I roughly tossed aside the stolen equipment and looked up. There, kneeling neatly, was the witch. Her head was bowed slightly, her gaze fixed endlessly on the ground. She looked utterly unresponsive, as if she had lost all sense—completely devoid of fighting spirit.
But I knew better than to let my guard down. The loss of will was only on the surface. The proof was the black smoke rising like heat haze from the ground where she knelt.
“Kill.”
Suddenly, the witch’s eyes changed in an instant. She staggered to her feet, staring at me with pupils darkened to pitch black. Black smoke seeped from her entire body, curling and drifting like living shadows.
I was right.
Pluton, one of the Fourteen Demon Lords, had awakened.
“Ha… damn witch… this is just great.”
Pluton sighed deeply, stretching her limbs with force. Unlike before, she now stood confidently, exposing her chest without shame. Her attitude was far more relaxed. Since a surprise attack was clearly useless, I gripped my sword and began measuring the distance slowly. My comrades, sensing the ominous flow of magic, shifted restlessly around me.
Pluton lowered her arms and spoke, looking me in the eye.
“Hey, Kim Suhyun. Just one question. What on earth made you think you could come here?”
“You know my name?”
“Kill. Did you really think I wouldn’t? After all the chaos you caused?”
“…I got lucky. The boy was acting strange, and there were no guards around. I just thought maybe you were scouting.”
I answered casually. Pluton fell silent for a moment, showing no particular reaction, but kept smacking her lips as if something was deeply displeasing her. Well, her mood wasn’t my concern.
Raising my sword vertically, I spoke.
“I’d appreciate it if you just died quietly… but I guess that won’t happen.”
“I’d appreciate it if you just ran away quietly… but I guess that won’t happen either.”
Pluton snorted and smirked mockingly.
I scoffed.
“…Do you really think you can win?”
“No? What kind of joke is that? I couldn’t even beat Mammon, how could I beat you? Of course I’ll lose.”
“What?”
“But hear me out. I’m still one of the Fourteen Demon Lords, you know. Even if I have no chance, I’m not just going to die quietly.”
“……”
“Don’t be too disappointed, Kill! Thanks to you, I’m about to lose months of preparation. Actually, it’s already as good as lost.”
With that, Pluton raised both hands as if surrendering, even nodding her chin as if to say, “Go ahead, cut my throat.” My eyes narrowed instinctively.
‘Is this a trap? Or…?’
A thousand thoughts raced through my mind. It seemed like if I charged and cut her throat now, it would be over—but something felt off. Were demons really the kind to give up so easily?
No, absolutely not. Demons are the embodiment of cruelty, clinging on to the bitter end even if it means a miserable death. They’d rather self-destruct than surrender…
“Ah.”
Suddenly, a thought struck me.
‘Self-destruction.’
Right. What if she didn’t care if she died?
What if she had set up a condition that would trigger no matter what, even if she died?
“Hmph. You figured it out? Doesn’t matter. Take this!”
Just then, Pluton suddenly leapt upward with force. I expected her to spread her wings and glide into the sky, but no.
She neither ascended nor descended. Her entire body stiffened as if caught in a hold spell, frozen midair as if anchored to the void.
“Hehehehe!”
Then Pluton burst into a loud, hearty laugh, spreading her arms wide.
“You said earlier, ‘Better not to do it at all than to do it like this.’”
“……”
“But have you ever thought about why I accepted this miserable coexistence despite everything?”
“Wh-…”
At that moment—
Thud!
A pillar of light suddenly descended from the sky. It engulfed Pluton, who was suspended in midair, exploding outward in all directions and bathing the entire world in white. My vision blurred.
Wooooooong!
As a powerful resonance vibrated my eardrums, I reflexively summoned my inner strength. Then I saw a bright red magic circle suddenly burst forth from Pluton’s body. Not just one.
Hwa-jeong’s startled voice.
One, two, three, four… The magic circles kept appearing, spinning around Pluton like the hundreds of magic circles Mavolo once summoned in the ancient magical city of Magia. But there was a big difference. The circles varied in size, and as they slowed their rotation, they clustered tightly around her lower body.
When her lower half was completely encircled by the magic circles, her previously limp upper body slowly lifted. Her wide-open eyes fixed on me, pupils dark and sunken.
This was no longer the defeated look from before. Nor was it a fiery gaze of determination. It was calm, detached, and peaceful. But when I met those dark red eyes, an inexplicable chill ran down my spine.
Her tightly closed lips parted slightly.
‘Astral Dimension’ opening. Approaching entity… Filia Tritoris.
Confirmed… Accept. Permission granted for Filia Tritoris, the Witch of Flowers, to access the source.
A voice echoed quietly through the void. It was neither the witch’s nor Pluton’s voice. It was a deep, majestic voice I had never heard before.
Whoooosh!
The summoned magic circles suddenly blazed with light, and my vision was once again flooded with white. Clutching my fluttering robe, I heard someone calling out to me urgently. But I shook my head hard—I had no idea what was happening.
Filia Tritoris, disappearance confirmed.
Pluton, disappearance confirmed.
Meanwhile, the voice in the void continued.
Conditions met. Loss of first decision-maker’s authority confirmed. Transferring usage rights to second decision-maker, Pluton.
In accordance with Pluton’s remaining will, commencing repulsion of 15 intruding entities in the Astral Dimension. Prior to battle commencement, initiating battlefield analysis.
Repulsion? Battlefield analysis?
“Get out of here!”
Just as a chill ran down my spine, Hwa-jeong shouted urgently.
But before I could even move, the magic circles surrounding Pluton’s lower body flared brightly.
Thud!
The moment I heard “territory declaration,” translucent barriers poured out from the magic circles, embedding themselves all around.
“…!”
I couldn’t help but be stunned for a moment. The barriers were exactly like the ones I used—only the color was different.
Looking up, I saw the witch bent at about a 45-degree angle, staring down at me. It seemed we were completely cut off from the outside world. My comrades rushed over, shouting and pounding on the barrier, but no sound came through.
Without hesitation, I activated the Otherworldly Shift.
“Kim Suhyun!”
“O-older brother!”
As soon as I escaped outside, my comrades quickly gathered around me. The witch—or whatever she was now—had suddenly stopped speaking and slowly tilted her body like a puppet with its strings cut, staring at me.
I signaled for silence and quickly spoke in my mind.
‘Hwa-jeong, what’s going on?’
Hwa-jeong replied in a slightly subdued voice.
I quickly recalled.
‘The source of magic. A super-information aggregate. You called it a forbidden spell, right?’
‘Crazy. Is that even possible?’
‘Then how the hell did she…?’
Hwa-jeong answered after a brief pause.
I didn’t understand at first. A sacrifice?
Hwa-jeong’s explanation went on at length. I cursed silently. Though I didn’t fully grasp it, I understood that Pluton’s self-destruction was achieved in a way no one expected.
‘So… what do we do now?’
Anyway, the important thing was to solve the immediate problem first. So I asked about the most urgent issue, but no response came from Hwajeong. She wasn’t asleep—it seemed she just couldn’t come up with an appropriate answer to my question. Which meant… she was an opponent I couldn’t just rush at recklessly.
“Tch.”
Suddenly, I felt like things were getting tangled. No, the situation itself was unfolding well. But now, it wasn’t just about achieving a goal—life and death had become the new stakes.
Clicking my tongue, I looked up. The sky had darkened to black, and below, the witch was enveloped in a crimson magic circle. Still, no emotion or expression could be read from her face. She just felt… no longer human.
…Verification complete. Analysis terminated. Due to the presence of anomalous spatial distortion, handling user Kim Suhyun separately is deemed difficult.
Terminating primary method; executing alternative protocol.
Combining witch’s ability ‘Animate Flora’ with demon magic ‘Necromantic Summoning’ to create a new spell.
Animate Mist.
The moment the voice finished, thick mist began to rise from the scattered plant debris everywhere. The mist swirled lazily around, merging with itself. It was so dense that I could only sense its presence—I couldn’t even begin to estimate its scale. In fact, I had no clue what kind of magic this was.
“How…?”
Trying to calm my growing anxiety, I racked my brain desperately.
The situation was dire. I didn’t know how long Baek Hangyeol and Kim Hanbyeol could hold out, and Ha Seungwoo, Sarah, and Jung Hayun had already poured most of their magic into their battle with the witch. On top of that, Jegal Haesol was pretty exhausted from trying to replicate the ‘Sosan Magic.’
In the end, aside from the two priests, only seven people were available in their best condition. But could seven people really hold this line?
“No. There’s definitely going to be a weak spot somewhere. Once it starts to collapse, it’ll be unstoppable.”
That thought hit me just then.
“Hmm~. Looks like it’s time to earn my keep, huh?”
Snapping to attention at the voice, I saw Seonyul walking out, cracking her neck from side to side, holding a thick stack of cards in her hand.
“Mercenary Lord.”
Then someone gently touched my shoulder. Glancing over, I saw Han Soyoung staring intently at me right beside me.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but… things don’t look good.”
She tilted her head slightly and continued quietly.
“If we buy some time, can you handle that thing?”
“…What?”
Hearing that, I couldn’t help but ask back in disbelief. Buy time against this mist? We weren’t ready, and I had no idea how to respond.
“Can you do it?”
She asked again, but Han Soyoung didn’t wait for an answer. She just turned away, scanning the surroundings before striding forward.
“Istantel Row…!”
Flutter!
The answer came back in the form of her robe.
Han Soyoung lightly shrugged off her robe, revealing her usual light gloves and cloak, then stopped abruptly. As always, her expression was blank as she stared up at the witch in the air, then slowly raised her right arm. Suddenly, a strange sense of déjà vu washed over me.
“…Lord.”
Because on Han Soyoung’s face, there wasn’t a trace of fear.
Then—
“Round House.”
From the back of her slender hand pointed at the dark sky, a brilliant violet light burst forth.
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
Hey, readers!
Why are you already assuming the witch is going to die?
Do you really think I’m that cruel?
No, I’m a kind person.
Ah, well, I admit it—several characters have died along the way.
But still…
Yoo Hyunah, Cha Seunghyun, Ban Dahi, Misha Yesica, the Gunslinger of Matang, Ahn Soyeon, Baek Seoyeon…
Uh… that’s quite a few when I count them. Ahem.
Anyway, this time I’ve prepared a twist similar to what happened with Ha Seungwoo.
We’re entering the final stages now, so please look forward to the outcome. :)