A searing pain swept across Jimius’s palm. She suddenly thought of her childhood.

She had once seen one of the maids extinguish a candle with her hand. Forgetting the snuffer and too lazy to go back for it, the maid glanced behind her and quickly pinched out the candles one by one with her fingers.

It somehow looked cool. One day, Jimius brought her finger to a lit candle. And like the maid had done, she touched the burning flame.

The fire didn’t go out. She only felt pain enough to make her scream in surprise. Startled, she knocked over the candlestick, spilling candles onto the carpet and nearly starting a fire.

In the midst of all that chaos, Jimius looked at her burned finger and felt her breath quicken at the frighteningly throbbing pain.

When the Deceptor cut her palm, Jimius recalled the pain of trying to touch a flame for the first time.

“Jimius!”

As her blood dripped onto the ground, Marnak rushed over. Or more precisely, tried to rush over.

But he couldn’t take another step from where he had started. The Deceptor turned to Marnak with a fierce expression, gripping Jimius’s bleeding hand.

“Don’t interfere with the contract, you foolish priest.”

His voice no longer held any trace of Baso.

With her hand numb from pain and gripped by the Deceptor, Jimius thought of the once-loyal butler Baso. Had he been a demon from the start? Or had he been sacrificed? If he had been a demon from the beginning…

Jimius gripped the Deceptor’s hand in return.

“Was it you?”

The Deceptor’s flame-like hair flickered. He grinned. His lips split impossibly wide.

“What, do you want to avenge your parents? Foolish daughter of the Kon family.”

“You…!”

Jimius shouted in anger. At that moment, dark flames rose and flickered from beneath the Deceptor’s feet. Jimius tried to hold onto her fading consciousness, but it wasn’t easy.

The Deceptor’s voice rang out loudly. It was like the roar of an avalanche.

— I’m sick of you humans’ foolishness.

As she heard his voice, Jimius felt her consciousness plummeting into a vast heat and flames.

Eustar and Laila were avoiding Ardoa’s flames in a dark space that seemed endless.

He alternated between bursting into maniacal laughter and suddenly raging. No, that’s not right. Even his laughter was an expression of anger.

Laila thought that Ardoa must be the angriest person in the world. He was like a box full of aimless hatred.

If a passerby happened to stumble and kick him, he was no different from a dangerous object that could explode in an instant and blow them away entirely.

“Laila, are you alright?”

Eustar asked, catching his breath. He and Laila were separated, on high alert for flames that could come flying from anywhere.

“I’m fine.”

Laila’s voice came from the darkness. It was close.

“I’m fine.”

She said again. She was also out of breath, but sounded calm.

Eustar moved his eyes towards where her voice came from, while remaining vigilant of his surroundings. In the darkness that seemed to swallow even light, he sensed her presence. He felt like he could see her vividly.

“Laila!”

Eustar cried out and lunged towards Laila. It wasn’t just ‘feeling like’ he could see. He actually could.

The flames flying towards Laila split into two streams as they hit Eustar’s sword. Laila moved to avoid the flames while activating one of the magic circles she had drawn in various places.

There was a loud boom. At the same time, the flames that had been rushing in like flowing water subsided. As Eustar caught his breath, Laila quickly drew a magic circle under his feet as well.

“Come out, you coward!”

Eustar shouted. Ardoa was hiding in the darkness, moving through it, circling around them. The lack of footsteps likely meant he was using magic to float in the air.

Although they could sense his presence, it was difficult to predict his movements based on that alone. Just when they thought he was close, flames would pour down before the two could respond.

“It’s not that I’m a coward, but that you’re incompetent.”

Ardoa’s voice echoed in the darkness. It was close.

“To your right, Eustar.”

Laila whispered.

“I’m going to detonate the circle.”

Eustar nodded. As his long hair swayed slightly, Laila stepped on another circle to detonate the one closest to where the sound had come from.

A blue light flashed, followed by another boom, and Ardoa’s figure was ghostly illuminated in blue.

“Agh…!”

As Ardoa stumbled, unable to avoid the blast in time, Laila said,

“Eustar, now!”

Even before she finished speaking, Eustar had already approached Ardoa, whose vision was starting to be engulfed by darkness again. One of his feet was trapped by something like an ice pillar that had sprung up from Laila’s magic circle.

“You vermin!”

Ardoa screeched, stretching out one hand. Flames writhing like a giant snake bypassed Eustar’s sword and tried to swallow him whole.

“Eustar!”

Laila activated another circle. The moment a barrier enveloped his body, Ardoa’s fire moved like a fierce whirlwind along its glass-like surface.

“You little rats.”

Ardoa said, grinding his teeth.

“You’re good at running away, but is that all? Do you think your struggling here can stop Nierdora?”

Ardoa’s shouting voice reverberated through the space. The ice pillar holding his ankle was slowly melting.

Eustar stood with his sword raised inside the barrier where flames were raging, waiting for the moment to attack him.

When he finally saw an opening, he swung his sword outside the barrier, prepared to lose one of his arms. It was a strike aimed precisely at Ardoa’s neck. But his sword only cut through empty air.

“Damn it…!”

Ardoa had escaped the ice pillar by a hair’s breadth and disappeared from view. The wildly swirling flames were gone too.

Eustar struck the ground with his sword in frustration, then whirled around. And he forgot to breathe as his heart sank.

“Ugh…!”

Laila’s feet were dangling in the air, her neck in Ardoa’s grip. She had tried to use magic directly on Ardoa, but even her struggling arm was caught by him.

“Look at this.”

Ardoa said in a tone clearly mocking.

“See how lowly and worthless you are.”

“Let go of Laila!”

Eustar gripped his sword properly. His usually calm and gentle eyes seemed about to spark. “If you don’t, I’ll inflict pain beyond your imagination. I swear it.”

Ardoa grinned.

“Can you really do that?”

It was the moment Eustar was about to dash forward. Something was… wrong. His body shook slightly. Laila was looking at Eustar with wide eyes, as if asking what was wrong.

No, that’s not right. She wasn’t looking at Eustar. She wasn’t looking at anything.

Eustar was horrified to notice that Laila’s head was tilted slightly. It was impossible given the angle her neck was stretched at. Unless her head.

‘Unless her head was severed.’

He shuddered at the terrible thought that suddenly occurred to him. At that moment, Ardoa burst into raucous laughter.

“Ah-hah, hah! Look at that idiotic expression!”

Ardoa cackled and sneered. All the while, Eustar couldn’t take his eyes off Laila.

Her head was tilting more and more. There was a thin red line on her neck, and blood was slowly, slowly trickling from it.

Ardoa wore a cunning smile. His expression said he found it unbearably funny.

“Did you think I could only conjure fire? Sadly for you, I can cut anything I want without swinging a sword crudely like you. This is a magician’s ability. Something you could never do even if you were reborn a hundred times.”

Eustar’s Adam’s apple bobbed heavily. If he moved even a step, or even made a gesture to move, Ardoa would slice Laila’s neck right off.

“…Let Laila go.”

Ardoa’s eyes narrowed.

“I don’t want to. Why should I do such a thing for nothing? I thought I didn’t care about this dirty hybrid wench, but she’s been quite a nuisance. How could I let her live after that? But I’ll grant you one last mercy. You, cursed son of Hyanmorik. You won’t have to watch this witch die.”

Then, Ardoa burst into laughter once more, as if having a seizure.

Cold sweat beaded on Eustar’s forehead. He couldn’t take his eyes off Laila’s quivering lips.

She’s still alive. Eustar thought. There was still a chance to save Laila. He just didn’t have a way.

‘No, there is a way. There must be.’

He shook his head and raised his sword. At that moment, Ardoa said,

“If you come at me with that sword, this woman’s head will roll on the ground that instant. I’ll kick it and smash it to pieces. If you don’t want to see that, take your sword and cut your own throat.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not joking, you know?”

There was a hissing sound. Laila’s head was now visibly tilted. More and more blood was flowing from the cleanly cut surface. It gushed out as if about to burst.

Laila’s lips quivered a few more times. Eustar’s eyes slowly but surely widened. Now Laila was looking at Eustar. She was screaming silently at him.

“…Alright.”

Eustar said. His voice was tired and murky. Laila’s head, which had been slowly sliding down, stopped as if caught on something.

The sword in Eustar’s hand turned half a circle. The sharp blade came close enough to cut his neck at any moment. Ardoa was grinning with bared teeth like a beast, his eyes wide open.

“One thing.”

Eustar said.

“Promise that if I follow your words, you’ll let Laila live and send her back.”