5 minutes before the mansion’s explosion.
One member of the four-member Demon Race group, a Blood Demon youth named Vlad, slumped in an alleyway, staring at his body in disbelief.
The reason he was slumped on the ground was that all four of his limbs were gone.
Magic Power poured from the cross-sections of his limbs, constantly transforming into a black mist in an attempt to repair his body—this was the powerful innate regenerative ability of the Blood Demon.
“Freeze.”
But the petite figure before him merely uttered those two words, and his Magic Power stopped flowing.
The black mist rising from the wounds was instantly frozen into a pale blue ice mist, and then the entire surface of each wound was completely sealed by a thick layer of frost.
The budding flesh could no longer extend forward, not even by a fraction of an inch.
“… You aren’t a doppelganger.”
He raised his head, flashing a miserable smile at the Sage who approached him.
The moment he had lunged at her, mistaking her for a doppelganger, his four limbs had been severed by invisible blades.
His airborne body, propelled by its initial momentum, continued to fly toward the Sage, but halfway there, it was struck as if by a heavy hammer and slammed violently against the alley wall.
“Is it an air blade formed by Wind Magic? I couldn’t even see the trajectory—you added Light Magic to hide it, didn’t you? As expected of the Great Sage… but how exactly did you get out of that Tower?”
Sephy did not answer his question. With a slight wave of her hand, a current of air wrapped around Vlad’s limbless torso, lifting him into the air like a marionette.
“Are you planning to torture me?”
Still no response. There was no emotion in Sephy’s eyes as she looked at Vlad, only a complex, rapidly rotating pattern.
She reached toward Vlad’s head—and then thrust a finger straight into his brain.
“Ah…!”
His brain shivered, trembling in a spasm of agonizing pain. Vlad quickly realized what she was doing… she was reading his memories.
“… So, you’re Kui Yin’s younger brother.”
Sephy finally spoke her first words. His eyes rolling back, Vlad heard the name, and the corners of his mouth curled into an extremely mocking arc.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about… I don’t have a—a sister like that, who mingles with lowly humans!”
“She would be very sad if she knew you were here doing this.”
“Sad…? She’s the Blood Demon Duke… she carries the fate of our entire race on her shoulders! She doesn’t even care about that, so why would she care about a relative she considers a traitor?”
“You have a deep misunderstanding of her. But since even she couldn’t convince you, I won’t waste my breath—besides, that isn’t my job.”
“Don’t… don’t go any deeper! Get out of my memories!”
Vlad tried his best to resist Sephy’s Spell, but it was in vain.
Without limbs and with his regeneration suppressed, he could only squirm pointlessly like an earthworm that had its body cut in half.
“Reduce your resistance. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee your life.”
“Haha… you actually think I care about that? Stop being so hypocritical! Since I’ve been defeated by you, I never expected to stay alive! Go to hell…!”
In a state of frenzy, Vlad pushed the Magic Power throughout his body, trying to make it boil and explode—
“It’s pointless. Please be quiet… I’m sensitive to noise.”
Sephy merely snapped her fingers, and the Magic Power in his body calmed down—as still as a pool of stagnant water.
“Get out of my head!”
He was powerless and could only howl and scream in futility.
“The ‘Demon King Succession War’… I see. You were originally a Noble enfeoffed by Nolan, and that Beast Demon officer was also a non-commissioned officer serving in the Nolan army. You simply replaced the Princess and the Prince… You want to kidnap the Hero’s daughter… Is killing or capturing those associated with the Brave’s Party how you are scored? How absurd. What point is there in doing this? Even if we all died, none of you could ever become the Demon King.”
“You only saw that much? Then you’re too late!”
As Vlad’s triumphant words fell, a deafening explosion suddenly echoed from the distance… followed by the terrified shouts and screams of people on the street.
“Hahahaha! It’s your fault for being so slow! Now you’re too late… you can’t stop anything—”
“Vera is not in the mansion. And those companions of yours won’t be able to take the Hero’s daughter, either.”
Vlad’s laughter stopped abruptly halfway through. Meanwhile, Sephy continued to dig deeper into his memories.
“Ah… found it at last. So it’s someone from the Imperial Capital—the official who met with Meliya. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Having obtained the information she wanted, Sephy withdrew her finger from his brain.
She blew a breath, dispersing the Magic Power at her fingertip that was as thick as blood.
“Impossible… if you knew our target was the Sword Saint… why didn’t you know this was information provided to us by those humans? Just who are you… ah, I see. No wonder you’re indifferent to the explosion.”
Vlad suddenly understood. He looked into Sephy’s eyes—
“You didn’t even have any intention of saving anyone. So you knew everything, didn’t you? O Great Sage? Since you knew everything, why bother pretending to read my memories here?”
[….]
“Could it be… hahahaha, I see! I see! It was all an act! The calm face is an act, the indifference is an act! For all I know, even you yourself are—”
“Shut up.”
The Blood Demon youth’s shrill, mocking laughter came to an abrupt halt—because his head was severed by an invisible wind blade.
As the head, still frozen in its mocking expression from one second ago, rolled onto the ground, his body floating in the air dissolved into black smoke and slowly disappeared.
‘I’m sorry… Kui Yin.’
Sephy apologized to her friend in her heart, then looked down at the head, which was also gradually dissipating.
‘How pitiful.’
The upper half of the head had already disappeared, and only the twitching corners of the mouth on the lower half seemed to be saying this.
Then, everything related to him completely vanished… as if he had never existed.
‘You actually think I’m pitiful? In your eyes… I should be the happiest person in the world, shouldn’t I?’
Sephy turned and left the alley. The moment she stepped out, several Sage’s Clones entered the alley to clean up the mess for her.
……
“Hurry up and deal with all of this! Stop dawdling…!”
In a top-tier guest room of a high-end hotel in the Inner City, the fire in the large fireplace burned exceptionally bright.
Yebul, a high-ranking official from the Supervisory Office in the Imperial Capital, was directing his subordinates to throw things into it.
“The clothes can be burned later… burn those relevant documents first! Then go and throw away his personal belongings!”
He was doing this because he had already learned from the streets that the Princess, the Duchess, and her successor were all safe.
Moreover, his colleague Ariel, who had entered the mansion with the Demon Race, had yet to appear.
Had he been killed in the explosion? Or had he been captured by the Guard that arrived later?
He didn’t know what kind of fate he had met in the ensuing chaos… but he knew very well that now that the man was missing, he had to immediately erase all information related to him— even though the man had never appeared with him in diplomatic settings.
On this diplomatic mission, he was in charge of the public side, while Ariel was in charge of the shadows.
Whether it was purchasing explosives on the black market or coordinating with traitors in the Duke’s Household… he was the one who handled and arranged it all.
In his luggage, Yebul had already seen records of his transactions with black market dealers for explosives and transcripts of his conversations with the mole in the Duke’s Household.
These documents were kept in one of his suitcases.
Yebul personally picked up several documents, and after confirming that the contents were enough to serve as incriminating evidence, he tore them into pieces and threw them into the fire.
“It’s a total mess! That damned bastard… to leave such a huge disaster for me! Move faster! Once you’re done with all this, we need to prepare to leave the city!”
He intended to flee. It was clear that the operation had failed.
That woman was unharmed, and the entire city had entered a state of martial law—large numbers of guards were patrolling, and wanted posters for a member of the Demon Race had even been posted on every street corner……
He didn’t recognize the demon girl on the poster, but he could easily guess that she was likely an accomplice of the demon youth who had come to meet them today.
Since that person was now wanted, Ariel, who had been acting with them, might have been spotted by someone as well.
Since the Guard had not come knocking yet… the possibility of him being arrested was not high. But Yebul could not take that risk.
He had to completely destroy this evidence and then escape—
He was the one who absolutely could not be captured. If he were caught here, he would also lose his greatest trump card for dealing with that woman.
He had originally intended to use that thing as a killing blow… but he had never had the chance to use it.
He looked at the suitcase placed by his bed, his exclusive one that had been treated with special magic.
That suitcase was covered in a thin layer of frost—even in this room where the fireplace was frantically devouring firewood.
This was because the box contained that sword… the sword that woman was famous for.
Yebul had only kept this thing for a few weeks through a box with protective enchantments, yet he had already contracted a severe cold.
He walked over to the box and lightly touched its surface with his finger—just by doing so, the thin layer of frost crawled up his fingertip like a living thing, draining the warmth from his entire body.
“The ‘Frosted Demon Sword’… you are the only one I must take with me. I will personally plunge you into that woman’s heart.”
But he still had no intention of withdrawing his hand. Even as his teeth chattered uncontrollably, he still directed a fanatical gaze at the box.
“Th-This is bad! Master Yebul! The Guard has arrived at the hotel reception… the Sage’s Clones are with them!”
“What did you say?”
The panic-stricken report from the subordinate who had been sent to monitor the street finally woke him from his frenzy.