“Could there be a hole in the sky?”
Arundel, who had poked her face out of the window, muttered.
Rain was pouring down from the sky with a terrifying force. The sky was full of dark clouds, and the sound of rain hitting the ground echoed loudly.
Watching the rain pour, Arundel recalled that day.
The day she first met Zion.
At that time, he was only strange and scary, but not anymore.
It wasn’t hard to talk to him, and she didn’t mind eating together.
In fact, he had been on her mind ever since he left yesterday.
His reluctance to talk about ‘that matter’, it wasn’t like Zion at all.
The usual Zion would have confirmed the facts with fiery anger.
But he didn’t ask anything and just disappeared.
‘If he trusts me, that’s a relief…’
Arundel sighed.
Zion was originally a difficult person to read. Even now, she had no idea what he was thinking or why he acted the way he did.
‘What about the mark…?’
Now there was no one to ask about the demon. Because her relationship with Royden had become very ambiguous.
From now on, when she faced him, what could she say, even if she talked to him, people’s eyes would be bothering him.
‘Bianca… I miss you…!’
Arundel missed Bianca, who always smiled kindly at her.
Zion, Royden, Hills…well, not Hills, but everyone seemed to be moving away from her.
Now, the only person left was Bianca.
Bianca had visited once while she was stuck in the Empress’s Palace, but she wasn’t in the mood to meet her then.
So she refused to see her, and she never visited again after that.
‘Did Bianca also get disappointed in me… haha…’
Arundel laughed as if she had gone mad.
The weather was so gloomy that it seemed to drive people crazy. Her forehead was hot.
She wanted to wash away these chaotic thoughts with rain right now.
Arundel impulsively went out to the garden.
Raindrops fell mercilessly on Arundel’s head, who was barefoot and had nothing below.
Her body was hot, so the cold rainwater felt refreshing. Arundel closed her eyes quietly.
Then,
Thud-!
It was the sound of something heavy hitting.
The sound didn’t stop there.
Thud-!
It felt closer.
Arundel opened her eyes that she had closed. When she opened her eyes, the air was full of dust.
Crack-!
Arundel’s eyes widened. The wall of the Empress’s Palace was collapsing. No, to be precise, it was breaking.
“…!!!”
A huge shadow appeared in front of Arundel’s eyes.
As the dust scattered by the collapsing wall settled, the shape of the huge shadow gradually took shape.
“What is that…”
A monster with a hideous face revealed itself.
It was a grotesque creature with a massive body that seemed to be at least 3 meters tall and a strange face.
Its eyes were turned upside down, and it was spewing a bubbling liquid from its mouth.
She had no idea what it was…
“No way…!”
Arundel looked closely at the creature.
‘As expected.’
That creature was a combination of a demon and a human. It was the figure of a human who had lost his essence, having his heart stolen by a demon and even the body possessed.
Now it’s just a puppet of the demon.
‘But… where did it suddenly appear from…!!’
Arundel looked at the demon in front of her.
Her eyes met the demon’s. The demon’s pupils flickered.
This ominous energy, don’t tell me–
‘Is it coming after me?!’
Arundel was horrified.
When Hills said she’d be targeted by demons, and so on and so forth, she didn’t listen, but that’s exactly what’s happening now right in front of her.
A demon targeting her weakened self has appeared.
“Ah…! The mark!!”
For the first time, Arundel thanked Hills. This troublesome mark finally came in handy.
Arundel quickly unwrapped the bandage. And she showed her wrist to the demon.
“You!! Can you see this! This is the…demon… Hills’s mark!!”
She didn’t feel like explaining Hills as a great demon, but survival was the first priority.
Fortunately, the demon showed a reaction.
The demon seemed to hesitate and backed off.
‘It worked…!’
But that was only for a moment, the angry demon began to rampage.
It couldn’t approach Arundel, but it started to destroy everything around it. The walls and trees fell helplessly.
The situation didn’t end there.
The demon began to spit out the liquids that had accumulated in its mouth all over the place, and wherever those liquids touched, they melted with a sizzling sound.
‘Eek-!’
If she got hit by that liquid, it was over. She had to run away from here for now.
Arundel wrapped her head with a skirt and tried to escape from here through the bedroom.
But the raging demon’s liquid fell randomly from the sky, and one lump of it was heading towards Arundel.
Arundel looked at the disgusting lump flying towards him.
‘Ugh!’
She covered her head and closed her eyes.
“…?”
…Well, by now, her head should be melting… Arundel slowly opened her eyes.
In front of her was the sturdy back of a man. He, with a skin color of amber and an overwhelming physique beyond average, was…!
“Royden!!”
“Are you okay, Your Majesty the Empress?”
Royden threw the melted shield to the ground. The center of the shield, which had taken the liquid instead, was pierced.
“I’m okay…! What’s all this about?”
“Well… the demon we were catching suddenly disappeared, so we’ve been looking for it.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yes, it suddenly hid its form. We followed the thumping sound and found it here.”
Even as they exchanged words, the frenzied destruction of the demon continued.
“For now, Your Majesty the Empress, you should escape from here. I’ll try to handle this somehow.”
“What about the others?”
“It will take time for them to arrive. In the meantime, we have to catch that creature.”
Royden spoke as if it was a very easy task, but it looked hard to approach because of the liquid spewing from the mouth of that insane demon.
“Please go now! I’ll draw its attention.”
Right, being here would only be a burden. Hadn’t she experienced that during the shadow incident at the hunting competition?
The weak are nothing but a burden.
Although she didn’t want to admit it, she had to be calm in a situation like this.
Arundel ran to the bedroom as Royden instructed.
‘Just a little more…!’
When she was almost at the door,
Bang-!
With a tremendous noise, the front of the door collapsed. Looking up at the building, the top was melting.
‘I’m screwed…!’
She was trapped in the garden without being able to move.
Royden was fighting fiercely, but it looked difficult to avoid.
If no one shows up right now,
“Screeeeech”
What…?
She looked towards the sudden scream of the demon. The demon was on its knees, suffering.
“…Where do you think this is.”
Behind the collapsed wall, ‘Zion’ with a cold expression appeared.
‘Zion…!’
Arundel felt like crying with joy.
Whether he came running because of her, or just to catch the demon, she was very glad to see Zion appear like a savior.
Arundel waved her hand, but Zion seemed not to see it.
Zion, who first found Royden, contorted his face.
“You pathetic guy. You couldn’t even handle one demon.”
“…I’m ashamed.”
Royden bowed his head and admitted his mistake with a calm expression. Zion ignored Royden like that and looked around.
“Where is the Empress.”
“She must have evacuated into the building.”
Royden, who thought Arundel had safely evacuated, said. Only then did Zion relax his sharp gaze.
“Finish it off.”
Royden, to carry out Zion’s command, raised his sword towards the demon who was suffering.
And mercilessly swung down…What?
Just before Royden’s blade touched, the demon suddenly disappeared.
‘No way…!’
[We’ve been looking for the demon that disappeared while we were catching it.]
Royden’s words from earlier came to mind. Among the demons, there were cases where they had outstanding abilities. Invisibility, teleportation, flying, etc.
Perhaps the demon just now also had such a special ability.
‘Damn…’
It was a relief if it had completely disappeared, but if it was invisible and lurking around, it was troublesome.
With Zion and Royden here, it was hard to pull out the mark and threaten the demon.
However,
Thump-!
The demon revealed itself again.
“Screeeeech!!”
Arundel covered her ears. It was a bizarre sound that she couldn’t bear to hear. The demon swung its sharp arms here and there.
Arundel wanted to dodge quickly, but it was hard to keep her eyes open because of the waterfall-like rain.
The moment she closed her eyes for a moment, the demon’s arm came right in front of Arundel.
Thud-!
The demon’s sharp arm pierced the flesh. Blood splattered all around.
Arundel, feeling no pain, looked ahead.
“Cough-!”
The person who spat out blood was Royden.
Royden, who was nearby just before the demon’s sharp arm aimed at Arundel, blocked it. He took the hit instead.
Whether Royden’s left shoulder was stabbed, the armor broke down. Blood flowed incessantly.
With a thud-! sound, he fell to the ground powerlessly. The pooled rainwater splashed around.
“Royden!!!”
Arundel embraced the fallen Royden. Royden, who had lost a lot of blood, had a pale face.
He spat out words with difficulty towards Arundel, who was worried.
“I’m… okay…”
“You’re bleeding too much…!!”
“Cough… quickly… to a safe place…”
Royden spoke intermittently, as if it was difficult to speak.
“Screeeeech-!”
The demon screamed horribly again. And with a vibration big enough to shake the ground, the demon finally crashed to the ground.
It seemed like Zion had done something.
However, Arundel couldn’t take his eyes off Royden. Royden in front of her was more important than the dead demon.
“Royden!! Please wake up!!”
“…”
“Royden…sob sob…”
Royden lost consciousness.
Arundel, seeing this, shed tears. She was scared that Royden might die because of her. Even if he lived, if there was something wrong with his arm, it would be fatal as a knight.
Arundel, who couldn’t bear the sadness, kept shaking Royden.
“Royden…! Please wake up!!”
Zion, who had come close by now, grabbed Arundel’s wrist.
“Stop it.”
“But… Royden!”
“We called a doctor. It’s dangerous here, so it’s time to go…”
“I don’t want to!! What if Royden dies in the meantime!”
“As I said, even if you’re here, it’s not helpful.”
Zion spoke coldly.
If it were usual, Arundel would have let it go, but she hated Zion who spoke coldly even in such a situation. But she didn’t even have the strength to glare at him. Tears flowed endlessly.
“I’m going to be by Royden’s side. This is all my responsibility… How can I… sob”
“Please…!!”
Zion shouted.
It was the first time Zion had shouted with emotion. Arundel, who was crying, looked at him with a surprised face.
Zion spoke as if suppressing his emotions.
“Just stop it. Or I’ll really kill that guy.”
Zion’s pupils were dark. For some reason, Zion was angry.
But Arundel couldn’t understand such Zion. Arundel pleaded with teary eyes.
“It’s Royden, your friend, Your Majesty…!”
At that, Zion chuckled.
“A friend, that’s funny.”
“…What?”
“Isn’t it an excuse that he’s my friend?”
“What…”
“Are you worried about Royden, your hidden lover?”
Arundel made a face at the absurd words. Zion’s mouth, who was laughing coldly, trembled slightly.
“Let’s hear it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Is the content of the flyer wrong?”
The gaze she met was as cold and cruel as the first time.
