Karon checked the state of the well he was submerged in once more.

A vessel filled with stars.

The hand of grace.

A seal of radiance.

Each was a relic that had made its name in history.

They shimmered brilliantly, not losing their luster even amidst the dark red blood.

Adding in bones and flesh, and replenishing the main materials of the Holy Grail stored away, the miraculous well began to emanate a presence that rivaled its former state…

No, it might even be stronger than before.

It was somewhat natural.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all the power of the Holy Church was gathered here.

…And with that, all preparation was complete.

He had gathered all playable cards. There were no more cards left to prepare beyond this.

Now all that was left… was the decisive battle.

“Y-Your Eminence, with all due respect, is this really okay?” one of his subordinates asked timidly.

Well, it was only natural to ask.

This was nothing short of a gamble—a gamble where all was at stake.

But there was no helping it.

There were no other options left.

It was a matter of gaining everything or losing it all and falling into ruin.

This fight had already entered that stage.

“I don’t doubt it, but given the circumstances, wouldn’t it be better to wait for others to arrive and ensure all precautions are taken…”

The subordinate said hesitantly, but it was clear what he really wanted to ask.

He was wondering.

If it would really be alright, if there was a chance for victory.

Or if this might lead to everything being thrown away.

However, Karon, without hesitation, soaked his entire body in the well.

What kind of nonsense question is that?

Who on earth goes into war thinking they’re going to lose?

So…

He would win.

No matter what, he would win.

With that resolution, Karon closed his eyes.

An omnipotent feeling surged through his body.

Karon resolutely clasped his hands together and offered a prayer.

This was it, it was time to invade the true psyche of the leader of the Black Fangs.

*

An endless floating of consciousness.

The scenery in front of him changed hundreds, thousands of times.

After what felt like an eternity…

‘…Is it success?’

Karon had arrived in the mental landscape.

…Or could that even be called arrival?

This place was far too deserted.

If this truly was a person’s mental landscape, it should have been more vibrant. But it felt eerily empty.

What he felt was…

Affection.

It was a deep love that somehow managed to reach his mind, even though it was undoubtedly being protected by immense divine power.

A mad pure love meant for just one person.

Karon instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

[Hmm…….]

It was then that a voice echoed.

Normally, you wouldn’t hear someone else’s voice in a mental landscape, yet a chilling sound touched his ears.

Karon turned to check the source of the voice.

And…..

[Who would have thought it would come to this.]

He met the gaze of a monster made of dark shadows.

The black wolf, grinning ominously, seemed to find it amusing.

[It was that little Siel who wanted you to keep an eye on the commander when things got dangerous, as the price for acting out last time.]

The wolf slowly approached him.

[Things are going oddly yet smoothly, if I may say so.]

With that, the ominous black shadow also followed Karon. It looked ready to swallow him whole at any moment.

[Your request to protect that commander has ironically become a way to keep an eye on his enemy.]

The wolf continued to babble its meaninglessly cryptic nonsense.

“Stay away!”

But Karon couldn’t hear such a warning.

He knew.

He knew the true identity of that wolf.

He remembered the story from eleven years ago he had heard from the Pope.

The Beast King who was surely betrayed by the Emperor at the last moment was now right before his eyes.

Karon quickly started considering.

Could he win against that wolf in this situation?

Could he defeat that wolf and safely escape from here?

Even if he rated the chances as high, they were down to fifty-fifty.

Even assuming that the beast wasn’t as strong as in its prime, that was still fifty-fifty.

And even if he won, there would still be a problem.

He couldn’t hold back his strength when truly fighting such a formidable opponent.

Even if he pushed himself to defeat that beast, what good would it be if he couldn’t take down the commander of the Black Fangs after?

…No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with a solution.

At this point, he saw no way to safely escape and achieve his goals.

So, just as cold sweat began to bead on Karon’s brow while facing off against the wolf…

[I’ll give you a chance to choose.]

“…What?”

In an instant, the ominous energy that had been swirling around him vanished.

The black shadow that had looked ready to tear him apart disappeared without a trace.

The wolf casually posed a question to Karon.

[I will clear a path. Decide if you wish to go back or move forward.]

He wouldn’t block the way to the leader of the Black Fangs. Instead, he was willingly offering to open it.

So, it was up to Karon to choose whether to give up everything and return or enter the leader’s mental landscape.

Such an absurd situation.

As Karon glared at the wolf with suspicious eyes, the creature staked its own name on the promise.

‘The possibility of that being a lie…’

That thought crossed his mind due to the outrageous proposal, but the odds of it being false seemed pretty low.

Just the fact that he claimed it would hold true means it was unlikely to be broken, no matter how high the entity’s level was.

Demons were just like that, after all.

He could understand their motives.

They acted without discerning between good and evil, purely to satisfy their own pleasures.

So, this proposal likely contained not a single lie.

Thus, after some serious contemplation, Karon let it out.

He would move forward.

He had no other choice left from the start.

[Remember, this was your choice.]

The tone was mocking, as if it were laughing at him.

The wolf grinned ominously and opened the path.

The shadowy swirl quickly transformed into a white door.

Karon looked at the wolf with suspicion, but it assured him.

That it was indeed the path leading to the mental landscape of the leader of the Black Fangs.

With this, there was no longer a reason to hesitate.

He couldn’t take the demon’s words at face value.

It had said it would clear the path, but it didn’t specify it wouldn’t attack. There was a possibility it could ambush him from behind.

Thus, Karon quickly flung the door open.

Desperately ignoring the ominous laughter of the wolf from behind.

*

The scenery shifted once more.

This time, what unfolded was… a room filled with noise.

A strange space, vastly different in direction from before.

But because of that, Karon could be certain.

This was the mental landscape of the leader of the Black Fangs.

It was just like that horrendous creature.

A mixture of accessible information and information he couldn’t read despite his best efforts — the landscape demonstrated that its master was a being of higher dimension.

As Karon looked around, he soon noticed something odd.

The barrier that was meant to protect him suddenly lost its form.

The radiant gleam turned into shadows and began to melt away.

‘This is…’

Only then did Karon realize what had just transpired.

It was that creature.

That wolf had orchestrated this.

…It had never intended to attack Karon directly from the start.

It simply aimed to disrupt Karon’s psyche, while taking advantage of the chaos to dismantle the barriers around him.

The divine power that had enveloped him was now losing its direction and scattering chaotically everywhere.

……He had been completely played.

The creature had intervened in the spells to destroy the barrier and used illusions to confuse him.

It manipulated him into making foolish choices while mocking him—”This was your choice.”

Naturally, dread filled him.

But…

Karon quickly seized hold of his reasoning.

Now was not the time to be angry.

It was dangerous.

Roaming around in a powerful being’s mental landscape without any form of defense was nearly akin to suicide.

So… he had to flee.

If he were to think about the future of the Holy Church, it would be right to continue fighting the leader of the Black Fangs here till the end.

But that wasn’t Karon’s priority.

Even someone like Karon, who casually took lives, understood the value of his own.

Nothing in this world was more precious than his own life.

So, just as Karon was about to quickly escape through the exit…

“Uh…?”

That dazed voice escaped Karon’s lips.

It was only natural.

The exit, which should have been right behind him, was continuously moving away.

No matter how he tried to approach it, the distance to the exit didn’t close in.

Even if he ran, it only grew farther away.

…No, he wasn’t just moving away.

‘Am I being drawn in?’

Karon turned to face whatever was engulfing him.

And….

He encountered it.

Something he absolutely shouldn’t have met.

His mind became paralyzed. His head spun. His thoughts scattered.

Something utterly incomprehensible was fixing its gaze on Karon.

Nothing was clear.

With the mind of a mere mortal, he couldn’t even begin to fathom the being standing before him.

But there was one thing he could be sure of,

“Oh…”

It was that he had touched what he must never touch.