The hallway didn't just brighten; it burned.
A thick, cloying scent of holy incense and scorched stone filled the air. At the end of the corridor stood a man who looked less like a human and more like a statue of gold.
Prince Arthur. The "Hero of the Sun."
In the stories, he was a noble savior.
But looking at him now, his stance was all wrong. He held his sword too low, his feet spread wide in a way that screamed "overpowered." knight from the legends—this was a monster hidden in light.
Alisa was still shivering behind me, her many voices whispering a terrifying mess of "Please don't" and "I'm sorry." The dark mana swirling around her was starting to frost the floorboards, turning the wood white.
"Hey, Alisa are you okay? I'm sorry alright?, it's okay now don't worry please" I said try to comfort her,
"Well, well," Arthur drawled, his voice vibrating with an annoying, holy reverb.
"What do we have here? A demon and her little pet boy? Lucky me. I shall end this right here and now."
He reached for the hilt at his hip.
The moment his fingers brushed it, Alisa's entire body went rigid.
Her eyes went wide—pupils shrinking to pinpricks—as she stared at the weapon. It was pure terror. I knew why.
That wasn't just a sword; it was a conceptual weapon built for one purpose: erasure.
"Hey!" I stepped in front of her, my legs shaking but my voice steady. "You're traumatizing the kid, you moron. Put the toothpick away."
Arthur paused, looking at me with genuine confusion, then a smirk. "Are you perhaps possessed by that demon girl, boy? To speak to a Hero in such a way... don't worry. I'll save you from that nightmare by sending you to the heavens first."
"Don't be a stupid, you insolent fool..," I snapped. "She's got a human heart to, You're the one acting like a monster."
"Oh? Already manipulated?,huh?" Arthur sighed, shaking his head with a pitying, ugly smile. "Then I shall kill you too, scum. It makes it easier for me. No witnesses to say the Hero killed a 'human'—just two monsters."
"But why?" Alisa's voice was small, cracked like glass. Tears of black ink tracked down her cheeks.
"Why is it always me? I just wanted to live a normal life. If everyone else can... why can't I? Is it becau—"
"Because you're a demon, is that clear? or you wanted me to repeat it again? I just don't wanted to hurt other feeling y'know "
Arthur cut her off, his voice flat and cold. "And nobody wants to be in the same world as you. Except maybe this possessed boy, who is clearly already gone."
"Hey! I'm not poss—"
"Wait, don't you worry," Arthur talked over me again, his smile widening into something jagged and cruel.
"I can send you both where you belong. If I kill you both, I'm doing a good thing, right? The world becomes cleaner. Who would ever say I'm wrong?"
"That's enough!" I roared.
My mind was racing, scrolling through the game's item data like a frantic terminal.
Item: Sol Invictus. Grade: Mythic. Passive: 'Sin Eater'—deals 400% bonus damage to Dark-aligned entities. Rule: Only those with 'Pure Faith' can hold it without burning their hands off.
"I know that sword, Arthur," I panted, my eyes locking onto the hilt. "The Sol Invictus. It has a durability floor. If the user's 'Ego' exceeds their 'Faith,' the blade loses its sharpness.
And looking at that ugly face of yours? Your ego is through the roof. You're barely hitting for 50% base damage right now."
Arthur's smile vanished. "How do you—"
"I also know the ability," I pushed, my heart hammering. "'Dawn's Reach.' It's a 15-meter dash with a 0.5-second wind-up. You always lead with your left foot."
"Heresy!" Arthur screamed.
He charged. It was exactly 0.5 seconds.
"Duck! Left!" I grabbed Alisa by the waist and threw us both toward a stone pillar.
CRACK.
The pillar turned to dust.
"Frame-perfect," I wheezed. "Your cooldown is starting now! Three seconds of recovery!"
I lunged through the dust cloud, my hand flaring with jagged, grey Entropic Mana. I didn't aim for his chest—I aimed for the hilt of the sword, the one place his 'Pure Faith' protection was weakest.
"Gah!" Arthur roared as my grey sparks collided with his gold aura. The sound was like a mirror shattering.
For a second, the 'Invincibility' buff flickered.
But the level gap was too high. He caught me by the throat, lifting me off the ground.
"You are a speck of dust," Arthur hissed, his eyes glowing blue. "And the sun doesn't care about dust."
He slammed me into the floor. The stone shattered under my back. I couldn't breathe.
I saw him raise the blade, the tip pointing at my heart.
"Wait!" Alisa stepped forward, a shadowy wing exploding from her back. "Don't touch him!"
"One more sinner gone," Arthur whispered, and swung.
I reached up, grabbing the white-hot blade with my bare, sparking palm. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, but the grey static roared, locking the sword in place.
"I told you," I wheezed, blood leaking from my mouth. "Your Faith is weak, Arthur. The sword... it doesn't want to kill me."
The kitchen floor began to groan, turning into a black, bottomless void as Alisa's mana finally began to scream.
The kitchen exploded.
Alisa's dark mana erupted into a pair of massive, jagged wings, tearing the ceiling apart.
The air grew so cold my breath turned to ice. She didn't look human anymore; she looked like a shadow carved into the shape of a girl.
"You want to erase me?" Alisa's voice was a terrifying chorus of overlapping echoes.
"Try it, you golden parasite!"
She launched herself at Arthur. The clash of her pitch-black mana against his blinding Sun-Blade sent shockwaves through the room, shattering the stone walls and turning the iron stoves to shrapnel.
"Filth!" Arthur roared, swinging the blade in wide, desperate arcs.
"You are nothing but a glitch in the light!"
"And you're just a blind man swinging a flashlight!" she screamed, her shadows wrapping around his silver armor, corroding the metal.
Arthur just laughed. His Sun-Blade cleaved through the darkness like tissue paper.
"Foul demon!" Arthur roared.
He vanished, reappearing right in front of her.
He drove his metal knee into her stomach, lifting her off her feet.
I tried to scream, but my lungs were filling with blood.
I was drowning on dry land, gasping for air, my crushed ribs pinning me to the floor.
Arthur grabbed Alisa by her pink hair, yanking her head back. "Back to the abyss."
He thrust the Sun-Blade forward.
It sank straight through her chest. Right into her heart.
Alisa didn't scream. She just gasped, her eyes going wide as the dark wings shattered into black glass.
She went completely limp, sliding off the blade and hitting the shattered stone.
"No..." I choked out, blood bubbling past my lips.
Arthur turned to me, the golden sword dripping with black ink. "Now for the dog."
My mind raced. Think. Think! The Sol Invictus. It had one fatal flaw. The Oath of Humility. If a user ever claimed divine authority for themselves, the blade would judge them as a false idol.
"You're pathetic," I wheezed, forcing a bloody grin. "You think you're a savior? You're just the Church's lapdog, A stupid, brainwashed puppet who only does what he's told."
Arthur stopped, his face twisting into an ugly mask of pure rage.
"I am no puppet, peasant!" he bellowed, his voice shaking the walls.
"I am the absolute justice! I am the light that cleanses the dark! I am God!"
The words hung in the air.
Then, the Sun-Blade stopped glowing gold light. It turned a blinding, furious white.
"Wait—no!" Arthur dropped the sword, but the light had already latched onto his hand.
The holy fire reversed, feeding on his arrogance.
"Ahhhh! Goddess, forgive me! Mercy! Have mercy! I didn't mea-" The Hero shrieked, falling to his knees as the flames devoured his silver armor.
In less than three seconds, the 'Hero of the Sun' was nothing but a pile of smoking grey dust.
I didn't care. I dragged myself across the floor, my fingers tearing on the broken stone.
I crawled to Alisa. Her skin was turning grey, the wound in her chest glowing with a sickly light.
"Alisa... hey..." I gasped, my vision going black at the edges.
To my left, the thick smoke and dust from the battle slowly parted.
Footsteps echoed through the ruined hall. Slow. Deliberate.
The Duke stepped into the light. He looked at the pile of ash, then down at his dying daughter. His face was entirely unreadable.
"It seems she has finally revealed her true identity," the Duke said quietly. The pressure of his aura was terrifying.
"Help... her..." I pleaded, unable to catch my breath. "She's... dying."
The Duke didn't move. He looked down at me, his eyes cold.
"You know, Leo... I've wondered why I spared you for so long. You act like you've known her for years. And she... she talks about playing with you in the village woods."
He crouched down, his voice barely a whisper. "But my daughter has never left this estate. Not once."
My heart stopped.
The village. Our memories. My mind snapped to a hidden piece of lore.
The Monster of the Tran. A psychic parasite that implants fake, tragic childhood bonds into a host, making them fiercely protective of someone they just met.
It feeds on the despair when that person dies.
Alisa's memories of me... they were fake. A programmed backstory. I was just the bait. why am I just realized that now?
"So, boy," the Duke said, watching the horror dawn on my face. "Why do you keep pretending? Your knowledge of relics, of attack patterns... it's quite impossible. You are no village boy."
"Are you serious right now?" I spat, blood flying from my mouth. "Your daughter is dying... and you want an interview?"
"I want the truth," the Duke said coldly.
"Answer this one question, and I will have my healers save her life tonight. Refuse, and you both bleed out right here."
I stared into his frozen eyes, knowing he meant every word. "Ask."
The Duke leaned in, the shadows wrapping around us.