At that moment, in the Artez Empire.
The palace was surrounded by the Royal Knights and the mages of the Mage Tower, led by Rashiel.
Cedric and his faction of dark mages were completely encircled, but since they held hostages, they couldn’t be recklessly attacked.
Cedric had taken court attendants—including Rinael—as hostages and demanded a private meeting with Rashiel.
Rashiel complied and entered the main palace alone.
When he arrived at the audience chamber, Cedric was seated on the imperial throne.
“This seat suits me best, don’t you think?”
But Rashiel, showing no interest in Cedric or the throne, got straight to the point.
“Where is Rinael?”
“I might feel inclined to tell you if you got down on your knees.”
“If your sister ends up crushed under a collapsing building, that would be the worst outcome—for you.”
His tone was detached, as if discussing someone else’s problem.
Cedric raised a brow as if to say What’s that supposed to mean?, and Rashiel answered.
“Because that would make me the one who gets to sit there.”
At that, Cedric narrowed his eyes and replied coldly.
“That is… assuming you manage to survive today.”
He didn’t like how relaxed Rashiel looked, even while standing in the middle of enemy territory alone.
“You really came all this way by yourself… I don’t know if that’s fearless or just arrogant.”
“I’m in a bit of a hurry.”
Someone’s waiting for me.
A brief smile flickered at Rashiel’s lips as Elsez’s face came to mind, but it vanished just as quickly.
Crack—
As he finished speaking, the anti-magic barrier Cedric had activated to trap him shattered.
That was the signal.
Outside the palace, a barrage of magical attacks erupted, shaking the surroundings with deafening blasts.
It was the all-out assault from the mages Rashiel had stationed beyond the palace.
Cedric grimaced as he heard the sound.
“You don’t care what happens to the hostages, huh?”
“They’ve probably already been secured by now, thanks to the earlier attack.”
“…You already knew where they were?”
Rashiel didn’t answer, but the ease in his expression was confirmation enough.
From the beginning, he hadn’t entered the palace alone to retrieve the hostages.
It was to draw Cedric’s attention.
The hostages’ locations had already been identified using mana-detecting magical tools.
Rashiel stepped forward and added,
“So I’d appreciate it… if you’d hurry up and die.”
His crimson eyes glinted with chilling bloodlust as he stared Cedric down.
Cedric, sensing Rashiel had weakened after breaking the barrier, took his chance and attacked with magic.
But just barely, Rashiel’s barrier intercepted the spell.
BOOM—!
The powerful shockwave from the collision of their magic shook the audience chamber as if it would collapse at any moment.
****
Elsez looked back and forth between the child in the tank and Reti, then asked,
“That girl… is you?”
Reti didn’t respond, but her fixed gaze on the child in the tank and the way her black, swirling mist trembled restlessly said it all.
“You’re a monster. That girl’s human. So how…?”
“I don’t know either. But I just… just know. That’s definitely my body.”
Reti sounded confused too, but her voice carried an undeniable certainty when she said the girl was her body.
She stared blankly at the child in the tank.
“So I… was human once.”
Elsez didn’t ask any more questions. She simply looked at Reti with sympathetic eyes.
She could imagine just how many emotions were packed into those simple words: “I was human too.”
Reti had always wanted to live among humans…
There was relief in knowing she wasn’t so different from the people she’d longed to be with, and sorrow for the past—being treated as a monster without knowing the truth.
Elsez didn’t know why Reti’s original body was locked away in this place.
But one thing was certain.
Reti’s real body was important to the demon cult.
Still, she couldn’t just recklessly take the girl with her.
Elsez turned to Reti, who hadn’t taken her eyes off the tank.
“Reti.”
“……”
“I hate to say it, but we can’t just take her without knowing how they’re keeping her body alive without a soul.”
Reti gave a reluctant nod.
She clearly didn’t want to leave her body behind—but Elsez was right. It was dangerous to move it without a plan.
“…Alright. Then we’ll find a way and come back—”
But Elsez tilted her head, as if confused.
“Come back? How can we just leave her like that? Who knows what those bastards will do to your body?”
“Huh?”
“First, let’s grab that high priestess woman and use her as a hostage. We’ll make her cough up a way to move your body safely.”
As she spoke, Elsez cracked her knuckles with a sharp pop.
Reti stared at her in disbelief, caught off guard by her unexpected reaction.
It’s a relief that she wants to take me… but isn’t this a bit much…?
After a moment of hesitation, Reti let out a snort and chuckled.
On second thought, this aggressive approach— That’s exactly the kind of thing Elsez would do.
Elsez quickly revised her original plan.
“At first, I thought we should sneak around quietly and find the priestess… just in case they ran away.”
But that would take too long. And it was too risky—one slip, and she’d be discovered.
“Now I’m thinking—maybe it’s faster to flush them out.”
If they judged that the intruder was too dangerous to contain, the priestess would flee the hideout herself.
That’s when I catch her.
Reti slipped back into Elsez’s inner pocket. Elsez removed the mask and stepped toward the portal.
“Well then, let’s stir things up—enough to make them want to abandon ship.”
But just as she emerged from the portal, a scream echoed in the distance.
“An intruder!”
It came from the direction of the entrance Elsez had used earlier.
“…Huh?”
I haven’t even punched anyone yet…
While she stood there puzzled, another loud boom followed the scream.
And the source of it all was getting closer.
The “intruder” was headed her way.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this…
And then—emerging slowly from the darkened corridor—
A figure appeared.
When Elsez saw the face of the so-called intruder, her eyes widened.
Tezette?
Why are you here…?
Under his black hair, his deathly pale face was speckled with blood. He looked like a devil.
His emotionless green eyes glinted like those of a reptile—cold and unsettling.
He pointed his sword at a fallen cult member and asked, voice like ice,
“What did you do with my fiancée?”
Stunned by his unexpected appearance, Elsez hastily put her mask back on before their eyes could meet.
He’s the one wrecking the place…
The plan had changed.
Elsez was still thinking about what to do next when—
“Escort the priestess!”
A panicked voice rang out nearby.
It came from a group in the midst of evacuating.
At the center of that white-masked group was a woman—also masked—who Elsez guessed must be the priestess.
The moment she spotted her, Elsez’s eyes sharpened.
That’s her.
Since Tezette seemed focused on finding her, she could leave the chaos to him and handle the capture herself.
Elsez approached the group casually and slipped in among them.
A man who looked like the squad leader glanced at her and asked,
“Is the intruder just the hero, Tezette Rittenhaus?”
It seemed he hadn’t considered the possibility that there could be two intruders.
“Yes.”
“Tch… of all people…”
They wouldn’t normally abandon a hideout so easily.
The fact that they were retreating meant they considered Tezette a serious threat.
Thanks to him, this got way easier.
Elsez followed the group as they turned into another hallway.
This isn’t on the map Jack and Perse drew.
That meant Baylor never went this way.
There’s probably an escape route ahead.
If that was true, then this was the best place to strike.
As Elsez gradually closed the distance to the priestess at the center, the squad leader turned and asked her,
“By the way—what team are you with? Haven’t seen those eyes before.”
“Me? Oh…”
Elsez paused briefly, then smiled sweetly and replied without hesitation.
“I’m with the heroes.”
Before the man could even process the word heroes, Elsez’s fist shot out and knocked him flat.
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