“Wow—loyalty bar maxed? I drop one line and his hackles spike. This Demon King’s kinda badass.” Lian quipped as she slipped aside from the horned beast’s overhead cleave.

His strike failed, and the long-horned brute halted, anger simmering in his stare.

“Our master has never fallen! Take back your words, intruder!”

“Hey, hey— I never said your master died. I said I came to kill him. You chopped my words to fit.”

“Silence!” he barked, a drumbeat in a storming chest. “Insult my master again, and I—Edmund, one of his Four Knights—won’t abide it.”

He drove both greatswords into the floor. Yellow ripples ran down the steel and sank like dunes into the earth.

Domain: Molten Underworld…

Amber veins lit the room, tracing the stone like molten roots. Heat climbed like a sun at noon, pressing sweat from the walls.

Lian felt little discomfort; this body wasn’t just for show.

“Oh my— a Domain skill, that’s rare. I’ll offer a small courtesy in return.”

She raised her palm above her crown, a sprig of green mana twining her fingers.

Absolute Zero.

Her voice stayed light, but power gushed from her hand like a burst dam.

It wasn’t the green of growth. It turned the blue of ice.

Blue mana struck the ceiling, ringing like glass. Layers of ice seeded and spread, a winter quilt stitching overhead.

Heat slammed into cold. Mist boiled up, thick as river fog, swallowing their battlefield.

Edmund stared, stunned, the shock stamped across his face.

“How can you convert natural mana? Who in the world are you?”

“Huh? You know about that? I’ve done it since the day I was born.”

The disdain left Edmund’s eyes. He went grave, drew his blades, and pointed them at Lian.

“Tell me—what are you to the Demon King?”

“No idea. I don’t even know your master.”

“I see… Maybe I overthought it.”

He sank into thought, letting the fight drift like smoke.

Lian’s temper pricked. When did it become their turn to look down on her? Usually, she looked down on them.

“Hey, big guy! We fighting or not?”

“Intruder,” Edmund met her gaze, his voice steady as stone.

“I don’t know who you are. But someone who wields natural mana to perfection isn’t mine to defeat.”

“So I’ll say only this. Leave this place. I’ll apologize for my rudeness.”

The sudden turn left Lian blinking. How do you chicken out mid-fight?

“Uh… big guy, you’re really done? I haven’t played enough.”

“I won’t die for nothing. But if you insist on breaking in, I’ll cast this life away.”

So forcing entry still triggers the fight, right? What’s to choose? You charge.

“I can’t agree. I’m going in today, no matter what.”

She drove mana into her soles. In a gust, she sprinted for the great door behind Edmund.

Seeing her force the breach, Edmund sighed.

“Forgive me, my lord. I failed to guard your return.”

He raised his greatswords high. Then he flipped one and drove it back into his own chest.

Thick black vapor poured from the wound, drifting like night ink.

Lian saw the self‑harm and lunged to stop him. Too late. The blade had already passed through his heart.

A slice of regret stirred in her. And—oddly—a thread of reluctance.

The black vapor wrapped Edmund tight, a cocoon of shadow. His skin lost all color, like bark drained of sap.

He became a beast, mind gone, eyes burning with predatory red. He felt like a night wolf, out hunting, cruel and violent.

“Awooo!” His long howl shook the air; the sound waves rattled the room.

Lian faced the beast Edmund had become, her skull throbbing. Not from the howl, but from alien feelings rising.

They made her sick, made her taste the fear of the unknown. She felt a link to Edmund, but memory said no.

That limbo between illusion and reality frightened her. One day, it might trick her and break her mind.

Her unease was hers alone. Edmund’s attack didn’t stop.

He dropped to hands and feet, a wolf coiled to pounce. All four limbs drove, and he launched straight at Lian.

Lian clenched through the ache and slipped right.

Even as a beast, Edmund’s fighting instinct didn’t fade. He saw her dodge, then slashed left with his extended hand.

Black vapor coiled his fingers; his left hand slammed Lian’s abdomen. She flew and hit the wall, a thud like a drum.

Lian pushed up, pain ringing her ribs. The impact hadn’t truly hurt. The black vapor had.

When his fist touched her, the black air clung to her skin. For a breath, her organs felt aflame. She didn’t want that taste again.

She watched the wound-born darkness on Edmund and smirked at herself.

“Is this what you get for running your mouth? Looks like… I went too far.”