Roxiana was about to take a deep breath, but realizing the stench of magic, she stopped.

“Your Highness. I’m going to call a somewhat strong spirit. No, very strong. The wind will be stronger than usual, and since it’s my first time using it, I may not be able to easily control its power.”

Unlike other times, Roxiana explained calmly.

“You’ll need to stand a bit away and hold onto something firm like a tree.”

Floyd recalled Roxiana collapsing after purifying the forest and felt uneasy, but he realized he couldn’t stop her because of his own anxiety now.

If so, there was only one thing he could do now.

“Leave it to me. I’ll save you, Princess.”

Seeing her smile as if reassured, Floyd felt a pang in his heart. If only he had stronger power, she wouldn’t have to do such a reckless thing.

But he soon changed his mind.

‘No, this princess would find something she needs to do, no matter how strong I am.’

Floyd relayed Roxiana’s orders to Hexten and Robert and stood behind a large tree a little distance away. Roxiana had told them to hold onto trees firmly, but it was uncertain how long the blackened, rotten trees would hold up.

To begin with, he couldn’t gauge how strong the wind Roxiana would summon would be.

After confirming that the group was behind the trees, Roxiana stared straight at the rift and opened her mouth.

“Jin.”

She called the wind spirit that was so strong it was rarely encountered.

“Jin, come to me.”

At first, it was a faint breeze. The wind carrying fresh air gradually grew stronger. Everywhere the wind touched, blackened plants were destroyed and scattered like dust. The black particles made the wind’s movement visible to the eye.

The wind, dancing as if joyful while carrying black ashes, gathered towards Roxiana.

At some point, that wind noticeably intensified. Floyd tried to stand firm, but a wind strong enough to make his massive body stagger blew in, creating a whirlwind around Roxiana.

Roxiana’s hair whipped wildly in the wind. As trees shook violently, breaking with loud cracks, the ground cracked, and rocks flew everywhere in a tornado-like disaster, only Roxiana’s gaze remained calm.

She stared intently at the form slowly taking shape before her.

She, or perhaps he? A being with an androgynous appearance and silver hair appeared before Roxiana. The wind spirit ‘Jin’, floating in the air with a mischievous look, smiled brightly at Roxiana.

−Choosing me was a very good idea.

Roxiana smiled back at Jin and reached out her hand. The wind that had been blowing over a wide area suddenly condensed and gathered at the tips of Roxiana’s long fingers. Roxiana could feel how much destructive power was contained in the wind gathered on each finger.

“I’m counting on you.”

−Likewise.

Jin and Roxiana simultaneously glared in the direction of the rift.

Jin’s hair, which had been as short as a boy’s, grew longer.

Roxiana shot the wind gathered at her fingertips towards the rift. As the condensed wind stretched in a straight line towards the rift, she felt her strength draining away.

‘I can endure this.’

It was more bearable than when reviving the dead forest. It was less painful than that time.

Roxiana detached herself from the pain felt in her body and approached the rift step by step. At first, she couldn’t find anything, but as she got closer, a strange space that seemed to distort the air became clearly visible.

The strong wind Roxiana had shot was flowing into that rift. Though no one had told her, Roxiana knew that this spirit’s wind would cause something inside the rift.

‘If this were a reckless and useless act, Jin would have stopped me.’

She glanced at Jin. Sensing her gaze, Jin looked at Roxiana and smiled brightly.

−Looks like you’ll need a bit more power? Can you handle it?

“Yes.”

Roxiana gritted her teeth and drew out the power within her. More wind gathered at her fingertips and shot strongly towards the rift. The wind seemed to create a path into the rift, continuously flowing in.

At first, there seemed to be no change.

The anomaly occurred when Jin’s hair shortened again and her legs began to tremble.

The distortion of the rift became clearly visible. The colorless space began to turn blood-red. It changed to a dark red like rotten blood and twisted in various directions.

Like a crack in a solid wall, the concentrated magic inside poured out and engulfed Roxiana and Jin. If Jin hadn’t instantly hardened the wind to deflect it, their bodies would have melted from the magic without a chance to heal.

Though they escaped major danger, they couldn’t block all the magic fragments that splattered. Roxiana coughed up blood, but didn’t stop her power. Jin too continued to create powerful winds, receiving power from Roxiana.

Eventually, the rift began to collapse, unable to withstand the overflowing spirit power inside. Roxiana clearly saw the rift that had been distinctly present there visibly crumbling.

It writhed as if alive and struggled desperately as if wanting to live, but.

−Oh, dear.

As it exploded, it swallowed up Roxiana and Jin.

Roxiana felt her body being swept into the bursting rift. She also felt Jin’s hand firmly grasping her wrist.

With the wind firmly holding her arm, Roxiana peered inside the rift. A bizarre scenery that could hardly be said to exist in this world. In that place mixed with blood and darkness, her eyes met with a huge red eye.

At that moment, she felt as if every bone in her body from the tips of her toes to the top of her head was instantly shattered. The intense hostility and hatred sent by the red eye felt like it was completely burning Roxiana’s soul.

She wanted to run away and look away, but couldn’t. No, it felt like she shouldn’t. So Roxiana kept her eyes open and faced it directly.

Although an overwhelming fear beyond human endurance struck her, she didn’t turn her eyes away.

Facing each other like this, she couldn’t tell how much time had passed. After what seemed like an eternity yet also an instant, the red eye closed first.

And then Roxiana felt as if she was sinking into water, and at the same time she was lying in a white, clean, and extremely peaceful space. It was such a white and soft space that it made her doubt whether everything she had seen until just now was a dream.

−Floyd is healing you.

Hearing a voice from beside her, Roxiana turned her head. Jin was sitting next to her, but looking much fainter than when she first saw him.

Jin’s arms and hair were crumbling like pieces and scattering in all directions, disappearing.

Roxiana was startled and raised her upper body, reaching out towards Jin. As her fingertips brushed Jin’s cheek, more powder scattered from the cheek.

Roxiana quickly withdrew her hand and stared at Jin. She couldn’t tell what had happened to Jin, but she could see that Jin was disappearing. But Jin looked around as if nothing mattered and said:

−Floyd must really care for you. To create such a space. It’s so warm here, isn’t it?

“……”

−Don’t make that face, Roti. Birth is always followed by extinction. As long as the King exists, we repeat extinction and birth. My power is exhausted and I’m disappearing, but my soul will be reborn after going through the purification process.

“I’m sorry… for making such an unreasonable request.”

−No, what are you saying? The moment we’ve been waiting for for a very long time has come.

“The moment you’ve been waiting for?”

−A human who can use us to destroy the rift has appeared. We’ve been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time.

Jin reached out and caressed Roxiana’s cheek. The tenderness in the touch was felt.

−Lovely Roti. We wished for you to live happily without knowing anything and doing nothing. Your life is too harsh.

Roxiana was concerned about Jin’s fingers touching her cheek scattering. No matter how many times extinction and birth are repeated, the fact that this Jin in front of her is dying was true.

But how could he be so nonchalant about it?

“Jin. If I had known things would turn out like this……”

−Shh, Roti. Don’t regret or blame yourself. This is truly, truly what we wanted. It’s just that everyone kept quiet because they hoped you wouldn’t be in danger, because they didn’t want you to walk a difficult path.

“Is destroying the rifts what the spirits want?”

−Yes. But since most spirit artisans died, there aren’t many humans in this land who can properly use our power.

“Then if I get rid of all the rifts……”

−No, don’t say such things, Roti. There’s no need for you to bear such a burden. It’s enough that I was able to destroy one rift in my lifetime. The problem is that they saw you from the other side.

“What do you mean… the other side?”

Jin’s face came closer. Jin whispered in Roxiana’s ear.

−The Demon God.

Roxiana shuddered, recalling the red eye she saw when she was half-sucked into the rift. Even though that eye was no longer visible, it instilled a vivid fear as if it were present here.

“What do you mean… Demon God?”

−The Demon God created the rifts, Roti. And the Demon God saw you. Just as we only saw the color of its eyes, they probably only grasped the color of your eyes. So it’s more dangerous now. If you’re exposed every time you destroy a rift, they won’t just stand by and watch.

She got goosebumps. Just imagining that something with such eyes would come looking for her made her breath catch in fear.