“Will that fake sky disappear too?”

Rael’s face instinctively contorted as she remembered the monster’s eye trying to break through the sky that time.

“Hoho, don’t worry. Tonight’s sky will have nothing but the red moon. Anything that tries to block the moonlight will be thoroughly eliminated.”

“By whom…”

Rael was about to ask who would do the killing but decided to close her mouth. The corners of Esh’s lips had risen in an eerie smile.

“By everyone.”

My, these demons certainly know how to work together.

“You should lock your door tightly. Don’t come outside at night under any circumstances.”

“Are you leaving?”

“Talking about it has made me excited. I need to make some preparations.”

“Wait a moment!”

Rael grabbed Esh as she was about to leave the room.

“What about Kali?”

The thought of being left alone in a room with a magical beast that might transform didn’t sit well with her. What if she ended up like the jerky Kali was enjoying?

“Ah! Don’t worry about this one. She can’t harm you without Lord Rubellan’s orders anyway.”

Though meant to be reassuring, Rael didn’t feel particularly comforted. She continued to eye Kali with suspicion, though she felt a bit sorry for the creature.

“See this collar?”

Esh pointed to the leash around Kali’s neck. What Rael had thought was merely a decorative red collar apparently served another purpose.

“You could have told me that much earlier.”

After hearing the explanation, Rael suddenly felt a surge of anger. She had endured numerous nightmares about having her neck torn apart by this dog-or-wolf creature, and only now was she being told not to worry!

“Ah, I didn’t mention it before, did I?”

Esh slapped her palm with her fist and smiled brightly. Seeing that innocent expression, the corners of Rael’s mouth twitched upward involuntarily.

If Esh had been human, Rael would have smacked her on the back.

* * *

Rael, who had dozed off in the late afternoon, only woke when darkness had fallen.

“I fell asleep.”

She had been so bored that she’d drifted off, but the timing of her awakening was rather unfortunate—it would have been better to sleep until morning.

Still drowsy, Rael scanned the room. It was quiet as always. Then her gaze shifted to the window, where unlike usual, red moonlight was pouring in.

‘The red moon.’

A strange light gleamed in Rael’s eyes.

“Kali?”

First, she checked on Kali’s condition. The beast was sitting by the window, basking in the moonlight with her tongue out, panting.

“…”

She verified that the collar was still securely around Kali’s neck. Fortunately, Kali was merely enjoying the moonlight, showing no signs of becoming ferocious or excited as Rael had feared. She actually looked quite content.

Rael slowly rose from the bed and approached Kali, curious about what was outside. Her flowing nightgown dragged along the floor with each step.

The cascading red light was fascinating. In the human realm, even when a red moon appeared, it never cast such an intense crimson glow. Rael’s gaze slowly turned toward the window.

“Wow.”

This red moon was nothing like what she knew. The sky was completely red, as though drenched in paint. The moon filled the entire sky—bright and red, making it hard to believe it was nighttime.

“It’s like another world.”

She could truly feel that this was not the human realm.

As Esh had said, there was nothing in the sky except the red moon. However, animal howls mixed with the sound of the wind came through the window. Something was happening in the forest.

Magical beasts become excited and run wild, she had heard.

Rael stared endlessly at the sky, seemingly entranced by the moonlight. The moon’s beauty was mesmerizing. She felt strangely elated.

“What is this?”

Was the moonlight affecting her too, as Esh had suggested? Experiencing this unfamiliar sensation, Rael clenched and unclenched her fist.

She felt an inexplicable urge. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what kind of impulse it was, but she wanted to do something—dance without reason, sing, or perhaps smash something to pieces.

“So this is how it feels.”

Is this how one becomes impulsive under the moon’s influence? Suddenly, she began to understand why Juletan had gone berserk on a night when the red moon rose years ago. If she, with her meager magical power, could feel such impulses, what must demons be experiencing?

“I feel intoxicated.”

The floating sensation, like drifting above clouds, had her staring outside just like Kali. She never imagined it would be so addictive.

BANG!

Just then, a loud noise came from outside. Her drowsy mind snapped to attention.

“What was that?”

Something was happening inside the castle. Her heart began to pound rapidly. Normally, Rael would have been startled or tense, but tonight was different. The courage welling up inside her was more intense than ever before.

“Kali, shall we go see?”

One could say she wasn’t in her right mind.

“Grrrr…!”

Even Kali wagged her tail excitedly. She should have restrained Rael, but instead seemed just as eager. Without further deliberation, Rael headed for the door with light steps.

“Let’s hurry.”

She stepped into the corridor with Kali, feeling cheerful, excited like they were going on a picnic.

Rael’s room was on the second floor. As they descended the stairs to the first floor, the dull sounds grew louder. Along with the noise of things breaking and shattering, screams could also be heard. These were clearly sounds one should avoid, yet Rael’s steps only quickened.

Descending the central staircase with its gentle curve led to the castle’s first-floor hall. There should have been a sturdy iron door that always looked robust… but now it was gone.

“Wow…”

Rael covered her mouth as an exclamation escaped her lips. The first floor was almost completely devastated. There was no need to go all the way down the stairs. Halfway down, she could see that the area below was too chaotic to proceed further. Unless a typhoon had torn through the castle, there must have been a major battle, as debris from the castle was scattered everywhere.

Carefully avoiding obstacles, Rael cautiously descended the stairs. Something tremendous was happening outside the castle gates. Even now, walls were continuing to crumble.

When she finally reached a point where she could see outside the door, she was utterly shocked.

‘What is that?’

There were huge magical beasts—not just one, but two. A large lizard-like beast with blue scales was struggling beneath the paws of another beast that resembled a bear. They appeared to have been fighting.

But she couldn’t understand why they would fight here of all places.

[Now that the red moon has risen, these worthless creatures are going berserk.]

Rael was startled by a familiar voice, or rather a resonance closer to a voice, as she wondered about their identities. It was Joseph’s voice.

She recognized Joseph immediately because, unlike other beings, he communicated in a unique way. His voice resonated without him speaking through his mouth. The voice she heard now was deeper than usual, but had the same distinctive vibration.

‘That’s impossible.’

Rael’s mouth gaped in shock.

‘That’s the Joseph I know?’

Several times larger than an ordinary bear, with coarse fur and sharp claws that proudly displayed their menace even from a distance, dripping with blood. When he pressed down forcefully with his large paw on the beast beneath him, the blue-scaled creature let out a terrible scream.

Rael was overwhelmed with shock. To think that the cute hamster-like Joseph’s true form was this fearsome monster.

[Trash who don’t know their place, how dare they come here.]

His voice, mixed with the sound of grinding teeth, sent chills down her spine.

Meanwhile, Joseph began to tear at the beast pinned beneath his paws. Flesh fell away and blood splattered. The brown fur became covered in red blood. It was a shocking, nauseating sight.

The crunch of tearing flesh made Rael feel as though her own blood was draining away. The cute Joseph was gone. Only a barbaric creature brutally slaughtering its enemy remained.

Rael stepped back. Only after witnessing this sight that she shouldn’t have seen did her intoxicated, dreamy mind begin to properly return.

Joseph was, after all, a demon and a monster. She had always known this fact. Joseph, Esh… all the beings in the castle with whom she had laughed and talked were merely wearing human shells, with monsters inside.

‘But…’

Perhaps humans truly need to see with their own eyes before they can accept reality. Her mouth tasted bitter. This was a sight she would have been better off not seeing. Her gaze remained fixed on Joseph’s back.

“…”

Suddenly, Rael turned to look at Kali.

Would this creature eventually transform like Joseph too? Kali, who had felt close to her until they were in the room together, now seemed unsettling. This docile appearance must not be all there is to her.

Finally, with a bitter feeling, she turned around.

“Gasp!”

Rael inhaled sharply in surprise at what she saw behind her.

A huge snake with red scales was slithering down the corridor, flicking its forked tongue. It was too large to simply call a snake. Nearly filling the high-ceilinged corridor, Rael felt like a mouse before a python.

Frozen in place, Rael’s eyes locked with the snake’s red ones. Upon eye contact, the snake’s body writhed as it approached even faster.

She wished she had just stayed in her room without moving. She thought that, as always, her curiosity was ruining her life.

The sound of scales scraping against the ground pierced her ears, seemingly right beside them, and the snake came right up to Rael’s face. The monster’s eyes gleamed. Soon, its mouth, filled with huge venomous fangs, opened wide.

“Ahhh!”