Faenol could feel her body burning.

She gasped for breath as she hugged herself.

The Red Aura jolting inside her body was too much for her to handle at this point.

…I…

What am I doing here?

With her clouded mind, she could barely ask that question to herself.

The last thing she remembered was her taking the Rejuvenation Pills and rolled it inside her mouth before she fell asleep.

Then, she remembered the ‘Demonic Aura’ pouring out of her body.

As if it had ‘held it in long enough’.

Beyond her fading consciousness and her dimming vision…

A familiar figure came to her view.

The same figure she had seen back when she faced the red night for the first time.

“...”

A woman, clad in red aura with a pair of horns on top of her head.

Her appearance made Faenol wonder if she would look something akin to her if she was ever substituted as a red soul.

“...You.”

Faenol said blankly.

Her consciousness was faint.

She didn’t even know why she was in such a place.

While she was in such a state…

A voice interrupted.

-...The world…

Such words…

-Had hurt you.

Came out of the Red Devil’s mouth…

Her voice was so calm and peaceful despite the fact that she was the one who had used Faenol’s body to kill so many people.

It was…

To the point that Faenol felt an affection that was similar to maternal love coming from her.

As if the Devil actually cared about her.

-That’s why I…

And, she definitely…

-Will turn everything anew.

Had heard those words before.

●

There were uproars everywhere..

Near the vast field outside the Great Temple of the Holy Land, there were only hurriedly built facilities there.

This was the result of the Pope's insistence on never allowing people to enter the Great Temple. It was probably because unlike how everyone at least used the facilities inside the Academy or the sites nearby…

The Holy Land’s academy, the Great Temple, was built near the 'Sanctuary', which was the core of the Holy Land.

…This is annoying, but…

Honestly, it was a huge relief that at the very least, this incident happened in this kind of place.

It was as if they already knew that the second Crimson Night Incident was about to occur in advance and chose a place where there were no other people around.

“...”

Seriously, this is so annoying.

I bet that the Prophet had told them this.

[...Right, about her, is it okay to leave her just like that?]

Caliban was talking about the Prophet, who had been in my room until just now.

Because, you know, as soon as the red column of fire soared up high, I just left her there and ran outside

“...She won’t mess with me for the time being.”

What I knew about her was that her movements were pretty consistent.

There were a few times where she arbitrarily made the problems bigger, but at the end of the day, she never attempted to take my life.

It’d most likely be the same during this main quest.

Like I said earlier, there was a high chance that she had told the Pope about this, which led them to use such a deserted place as the location of the Last Ordeal.

That way, this quest’s difficulty would be lowered and I would be able to ‘survive’.

“...”

The problem was…

Even though the punk who had been openly raising the difficulty level had ‘cooperated’ with me and lowered it instead this time, this was still a hell-like situation even without her meddling.

It would’ve been a bit better if Iliya had the right of control over the Holy Sword, but she didn’t, so the situation was actually worse than it should have been.

I stared at the huge column of fire soaring before my eyes—it looked like a mushroom cloud that you’d see in a nuclear explosion.

That fire was a long distance away, but I could feel the heat from where I was. My skin felt like it was melting.

The heat wasn’t the end of it, of course. Considering the vicious Demonic Aura contained in it, the physical phenomenon that came out of that flame was insignificant.

There was a heavy air, as if malice had filled the entire area. Similar to back when I encountered the Ancient Gods in the Forge of Struggle, except this time, the sensation was on a different level.

“...”

I silently fiddled with the lion breastplate I had in my inner chest pocket.

If I hadn’t put Tatiana inside the breastplate as a ‘Familiar’, there was no way I could survive that. I would’ve definitely been crushed by it.

What was more ridiculous was that this was only the ‘prelude’, the beginning.

The Crimson Night Incident.

That incident when a Devil went berserk, one of the worst disasters throughout the long history of the Empire.

This whole thing only served as a ‘sign’ to tell you that the incident was starting.

[So, any solution to this?]

“...I have a plan for it, from the beginning up to the middle.”

Trying to recall the ‘progression’ of the event that followed from there up until the end, I replied as such.

The first thing I had to do was to get to where Faenol was, of course.

Since the details on how to attack the boss and stuff started from there.

And I had thought of a way to get there in advance.

“...”

The problem was, I didn’t have a way to deal the finishing blow.

That was something I’d do by any means when the time came.

Though, it wasn’t like I was completely clueless in this regard.

“Oh, Mr. Dowd?!”

As I was lost in my thoughts, a voice came out from right next to me.

I turned my head to the familiar voice to find Lana there with her eyes wide open. What a coincidence.

“What on Earth is going on?! What's that column of fire?!”

“...”

It would be kind of awkward to be honest with her and tell her that it was the sign of the Red Devil going berserk.

I mean, she would hear everything later anyway. If I were to tell her now, it would only add to the chaos rather than anything.

For now, it would be better for me to look for ways to use her since I ran into her somehow.

“Lana, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Pardon?”

"Can you run away with as many people as possible nearby?”

After hearing what I said, she looked at me while blinking her eyes.

Though this was a deserted place, there should still be some people who hadn’t been able to flee the place.

If I left those people to this punk, she should be able to guide them out of here somehow.

In the meantime, I would…

“Mr. Dowd.”

“...”

“You know, Mr. Dowd…”

Lana called out to me while tilting her head as I looked at her even though I couldn’t waste even a single minute here.

“Your expression now is very scary.”

“...”

I didn’t know what she was on about, so I just stared at her. While looking right into my eyes, she continued.

“Are you okay? You look way, way scarier than back when you treated me inhumanely before…”

“...”

“...At that time it only felt like you were riskily walking on a tightrope, but now you don't feel like a human at all.”

[...This girl’s nose is amazing.]

Caliban said, agreeing with what Lana just said.

“...Let’s talk about that later.”

With a sigh, I vaguely tried to change the topic.

I had no time nor the reason to care about such a thing right now.

“Can you do me that favor?”

“...It’s not difficult. Besides, it’s something I have to do.”

“Then I'll leave it to you!”

I said so and continued to run again.

If she were to help me evacuate the other people, things would be so much easier for me.

My current destination was the hurriedly built campsite far from where my accommodation was.

On the way there was an open field with only trees and plants.

I just had to walk right across this place to reach the campsite, the place where Faenol was at.

That…

Was my original plan.

As the soaring red flame rose up high enough to touch the sky…

‘Cracks’ formed in the surrounding space.

“...”

Of course, I had expected this much to happen.

This was a similar phenomenon like back in Chapter 1, when I met Marquis Riverback who had become a Demonic Human—a life form of the Pandemonium that was summoned to the Material Realm.

It was nothing new, since it was the fixed pattern of the boss battle that happened as the impact of this punk's Demonic Aur—

[...Are you sure?]

“...”

[Do you really think this isn't new…?]

As I looked at the ‘dozens’ of gates being opened, I could completely understand why Caliban had said that with a trembling voice.

Well, this might come as a surprise, but the life forms of the Pandemonium were monsters who could match the life forms that came from the Astral World, where Angels were.

If there’s one or two of them, it should probably be okay, but with this number…? I might actually die…

“...Hey…”

Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.

At the same time, mumbled words came out of my mouth.

“This is a little too much, don’t you think…?”

As the gates opened, several slimy life forms suddenly rose from the ground that was covered by soggy and sticky black Demonic Aura.

Those were the janitors of the Pandemonium. Life forms at the bottom of the food chain.

It seemed like the most simple among the life forms would come out first before the others.

Of course, since there were dozens of gates, though these guys were among the most simple ones, there were roughly hundreds of them slowly getting up.

“...Haa…”

I looked around while wiping my cold sweat.

Honestly, if I had to, I’d fight. The fact that I was already here meant that my specs were enough to have an all-out war with these things.

However…

…It'd be better to save my strength as long as possible.

The boss battle with Faenol hadn’t even started yet.

I shouldn’t use my power in a place like—

“You...”

Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out nearby.

“You always try to handle things on your own. That’s a problem.”

At the same time…

-!

-!!!

Dozens of Sweepers were shattered into pieces in ‘one blow’.

A phenomenal Sword Slash and a familiar sword swing.

“...Eleanor?”

As I hurriedly muttered the name of the person that felt like I hadn’t met for a long time, Eleanor smiled and stepped in front of me.

Not only her.

Seras, Riru, Yuria, and Iliya, who was in a daze, were following right behind her.

Even after seeing those life forms of Pandemonium swarming around, none of them looked scared or showed any sign of backing down.

Well, except for Iliya.

She was the only one among them who looked unmoored.

Also, how should I put this…

With such a disaster unfolding in front of them, instead of being scared, or at least give a fuck about it, those guys were focusing on their rivalries for some reason.

As if it was much more important than the disaster itself.

“...”

Mister.

What the fuck did you put on the line to make these punks working so damn hard?

[The right to take your virginity.]

“...”

[I told everyone except Iliya that’s what they’re going to get.]

“...”

[Look, don’t you think it’s the time for you to just give out your virginity to someone?]

“...”

[Honestly, I don’t give a damn which one of them would get it, as long as it’s not Iliya.]

Motherfucker.

What did you just say?

“Alright, everyone.”

As I thought so…

“Don’t get in each other’s way.”

Eleanor said.

At the same time.

-!!!

-!!!!!!!

The massacre began and spread into all directions.