Her final moments, her final smile. They were all given to Verity, the only familiar face, but he could not even respond before she crossed to the other side.

  Verity trembled as he felt a maelstrom of differing emotions. “NOOOO!!” he cried out.

  ‘Why is this happening!?? Why can’t I do anything!??? WHYYYYY!!!’ His thoughts were hardly coherent, his mind a mess, and his spirit barely intact.

  Bel turned to Verity, an annoyed look on his face, and the system spoke.

  [You are faced with a challenge where the odds are hopelessly stacked against you.]

  [You have gained experience toward your class.]

  “YOU YO—”

  In a moment, Bel’s pale hand wrapped around Verity’s mouth. The demon stared straight into his amber eyes and spoke with disdain. “You are… unsightly,” he said, raising Verity into the air. “Among you maggots, you are without a doubt, the weakest,” he said coldly. “And yet, here you stand, no major wound to speak of.”

  Veins bulged on Verity’s temple, and he gripped Bel’s arm in an attempt to free himself from his grasp.

  But Bel did not even budge. Instead, he sneered. “Do you feel no shame? Your body is breaking apart as we speak, and yet you selfishly hold onto that pitiful life of yours.” He shook Verity, as if playing with a toy. “Ha. If you had sacrificed yourself instead of that halfling, perhaps you all could have won, but now look at you. How repulsive.”

  The sigil on Bel’s forehead pulsed, his regenerative abilities furiously combating the curse Midnight had placed on him, but to the demon, that was of little importance.

  A malicious grin curled Bel’s lips. He had nothing but insults for Verity, but a flicker of interest seemed to spark on his face. “Ha! I have an idea!” He threw Verity to the ground and leaned forward. “Why don’t you become a demon? Lord Azazel will surely accept one with such a corrupted heart! Immortality! Power! You’ll gain all that you wish for and more!”

  Verity flinched at those words, but their conversation was quickly interrupted.

  After making the impossible choice to sever her useless arm completely, Felicia rushed in from the side. “Don’t listen to him!” She screamed, swinging her sword toward the demon.

  Perhaps if she had been in peak condition, that strike would have threatened Bel. Unfortunately, she was not. Her swing was weak, her Aura was dim, and her edge had dulled.

  Bel clicked his tongue, not even bothering to look in her direction and tore her chest open with one of his wings. “Haven’t you been taught manners, filthy human?” Bel smiled, his crimson eyes staring into Verity’s own. “So? What do you say?”

  Five more seconds.

  But Verity had lost track of the countdown. Although startled, Verity had not truly considered his words. Now, however, they no longer registered in his mind.

  Seeing Felicia fall to the ground in a torrent of blood, all of Verity’s wrath had converged onto the monster before him. He clenched his spear, and jumped to his feet, consumed by rage like he had never experienced before.

  Using the last of the strength he could muster, he thrust his spear, but Bel simply pushed it aside with a lazy sway of his arm. The backlash from overexerting himself had already set in. He hadn’t even lasted the full minute.

  With one, casual motion, Bel pierced through Verity’s heart.

  Verity spit a mouthful of blood, and fell to the ground. His body was rapidly growing cold and the light was fading from his eyes.

  ‘...What?’

  Bel looked at him in disgust. “Ha. As if something as filthy as you could ever join our noble race. Even as a joke, that was too much.”

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  Bel glanced at Hoshino.

  Two more seconds. More than enough time for him to kill her a hundred times over.

  As he was about to rip her apart, however, a hand held onto Bel’s ankle. It was Verity. “I-I won’t let you…” Verity mumbled, blood spurting from his mouth.

  Bel’s expression twisted. “Truly, what an unsightly creature,” he shook Verity off, flinging him a few meters away.

  When he turned his attention back onto Hoshino, Felicia stood in front of him. A large wound spanned her upper chest, another was etched into her stomach, her complexion was deathly pale, and blood leaked from where she had severed her arm.

  Her eyes were cloudy, and she could barely stand.

  One more second. Still, Bel could cleave through her and Hoshino at once in a fraction of that time.

  But again, before he could move, bloodied hands landed on both of his ankles. He clicked his tongue, and once more tried to shake Verity off, but this time, he could not.

  Verity held on with the might of a hundred men.

  ‘Nine Hells Spearman ship Seventh Stance: Violence - Absolute Destruction…’

  Verity made use of the principle, and utterly crushed Bel’s legs. Of course, this cost him his arms. They both turned purple, and pulsed because of a gross misuse of Aura.

  Verity was left with no way to defend himself when Bel’s foot smashed into his face and sent him away to die alone on the cold grass.

  Verity threw him one last glance. ‘Die…you piece of sh*t…’

  And all faded from his world. He was plunged in darkness.

  Bel’s face contorted in anger. Because of the curse, he would not have the time to regain the use of his legs before Hoshino was finished.

  So, he deployed his wings.

  SWOOSH

  Felicia moved fast, faster than she ever had before. “Speed…flexibility… Power…Technique… Soul…,” she mumbled, locked in a trance of her own making.

  One of Bel’s wings was clipped off, making flight impossible. He had been effectively immobilized.

  And at last, Hoshino opened her eyes. “You have… three seconds…!” She had heard everything, and tears streamed down as she spoke the next words. “...Disrupt!”

  Blood began to trickle from her eyes, nose, and ears as she directly opposed the demon for this short moment.

  Bel’s face contorted in anger as he felt his connection to the surrounding mana disappear. “Even if you’ve cut me off I—”

  His arms were severed, both at once. Felicia had moved again. “Flexibility…Power…Technique…Soul…”

  The curse was gaining ground. Bel could no longer heal all of his injuries.

  For the first time, he seemed worried. “Y-You maggots!! ENDURE!”

  His skin turned to steel.

  But in a flash of blue light, his torso was torn open, black blood coming out in a waterfall. “Power…Technique…Soul….”

  Bel clenched his teeth, and as though reluctant, he forcefully regenerated one of his arms, black blood spilling from his mouth, and his lips parted. “You vermin….! LACERATE!”

  He tried to defend against Felicia’s assault, but he was no match, no match at all.

  In a flash of blue steel, he lost his arm again. “Technique…Soul…”

  “STOP IT!!”

  Bel finally realized that he had toyed with them for too long. His arrogance slipped, and desperation slowly settled in.

  Some distance away, Hoshino 's hands trembled, and her complexion grew dangerously pale. Her eyes had become bloodshot, and the blood leaking from her orifices had become a torrent.

  Yet, she held on, if only for one more second.

  Suddenly, the blue of Felicia’s Aura grew deeper, more potent, and infinitely more lethal. She moved at an incredible speed, but to Bel it seemed as though she was simply taking a stroll toward him, and yet, he couldn’t move or do anything to stop her, his body frozen in place.

  Was that…fear?

  Toward a human?

  “Soul…” Felicia mumbled.

  “I-INDESTRUCTIBLE” Bel roared, even more black blood spilling from his mouth.

  But it was far too late.

  Felicia had gained enlightenment.

  ‘Nameless style…Ultimate art - One stroke splits the sea.’

  No flash of light, no explosion, no theatrics. In a simple motion, Bel’s head rolled off his shoulders, and his body hit the ground.

  The surrounding forest for miles ahead followed, its greenery razed to the ground by a single slice.

  Even after a few more seconds, Bel remained motionless, lifeless, just as the forest around him did.

  They had won.

  Felicia turned around, and began weakly walking toward Verity, but after a single step, she froze and tilted her head to the sky.

  She could no longer move a single muscle, and to be honest, her body had since long gone past its limits. If she even survived this, she would do so crippled. “Ha,” she whispered.

  Hoshino fell to her knees, her body in the early stages of magic counterflow. She had pushed past the three seconds limit to ensure the demon’s death. She was in indescribable pain, and her head felt as though it would split in two. She might have difficulty ever using magic again.

  Yes, they had won.

  [Mythical item - Vera’s Ring, is being activated.]

  Holding true to its effect, Vera’s ring activated and saved Verity’s life. An invisible barrier formed around him and his body slowly mended itself. Slowly, he was being brought back from the brink of death.

  CRACK

  Hoshino’s eyes widened.

  “To think you’d make me do something like this!!!!”

  Bel was enraged, furious. Cut off from the surrounding mana and unable to establish a connection in time, he shattered his newly acquired second core to save his own life. A core was the equivalent of a demon’s pride, a sign of their power and a proof of their very existence itself.

  Some would have rather died than shatter their own cores.

  In that regard, Bel was an anomaly.

  He decapitated Felicia with a swift movement, and fell to the ground, teeth clenched.

  What he had done was akin to crushing one’s own heart. He was in incredible pain, and he needed to stabilize his body as soon as possible if he did not want his last remaining core to shatter due to the stress on his mind and soul.

  He glared at Hoshino. He knew she could not escape in her condition. “You damn maggots…! I swear I’ll take my time ripping you apart when I’m finished, mage!!”

  Hoshino let out a dry laugh.

  It almost seemed like a bad joke.

  “Haha…. You are free, come out – You vile creature.”