Raon slowly lowered his eyes.
'It's starting to spread gradually.'
He could feel the energy from Chamber's necklace worn by Rensia flowing towards the artifacts forming the Five-Star Formation.
"Hmm..."
Rensia blinked her green eyes after examining her own body.
"The pain isn't too severe. I can bear it!"
She smiled while touching the black heart protruding from her waist.
"It's fine now, but it'll get worse soon."
Raon shook his head with a bitter look. Though it was bearable now as the mana was still spreading, Rensia would experience extreme pain once the Five-Star Formation connected.
"It's okay! I can endure anything! Because we're together."
Rensia held his hand tightly and gave a faint smile. She seemed to be steeling herself by thinking of her siblings.
"Rensia..."
Runaan pressed her lips tightly after hearing Rensia's words.
"That kid is making me tear up."
Martha furrowed her brows deeply while looking at Rensia.
-This king shall henceforth refer to that little one as the young old lady!
Wrath declared that he had decided on "young old lady" as Rensia's nickname and smacked his lips.
'It suits her well, but she'll hate it.'
Raon shook his head, saying it wasn't good.
-Hmph. Once this king has decided, that's final.
Wrath snorted, saying the decision had already been made.
-However, the mana's movement is quite fast.
Wrath rolled his eyes, saying the mana was moving faster than expected.
-For a hastily created spell, it's of high caliber.
'Well, it's a spell created by the Archmage and her disciples working through the night.'
Montiro is a large city befitting a tourist destination. To envelop this vast land and sea with a magic circle as quickly as possible, Chamber and Balkar's magicians developed the spell without even sleeping.
-I'm looking forward to it.
Wrath briefly smacked his lips while looking up at the air.
-The sight of those ugly things that insult demonic energy crumbling, that is.
He flashed his blue eyes, seemingly still harboring anger towards the Black Tower.
'Me too.'
Raon nodded with calm eyes.
'I want to crush everything without leaving a trace.'
He thought there were people with integrity in the Five Demons, like the Axe King of the South-North Union or the grandfather of the Holy Sword Alliance. However, the Black Tower and Derus Robert were exceptions. Those two factions were evil spirits that had abandoned humanity and were stained with the word 'demon'. It was right to eliminate them all without sparing anyone.
-It seems your anger has ripened now.
Wrath said it was anger he liked and drew a faint smile.
'My anger has been from the beginning...'
Raon was about to mention Derus's name but stopped and turned his gaze to the right.
'It's reached the edges now.'
He could feel Chamber's mana flowing from the center of Montiro had reached the artifacts forming the Five-Star Formation. This was where it truly began.
"Ugh..."
Rensia bit her lip with her head lowered, seemingly starting to feel the pain now.
"Bear with it a little longer."
Raon passed Glacier's frost to Rensia. He used the cold energy to alleviate her pain while compressing the black heart.
'This isn't easy either.'
He couldn't move a step from this fountain as he had to maintain the core of the magic circle stably while also taking care of Rensia. If someone were to disturb it, he would cough up blood and collapse.
-Are you really alright?
Wrath narrowed his eyes as if worried.
'Yes.'
Raon nodded without hesitation. He smiled faintly while looking at Runaan and Martha sitting across from him.
'The ice cream girl and beef girl you like so much will protect us.'
* * *
"Rensia..."
Martha chewed her lips while watching Rensia endure the excruciating pain.
'Every time I see that child, I'm reminded of my younger days.'
When her village was massacred by the White Blood Religion and her mother was kidnapped, she thought she was left alone in this world. At that time, being young and weak, she desperately racked her brain and killed even the lowest-ranking Blood Demons while gritting her teeth.
If she hadn't met her father when she was in mortal danger, she would have either become a Blood Demon by now or died as food for them.
'No, Rensia has it worse than I did.'
She had entered Zieghart at a younger age than Rensia when she was saved. Though she worried about her mother, her life itself was prosperous and comfortable. But Rensia had lived until now bearing only pain without receiving help from anyone.
Thinking of her life, forcing smiles while taking care of siblings not related by blood, made Martha's heart ache as if it was being torn apart.
"Hey."
Martha sat on the bench next to the fountain and jerked her chin at Runaan.
"You're thinking the same thing as me, right?"
"Probably..."
Runaan nodded heavily while watching Rensia trembling all over.
'She's a brave child...'
Much more than me.
I was trapped in a cage for over 10 years, caught in Syria's grasp, unable to even think of soaring.
If Raon, a savior, hadn't appeared to open the cage door and let me fly into the sky, I would still be unable to think of leaving the cage. Rensia, too, had lived in pain all her life, caught in the clutches of the Black Tower from birth, similar to me.
But she didn't give up, and didn't lose her kind nature of protecting her siblings and thinking of others first.
She was a much braver child than me, who had given up on everything and remained trapped.
'I'll protect her.'
She wanted to make Rensia smile not with a false smile, but with the innocent smile of a girl her age. Of course, she herself was still awkward at smiling.
"Let's do this."
Runaan clenched her fist, turning her back on Raon and Rensia.
"No matter what."
"Of course."
Martha raised her fist, saying there was no need to even say it. Thud. Runaan nodded and extended her fist towards Martha's.
"I win..."
"You bastard!"
* * *
Raon slowly opened his eyes.
'It's going smoothly.'
With Rensia as the core, the Five-Star Formation's magic circle began to change the flow of mana in Montiro.
-I'm starting to feel the demonic energy.
Wrath nodded, saying demonic energy was finally emerging in Montiro.
'Yes. Death energy is moving too.'
Death energy that hadn't existed in Montiro until now was rising from beneath the ground. It meant cracks had appeared in the magic circle connecting Montiro and the Black Tower. Looking at Rensia's necklace, one-third of the transparent jewel was filled with flames.
In 40 minutes, a dimensional gate leading to the Black Tower would open here.
"Hnngh..."
Rensia seemed to be in more pain, biting her lip deeply.
'It must be hard, but you have to endure.'
If even Chamber said it was very painful, it must be unbearable pain for a child who hadn't received training. He added Garunua's wind to Glacier's cold energy to reduce Rensia's pain a little more.
"Haa..."
Rensia bent her waist, exhaling a low breath as if the pain had lessened a bit.
"You've done well. Now... Hm?"
Raon was about to praise Rensia for enduring well but quickly turned his gaze.
-They're moving.
'Already...'
Though only 26 minutes had passed, busy movements could be felt throughout Montiro.
It seemed those with keen senses or strong demonized humans had started to move.
'This means they're stronger than we predicted.'
Chamber had predicted that the Black Tower's demonized humans would discover the problem with the magic circle in about 30 minutes.
But the fact that they noticed 4 minutes earlier than that meant it was right to think they were stronger than we had thought.
'Then they'll try contacting the Black Tower, and when they can't connect, it'll be around 28 minutes. The battle itself will start at 30 minutes.'
When about half of the flames in Rensia's necklace had risen, shockwaves and explosions could be felt occurring here and there in Montiro. It was the start of battle. No, war. Martha and Runaan seemed to feel it too, as they took out swords from subspace and stood in front and behind Raon and Rensia.
"Urgh!"
"W-What's going on!"
"Is it war?"
"What's suddenly happening!"
The residents and tourists were confused by the sudden situation and rolled their eyes, not knowing what to do.
"You'd better leave this place."
"Go to the mountains..."
Martha and Runaan raised their fingers to inform the residents and tourists of the pre-prepared evacuation sites. Raon watched Runaan and Martha helping others evacuate and furrowed his brows.
'It's begun.'
He could feel the warriors guarding the Five-Star Formation starting to fight with the Black Tower's demonized humans. They were all at least Master-level strong, and there seemed to be some Grandmaster-level demonized humans as well.
'Fortunately, they're not coming this way.'
After the magic circle was activated, the energy from the artifacts forming the Five-Star Formation was stronger than the core, so the demonized humans all seemed to have rushed to where the Five-Star Formation was.
'It's faster than expected, but there doesn't seem to be a big problem.'
He could feel the swordsmen of the Light Wind Palace and Central Martial Palace ambushing the demonized humans while blending in with the tourists. Though the Black Tower's demonized humans moved faster than predicted, thanks to thorough preparation, our side was overwhelming in the small-scale battles.
'If we just buy time like this...'
-It doesn't seem like it'll be that easy.
Wrath snorted and raised his hand. From the direction he pointed, a white-haired man with a greatsword on his shoulder and a tall man leaning on a long spear were walking towards them.
"So this place. No, Rensia was the core."
Calob, one of Montiro's heroes wielding the greatsword, smirked.
"How foolish to do such a thing even after seeing your sister melt and die from demonic energy."
Felix, another hero who implanted black hearts in people, shook his chin while looking down at Rensia.
"Ugh..."
Rensia trembled her small shoulders, seemingly frightened by Calob and Felix.
"It's okay."
Raon shook his head, holding Rensia's trembling hand tighter.
"Let's trust the pretty sisters."
* * *
Martha narrowed her eyes watching Felix and Calob approaching slowly.
'They're strong as rumored.'
She confirmed the strength of these two through black market information. Pinnacle of Master level. They were strong ones who had reached the same realm as herself. However, that was only the strength that could be seen on the surface. She couldn't know how much power these guys were actually hiding.
"Do as usual..."
Runaan nodded slightly, as if saying not to waver and fight her own battle.
"I know!"
Martha snorted at Runaan. Usually, she was frustrating, but when standing behind, there was nothing more reassuring.
"Long words aren't necessary when it's so obvious. Kill them."
As Calob pointed his greatsword, pitch-black demonic beasts sprang out from behind him like shadows. The demonic beasts flashed ruby-red eyes and rushed towards Raon and Rensia. Just as their yellow teeth were about to reach Raon, the tourists spread around the fountain simultaneously drew their swords.
The swordsmen of Light Wind Squad 1. They sprang out as if they had been waiting and completely cut down the demonic beasts aiming for Raon and Rensia.
The demonic beasts melted away without leaving a single piece before the Masters' brilliant Astral Energy.
"The Light Wind Palace of Zieghart? You've prepared quite thoroughly."
Calob frowned, seeing the crest engraved on the swordsmen's swords.
"Do you know what you're doing now? You're no different from calling the Black Tower. No, the Devildom here."
He snorted, saying they were digging their own graves.
"Calob. Don't waste words."
Felix shook his head, scraping the ground with his spear shaft.
"Lady Rensia. I thought you were a person who knew gratitude, but you're worse than pigs and dogs."
He shot a sharp gaze at Rensia, who was squinting her eyes trying to endure the pain.
"Since you want to follow the same path as your sister, I have no choice. I'll melt your bones and flesh in demonic energy just like her."
Felix raised a dreadful killing intent as if trying to scare Rensia into stopping the magic's activation.
"Hnng..."
Rensia shed tears, trembling more than before as if reminded of when her sister died.
"It's alright."
Raon smiled, holding Rensia's hand tighter.
"Don't cry! These sisters will trample that lanky bastard."
Martha rushed out, crushing the ground, and swung her sword down at Felix. The steadfastness of the Titan Aura imbued her blade with a heaviness like the sky. Felix couldn't prevent his ankles from sinking into the ground even though he successfully defended against Martha's sword strike.
"Lord Calob."
Felix called Calob's name, his hand trembling as he gripped the spear shaft.
"I know!"
Calob nodded and charged towards the fountain. Just as his greatsword was about to fall on Rensia's head, a wall of ice shot up. Calob's sword couldn't break through the silver frost wall and got stuck halfway, unable to move.
"If you aim for that child, your head will crack..."
As Runaan stomped her foot, the ground turned silver and began to freeze Calob's lower body.
"So, it's the Miss Rakshasa and the Blue Moon Sword of the Zieghart family."
Calob nodded, saying he understood now.
"This is tough, isn't it? These kids are at the pinnacle of Master level."
He gestured towards Felix.
"I agree. Their martial prowess is beyond what we've heard..."
Felix let out a low groan as he was pushed back by Martha's sword strike.
"Release the demonic energy."
"Should have done that from the start!"
As soon as the order to release demonic energy was given, black wings sprouted from Felix's back, and black horns shot up above Calob's forehead. With the emergence of wings and horns, the two's energy amplified drastically, burning the surrounding mana black. It was the aura of Grandmaster level.
Martha was thrown back by Felix's spear shaft, and the silver frost pressuring Calob crumbled like dry leaves.
"Let's end this quickly, it's bothersome."
Demonic energy condensed at the tip of Calob's swinging greatsword, forming a massive sphere. It was an Astral Ring, proof of a Grandmaster.
"Hmm..."
Runaan tried to defend with an ice wall but had to step back, overwhelmed by the Astral Ring's destructive power. Felix too wrapped his spear shaft in black flame made of demonic energy and pressured Martha.
"Tch!"
Martha could only focus on defense, deflecting the incoming black flame.
"Aren't you going to stand up?"
Felix jerked his chin at Raon.
"Why should I?"
Raon opened his eyes slowly and sneered.
"Your cherished subordinates will die if you stay like that."
Felix furrowed his brows as he thinly sliced Martha's waist.
"No, they absolutely won't die."
Raon ended his words firmly, as if he had seen the future.
"Ah, so you can't stand up."
Felix smacked his lips long, as if he had just realized.
"To think an opportunity to kill a Transcendent would come like this."
He extended even darker black flame with a chilling gaze.
"Even if I could stand up, I would have entrusted this fight to those two."
Raon shook his chin, still maintaining his composure.
"The experience those kids have accumulated is too precious to be wasted on the likes of you."
He smiled faintly while looking at Martha and Runaan's backs.
"You trust those wenches enough to bet your life?"
Calob let out a hollow laugh as if it was absurd.
"It's not about trust."
Raon shook his head calmly.
"It's simply the truth."
"You sure have a way with words!"
Martha pushed back Felix's spear shaft with strength, seemingly moved by Raon's words conveying trust beyond mere faith.
"My heart is stirred..."
Runaan too raised an octagonal shield of cold energy able to withstand Calob's Astral Ring. Martha and Runaan's eyes emitted an increasingly serene light, unbroken even before the strong.
As if sensing their master's desire to win, brilliant radiance began to blaze atop the swords held by the two.