“Wh-what? What’s going on?”

The Grand Duke, who was rising from his seat while making a fuss, jumped in surprise when he noticed the presence of the demon standing behind him.

“What is this! G-get away, you monster!”

However, the demon’s condition was a bit strange. With its ears pulled all the way back and nearly stuck to the floor, the demon was drooling not from hunger, but from fear. It looked like a small animal placed in front of a predator.

The next moment, a rough wave that seemed to claw at the space was felt.

Thwack- Crack!

A transparent and huge hand grabbed the demon and thrust it into the air with tremendous force. The demon slammed violently against the stone wall of the cemetery and flowed down, reduced to a pulp.

“Aack! What is this, what is it!”

The Grand Duke sat down, utterly bewildered.

In front of his miserable appearance, a demon in the form of a white bird lightly landed, folding its wings.

– Is it you. The corrupt seed who dared to call my name.

“Wh-what are you saying! What are you! Get lost! I said get away!”

The white-bodied and blue-eyed demon, Gilroth, tilted its bird-like face. Its gaze was as cold as ice and as hot as hell’s fire at the same time. Meeting those eyes, the Grand Duke began to tremble with bone-chilling fear.

“S-spare me… Leon, Leon! Where are you! Get this terrifying beast out of my sight!”

The demon clicked its tongue. Its eyes, transparent like ice, were filled with cold contempt.

– You are an unworthy one. Moreover. How dare you play games with the offerings made to me?

As it flapped its wings once, only the silver hairs among the hairs placed on the magic circle crudely drawn with blood on the floor scattered in all directions.

– I only accept sinless humans as offerings. There are already plenty of sinful humans in my hell.

The demon smiled coldly. When it raised its huge wings, the white crystals embedded in those wings were noticeable. The crystals forming beautiful patterns were dazzlingly white, except for gray spots here and there.

However, those crystals were gradually turning red. The reddened crystals emitted heat like lava. Not of this world, but the heat of hell.

As the infernal flames grew in size as if to melt the entire chamber, the Grand Duke’s blank eyes momentarily returned to normal in front of the amazing miracle that dried up all the moisture in his body in just a few seconds.

“Wh-why am I here… What is this… Kuheok!”

However, the demon did not give the Grand Duke a chance to grasp the situation in his right mind.

The crimson crystals fired from the demon’s wings passed through the Grand Duke’s body at a fast speed. In an instant, the Grand Duke’s body was riddled with holes and turned into a rag.

Due to the hole in his elbow, his right arm below was completely severed from the upper arm. The jeweled rings on the Grand Duke’s fingers rolled on the floor, emitting an eerie light.

A few crystals that did not hit the Grand Duke were stuck in the stone wall. The stone wall where the crystals were stuck immediately melted like whipped cream.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

The Grand Duke writhed in pain. However, the demon, who had seen the suffering of sinners writhing in hell countless times, seemed to feel no emotion at all.

– You’re noisy.

It was when the demon spread its wings again.

“Stop!”

A woman’s voice with a clear vibration blocked that action.

– ……

The demon’s eyes, devoid of emotion, suddenly showed a glint as it turned to look in that direction. Two people appeared from the underground tomb’s corridor, holding hands tightly.

Among the sturdy, platinum-haired man and the slender woman with deep pink eyes, it was the woman who caught the demon’s attention. In particular, the demon’s attitude changed immediately upon seeing the deep petal-colored eyes possessed by the woman, Kasha.

– You are.

“Stop it, Gilroth. I know that playing with humans who have not passed through the gates of hell is forbidden for your kind.”

The demon’s lips twisted into a long smile upon hearing the words that flowed out of Kasha’s mouth, enunciated clearly.

– My name uttered by that voice is indeed pleasant to hear.

Kasha’s eyes shone coldly upon hearing the demon’s voice.

‘So it was true… The stories written in that book.’

This damp heat that seemed to melt the chamber was definitely not of this world.

‘The evil god Gilroth.’

Looking at the white demon staring at her with icy eyes, Kasha clenched her fists tightly to avoid trembling.

In fact, if it weren’t for Leon standing in front of her to shield her body from the demon’s gaze, it would have been difficult to even stand still at this moment.

Leon, who had heard the situation from Kasha while entering here, was calm and composed. Even with a demon from hell right in front of his eyes.

Golden divine power permeated the sword he held in his hand. Upon seeing that, displeasure immediately spread across Gilroth’s elongated face.

– Incompetent servant of god, step aside. I wish to face the woman behind you.

“Without going through me, you won’t be able to lay a finger on even the tip of this woman’s eyebrow.”

Leon’s voice, which became even more composed in a crisis situation, seemed to provoke the demon’s temper.

– Is that so? Then.

Ridicule reflected in the demon’s eyes. The next moment, the demon’s gaze turned to the magic circle crudely drawn on the floor. As the demon blinked once, the platinum-colored hair placed in the center of the magic circle began to burn fiercely.

“Kuheok!”

“Leon!”

Kasha screamed.

In an instant, black scars that seemed to be squeezed by a huge hand were engraved on the shirt and pants covering Leon’s body. Those scars soon burned, emitting pungent smoke. The smell of Leon’s skin burning vibrated everywhere.

– You are now an offering placed on my altar, incompetent servant of god.

The demon Gilroth muttered as if pleased. However, that sneer disappeared soon after.

Leon, with a face flushed red, began to mutter something with his eyes wide open. Then suddenly, his entire body was enveloped in a golden light. It was a beautiful sight that made one feel sacred just by looking at it.

Then, the demon’s grip tightly squeezing his body loosened in an instant. At the same time, his skin, which had been burning from the burns, began to heal.

– Not bad.

The demon’s eyes gleamed. The next moment, the demon spread its white wings wide open. Dozens of crystals began to turn bright red.

“Stop!!”

At that moment, Kasha’s sharp shout reverberated through the chamber.

“Stop it. If you hurt him any further, even if you turn this whole world into a sea of fire… I won’t talk to you.”

Kasha’s eyes emitted a solemn light.

Perhaps it was a truly pitiful threat. To barely put forth ‘conversation’ with oneself as a condition against a demon.

However, at that pitiful threat from Kasha, a mere powerless human, the crystals that were turning red towards Leon slowly lost their red light and were sucked back into the wings.

Seeing that, Kasha finally gained conviction. She commanded in the most arrogant and dignified voice she could muster.

“Stop harming people, Gilroth. After all, the one you want is me, isn’t it?”

Flap.

The white wings that were scattering the infernal flames folded neatly. The demon’s blue eyes slowly subsided, and it suddenly knelt gracefully on one knee in front of Kasha. It was an action a knight would take before their lord.

– That’s right. Descendant of Kannak Gillesers, my master who saved this insignificant world from corruption.

The rumor that Kannak Gillesers, the first king of Gillesers, gained magical powers through a contract with demons was wrong.

It was true that he had made a contract with demons, but it was probably a kind of slave contract made an immeasurably long time ago. And in that contract, the superior was Kannak Gillesers, and the inferior was the evil beast Gilroth. Not the other way around.

Kasha recalled a passage from .

The king smiled.

King: If even one among the corrupt and lowly possesses supreme beauty, it is worth forsaking eternity for them. An eternity without her is now more futile to me than a fleeting moment.]

The various materials Kasha had gathered from Gillestin Castle and the documents from hundreds of years ago that she had found upon returning to the capital pointed to one fact. The first king of Gillesers was not a servant of demons, but rather the opposite.

Hundreds of years ago, in an era when ancient magic had not yet been lost. People committed countless evil deeds relying on the power of magic.

At that time, the hero Kannak Gillesers from another world, who had ascended to the rank of a god, came to this world to close the corrupt world, in other words, to bring about the end.

However, the ways of the world are truly mysterious. Unexpectedly, he fell in love with a shepherd girl from the Gillenua region.

In the end, he prevented the end for her sake, and as a price, he gave up the life of a transcendent being and became a mere human.

Kannak, who had decided to save the corrupt world, collected the magical powers of humans just before losing his transcendent powers, sealed them with the power of the evil beast Gilroth, and turned them into magic stones.

Only those who inherited his blood could break the seal on those magic stones.

Kannak established a small kingdom and enjoyed a short but happy life with the shepherd girl. And even after he finished his short life, the Gillesers royal family had protected the magic stones imbued with evil power for generations.

However, as the dynasty continued, the magical power passed down through the hero’s bloodline became inconsistent, and the dynasty’s legend was passed down more like a tale than history.

Moreover, in Kasha’s generation, the dynasty fell, and even her mother, Camilla, lost her mind.

Camilla had definitely told Kasha about the magic stones, but she did not convey that Kasha was born with the fate to protect them. Whether it was due to madness or her intention was unknown.

Anyway, as a result, the secret of the dynasty was not passed down to Kasha, and the magic stones ended up in the hands of the wrong person.

Gilroth, the evil beast Kannak used to ride, opposed his master’s decision to become a lowly human to the end.

However, Kannak was stubborn, and before giving up immortality, he granted the rank of an evil god to the evil beast that had been loyal to him for thousands of years.

The evil god Gilroth’s eyes sparkled greedily towards Kasha.

– Woman who inherited the blood of a great hero but is much closer to a lowly human. You possess his eyes but resemble the lowly girl he loved much more.

“……”

– However, you still have the potential to become as strong as him. How about it? Joining hands with me and advancing towards eternity?

Kasha was lost in thought without answering. After staring intently at Gilroth’s eyes and white wings that seemed to hold eternity for a long time, Kasha suddenly opened her mouth.

“…It’s you, isn’t it?”

Gilroth did not answer her question. He just stared at her with an intrigued face, as if telling her to say more.

Kasha slowly opened her mouth again.

“The one who brought me back from death. It’s you, isn’t it, Gilroth.”