Episode 190
The time had come.
With those words, Dale shattered the castle’s window and launched a crimson flare into the night sky. It was a magical signal used in battle to alert allies.
Despite the chill coursing through his body, the furnace within him still burned fiercely. It was fueled by the essence of fire and blood-red magic he had absorbed during the War of the Roses, consuming countless Purifiers.
As the signal echoed, a foreboding darkness enveloped the room.
It wasn’t Dale’s doing.
“I knew this would happen.”
“Aah, aah…!”
A scream pierced the air. A maid, trembling with fear, was reassured by Lady Shadow.
“There’s nothing to fear.”
She gently lifted the visor of her black helmet, revealing a serene smile that greeted the maid.
“I swear by the compassion and mercy of the Sister Goddesses, I will protect you.”
“Oh, thank you!”
With the invocation of the Sister Goddesses, Aurelia lowered her visor once more. The black knight, clad in obsidian armor, infused her sword with a blood-red aura.
At that moment, footsteps echoed from afar. Not just one, but many, all rushing forward.
“Lady Aurelia, please protect her.”
Simultaneously, Dale enveloped himself in the Avatar of the Shadow Lord. His armor, a mix of dark blue and shadow, bore the ‘Eye of Truth’ as the Shadow Lord turned his gaze.
In the maid’s shadow, the truth was revealed.
“Igniter.”
With a low murmur, Dale’s crimson magic enveloped his heart, overlaying it with an otherworldly vision. The four-stroke cycle engine roared to life, powering the circle’s rotation, and the Shadow Lord advanced.
Beyond the castle corridors, countless corpses charged forward.
Ghouls.
“Ah, it seems the night won’t end easily,” Master Baro remarked, shrugging as he drew a dagger from his belt. The assassin, Lady Shadow, and the Shadow Lord readied their weapons against the oncoming horde of ghouls.
Dale’s sword belt held two blades, and he placed his hand on one of them. It was the black magic sword, ‘Hunger.’ But instead of drawing it, he lowered his arm.
Srrng.
The ancient warrior’s beloved sword, Peacemaker, gleamed with a pure white blade.
“Feeling nostalgic for peace today?” Master Baro chuckled, recognizing the sword’s name, and Dale replied.
“Those who desire peace…”
“…must prepare for war.”
Aurelia echoed Dale’s words, gripping her blood-red aura blade firmly.
“Stay behind me.”
“Yes, I will!”
To protect the frightened and vulnerable, Aurelia, with the purity of a saint, readied her sword.
As the ghoul horde descended, the Shadow Lord extended his arm. Not with the warrior’s sword, but with the ancient darkness and frost of the black-blue armor.
The darkness and cold at the end of fate swept through the ghoul horde.
“They are already dead.”
As he vanquished the undead, Dale spoke to the maid behind him.
“The mercy we can offer them is a painless end.”
He spoke as if reminding himself.
“Do you know where they conduct their suspicious rituals in this castle?”
“The Great Hall!”
Dale asked, and the maid answered.
“They always block access and every night, with innocent children kidnapped from the city, they…”
“I understand.”
Dale nodded and moved forward.
Dale’s crimson magic scattered across the night sky, and the Grave Walkers infiltrating the count’s territory sprang into action. Among them, even the high court assassin, Mackie, bowed his head before the Shadow Lord and Master Baro.
“The Lord’s orders. Move out.”
The dark elves, with their copper skin and hoods pulled low, wrapped themselves in blood-red aura and dashed forward.
”…!”
They gasped at the sight of the soldiers guarding the castle.
Undead soldiers.
“What the hell, how do you kill something that’s already dead?” Mackie muttered in disbelief, but before he could finish, the mountain assassin leaped forward.
The blood-red aura slashed through, shattering the undead’s bones into pieces.
“Ah, now I see.”
Mackie murmured quietly, watching the scene unfold.
“How did you survive in this hellish place?” Master Baro asked the maid, who swallowed her surprise and confusion.
“The Blue Tower Lord possessed her body. She came to warn me.”
“Damn it.”
The Shadow Lord’s words elicited a curse from Master Baro.
“Better to lend a sword than waste time on that nonsense.”
And then it happened.
“Oh my, where are you rushing off to?”
A woman with crimson hair blocked their path, wearing the mask of the ‘Laughing Man,’ its mouth stretched wide.
“Lady Scarlet.”
The Shadow Lord spoke coldly, and his Eye of Truth began to reveal the ‘shadow of Lady Scarlet.’
To glimpse the truth of one of the empire’s rulers.
Fwoosh!
─Lady Scarlet was nailed to a cross. Large iron spikes pinned her limbs, and blood dripped onto the pyre below.
Lady Scarlet wept in agony, crying out the goddess’s name, desperately pleading her innocence. But no one listened.
‘Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust…’
The crowd spat and pointed, shouting for the witch to be burned.
But there were no humans among them. They were all elves. Even Lady Scarlet, hanging there, had the long, slender ears of an elf.
The flames roared.
A frenzied, dancing blaze.
The wild fire climbed the pyre, opening its fiery maw toward the woman.
‘I never cursed anyone. I’m not a witch. Please believe me.’
‘Serves you right, damn witch!’
Fwoosh!
The flames surged again, and the Shadow Lord’s consciousness returned.
“Oh my, what were you so intently watching?”
Lady Scarlet inquired. In her shadow, third-degree burns and horrific blisters began to cover her body. Her dermis was exposed, subcutaneous fat burned, and her skin peeled away, oozing pus.
That was Lady Scarlet’s truth.
“Lord of Truth, I asked what you were so seriously observing.”
An unprecedented hostility emanated from her.
”…I was watching your shadow.”
The Shadow Lord replied, and the color drained from Lady Scarlet’s face.
“Is that why you mock and scorn the gods, because you were abandoned by the goddess?”
”…”
The ‘Laughing Man’ mask still wore its crescent-moon smile. But inside, Lady Scarlet was likely not smiling.
Bats took flight behind her, and an unparalleled crimson aura began to swirl.
Dale adjusted his grip on Peacemaker’s hilt. Nothing had changed.
No matter how terrible and tragic her past, it was no exception.
It was simply time to prepare for war.
With a swift leap, Lady Scarlet charged forward. Her speed was unbelievable for a mage.
Her nails had transformed into blood blades, sharp as claws.
The deadly blood claws slashed, and it was Master Baro’s task to intercept them.
“Whoa, damn. This lady’s got some strength.”
As the blood claws swung, flames of hellfire erupted in counterpoint. Master Baro quickly leaped back to create distance, and Dale unleashed the frost of the apocalypse.
Simultaneously, bat wings unfurled behind Lady Scarlet, and she twisted her body in a breathtaking aerial maneuver.
“There’s a demon here.”
The Shadow Lord muttered, watching her, and Lady Scarlet looked down at Dale with a cold expression.
“It seems… I’ve let my emotions get the better of me.”
“I don’t enjoy seeing shadows either.”
Dale replied.
“But as long as you fight against me, I have no choice but to use my ‘eye.’”
He said, adjusting his grip on the hilt.
The world seen through the Eye of Truth. Even Lady Scarlet’s recent movements couldn’t escape its gaze. An unparalleled power beyond anything before.
”…”
Lady Scarlet remained silent for a moment, her bat wings fluttering.
“Regrettably, it seems my playtime here is over.”
At that moment, she cast aside the mask of “The Laughing Man” she had been wearing.
“Are you abandoning the ritual of the Dark Arts?”
“Oh, heavens no.”
Lady Scarlet laughed nonchalantly, and once again, the true landscape unfolded within her shadow.
”…”
Dale swallowed hard at the sight. It was a scene so horrifying that it was impossible to look at without feeling nauseated.
“A man peeking into a lady’s secrets—how utterly despicable.”
For the first time, Lady Scarlet spoke with undisguised hostility.
Dale couldn’t hide his revulsion as he looked at Lady Scarlet.
At the ‘seed of evil’ nestled within her.
“But as you can see, I’ve already conceived ‘one demon’ within me.”
Lady Scarlet caressed her belly with a smile, as if it were the most precious thing.
“As for the other ‘three demons’ and the organization that needs them, to be honest, I couldn’t care less anymore.”
“Wasn’t cooperation the rule of the ‘Order’?”
“Oh, I’ve given them more than enough.”
As Lady Scarlet spoke, flames surged around her. In the midst of the roaring fire, she vanished without a trace.
“Well, damn. She’s gone and made herself the mother of a demon.”
Master Baro muttered as if it were someone else’s problem.
”…Let’s go.”
Ignoring the comment, Dale moved forward, heading to the grand hall of the Wallachia estate, where the ritual to summon the remaining three demons was to take place.