Liese walked and walked again, following the direction where she felt the dark aura.

‘Kidnapping!’

With so many knights and mages guarding. How could they fail to protect just one person, Her Majesty the Empress?

Is the power of black magic that strong?

Lumiere oversees this world, watching over everything.

Why didn’t He prevent those things?

Liese’s mind was incredibly complicated as she relentlessly moved her feet back and forth.

‘I don’t know how much my insignificant holy power will help…….’

But I must go.

Wasn’t it Ariel who risked her life to save mine?

That moment of crisis is still vivid in Liese’s memory.

“Seeing the faint aura of evil getting stronger, it seems I’m heading in the right direction.”

When she entered deep into the Helmir forest, a large clearing appeared where there were no trees or bushes.

And there stood a castle on that land.

A strong evil aura was emanating from that castle.

“There. The dark mages must be there.”

But then, Liese’s eyes widened as she stood in the bushes and stared at the castle for a long time.

‘Smoke?’

Black smoke billowed from the castle.

Why is there smoke?

The smell of something burning tickled her nose.

‘I smells like something’s burning, could there be a fire?’

No way! That couldn’t be it.

Liese tried to deny the anxiety pressing on her heart.

But because it wasn’t visible to the eye, she couldn’t relieve her anxiety.

Liese bit her soft lips with her white teeth.

‘Something must have happened. I need to hurry.’

Liese started to run towards the castle’s main gate.

***

The castle’s front yard was quickly engulfed in smoke created by burning firewood.

Faced with Diaton’s evil face, Leopold felt nauseous.

Leopold and Diaton confronted each other to save Ariel.

Swoosh, bang-!

The power of the sword emitting red mana was indeed tremendous. Leopold was born with excellent mana affinity. Mana was constantly generated from his mana core, and he precisely controlled the overflowing mana.

But Diaton’s magic was not as easy as expected.

The light emitted from Leopold’s sword collided with Diaton’s darkness, causing an explosion.

“How dare you do such a thing against the Atlan Empire and think you’ll be safe!”

“What have you done for your Empress for her to end up like this, Leopold Diaz? If she was so precious, you should have protected her well.”

Diaton’s taunting struck Leopold’s heart like a dagger.

He was right.

But there was no reason to hear such words from the person who caused this situation.

“Shut up.”

Leopold looked at him with cold eyes, void of any mercy. Then, he gathered strength in his arm and swung his sword towards Diaton.

A red sword energy separated from the sword and flew through the air towards Diaton.

But at that moment, Diaton emitted burning flames from his hand.

It exploded Leopold’s sword energy in mid-air following his gesture.

‘I didn’t think he was this strong.’

Diaton extended his arm and sent flames towards Leopold. Leopold quickly swung his sword to split the flames.

Originally, the black magic of dark mages was something that knights of the imperial guards or a knight order could sufficiently counter.

Wondering curiously as he escaped from the flames, Leopold aimed his sword at Diaton, stretching his arm to target his heart.

At that moment, Diaton also created a black sword with magic and held it in his hand.

Leopold leaped forward from the ground.

Bang-!

When Leopold’s sword and Diaton’s magic sword collided, a lightning-like bright light flashed.

‘To create a solid object with mana.’

As expected.

This exceeded the range of abilities that could be expanded by humans.

An external power must have intervened. Definitely.

Leopold fixed his feet firmly on the ground as he tried to exert more strength in his arm.

“You seem curious about how I’ve become stronger.”

Diaton was being pushed back by Leopold’s strength, but he taunted Leopold without caring.

Showing emotions in a fight leads to mistakes.

However, Leopold looked at Diaton as if he would devour him but did not fall for his provocation.

Ching-!

Leopold deliberately exerted force on his sword to bounce back, retreating. With movements as though he could predict the next move, he spun around and dodged Diaton’s incoming sword.

Leopold leaped, seemingly unaffected by gravity.

His sword, which he held in his hand, emitted mana and created a crimson trajectory.

“It is because you possess a power that humans should not have.”

Diaton struck Leopold’s mana with his sword.

The scattered wings of the Demon King.

Even without gathering them all, Diaton became capable of using magic that could compete with Leopold Diaz.

Diaton burst into mocking laughter as he swung the mana-forged sword, and black magic poured towards Leopold.

To dodge the sword energy, Leopold jumped into the air and then gently landed again.

‘Be arrogant all you want. Your pride will twist your neck.’

Leopold sent a huge amount of mana from his mana core to his sword.

Now it really begins.

Red mana wrapped around the sword like flames. As he swung the sword from below upwards, mana surged like a fountain towards Diaton.

***

Unconcerned by the flames flickering beneath his feet, Hyle dashed towards Ariel with light steps charged with mana.

Hyle’s face, already hardened by the pain of knowing what had happened to Ariel, stiffened even more when he faced her.

Ariel’s face was as pale as that of a dead person.

‘Didn’t she just faint?’

He reached out to Ariel’s face. His fingers touched her cheek, which was tinged with a hint of blue, causing her face to droop even more lifelessly.

She’s cold. There’s no warmth. It’s not the skin of a living person.

How, how could this happen to her?

“Ariel!”

His cry echoed through the sky.

Hyle cupped Ariel’s cheeks with both hands. Ariel’s small face fit snugly in his grasp, but his hands felt an icy chill.

Her face was flawless, beautiful. But all emotion was gone, and only death dominated her features.

‘That’s the face she had when we first met.’

The face of the innocent girl who confidently shouted that she wanted to learn swordsmanship to protect herself came to mind.

I knew that a hunting festival would be held in the Helmir forest, so why hadn’t I come earlier?

I knew that Ariel had been drained of all her mana, yet I thoughtlessly assumed she would manage on her own and neglected her.

“I’m, I’m sorry, Ariel—!”

Hyle bowed his head. The strength gradually drained from his hands that were cradling Ariel’s face, and eventually, his arm dropped limply.

The flames grew larger, threatening even the poles to catch fire.

Leaving her like this might result in Ariel falling into a pit of fire.

Hyle used his sword to cut the tightly tied ropes around Ariel’s feet.

Since hanging by the wrists tied to a pole would strain Ariel’s body, Hyle quickly wrapped his arms around her waist.

He then gripped his sword shorter and cut the ropes tied around her wrists.

Thud.

The hands that were tied above her head fell down.

Holding his disciple, who felt as cold and rigid as if she were dead, he used mana to slowly descend and finally set foot on the ground.

Emperor Leopold Diaz was fighting Diaton, Evan and Duke Noah were battling Bill, and they were also fighting demonic beasts.

Finding a safe place to lay Ariel down amidst the sword energy slicing through the air and other various attacks wasn’t easy.

Hyle laid Ariel down in the area farthest from where the battle was taking place and then knelt beside her.

He placed his hand on Ariel’s neck to check if her heart was beating.

‘Really, her heart isn’t beating.’

His eyes shook violently.

He kept repeating that it couldn’t be, it just couldn’t be, but reality was cruel as always.

He lifted his face towards the sky to hold back the tears streaming down, but the tears wetted his chin and soaked into the dirt ground.

The bright-colored sand darkened as it absorbed the tears.

“Live. Come back alive. When you said you wanted to return to Atlan, I should have stopped you.”

Hyle pounded his chest with his fist.

It’s suffocating. It feels like this situation is strangling me. My chest is so tight it feels like it might burst open.

The strength in his hand grew stronger.

But then,

“Lord Hyle, please help us!”

Evan Clark, Ariel’s brother, urgently requested his help with a desperate voice.