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Like a girl walking her dog, Yuna tugged Cyclone along. They slipped through the underground labyrinth and soon stepped out from the bottom of the valley.

They crawled out of a small hole. Outside, the sky was pitch‑black, with only a full moon hanging there.

No stars. Dark clouds smothered the whole sky.

Right in front of them stood a jet‑black castle, its walls wrapped in thick vines. It looked terrifying, but that only made it feel more mysterious.

There was no town in sight. Cyclone remembered Daniel saying demon towns lay between Seven Sins City and the Tower of Sloth, the safest stretch deep inside their territory.

Step by step, as they walked forward, Cyclone’s mood grew more tangled with every pace.

Yuna bringing him here meant she still hadn’t decided to run away with him. But at least she also hadn’t decided to kill him. Not yet.

“The location of King Allen.”

He believed that was the only reason he was still alive.

How was he supposed to break out of this mess?

He had to win Yuna’s heart, and he had to survive.

Following behind Yuna, Cyclone kept turning it over in his head.

Without him noticing, they passed into the demons’ main city—Seven Sins City.

It was bigger than he’d imagined. From the great bridge down into the main hall, demon troops held their posts tight.

Among them, he even spotted a few magical beasts he’d seen back in his hometown, though these ones looked thoroughly tamed.

They turned into a narrow alley, then left, then right. Cyclone was already losing his sense of direction.

At last they stopped before a huge gate, guarded on both sides by two monsters.

Bull heads, human bodies, massive axes in hand. They barred Yuna from entering.

“He’s coming in too.”

So they weren’t blocking Yuna—they were blocking Cyclone behind her.

When they heard Yuna, the two minotaur warriors finally stepped aside and opened a path.

Entering Seven Sins City’s throne room, the first thing Cyclone felt was that the décor was trying way too hard to look impressive.

A queen’s throne whose meaning he couldn’t figure out, and rows upon rows of demon statues whose designs he couldn’t read at all.

As they came in, a man was just about to leave.

He was a handsome, well‑built man with a relaxed smile. Cyclone remembered him—King Allen’s mortal enemy, the one who’d forced Chio to make a move: Arrogance.

“Where are you going?”

“You’ll have to ask him about that.”

Arrogance looked toward the center of the throne room, at the man seated on the throne.

“Tell Sloth to keep it going. We’ll buy as much time as we can.”

“Yes, my lord.”

He glanced at Yuna only once, then went right back to talking with a guy who was obviously just a low‑rank soldier.

At that moment, Yuna reached out and grabbed Arrogance’s arm.

“Arrogance, stay.”

“…Oh?”

He hesitated for a few seconds. Then, just because Yuna said so, Arrogance’s smile took on an even slyer edge.

As Yuna walked closer to the throne, the male demon in black armor sitting there cut off whatever he’d been discussing and turned to her instead.

“Yuna, time’s short. Pack your things. Now.”

Just from that line, Cyclone could already tell what was going on.

“W‑why?”

Looked like in the few hours Yuna had been gone, something big had shifted in Seven Sins City.

“Arrogance’s tactics won’t be carried out. The people have already started migrating toward the Western Sea.”

“Yeah. Sloth’s got plenty of ships. As long as we buy a little more time, we’ll be fine.”

The beauty answering Asmod was someone Cyclone knew—Lust.

“Since Allen’s army wants a war of attrition, we’ll keep dragging them at the north and south fronts…”

“See that~? In the end, I actually lost to my own people~”

Arrogance suddenly cut in.

“Up till now, it’s been demon warriors doing all the dying. That’s the price of a surprise attack. The deeper Allen’s army pushes into our lines, the better. Once King Allen dies, their momentum will crumble, and they’ll all turn into birds in a cage~”

“That’s enough, Arrogance! I acknowledge your brilliant bait tactics, but… I’m still the master of Seven Sins City!”

At that moment, Yuna stepped forward and flung Cyclone out in front. The vines binding him loosened at the same time.

“He’s Allen’s hero—the one who knows where King Allen is.”

In an instant, the whole hall went silent.

The situation wasn’t great, but if Cyclone showed weakness now, they’d probably torture the truth out of him. The Allen army might not even get the chance to rescue him before he was already dead.

“Tch! I won’t bow my head to evil!”

Cold sweat slid down his back, but Cyclone still forced the words out loud and firm.

He pulled a comically serious face at Asmod.

Asmod didn’t even take a second to answer him.

“Relax. We don’t even have time to make you bow. Drag him out and kill him.”

“Father!”

Yuna shouted as she took another step forward. And in that instant, Cyclone finally understood who was sitting on that throne.

Before Yuna could say anything else, Cyclone was already in front of her, dropping to his knees.

“Greetings, Father‑in‑law!”

Watching Cyclone kneel and kowtow over and over, everyone in the hall fell silent yet again.