The caravan continued moving forward.
Lusian still had not returned.
Elizabeth remained at the front of the formation, surrounded by soldiers from Carphatia and the Empire's heroes.
No one seemed concerned.
The demon had appeared far from the caravan.
Lusian had dealt with it.
It was only logical.
Deidara watched the forest from her position among the troops.
She was not smiling.
She showed no emotion.
She was simply waiting.
Then Eidran raised his gaze.
—Movement on the left flank.
Several soldiers immediately turned.
Creatures appeared between the trees.
There were not many.
But they were enough.
—Enemies!
The formation began to move.
Eidran extended one hand.
The wind changed direction.
An invisible current swept across the terrain, forcing the first soldiers backward.
—Hold the line! —one of the officers shouted.
Eidran had already moved.
He was not attacking the soldiers.
He was closing off one of the access routes.
A reinforcement unit attempted to advance toward Elizabeth.
The wind struck again.
The men lost their balance.
Only for a few seconds.
But that was enough.
On the opposite flank, Valkaria advanced.
—The eastern flank is giving way.
She drove her spear into the ground.
The metal responded.
Fragments of broken armor, abandoned weapons, and remnants of destroyed defenses began to rise.
A wall appeared between the troops.
—What are you doing?! —Kara shouted.
Valkaria did not respond.
Another metallic structure emerged from the ground.
It separated a group of soldiers from the main formation.
—You're splitting the line!
—I'm preventing it from collapsing.
The answer was so calm that Kara hesitated for an instant.
Only one.
Then she understood.
—No!
She rushed toward the barrier.
Her weapon shattered part of the metal and opened a passage.
But by then, the formation had already lost its cohesion.
The soldiers began to move.
Each one searched for what appeared to be the safest route.
And every route took them a little farther away from Elizabeth.
Deidara waited.
Not yet.
She couldn't do it too soon.
The princess was still surrounded.
Then an explosion shook the end of the column.
Elizabeth raised her hand.
A bolt of lightning descended from the sky and tore through the creatures attempting to approach.
—Hold your positions!
The soldiers obeyed.
The formation began to stabilize.
Kara breathed a sigh of relief.
They had regained control.
Or so it seemed.
Until a shadow appeared behind Elizabeth.
Deidara.
The princess did not see her.
Two fingers touched the back of her neck.
Dark mana entered her body.
Elizabeth tensed.
The lightning she had been forming veered toward the sky.
Her sword fell into the snow.
Then she fell.
—Princess!
Emily immediately turned around.
She ran toward Elizabeth.
But a group of creatures burst between them.
Emily raised her weapon.
—Get out of my way!
An explosion forced her backward.
Kara tried to advance from the other side.
Another metallic barrier appeared in front of her.
—Valkaria!
The earth hero did not respond.
Deidara had already taken Elizabeth.
—Now.
Eidran extended his hand.
The wind swept across the battlefield.
Dust and snow rose into the air.
Visibility disappeared for several seconds.
Lethos closed his eyes.
He searched for a presence.
He found it.
Very far away.
—He's coming.
The mental pressure spread outward.
Not toward Elizabeth.
Toward the road.
Toward the place where Lusian would return.
The forest exploded.
Lusian appeared among the trees, riding Thunder.
Blood still covered part of his face. Demonic mana slowly dissipated around his armor.
Umber ran at his side.
They had taken too long.
Lusian sensed it before he even saw the caravan.
Something was wrong.
He could not hear the officers' orders.
He could not hear the sound of the wagons.
He could not hear Elizabeth's voice.
—Faster.
Thunder accelerated.
The trees became dark blurs on either side of the road.
Then the first sounds reached them.
Screams.
Metal clashing against metal.
Explosions of mana.
Lusian broke through the last line of trees.
Chaos appeared before him.
Soldiers fought among the snow.
Monsters had broken into the formation.
Defensive barriers divided the column into several sectors.
—Elizabeth!
No one answered.
An invisible pressure struck his mind.
Lusian slowed for only an instant.
The air grew heavy.
His vision blurred.
A figure appeared before him.
Lethos.
—You're too late.
The pressure increased.
Lusian gritted his teeth.
His body grew slower.
For an instant, the world seemed to sink beneath an invisible weight.
Then darkness exploded around his body.
The mental pressure shattered.
Lethos' eyes widened.
Lusian was already standing in front of him.
His kick struck Lethos directly in the torso.
The hero was sent flying, crashing through one of the metal barriers before disappearing among the rubble.
Lusian did not even stop.
—Elizabeth!
Umber lunged forward.
His fangs tore through a creature blocking the path.
Thunder tore through the enemy formation like a lightning bolt, knocking down monsters and scattering soldiers.
Lusian advanced behind them.
—Princess!
Several meters away, Emily was fighting desperately.
—Lusian!
She pointed toward the other side of the formation.
—Over there!
Kara was destroying a metal barrier that had separated several soldiers.
Leonardo and Alejandro fought farther back, trying to keep a route open toward the center.
Lusian did not stop.
He followed the direction Emily had indicated.
Then he saw her.
Elizabeth was unconscious in the snow.
A cult member held her while others formed a circle around her.
—Let her go!
The man raised his head.
He did not answer.
The ground began to glow.
Dark symbols appeared beneath Elizabeth's feet and rapidly spread across the snow.
Lusian accelerated.
Thunder jumped over a barricade.
Umber lunged at one of the cult members.
The wolf knocked him down with a single blow.
But the circle was already complete.
—Elizabeth!
Lusian extended his hand.
A tremendous amount of mana enveloped the princess.
An instant.
That was all.
Space warped.
Elizabeth disappeared.
Lusian reached the place where she had been barely a second later.
His fingers found only air.
—No...
He looked around.
The cult members had disappeared as well.
The soldiers continued fighting.
Emily was still battling.
Kara was trying to force her way through the barriers.
Leonardo and Alejandro were holding the creatures back.
The imperial heroes had also scattered across the battlefield.
Everything continued moving.
Lusian remained motionless.
For a moment, his mind refused to accept what had happened.
Then he lowered his gaze.
Marks.
An incomplete circle.
Remnants of dark mana.
A teleportation seal.
Lusian crouched down and ran his fingers over the snow.
He recognized the pattern.
A teleportation seal.
He closed his eyes.
He needed to remember.
Not the event.
The map.
He forced his mind back to the hours he had spent playing this part of the story. The routes, the territories controlled by the cult, the hidden bases marked at various points across the map.
—The cult...
He clenched his hand.
Dainslein appeared between his fingers.
—I will get her back.
Darkness began spreading beneath his feet.
Lusian disappeared into the shadows.
Miles away, a black light pierced the darkness of an underground chamber.
Elizabeth appeared at the center of a ritual circle.
And the temple bells began to ring.
The ritual had begun.
The City of Peace was known throughout the Empire as a sacred place.
Its white temples, silent gardens, and endless prayers dedicated to the Goddess of Peace attracted pilgrims from every corner of the Empire. There were never any conflicts there. Never any scandals. Never any wars.
It was perfect.
And precisely because of that, no one suspected it.
Caravans entered and left every day under the priests' blessings. Orphans were welcomed into the temples. Donations constantly arrived from noble families and devoted merchants.
On the surface, it was a peaceful city.
Too peaceful.
But beneath the marble-covered streets and candlelit altars, another world existed.
A hidden one.
Underground passages ran through the city like black veins beneath a living body. There were no hymns or prayers there.
Only demonic circles carved into stone, cages covered in dried blood, and priests who had replaced faith with absolute devotion to demons.
Those who disappeared never truly left the city.
They simply ceased to exist to the outside world.
Every night, forbidden rituals were carried out in the depths.
Human sacrifices.
Experiments with demonic mana.
Incomplete summonings that twisted bodies and minds until they became something unrecognizable.
And while, on the surface, the bells announced 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 remained fixed ahead.
There was only one intention in them.
Kill.
Alejandro, Leonardo, Emily, and the others could barely keep up with him.
No one tried to stop him.
No one even dared speak to him.
The pressure surrounding Lusian was different.
Unstable.
Emily watched him for several seconds and felt a shiver run down her spine.
It wasn't just fury.
It was something deeper.
Desperation.
The guards at the entrance reacted too late.
—Stop hi—!
Dainslein pierced the first one before he could finish the command.
The second barely had time to raise his weapon.
Lusian's sword descended.
The third tried to retreat, but a wave of darkness ripped him off the ground and slammed him against the wall.
Lusian did not slow down.
He did not even seem to be fighting.
He simply kept moving.
Umber lunged at the barricades and tore them apart as if they were made of paper.
Thunder tore through the defensive line surrounded by black lightning. The discharge exploded several carts and knocked down several soldiers before they could reorganize.
From inside the city, the bells began to ring.
It was not a sound meant to announce panic.
It was a sound meant to contain it.
But panic was already spreading through the streets.
The inhabitants did not understand what was happening.
Some priests emerged onto the elevated walkways and raised their hands, attempting to calm the population.
—Remain calm! It's an external incident!
Others ran toward the temples.
Some reached the destroyed structures and stood frozen.
Beneath the rubble, symbols that should never have existed in a sacred place were beginning to appear.
Circles.
Marks.
Demonic inscriptions.
The facade of the city was beginning to crack.
And Lusian continued advancing toward the center.
The heroes following behind tried to stop him.
It was useless.
Lusian tore through the city like a shadow without slowing his pace. He ignored the screams, orders, and chaos spreading around him.
—Lusian, stop! —Alejandro shouted, stepping ahead with his sword in hand. —What the hell are you doing?!
There was no response.
His eyes remained fixed ahead.
There was no anger in them.
There was something worse.
Desperation.
A desperation so deep that it seemed to have consumed everything else.
—Listen to me! —Leonardo insisted as he moved an injured guard out of the way. —You can't kill everyone who gets in your way!
Emily rode alongside them, breathing heavily from the speed.
She studied Lusian's face.
And felt a shiver.
It wasn't anger.
It was fear.
Fear of losing someone.
Fear of arriving too late.
—Lusian...
He did not respond.
Emily tightened her grip on her staff.
—Where is Elizabeth?
For the first time, Lusian slightly turned his head.
—They have her.
His voice barely rose above the roar of battle.
—Who?
—The cult.
Emily fell silent.
Lusian turned his gaze forward again.
—Trust me. I can't explain right now.
She looked at the darkness surrounding Dainslein.
Then she looked at the streets they were leaving behind.
She did not want to accept what she was seeing.
But she knew Lusian.
—I trust you —she finally replied.
Alejandro's eyes widened.
—Emily!
She did not even look at him.
—Let him go!
Leonardo slowly lowered his sword.
None of them understood what was happening.
But they could all see that Lusian was willing to tear through anything to reach Elizabeth.
And that terrified them.
Bodies began appearing in his wake.
Guards.
Mercenaries.
Armed priests.
Some tried to stop him.
Others attacked the soldiers following him.
Lusian had no time to distinguish between them.
Dainslein pierced the next enemy.
Darkness spread along the blade.
Then Lusian stopped for only a moment.
Something caught his attention.
A crack in the aura.
A texture he knew all too well.
Demonic mana.
His gaze passed over the man he had just brought down.
It wasn't simple contamination.
It was corruption.
Lusian moved forward again.
Another priest appeared.
His robe was covered in sacred symbols.
But beneath that appearance, Lusian sensed the same darkness.
Then another.
And another.
Lusian's expression changed slightly.
These were not isolated attacks.
Something was deeply wrong with this city.