“No, it’s dangerous. You don’t even have the holy sword yet! I should rather…!”

Dietrich hastily tried to stop Vivian even in the urgent situation.

Though he didn’t know the exact reason, Belial had become incomparably stronger than before.

To be able to kill people so easily without even touching them. Moreover, the person crushed wasn’t even a civilian, but a trained soldier.

Instant death.

Belial killed a person on the spot just by pointing a finger. It was overwhelming power.

He couldn’t send Vivian to face such a being.

However, she seemed to have already made up her mind.

“Dietrich, you know too. That I have to go. Please take care of things here.”

“But…!”

Vivian said that and immediately headed towards the door where Siegfried had disappeared.

Dietrich also tried to follow her, but Ludovica grabbed his shoulder.

“Forgot? Our roles?”

“But this is different from…!”

He knew well what his job was. According to the plan they had discussed beforehand, he was supposed to handle the demons excluding the king.

But that was when they hadn’t anticipated Siegfried becoming this strong. The situation was different now.

Ludovica must have known this fact too, but she seemed to think differently from Dietrich.

“I know, but trust in Vivi.”

Faced with his sister’s serious gaze, his mind became complicated.

But in the end, he messed up his well-groomed hair and sighed.

“…I’ll leave that side to you.”

Dietrich turned around and rushed towards the demons.

He sliced a demon threatening people from behind, already immersed in battle.

Ludovica felt relieved and eliminated a demon charging from the opposite direction.

At the same time, Vivian, who had gone after Siegfried climbing the spiral staircase, stopped her steps.

“Hello?”

A demon sitting on the narrow stairs greeted her with a smile.

Even without checking the tattoo on the back of the hand, she could tell. That the opponent was a high-ranking demon.

The situation wasn’t good.

Of course, high-ranking demons were tricky, but they weren’t enemies so strong that she absolutely couldn’t win.

The problem was the time limit of her ability.

Even if she poured all her strength, it wouldn’t be easy to face the strengthened Siegfried… If her stamina dropped from dealing with another demon, the chances of winning would decrease even more.

Just as Vivian was about to charge at the demon with an anxious expression.

“Leave this to me.”

A familiar low voice. It was Ren’s, who had somehow followed her.

As Vivian hesitated with a surprised expression, he spoke in a strong tone.

“Hurry.”

“Okay, I’ll go ahead.”

At his resolute voice, Vivian recalled the fact that he had previously defeated a high-ranking demon and rescued her.

Deciding to trust Ren, she tried to quickly pass by the demon’s side.

“Think I’ll let you slip by?”

The demon stretched its arm towards Vivian at high speed, but Ren’s shadow that appeared out of thin air swallowed that arm.

The demon’s expression twisted with anger as it looked at the cleanly severed surface.

Watching that scene, Ren only muttered softly.

“I’m your opponent.”

The demon charged at Ren with crazed eyes.

Meanwhile, Vivian, who had passed the high-ranking demon to Ren, continued climbing the stairs.

Though she was concerned about Ren fighting the demon below, she deliberately kept moving forward without looking back.

What she needed to do now was solely to subdue Siegfried. Everyone was risking their lives fighting for this.

So she shouldn’t think about anything else.

Soon she arrived at the end of the stairs. As she flung open the heavy iron door, a vast space decorated entirely in gold was revealed.

The walls on all sides were covered with large windows, through which bright sunlight poured in.

This seemed to be one of the banquet halls.

And the figure in the center was none other than…

“Isn’t it dazzling? The sight of the empire visible at a glance. It’s a shame for humans to possess this place. Don’t you think so? Vivian Schmidt.”

Belial, with his back turned, spread both arms as if in admiration as he spoke.

Vivian swallowed hard. How did he notice that the intruder was her when his gaze hadn’t even reached her direction?

Belial continued to gaze out the window, seemingly unconcerned with whatever she was thinking.

The view of the empire seen from the highest point of the imperial palace was beautiful, just as he said.

Siegfried seemed to want her to agree with his words… but instead of answering, Vivian immediately charged at him.

To bring him down, now when he was showing his back carelessly was the perfect opportunity.

Vivian, holding her sword, rushed at his back at the fastest speed she could muster.

However, Belial, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, slightly twisted his body to avoid the attack without even looking.

With that nimble movement, Vivian keenly felt that he had definitely changed from before.

Last time she could at least graze his body, but this time even that wasn’t easy.

“I thought we could have a chat, but what barbaric behavior. Well, this isn’t bad either… I’ll play along as you wish.”

Belial smiled leisurely, revealing his white teeth.

Vivian retreated slightly and then charged at him again, unleashing countless attacks. The fierce sword slashed through the air dozens of times in just 1 second.

But the sword never reached its target.

Belial, without even drawing a weapon, avoided all attacks by taking light steps.

It was hard to tell whether he was dancing or engaging in combat.

Belial was both looking down on her and humiliating her.

Vivian knew that all his actions were intentional, and she understood their purpose, but she started to feel her resolve crumbling.

His attitude played a part… but more than that, it was because she felt her stamina rapidly depleting.

Without the holy sword now, Vivian’s original plan was to somehow subdue Siegfried.

Since demons can’t easily recover from wounds inflicted by holy power, she intended to accumulate attacks to wear him down.

Then, after capturing the weakened Belial and restraining him, she planned to completely annihilate him once she got her hands on the holy sword.

But looking at the current situation, that plan was utterly unrealistic.

She couldn’t even touch Belial, while her stamina was reaching its limit.

It wasn’t strange. The time she could use her ability was only 5 minutes to begin with.

Rather, it was amazing that she had survived this long without dying with that ambiguous ability.

Vivian bit her lip hard. As an anxious look appeared on her face, Belial clapped his hands as if amused.

His pure enjoyment of others’ misfortune once again clearly revealed that he was indeed a demon.

It was at that moment.

Siegfried, who had been only avoiding Vivian’s attacks all along, spread his wings and soared up, then pointed above Vivian’s head.

“Seems you’re about at your limit.”

With a mocking voice, half the ceiling collapsed and fell sharply towards Vivian’s head.

She hurriedly escaped from the shadow of the falling debris. She was confident in her speed, but now barely escaping was the best she could do.

Siegfried burst into laughter again seeing her fleeing with her tail between her legs.

Then, as if he had found an amusing plaything, he attacked her several times by collapsing parts of the ceiling.

Siegfried felt a deep sense of satisfaction watching her desperately dodge.

Yes, this was it. This was exactly what he wanted to see.

It was so ridiculous and pleasing to see her running away like a mouse, trying to survive somehow.

And how amusing it was to see her expression darkening as her stamina gradually depleted.

Belial repeatedly launched the same attack. Soon the castle’s ceiling was completely destroyed, revealing the clear sky instead.

The peaceful sky with white clouds floating leisurely contrasted starkly with Vivian’s expression sinking deeper into despair with each passing second.

Ah, I must remember this moment forever.

The demon inwardly vowed, engraving Vivian’s final moments in his eyes.

Vivian was barely maintaining her balance on the floor covered with ceiling debris.

This time Belial pointed his finger at her head.

It was difficult when using divine power, but now that her ability was almost exhausted, even Vivian should be as easy to kill as that soldier.

Now he just needed to lower his finger and that annoying divine apostle would crumble like trampled clay.

It was right at that moment when his fingertip was about to point downwards at Vivian.

Boom!

The surroundings shook as if hit by a powerful impact. Belial looked around at the strong vibration that resonated as if an earthquake had occurred.

But there was nothing in front or behind. Just as he was about to look again in confusion, a huge shadow covered him.

Above. The culprit was right above.

A purple dragon was displaying its majesty over the open ceiling, glaring in his direction. It seemed to regard him as an enemy.

Belial burst into a hollow laugh in bewilderment.

Just like before in the courtroom, why on earth was a dragon attacking him?

Knowing how powerful dragons were, he had deliberately avoided building grudges with them.

But this dragon kept trying to interfere with him at every turn.

“Melphis!”

When Vivian called out someone’s name, the dragon reacted. It seemed this one was somehow related to that woman.

But it didn’t matter. He was already prepared based on previous experience.

Belial wasn’t a fool. There was no way he would allow their approach when dragons might come to help again.

He had already ordered his subordinates to set up a barrier that dragons couldn’t pass through.

And the place where that barrier’s effect was strongest was right here where he was.

No matter how strong the dragon was, it would be difficult to break through this side’s barrier.

‘The earlier impact must have been from the dragon trying to forcibly break the barrier.’

Sure enough, the dragon seemed to realize the barrier’s existence and gave up approaching, instead gaining altitude.

Instead…

“Vivian, catch!”

A roar-like shout rang out.

The dragon threw something towards the woman. Then a brilliant beam of light flew towards her, piercing through the barrier.

Vivian leaped high and caught it in midair. It was a sword.

And at that very moment, her expression, which had been full of a sense of defeat, changed completely.

The flow of air changed.