Though Oren had heard before that while Elvenfolk couldn’t learn Dragons’ secret arts, they’d painstakingly studied draconic runes to disrupt those very arts—reversing or nullifying their magic effects.
He never expected to witness it firsthand.
Watching the Knight of the Human Hammer emerge from the smoke, Oren clenched his teeth slightly. The Alliance knights, recognizing Javier’s face, stumbled backward several steps in terror—they seemed to mistake him for Oren’s ally. After all, that face wasn’t exactly welcoming.
Yet one glance at Javier told Oren what Hilwen had done. She’d used runes on her crossbow bolt to swap Dysaia and Javier’s positions: Dysaia trapped inside Oren’s earlier confinement space, Javier freed.
But why? What purpose did summoning a madman like Javier serve?
As Oren pondered this, he saw Hilwen slowly drag her Longsword across the ground, approaching him.
"Lord Oren," she stated flatly upon reaching him, "hand Lacres over."
Oren glanced at the unconscious Lacres slumped on his shoulder, then smiled.
"My apologies. I’m rather cruel—I’d prefer not to reunite you siblings just yet."
"I admire your sarcasm and dark humor. Though it’s not funny."
*Nor did I expect it to be,* Oren thought silently. His goal now was to stall. Dysaia wasn’t dead; she’d break free eventually. He and Yamwen just needed to hold Hilwen off—or retreat entirely.
Before he could act, Hilwen’s lips curled into a faint smile.
"And I believe you’ll have no choice but to reunite us."
She raised her hand, crushing a small orb. Shards scattered, releasing countless whispers that swirled with dim light—coalescing into a breathtaking cosmic spectacle.
"These are Demons’ soul fragments," Hilwen murmured. "Forged by Elvenfolk in the Ancient Epoch from slain Demons’ souls. Once activated, their whispers drive every demon-blooded creature within a hundred miles into a frenzy."
*Frenzy?*
Oren’s gaze snapped to Javier.
*Ugh... Aaah... AAAAAH!*
Javier clutched his head, eyes blazing crimson. Fangs erupted from his jaw as his body melted into oozing sludge. A putrid stench flooded the lawn.
*So that’s why she freed him.*
"The Knights of the Human Hammer possess unbreakable souls," Hilwen continued, discarding the shards. "The ancient Elvenfolk acknowledged that. But even unbreakable things have solutions."
*SKREEE—!*
Javier’s body exploded. The sludge surged, merging into a grotesque mass larger than a stable—a pulsating, jelly-like blob studded with bulging eyes. Twenty mouths gaped at the ends of trunk-like appendages, dripping violet and gray ichor. At its apex, half of Javier’s face remained, mouth stretched in a silent scream.
***THOOM!***
The abomination swung an arm—still gripping its Stone Hammer—and crushed an armored Alliance knight into crimson mist. It oozed forward, slurping up the remains, armor and all.
*She triggered the Knight’s frenzy to make humans slaughter each other.*
Oren turned his gaze from Javier’s distorted face to Hilwen. Her expression remained icy as she lifted her Longsword.
"Lord Oren," she said, "the time for choice is now. Abandon my brother to save them? Or protect him—and fight me?"
Oren saw Yamwen and Lontan barely dodging the creature’s flailing limbs. Severed arms regrew within seconds.
*Demons’ kin?*
*To conquer non-humans, humanity broke taboos. They tainted themselves with demonic power—and cursed their noblest souls.*
*Is this the end of that curse?*
*How ironic. The glorious Knight, humanity’s ideal made flesh, now a mindless beast fouler than the creatures he hunted.*
A wry smile touched Oren’s lips.
*Yamwen won’t hold out much longer.*
*And the Elvenfolk...*
Gritting his teeth, Oren dropped Lacres to the ground.
"Whatever else, Lady Hilwen, I’ve learned one thing." He spun toward the battle, hand gripping his Longsword’s hilt. "Your race isn’t so different from humans. There are despicable Elves... and noble ones worthy of the name ‘Elven’."
He sprinted toward Yamwen. Hilwen watched him go, momentarily stunned. Then her eyes settled on her unconscious brother’s scarred face.
"However you spin it, Lord Oren," she whispered, hoisting Lacres onto her back, "you abandoned him. You chose those you know over a stranger..."
A bitter smile flickered across her lips as she vanished into the night.
"Perhaps humans and Elves truly aren’t so different after all."
