“Demon King?”
nesis’s expression turned strange as well. “Are you sure? You realize that’s not much less of a cri than worshipping an evil god.”
After a mont of thought, she added, “Back in the day, the head of the Four Northern Houses, the La family, worshipped the Demon King of Ice and Fla as a sun deity. Because of that, both the Church and the Royal Capital joined forces to wipe them out. The entire clan — thousands of people, including their servants — all turned to ashes overnight and vanished from history.”
She paused, as if recalling sothing else. “But I heard one little girl from that family survived... and that she was taken in by the Chief Hero as his only student.”
“Is that so.”
“You don’t look the least bit interested in this gossip! Aren’t Heroes supposed to be idols for you cleric types?”
“I don’t chase idols. You can have all the interest you want.”
Vieya replied coolly, placing the Demon King’s stone figurine back {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} on its pedestal. “There doesn’t seem to be any of the important clues you were hoping for here.”
“Clues don’t matter. What’s important is...”
nesis suddenly stopped mid-sentence, drawing out the mont until Vieya’s curiosity peaked. Then she said mysteriously,
“I’ve found a very important secret.”
“What secret?”
Vieya turned to follow her gaze — and her pupils shrank.
It was a painting — a vivid, richly colored oil painting.
In it, an armored figure sat upon a vast green adow, posture straight and proud as a pine tree. Two swords lay crossed upon his knees, and his gaze was fixed ahead like that of a seasoned knight who had survived countless battles.
Behind the knight, a young girl rested against his back, eyes closed in peaceful sleep. Her fair arm hung naturally at her side, her long, graceful legs crossed elegantly. A red ribbon bound a small golden bell around her pale ankle.
“Wow, it’s a painting of the Hero and the Demon King. It’s beautiful... but who would hang sothing like this here?”
nesis furrowed her brow, focusing intently, as if she were trying to solve the final question on an exam.
Then—
She suddenly grabbed one of the smaller Demon King statues and swung it hard at the painting.
“What are you doing?!”
Vieya rushed to stop her—
Bang!
“You—” Vieya was just about to snap at her when nesis lifted both hands defensively and backed away, her clear eyes tense. She said quickly,
“Vieya, don’t move!”
A tall shadow lood over Vieya’s head. Cold sweat trickled down her temple.
Clank—clank—
Clang!
The grinding and scraping of tal joints — the sound could only belong to armor in motion.
A fully ard Hero had appeared!
“Run!”
Rakaide roared, seizing the heavy stone table beside him. Muscles bulged along his arms as he swung it violently toward the shadow behind Vieya!
A trendous gust howled through the air, the sheer force of it threatening to tear the atmosphere apart.
“You bunch of bastards!”
Vieya cursed inwardly but dodged to the side without hesitation.
And that was when she finally saw what the others ant by “the Hero who crawled back from hell.”
That suit of radiant armor—
The sa armor she had worn ever since she first beca a Hero.
The Luminous Armor.
A living artifact that grew stronger without limit as its master fought — endlessly evolving through battle experience.
Vieya herself had even given it a na back then: Al.
But now, that sa armor seed to have gained a will of its own — moving, thinking, and even attacking like a living being.
The sli girl stood frozen in shock.
I didn’t violate the laws of alchemy! I didn’t sacrifice my body! So why are you moving?!
Why?!
Before she could think further, the armor drew its blade.
Rumble—!
Rumble—!
Rumble—!
With a single casual swing, a crescent arc of sword energy sliced through the shrine, splitting it clean in two. The blade light soared skyward, cutting open even the thick layers of cloud above.
At that sa instant—
In another ti-space entirely, Luna suddenly looked up at the sky in confusion. But there was nothing there — only darkness.
Then the ground trembled — like a dragon stirring beneath the earth.
“An... earthquake?”
Liufir, already anxious, jumped to her feet in alarm, eyes darting everywhere.
“Why hasn’t Sister Vieya co back yet...?”
“This space seems to be shaking under imnse force. Could sothing have happened to nesis and the others?” Yuancherin’s voice was edged with worry.
More importantly, they still hadn’t found a way to unravel the overlapping dinsions of this place.
Each of them was fully on alert, searching for any trace — any clue — of where Vieya might have gone.
Even the smallest hint!
But if what the strongest Demon King left behind could be undone that easily, could she still be called a Great Demon King at all?
...
Fire roared, dust billowed, and the tremors ca again and again.
Just two sword strikes — that was all it took for the armor, Al, to destroy every piece of cover they could hide behind.
Vieya, crouched beside nesis, was seething with anger. She clenched her sli fist and smacked nesis square on the head.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“Because I don’t like you.” Vieya’s answer was blunt and precise.
nesis groaned twice but didn’t argue back. Instead, she muttered gloomily, “Then what now, Miss Cleric? Got any bright ideas? Maybe you can, I don’t know, subdue that walking tin can?”
“Can’t subdue it. Let’s just wait to die.”
“...”
nesis was speechless. She glanced at Rakaide, who was still holding its attention, and sighed. “I didn’t expect that Hero’s armor to be this strong. Do you think... maybe the Chief Hero’s lingering soul attached itself to it? Though I heard the Chief Hero used dual swords...”
Wrong, kid!
The Hero’s lingering soul is standing right in front of you!
Vieya didn’t answer. She gave the short girl a sidelong glance, then turned her attention back to the armored figure that Rakaide was keeping busy.
It was clear now that this armor’s defensive capability hadn’t weakened at all since the final battle — if anything, it was still at its peak.
Its attack pattern was simple, too. Only slashes, thrusts, sweeps, and chops — no special techniques, no magic. Pure overwhelming numbers and brute force.
“The Hero’s offense doesn’t seem all that sophisticated,” nesis observed, frowning. “With Rakaide’s strength, surviving isn’t too hard... but how do we actually defeat it?”
“Hmm... I guess the real key is to figure out why it’s able to move again — what the source of its life-force is.” nesis murmured. “Everything happening here must have an origin. Could this all be part of the Demon King’s sche?”
“Also... was it my smashing that painting that triggered it, or was it already active — and my attack just marked as an enemy?”
“No, we can’t keep dragging this out against sothing that might be an undead. We need to figure out its behavior pattern fast—before it drags us to death.”
With that thought, nesis dashed out from behind cover.
Vieya blinked. What is that shorty planning to do now?
At the sa mont, the armor locked its head in her direction — the black void within its helt turning squarely toward nesis.
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