“Is this a dungeon or a theater? What a damn mess.”
Amidst the fading black mist of the slain monster, a familiar voice rang out.
Bright red hair. Crimson eyes.
Elsez’s face lit up.
“Master!”
But Cassian didn’t look the least bit pleased.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay out of trouble and focus on making money? What the hell are you doing here?”
“Uh—Monsters! Incoming!”
Before he could start lecturing her, Elsez kicked a monster straight toward him.
Cassian scowled but swiftly dispatched it without complaint.
Then, his gaze shifted to Rashiel, who was silently fending off creatures at the edge of the battlefield.
And just like that, the scolding resumed.
“Astaire already gave me the short version, but you seriously couldn’t tell us sooner? If you had, this whole mess—”
“Oh! Another one coming your way!”
Before he could finish, Elsez sent another monster flying toward Cassian, effectively cutting him off.
“I get that you two missed each other, but now is NOT the time to be fighting.”
Normally, Cassian would say something sharp, and Rashiel would coolly shoot back with something even worse, leading to an argument.
“Hey, rookie. Stop subtly redirecting them toward me.”
Luckily, despite his grumbling, Cassian stopped talking and focused entirely on clearing the monsters.
With him joining the fight, it became significantly easier to eliminate the creatures before they could escape the theater.
By the time Elsez defeated the last floating eyeball, Cassian and Rashiel had also cleaned up their share of monsters.
The rift at the center of the stage had begun to close.
Finally catching her breath, Elsez walked over to Rashiel.
“Are you okay, Rashiel?”
Even after shielding her from the chandelier explosion, he had fought off countless monsters.
She worried about his injuries.
Cassian, watching the two with narrowed eyes, asked,
“You two know each other?”
Elsez glanced at Rashiel beside her.
She couldn’t be the one to reveal her past as Ruel—only he could.
Rashiel met her gaze and finally opened his mouth to answer—
But before he could speak—
“There you are. I’ve been looking for you.”
A cold voice cut through the air behind them.
Turning around, they saw Tezette approaching, sword in hand.
His piercing gaze locked onto Rashiel with quiet, lethal intent.
Sensing the danger, Elsez quickly tried to explain.
“Commander, there’s a misunderstanding. The incidents involving the demon cult have nothing to do with the Tower Master—”
“And?”
Tezette cut her off before she could even finish.
He didn’t care whether Rashiel was guilty or not.
What truly bothered him—
Was that Elsez was standing beside him.
Cassian sighed and muttered to Elsez,
“That guy’s been itching to kill Rashiel for ages. Not that I don’t get why, but…”
Tezette suddenly dashed forward, sword flashing toward Rashiel.
Cassian reacted instantly, shoving Rashiel aside and intercepting the attack.
With a sharp glare, he growled,
“Do you really think now is the time to be fighting each other, you insane bastard?”
“Move.”
CLANG—!
Their swords clashed, sending sparks flying.
Tezette’s blade came down again, and again, Cassian blocked it.
Watching them, Rashiel let out a quiet, mocking chuckle.
“Still the same reckless mad dog, throwing himself into fights without a second thought.”
As if provoked, Tezette deflected Cassian’s sword and lunged directly at Rashiel.
CLANG—!
Rashiel barely managed to block the strike, but the sheer force behind it sent him staggering backward.
In pure swordsmanship, no one here could match Tezette.
Locking eyes with Rashiel over their crossed blades, Tezette sneered.
“And you still have that punchable face.”
Meanwhile, Elsez, still fighting off the last remaining monsters, felt her patience snap.
“These idiots…!”
One of them was trying to kill Rashiel.
The other was actually engaging him.
In the middle of this mess!
Infuriated, she finished off the remaining creatures with a single, brutal strike.
Just as she was about to march over and knock both of them unconscious—
WHOOSH—
A sharp, whistling sound cut through the air.
An arrow.
Headed straight for her.
The three men immediately turned toward Elsez in alarm—
But the arrow was faster than their reactions.
Elsez, watching the projectile approach, reached out and snatched it from midair.
It happened in an instant.
“Ugh…”
But the sheer force behind the shot had been immense.
Blood trickled down her pale hand, staining the shaft of the arrow.
Drip. Drip.
Seeing her blood, all three men froze.
Elsez, wincing from the searing pain in her palm, turned toward the direction the arrow had come from.
At the shattered entrance of the theater—
Cedric stepped inside, smirking as he lowered his bow.
“Oops. I was aiming for the traitor, but I ended up hitting the wrong target.”
“Ah. Well, I suppose since you’re harboring a traitor, that makes you one too, Lady Elsez.”
Tezette’s eyes darkened with fury as he lunged at Cedric.
At that exact moment, Elsez caught a flicker of light from the third-floor balcony.
There was no time to warn Tezette.
A crossbow bolt shot through the air—
And embedded itself deep into Tezette’s shoulder.
The force of the impact threw his stance off, exposing his back.
A second bolt struck, sinking into his flesh.
“Ugh…!”
Just before he could reach Cedric, Tezette staggered, forced to stab his sword into the ground to keep from collapsing.
Elsez’s heart plummeted.
“Tezette!”
She instinctively moved to rush to him—
But Rashiel caught her arm, stopping her.
The second and third floors were swarming with archers clad in black robes. The situation was far too dangerous.
Cassian, grasping the severity of their position, clenched his teeth.
“That bastard…”
The archers weren’t particularly strong—on a normal day, they wouldn’t even be considered a threat.
But here, in a place where all magic and combat abilities were suppressed—
It was different.
Elsez, Cassian, and Tezette were all close-range fighters.
And their only long-range combatant, Rashiel, was powerless without magic.
If they made the wrong move, they wouldn’t survive.
Cedric looked down at Tezette, now on one knee, bleeding profusely.
One of Cedric’s men stepped forward, placing a sword to Tezette’s throat.
“So you finally turned into a dog that bites its master?”
Tezette, despite the agony in his shoulder, glared up at him with icy contempt.
“You were never my master.”
Cedric sneered at Tezette’s defiance, then turned his gaze toward Elsez and Cassian, both of whom radiated barely restrained rage.
“I already warned you, Sir Cassian. Stay out of this.”
“And I already gave you my answer. That’s not happening.”
“How touching. Such loyalty.”
Cedric’s gaze finally landed on Rashiel.
Seeing those crimson eyes—the same as his own—twisted his expression with disdain.
“Rashiel Celeste.”
Even in their disadvantage, Rashiel remained completely unfazed.
Cedric narrowed his eyes.
“He’s hiding something.”
But it didn’t matter.
Whatever Rashiel was plotting—
Wouldn’t change the fact that he was going to die here tonight, as the traitor who had impersonated the crown prince and attempted to resurrect the demon god.
“Surrender quietly. Unless you want your allies to become dogs food.”
“……”
“You can’t use magic anyway. It’s meaningless to resist.”
The mention of his ‘allies’ made the smallest shift in Rashiel’s otherwise unreadable expression.
Cedric smirked.
Rashiel surveyed the archers stationed across the upper balconies, then calmly asked,
“Do they know?”
“What?”
“That you only became the crown prince because you stole my mana.”
The smirk slipped slightly from Cedric’s lips.
“That you resurrected the demon god.”
Cedric scoffed.
Rashiel was trying to sway the archers, just as he had done with the audience earlier.
“Is that your grand plan? Stirring up some cheap rebellion?”
“……”
“How unfortunate. The nobles and imperial knights have already left.”
Cedric had ensured that all the nobles watching the play, as well as the palace knights, were sent away under the guise of ‘protecting the city.’
Even if they had suspicions, they would have no proof.
And soon, Rashiel—the only living witness—would be dead.
Cedric watched him, waiting for his face to crumble with despair.
“Oh?”
Instead, Rashiel remained completely calm.
No, more than that—
He was smiling.
Not a desperate, mocking smile.
A confident, knowing smile.
“I see.”
His voice was quiet, but it sent a chill down Cedric’s spine.
“Then… I can kill them all.”
For the first time, pure, unrestrained bloodlust flashed in Rashiel’s crimson eyes.
Cedric’s breath hitched.
That overwhelming presence—
It was the same as the first time they had met.
The moment he had realized Rashiel was the ‘failed prince.’
The fear that had gripped him then clawed its way back to the surface.
Rashiel, noticing Cedric’s reaction, tilted his head slightly.
“Did you know?”
“No matter how powerful a spell is—”
A crackling noise sparked beneath him.
Cedric’s gaze snapped downward.
His pupils contracted.
“What…?”
Inside the magic suppression barrier—
A magic circle was forming.
Slowly. Deliberately.
A deep, ominous hum resonated as Rashiel’s spell clashed against the barrier’s enchantment.
Cedric, unable to comprehend what he was seeing, stood frozen.
Rashiel’s voice, cold as ice, rang out.
“Even a magic suppression barrier—”
At last, the magic circle finished forming.
A blinding light erupted.
“—breaks before stronger magic.”
And then—
The world exploded.
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