Scarlet swings her arm, knocking Ajax’s kick away with a grunt.

  The force sends him flying backward several meters.

  With visible ease, he flips through the air, landing lightly as one foot touches the ground.

  His gaze snaps back to Scarlet instantly.

  And the moment his eyes lock onto her—

  —he’s already in front of her again.

  He spins, his heel slamming into her side.

  The impact knocks her off balance, sending her skidding across the ground.

  Her shoulder scrapes the dirt, but she immediately plants a hand against the ground, stopping her slide.

  She lifts her head sharply—

  Ajax is gone.

  Her defense comes up just in time to block another brutal side kick.

  He’s too fast.

  Way too fast.

  I can barely see him whenever he closes in on Scarlet.

  She’s holding her own, but he won’t give her a chance to counter.

  The way she forced me to fight earlier is nothing compared to this.

  Each of his strikes would’ve killed me outright.

  Every time they collide, the earth trembles and the air ripples around them.

  Scarlet suddenly grabs his ankle with her free hand and twists, whipping him around and pounding him into the ground.

  He hits hard—but rolls instantly, rising onto one knee, ready to continue.

  “Don’t make this hard on yourself, Scarlet.”

  Ajax laughs lightly.

  “Just let me off this little pest. Imagine Alistair’s face when I show him his dead son! It’ll break him.”

  I can’t take this.

  This is pure horror.

  There’s no way for me to help.

  No way for me to defend myself.

  My legs need to move.

  Now.

  Desperately, I turn onto all fours.

  My hands claw deep into the dirt as I try to drag myself forward—

  or even just get up.

  But every time I try to stand, I collapse again.

  I look over my shoulder in panic.

  Ajax’s eyes snap onto me.

  A red lightning strike splits the sky with thunder—

  and as the flash fades—

  Ajax is already inches away.

  His glowing golden eyes stare directly into mine.

  How?

  There’s no way I can escape something that fast.

  Even if I could run, I wouldn’t make it two steps.

  “TASEO—!”

  Scarlet’s voice cracks behind me.

  I see her spin around, fear and shock on her face.

  Not even she expected him to move that fast.

  “So you finally tried to run, huh?”

  His curious tone—paired with those wide, excited eyes—

  makes my heart stop.

  I can’t breathe.

  His presence smothers me, crushing me without touching me.

  “You look like a wild animal caught in a trap.~”

  He laughs softly.

  I can see Scarlet sprinting toward us in the corner of my vision.

  “But I’m afraid you’ll have to wait your turn—!”

  His foot slams into my stomach.

  My mouth opens in a silent scream as the force lifts me off the ground.

  Everything goes black for an instant—

  Then pain.

  I hit the ground.

  Roll.

  Hit again.

  And again.

  Until I finally slide to a stop.

  Then—

  Nothing.

  No sounds.

  No pain.

  No thoughts.

  Just darkness.

  I slowly regain my senses.

  The first thing I feel… is pain.

  A burning, stabbing pain—

  as if someone punched a hole straight through my stomach.

  Around me, I hear distant, muffled voices—

  but I can’t register a single word.

  My eyes crack open for a moment before shutting again.

  The pain won’t let me sink back into unconsciousness.

  I try once more.

  My vision swims, blurry and tilted sideways.

  Two silhouettes a few meters away, moving fast—too fast for me to follow.

  I blink again, forcing my eyes to focus.

  Slowly… shapes become clearer.

  Details sharpen.

  Ajax and Scarlet stand across from each other, both keeping their distance.

  Ajax looks out of breath—

  panting steadily, arms hanging low, body crouched.

  He’s covered in scratches, and a thin line of blood runs down the side of his head.

  Scarlet got him on the ropes…

  I lift my pounding head slightly, turning toward Scarlet.

  Maybe—maybe we actually have a chance—

  The thought dies instantly.

  Scarlet stands with one arm raised defensively, the other hanging useless at her side—coated in blood.

  Her clothes are torn.

  Her once neatly bound hair now hangs loose and wild.

  Dark streaks of blood run across her bright red skin.

  She breathes slowly.

  Unevenly.

  She is in much worse condition than Ajax.

  “He—hehe… I must admit,” Ajax pants, though his tone remains annoyingly cheerful. “I didn’t expect you to hold me at bay for this long.”

  He’s exhausted too…

  but his voice doesn’t show it.

  Scarlet doesn’t answer.

  Her chest rises and falls, strained and heavy.

  “You’re really throwing away your seat for this filth?!” Ajax snaps, irritation creeping into his voice.

  “All you had to do was get rid of all of them. ALL of them. This little maggot included.”

  Seat…?

  What does he mean—?

  I force my arms beneath me, trying to push myself up onto all fours.

  If I stay down, he’ll kill me for sure.

  “Oh? Look who’s awake again~”

  Ajax’s voice lifts back into that twisted, cheery tone.

  “I was hoping I didn’t kill you with just a single kick.”

  I glance at Scarlet.

  She doesn’t look at me.

  She can’t.

  If she shifts her attention for even a second, Ajax could take either of us out.

  Her eyes stay locked on him.

  Dead-still.

  Unwavering.

  Her resolve is absolute.

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  Scarlet is the only chance I have of surviving this.

  She knows it too.

  The moment she goes down, he will execute me.

  And the moment I try to run, he’ll do the same.

  There is no escape.

  No path out.

  No hope.

  I clutch my stomach; the pain is unbearable.

  But at least… I’m still alive.

  And yet—

  I can’t even help Scarlet.

  I’m nothing but dead weight, even now, when she’s fighting with her life on the line to protect me.

  To think I doubted her before…

  “Whatever,” Ajax mutters. “Enough time wasted. Since you refuse to back down, I’ll just end you now… and finish him right after.”

  He slips into a battle stance again, muscles coiling, ready to lunge.

  She can’t take him on like this.

  He’ll kill her.

  He’ll kill me.

  Heat flares in my chest again—rapid, suffocating.

  I need to do something.

  Anything.

  I claw desperately at the dirt.

  Ajax vanishes.

  “Miss Scar—!”

  My words rip away as a violent gust of wind slams into me from their collision.

  Dirt and dust explode around us; I cover my face, blinded.

  For a heartbeat, there is no sound.

  Only a suffocating silence as the dust settles.

  “Take him and go!”

  A voice cuts through the haze—stern, commanding.

  Familiar.

  Too familiar.

  “Hurry up and go! NOW!”

  My heart jumps.

  I squint through the settling dust—

  I would recognize that voice anywhere.

  The air clears just enough to show it:

  Father.

  He stands between Scarlet and Ajax, his hands locked with Ajax’s, trembling under the pressure—

  but holding.

  He stopped Ajax’s charge.

  Stopped him.

  Scarlet freezes where she stands, stunned.

  “You… You filthy Claw-trash.”

  Ajax’s smile remains, but his voice drips with hatred and disgust.

  He tries to step forward—

  but Father shoves back, forcing him down.

  He’s… actually holding him back?

  “Move, god damn it!!”

  Father roars the words.

  Scarlet snaps out of her shock.

  She spins on her heel, dashing toward me.

  Her arm scoops under me, lifting me like a sack as she sprints away with everything she has.

  “W-Wait! Scarlet! Father?! Father!”

  She doesn’t answer.

  She doesn’t look back.

  “We need to help! Maybe together we can—!”

  “No, we can’t!”

  She cuts me off instantly, her voice hard, strained with frustration.

  Pain twists her expression as she clutches me under her arm like a bag of potatoes.

  “But Father stopped him!”

  …didn’t he?

  Her eyes narrow.

  But she still doesn’t answer.

  The realization crashes into me.

  My gaze jerks behind us.

  Ajax lunges after us—

  but each time he tries, Father grabs him, forcing him back again.

  They begin trading blows—blindingly fast, violent.

  Too fast for me to follow.

  Their figures grow smaller and smaller in the distance…

  until they disappear entirely.

  All I want is to go back.

  Back to Father.

  Back to Nyra.

  To know they’re safe.

  I still don’t understand what’s happening.

  Or why.

  Why now?

  After running for several minutes, Scarlet finally slows to a stop.

  She carefully lowers me to the ground, then places the hand of her uninjured arm on my shoulder.

  “Taseo. We don’t have much time.”

  She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the small box from earlier.

  Opening it, she reveals a necklace—

  a small pendant shaped like a purple crystal.

  With swift, practiced movements, she slips it over my head and around my neck.

  “You need to keep this with you. Your father wanted to give it to you when you were older. It has to do with your mother.”

  “…What?”

  I lift the crystal with trembling fingers, staring at it.

  My mother…?

  Why give this to me now?

  I look up at Scarlet, confused.

  “You’ll learn everything you want to know in time. I’m sure of it. But for now, we have to leave the Demonlands behind.”

  “But what about Father?!”

  My voice breaks.

  “He’s still fighting back there. We can’t just leave him!”

  “We have to.”

  She tries to sound firm—collected—but her voice cracks at the end.

  “We’re in no condition to help him.”

  The pain in her expression isn’t from her wounds.

  It’s the agony of being unable to protect someone you care about.

  “Come on. We need to keep—”

  She suddenly stops.

  Her eyes shift forward.

  This time, there’s no shock.

  She exhales… and smiles faintly, bitterly.

  “I should’ve known. Even if we escaped Ajax, you wouldn’t just let us go.”

  She straightens, standing tall again.

  Her words aren’t directed at me.

  I want to turn around—

  but my body refuses to move.

  A violent tremor runs through me.

  It feels like my back is pressed against an invisible wall—

  solid, suffocating—

  ready to collapse and crush me beneath it.

  Yet Scarlet doesn’t panic.

  Her voice is calm. Measured.

  “So what now? Are you going to finish the job here and now?”

  No answer.

  Only distant thunder rolling across the sky.

  “Honestly… I didnt expected you to be on board with this madness. To think I once held you in such high regard.”

  “It is not up to me.”

  The voice that answers is deep.

  Calm.

  Every word carries unbearable weight.

  And the way Scarlet speaks to him tells me everything—

  He isn’t on our side.

  Does that mean everything Father and Scarlet did… was for nothing?

  Scarlet scoffs sharply.

  “Not up to you?!”

  Her voice rises, raw with frustration.

  “Then who is it up to, if not you?! There’s no one who can command you—and yet you go along with this genocide?!”

  Her words aren’t those of someone facing death.

  They’re the words of someone desperately trying to understand the unthinkable.

  Silence answers her.

  Scarlet swings her arm aside in fury.

  “All of us Lords are chosen by strength! Age doesn’t matter—beliefs don’t matter! We value determination above all else! And yet you massacre the race that tries harder than any other to be acknowledged!”

  Her teeth grind together.

  Her fist clenches, shaking with rage.

  “And Alistair is the greatest proof of that! You know what they’re capable of! You know they aren’t weak—far from it!”

  “I am aware.”

  Her eyes widen.

  “You’re aware?! THEN WHY?!”

  Her voice tears itself from her throat, venomous and broken.

  Scarlet takes an aggressive step forward and stomps the ground.

  The force of it makes me flinch.

  “Why would you go along with murdering so many innocent demons?!”

  Her voice shakes with fury.

  “And even then—you won’t even let me save one of them?! Is this what your strength means?! Murdering a child just because he was born into the wrong race?!”

  Still no answer.

  Only silence.

  For the first time since I met her—brief as it’s been—I see Scarlet’s composure crack.

  Tears gather at the corners of her eyes.

  Not from fear.

  Not from sadness.

  From raw frustration.

  From rage.

  “Fine… so be it.”

  Her voice hardens.

  “If you truly want Alistair’s son, then you’ll have to kill me first!”

  “Scarlet…?”

  I look up at her in shock.

  Why would she go that far for me?

  Is it just morality?

  No.

  It has to be because of Father too.

  You protect the people—the things—you care about.

  “I’m sorry, Taseo,” she says quietly.

  “Believe me when I say I truly wanted to save you.”

  She looks down at me.

  Her expression is defeated… yet she forces a faint smile.

  “I think I’m just not strong enough for a task like that.”

  “S-Scarlet…?”

  A flash of light erupts.

  Not lightning.

  Something else.

  Time slows as the blinding glow fades.

  The only thing I manage to see—

  Scarlet tilting backward.

  Her arms trail uselessly behind her as she falls.

  She hits the ground with a horrifying thud.

  Motionless.

  I can’t look away.

  My eyes are locked onto her.

  I lift my hand—trying to reach her.

  It trembles violently.

  I drop to my knees and crawl toward her, gently tugging at her already torn clothes.

  “Scarlet…?”

  No answer.

  I nudge her leg.

  “S-Scarlet…?!”

  Nothing.

  No movement.

  No breath.

  Just a dark, nausea-inducing realization settling into my chest.

  She tried to protect me.

  She tried to save someone she had only met today.

  And this is how it ends…?

  That’s not what she deserved.

  Shock gives way to desperation.

  Tears spill freely down my face.

  “Scarlet! You can’t leave Father like that! And you can’t leave me either!!”

  It’s selfish.

  Of course I don’t want to die.

  But in this moment, I cling to the hope that guilt might make her move again.

  I already know it won’t.

  I just don’t want to accept it.

  Then—

  A heavy footstep echoes behind me.

  Getting closer.

  I don’t even realize the heat in my chest is building again.

  In that moment, my entire world narrows to Scarlet—

  and the presence looming behind me.

  Without thinking, I force myself up and spin around violently, arms spreading wide as if my body alone could shield her.

  Tears stream down my cheeks.

  I bare my teeth at the figure before me, my lips trembling uncontrollably.

  Another heavy step echoes forward.

  The figure is tall.

  Clad in pitch-black armor, golden accents tracing its surface like cruel decorations.

  A long cape sways gently in the weak wind behind him.

  He takes another step.

  With each impact of his foot against the ground, I feel it—

  the overwhelming weight of his presence pressing down on me, crushing the air itself.

  The closer he gets, the stronger it becomes.

  A faint ringing starts in my ears—

  growing louder with every step he takes toward me.

  The pressure of his presence weighs down on me, heavier and heavier as he approaches.

  It feels like it’s trying to crush me—

  like my skull is about to split open from the inside.

  His final step stops right in front of me.

  If he wanted to grab me, he easily could.

  Slowly, his helmet tilts downward.

  I can feel him staring at me.

  I can’t see his eyes, yet his gaze pierces straight through me, as if he’s looking past my body and into my very core.

  My knees tremble violently.

  But I don’t move.

  I don’t think I can.

  My breathing turns shallow and unsteady.

  In this moment, I want to scream at him—

  to tell him not to touch her,

  not to lay a single finger on her.

  But all that escapes my throat…

  is a low, feral growl.

  His gaze shifts past me, settling on Scarlet’s body behind me.

  Then, after a moment, it returns to me.

  No words.

  No sudden movements.

  Just him—towering over me.

  After an agonizingly long silence, he slowly turns away.

  With deliberate calm, he raises one hand and extends his open palm toward the direction we were trying to escape.

  A low hum fills the air.

  The space itself begins to tremble.

  In the blink of an eye, a small dark-purple orb forms—

  stretching, warping—

  until it blossoms into a wavering oval, large enough for a person to pass through.

  A portal.

  He lowers his arm and steps aside, positioning himself out of the way—

  leaving a clear path between me and the thing he created.

  His helmet turns back toward me.

  Still, he says nothing.

  I glare at him, teeth clenched, rage and terror boiling together in my chest.

  He won’t make me move.

  He won’t touch her.

  His gaze turns away from me, drifting into the distance—

  as if I’m no longer worth even looking at.

  “They’ve already paid the price. Don’t make it worthless.”

  His words are calm.

  Not angry.

  Not cruel.

  Just resolute.

  My eyes flick to the portal—then snap back to him.

  Does he want me to leave?

  Why let me go?

  Why now, after everything that’s happened?

  This has to be a trap.

  But… why would he need one?

  There’s no reason for someone like him to rely on tricks to kill a child.

  Then why give me a way out?

  Why demand that I comply with his will?

  To owe my life to him…?

  My gaze darts back and forth—

  between the portal…

  and the armored figure.

  Then it drifts back to Scarlet’s body behind me.

  No.

  I can’t leave.

  Not her.

  Not Father.

  Not Nyra.

  If I go now, I might never see them again.

  My thoughts spiral, colliding in chaos.

  I try to decide—

  I don’t get the chance.

  An iron-clad hand grabs my shirt and lifts me off the ground with effortless strength.

  My breath leaves me in a sharp gasp.

  He turns toward the glowing purple gateway.

  “Don’t waste your only chance.”

  Then—

  A sudden, violent yank.

  The world lurches backward.

  I don’t even have time to scream

  before everything goes dark.