"Damn it! Damn it! Those monsters! I never expected even Olivier's clones to be unable to defeat them. I have to escape to the center!"
Nelson fled in disgrace.
At this point, he no longer cared about defeating Alpha and the others—he only hoped they would be distracted by the magical energy absorbed at the sanctuary's core and give up on pursuing him.
After all, though he could not die within the sanctuary, he still felt unbearable pain whenever he was decapitated. Among the twelve knights of the order, he was no warrior but a researcher.
"Besides, I need to come up with an excuse, or else those irritating people will seize the chance to make trouble for me. Yes, I'll say I lured the enemy into the sanctuary and set a trap to uncover his true identity. Learning that man's real identity might even count as a great contribution."
He fabricated an excuse in mere seconds.
Nelson couldn't help but admire his own brilliance.
He raised a hand and touched the bald part of his head, thinking that while he hadn't grown stronger, he had certainly grown smarter.
However, when he rushed into the sanctuary's core—
Unexpectedly, he found two people sitting across from each other.
Leon and Aurora were playing cards.
The analysis of the sanctuary's structure had finished earlier than expected, and waiting idly for Alpha's arrival had grown dull, so Leon had passed the time by playing cards with Aurora.
Aurora, who hadn't experienced anything new in a thousand years, had taken great interest in the game. The two had already dueled several rounds. Though she was losing, her skills were indeed improving.
To counter Leon's summoning deck, she had decided to build an explosive deck to determine the victor right from the start.
"Ah, looks like someone's here."
"Eh? Already?"
"Half an hour has passed—not that fast."
Leon gathered the cards and stored them away, while Aurora looked wistfully at the deck she had just finished building.
Though she had longed for freedom for millennia, whenever she was with Leon, she wished time could pass more slowly.
But since the moment had arrived, there was nothing to be done.
Both turned their eyes forward, expecting the arrival of the girl who could draw the holy sword—yet instead…
What appeared was a bald, fat uncle.
"A bald man?"
"Bald?"
Leon and Aurora exchanged glances. This was a little different from what they had expected.
"Is this bald uncle your companion?"
"No. All my companions are beautiful young ladies. This baldy has nothing to do with me."
Leon waved his hand dismissively, stating that none of his subordinates had looks below ninety points. More accurately, he had no male subordinates at all, much less bald uncles or the like.
"Aurora? Leon? Why are you at the sanctuary's core?"
Nelson also stared at the two in shock. Strange events had unfolded one after another today.
Since becoming one of the twelve knights of the order, he hadn't faced such a difficult situation in nearly a century.
Yet another thought stoked his anger even further.
Leon was handsome, with a full head of hair, and strong. Surely, he must be popular with women.
Still, the sanctuary was his territory, and now was the perfect chance to vent his rage.
"Even if I don't know how you entered, I cannot let you leave. No matter how high your status or strength may be in the outside world, here you're nothing but an ordinary man who can't even use magic power!"
"Die!!!"
Nelson relied on the sanctuary's magic to materialize a massive greatsword, then lunged ferociously at Leon.
Leon raised an eyebrow, summoned magical power directly from the spatial rift within his heart, reinforced his right hand, and grabbed the blade of the greatsword outright.
"What?!"
"You're just a baldy. Who allowed you to speak to me in that tone?"
With a squeeze of his right hand, Leon shattered the greatsword. In Nelson's eyes, that hand looked as terrifying as a dragon's claw.
Leon then seized his bald head, crushed it with brutal force, and kicked him dozens of meters away.
"Huh? He's not dead yet?"
Leon was briefly surprised when the man actually rose from the ground unscathed. He realized this was only a clone. "The real body must be hidden somewhere else in this sanctuary."
"What is going on? Who are you?"
Nelson broke into a cold sweat. He had never imagined being killed by a mere head-grab at their first encounter.
But at that moment, the Night Raid girls arrived as well. The instant they saw Leon, they bowed in unison.
"Master Midnight!"
"What? You're Midnight?!"
Nelson's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
The [Cult of Diablos] had been trying for years to uncover Midnight's true identity, but no matter how much money or resources they spent, they had learned nothing.
This man was so shrouded in mystery that there had never been a single clue to who he really was.
Nelson trembled. He never expected that the prince of the Magic Kingdom was the leader of Night Raid!
He had to escape!
Now that he knew such vital information, he had to get out alive and report Midnight's true identity to the other twelve knights.
Even if this secret confrontation failed, as long as they knew who he was, they could mobilize the power of the surface world to attack him.
With the cult's influence, they could brand this prince as a heretic and have him punished by all.
But—
"Think of my identity as a parting gift on your way to hell. Now that you know who I am, I cannot allow you to live in this world any longer."
"You—you can't kill me! Inside the sanctuary—"
"And I have already found your true body."
Under Nelson's horrified gaze, Leon opened a spatial gate and drew forth Nelson's real body, which had been hidden away in a safehouse within the sanctuary, waiting for the incident to pass.
The entire sanctuary spanned only a few thousand square meters. With Leon's spatial perception, he could survey and cover nearly all of it.
There was nowhere to hide.
Pfft—!
The sound of flesh being pierced rang out.
Nelson stared blankly at his chest. Leon's arm had pierced him like a lance, and the hand that emerged from his back clutched a crimson, beating heart.
His own heart.
Crunch!
Crushed to pieces.
Nelson: "Guha! Activate the self-destruct system of the holy sword!"
Leon: "Huh?"
Suddenly, the sound of shattering echoed behind him.
The holy sword meant to sever the chains and free the sanctuary had been broken into fragments of metal.
Nelson: "Hahahahaha! You're finished! All of you will be trapped inside the sanctuary forever, never to leave!"
He wanted to see Leon's face twisted in despair and rage before death, but to his shock, the man's expression remained calm.
Did he not understand the situation?
The holy sword that could liberate the sanctuary had just been destroyed.
He couldn't possibly escape now!
This small world would become a prison and a tomb for all of them.
If not for his own lack of strength, Nelson would have wanted to shout and explain just how dire the situation was, so that Leon could truly understand its severity.
And yet—
"Is that all?"
Leon sighed and shook his head.
"Looks like she'll be getting some fresh air again…"
"W-what…"
In the final second before death, Nelson saw Leon draw forth a strange weapon.
Even in that last moment, fear overcame him—as if his very soul would be torn apart by it.
Leon: "Feast time, EA."
(End of Chapter)