[Angelica’s POV] 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

I closed my eyes. Accepted what was coming.

’So this is how it ends.’

My thoughts were racing but my body had nothing left to give.

’What happens to the world now? The prophecy? Was it all a lie? Or did my decision to ignore the receptionist’s warning and take this quest make it turn out this way?’

My fists clenched against the dirt.

’Will my foolishness cost not just the world but the comrades who trusted me?’

Then thinking of comrades, the first image that came to my mind was Deculein.

And I didn’t know how or why but in that moment he was standing in front of me. Not the real him. Just an image my mind had created. He looked at me with that unbothered face he always carried and said.

"Are you stupid? Letting fate decide when your life ends? How can you let someone else meddle with your own affairs? Get up and tell it to mind its own business."

Then he was gone.

I smiled. Something about those imaginary words lightened my heart in a way I couldn’t explain. And with the resolve they gave me I pushed myself up. My legs were screaming. My body was broken. But I stood.

If by some miracle I could pull this off then none of them would have to suffer. Everyone has a weakness. I just needed to find his. But the real question was whether I would survive long enough to discover it.

Every odd was stacked against me. My body was barely holding together. But something inside me was screaming to live. Screaming to know the mystery behind Deculein before meeting my end.

And that fire steadied my trembling legs.

The demon was charging again. My holy sword was too far to reach. So I gathered whatever mana I could scrape from the suffocating air and fired my divine ray straight at him.

FWOOOSH.

In response he just raised his hands and caught the beam in his palms. His skin started peeling off from the holy energy and I could feel the burning he must have been going through. But he was still moving toward me. Slower now. But still coming.

I raised both my hands and poured everything I had left into the ray. Trying to make him suffer. Trying to buy even one more second.

But it didn’t matter. He was already too close. And as he raised his free hand toward my throat I realized how powerless I truly was against this monster.

I murmured through my bloody lips. "Sorry, Deculein. But I tried."

I closed my eyes again. My holy magic was still burning his one hand but it was doing nothing except keeping that single palm busy.

These were going to be my last words before the demon’s fingers reached my throat and ended my life the same brutal way he ended Teresa’s.

Then I heard a sound.

SCHWICK.

I opened my eyes.

Deculein was standing in front of me. Not a dream this time. The real him. With his axe in his grip and his back facing me.

I looked at the ground and saw a severed grey hand twitching in the dirt. He had cut it clean off before it could reach me.

For the second time in a matter of minutes, hope flooded back into my chest.

But the demon screamed. His aura thickened instantly, making the surrounding air even more unbearable. And then his other hand, the one I had been burning with my magic and abandoned in my despair, was already swinging toward Deculein.

I pressed my holy magic back into it. The beam hit his arm and slowed his movement just barely. But it only made his rage worse. In the next instant his severed hand regenerated completely and was already punching toward Deculein from the other side.

"Watch out!"

He raised his axe to block. The fist connected with the flat of the blade.

CLANG.

The impact dragged him backward across the dirt, his feet carving trenches in the ground until his back slammed against the tree beside me. I could see the damage.

His nose was bleeding. His hands were shaking from the sheer force of that single block. The demonic mana wrapping around us was crushing him just as much as the physical blow.

But his eyes showed none of it. No pain. No struggle. No fear. Just a cold stare directed at the demon as if he had some old grudge against him.

I analyzed the situation rapidly and said. "Deculein, run from here. We can’t win this fight. He is too strong. I will create an opening and do my best to give you a chance to escape without harm. So just accept the orders from your leader and run."

His response came in a flat voice. "Run where? How can I run before I settle some things with him?"

I was baffled. "What do you mean? Do you know him?"

He turned his gaze to the demon and grinned. "Of course I do. More than he knows himself. And that’s why it’s my duty as his friend to destroy him."

His grin widened.

"Both from outside and inside."

Before I could even process his words he shouted.

"Aria! Now! Buff!"

From behind the demon a figure appeared out of nowhere. Aria. Her sword was glowing with an energy that I recognized. Deculein’s buff.

She drove the blade straight through the demon’s back. The tip erupted from his chest.

SCHWICK.

The demon was in immense pain. His chest was pierced through. One hand was still burning from my holy magic. The other had been chopped off just moments ago before it was now frustratingly fighting Deculein.

But it wasn’t the end of his suffering. Jax appeared from the side and slammed his fist straight into the demon’s face.

THWACK.

Then Aria raised her free hand and fired a concentrated blast of dark energy directly at his skull.

BOOOOM.

The combined force sent the demon crashing across the ground, rolling and bouncing for meters before coming to a stop.

Deculein turned to me. His eyes scanned my condition. The way I was grabbing my guts in pain. The blood on my lips. The broken state of everything.

He placed a hand on my shoulder. Pressed gently. Lowered me down until my back was resting against the tree.

"Rest for now. Leave the rest to us."

I opened my mouth to argue. "But..."

He was already turned away. Already grabbing his axe tighter. Already looking at the battlefield ahead.

He glanced at Aria. "Ready to make this bastard regret?"

She nodded without a word. And then both of them charged toward the demon who was already getting back on his feet. Every wound I had watched them inflict was healed. Completely. Like nothing had happened.

That should have terrified me. And it did. Because how could this monster possibly be defeated when he recovered from everything in seconds?

But those two didn’t carry a single trace of what I was feeling. No fear. No hesitation. No sense of powerlessness. They just ran straight at him like the concept of losing hadn’t even occurred to them.

And they fought together like they were a single soul.

Their teamwork was something I had never witnessed before. It was like they had done this a thousand times. One would act as the bait, blocking attacks and drawing the demon’s rage while the other would strike from behind after receiving the buff. Then they would switch without saying a word. Without a signal. Without even a glance.

They just knew.

Each of their strategies brought more pain to the demon. They were carefully trashing him. Kicking him. Punching him. Slashing him with their blades. Toying with a monster that had nearly killed me in one hit.

And watching them move in that perfect sync made something twist inside my chest. A feeling I couldn’t name right now. Or rather one I refused to name. Jealousy.

Then the demon reached his limit. He screamed with a rage that shook the trees around us and slammed his foot into the ground.

BOOOOM.

The earth trembled. I felt it from all the way back here. For them it was far worse. Aria who was in the middle of her approach stumbled from the shockwave. And the demon used that opening instantly. His fist connected with her.

She managed to get her sword up as a shield but the force behind it sent her flying. She hit the dirt several meters away and didn’t get back up immediately.

Deculein didn’t turn to look at her.

He just stopped walking.

And dropped his axe.

CLANG.

’Is he surrendering? Has he given up?’

But then he kept walking. Toward the demon. Unarmed.

I panicked. "Deculein! What are you doing?! Snap out of it!"

He didn’t turn. His cold voice reached me like it was meant only for my ears.

"Don’t interfere. Now it’s between me and him."

[Eren’s POV]

I looked at the hateful eyes of the demon. Those hollow, yellow, burning eyes that carried years of misery behind them.

And I said.

"Dorian. You loved her, didn’t you? That Mirena girl."