Even seeing Robs’s face gradually breaking apart didn’t satisfy her. She had lived in agony day by day, suffering from guilt because she couldn’t escape from him.

Lea opened her eyes wide and pummeled her fists into Robs until his flesh peeled off.

The one who stopped her hand was Allen.

“That’s enough for now.”

Lea looked at Allen, who had grabbed her wrist. He had knocked Prosten unconscious a while ago and had been waiting for Lea. He had planned to watch until Lea’s anger subsided, but it seemed like it would never end, so he came to stop her.

“You’re scraped.”

Allen frowned while looking at her fingers. The skin was slightly peeled off, probably from hitting so brutally with force. Allen blew a soft “hoo” on it. Lea withdrew her hand in surprise.

Allen looked disappointed at that, but then remembered his purpose and rummaged through Robs’s clothes to take out magical tools and drugs.

The bright yellow syringe was the one he had seen before. It was the drug that returned monsters to their original human form. He immediately injected the drug into the legs of the two monsters.

The monsters howled, then their skin began to melt, gradually revealing what was inside. And from within, a small person emerged, trembling violently, covered in monster blood.

Allen let out a sigh.

The claim about returning them to human form was only half successful at best. Far from restoring them to their original state, it merely returned them to human form.

The person, who had received both mental and physical shock, looked like they would soon breathe their last. It was truly pitiful.

Lea looked down at Robs and kicked him.

“You’ll fall into hell.”

Robs had already fainted and couldn’t hear Lea’s words.

When Robs collapsed, the monsters connected to his mind began to stop moving one by one. They scurried around, forgetting what they had been trying to do.

「Where am I…」

「I was looking for the medicine…」

Those who had recently become monsters regained their human minds intact. But they soon suffered from the horrible reality.

Most couldn’t withstand the shock and lost their minds. Some cried out for the drug, regardless of the brainwashing.

Allen pressed his hot forehead. His head felt feverish. The cries for help, to be turned back, to be killed, and so on were unbearably sorrowful.

“Commander, are you hurt somewhere?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Allen shook his head when Lea asked worriedly. Suddenly, his heart ached. Thinking that Lea had lived hearing such voices filled him with anger.

“Beat that bastard to near death.”

“That was my intention.”

Lea grabbed Robs’s collar again.

* * *

The knights remained vigilant against the monsters that suddenly showed different movements. Seeing the Commander and Vice Commander, they were certain that the leaders had been captured, but they worried the monsters might go berserk. They couldn’t let their guard down.

This was especially true for those from the North. Everyone remembered the incident when monsters had exploded in the Colosseum.

At that moment, a grayish smoke began to flow from the top of the wall, surrounding the entire border. The knights all covered their noses with their sleeves and turned around at the white fog-like substance.

The knights in charge of the rear were jumping up and down with their bows held high. It looked like gestures of joy over victory. In the middle, Ian waved his hand left and right as if in greeting.

Only then did the knights realize that Ian had released magical fog like an antidote. He had made a potion that nullified all magic while the knights were fighting.

As they lowered their swords, the monsters began to lose their form, writhing their bodies. They were gradually regaining human appearance from their horrific monster forms.

The shells melted, and humans emerged from the flesh. The scene was both miserable and spectacular.

“What is all this……”

“People, they’re people!”

The knights couldn’t hide their shock. They ran to the fallen monsters, no, people. Surprisingly, there were some familiar faces.

“Oh, isn’t that Baron Che-something’s son?”

“There’s also a Colosseum researcher……”

Jane felt complex emotions seeing a researcher she had occasionally passed by in the Colosseum. Someone she had wanted to kill if they ever met was now lying in an even more terrible state.

“To think monsters were originally humans……”

“Gasp, were the Northern monsters humans?”

“What are you saying? It’s probably just these ones.”

The knights rubbed their goosebump-covered arms. It was a horrific scene. Could there be more pitiful rebels than these? They even felt sympathy for the enemy.

“Aack, that… what is that?”

Among them were humans with monster legs, humans with monster heads. Their appearance defied definition.

“They’re truly insane.”

These were life forms created by Robs, who had forced monster-humans to mate because the nobles and researchers weren’t enough. They were born solely for experiments and rebellion. Those existing between monsters and humans had already breathed their last.

“I’m sorry……”

A dying voice was heard then. The knights turned their heads toward the sound. A person who had just opened their eyes was sobbing while speaking to them. He was once a Northern noble. He was also someone who had enjoyed watching monsters fight gladiators in the Colosseum and observed monster-human experiments at banquet halls.

The knights felt conflicted.

Someone who had been incredibly cruel to others was now making a belated apology. The people who should receive it were no longer in this world. And though he had belatedly realized his sins with his entire body, his life was fading away.

Jane approached that noble.

“Make that apology up there.”

Jane pointed to the sky above.

“The people who can forgive you are there.”

The person who was once a splendid noble closed his eyes. A few tears fell from those eyes.

“Thank, you……”

His voice faded at the end. Jane frowned. Just now, she was essentially telling him to die, but the noble thanked her with a smile, which seemed strange. Soon she understood. He was grateful that he could die as a human.

Soon his head dropped, and his breathing stopped.

“This feels unsettling.”

The knights each let out a deep sigh. Their mouths tasted bitter.

Then Allen and Lea approached them. Lea grabbed Robs by the collar and dragged him along the ground. Allen also held Prosten’s head.

“Commander, Vice Commander!”

Jane welcomed them but made a grim expression when she saw Prosten. Her long-time enemy was in the Commander’s hands.

Jane recalled the day she was dragged to the Colosseum when she was young. There, she received hellish training and became an unwilling gladiator who had to fight monsters. She still remembered Prosten and his father cheering and whistling at her in the arena.

Their shouts to fight more entertainingly were still vivid. Jane rushed toward him in anger.

“Commander, that bastard……”

「He shouldn’t die yet….」

“I haven’t killed him yet.”

“Thank you.”

Allen threw Prosten to Jane. Jane immediately slapped Prosten’s cheek to wake him up. Prosten opened his eyes with difficulty.

“You, you!”

“Remember me?”

Prosten, pinned down by a mere gladiator, struggled to escape from her grasp. But Jane pressed his head down with her hand, applying pressure.

“I can’t let you die peacefully.”

The knights quietly backed away from Jane. Those who knew how Jane tortured people clicked their tongues and quietly made way for her.

Lea held the magic potion that Robs had been carrying. The black liquid emitted an ominous aura. This was what made people mix with monsters.

“Get up.”

Lea kicked Robs lightly. Robs lifted his eyelids with difficulty. He saw what Lea held in her hand and let out a sneer.

“You, don’t know. Cough. What that is. Someone like you shouldn’t use it carelessly.”

Robs spoke with slurred pronunciation while spitting blood and teeth. Even knowing he was finished, his attitude remained arrogant. Lea thought this was actually fortunate. If he had begged for forgiveness, she would have been more angry.

“Yes, only demons like you would use this.”

Lea stepped on Robs’s face. From under her foot came a snickering sound. He was a disgusting man.

“Want to use it?”

“……”

Robs looked pleased. Lea pressed her foot down harder. It was unclear what he trusted to laugh about when he had already lost. But one thing was clear. Robs would never bow his pride and wanted her to fall into the abyss with him.

And this object could make that happen, Robs coughed and laughed incessantly.

Lea put the drug syringe down on the ground.

She had thought of dozens of ways to kill him. Should she return what he had done to people? Should she turn him into a monster? Make him feel the same pain and regret deeply. She considered these options.

But Lea knew he wasn’t human. Robs was already a monster without humanity even without being turned into one. Torturing such a person would backfire. Yet she didn’t want him to leave this world easily.

“I’ll take away your precious magic.”

“…What?”

Robs uttered in a perplexed voice. Lea took out what she had received from Ian from her pocket.

She had asked Ian for it before joining the battle. That was partly why she arrived a bit late.

“This is a magic nullification drug. It doesn’t just prevent you from using magic. It takes away all the magical formulas, equations, and knowledge in your head. Of course, all the processes and results of the experiments you’ve conducted will also disappear from your memory.”

“What, this! Ugh!”

Robs reached out to snatch the vial from Lea. But Robs without magic was just a powerless ordinary person.

“You’ll only remember that you once had knowledge. You’ll feel incredibly frustrated not being able to recall what it was.”

“No, no!”

Robs resisted fiercely.

“You won’t even be able to reminisce about a single pleasant memory, and you’ll die slowly. Look forward to it. There are many who want to beat you up one by one.”

Lea bent down, grabbed the struggling Robs, and forcibly opened his mouth.

Ian had said that mages value knowledge the most and take pride in the magic they’ve developed. That’s why mages feared the disease of losing memory in old age the most. They could accept death calmly, but having their minds emptied was a catastrophe for them.