Kang, kang, chaeng. Thud.

“Aaargh!”

The front courtyard of the Crown Prince’s palace was in complete chaos.

The elite knights of the Imperial Knights Order and the soldiers of the Capital Defense Force, positioned by Nigel, were engaged in a ridiculous brawl against someone. Someone, meaning just one person.

Nigel’s eyes twitched slightly as he recognized the protagonist of the brawl.

The silver hair gleaming dazzlingly under the sunlight. The enormous physique, a head taller than the surrounding knights, with inhuman strength. The culprit, who was slaughtering the entire knights’ order with his bare hands as if he didn’t need any weapons, was clearly…

“An…thony?”

As if understanding Nigel’s strained voice, the silver-haired man raised his head and looked up at the second floor.

Anthony, covered in blood like Leon, grinned, baring his teeth.

Not at the Crown Prince who had called his name, but at Leon.

“Looks like I’m not too late, elder brother Leon.”

Could it be that Anthony and Leon had joined forces to break through the palace’s defenses? Kasha, who belatedly looked out the window, widened her eyes in surprise.

“You, you…! How dare a wicked demon like you, in the Crown Prince’s palace…! You incompetent fools, catch that bastard and kill him! Right now!”

Hearing Nigel’s shouted command, Anthony raised the corner of his mouth in a nervous smile.

Then, as if to show off, he grabbed the high-ranking knight blocking his way with both hands and lifted him into the air. Using the knight, who weighed at least 80kg, as a shield, he blocked the attacks flying towards him.

The knights, terrified by his monstrous strength and unable to attack their own comrade, a high-ranking knight at that, stepped back hesitantly. Anthony shouted at them with a big smile.

“If you’re going to die anyway! No matter how I think about it, rather than my brother, it seems much more satisfying to trick Nigel, who kidnaps innocent girls!”

One against hundreds.

Despite the absurd numerical disadvantage, Anthony fully exerted his monstrous strength and single-handedly blocked the knights’ entry into the Crown Prince’s palace.

Swish.

Suddenly, an arrow flew from somewhere, narrowly grazing Anthony’s ear.

Dozens of archers had lined up beyond the walls of the Crown Prince’s palace. Seeing this, Leon shouted urgently.

“Hold on for a bit, Anthony! I’ll be down in a moment!”

“Don’t come!!”

However, at Anthony’s resolute shout, Leon furrowed his brows, startled.

“At least at the end… I want to accomplish something without your help, brother! Just… you… properly protect what you need to protect! Please stop pretending to be so annoyingly righteous for once!”

“Anthony! No!”

But Anthony, not even listening to Leon’s cry, threw the body of the high-ranking knight he was using as a shield towards the crowd.

“Whoa!”

The unexpected attack instantly broke the knights’ formation.

“Come at me, you bastards as pathetic as me!”

As he shouted that, Anthony charged into the crowd of knights like a whirlwind. Wherever he moved, knights holding swords collapsed, unable to keep up.

“Shoot the arrows! Hit that bastard!”

“But, it’s impossible… to aim properly!”

Anthony’s movements were so fast, and he was entangled with their allies, so the archers hesitated for a long time, arrows nocked.

However, no matter how much of a demon, there was a limit to his strength.

As he knocked down one person, another knight would rush at him, swinging a sword.

Surrounded by hundreds of knights, Anthony’s body gradually accumulated fatal wounds.

“Ugh!”

Seeing Anthony, whose back was finally slashed deeply, collapsing with a thud, Leon spoke hastily.

“Kasha. Get to safety for now. I’ll tie up this bastard and then go help Anthony!”

After saying that, Leon tore off the curtain tie, sat Nigel on a chair by the window frame, and tied him up tightly.

Nigel glared at Leon as if he would kill him, but obediently let himself be tied up, sarcastically remarking.

“Yes, that’s what you should do. Leave your little brother alone as a shield and only care about the woman.”

Smack!

“Ouch! Wh-what are you doing, you crazy woman!”

Kasha had hit the top of Nigel’s head with all her might using the fan she was holding.

“I can’t take it anymore.”

“What? Y-you….”

Nigel trembled but didn’t dare to blabber again. It seemed that being hit by the fan had hurt quite a bit.

‘Just… this hurts? After painfully killing so many people?’

Slap!

Unable to contain her anger, Kasha even slapped his cheek. Then she shouted at Leon.

“Don’t worry about here and go quickly! Anthony is in danger!”

Before the regression, Anthony had died just like this, surrounded by the Imperial Knights. Like a hunted beast.

‘Of course, he’s a villain, but….’

Kasha thought.

‘I don’t want to see him die like this. Especially in front of Leon.’

Hearing Kasha’s words, Leon nodded heavily. Then, he roughly punched the back of Nigel’s head, who was unable to regain his senses after being slapped. Nigel fainted on the spot without even being able to scream.

After confirming that he was unconscious, Leon approached Kasha and hugged her tightly, kissing her forehead.

“I’ll be back soon, really soon. So don’t you dare go anywhere else.”

Hearing Leon’s request, Kasha raised her clear eyes to meet his gaze and whispered.

“I promise. That I will never die.”

Leon nodded with a faint smile. Then, he slightly tilted his head and briefly kissed her lips.

“If that’s what you want, no matter what it is.”

As if making a vow to God, he chanted those words and immediately turned around and ran out of the room.

Kasha locked the door tightly, trying to calm her anxiously pounding heart. Then she looked out at the chaotic scene outside again.

‘It will be alright. Definitely.’

However, Anthony was now completely on the defensive.

He threw the knights he could grab, disrupting their formation, but the knights, having read his attack patterns, no longer faltered and steadily inflicted injuries on his body and drained his stamina.

Bang!

At that moment, the main gate of the Crown Prince’s palace shattered with a loud noise.

“Stop it! Anthony Aranias merely cooperated in arresting the rebel Crown Prince Nigel who was helping me! It was Crown Prince Nigel who assassinated His Majesty the Emperor! He is the real traitor!”

Leon shouted loudly as he broke through the excited knights and parried their sharp swords.

However, his shouts were no longer heard by the excited knights. In their heated minds, there was only the will to catch and kill that arrogant monster who had shattered the Imperial Knights.

Eventually, Anthony’s movements visibly slowed down, exhausted from the repeated attacks.

At the same time, the eyes of the archers who had been observing the situation sharpened. Dozens of arrows nocked on bowstrings silently watched him, waiting for a single gap.

“Anthony! Be careful! Get to safety for now!”

Leon, who still couldn’t approach Anthony as he was fighting dozens of knights on one side, shouted desperately.

But Anthony, even while roughly panting, shook his head stubbornly until the end.

“No! Absolutely… I won’t run away!”

“Anthony!”

“I also… at least once! Cough. Wanted to live… like you, brother!”

At that very moment, Anthony lost his balance and staggered, trying to deflect the sword of a knight who had come in quite accurately, taking advantage of the gap.

“Now!”

The arrow of an archer who had finally found an opening cut through the air without hesitation.

Swish!

“Ugh!”

“Anthony!!!”

Hearing Leon’s anguished cry, Anthony slowly collapsed.

An arrow protruded between his two hands covering his face.

The arrow had pierced straight through his right eye.

“The beast has fallen!”

“Quickly restrain him!”

“Kill him!”

“Immediately behead…!”

Shouts of joy spread among the knights who had finally succeeded in their beast hunt.

The moment dozens of swords and spears were about to mercilessly pierce Anthony, Leon, who had finally broken through the encirclement, stood in front of Anthony with his sword raised.

Leon, whose uniform was tattered from injuries all over his body, was also already in tatters. It was a miracle that he could even properly hold a sword.

Even so, he tried to transmit holy power to the fallen Anthony by placing his hand on him.

However, as he was also on the verge of exhaustion, the amount of holy power transmitted was minimal.

Tap.

Anthony slapped Leon’s hand away. The moment after Leon’s hand stiffened, a smooth and hard sensation touched his palm.

“Take it. I won’t… need it anymore anyway.”

And the next moment, as if he had fainted from pain, Anthony’s head drooped.

“……”

Leon opened his palm. The color drained from the gem, redder than a ruby, like the ebb tide, and it turned transparent in an instant. The stone, which looked as insignificant as a piece of glass, glittered as if mocking him.

Realizing that what Anthony had placed in his hand was the demon stone Opus, Leon closed his eyes tightly.

“Step back, Sir Leon. Or you will die too.”

The knight at the forefront persuaded in a heavy voice. But Leon gripped his sword again with a painful smile.

“Killing me… will probably be difficult. I’ve already made a vow.”

No one noticed his gaze briefly sweeping over the second-floor window.

Seeing Leon’s eyes still burning vividly despite being in tatters, the knights had perplexed expressions. However, they also soon straightened their swords and took an attacking stance.

It was at that very moment. From behind the lined-up archers, thunderous shouts and the footsteps of well-trained knights were heard.

“Go! Slaughter all those who sided with Crown Prince Nigel, who assassinated the Emperor and plotted treason, without leaving a single one!”

A very brief smile flashed across Leon’s face as he recognized whose voice it was.

The voice was getting closer and closer to the Crown Prince’s palace. Moreover, it wasn’t just one voice.

“Kasha! My daughter! Where is my daughter! You damn Crown Prince bastard! Where are you hiding! Come out right now!”

“Father! If you shout so loudly, will that Crown Prince bastard come crawling out? Lower your voice a bit!”

“Daril, you rascal! How dare you lecture your father when you can’t even protect your little sister!”

Smack!

“Ouch! Why did you hit me!”