The sun had barely begun to filter through the clouds when the caravan advanced along the road toward the capital of the Empire.
Dry earth rose beneath the wheels of the wagons and the horses' hooves, enveloping the march in a cloud of dust.
It seemed like another day of travel.
But something was wrong.
Lusian felt it before anyone else.
The air was heavy. Corrupted mana saturated the surroundings to the point that he could feel a faint tingling across his skin. The wind carried a metallic smell, similar to that of old blood.
The four heroes rode at the front of the caravan, setting the pace and watching the perimeter alongside the soldiers.
Lusian tightened his grip on Dainslein.
The shadow around his body moved on its own, clinging to him like a living creature.
"Something is waiting for us."
He didn't have to wait long to find out what.
The first warning wasn't visual.
It was a roar.
The ground trembled beneath their feet.
The horses whinnied, and several soldiers raised their heads in confusion.
Alejandro looked toward the forest.
"A dragon!"
The creature emerged from between the trees.
Alejandro went pale.
"No... It's not a normal dragon."
The monster burst onto the road like a beast straight out of a nightmare.
Its scales were completely black, as if night itself had solidified over its body. Thick, dark mana poured from its jaws, warping the air around it.
Every beat of its wings sent clouds of dust mixed with corrupted energy swirling into the air.
The caravan came to an abrupt halt.
"Everyone, get into position!" Lusian ordered.
Alejandro didn't even turn his head.
"I don't need you to tell me how to fight."
Leonardo was already advancing with his followers.
"We'll handle the western flank."
Lusian watched them for a second.
He didn't argue.
There was no time.
"Kara."
"Already on it."
The warrior rushed toward the gap they had left behind.
"Idiots..." she muttered under her breath.
A wave of flames tore across the road, followed by a bolt of lightning.
Both attacks struck the dragon head-on.
BOOM!
The explosion shook the trees.
However, when the smoke cleared, the creature was still standing.
It twisted its body and swept away part of the flames with a simple movement of its wings.
"What the hell?!" Leonardo shouted.
The dragon opened its jaws.
A blast of black flame shot toward the caravan.
Emily extended both hands.
"Light Barrier!"
A wall of radiant light appeared in front of the wagons.
The flames slammed into it.
BOOOOM!
The impact shook the barrier and forced Emily several steps backward.
"Don't let anything through!"
The battle erupted.
Fire.
Lightning.
Light.
Screams.
Explosions.
The dragon moved through the chaos as though the battlefield were nothing more than an obstacle in its path.
But then Lusian sensed something worse.
They weren't alone.
His gaze shifted toward the forest.
The branches began to move.
One.
Two.
Dozens.
Then hundreds.
Deformed creatures began emerging from between the trees.
Some had human bodies covered in claws. Others looked like animals that had been twisted into impossible shapes.
All of them had red eyes.
All of them were corrupted.
And all of them were advancing directly toward the caravan.
"Horde to the east!"
The warning came too late.
The monsters reached the perimeter.
The soldiers raised their shields and formed a defensive line.
"Hold formation!"
One creature leaped onto the first soldier.
CLANG!
The soldier's sword pierced its chest.
The monster fell.
But three more immediately took its place.
Another soldier cast a spell.
Two creatures died.
Five more appeared behind them.
The line began to retreat.
"Protect Princess Elizabeth!"
The order was lost amid the screams and explosions.
The four heroes had no time to coordinate.
Each reacted on instinct.
Alejandro charged into the horde.
Kara unleashed another wave of flames.
Leonardo covered the flank with lightning.
Emily reinforced the defense around the wagons.
But the pressure didn't let up.
The monsters kept advancing even after losing arms, legs, or chunks of their bodies.
They felt no fear.
They felt no pain.
They simply obeyed.
Dust, blood, and magic eventually mixed together in the air, forming a thick haze that made it difficult to see.
Then...
Everything stopped.
Lusian raised his head.
The air had changed.
The temperature suddenly dropped.
The earth began to vibrate.
It wasn't an earthquake.
It was a heartbeat.
Deep.
Slow.
Unnatural.
The soldiers stopped fighting without even realizing it.
The monsters stopped as well.
A chill ran down Lusian's spine.
Then he understood.
"They're distracting us..."
A figure appeared between the trees.
At first, it looked human.
Two arms.
Two legs.
A body barely a few meters tall.
But the closer it came, the more impossible it became to ignore its presence.
The air distorted around it.
The light seemed to bend.
Every step made the earth tremble.
And the mana emanating from its body was so dense that it seemed to give the creature a much greater physical presence.
Lusian gritted his teeth.
He recognized it.
Vhar'zhul.
The demon appeared in the middle of the battlefield.
Its eyes, black and red like obsidian glowing from within, calmly swept across the caravan.
The dragon stopped attacking.
The monsters retreated.
They all moved aside.
Not out of fear.
Out of obedience.
Vhar'zhul had arrived.
The silence that followed was almost absolute.
Lusian felt the shadow around his body tense.
Umber appeared beside him.
The enormous dark wolf lowered its head and bared its fangs.
Lusian tightened his grip on Dainslein.
A memory surfaced in his mind.
An arena.
A boss.
Thousands of attempts.
Thousands of deaths.
"I fought him a thousand times in a fake world..."
His fingers tightened around the hilt.
"But there are no resets here."
Vhar'zhul took another step.
"One mistake, and everything ends."
The demon's presence seemed to compress the world itself.
Although its body stood less than two meters tall, the density of the demonic mana surrounding it made it seem like a gigantic creature.
Every pulse of its magical core distorted the air.
It wasn't simply an enemy.
It was an anomaly walking through the world.
Vhar'zhul looked toward the caravan.
"Get out of my way, worms."
His eyes swept over the soldiers.
The heroes.
The wagons.
Until they stopped on one specific point.
Lusian understood.
It was looking for Elizabeth.
It wanted a vessel.
It wanted the future Demon Queen.
Lusian stepped forward.
"Not while I'm still breathing."
Umber growled.
Since Sophia's death, he had never left Lusian's side.
Not even when Lusian ordered him to.
The demon raised one arm.
Effortlessly.
Without even changing its expression.
And struck.
A mass of dark energy shot forward like a shockwave.
The attack tore across the battlefield.
The ground exploded.
Trees were ripped from the earth.
Soldiers were sent flying.
Lusian twisted at the last possible moment.
The shockwave passed inches from him.
BOOOOM!
The ground behind him cracked open.
Lusian stared at the crater.
His mind raced.
"That attack..."
He had seen it.
Many times.
"Frontal Pressure Strike."
Vhar'zhul advanced.
Lusian narrowed his eyes.
"Then comes..."
"Now!"
Umber disappeared.
The wolf came in from the side and slashed directly at the demon's torso.
BOOM!
The attack connected.
But Vhar'zhul didn't even move.
Its mana shifted around its body.
Not like a barrier.
Like flesh.
Umber's claws sank into the darkness and became trapped.
"Umber!"
The wolf roared and pulled backward.
Lusian was already moving.
He came in from the opposite side.
Dainslein sliced through the air.
The target was the arm.
The same spot he had attacked hundreds of times in the game.
The sword struck.
But Vhar'zhul's arm warped.
Darkness hardened around the blade.
CLANG!
Dainslein vibrated violently.
Lusian was forced backward.
"Tch..."
He frowned.
"No..."
Vhar'zhul slowly turned its head.
"The pattern changed."
The demon had evolved.
Lusian didn't have time to think any further.
He extended his free hand.
"Darkness."
Dozens of black spikes appeared in the air.
Then hundreds.
All of them pointed toward the demon.
"Fire!"
The spikes shot forward.
A black rain covered the battlefield.
Vhar'zhul spread its arms.
Its mana concentrated around its body, forming a dark ring.
The spikes collided with it.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Umber took advantage of the opening.
He lunged forward.
His body slammed into the barrier.
For a moment, he was trapped.
But he didn't retreat.
His claws began tearing through the surface of the mana.
One crack.
Then another.
Lusian saw it.
"Now!"
He moved in.
Not with force.
With precision.
Dainslein pierced one of the cracks.
The blade reached Vhar'zhul's side.
SLASH!
A line appeared across the defense.
The demon twisted its torso slightly.
Its mana reacted.
The wound closed before the sword could cut any deeper.
But the crack remained.
Vhar'zhul frowned.
"They understand the rhythm..."
Umber attacked from the other side.
The demon turned.
Lusian took advantage of the movement.
"Second point."
He slipped beneath its guard.
Dainslein struck the abdomen.
CRACK!
The defense gave way again.
Another crack.
But Vhar'zhul raised one hand.
The air exploded.
BOOOOM!
Umber was sent flying several meters.
Lusian drove Dainslein into the ground to keep himself from being dragged away.
He barely managed to stay on his feet.
The demon began walking toward him.
Step.
Another.
Without hurry.
"So this is what you really are," Vhar'zhul said. "An interesting human."
Lusian spat blood.
He didn't answer.
He looked at the demon.
Then at Umber.
Then at Dainslein.
The battle wasn't following the game's pattern.
But some things were.
Vhar'zhul's defense reacted to threats.
That meant it could be forced to respond.
He didn't need to hit harder.
He needed to force it to defend against too many points at once.
Lusian took a deep breath.
The darkness around Dainslein began to concentrate.
"Umber."
The wolf raised its head.
"Attack."
Umber lunged.
This time, he wasn't trying to wound it.
He struck from the left.
Then from above.
Then from the right.
Each movement forced Vhar'zhul to readjust its defense.
The demon blocked one.
Then another.
Then another.
Its mana flow began to change.
Exactly as Lusian expected.
"There."
A tiny disturbance.
A fraction of a second.
An opening.
Lusian disappeared.
He charged straight in.
Dainslein descended.
SLASH!
The slash cut through the defense.
Vhar'zhul tensed.
For the first time, its expression changed.
Umber appeared behind it.
BOOM!
The attack slammed into its back.
The demon's body lurched forward.
Its mana structure lost stability.
And then Lusian saw it.
The core.
Pulsing within the darkness.
Exposed.
Unstable.
Alive.
"I found it."
Vhar'zhul raised its head.
Its eyes widened.
"You..."
The demon released its full power.
An explosion of demonic mana erupted in every direction.
BOOOOOOM!
The ground split open.
Trees were ripped from their roots.
Rocks were hurled through the air.
The air vibrated so violently that it felt as though the entire world were about to break apart.
Umber threw himself in front of Lusian.
The impact slammed into his body.
The wolf was dragged several meters, but managed to stay on his feet.
Lusian saw the opening.
He didn't hesitate.
He ran.
Darkness roared around him.
Each step brought him closer to the core.
Five meters.
Three.
One.
Vhar'zhul tried to close its defense.
Too late.
Lusian pierced the final layer of mana.
Dainslein sank into the demon's chest.
Silence.
Vhar'zhul stood completely still.
It looked down.
The sword had pierced straight through its body.
Its eyes locked onto Lusian.
For the first time, something resembling disbelief appeared in them.
"A... human..."
Lusian gritted his teeth.
"No."
He twisted the sword.
"Someone who learned how to kill you."
The core cracked.
A fissure appeared within it.
Then another.
And another.
Until the entire core collapsed in on itself.
Vhar'zhul opened its mouth.
But no sound came out.
Its body began to disintegrate.
The demonic mana compressed for a brief moment...
And vanished.
There was no explosion.
No final transformation.
Only silence.
The corrupted dragon roared in the distance.
Then its voice began to fade as well.
Lusian slowly pulled Dainslein free and planted it into the ground to support himself.
He was breathing heavily.
Umber walked toward him.
Wounded.
Covered in dust.
But alive.
Lusian placed a hand on his head.
"Good job."
The enormous wolf answered with a low growl.
The battle was over.
Elizabeth was the first to reach him.
She knelt in front of Lusian and took his face between her hands.
There was blood on his lips.
Gently, she wiped it away with her fingers.
"You're... insane."
Her voice trembled.
She didn't know whether she was more angry or relieved.
"You can't keep putting yourself at risk like this."
"I'm fine."
Lusian answered with absolute calm.
"More than fine."
"That's not what being fine looks like!"
Emily came running over.
"Lusian!"
She grabbed him by the shoulders, examining him from head to toe.
"Damn it! You can't do something like that again!"
Lusian sighed.
"I'm alive."
"By a miracle!"
A few steps away, Alejandro and Leonardo finally arrived.
Both were covered in dust and blood.
Alejandro was the first to speak.
"Where the hell were you?!"
Lusian raised his gaze.
"Fighting."
"While we were charging at the dragon, you disappeared!"
Leonardo remained silent for several seconds.
Electricity still danced around his fingers.
Then he spoke quietly.
"I don't like the way you handle things."
Lusian looked at him.
"Every time you decide to protect everyone in your own way," Leonardo continued, "someone ends up paying the price."
It wasn't a threat.
But it wasn't simply criticism either.
The tension between them was obvious.
Kara appeared behind them.
There was blood on her clothes, and she was breathing heavily.
"Enough!"
Alejandro and Leonardo turned toward her.
Kara pointed toward the place where Vhar'zhul had fallen.
"Didn't you see what he was fighting?"
Her voice grew firmer.
"They weren't ordinary monsters."
She looked at Lusian.
"It was a demon."
Then she turned her gaze toward the others.
"One none of us could have fought alone."
Alejandro fell silent.
"Lusian wasn't abandoning the caravan," Kara continued. "He was facing the enemy that could have destroyed it."
Elizabeth stood.
Her expression was calm.
But her eyes never left Lusian.
"She's right."
Everyone looked at her.
"Lusian doesn't need our approval."
Elizabeth paused briefly.
"He just needed to do it."
Emily moved closer to Lusian again.
Elizabeth watched the gesture.
Her expression barely changed.
But her fingers slowly curled into fists.
Emily was too close.
Much closer than she liked.
A small spark of jealousy appeared in her eyes.
The princess took a deep breath and managed to suppress it.
She wouldn't say anything.
Not here.
Not after watching him face a demon alone to protect her.
She simply watched him.
With concern.
With admiration.
And with an emotion that became harder to hide with each passing day.