“Eustar, be careful!”

Laila, who was running down the collapsing corridor, grabbed Eustar’s collar and yanked him hard.

“Ugh!”

As Eustar let out a low groan and furrowed his brow, a large boulder fell behind his back with a thud, completely collapsing the corridor.

Eustar turned around and let out a hollow laugh.

“I almost got flattened. Thank you, Laila.”

“Stop saying scary things and hurry up and run!”

Laila, staggering and letting out a short scream, grabbed onto the window frame. But even that twisted and broke in an instant.

The two ran, matching their steps, taking turns leading. The maze was gone, but the structure of the corridor was still strange, and it seemed to take an agonizingly long time to find the stairs they had first discovered.

“The stairs…!”

Laila hesitated as she was about to go down. The stairs were collapsing from the bottom up. Through the cracked floor below, a dark red foundation could be seen. Or in some places, it was even more deeply dug with gaping cracks.

“Can you relax your body for a moment, Laila?”

“What are you saying right now, ah…!”

Laila turned her head and froze, clenching her fists tightly.

Eustar gently embraced Laila’s body, which had become even stiffer when told to relax, and nimbly leapt down, carefully choosing only the stairs that hadn’t collapsed.

As he felt the stones crumbling beneath his feet, he sprang up and slid out of the mansion’s entrance.

The outside air was unbelievably refreshing. Even the air mixed with ash and dust blowing down from the Diasgard Mountains felt incredibly crisp in this moment.

Eustar put Laila down and checked if she was alright. As she took a deep breath and exhaled after being stiff with tension and bewilderment, a smile spread across Eustar’s face as he watched her intently.

“Not bad, right?”

Laila glanced at him and cleared her throat.

“I thought we were going to fall.”

“Did you think I would let you fall? I’m hurt.”

Laila, at a loss for words, touched her tingling ear and turned her head. She wasn’t sure if she felt good or bad, but her heart was strangely fluttering.

That’s when it happened.

As the hazy smoke rising from the collapsed mansion cleared, the surrounding scenery began to come into view one by one.

Laila looked at the treetops that seemed to have emerged through the fog, and then saw something that looked like a person sprawled out below.

No, it’s not just something that looks like a person, Laila thought. That is a person…

“Jimius!”

Eustar’s cry sounded distant, as if it weren’t real. Laila watched him run towards the fallen Jimius, but couldn’t bring herself to move.

All those lying on the ground were members of the Gilonic branch. Jimius Con and Conserie, and others as well…

Were they all dead? Laila unconsciously imagined the worst case scenario and wondered who could have done such a terrifying thing. There was only one face that came to mind.

‘Badin…’

Just then, there was a deafening explosion at Eustar’s feet as he was running towards Jimius.

It was so loud that even Laila instinctively screamed and shrank back. Whether from the shock of the sound or something actually exploding, Eustar’s body floated up into the air and then fell down.

“Eustar!”

“If you move even one step from there, I’ll chew up these guys one by one.”

A chilling voice wrapped around Laila’s body like a rope.

It’s not Badin, Laila thought. This wasn’t Badin’s voice. But it was a voice she had heard before.

As she slowly turned her head, she saw the Decepter’s hair rising up, flickering like flames. His eyes, containing blazing flames, looked even redder today.

The first and last time she had seen him, she hadn’t felt this much pressure.

But at this moment, Laila was frozen with fear that she might lose her life if she wasn’t careful. It was an instinctive fear that any living being would inevitably feel.

The Decepter’s lips spread wide as if tearing. It looked like he was smiling, but his gaze was fierce and vicious. Far from smiling, it looked like he might devour Laila at any moment.

“I should have known earlier that he had contacted you.”

The Decepter spoke in a voice that seemed to be boiling. Laila clenched and unclenched her cold hands several times to overcome her fear.

“What do you mean?”

When she asked back, the Decepter’s eyes widened. Not in surprise. Not in surprise, but…

“Don’t you dare lie to me, I’m talking about Badin!”

The moment he shouted, no. Can this even be called a shout? The Decepter’s voice erupted from all around, not just from his mouth. It froze the air and choked Laila’s breath.

Laila’s knees wobbled from the shock of being tightly bound by chains and then suddenly released. Her whole body went cold along with a tingling pain.

Laila, who had been taking shallow breaths, swallowed dryly and looked at the Decepter.

In fact, even enduring to that extent was remarkable. If she had been an ordinary human or if her courage had been just a little weaker, Laila might have died the moment the Decepter shouted.

Laila said:

“…What does that have to do with you?”

A beast-like growl leaked from between the Decepter’s teeth.

“What are you plotting? Tell me honestly.”

“I’m not plotting anything.”

The flames in his red eyes flared up.

“Young witch, I may not be able to do anything to you and that Eustar fellow. But if you think the same applies to the other humans, you’re greatly mistaken. One by one, I will squeeze them all until they suffer in agony until their dying moment. And when their souls scream and escape, I will chew them up slowly. I’ll do it right in front of your eyes. Shall I give you a demonstration first?”

No sooner had his words ended than one of the fallen members floated up into the air.

“No, Decepter! Don’t do it!”

When Laila shouted, a cruel smile appeared on the Decepter’s lips. At that moment, the member’s left arm bent in a strange direction with a crack.

—Peeeeep—!

A sharp sound like someone blowing a whistle was heard from somewhere. Then the floating member fell back to the ground with a thud.

“You damn—!”

The Decepter, covering his ears, cursed in a pained voice.

Laila turned her head in surprise and saw Eustar, whom she thought had fallen, rising to his feet covered in dirt.

In his hand was something like a small cage, inside which was a bug with a blue glowing back. The whistling sound was the cry of that bug.

—Peep—! Peeeeep—!

“Stop!”

The Decepter shouted, twisting his ears as if to tear them off.

“Do you think this will change anything! If you don’t stop, I’ll…!”

When Eustar put the cage away, the bug’s cry stopped. As the Decepter gasped for breath, something sticky and black flowed from between his lips. Laila didn’t miss the chance and ran to support Eustar.

“Nothing’s broken, right? Can you stand, Eustar?”

“I’m fine. More importantly…”

Eustar wiped his injured cheek with the back of his hand and frowned.

“I don’t understand what’s going on here at all.”

Laila nodded and held his arm.

“Why is the Decepter here? No, more than that… He’s incredibly angry. It seems to be because I met Badin. Why?”

Eustar furrowed his brow.

“Well, Laila. I’m not sure either. I’ve never seen him lose his mind and go berserk like this before.”

That’s when it happened. Eustar’s body suddenly bent forward.

“Eustar?”

Laila, who had hugged him in surprise, groaned and pulled away. His back was burning hot. White smoke could be seen rising from his ruined uniform jacket.

“Oh my god, Eustar! Eustar, are you…”

—You stupid fool.

The air vibrated with a hum. The north wind began to blow, and the trees shook violently as if they would be uprooted and broken. Eustar’s painful screams were drowned out by that thunderous sound.

Laila looked up at the thick, massive shadow looming over her head and involuntarily opened her mouth.

The Decepter’s true form was right before her eyes. It was like a giant moth, or perhaps a bird of prey. The only thing certain was that something so terribly formed did not exist in this world.

“Argh…!”

Eustar bit back another scream. It felt as if his spine was literally burning up. As if being branded with a red-hot iron, the entire area where the seal was drawn was indescribably hot and painful.

—Have you forgotten who I am, thinking you could match my rhythm? How dare you mere humans insult me.

As the Decepter flapped his mottled and thick wings, something like ash powder whirled up.

Laila held onto Eustar even as she coughed. It would have been better if he had just lost consciousness, but he couldn’t even faint. He trembled in pain with every move the Decepter made.

“Stop it!”

Laila shouted. Did the Decepter hear her? It didn’t matter. She was about to draw her own sword from her waist when she made an “oops” expression. Earlier, Eustar had taken her sword inside the mansion, and then…

“Damn it, Eustar! No, no. Please, come to your…”

Laila’s movements, unable to touch or leave him alone, came to an abrupt halt.

—Such insignificant creatures.

The Decepter, after flapping his wings a few more times, spoke as if snorting. It was a strange sound that shook the earth and sky, but his tone was flippant, just as when he took on a human form.

As the hazy ash cleared, the Decepter rolled his yellow eyes and looked down. And he saw Laila holding up Eustar’s sword.

Eustar’s sword was surprisingly heavy. Honestly, Laila could barely stand holding it, but she gritted her teeth and maintained her stance, enduring.

Thinking that showing any weakness would be the end for both of them, she put even more strength into her wrist that felt like it might break at any moment.

—Do you want to die here, young witch girl?

Laila, gripping the sword handle, gritted her teeth and looked up at the giant beast.

“We’ll see who dies when we fight, you cunning devil.”