Even as she begged to be killed, Katrina shot venomous glares at Yuri.
Her tentacles aimed for vital points, while the giants surrounding them formed a tight ring, leaving no room for Yuri to escape.
Yuri severed one tentacle and stepped back, only to be kicked by a giant’s foot, tumbling across the ground before springing to his feet.
He barely managed to break free from the ensuing barrage by harnessing the chaotic energy within him.
“If you want me dead, then why are you like this?” Yuri asked.
Katrina didn’t answer. Instead, she launched an even more vicious attack.
Clutching Guilty tightly, Yuri exhaled shallowly.
His lungs filled with air, and mana surged from his core. His will flared more intensely than ever before, causing the Soul Slash to emit an unprecedentedly sharp aura.
Though Katrina had once helped him, that was irrelevant now.
Even if she hadn’t begged to be killed, she was an enemy he had to slay.
Yuri gauged the distance between himself and Katrina.
Too far.
Between them stood the giants, blocking his path, while tentacles darted through the gaps, targeting his vital points.
One wrong move, and he’d be injured.
He couldn’t afford wounds if this fight was to last.
He had to be clean—cut only the enemy’s throat.
Yuri took a step forward.
The muddy ground of the demon realm clung to his soles. The heavy air weighed down on him, restricting his movements. But he paid no mind.
The environment could constrain the body, but it could not harm the spirit.
And the Soul Slash was a mana method that responded to his will.
If he could kill his enemy in his mind, then amid the infinite possibilities chaos offered, the most efficient path would naturally reveal itself.
Yuri seized that moment.
He turned and ran.
“Running away?” Katrina’s voice came from behind. Calm in tone, but the tentacles that followed her words chased Yuri’s back with urgency.
The razor-sharp tips closed in.
Just before a tentacle pierced his back, Yuri twisted his body to the side.
The tentacle curved in pursuit.
Yuri stepped firmly on the ground several times, weaving between the giants. Suddenly, the tentacles Katrina extended became entangled among the giants.
Unfazed, Katrina pressed her strength, slicing through the giants’ bodies. Blades like spikes shot out from the tentacles, cutting away the giants that hindered her movements.
“Good,” Yuri whistled, moving faster.
No matter how far the tentacles stretched, they had limits. Ignoring Katrina, Yuri continued to confuse the giants and dart around.
Each time he swung his sword, a giant fell.
Katrina frowned as Yuri kept moving.
“Just going to keep running?”
Yuri, hidden among the giants, suddenly vanished.
Katrina’s tentacles lost their target and writhed like snakes searching for prey.
Then, she looked up.
Something was falling.
“There you are!”
The tentacles retracted instantly, then shot upward, dozens of bundles striking the falling figure.
Flesh was pierced.
But the sensation was strange.
Katrina realized the figure wasn’t Yuri.
It was a giant.
Momentarily confused, Katrina froze. Meanwhile, her tentacles began dismantling the giant’s body.
Then, a sharp pain stabbed her abdomen.
She saw the sword cutting through her own belly.
“Ah…”
Yuri had severed her upper and lower body, then raised his sword again to split her head.
But tentacles sprouting from the cut surfaces retaliated, forcing Yuri to retreat without hesitation.
Katrina’s upper body rolled pathetically on the ground, then propped itself up using the tentacles emerging from the severed edges.
Her face twisted into a cruel snarl.
“Ah…”
Watching her, Yuri began to understand what was happening.
When she was whole, Katrina’s reason had outweighed the dark magic within her. But after being cut apart and the black magic raging to repair her body, she seemed unable to maintain her sanity.
Her face contorted repeatedly in pain.
Yuri raised his sword.
He would grant her wish.
“The pain will end when you die.”
He didn’t know how to heal or reverse dark magic. Perhaps such a thing didn’t even exist.
So he decided to give her peace.
Yuri fixed his gaze beyond the blade at Katrina.
Her severed lower half quickly rotted, turning to fertilizer, while her upper half became a monster animated by tentacles sprouting from the cut surfaces.
Her face was so distorted it was unrecognizable as the Katrina he once knew.
A fresh wave of anger toward Cedric surged within Yuri.
Whether it was smoke and mirrors or a means to an end, they had once been lovers.
He couldn’t accept what had been done to someone like that.
His hatred for Cedric flared even higher.
Guilty vibrated in his grip.
The Soul Slash’s aura surged, targeting Katrina.
Dozens, even hundreds, of tentacles she raised filled his vision, crashing down on him. The giants caught in their path were torn apart like paper.
An overwhelming murderous intent engulfed Yuri.
But he felt no fear.
His sword could cut through anything.
Flesh.
Or spirit.
Yuri’s eyes entered the realm of the soul.
In the blazing vision, tentacles and giants faded into insignificance.
Instead, the cruel power of the dark magic controlling Katrina and the image of a tormented soul appeared vividly.
The Soul Slash and chaotic energy surrounding him effortlessly erased the tentacles.
He leapt toward Katrina.
The tentacles that filled the space rippled, momentarily radiating their presence before frantically lunging at Yuri.
He swung Guilty in a wide arc.
Tentacles reaching from the edges of his vision were sliced off and fell to the ground.
Yuri closed his eyes, then opened them.
In an instant, the familiar landscape of the soul realm passed before him.
What had once been a long torment was now merely a fitting stimulus.
A faint smile curved his lips.
Where the soul realm had passed, his hatred for Cedric blazed like a wildfire.
Clenching Guilty tighter, he advanced toward Katrina’s core.
The blade shattered all illusions.
“Have some more bread before you go.”
“Huh?”
“There’s plenty inside. Eat while I prepare.”
Suddenly, memories of conversations with Katrina flickered through his mind.
“How delicious was it?”
“Even if Jared collapsed from a heart attack while eating bread…”
“Hey.”
Yuri wasn’t particularly close to her.
Before he knew Cedric’s true nature, he was curious because she was his brother’s lover, and they had only met briefly when she helped him.
Still, a feeling of compassion arose.
As Guilty moved toward her, the moments they had shared shattered.
Yuri opened his eyes wide and stared at what he was about to destroy.
Then, the world turned completely white.
There stood Katrina, quietly watching him.
Her body hadn’t been twisted by dark magic, nor was her expression contorted by pain.
She smiled, just as she had in life, wearing her baker’s hat.
“Yuri.”
She called his name.
“I wish I could have treated you with bread. What a shame.”
Yuri shook his head.
He bowed politely, as if addressing the Katrina of old.
“Your bread was the most delicious I’ve ever tasted. The memory is so vivid, I don’t even need to eat it again to know the taste.”
Katrina smiled.
“Thank you, Yuri. Please send my regards to Jared.”
She spoke casually.
Suddenly, a forgotten memory resurfaced.
“Thank you. And you can speak informally to me.”
“How kind. When we get closer, I’ll let you.”
Yuri chuckled softly.
A fleeting connection.
But its weight was far from insignificant.
He stepped forward and reached out his hand.
Katrina extended hers.
Yuri kissed the back of her hand and bowed respectfully.
“May you find peace.”
That was the end.
Yuri’s vision snapped back to reality.
Guilty sliced through Katrina.
The core of dark magic within her shattered into fragments and scattered.
Yuri saw it all.
His sword cutting through Katrina’s body.
Breaking the evil will of Cedric that had controlled her.
And beyond that, something deeper.
Something that could only be called a soul.
Just as he was about to reach it, Guilty suddenly stopped.
Yuri was taken aback—this was the first time it had happened.
The Soul Slash’s tendrils, which extended from his core to the blade’s tip, moved as if they had a will of their own.
Guilty twisted its blade and turned upward.
It swept away the remnants of dark magic that filled the area.
Yuri’s gaze slowly rose.
That something inside Katrina was ascending through the air, shedding its bonds, soaring beyond.
Then it vanished.
It happened so quickly Yuri thought he’d imagined it.
But he hadn’t.
The shiver running through his entire body from the Soul Slash told him it was no illusion.
What it was, he didn’t know.
Whether souls truly existed, or if there was a place for them to go.
He couldn’t say.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Yuri shook his head.
There was no time to ponder such things.
The war was still raging, and the Anti-Empire Alliance that had followed him was locked in fierce battle with the giants.
But his heart felt lighter.
Perhaps this was the true gift Katrina had given him.
“Your Highness!”
Jared, who had barely caught up, shouted.
“Take it slow! Who did you just fight? The ground was shaking!”
“Just now?”
Yuri chuckled softly.
“I met Katrina.”
“Huh?”
Jared tilted his head in confusion.
“You mean the one who makes those amazing breads?”
When Yuri met Katrina, Jared had been with him. They had eaten plenty of the bread she baked.
“Yeah.”
“You’re joking, right?”
“No.”
Jared quickly fell into step beside Yuri, matching his pace.
It was a relief that Jared hadn’t seen the changed Katrina. To him, she would forever remain beautiful in his memory.
“She asked me to send her regards.”
“Really?”
Jared was silent for a moment, then nodded.
He seemed to have a rough idea of what had happened.
“The bread was delicious.”
“I’ll buy you some next time.”
“That won’t taste the same.”
“No.”
Yuri smiled.
“It will.”
Still, countless enemies stood before them. The first line of giants was only the beginning.
Behind them, monstrous creatures—so twisted they could hardly be called human—formed wall upon wall.
And beyond that.
Yuri could sense Cedric’s presence waiting for him.
“There are so many.”
“That’s true.”
Yuri adjusted his gear.
“But you know, they’re probably thinking the same thing.”
He tapped Jared’s shoulder and gestured behind them.
Jared turned around.
“Ah…”
Just like the imperial army blocking their path, an overwhelming force of anti-imperial allied troops surged forward like a tidal wave.
It seemed everyone on the continent who could wield a sword had gathered.
Every time swordsmen like Moyongchan, Hose, and Francesco—the elite ten—swung their blades, enemies shattered like puppets. Knights of equal skill followed, hunting down the giants.
“We’re no less impressive.”
“Right?”
Yuri and Jared looked ahead again.
“Who are we?”
“Yuri and Jared.”
“What?”
“Slip of the tongue. Your Highness and Jared.”
“Exactly. And we’re the vanguard of Briole. So, what’s next?”
“As vanguard, we move forward.”
“Right. Let’s push ahead before our friends catch up.”
“But what about Laurent? Isn’t he coming?”
“Look to your left.”
“Whoa, when did he get here?”
“He’s been standing there for a while.”
Yuri took the first step forward.
In that moment, he stood at the very front of this massive army.
“Let’s go!”
Yuri charged ahead.
The two followed close behind.
The advance had begun once more.