It had happened right in front of him. Eugene’s dazed eyes snapped wide open. His body, which had been pushed backward, leaned forward once more.
A blob of darkness had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, transforming into a sharp spike that had thrust itself into Ciel’s left eye.
“Ciel,” Eugene unconsciously called out Ciel’s name. Then, he quickly stretched out his hand.
Fsssssh!
The spike impaled in her eye dissolved into ashes and disappeared.
Eugene quickly pulled Ciel closer to examine her. Fortunately, the wound was shallow.
The surprise attack had been made using the power of Iris’s Demoneye. She must have been aiming for his head. However, the attack had ended up being much shallower than the Demon King had intended.
The sneak attack hadn’t had that much power behind it, so it had been turned into a spike that concentrated all of its power into one point. Her intent must have been to destroy not only the eyeball but also his brain; thankfully, that also hadn’t gone the way the Demon King had planned.
He didn’t know the reason for this. What might have caused the Demon King’s attack to be too shallow was a mystery. But Eugene wasn’t curious about the answer to that question. Instead, Eugene hurriedly inspected Ciel’s wound.
Ever since they had first met, Ciel had always possessed the characteristic golden eyes of the Lionheart clan. But now, one of those eyes could no longer be seen.
Eugene started trembling. Searching through his cloak, he pulled out different types of potions. The holy water he had gotten from Kristina and Anise and an elixir that was precious even by Lionheart clan standards.
Not knowing what to say, Eugene remained silent. Chewing hard on his bottom lip, Eugene completely emptied the holy water and the elixir into her now empty left eye socket. While doing so, he also checked Ciel’s pulse.
She was alive. Although it was faint, Ciel’s pulse was still beating. This fact relieved Eugene.
Despite wanting to, Eugene didn’t ask, ‘Why wasn’t it me?’
There was no need to ask; it was clear why Ciel had done what she did. Just now, Eugene hadn’t been in a fit enough state to appropriately respond to such an attack. That was still the case even now. The out-of-control Moonlight Sword had consumed too much of Eugene’s mana.
While running wild, it had even managed to affect Mer and Raimira, who had been hidden inside his cloak.
Eugene was usually able to use his mana with such reckless consumption because of the exceptional mana control that he had inherited from his previous life, not just his vast reserves. His large reserves weren’t just due to the particularities of how he had developed the White Flame Formula either. He also had Mer to thank for that, as she assisted him in using his mana more efficiently, and he could also draw on the mana from Akasha and Raimira’s Dragonhearts.
Both Mer and Raiira had lost consciousness during the Moonlight Sword’s rampage. Then, while swinging the Moonlight Sword in a state of near-death, Eugene had not only consumed all of his mana but had also suffered damage to his Stars.
Remaining silent, Eugene hugged Ciel tightly. Although there might not be much point in saying anything to her, as she was currently unconscious, Eugene still quietly whispered into Ciel’s ear, “Thank you.”
His voice was filled with utmost sincerity. Carrying Ciel in his arms, Eugene stood up. Turning his head to look across Ciel, he saw Dezra standing in shock.
“L-lady Ciel,” Dezra stammered, covered in blood.
The blood didn’t belong to her. It had spattered on her during her previous battles. Without even wiping the blood off of her cheeks, Dezra began sobbing. Eugene silently walked over to Dezra.
“L-lady Ciel, she’s okay, right?” Dezra pleaded.
But Eugene couldn’t answer her stuttering question.
Ciel’s left eye… had been lost. Fortunately, she hadn’t died, and apart from losing her eye, she didn’t have any other injuries.
However, they couldn’t relax just yet. Although Eugene had used holy water and an elixir to provide first aid, she still needed the miracle of a high-ranking priest to cleanly heal her wound of any demonic taint.
Luckily, there happened to be a Saint on this battlefield. As such, everything would be fine.
Though Kristina’s holy magic still wasn’t on the same level as Anise’s, if not now… then someday, they would definitely be able to regenerate her eye, that’s right, someday.
Grk.
Eugene fiercely gritted his molars.
Dezra’s shoulders shook even as she took over carrying Ciel.
“A-are you… alright?” Dezra asked in a fearful tone.
Although she had seen Eugene getting angry several times before, the expression he was showing now was….
No, was that really an expression of anger? Dezra couldn’t completely grasp what kind of emotions Eugene must currently be feeling, but she felt that it wasn’t just a simple mix of killing intent and rage.
“No, I’m not alright,” Eugene tightly admitted.
It wasn’t rage, hatred, or murderous intent. What Eugene was currently feeling was extreme and heavy self-loathing.
How the hell had things ended up like this? Although he had been prepared for the struggle that would naturally come with facing the Demon King, things had ended up like this not because the Demon King had been too strong for him.
“I am a fool,” muttered Eugene.
It was because he hadn’t been able to properly control the Moonlight Sword. His mind had almost been swept away by the Moonlight Sword’s rampage, and though he had barely managed to hold on to his senses, he had still been unable to properly control his body.
“A foolish bastard,” Eugene cursed.
The more he thought about it, the more self-hatred he felt. While grinding his teeth, Eugene glared down at the Moonlight Sword, where it had fallen onto the floor.
He had already been well aware of how dangerous the Moonlight Sword was since long ago. However… he had never once thought that its danger would manifest like this. After finally taking a deep breath, Eugene picked up the Moonlight Sword.
Unlike before, the Moonlight Sword didn’t emit any light as he held it in his hand. Though, if he did pour in some of his mana, it probably would begin to emit light.
However, Eugene got the feeling that… he shouldn’t try to do so. In his current state, if he got caught up in the Moonlight Sword’s rampage once more, it felt like something irreversible might happen. So Eugene just gritted his teeth tightly and stuck the Moonlight Sword inside his cloak.
“Get to the rear,” Eugene barked as he began walking forward.
His Cores were throbbing, but the White Flame Formula still shifted, and the Seven Stars began to move according to Eugene’s will.
Vroooom!
Although the drain of his main mana reserves had been huge, Akasha still had mana that he could draw from.
[Ugh….]
Raimira and Mer were also coming to their senses. There was no need for Eugene to say anything to explain the situation to them. Both of them were able to feel what Eugene was feeling. As Raimira added her mana to his, the flow of his White Flame Formula became even more intense.
At the front, the battle was still going on. Inside a pulsing cloud of dark power, the light from bursts of divine power and magic exploded one after another.
The Holy Sword, which had been stifled by the Moonlight Sword, resumed shining once more.
Eugene’s left hand moved towards his chest.
Black flames erupted into the air.
* * *
It was a good thing that she had come out to sea.
Scalia sincerely felt this way. She wouldn’t be able to run as wild on Shedor Island as she was now.
Late at night, when she couldn’t control her impulses, she had been forced to wear an inside-out robe and sneak out into the streets. Even though she had already given in to satisfying her murderous desires, she couldn’t just kill anyone. Fortunately, Scalia still had some form of restraint left to her madness.
This was due to the remaining influence of her innate nature and the morals she had been taught. She couldn’t just kill innocents. She had to kill those who had committed a crime.
Of course, she still couldn’t just kill any old sinner. Even when indulging in her impulses and hobbies, she could still differentiate between right and wrong, so she carefully selected her villains before sentencing them to death.
However, there was no need to make such distinctions in a sea like this. She could just kill whoever was attacking her. And happily for her, it wasn’t just monsters who were attacking Scalia.
Stationed where she was in the rear, the light of the divine power gathered in the front was faint, and the sky that had been caught within Iris’ devildom was shadowed and dark, so their battle against the hideous monsters who had once been as human as they were was enough to drive the faint-hearted insane. The madmen born from this swung their swords at anyone nearby without distinguishing between friend and foe or leaped into the sea and to their deaths.
So even though all of the monsters had now ripped their hearts out and died, the battle continued nonetheless. Because there had been a lot of people who had gone insane at the sight of the Demon King of Fury or from the spread of her dark power.
‘Ah, how nice,’ Scalia thought to herself.
Pointing your sword at the royal family was a serious sin in and of itself. So, there was no problem with her killing those who had done so. Scalia took great pleasure from this fact.
Swinging her sword, seeing someone bleed, the death that followed this bloodshed, and going on to kill someone else, all of this filled her with joy.
Suddenly, Scalia came to a realization. She should kill her brother in the midst of this confusion.
Ever since she was young, she had never had a good relationship with her older brother, Jafar Animus. Like most of her half-siblings, Prince Jafar had despised Scalia, whose mother was just a low-ranking concubine.
This hadn’t stopped once they had both grown older. Even after Scalia had become an adult, Prince Jafar would still gossip about Scalia at noble parties and other events.
Even though Jafar himself had never killed anyone with a sword in his life, that was still the case even now. Prince Jafar was such a coward that he had hidden himself in the evacuation ship from the very beginning of the battle.
‘Let’s find him and kill him,’ Scalia decided. ‘After all, I’ve wanted to kill him for a long time now.’
The current battlefield was filled with confusion. As long as there were no witnesses, she should be able to quietly bury Jafar’s death.
But witnesses, hm, witnesses…. Without halting her steps, Scalia focused on what was behind her. While maintaining his distance, Dior was still trailing after her. Scalia clicked her tongue.
‘How annoying,’ she thought in disappointment.
It was a fact that Dior was her aide. However, Dior wasn’t actually loyal enough to devote himself to protecting Scalia, even on this hectic battlefield. To a certain extent, the reason Dior was currently following Scalia was just to keep an eye on her.
‘Sullen bastard,’ Scalia cursed. ‘I can’t tell what his real intentions are for just continuing to observe without reporting anything to Lord Ortus….’
Should she just kill Dior as well? Having come up with this idea, Scalia was clear on what she should do. There was no need for her to even ponder the question further. Before making her way to the evacuation ship, she needed to kill Dior and throw him into the sea. She could continue heading to the evacuation ship after that.
The moment she came to this decision, Scalia’s body suddenly froze to a halt. Her head jerked up to look into the distant sky.
Dior approached Scalia to question her with a suspicious expression, “Your Highness?”
He had been wondering where she was heading, swinging her sword and laughing like a crazy bitch, but now… he couldn’t figure out why she was just standing there blankly.
“Is there some kind of problem?” Dior asked as he slowly drew closer to Scalia.
However, Scalia didn’t respond to his calls and kept staring at the sky in the distance.
Dior tilted his head to look up at the spot in the sky that Scalia was staring at. Against the thick darkness, he saw something like… chains wrapping around Eugene Lionheart.
“Chains…?” Dior muttered.
“Be quiet,” Scalia hissed.
Her eyes snapped towards Dior. For a moment, Dior lost consciousness. He stood there with a blank look in his eyes before suddenly spinning around.
“Your Highness, just where on earth are you going?” Dior questioned as he headed off, chasing an illusion different from reality.
After sending the troublesome human away, Scalia — no — Noir Giabella turned back to look up into the sky.
In Lehainjar, Noir’s consciousness had once descended to possess Scalia’s body. The incubus she had used as a catalyst back then had died in front of Eugene and Kristina’s eyes, but Night Demons could be found nearly everywhere in this world.
Scalia had an unstable mind and suffered from nightmares. While noticing how Scalia was repressing her internal impulses, Noir had given her a push on the back so that Scalia would begin to act on her impulses during her bouts of sleepwalking and begin to develop those impulses into a sadistic hobby.
That was how Noir had slowly cultivated a connection between them. The princess of Shimuin… Noir thought that hers would be a great identity to play around with, and it could also be used to keep an eye on the fleeing Iris’ actions.
Noir thought to herself as she looked with narrowed eyes up into the sky, ‘I didn’t intend to intervene, but….’
Although it was surprising that a dark elf like her would become a Demon King, that didn’t mean Noir had any intention of getting involved in this battle to subjugate Iris — no — the Demon King of Fury. In the first place, her real body wasn’t here out at sea but back at Giabella Park in Helmuth. Just like last time, she had used one of the Night Demons, who served her as a catalyst to descend in the form of her consciousness.
To think that she would find a newborn Demon King of Fury here. Noir was undoubtedly interested in learning more, but this wasn’t a situation where she could directly intervene, nor did she have the strength to do so. If the Demon King of Fury managed to win this battle, then… they would surely end up clashing someday, but Noir had decided that now wasn’t the time for the said clash.
Apart from that, Noir trusted Hamel. If it was her dear Hamel, he should be able to slay the Demon King of Fury. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be qualified to challenge Noir, let alone the Demon King of Incarceration.
‘Speaking of the Demon King of Incarceration… what on earth could he be thinking?’ Noir wondered.
She closely examined the flow of the battle.
If the Demon King of Incarceration hadn’t intervened, the Demon King of Fury would have already been defeated. Could it be that he didn’t want the Demon King of Fury to die?
Noir decided, ‘No… that’s not it. Demon King of Incarceration, could it be that you want to test dear Hamel? Is that it? Is this whole battle one big test for Hamel?’
Even if she thought about it that way, she still couldn’t be sure that that was what the Demon King of Incarceration intended.
Although she didn’t really think that it was possible, but if the Demon King of Incarceration intended to join forces with the Demon King of Fury to kill Hamel…. There might not be much that she could do with this body, but Noir still intended to do the best that she could to help Hamel escape. Because she felt that it would be too unfair for the Demon King of Incarceration, who had already declared that he would wait in Babel for Hamel, to directly intervene in this battle in such a manner.
However, it didn’t seem like there would be any need for that. In that case, what should she do? Since she had already descended to possess Scalia, should she at least greet him once the battle was over before returning?
Of course, she didn’t know what the outcome of this battle might be. Perhaps, just perhaps, the Demon King might actually win. In that case, then…. fine, just for the sake of that possibility, she would stick around.
‘If dear Hamel does die, I can at least shed some tears for him,’ Noir decided.
Although it would be unfortunate if Hamel were to be defeated and slain in this battle by the Demon King of Fury, if that was the case, then it couldn’t be helped. After all, wasn’t it just his fate if he were to die from being too weak?
However, if he were to win….
While imagining that scenario, Noir smiled brightly. What kind of congratulations should she come over to say to him at that time?
“Oh my,” Noir gasped, her ruminations interrupted.
She watched as the power of Iris’ Demoneye impaled Ciel’s left eye.
Ciel Lionheart, the young girl from the Lionheart clan that Noir had met in the snowfield. Wouldn’t that mean she was a precious member of Hamel’s family? Noir narrowed her eyes thoughtfully as she began walking over.
‘She’s still alive. The attack from the Demoneye was too shallow. She’s lucky. If help had been delayed even slightly, her whole head might have disappeared,’ Noir judged.
Ciel’s survival was all thanks to the belated intervention of Sienna and Anise, who were still fighting at the front. The power of Iris’ Demoneye was usually able to manifest without any warning. Noir had also been hit by that dark attack more than once.
Noir hummed thoughtfully, ‘Her life may have been saved, but… how unfortunate, it looks like she’s lost her left eye?’
First aid had already been administered using holy water and an elixir. Eugene might be the master of the Holy Sword, but he wasn’t able to use holy magic. As such, that was all the treatment that could be done for now. Since they couldn’t send the Saint to the rear when she was in the middle of battling the Demon King, Eugene must want to defeat the Demon King as soon as possible.
“Come here,” Noir instructed, skillfully changing to a suitable expression as she approached Dezra.
Princess Scalia had a bottle of the royal family’s Panacea hidden in a pocket. The Panacea had been left by the sea dragon that had protected Shimuin until a few hundred years ago, and in terms of its healing power, it was superior to any holy water or elixir. It was still impossible for it to regenerate a missing body part like a Saint’s miracle could, but….
‘If he hears that I went this far for him, will I be able to receive some thanks from Hamel?’ Noir swallowed a laugh as she imagined it.
It might not have much of an effect, but wasn’t this a great way to show her care for him? It might be a rare curative, of which only a few bottles remained in the royal family’s possession, but it wasn’t like it truly belonged to Noir herself, so she didn’t feel reluctant to use it.
“We happen to be in possession of the royal family’s Panacea. It might already be too late, but… for the sake of the Lionheart clan, We shall use the Panacea on her,” Noir said as she plucked Ciel from Dezra’s arms.
The Panacea taken out from inside of her Exid was in the form of powdered medicine stored in a bag that was only the size of a fingernail. Taking a quick look, Noir discovered that the medicine had been made by mixing various ingredients with the horn of a blue dragon.
With a solemn expression befitting that of the princess, Noir looked down at Ciel’s left eye, or rather, her sunken eye socket. From now on, Ciel would be forced to use either a prosthetic eye or an eye patch.
‘You poor thing,’ Noir thought sympathetically.
A light blue powder was sprinkled down onto Ciel.
* * *
There was no shouting. Because there weren't any openings to do so. Since she couldn’t let out a roar, Carmen poured all of the emotions that were floating around in her chest into her fists.
Carmen had been teaching Ciel for the past few years. She had taught Ciel everything that she could about combat. However, Carmen had never taught her about the despair of losing one of her eyes.
“You…!” Carmen growled the word as some of her emotions leaked out.
She couldn’t afford to let out any tears of rage or sadness either. Because the moment that such tears welled up, her vision would become blurred.
Carmen twisted her back. Mana burst out from the Dragonheart embedded within the chest of her Exid.
“You!” Carmen roared as she spun around and threw her fist at Iris.
The flames covering her body flowed into her fist and exploded right in front of the Demon King’s eyes.
Rooooar!
Flames mixed with Iris’ dark power. The Demon King leaped backward from the resulting chain of explosions.
Carmen let out another shout, “Ortus!”
Usually, Carmen would always add a ‘lord’ when calling out to Ortus, but she couldn’t pay any attention to that sort of thing right now.
Ortus also didn’t feel offended by the abrupt way she had called him.
He had only joined the fight against the Demon King a few minutes ago. Since the battle in the rear had finished, he had hurried forward to join them, but… he was honestly finding it difficult to follow the flow of the battle.
“Yes…!” Ortus responded, unconsciously trembling in surprise as he swung his sword.
Something was coming, but it didn’t seem like something of the Demon King’s doing. From behind them, something was approaching quickly. But from behind…? No, it wasn’t behind them any longer.
It was right in front of them.
Booom!
Like a comet, it came flying in while trailing a long tail. Before anyone had even registered it, the comet arrived at the center of the battle and sent the Demon King, who had been standing there, flying.
“You fucking bitch,” the lion growled from within his pitch-black mane.
