Morning light spilled through the frost-covered windows of the mountain lodge, painting pale gold across tangled sheets and discarded clothing.
Hiroy opened his eyes slowly.
Warmth pressed against both sides of him.
Normal.
Expected.
The fourth day of the week usually meant Frana and Princess Kara had claimed his bed before sunrise. At this point, resistance was pointless.
But today…
something felt wrong.
One of the presences was unfamiliar.
His eyes sharpened instantly.
"Who are you?"
The words came out low.
Dangerously low.
A ripple of bloodlust seeped from his body like heat escaping a furnace.
The room temperature spiked immediately.
Frana jolted upright beside him, instinctively summoning lightning around her fingertips before realizing what had happened. The blanket slipped from her shoulders, and her cheeks exploded crimson.
"H-Hiroy?!" she squeaked.
Then she followed his gaze.
Toward the closet.
A figure hidden behind the half-open door froze.
The covers shifted again as Princess Kara slowly lowered herself deeper beneath them like she could somehow vanish through sheer denial.
Hiroy stared blankly for several seconds.
Then sighed.
Of course.
Frana looked away guiltily.
She had done this before.
Not often.
But enough.
The overly affectionate beast-girl possessed two dangerous qualities:
Absolute loyalty.
And terrible ideas.
As the second-strongest member of the party, very few people could actually stop her when she decided to "expand the group dynamic."
Most simply surrendered.
Hiroy, however, was one of the rare exceptions.
"You people are exhausting," he muttered while climbing out of bed.
Frana puffed out her cheeks immediately.
"We were trying to help!"
"Kara hid in the closet for twenty minutes," Hiroy deadpanned while pulling on his shirt. "That's not helping anybody."
From inside the closet came a muffled voice.
"It was strategically romantic."
"That somehow makes it worse."
A soft laugh escaped him despite himself.
Steam drifted faintly from the hallway bathroom.
Someone else was already awake.
Meaning another argument probably waited outside.
Wonderful.
After washing up, Hiroy stood silently before the mirror.
For a long moment…
he simply stared.
The white trench coat with gold trimmings remained unchanged.
The twin-headed scythe resting against the wall remained unchanged.
But he…
wasn't.
Golden streaks now shimmered through his once black-and-red hair like veins of sunlight breaking through obsidian. His crimson eyes had gradually transformed as well, becoming brighter—almost divine in color.
Gold.
Even his aura had changed.
What was once blood-red magical power now carried radiant golden undertones that pulsed beneath the surface unnaturally.
Not holy.
Not light.
Something deeper.
Something evolving.
Hiroy narrowed his eyes at his reflection.
Then dismissed the thought entirely.
Problems could wait.
Breakfast couldn't.
When he entered the dining room, the others were already gathered around the table.
Lilith lazily sipped tea while Lani floated upside down in the air, chewing toast like a bat hanging from a cave ceiling.
Frana sat stiffly.
Still embarrassed.
Kara looked entirely unapologetic.
Naturally.
"We've decided today's mission," Lilith announced calmly.
"The demon in the Lika Mountains," Frana added.
"We're handling it ourselves," Kara declared proudly.
Hiroy raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"We're not weak anymore," Lani huffed while floating upright. "You keep doing all the cool stuff."
Lilith nodded slowly.
"We need experience fighting stronger opponents."
Hiroy leaned back in his chair thoughtfully.
Honestly…
they weren't wrong.
Every member of the party had grown tremendously.
Frana's lightning magic now bordered on advanced-tier destruction output.
Lilith's support magic could alter entire battlefields.
Lani's wind manipulation had become precise enough to sever reinforced armor.
Kara…
was still a monster disguised as royalty.
"Fine," Hiroy said eventually. "I'll observe."
The girls brightened immediately.
"But," he added calmly, "if things go wrong, I step in immediately. No arguing."
A chorus of reluctant agreement followed.
Several hours later—
the Lika Mountain Range greeted them with freezing winds and endless snow.
The mountain peaks towered beyond the clouds like ancient frozen gods while blizzards screamed between narrow canyon paths.
And there—
hidden between the twin highest summits—
stood the door.
Massive.
Ancient.
Beautiful.
The entrance resembled the gate of a royal palace more than a dungeon.
Dark stone stretched nearly eighty feet high, engraved with intricate symbols and lined with glowing Mocean jewels pulsing pale blue through the frost.
Hiroy stopped walking.
"…Yeah. That's definitely a boss room."
Kara cracked her knuckles.
"Then let's skip the dramatic suspense."
BOOM.
Her fist collided with the door using reinforced body magic.
The entire entrance exploded inward.
Hiroy sighed deeply.
"Subtlety truly died when I met you people."
The cave beyond was horrifying.
Blood-red stone lined the floor.
Bones littered the walls.
Some were human.
Some clearly weren't.
The air smelled rotten.
Heavy.
Wrong.
Every step deeper increased the pressure pressing against the group.
Frana swallowed nervously.
Lani floated lower toward Lilith instinctively.
Even Kara's expression sharpened slightly.
Only Hiroy walked calmly.
Then—
a voice echoed through the chamber.
"Come closer…"
The darkness shifted near the throne at the far end of the cavern.
"…so I may swallow your lives whole."
A figure emerged slowly.
Their form fluctuated unnaturally between masculine and feminine features like reality itself couldn't decide what they were supposed to be.
Long black horns curved from their skull.
Dark magic poured from their body in endless waves.
The pressure alone cracked the surrounding stone.
The girls froze.
Even Kara instinctively took a half-step backward.
This wasn't a normal demon.
This thing had already evolved.
Archdemon class.
Before Hiroy could react—
something flashed through the shadows.
SHINK.
A thin blue streak pierced the demon's forehead instantly.
The archdemon shattered into dust before it could even scream.
Silence consumed the cavern.
Everyone stared.
A lone figure stepped from the darkness.
A young woman.
Long flowing blue hair swayed behind her while cold gray eyes scanned the room emotionlessly. A silver whip rested loosely in one hand, humming faintly with magical power.
Beautiful.
Dangerously beautiful.
And absurdly powerful.
Frana reacted first.
Lightning exploded around her body as she launched forward with blinding speed.
Kara moved simultaneously, fist blazing with reinforced combat magic.
Above them, Lilith and Lani began chanting destructive spells powerful enough to collapse the entire mountain.
The blue-haired woman simply watched them approach.
Calmly.
Frana unleashed a flurry of strikes.
The woman danced through every hit effortlessly.
Not blocking.
Not countering.
Avoiding.
Like she already knew where every attack would land.
Kara appeared behind her instantly.
A devastating punch tore through the air—
but the woman twisted gracefully around it.
Then—
WHAM.
Frana's kick finally connected against the woman's ribs.
A glowing barrier absorbed most of the impact, though the force still bent her sideways slightly.
The woman's gray eyes flickered with interest for the first time.
"Oh?"
Her voice was soft.
Curious.
"You're stronger than expected."
Then the whip in her hand moved.
And suddenly—
the real battle began.