Chapter 487

Chapter 487

The wind across the battlefield scattered, swept away by the force of the scream.

The gust hit Lucia, making her stumble. The Cloak of the Undying that wrapped her shimmered with a faint magical aura, billowing in the chaos.

Bwoh— Ooohhh—

Yanar Tash writhed weakly, raising its head as it let out a guttural wail.

Almost at the same moment the scream ceased, Ian’s head snapped to the side. His four eyes narrowed, then flared open with blazing intensity. His previously slumped body suddenly stretched wide.

“-----!”

A roar tore through the air as if it were shredding the very fabric of the sky. Waves of multicolored chaos spiraled outward in thick, concentric rings.

Boom— Crack!

Yanar Tash’s barely lifted head was smashed down into the earth again. Its ruptured torso collapsed further, crumbling as if the ground itself had rotted away.

Even as that happened, two of Ian’s tentacles remained embedded deep inside Yanar Tash. They were now pushing him even higher. Multiple tentacles flared behind him like wings as he howled toward the sky.

Crackle… Crack…

Between the shattered remains of Yanar Tash, violet fissures spread. To Lucia’s eyes, it almost looked like purple roots were spreading.

Gwoooooo…

And that wasn’t all.

Above Ian’s head, the once-ashen sky darkened into a deep, ominous violet. Through Ian’s roar, faint cries of pain from Seren and Moro bled in.

“Sir Ian… is he?”

But Lucia’s gaze, beneath the cloak shimmering with magical energy, remained fixed on Ian as if nailed in place. What she saw was Ian invading Yanar Tash’s dominion—and worse, using its chaos as fuel.

He hadn’t killed Yanar Tash to spare it. He had done it to keep its chaos from scattering.

“----!”

And that alone was enough to prove Ian had been completely consumed by chaos. The Ian she knew would never commit something so horrific as offering a living archdemon as a sacrifice.

It also meant that, once this ritual was complete, the Desert of Death would be reborn as the domain of a new archdemon.

Of course, she couldn’t just stand by and let that happen.

“Wait… Sir Ian!” Lucia finally murmured, rising slowly to her feet. The storm of chaos swirling was fierce and violent, but she steadied herself and stood.

“I’ll…”

Grinding her teeth, Lucia stepped forward. She stumbled once but didn’t stop. She pulled her cloak tightly around herself and locked eyes on the archdemon. Step by step, she forced herself onward.

To Lucia, it was the only choice that made sense. That new archdemon, formerly known as the transcendent of the North and the Agent of the Platinum Dragon, was also one of the people she cherished and loved most.

“----!”

And even now, he hovered in the air, howling. The violet cracks spreading across Yanar Tash’s corpse were widening by the second, just like the swirling violet vortex that was staining the sky above.

“Lucifer! No!” Diana’s faint scream brushed past her ears, but Lucia didn’t look back.

Her mind was consumed by a single thought: how to bring Ian back to his senses. If a price had to be paid, she was prepared to give anything— even her life.

Tap, tap—

But before long, she was sent tumbling across the ground. Someone had tackled her from behind, dragging her down in a tumble.

"Are you out of your mind? Trying to get yourself killed, Lucifer?"

It was Diana. She pinned Lucia to the ground, shouting with wide, furious eyes behind her mask.

“Let go, Diana! I have to go! Sir Ian’s soul—it’s still in there! I know it is!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! You still believe that after seeing that?” Diana shouted back, bracing herself with all her strength. “The Ian Hope we knew is gone! That thing—that thing is nothing but the incarnation of chaos. A new archdemon!”

“No! You don’t understand. Sir Ian’s soul is special! So…”

Lucia’s resistance faltered, and her head sank against the ground. She realized she couldn’t overpower Diana in her current state.

Looking up at Diana’s furrowed brow, Lucia continued, “So just leave me here and run away, Diana. If I succeed, you’ll know. Come back for me then. If I fail, don’t stop.”

“I can’t do that. Ian entrusted you to me,” said Diana firmly, her grip unrelenting.

She glanced at Ian for a moment before adding, “Maybe he knew he’d end up like this someday.”

She met Lucia’s gaze again. “In any case, you’re my responsibility now, Lucifer. So no more reckless stunts. We need to leave. Now.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not reckl—”

“If Ian’s soul really is as special as you say, he’ll be able to return to his senses on his own. He has Yog with him, too.”

“But maybe… maybe he needs a trigger! Some kind of shock from the outside!” Lucia shook her head and pleaded, her eyes looking up at Diana. “Diana, please!”

“I… I will do it…”

A strained voice spread from behind them. It wasn’t loud, but laced with chaos, it pierced clearly into the ears of both Lucia and Diana. It was Seren, who had been curled up and screaming just moments ago.

“If the Agent of the Saint’s consciousness… must be awakened…” Even now, her voice trembled terribly, as if she were barely suppressing the pain.

The violet haze enveloping her also flickered. “Somehow… I…”

Using the flail as a staff, she pushed her upper body up and raised her head. From under her eyes, which glowed with a violet light, bloody tears trickled down. Her mouth was also slick with blood. Taking a ragged breath, her eyes fell on Diana and Lucia, and she scowled fiercely.

“So, the two of you, go! Right now!”

It was impossible for Seren to fight Ian. She was, after all, his vassal. It was already a marvel that she was even maintaining her consciousness in this situation. But that, too, was a candle in the wind. A mere exertion of Ian’s will would be enough to bring her to her knees. That was why Lucia shook her head.

“No, you can’t, Sir Seren. You absolutely cannot.”

“I’ll leave it to you, then.”

At Diana’s following words, Lucia, wide-eyed, turned her head.

“What do you mean? You know it’s meaningless— Wait. Diana. Diana?”

Ignoring her protests, Diana slipped an arm beneath her cloak, hoisted Lucia over her shoulder in one swift motion, and stood.

“Diana! Let me go…Please!” Lucia thrashed with all her might. However, she couldn't shake off Diana’s arms, let alone the cloak that was wrapped tightly around her.

Tap, tap, tap—

Diana didn’t even answer Lucia’s pleas; she just ran, her back completely turned to Ian.

Thanks to that, Lucia had a direct view of his form. As she watched Ian recede into the distance, the strength finally drained from her.

Ian’s roars were now subsiding. The violet chaos rooted beneath him had completely covered Yanar Tash. The sprawled archdemon of the desert no longer twitched. It had been subdued by Ian’s chaos power and was reduced to nothing more than a sacrifice for the domain.

Gwooooo…

Even after Ian’s roars faded, the violet vortex in the sky continued to grow, a clear sign of what was happening. Below it, Ian, with tentacles spread like wings, looked far more serene. A violet mist of chaos was seeping into the surroundings. And at the very center of it, four flickering eyes of light turned toward the black knight rising to his feet ahead, staring up at him.

“For His Highness—”

The sight of Seren shouting with her flail raised high and Moro staggering to its feet was soon swallowed by the trailing gray sandstorm. All that remained was the faint violet glow emanating from Ian.

“Sir Ian.”

Realizing that the violet baleful star had begun to move, Lucia let out a sigh. A grim thought followed—that perhaps it was already too late. But there was nothing she could do at that moment.

Tap, tap—

Diana was still running without pause, and Lucia remained firmly gripped on her shoulder.

Diana didn’t look back—not even once. She just gasped for breath behind her mask, racing across the sand-swept gray desert like a racehorse. However, her sprint did not last long.

“No… no! Shit!” Her feet sank into the ground, and then her pace slowed rapidly. Diana spat out a curse, gritting her teeth, but she couldn’t stop her steps from slowing.

Squelch— Squelch…

The sand hardened and clung, swallowing her ankles—she had stepped into quicksand. A few seconds later, both of Diana’s feet were stuck as if nailed to the ground.

“This is bullshit… damn it!”

Diana, struggling to pull her feet free, eventually let out a sharp breath and spat out a string of curses. Just the fact that she had made it even this far after stepping into the quicksand was remarkable in itself—but that thought offered her no comfort whatsoever.

“Just a few more steps…”

The edge of the quicksand was only a few meters ahead. Even as she muttered, Diana was desperately trying to pull her legs out with her free left hand. But of course, she couldn’t even pull her legs out, let alone stop herself from sinking a little deeper into the sand.

“Hey, Diana,” called Lucia, who had been hanging limp. Leaning her head toward Diana, she continued, “I think I can help you.”

“Don’t try any tricks, Lucifer,” Diana spat with a click of her tongue, grunting as she added, “If I throw you out, you’ll just go back to Ian.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, but I won’t,” Lucia said, sighing.

As Diana paused, she continued softly, “If I die trying, there will be no one left to get you out. And I think this is my fault, anyway. If you were alone, you might have been able to get through.”

“That’s… true, but…” Diana let out a low groan.

Lucia wasn't wrong. Besides, it didn’t seem like she could get out on her own. The sand had already swallowed her up to the calves.

“There’s no other way. Throw me out, Diana. I’ll give you the hem of my cloak, so grab on.”

“If that’s the only choice…” Diana, who had been answering, suddenly trailed off.

The ear visible beside her mask twitched for a moment, and then she whipped around to look back. Diana froze just after.

“No way.”

Lucia, turning her head late, also widened her eyes.

She had spotted a violet trajectory approaching at a tremendous speed through the sandstorm. As she’d thought, Seren had clearly not been able to put up a proper resistance.

Lucia, blinking her eyes with effort, spat out, “We have to hurry! Diana!”

However, Diana didn’t move as quickly as usual.

“I had a bad feeling about this… shit…” Instead, she just let her body go limp, sighing as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Lucia struggled. “This is no time for regrets! Sir Ian, Sir Ian is coming!”

“It’s already too late, Lucifer.” Diana was unexpectedly calm.

“What?”

As Lucia belatedly paused, Diana, who had opened her eyes again, turned her back to its original position and added, “By the time you get me out, that monster will already be here. So…”

Sighing softly, Diana threw Lucia with all her might. As Lucia flew, her cloak flapping, and tumbled onto the sand, Diana continued, “You go on and run. I’ll buy you some time.”

“What did you say?” Lucia, extending her arms from under her cloak, shot her upper body up.

Diana, who had now drawn throwing daggers in both hands, looked down at her. “Though I don’t know if this will work.”

It was the same look she’d had in the face of death, the one that had surprised even Ian. Of course, unlike her calm tone, her eyes were trembling with fear.

That was enough to steel the resolve in Lucia’s gaze.

“I’m not leaving you behind, Diana,” Lucia said, pushing herself fully upright.

As Diana’s eyes twitched, she spread her cloak wide and continued, “Sir Ian’s soul is still in there. Let’s wake him up together. Or…”

Lucia looked at Diana with eyes glowing with reddish magic and added, “We die together.”

“Lucifer… you… you’re really…” Diana let out a breathless laugh, shaking her head as if she’d forgotten their grim situation for a moment. Of course, she soon held her breath again. Lucia did the same.

Swoosh—

The violet light from behind had become vivid in an instant. Diana, gripping her daggers so tightly they might break, whipped her upper body around.

She raised her daggers for a moment, then froze, her eyes wide. The sight of the archdemon, cutting through the air and approaching at a tremendous speed, filled her vision.

Towering horns, four flickering eyes, a maw bristling with jagged teeth. His upper body—larger and more heavily built than before—loomed.

Woosh!

Ian spread his tentacles wide like wings just then. To Diana and Lucia, it looked for a moment as if he shot up into the air.

As a swirling gust swept past both of them, the two longest tentacles extended diagonally toward the ground.

Crunch—

Ian was caught in mid-air. Then, the giant archdemon, shrouded in an ominous violet mist, slowly descended. It was just a few meters in front of Diana. The four glowing lights looking down at her were, unexpectedly, not blazing at all. They looked very calm.

“I…an…”

However, the eyes of Diana looking up at him were filled with fear.

She had instinctively realized that this serenity was merely the leisure of a predator with its prey cornered. But that realization didn’t ignite any will to fight—no surge of defiance or instinct to survive. It only left her completely overwhelmed, her will extinguished.

Her arms hung limp at her sides, and the daggers slipped from her hands.

“Sir Ian!” Lucia cried desperately.

Ian paused—his raised hand freezing mid-air. His gaze shifted, glancing past Diana’s head.

“Please, come back to us… It’s us! You know us. You’re still in there, I know it!” Lucia, her eyes glowing red, shouted as if pleading for his soul to hear. She stood with both arms outstretched beneath the billowing cloak.

Ian slowly lowered his hand. The four eyes looking at Lucia narrowed slightly. The corners of his mouth, lined with rows of grotesque teeth, curled upward in a soft smile.

Woosh— Slash!

Without warning, one of the tentacles shot forward and pierced straight through Diana’s side.