The sun had barely begun to filter through the clouds when the caravan advanced along the road toward the Imperial capital. The dry earth rose beneath the wheels of the carts and the hooves of the horses, mixing with the dust of a journey that seemed never-ending.
But something was wrong.
Lusian felt it before anyone else. The air was heavy, saturated with corrupted mana. The wind carried a metallic smell, like old blood.
The four heroes advanced at the front, setting the pace of the march and securing the perimeter alongside the soldiers.
—Something is waiting for us —Lusian murmured, adjusting his grip on Dainslein as his shadow clung to his body, as if it were alive, ready to react.
The first warning was not visual.
It was a roar.
One that made the ground beneath their feet tremble.
—A dragon! —Alejandro shouted—. No… it's not a normal dragon.
The creature emerged from between the trees like an open wound in the forest.
Its scales were black, as if night had solidified over its body. From its throat leaked a dark, dense mana that distorted the air around it. Each wingbeat lifted dust and corrupted energy that burned even without contact.
The caravan came to a sudden stop.
Kara and Leonardo reacted first. Fire and lightning crossed the battlefield, striking the creature as it roared and deflected part of the attacks with a simple twist of its body.
Emily raised a barrier of light that intercepted a direct flame, protecting the civilians behind her. The impact made the shield vibrate and forced those nearby to step back.
The battle erupted immediately.
There was no clear strategy. Only power clashing against power.
The dragon roared, advancing through explosions of fire, light, and electricity, as if the very air had become a battlefield.
But the dragon was not alone.
From the nearby forests, more creatures began to emerge.
Deformed monsters, a mixture of human and beast, advanced between the trees like a living tide. All of them were corrupted by demonic energy. Their eyes glowed with a sickly red, and their movements were too fast, too coordinated to be simple beasts.
The caravan reacted too late.
The soldiers tried to form defensive lines, but the horde had already reached the perimeter. Each sword strike and each spell only managed to delay the enemies for seconds, not stop them.
—Protect Princess Elizabeth!
The order was lost among screams and explosions.
The four heroes did not wait for coordination.
Each acted on instinct, cutting through the monsters with overwhelming force, trying to contain the wave before it reached the civilians.
But the pressure was constant.
The horde did not stop. It advanced even while losing members, as if it felt no pain.
Dust, blood, and magic mixed in the air until they formed a dense fog that distorted vision and broke any attempt at formation.
And then, the world seemed to stop.
The air became cold and dense. The ground vibrated with a heartbeat that did not belong to the human world. The soldiers froze in confusion, and the civilians, without knowing why, held their breath.
Lusian understood immediately: they were being distracted.
From the distance, a shadow appeared between the trees.
At first it looked human, but as it approached, its presence began to distort everything around it. The energy emanating from it was so intense that its figure seemed larger than it truly was. Each step shook the ground, and every movement distorted light and air.
It was Vhar'zhul.
The demon had arrived.
Its eyes, red and black like obsidian, scanned the battlefield without hurry. The horde of monsters and the corrupted dragon immediately stepped aside, as if recognizing their true master. The silence that followed was absolute, broken only by the dragon's roar and the cracking of the earth.
Lusian tensed.
Umber moved to his side.
A clear thought passed through his mind: "I fought him a thousand times in a false world… but here there is no reset. One mistake and everything ends."
The shadow around Lusian expanded like a living mantle. The air itself seemed to lean toward him.
He knew this was not just another battle. Everything before—the horde, the dragon, the monsters—had only been preparation.
Vhar'zhul stepped forward.
And the world seemed to become smaller.
—Today the princess will change her destiny —the demon growled.
The dragon roared again.
The horde advanced in mass.
The dust raised by the caravan mixed with the dark energy emanating from Vhar'zhul.
Although his body did not exceed two meters, the density of demonic mana surrounding him made him appear much larger. It was as if the air around him could not support his presence. Each pulse of his magical core distorted reality, as if the world itself was rejecting him.
He was not just an enemy.
He was a crack walking inside the world.
—Get out of my way, worm! —the demon roared.
Its black eyes, deep like a moonless night, scanned the caravan calmly. It was not attacking randomly. It was searching for something. Lusian understood immediately: Vhar'zhul was looking for Elizabeth.
He wanted a vessel.
He wanted the future demon queen.
—Not while I am still breathing —Lusian thought, tightening his grip on his sword.
Beside him, Umber tensed.
Since Sofia's death, he had not separated from him. Not even when Lusian ordered him to. He let out a low growl that did not come from a throat, but from the very mass of mana that formed him.
Vhar'zhul raised his arm with total indifference.
The simple motion was enough.
A burst of dark energy exploded forward like a shockwave. The impact tore through the front of the caravan and ravaged the ground like a black storm.
The soldiers barely had time to react.
Lusian twisted at the last moment and avoided the center of the attack. The ground behind him fractured and burst into pieces.
In his mind, the information clicked into place with precision.
He had seen this attack before. Many times. In the "game."
Vhar'zhul was not unpredictable. He was powerful, but repetitive. Each technique had an opening. Each explosion left a weak point. If the pattern was read correctly, he could be defeated.
—Now!
Umber attacked first, entering from the demon's flank. The strike was clean, direct… but Vhar'zhul did not even step back. He simply let dark mana envelop him, as if the attack had hit thick water instead of flesh.
The ground, however, was not so lucky. It cracked beneath the demon's feet, as if the earth itself had felt the impact.
Lusian did not wait for results.
He moved instantly.
He came from the other angle, sword in hand, aiming at the opening he had seen a thousand times in the "game." His blade cut through the air with absolute precision and reached Vhar'zhul's arm… but the mana reacted first.
The demon's arm distorted.
Not as defense.
As if the darkness itself were part of his body.
Lusian's attack became trapped in a living mass of energy that hardened at the last second. The sword vibrated violently, rejected, unable to advance.
—Tch… —Lusian gritted his teeth.
It was not the same pattern.
The demon had evolved.
Without wasting time, Lusian stepped back and changed approach. He extended his free hand and generated spikes of dark mana in the air. Not one or two: dozens, then hundreds, all aimed at the enemy's torso.
The rain of mana fell like an uncontrolled storm.
—Keep the pressure —Lusian said without looking away.
Umber responded with a deep roar and charged again.
The demon did not retreat this time.
Vhar'zhul opened his arms and the mana storm condensed around him, forming a rotating dark ring like a living engine. Each step he took compressed the air.
Umber was the first to collide.
His body hit the demon's mana field and, for a second, was trapped as if sinking into solid mud. Still, he pushed. His claws tore through the dark surface, opening small cracks in the defense.
—Now! —Lusian shouted.
He entered directly.
Not by force.
By timing.
Lusian's sword slipped through one of those cracks Umber had opened and reached the demon's side.
Clean cut.
But Vhar'zhul barely turned his torso.
The mana reacted as if alive and blocked the strike half a second before impact. The blade did not pierce… but it did leave a line of rupture in the defense.
The demon frowned.
—You understand the rhythm…
Umber took advantage of that minimal distraction and bit toward the demon's arm, forcing him to turn.
Lusian did not miss the moment.
—Second point.
He moved under the guard, attacking the abdomen.
Again.
The mana yielded for an instant.
Another crack.
But it was not enough.
Vhar'zhul raised a hand and the air exploded outward.
Umber was blown away, rolling several meters across the ground.
Lusian barely managed to plant his sword into the earth to avoid being dragged away.
The demon walked toward him.
Step by step, exerting pressure and launching attacks without hurry.
—This is what you truly are —Vhar'zhul said—. An interesting human.
Lusian did not respond.
He stepped back after the impact.
Vhar'zhul's mana wave was not just an attack; it was pure pressure, as if the air itself tried to crush him into the ground. Umber immediately stepped in, absorbing most of the blow, but even so the force forced them to give ground.
Lusian dropped to one knee and spat blood, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand without taking his eyes off the enemy.
In the distance, he heard Elizabeth calling his name through the chaos.
But he did not respond.
If he looked at her now, he would lose the rhythm of the fight.
He forced himself to focus.
Umber moved in front of him again, no longer waiting for orders, understanding that every second was vital. The demon kept advancing calmly, as if everything was already decided.
Lusian took a deep breath.
The darkness around Dainslein grew denser, heavier, as if the sword were absorbing the surroundings themselves.
Then he gave the order.
Umber attacked first, not seeking direct damage, but forcing the demon to defend multiple angles at once. Each of his movements forced Vhar'zhul to readjust his defense, divide his attention, and lose stability in his mana flow.
Lusian waited for that instant.
And moved in.
His sword descended in a single clean cut, precise, as if it were not an attack but a line drawn in the air.
The demon's mana tried to close, but it was too late. The defense broke just enough for the strike to pierce layers that had previously been untouchable.
Vhar'zhul tensed for the first time.
There was no visible pain yet, but something more important: reaction.
Understanding.
Umber used that same instant to attack from behind, striking with enough force to push the demon's mana structure forward, breaking its internal balance for a second.
That second changed everything.
The core was exposed.
Pulsing.
Unstable.
Alive.
Lusian saw it clearly.
Without hesitation, he advanced.
Vhar'zhul reacted by releasing a demonic explosion of mana in all directions, an eruption that tore the ground and uprooted entire trees. The air vibrated as if the world were breaking.
Umber threw himself to absorb most of the impact, clearing the path.
Lusian did not stop.
He went straight through the storm of energy without hesitation, trusting the brief opening Umber had created.
And at the center of everything, when pressure peaked and the world seemed to collapse, Lusian reached the core.
The sword pierced the final defense.
Vhar'zhul stood still, surprised.
A human had defeated him. It was a disgrace he did not wish to accept, but…
The attack had reached the exact point.
The core shattered from within.
Demonic mana collapsed inward for an eternal instant, then released in a silent wave that did not destroy the surroundings, but emptied them of presence.
When the energy dissipated, the demon was no longer standing.
Silence fell over the valley like something heavy and final, as if even nature needed a moment to understand that the battle had ended.
A lightning bolt tore through the sky in the distance. Elizabeth, from the rear, unleashed an electric strike that dissipated the last remnants of demonic energy. There was no escape. No regeneration.
Lusian held his sword planted in the ground. The beast, wounded, approached and stopped beside him. Their gazes met the fallen demon. It was not strength. It was precision. It was will.
The echo of the corrupted dragon's final roar faded among the smoke and the remains of the battle. Lusian leaned against a rock, breathing heavily, while his sword rested beside him, still soaked in dark mana.
Elizabeth knelt in front of him, gently cleaning the blood from his lips.
"You're… insane," she whispered, her voice trembling slightly between worry and relief. "You can't keep doing this."
Emily ran toward him immediately, letting out a relieved breath as she grabbed his shoulders.
"Lusian!" she exclaimed, almost out of breath. "Damn it, you can't take risks like that!"
"I'm fine," he replied calmly, as if fatigue did not touch his body. "More than fine."
A few steps away, Alejandro and Leonardo arrived running, their faces red with anger and exhaustion. Alejandro spoke first:
"Where the hell were you!?" he roared. "While we were charging the dragon, you disappeared!"
Leonardo, his eyes still crackling with electricity, added:
"I don't like how you handle things," he said quietly, just enough for Lusian to hear. "Every time you decide to protect others your way, someone ends up paying for it."
His tone was not an open threat, but the tension was palpable. Lusian did not respond; he knew Leonardo too well to underestimate his contained hatred.
Then Kara appeared, breathing heavily after pushing a monster away from the civilians. Her voice was firm, respectful, but filled with determination:
"Enough!" she said, looking at Alejandro and Leonardo. "Did you not see what Lusian was facing? These weren't just monsters… he was against a demon no human could even imagine."
"He wasn't just protecting the caravan," she continued sharply. "He was protecting all of us. So keep your complaints to yourselves."
Elizabeth remained kneeling, her eyes fixed on Lusian, with a calm that could not hide her pride. She observed every movement, every gesture, and her gaze hardened when she saw Emily hugging him so closely. A thread of jealousy crossed her expression, subtle but real.
"You are all brave," she said firmly, "but do not judge the one who carries the impossible. Lusian… he does not need approval. He only needed to do it."
Without taking her eyes off him, Elizabeth stepped back, controlling the anger she felt at seeing her fiancé so close to Lusian. Every contact from Emily stung her, but she said nothing; her pride would not allow it to show openly. She only watched in silence, letting emotion mix with admiration and concern.