The throne hall was already drenched in blood.
—"There's no retreat, Kano!"—shouted Elgot, dodging a spear that nearly pierced his shoulder.—"We have to wipe them all out!"
Kano tightened his grip on the sword.
—"Fine. Then we play without mercy."
In a blur of motion, his body vanished from sight as he hurled himself into the heart of the battle.
The fight turned into a true massacre.
Kano was gone.
One of the lizardmen didn't even have time to realize what had happened before a razor-sharp line of ice cleaved through his body. He froze in place, his blood crystallizing into frost in an instant, and then his form shattered into icy shards.
Kano moved with a speed no mortal could ever match. His figure appeared here, then there—behind an enemy, before him, at his side—like death itself, granting only a heartbeat to grasp the certainty of the end.
Every sweep of his blade left behind a trail of frost, ice swallowing the lizardmen whole. They didn't even manage a scream before their bodies shattered into pieces.
—"That's… that's impossible!"—one of the lizardmen tried to retreat, but his head was already flying aside, severed by a clean strike.
Elgot Bellatras stood at the center of the battlefield, his hand raised.
Lightning wrapped around his body. He wasn't simply casting magic—he was becoming a living storm. His eyes burned with electric light, his hair rose on end, and the air itself quivered with deadly tension.
—"You talk too much, Kano,"—he said.—"Let's speed this up!"
He stepped forward, and a torrent of lightning ripped through the lizardmen's front lines.
Magic poured from him like a furious hurricane. Bolts struck every enemy within reach, searing their armor, tearing through flesh, and leaving only blackened corpses.
—"Kano, left flank!"
—"Got it!"
Kano vanished from his spot and reappeared in the thick of the enemy.
His sword moved so fast the eye couldn't follow. One strike—two lizardmen froze into statues of ice. Another—and three warriors with wide, panicked eyes collapsed to their knees, their helmets split in half.
—"They don't stand a chance!"—shouted one of the dwarves, watching as Kano and Elgot fought in unison.
—"This isn't even a fight! It's an extermination!"—another rasped.
Rudgard grinned, watching the lizardmen falter.
—"This is what legends look like."
Half the enemy force already lay on the floor—frozen or burned.
Kano stood among the bodies, his sword still radiating a cold mist. His breath was steady. He wasn't even tired.
Elgot descended from the air, his eyes still flickering with traces of electric light.
—"Think they've figured out they don't stand a chance?"
—"I think now… they're truly afraid."
Indeed, the remnants of the lizardman army no longer dared to attack. They didn't even move, afraid to take a single step forward.
And then their leader finally spoke.
His voice echoed through the hall.
—"You fools… you think you've won?"
He laughed.
—"This isn't over yet."
He raised his hand and gave a thunderous command:
—"Bring the beast!"
A dead silence fell.
Then came the deafening clatter of chains.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the dark passage. From behind the massive columns of the throne hall emerged a creature whose mere presence froze even the bravest warriors in horror.
It wasn't just a monster—it was the spawn of pure chaos. Its colossal, muscular body seemed carved from stone, with muscles flexing beneath skin the color of molten ember. Jagged bony protrusions jutted from its back, rising like menacing spikes.
Its chest was covered in plates of natural armor, shimmering in the hall's light like molten gold. They gave it the look of a being forged not only for battle… but to rule over everything that dared cross its path.
The beast's head was nothing less than a nightmare made flesh—an incarnation of demonic horror. Its face was that of a predator, with an elongated jaw lined with rows of dagger-like fangs. Massive black horns curved backward, and between them burned a brilliant magic crystal, radiating a dark, suffocating aura.
Its arms were long and powerful, ending not in hands, but in massive claws, each one capable of tearing through steel armor.
Its legs were tipped with thick talons that cracked the stone floor with every step.
But the most terrifying of all was its tail—long, bristling with vicious spikes, swaying like it had a will of its own. It lashed the air, smashing anything in its reach as if impatient for the kill.
The beast's eyes blazed like two burning abysses, seething with hatred and unrestrained fury.
Its breathing rumbled like a volcano about to erupt. When it opened its jaws, thick black smoke poured out, heavy with demon mana.
And then the lizardman leader spoke:
—"He's very hungry. Which means… you'll die quickly."
The creature roared, and the sound seemed to shake the entire throne hall to its foundations.
Kano felt his heartbeat quicken.
—"Well then,"—he said, tightening his grip on his sword.—"This should be interesting."
Kano and Elgot locked eyes in unison.
—"Ready?"—Elgot asked, lightning already beginning to crawl across his body once more.
—"More than ever."
The beast roared again, and the battle was reborn.
Kano vanished, his body dissolving into the air.
His sword, brimming with frost, slid across the demon's hide, leaving behind a trail of ice. The flesh froze on contact—but in that same instant, the beast jerked to the side, and Kano found himself narrowly avoiding the sweep of a colossal claw.
He leapt back.
His heart slammed against his ribs.
This was the first time.
The first time anyone had ever been fast enough to see his movements.
Ever since he'd found the boots, Kano had always been too fast for his enemies. His strikes were invisible, even to seasoned warriors. No one could react. But now…
This thing saw him.
The beast tilted its head, its eyes glowing with a mocking gleam. It didn't just sense Kano's strikes—it was trying to match them, to catch him, to stop him.
Kano swallowed against the dryness in his throat.
One mistake… and this thing would kill him.
A cold grip clutched at his heart.
Fear.
Not the fear of a weaker fighter facing a stronger foe. No. This was pure, primal terror.
The beast lunged again, its paw slicing the air.
Kano managed to evade, but the strike was so powerful the gust of wind it created burned across his skin, making his body flinch.
—"This… isn't a normal demon,"—he barely managed to say.
—"Of course not!"—Elgot shouted, summoning another surge of lightning.—"That's a killing machine, Kano!"
Kano drew a deep breath.
"I can't let it intimidate me."
He tightened his grip on the sword.
—"If it can see me… then I just have to be even faster."
The beast's tail speared through the air like a javelin.
Kano realized this one would be nearly impossible to avoid. He barely slipped past it, flipping backward in a sharp arc.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he was gone again.
In a blink, he was behind the beast. His sword plunged into its back, frost spreading rapidly across the monster's body.
The beast shuddered… but did not fall.
It opened its jaws—
And Kano nearly froze from the sudden, nerve-splitting shock.
This monster… was smiling.
—"What the—"—he didn't finish before the beast lunged again, trying to grab him.
He slipped away, but the fear wouldn't leave his mind.
This thing can kill me.
His shoulders tensed. Cold sweat slid down his spine.
Somewhere nearby, Elgot's voice cut through the chaos.
—"You don't look so good, kid."
—"Go to hell,"—Kano muttered, trying to hold himself together.
He drew another steady breath.
—"We'll take it together,"—he said, finally finding firmness in his voice.
—"Now that's more like it!"—Elgot shouted.
The mage raised his hands, and hundreds of electric arcs swirled around him.
They could not—would not—let the beast gain the upper hand.