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“You’re late!”

Feeling wronged, Baros immediately retorted.

“I hurried as much as I could!”

Laficel stood quietly, just glaring at the opponent.

“…”

Unlike before, she didn’t launch an immediate attack. It seemed she instinctively sensed that the situation was dire.

Serati, looking at the two-handed sword Baros held, asked in a concerned tone.

“Are you okay with that cursed sword?”

It was a vile sword, one that had the power to dominate humans and turn them into bloodthirsty murderers.

Even Baros, who had been the Death King’s most loyal servant, was now just an ordinary human.

How long could Baros withstand the terrifying power of that sword?

Baros answered with a serious face.

“I’m focusing as much as I can.”

Indeed, handling the sword’s power was a tricky task.

If he lost focus for even a moment, the balance would be destroyed!

‘Gah! I messed up again!’

A horrendous scream erupted from the cursed sword Mareda.

“Aaaah!”

At the same time, a pale evil spirit appeared through the blade.

“Ah! Ah! Aaaaaah!”

It thrashed about wildly, desperately trying to escape from the sword.

It looked like a drowning person frantically flailing for life.

“This again?” Baros muttered with a scowl as he shook the sword.

“Where do you think you’re going? You can’t escape.”

A dark current rose from the blade, capturing the evil spirit and sucking it back into the sword. It was as if it was being dragged to hell.

“Kyyaaaaah!”

With a final, agonizing scream, the evil spirit vanished back into the blade.

“Just a little lapse in focus and it tries to pass on for good, even though it’s an evil spirit.”

Serati stared in disbelief.

‘Oh, that scream was from the evil spirit?’

As expected, the servant matched the master.

Like Karnak, Baros was also one who belonged to the “abyss.”

For some reason, Serati felt the weight of her fate more deeply than ever.

How had she ended up among people against whom even evil spirits were desperate to escape?

Just as she was lost in thought, Baros directed a message at her.

[Please guard the young master, Dame Serati.]

[Ah, yes!]

Snapping back to her senses, Serati rushed to Karnak.

Baros lifted the cursed sword Mareda and pointed it at Laficel.

“It’s been a while, Dame Laficel.”

Woooong!

A sinister red battle aura radiated from the blade. It was the dark aura drawn out by the sword’s power.

“We’re not exactly happy to meet again, are we?”

Laficel could barely handle this dark aura and had to transform it into her own aura before she could use it effectively.

But for Baros, this was his expertise.

“Given the situation, let’s give it our all.”

The grey-haired girl twisted her expression.

“Lord Baros…”

Her blue eyes filled with murderous intent, and purple aura surged, enveloping her entire body.

“You cursed dog of the Death King!”

Her voice, filled with hatred, echoed through the air.

***

The gray-haired girl slashed vertically through the air.

The giant knight counterattacks with an upward strike, kicking the ground.

Two streams of battle aura clashed midair.

Crackle!

A deafening sound echoed as if the air itself had shattered. A vortex of light burst out in all directions.

“Ugh!”

“Argh!”

Both let out groans as they staggered backward.

The first clash was a draw.

In terms of speed, timing, and the destructive power of their aura, they were evenly matched.

Karnak, observing from the sidelines, muttered to himself.

‘As expected, when Baros uses the cursed sword, he can still manage this level of power even in his current state.’

The pure power of the cursed sword alone wouldn’t be able to achieve such efficiency. At best, it might shatter a few rocks and drain the remaining bloodstone.

“Die!”

With a sharp cry, Laficel unleashed another slashing attack.

The blade of light danced chaotically, teasing the eye with its dazzling movements.

But Baros wasn’t fooled.

‘I’ve been hit by this move too many times before!’

He ignored the flashing blade and focused on the flow of the sword itself. He calmly deflected the incoming strike and immediately launched a counterattack.

Clang!

The blades collided, and the exchange of strikes began.

Sparks flew again and again. Blades of grass were shredded and sent flying, while the atmosphere around them seemed to tear apart with a howl.

Rumble!

Like two beasts filled with murderous intent, they gave no quarter, leaving no openings for each other.

Both of their breaths grew heavier.

“Haa… haa…”

“Huff… huff…”

They needed to steady their erratic breathing.

Baros stepped back and slammed his cursed sword into the ground.

‘Let’s catch my breath for now!’

A wave of dark red aura surged from the sword, ripping through the earth as it traveled. It was his favored long-range aura technique, Shadow Claw.

Laficel responded by striking the ground with her sword, sending an aura wave to counter it.

The two waves of aura intertwined like snakes and then exploded.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Karnak, watching, allowed a slight grin to form.

‘Ho?’

Laficel was pushed back more than 10 meters, while Baros stood firm, catching his breath where he was.

‘It seems we’ve managed to wear her down quite a bit.’

It made sense.

She had been fighting relentlessly since dusk.

Even while under the cursed sword’s control, she had fought against the entire King’s Order, and after breaking free from its control, she continued battling. She had to be nearing exhaustion by now.

But Baros wasn’t in a particularly advantageous position either.

The cursed sword Mareda had been running on fumes for a while. There was hardly any blood energy left in it.

Baros was simply squeezing out the last drops to fuel his dark aura as efficiently as possible.

‘If I had known it would come to this, I would’ve gathered more dark aura for Baros in advance. But doing that would’ve meant living the way we used to….’

Dark aura doesn’t come for free. He would need to kill at least a hundred people to gather enough aura to fuel Baros.

‘Anyway, I need to focus on surviving this immediate crisis.’

Karnak began to calmly draw out his remaining necromantic power.

‘Given how tired she is, this technique should start working soon.’

***

After learning Laficel’s true identity, several mysteries were finally resolved.

Why had she screamed and run the moment she saw Karnak?

Given what she had gone through, it was hardly surprising. Her soul had been mutilated—how terrifying that must have been.

Then why did she later come back to try and kill him?

It was because she had been freed from the cursed sword Mareda.

While under its control, she didn’t have the mental strength to overcome her fear of the Death King. Only after breaking free could she suppress her fear with anger.

Why had the surroundings been so pristine when Wallace and Beric died? How had neither the clerics nor Karnak sensed any dark aura?

It was simply because she hadn’t used the power of darkness.

Someone like Laficel could easily massacre those two with just her natural talent and enhanced physical abilities, even without the dark aura of the cursed sword.

However, there was still one unanswered question.

When Laficel was under the sword’s control, she had acted in a bizarre manner, targeting the members of the 7th Battalion in a specific order, based on how close they stood to Karnak. It made no sense.

Moreover, she had uncharacteristically tried to kill innocent people with a disturbing persistence.

Only after thoroughly examining Laficel’s soul did Karnak find the answer.

‘This is part of my karma, too. Sigh.’

Karnak had torn Laficel’s soul and body into three parts and made her the gatekeeper for Necropia’s gates. He had also implanted specific commands into each part.

To the skeleton soldier guarding the northern gate, who had to be wary of humanity, he gave this command:

—Kill every human that approaches.

To the flesh golem guarding the western gate, the main gate he used regularly, he said this:

—Only the Death King’s closest confidants may pass through.

And to the living armor guarding the southern gate, which saw the most traffic, he gave this instruction:

—Discern friend from foe, and block anyone with hostility.

On top of that, there was Laficel’s original extreme hatred and fury toward the Death King:

—I’ll kill you, Karnak! I’ll definitely kill you!

All these commands had mixed together, resulting in a mess.

—Kill all approaching humans, only the Death King’s closest may pass, discern friend from foe, I’ll kill you, I’ll definitely kill you!

A complete disaster, to say the least.

Once Karnak realized this, he saw a way to resolve the situation.

‘If I can fuse her soul back together, that madness should subside.’

But he couldn’t restore her fully to normal. If he did, he’d be beaten to death by Laficel, who had once been the Martial King.

‘I’ll need to bury all her memories deep within her unconscious mind while healing her soul.’

This way, all of her memories would be sealed, including her hatred and anger.

As Karnak began to cast his spell, he formed a seal with both hands.

“O suffering soul, let the King of the Underworld guide you to peace…”

A dark magic circle appeared on the ground, exuding a sinister energy.

At the same time, mist-like particles spread toward Laficel.

Since there was no hostility, she didn’t try to evade them. She didn’t even seem to notice, still fixated on Baros.

Karnak’s incantation continued.

“Follow the path of rest, and enter the realm of peace…”

***

Dark red battle aura and purple aura clashed in the air.

Crackle!

Electric sparks flew as both figures were thrown in opposite directions.

Baros, wielding the cursed sword Mareda, and Laficel, holding an ordinary longsword, glared at each other.

“Huff, huff…”

“Haah…”

Both were breathing heavily, sizing each other up.

Blood stained Baros’s shoulder and Laficel’s thigh.

The bleeding stopped quickly. Those who had mastered the art of aura control could easily stem bleeding with just their aura.

Of course, stopping the bleeding didn’t mean the wounds had healed.

‘Ugh, if I move too much, it’ll reopen.’

Feeling anxious, Baros glanced behind him.

‘He’s doing something, but…’

He could feel a powerful, sinister energy emanating from Karnak.

‘Why is it taking so long?’

This was the former Death King, after all. Unless he lacked necromantic power entirely, if he could still use it, he should be more than proficient.

While still keeping an eye on Laficel, Baros sent a quick message.

[Young master, how much longer?]

[Just hold on a little longer!]

The reply was urgent, clearly showing Karnak’s deep concentration.

[What exactly are you doing?]

[Sealing Laficel’s memories!]

[Is that something that takes this long?]

[It’s hard because I’m not used to doing this!]

Baros was even more confused.

Sealing memories? That’s not something he hadn’t done before. Karnak had tampered with memories countless times, gaining all sorts of infamy for it!

Karnak shouted as if making an excuse.

[I’m healing Laficel’s soul! I’ve never healed anyone other than you!]

That’s right.

Crushing and breaking souls, erasing memories—that was easy. He did that all the time.

But carefully nurturing a soul, treating it with gentleness, ensuring it’s healed without engaging in hostile actions—that was something he had never once done!

[Ugh, I should have lived more kindly…]

Watching Karnak struggle and groan, Serati was taken aback.

[Why are you suddenly doing something so nice?]

Could it be that he felt guilty? Was that why he was trying to save Laficel’s soul, even though his life was at risk?

No way.

[If she senses hostility or murderous intent, she’ll immediately strike back! I have to be as gentle as possible to make her accept the healing!]

Right now, it was impossible for Karnak to dominate or brainwash Laficel’s soul. Her mental strength was too strong for that.

However, it was possible to heal her fragmented soul.

That was because this act wasn’t rooted in hostility but in goodwill.

It was within the realm of what Laficel’s instincts allowed.

In a way, it was like trying to calm a wild beast enough to administer medicine.

[So, just hold on a little longer!]

[I think I can manage, but…]

Baros glanced anxiously at the two-handed sword in his hand.

The sword’s evil spirit peeked out from between the blades, looking like a dried-up mummy. The blood energy had already been completely drained, and even the spiritual energy was hanging by a thread.

[I’m worried this thing won’t hold out much longer.]

Laficel, who had steadied her breathing, once again had her eyes turn blood-red.

“…I’ll kill you, dog of the Death King!”