The ice that had bound the beast's body began to crack. At first, tiny fractures, like a spider's web, spread across its frozen armor — and then dark tongues of flame burst through them. A crimson light flickered deep within the monster. Darkness came alive.
The demonic beast wasn't just struggling to break free — it was changing. Kano felt something ancient and perilous awakening within it. This creature… it was sacrificing itself to become stronger.
Flames surged through the cracks, devouring the monster's body. The stone floor around it began to melt. The beast suddenly arched, and from its throat erupted a furious roar — not merely a sound, but a wave of dark power that made even the air shudder.
Its body began to swell. Muscles tore through the skin, replacing it with a denser, darker layer — obsidian-like armor that shimmered with fire. Wings, once little more than bony stumps, were now sheathed in a hellish coating that burned like molten rock. Its horns grew heavier, branching like a massive crown of darkness. The eyes… they no longer glowed with ordinary demon-mana — they had become black voids radiating infinite hatred.
The beast's chest split open, wide fissures revealing molten magma flowing inside its torso. The claws on its hands lengthened, as if hell's own demons had sharpened these blades for the sole purpose of annihilation. Its tail thickened, covered in rows of massive black spikes.
This was no longer merely a demonic beast. It was chaos made flesh.
Kano instinctively took a step back. His heart was pounding. He had never seen anything like this.
And then— An explosion.
Darkness and fire erupted around the beast, sweeping through the hall. Columns split and collapsed like houses of cards. The remaining lizardmen burned instantly in the flames, their bodies crumbling to ash.
The chieftain, trapped beneath the rubble, spat blood as he stared at the sight. —"The demons… deceived us…" His eyes dimmed.
And in that moment, it became clear: Only two beings remained here now. Kano and the Berserk.
The battle that would decide the fate of this place was only beginning.
Kano lunged forward. He could wait no longer. His heart pounded in his chest as if trying to tear free. His mind screamed that it was impossible, that his strikes would achieve nothing. But his body was already moving.
He couldn't allow himself to stop. The moment his feet touched the ground, he vanished in a blur — and in the next instant, his sword, wreathed in magic, struck at the demon's flank.
A dull, metallic clang. Kano felt his hand tremble from the impact. A sharp pain shot through his joints. Instead of cutting into flesh, his blade merely slid along the beast's armored hide.
—"What?.."
He didn't have time to finish the thought before his body instinctively leapt back. In the very next heartbeat, the monster's claws ripped through the air where he had been standing just moments before.
Kano began to move faster. Speed — his only advantage. He struck from the left, the right, from above, unleashing streams of fire and frost, desperate to find a weak point. But… The beast didn't even react. Every strike left nothing behind. It… felt no pain.
A fracture opened inside him. Kano froze. His legs sensed the tremor in the ground from the monster's next strike. Fear.
This enemy was unlike any he had ever faced before. He was used to watching enemies die. He knew every blow carried death. But now he fought as if it was all pointless.
His body began to tense, his movements slowing. His mind tore between two voices. One screamed: —"RUN! You can't win! This is IMPOSSIBLE!" The other answered: —"You can't run. You chose this path yourself."
Kano panted heavily, gripping his sword. He was the one who closed these gates. He was the one who decided to stay. He was the one who doomed himself to die.
That thought… Was too terrifying. His body trembled. "I don't want to die…"
That thought frightened Kano more than anything. He felt his lungs tighten, his legs grow heavier, the massive demon looming not as an enemy anymore, but as certain death. It wasn't losing that he feared. It was that none of this mattered. "I did all of this… and it means nothing. I'll just die."
The demon swung again. Kano barely dodged, flames licking his shoulder, slamming into a chunk of stone, crying out in pain. He lost his rhythm. His movements grew sluggish. His body refused to obey. His mana was almost gone.
And the demon saw it. The monster stopped, tilting its head, as if studying the boy. Kano realized this was the end. He was standing before something far beyond his power. Something that could not be beaten by skill or speed alone. A force that destroyed everything around it.
Kano lifted his head. His voice broke into a scream: —"GODDESS! HELP ME!" His voice rang out as if it wasn't only aimed at the gods, but at the very universe itself. —"SOMEONE! ANYONE! GIVE ME STRENGTH!"
He didn't want to die. Not now. Not here.
There was no answer.
Only silence. Kano's mana was nearly gone. His strikes no longer had strength. His speed was fading. And in that moment, the demon struck. The tail came crashing down on Kano. Everything was a blur. He didn't even have time to understand what had happened. His body was sent flying. He slammed into a wall with such force that he punched straight through it.
Darkness. Kano felt something break inside him. He lay among the rubble. He could barely feel his own body. "Is this the end?" His vision began to dim. But before consciousness left him, he felt something else. Something dark. Something powerful. Something that didn't belong to him. And he heard a whisper — no, not even a whisper, just words spoken far too softly. "You cannot die."
Kano slowly raised his head. His eyes were empty. His body moved as if guided by someone else's will. And he stepped forward. Despite the pain. Despite the fear. The demonic beast suddenly froze. It felt the change. Kano was no longer the same as he had been a second ago. But what was this? And why now… was the demon afraid of him?
Kano kept walking forward. His body should have collapsed, but it didn't. His legs should have buckled, but they didn't stop. His hand, barely holding the sword, suddenly stopped trembling. He no longer felt pain. The darkness filling his mind was not emptiness. It was something else. Something that until this moment had been buried deep inside him.
—"I cannot die."
His voice no longer trembled. His fear was gone. His eyes… they were empty. The beast halted. Its body was still burning, but it didn't attack. Its eyes were no longer filled with hatred. For the first time in the entire battle, there was hesitation in its gaze. The demon sensed something else — something its demonic instinct couldn't explain.
Kano was no longer just a boy desperately trying to survive. Now he looked as if… he could never die. The monster roared, fear shifting into rage. It no longer wanted to simply destroy Kano. It had to destroy him. Its paw, wider than a man's body, sliced through the air. It struck with the force to crush even mountains. But this time…
Kano didn't dodge. He simply raised his hand. His fingers closed around the demon's wrist. And in that instant, there was an explosion. The demon gasped. Its body was hurled backward. Kano stood his ground. His fingers clenched around the beast's arm for a moment longer… and then he let go. A massive crack split upward along the creature's forearm. Its skin, until now unbreakable, quivered. It felt pain. For the first time.
Its eyes widened. It couldn't understand what had just happened. How?! How could this weak creature now touch him… and hurt him?!
He took another step. His face remained expressionless. He no longer felt fear. He felt nothing. The demon roared again, hurling itself forward with its entire mass. Kano extended his hand. His palm brushed the air. An explosion. The demon was suddenly hurled back, as if struck by an invisible wall. Its massive body slammed into the shattered remains of the columns. Its claws trembled. Its body was no longer invincible. Kano didn't say a word. He took another step forward. His eyes remained empty. And the demon finally understood. Now it was the prey. And it was afraid. The demon stood, breathing heavily. Its scorched armor cracked, thick dark blood seeping from the fissures in its hide, boiling like molten metal. Its lungs—if this thing even had lungs—spat out hot, poisonous smoke. It couldn't defeat Kano. It knew that. But if it couldn't win… then it would take him along. Suddenly its eyes burned even brighter. The mana still left in its body began to ignite from within, bursting outward. Kano stopped. Something was wrong. The beast spread its limbs, lowering its head to the ground. Its claws sank into the stone floor of the throne hall. And in that moment… the entire hall trembled. The beast began to vibrate, as though something inside it was about to explode. Its body glowed with searing light. A dark aura rose above it, twisting into a deadly sphere. Kano suddenly understood. —"You're going to…" His heart pounded. This monster wasn't just dying. It intended to destroy everything around it. He vanished into motion, his body flashing forward like lightning. He had to stop it. He had to put an end to this. His sword gleamed as he struck straight at the demon's chest. But the beast didn't even defend itself. It no longer fought Kano. Its body was only gathering power for the blast. Kano struck again. And again. But it was already too late. A colossal surge of dark energy erupted outward. The mountain shuddered. Every column of the throne hall collapsed in seconds. The floor beneath Kano's feet began to crack. The throne hall, which had stood for centuries, couldn't withstand the explosion. The ground split open, and the entire hall began to sink into the abyss. Kano tried to leap back. But the bodies of dead lizardmen, the broken chunks of stone columns, and the crumbling walls — all fell with him. His fingers caught at a fragment, but it tore free from the rock, and Kano, along with the ruins of the throne hall, plummeted downward. He saw the exploded demon falling into the darkness as well. Its body still burned, but there was no life in it. But it didn't matter. Kano too was falling into that abyss. A depth without end. A darkness that devoured everything.