The City of Peace was known throughout the Empire as a sacred place.
Its white temples, its silent gardens, and the endless prayers dedicated to the Goddess of Peace attracted pilgrims from across the empire. There had never been conflicts there. Never scandals. Never wars.
It was perfect.
And precisely for that reason, no one suspected it.
Caravans entered and left every day under the blessing of the priests. Orphans were received into the temples. Donations constantly arrived from noble families and devoted merchants.
On the surface, it was a quiet city.
Too quiet.
But beneath the marble-covered streets and candle-lit altars, another world existed.
One hidden.
Underground passages crossed the entire city like black veins beneath a living body. There were no hymns or prayers there. Only demonic circles engraved on stone, cages covered in dried blood, and priests who had replaced faith with absolute devotion to demons.
The missing never truly left the city.
They simply ceased to exist to the outside world.
Forbidden rituals were performed every night in the depths. Human sacrifices. Experimentation with demonic mana. Incomplete summoning rituals that twisted bodies and minds into something unrecognizable.
And while above, the bells rang announcing peace...
Below the city, the screams never stopped.
The light of morning had barely begun to cover the white roofs of the City of Peace when Lusian appeared on the horizon.
There was no warning.
No negotiation.
His black cloak absorbed the light of dawn as he advanced directly toward the walls. His eyes were fixed forward, consumed by a single intention.
Kill.
Alejandro, Leonardo, Emily, and the rest could barely keep up with him. No one tried to stop him. No one even dared to speak to him.
The pressure surrounding Lusian was different.
Unstable.
Emily watched him for a few seconds from behind and felt a chill. It wasn't just rage. It was something deeper.
Desperation.
The guards at the entrance reacted too late.
"Stop hi—!"
Dainslein cut through them before they could finish the sentence.
The first body fell in two pieces.
The second lost its head.
The third didn't even manage to raise its weapon before a wave of darkness dragged it against the wall.
Lusian did not slow down.
He wasn't even fighting.
He was just moving forward.
Umber leapt into the barricades and tore them apart as if they were paper. Thunder broke through the defensive line wrapped in black lightning, exploding carts, doors, and soldiers in a single brutal charge.
From within the city, the bells began to ring.
The kind of sound not meant for panic… but to keep it under control.
The panic, however, was already spreading through the streets.
The inhabitants did not understand what was happening. Some priests stepped out onto elevated corridors, raising their hands in an attempt to calm the population.
"Keep calm! It's an external incident!" they shouted.
Some priests tried to call for calm. Others retreated in terror when, beneath the destroyed structures, symbols that should never have existed in a sacred place began to appear.
The city's mask was starting to break.
And Lusian kept advancing toward the center.
Like an unstoppable calamity.
The City of Peace was known throughout the Empire as a sacred place.
Its white temples, its silent gardens, and the endless prayers dedicated to the Goddess of Peace attracted pilgrims from all over the empire. There were never conflicts there. Never scandals. Never wars.
It was perfect.
And precisely for that reason, no one suspected it.
Caravans entered and left every day under the blessing of the priests. Orphans were taken into the temples. Donations constantly arrived from noble families and devoted merchants.
On the surface, it was a calm city.
Too calm.
But beneath the marble-covered streets and candle-lit altars, another world existed.
One hidden.
Underground passages crossed the entire city like black veins beneath a living body. There were no hymns or prayers there. Only demonic circles engraved on stone, cages covered in dried blood, and priests who had replaced faith with absolute devotion to demons.
The missing never truly left the city.
They simply stopped existing to the outside world.
Forbidden rituals were performed every night in the depths. Human sacrifices. Experimentation with demonic mana. Incomplete summons that warped bodies and minds until they became unrecognizable.
And while above, bells rang announcing peace…
Beneath the city, the screams never stopped.
The morning light had barely begun to cover the white rooftops of the City of Peace when Lusian appeared on the horizon.
There was no warning.
No negotiation.
His black cloak absorbed the light of dawn as he advanced directly toward the walls. His eyes were fixed ahead, consumed by a single intent.
Kill.
Alejandro, Leonardo, Emily, and the rest could barely keep up with his pace. No one tried to stop him. No one even dared speak to him.
The pressure surrounding Lusian was different.
Unstable.
Emily watched him for a few seconds from behind and felt a chill. It wasn't just rage. It was something deeper.
Desperation.
The guards at the entrance reacted too late.
"Stop hi—!"
Dainslein cut through them before they could finish the sentence.
The first body fell in two pieces.
The second lost its head.
The third didn't even manage to raise its weapon before a wave of darkness dragged it into the wall.
Lusian did not slow down.
He wasn't even fighting.
He was just advancing.
Umber leapt onto the barricades and tore through them as if they were paper. Thunder broke through the defensive line wrapped in black lightning, exploding carts, gates, and soldiers in a single brutal charge.
From within the city, the bells began to ring.
The kind of sound not meant for panic… but to keep it under control.
However, panic was already spreading through the streets.
The inhabitants didn't understand what was happening. Some priests stepped out onto elevated corridors, raising their hands in an attempt to calm the population.
"Stay calm! It's an external incident!" they shouted.
Some priests tried to maintain order. Others stepped back in terror when, beneath the destroyed structures, symbols began to appear—symbols that should never have existed in a sacred place.
The city's mask was beginning to crack.
And Lusian kept advancing toward the center.
Like an unstoppable calamity.
The heroes who followed behind tried to stop him, but it was impossible to match Lusian's pace. He advanced like a shadow crossing the city, ignoring the screams, the blood, and the chaos he left behind.
"Lusian, stop!" Alejandro shouted, stepping forward with his sword drawn. "What the hell are you doing?!"
No answer.
His eyes remained fixed ahead, hardened by a desperation already bordering on madness.
"Listen to me, damn it!" Leonardo insisted while pulling a wounded guard aside before Umber could crush him as he passed. "You can't kill everyone who gets in your way!"
Emily rode beside him, breathing heavily from the brutal speed of the advance. Her hands trembled around her staff as she watched Lusian's face.
And what she saw chilled her to the bone.
It wasn't anger.
It was fear.
A fear so deep it was consuming everything else.
"Trust me…" Lusian murmured without looking at her, his voice hollow amid the roar of battle. "I can't explain it now. Just trust me."
Emily stayed silent.
It hurt to see him like this.
But she still nodded.
Because she knew that look.
It was the expression of someone who felt they were about to lose everything.
"Emily!" Alejandro roared in disbelief. "Are you going to allow this?!"
"Shut up!" she replied immediately. "I trust him."
Leonardo lowered his gaze, powerless.
Emily urged her mount slightly forward, getting closer to Lusian, as if staying near him was the only way to keep him from sinking further.
"Lusian…" she whispered, fear evident in her voice. "Nothing justifies this."
The answer came calmly.
Too calmly.
"If you stand in my way…"
The darkness around Dainslein slowly expanded.
"You will die."
There was no rage in his words.
A heavy silence fell over the group as Lusian accelerated once again without stopping even once.
The other heroes fell behind, watching him cross the city like an unstoppable calamity. No one could stop him. No one fully understood him.
Conflict could be felt in every gaze.
Emily tightened her grip on her staff as she kept following him. What he was doing was monstrous. She knew it.
But she also knew Lusian.
And if he had reached this point… it was because something far worse was about to happen.
That was enough for her to keep following him.
Bodies kept falling in his path.
Guards.
Mercenaries.
Armed priests.
All of them bore the same mark.
That small fracture in the aura Lusian had learned to recognize long ago.
Demonic corruption.
They were not innocent.
They had ceased being innocent the moment they offered their souls to the cult.
Dainslein cut through another enemy without slowing down.
Lusian didn't even see them as people.
Only obstacles.
For a moment, his gaze shifted toward the heroes behind him.
I should kill them now, he thought.
The thought appeared cold. Calculated.
Eliminating the Empire's heroes would weaken the gods for a time… but it wouldn't really change anything. The churches would simply choose new champions.
And he would only end up making the entire world his enemy too soon.
He gritted his teeth and kept moving.
Not yet.
The interior of the City of Peace had nothing peaceful about it.
The sacred silence that once defined the City of Peace was gone.
The city felt different as soon as they crossed the central avenues.
The air was humid, heavy, and carried that metallic smell that only appears where too much blood has been spilled.
But the worst part was not that.
It was the feeling that none of it was new.
The City of Peace had not been corrupted recently.
It had always been like this.
The statues of the Goddess of Peace were covered in demonic symbols deeply carved into the stone. They did not look like recent desecrations. They looked like part of the original construction, as if someone had simply spent years hiding them under layers of paint and false blessings.
The sacred gardens were open from end to end. Beneath the flowers and marble paths there were pits filled with bones, dried blood, and ritual circles carved directly into the earth.
Corrupted mana saturated everything.
The blessed lanterns still hung above the streets, illuminating the city with that warm, peaceful light so many pilgrims remembered.
But now they could see what they truly were.
They did not shine.
They pulsed with corrupted mana, as if they were alive.
Then the priests stopped pretending.
The prayers stopped at the same time.
No one gave civilian orders anymore. No one tried to maintain the facade.
One by one, they began to release their aura.
The sacred energy vanished instantly.
And what replaced it was pure demonic mana.
The robes began to distort along with the bodies they had hidden. Demonic marks appeared beneath the skin, completely black eyes opened within the crowd, and inhuman presences could be felt throughout every corner of the city.
They were no longer hiding.
There was no reason to.
The facade had fallen.
Some inhabitants tried to flee upon realizing where they had truly lived all this time. Others simply began screaming.
No one tried to stop them.
Not because the cult couldn't.
But because it no longer mattered.
And then the battle began.
Hundreds of cult members began emerging from the streets, the temples, and the underground passages opening beneath the city. They no longer tried to hide. Demonic mana poured from their bodies like dark smoke while corrupted symbols glowed beneath their robes.
Behind them, lesser demons appeared.
Deformed creatures born from years of failed rituals and accumulated corruption. Some advanced on four legs, others dragged human bodies fused with demonic flesh, and several could not even maintain a stable form as they moved.
The heroes watched the scene in silence for a moment.
Finally, they understood.
The City of Peace had never been a sacred city.
It had been a cult stronghold from the very beginning.
Alejandro tightened his grip on his sword as he watched the streets fill with enemies.
—"Reinforcements won't arrive in time..."
Leonardo raised his gaze toward the central temple.
—"Then we'll have to hold until they do."
Emily took a deep breath and raised her staff as mana began gathering around her.
—"Hold the line."
And the very next second, the horde fell upon them.
Emily felt nauseous as she saw the streets covered in blood, demonic symbols, and deformed bodies.
—"...This isn't a city," she whispered. "It's an altar."
Then Lusian felt it.
A demonic pulse cut through the air like an invisible blade, and his eyes widened instantly.
—"It's here," he growled.
The central temple exploded.
The massive doors were blasted apart as dozens of armed cultists emerged through smoke and darkness. Behind them came summoned monsters and humans deformed by corruption until they had lost every natural feature.
And at the back of the temple...
Elizabeth.
Suspended by chains of dark mana.
Unconscious.
A ritual circle spun beneath her body while demonic miasma slowly began seeping into her.
The heroes who had arrived behind Lusian froze for an instant.
As if they had finally understood everything.
Alejandro felt a chill run down his spine.
—"...Gods..."
Leonardo clenched his teeth.
—"The massacre... it was all to get here."
Emily lowered her gaze for a few seconds.
—"Lusian... so that's why..."
But Lusian had already moved.
Darkness exploded around Dainslein as his killing intent flooded the entire temple.
—"You will die!"
The demons roared at the same time, and the horde crashed onto them like a black tide.
Umber struck first.
A living mass of shadows and fangs that tore demons apart as if they were paper. Every slash ripped entire bodies apart, and the darkness released from him disintegrated the corrupted souls trying to approach.
Thunder burst in next.
A living lightning bolt crossing the battlefield at monstrous speed. Every charge made the ground explode, and every electrical discharge hurled cultists through the air amid fire and blood.
But even so...
The horde kept advancing.
Dozens of lesser demons fell upon them at the same time.
Some were enormous, creatures the size of towers covered in hardened flesh plates and deformed bones. Others ran on four legs like blackened wolves, leaving trails of infernal mana across the stone.
All of them radiated the same suffocating pressure.
Alejandro barely managed to deflect the cleaver strike of a butcher demon. The infernal blade passed so close to his face that several strands of hair were cut away.
—"How many more are there?!" he roared as he shoved the monster backward.
Leonardo spun around and pierced the skull of one creature before kicking it into another that was trying to bite his neck.
—"No idea!" he shouted. "But each one looks worse than the last!"
Emily dodged a claw that shattered the ground behind her and raised her staff.
A flash of light tore through the avenue, opening a corridor between the demons.
—"Lusian! This is insane!"
—"It doesn't matter how many there are!" he growled without stopping. "If we don't destroy this place, Elizabeth will die!"
The heroes looked at each other for a brief instant.
One second to understand where they truly were.
One second to decide whether to keep moving forward.
And then they charged after him.
Lusian cut through the horde like an unstoppable specter. Every movement of Dainslein was clean and precise. He wasted neither strength nor time. The demons fell before they even realized they had been struck.
Emily stayed beside him.
The light from her staff illuminated the darkness surrounding Lusian, but it did not reject it.
It strengthened it.
Every spell she cast purified the corrupted mana trying to envelop them. Every flash of light created space for Lusian to keep advancing.
Light and darkness fighting together.
Something that should not exist.
The cultists began to retreat.
Many trembled as they raised defensive seals and muttered broken prayers through clenched teeth.
—"The bearer of the sacred flame...!"
—"The chosen of the abyss...!"
—"They're a cursed abomination!"
Lusian answered only with steel.
At last, they reached the main ritual hall.
The ground was covered with still-burning arcane symbols and piles of fresh ash. Dozens of bodies surrounded the central altar, sacrificed to feed the ritual.
And standing before them was the cult's true defense.
Greater demons.
Elite cultists.
And at the very back...
Elizabeth still hung suspended above the demonic circle.
The battle exploded immediately.
Lusian and Emily advanced together without needing to speak. He destroyed everything that tried to approach. She maintained the mana flow stable, nullifying curses and burning away corruption before it could touch him.
Every attack from Emily created space for Lusian.
Every movement from Lusian protected Emily.
It did not look like learned coordination.
It looked natural.
As if the two of them had fought together forever.
Elizabeth hung suspended above the altar.
Chains of dark mana pierced through the space around her body while bloody symbols rotated beneath her. At her feet lay dozens of unconscious women and children, connected to the ritual as nothing more than sacrifices.
Lusian felt his stomach twist.
Rage.
Desperation.
Horror.
But there was no time to stop.
With a roar, he charged toward the ritual circle and Dainslein crashed against the demonic chains. Emily reacted instantly, raising her staff as a torrent of light descended upon the altar, purifying part of the corrupted mana surrounding Elizabeth.
The entire temple trembled.
Then something emerged from the circle.
A gigantic figure rose through black smoke and demonic fire. Its body seemed covered in living obsidian plates, and every step made the ground crack beneath its weight.
The demon opened its eyes.
—"SHE IS OUR OFFERING."
The voice shook the walls of the temple.
—"HER SOUL WILL COMPLETE THE RITUAL."
The monster charged directly toward Lusian, raising a massive sword larger than a tree.
—"LUSIAN!" Emily screamed. "WATCH OUT!"
The impact shook the entire temple.
Lusian managed to deflect the blade by mere centimeters, and the ground exploded behind him. Cracks spread across the altar while the force of the strike shattered entire columns.
The demon roared.
Lusian slowly raised his gaze.
And something in his eyes made even the cultists step back.
—"She will not die."
Darkness began wrapping around Dainslein.
—"You will."
The battle exploded.
Umber attacked first. He leapt directly at the demon's neck, and his fangs pierced part of the obsidian armor while demonic energy burned his body every second.
Thunder charged from the side and slammed into the monster's legs like a living lightning bolt. The impact shattered one of the demon's knees and forced it to bend.
Emily took advantage of the opening.
Light struck the cracks opened by Umber and Thunder, burning the corrupted flesh until it glowed incandescently.
Then Lusian moved.
He crossed through the chaos without stopping, dodging the demonic sword by centimeters while Dainslein left dark trails through the air.
He was not fighting in desperation.
He was waiting for a moment.
A single opening.
And finally, it appeared.
The demonic core was exposed beneath the shattered plates of the chest.
Lusian charged straight forward.
Dainslein pierced the demon's infernal heart in a single movement.
The monster's roar shook the entire temple before collapsing into an explosion of black light that blinded everything around them.
And within that darkness...
Lusian felt something fall beside him.
Umber.
The beast was breathing with difficulty. Its body was covered in mana fractures, and demonic corruption slowly spread beneath its skin.
Lusian dropped to his knees beside him.
—"No..." his voice broke. "No..."
Umber barely lifted his head.
There was no fear in his eyes.
Only calm.
As if he had already made the decision from the moment he entered that battle.
Then Lusian felt the pulse.
A heartbeat of pure mana emerged from within the wolf.
Umber's core slowly appeared before him, floating in the air wrapped in a faint light.
The bond between them reacted immediately.
Lusian felt the mana flow through his body as Umber's essence began merging with his own. It was not stolen power.
It was a legacy.
The final gift of someone who had chosen to protect him until the very end.
—"Umber..." he murmured while clenching his teeth to keep from breaking apart right there. "I will never forget you."
The core shone one final time.
And the darkness covering the temple retreated for a single instant.
As if even the demonic mana itself recognized that sacrifice.
Then the ritual circle collapsed.
The chains shattered.
Elizabeth fell from the altar.
And Lusian caught her before she touched the ground.
Elizabeth was barely breathing.
Her skin was pale, and a dark miasma still moved around her chest like living veins beneath the skin.
Emily dropped to her knees beside her and placed a trembling hand over her body.
The sacred light appeared instantly.
But it did not advance.
The demonic corruption reacted immediately, twisting around the princess as if it were alive.
Emily felt a chill run down her spine.
—No... —she whispered—. I can't purify this completely...
Her voice began to break.
—It's too much...
Lusian held Elizabeth tighter.
For the first time since the massacre had begun, his voice lost its firmness.
—As long as I'm still alive...
He lowered his gaze toward her.
—No one will ever touch her again.
Alejandro, Leonardo, and the other heroes watched the scene in silence.
Finally, they understood.
The fury.
The massacre.
The desperation.
Lusian had not destroyed that city for pleasure.
He had seen hell open its eyes over Elizabeth.
And he chose to destroy everything before letting them take her away.
The temple began collapsing behind them.
Entire columns crumbled as fragments of stone and residual mana rained from the ceiling. Lusian moved forward without stopping, carrying Elizabeth in his arms while Emily walked beside him trying to keep her breathing stable.
—Princess, listen to me! —Emily said as light flowed from her staff—. Don't fall asleep!
Elizabeth barely reacted.
The demonic miasma continued spreading slowly beneath her skin.
Emily clenched her teeth.
—The mana is still spreading...
The light collided against the corruption and shattered again and again.
—I can't neutralize it completely.
Lusian closed his eyes for a moment.
Then he released part of his own darkness.
The black mana carefully surrounded Elizabeth's body, wrapping around the demonic miasma and stopping its advance before it could reach vital organs.
He was not destroying it.
He was containing it.
Emily looked at him in surprise.
Lusian's darkness was not reacting like demonic mana.
It was balancing it.
Controlling it.
—You can do it, Emily —he said without stopping his advance—. I'll keep it stable.
But even while speaking, Lusian understood the truth.
One single mistake.
One second of distraction.
And Elizabeth would die.
Emily took a deep breath and focused all of her light on the princess once again. This time, the purification slowly managed to advance thanks to the space Lusian was creating with his own darkness.
Elizabeth's breathing finally stabilized slightly.
And that was enough to keep moving forward.
In the distance, the sound of war drums began spreading through the destroyed city.
The troops had finally arrived.
Thousands of Imperial and Kingdom soldiers advanced through smoke, corpses, and collapsed buildings while banners appeared through the dawn mist.
Albert was leading them from the front.
But even he slowed down when he saw the city.
No one had been prepared for something like this.
The streets looked like an extermination field. There were bodies of cultists, demons, and monsters everywhere. The temples had been opened from within, revealing pits filled with human remains and demonic symbols engraved beneath the sacred stone.
One soldier fell to his knees the moment he saw the gardens turned into altars.
—By the gods... —he murmured with a trembling voice—. What happened here...?
Lusian kept walking through the ruins without answering.
Elizabeth remained in his arms while Emily walked beside him, exhausted, keeping the flow of light around the princess stable.
The other heroes surrounded them in silence.
No one spoke.
No one knew what to say after seeing what truly existed beneath the City of Peace.
Then Deidara appeared among the ruins.
Her boots slowly came to a stop over the shattered stone as she looked at the bodies, the blood, and the remains of the demonic ritual.
For the first time since Lusian had known her...
she looked genuinely affected.
Her gaze traveled across the destruction until it stopped on him.
Then it lowered toward the unconscious Elizabeth.
And finally, she understood how much Lusian had destroyed to reach her.
—What... did you do here...? —she asked quietly.
But the question no longer sounded accusatory.
It sounded disturbed.
As if even she had not expected to find something like this.
Lusian did not answer.
He did not even look at her.
He simply kept walking.
And that silence weighed far more than any explanation.
The heroes exchanged exhausted glances as they continued advancing through the ruins of the city.
The battle was over.