“You seemed to be having a lot of fun just now, didn’t you~?”
Joy danced in Avira’s eyes.
She wore a dress that accentuated the curve of her waist, with several beautiful golden leg rings securing her black stockings. Golden cross patterns adorned the knees, but the dark gold tone felt like a profane humiliation of the sacred.
Her attire symbolized the highest status among the demon race.
Elisa struggled, her throat locked tight, blood flow obstructed. Her vision darkened, but the familiar voice forced her to wonder who this person before her really was.
She looked very familiar.
Among the Tilves royal family, there was a princess with a beautiful appearance but no talents. She had been overshadowed by her younger sister’s brilliance, becoming merely a part of her shadow. Yet, at a critical moment when Tilves faced life and death, she had saved everyone in the Tilves Palace.
Afterward, the princess vanished completely. Many believed she had been captured by the Demon King and turned into a prisoner. Even within the Knight Order, a rumor circulated: Avira had been taken by the Demon King, corrupted into a demon, her Saintess Power dominated by the Demon King, turning her into the Demon King’s puppet!
And now, everything happening before her eyes seemed to confirm it.
“Lady Ophitia~♡ What should we do with this girl? She looks pretty useful.”
The voice sounded like it was fawning over its master.
“Keep her.”
Lightning struck the bare rock, and the Dragon Girl retracted her wings, striding forward with elegant steps. Her voice was like that of a nightingale.
“It’s someone from the Hero Squad. With her, that makes three.”
“Cough… ugh…”
Only then did Avira release Elisa, looking at her with the eyes one might use for trash. Avira hadn’t held back—her neck still throbbed with pain. When she fell to the ground, Elisa let out a scream. Her already exhausted body collided with the hard surface, feeling like it might fall apart. She couldn’t even stand up from the ground and could only endure Avira’s mocking laughter.
“Uh, do we really have to keep this kind of human~?”
“Yes, of course.” The Demon King laughed. “Once she turns into a demon beast, her stamina will be endless. She’ll just need to serve as a magic launcher.”
Cold sweat poured from Elisa’s body.
Only then did she realize what had happened earlier.
The Demon King had shattered the barrier, and Avira had killed the priest.
The glasses guy was dead. The priest’s resistance was like paper before Avira, who had unleashed her Saintess Power. Elisa was adept at sensing magic, and she could feel that Avira, now captured by the Demon King and turned into a demon beast, had surpassed even Catherine!!
She had witnessed Catherine’s fighting style—movements swift as lightning, sword techniques dazzling to the eye, a woman worthy of standing at the peak of humanity.
But Avira had surpassed her!
Now, she was about to become a prisoner of the demon race, just as the Demon King had said—she would surely be turned into the demon race’s weapon and captive.
“Avira, are you really… Her Highness the Princess?”
At that moment, a knight stood up.
He was the vice captain.
Avira and the Demon King hadn’t killed them all, but curiously, all the remaining knights of the Catherine Knight Order had lost any will to fight! Even the vice captain was trembling all over!
“Oh?”
Avira turned back and sneered contemptuously:
“There’s still one human left here. Demon King, should we clean him up?”
“It depends on Avira’s mood. These humans pose no threat.”
“Thank you, Mistress.”
Avira walked over to the priest and bent down.
“You’re still alive, aren’t you, Ace? Don’t play dead. I know you have a teleportation scroll. You were planning to take these knights and escape, right?”
“Cough cough…”
Ace Priest rose awkwardly. Clearly, losing his heart alone wasn’t enough to kill him.
The golden crown on his head was visibly damaged. Though not dead, he couldn’t use any magic for the time being.
“What are you going to do!”
The priest retreated repeatedly, his hands trembling.
He faced such a petite girl, yet he could only cower and back away like a coward.
The vice captain was in the exact same state; he couldn’t even stand properly and plopped down on the ground.
He had a premonition that this demon’s cruelty would be the last scene of their lives.
“Avira, why… why betray humanity?”
Elisa’s voice was weak.
The saintess who had been bullied yet kind at heart had ultimately become a demon.
Why was she so tragic? Why hadn’t humanity even had a chance to save her? Why had they even attacked Catherine so fiercely?
A flood of thoughts rushed through Elisa’s mind in an instant.
Avira’s response followed immediately:
“I am the Demon King’s personal possession, her blade and fang. I embody the Demon King’s will. How’s that—sound complicated?”
As expected, she had been brainwashed by the Demon King into her slave.
Avira didn’t kill her. Instead, she instantly closed in on Ace Priest, snatched the golden crown from his head, revealing eyes burning with blue flames. A silver-white sword materialized in her hand again, and with a casual swing, she severed the priest’s head.
Without the crown, the priest lost the Great Sage’s bestowed recovery ability. Before dying completely, he let out a chilling scream, as if proclaiming humanity’s defeat.
The vice captain nearby wanted to intervene but knew that if he stopped Avira, he’d be next! What a terrifying woman. Was this really Tilves’ frail princess?
That lonely figure at the ball who couldn’t even find a dance partner, the one mocked by all the nobles—now she had become the Demon King’s servant?
She had even killed the priest.
Avira only examined the golden crown before handing it to the Demon King. From start to finish, she didn’t spare a single glance at Vice Captain Ross or the cluster of knights beside him.
As if disregarding them entirely.
The next moment brought even greater despair: dozens of Evil Demons flew in from the sky, completely unscathed! The Red Lotus had done nothing!
The knights had long lost their will to fight. They knew they couldn’t oppose the Demon King, and they had witnessed the priest’s death with their own eyes. Now, they could only become captives of the demon race.
Elisa was in the same boat. A female Evil Demon bound her; its strength was immense, seemingly venting anger at her, the instigator.
“Cough cough…”
“Weren’t you full of energy just now, human miss?” the Evil Demon sneered.
At the same time, amid the smoke and flames separating them from the Evil Demon Army, a red-haired girl emerged.
She knelt toward the direction of the Demon King and Avira.
Elisa made out her appearance.
She wore the same uniform as the Evil Demon soldiers and blended so seamlessly among the demon race that she was nearly unrecognizable.
It’s Oka?!
“Demon King, Lady Avira, I wish to personally deal with this girl, Elisa.”
