did you do? That was a holy sword, carved with all the might of the second saint of the great goddess's ice. Nothing is harder. How did you break it?"

"Hm. So you have someone like the Giant King on your side too, huh?"

Leo chuckled.

"But what now?"

He pointed his sword at Ameriol.

"Mine's a sword discarded by the best blacksmith."

"That crude thing?"

As Ameriol squinted, Leo grinned chillingly.

"You'll find out once you're cut by it."

WHOOSH—!

Leo vanished.

Appearing right before Ameriol, he swung for her neck.

"You're fast for a slave."

CLANG—!

His attack was stopped by a barrier.

"Did you really think a lowly slave could harm a Priestess?"

CLACK—!

"Yep."

Leo's sword cut through both the barrier and Ameriol's neck.

His eyes were cold.

"You really think being a 'general' makes you special?"

"You fool! I am the Priestess of Styx, not some Tartaros monster!"

"I know."

Leo glanced up at Ameriol's rising head and casually kicked her body.

CRACK—!

"I said it just to piss you off."

His mocking kick shattered her body.

Then he swung his sword—gray aura burst out and crushed her floating head.

TINKLE— TINKLE—

Ice shards fell everywhere.

They quickly gathered and reformed her body.

"You…!"

As Ameriol seethed, Leo smirked.

"You were no match for me to begin with. And splitting your power into three? Even worse."

Ameriol's strength was divided into three.

One part was here. The other two were fighting Chloe and Luca, and Lunia and Walden.

Enraged by Leo's words, a fierce chill erupted from Ameriol's body.

"I am the Second Priestess! You'll regret incurring my wrath even in death!"

VOOOOOOOOOM—!

Her icy voice rang out as she began to grow.

CRACK—CRACK—CRACK—

The surrounding temperature plummeted.

Moisture in the air was sucked into Ameriol.

She grew even faster.

Eventually, she became towering beyond belief and bellowed:

"BOW BEFORE ME, FOOLISH SLAVES! YOUR MASTER, THE PRIESTESS OF STYX, HAS RETURNED!"

bl

Lunia and Walden looked stunned as the Priestess they'd been fighting vanished.

Moments later, Chen Xia and Chloe joined them.

"Lunia, weren't you fighting a weird woman?"

"Yeah. But she just disappeared. What about you?"

"Same here."

As Lunia fell into thought at Chen Xia's reply—

"Lunia-sunbae!"

Leah came flying in with magic.

"Lumene's Elena Zeron and Lyl Luce are fighting a general-class demon!"

All four looked serious.

"We need to join them quickly—!"

Just as Lunia urgently spoke—

"No need."

"Eh?!"

Lysinas appeared behind Leah, pulling her soft cheeks.

"Leo Plov joined them."

"Lysinas-nim."

Lunia quickly bowed.

The others began to follow suit, but Lysinas shook her head.

"No need for formalities."

While she continued to pinch Leah's cheeks, she admired the texture.

'It's felt nice.'

As Leah whimpered helplessly—

RUMBLE—!

In the distance, Ameriol appeared.

Lunia and the other hero candidates stared in shock.

"T-That's… she's getting too big, isn't she?"

"Isn't she almost as big as the Giant King?"

As they trembled in awe, Lysinas muttered:

"The Giant King is bigger than that."

Even if smaller, that overwhelming size was daunting.

"We—we must help!"

Chloe said urgently.

But Lysinas remained unfazed.

"Leave her."

"Huh?"

"Demons who rely only on their powers always give themselves away."

She sneered.

"Watch carefully. She's just made herself a bigger target."

bl

Leo stared up at Ameriol, dumbfounded.

The dark mana she emitted was beyond comparison to before.

The chill around her could freeze you just by standing near.

Overwhelming power—worthy of a general.

'Or was it "Priestess"?'

Didn't matter.

To Leo, general or Priestess—they were just demons to be slain.

Tartaros had many giant monsters among its generals.

The Giant King. The Monster Queen.

'Compared to them, at least this one looks nicer.'

Grotesque vs. beautiful forms.

Visually, the latter was neater.

And—

"Easier to deal with too."

Experienced demons were the most dangerous.

They knew their abilities perfectly and used them creatively.

That's what made seasoned demons truly deadly.

But Leo instantly saw through Ameriol—she had no combat experience.

Back during the Age of Calamity—

After the great heroes slew the generals, Erebos created new ones.

But every one of those was defeated by the heroes.

Why?

Because the new demons were just strong fools compared to battle-hardened heroes.

They all relied on brute strength and were easily eliminated.

Ameriol was just like those failed successors.

Sure, growing in size gave her more power.

But it also made her a bigger target.

And this extreme cold—

"A fragment of Erebos… No, is that Nyx's blessing?"

"Impressive insight for a human!"

The Blessing of Nyx.

Similar to Erebos's.

Leo recalled Jormungandr, a general blessed by Erebos.

He briefly wielded Erebos's immortal authority.

"You slave race! Kneel before the divine might—!"

"No wonder you lost to Tartaros."

Leo, now standing at Ameriol's head, interrupted.

Gray mana swirled in his hand.

Ameriol, compared to Jormungandr, was laughably weak.

No need to even bring up Jormungandr.

The Giant King. The Monster Queen. Any general.

All stronger than her.

Because Ameriol was never meant for battle.

Even so, she was powerful, being a top-tier demon blessed by an evil god.

Ordinarily, such a monster would be too much for mortals.

But Ameriol didn't know—

That Nyx had been devoured by Erebos.

That they had disappeared after defeat.

That the one who crushed them all was a single human.

And what that ultimate evil—who consumed six gods—suffered at his hands.

Living underground, waiting for divine voices, Ameriol had no way of knowing.

Staring at the light in Leo's hand, she looked baffled.

'What is that magic?'

It was the crystallization of hatred a human held for an evil god.

Magic forged by the First Hero to erase the gods.

A fusion of "Extinction" and "Innocent," created by the Poet of the Star.

Judgment magic no loser could resist.

Leo released it.

"Zero."