Luina opened her eyes in the darkness.
The world regained its light, but she was no longer at the Academy.
The sky was red.
Screams echoed.
Corpses were piled up.
‘Where am I?’
What was this?
Where was she?
“Miss Luina! Come to your senses!”
The voice of a knight running alongside her pulled her out of her thoughts.
He cut the neck of a monster that lunged at her with its jaws open.
“Bercheff…”
Familiar landscapes. Familiar people.
Yes, it was Bercheff, her home, the place she had always wanted to protect.
And it was in danger.
The hordes of monsters wouldn’t stop coming.
“Hold the line! Enter the inner fortress!”
“Save the citizens!”
The land where she had grown up was turning into a wasteland.
Her neighbors’ houses were collapsing.
The walls were falling, the city was crumbling.
It was a catastrophe.
A disaster.
Luina couldn’t think straight. How had Bercheff ended up like this?
The sight of her homeland falling apart tore her heart apart. And the more pain she felt, the tighter she gripped her sword; her strikes grew fiercer.
Behind her, a path of blood from fallen monsters was carved.
Then—
────!
Beyond the creatures besieging the fortress, at the end of the plain, a massive presence was felt.
“A demon…!”
Luina bit her lips; the knights’ faces turned pale.
She quickly dismounted and climbed the wall. There she saw them.
The 69th demon, Decarabia.
The 66th demon, Kimaris.
‘Decarabia? Kimaris? How…?’
Hadn’t they been defeated by Fernan, her father, and the Mercenary King?
Defeated? How, if they were standing there, perfectly intact?
“Luina!”
In that instant, the border marquis was cutting down monsters and running toward her.
“Run, Luina!”
Her father grabbed her shoulders.
“They’re demons! Demons have appeared! Bercheff won’t survive this day.”
“What are you saying…?”
“This is no time for nonsense!”
The count roared.
“They’re demons, Luina! Face the truth! No reinforcements came from the Empire, and more than twenty thousand monsters are besieging us. We’re barely holding on, and now those demons have descended!”
It was impossible. Bercheff couldn’t withstand them.
“That’s why, run. I entrust Bercheff to you. Lead the citizens to safety. As long as you live, Bercheff will continue to exist.”
The count rested his sword on her shoulder.
“I entrust our people to you. From this moment, you are the new head of Bercheff.”
“Then come with me, Father…”
“There are two demons. Someone must stay to buy time for the people to escape.”
Knights of the White Lion, of the Black Lion, soldiers of Bercheff!
The count shouted.
“Give me your lives! For Bercheff, for its future, for your families! But you won’t be alone! I’ll fight beside you until the end!”
“We gladly give them!”
“Glory to the count!”
“Bercheff will be eternal!”
The elite knights stayed with him.
“My lady, we must go. If we don’t, the count’s sacrifice will be in vain.”
The Red Lion knights, reserved for the future, dragged Luina—crying blood—toward the retreat.
She carved a path through monsters, guiding the citizens.
In the distance, the wall crumbled.
“Where… where should we go?”
“We must head to Schwaben. It’s our only hope now.”
“If the Pellenbergs hadn’t allied with the demons, we could’ve gone to the county of Ashtof…”
“The Pellenbergs allied with demons?”
“Yes. Don’t you remember? The Archduke of Pellenberg summoned a demon at the Continental Academic Conference and killed everyone.”
‘That… happened?’
Yes, she remembered now. The Conference had been reduced to ruins, with countless deaths.
It was revealed to be the work of Rosalia Vienderk and Fernan Pellenberg.
Both princely houses were accused of collaborating with the corrupt.
Even the man known as the Empire’s hope died there.
‘Aint Armian…’
The one who had restored the secret swordsmanship of the Armian died fighting the 71st demon, Seir.
After that, the continent fell into chaos.
The houses of Vienderk and Pellenberg were hunted, and the Cult of the Dragon God along with other princely houses declared them corrupt.
Both houses became public enemies and war broke out.
And they weren’t weak houses.
Especially the Pellenbergs, whose financial network spanned the continent like a web.
The Empire, after a thousand years of history, began to devour itself and sank into ruin.
‘Schwaben…’
The emperor of Schwaben proclaimed they were the new adversaries of the demons.
But in reality, they could barely withstand the sabotage from the Pellenbergs.
Thus ended Bercheff, guardian of the north for a thousand years, falling without receiving any aid.
Luina bit her lips.
Even if Schwaben was questionable, it was the only option.
“Don’t waste your father’s and the knights’ sacrifice! The citizens come first!”
“Yes!”
Luina led the refugees, cutting down enemies.
Were they surviving thanks to her father’s sacrifice or because the demons were toying with them?
Fortunately, the pursuit wasn’t immediate.
She lost countless comrades, but managed to save more than half of the refugees and lead them to Schwaben.
“My God, Bercheff has fallen…!”
“Two demons…?”
Schwaben, already on edge, welcomed them eagerly.
They granted land to the refugees and extracted every bit of information from Luina and the surviving leaders.
“Countess Luina. Fight alongside us against the demons, and Schwaben will one day help rebuild Bercheff.”
But it wasn’t free. Schwaben demanded the survivors defend their lands.
“Understood.”
There was no choice. It was more blackmail than a request, since they were using her people as hostages.
And even so, she wouldn’t refuse her hatred toward the demons wouldn’t allow it.
The monsters that had destroyed Bercheff began attacking Schwaben, and battles became daily.
A month passed.
The Empire slowly regained stability.
Vienderk was destroyed by the other electoral princes, and Pellenberg left the continent of Lutar, fleeing to Pandrein.
There they still held influence, so the Empire chose to focus on the demons rather than attempt annihilation.
Fearing that the demons who ravaged Bercheff would move south, Schwaben gathered all its strength.
The First Knight of the Empire.
The Mercenary King.
The former First Knight of Vienderk, now converted.
A cardinal of the Cult of the Dragon God.
And the Master of the Magic Tower.
Three Royal Knights and two Archmages.
Five superhumans gathered in one place.
Something that would never happen unless a demonic threat demanded it.
And soon, the fear became reality.
Tens of thousands of monsters, strengthened after devouring Bercheff and the northern Empire, struck Schwaben.
Luina fought nonstop on the front lines.
For two whole weeks, the beasts’ offensive never ceased.
Thanks to the five superhumans, there were no catastrophic losses, but the constant pressure wore humanity down.
In a brief respite, sitting on the wall, Luina bit a piece of hard bread while gripping a newspaper.
【The fall of Esrin. Esrin overrun by monsters.】
【After the mysterious death of the crown prince, Alfrosen falls into civil war.】
【Another demon, the 64th, Flauros, descends in Frazia. A hellish chaos! Refugees flood the streets.】
【Traitors to humanity? The Kingdom of Heinburg refuses to join the Alliance and attacks the Kingdom of Grunad.】
If only there were hope.
If resisting meant finding a ray of light.
But no.
The news kept growing darker. The continent was plunging into the abyss.
The morale of the soldiers dropped day by day.
And the demons attacked at that precise moment.
“Demons! Demons have appeared!”
“Don’t fear! The Royal Knights and Archmages are with us!”
But their faith trembled.
“…Another… another demon…!”
It was snuffed out as fast as a candle.
The strange demon resembling a pentagram, Decarabia.
The black knight riding a massive dark horse, Kimaris.
And that wasn’t the end.
A colossal peacock. Hundreds of eyes embedded in its feathers made everyone tremble in fear just by their gaze.
In that moment, Luina understood why the demons had shown such calm.
It wasn’t because her father had stopped them, nor because they enjoyed toying with humanity.
They had summoned a new demon to ensure humanity’s end once and for all.
“…The 65th demon, Andrealphus.”
Luina muttered softly.
From there began a new despair.
The sky cracked, the earth turned over.
Flames flooded, storms raged.
A battle far beyond the realm of humans.
And in the end, there was no victory.
“Kugh…!”
The sword of the former knight of Vienderk broke.
“Aaaaargh!”
The Master of the Magic Tower was split in two and died.
The Mercenary King, the First Knight of the Empire, the Cardinal of the Cult of the Dragon God.
They fell one after another.
If there was any consolation, it was that their sacrifices weren’t entirely in vain—they managed to take down the 66th demon, Kimaris, and dealt a fatal wound to Decarabia.
But Andrealphus still stood.
And with the transcendent dead, the walls of Schwaben crumbled ridiculously easily.
“We must flee, my lady!”
The captain of the Red Lion Knights, who had escorted her since her escape, shouted.
But Luina had lost the will.
“Where are we supposed to flee to?”
Bercheff had fallen. Her father was dead.
They had barely escaped to Schwaben. Five transcendents had gathered there.
And still, they all died.
Could there be any more hope?
With Schwaben collapsing, while demons continued to sprout across the continent?
No, no matter where she ran, there would be no answer.
“…I won’t run.”
It was no longer the chivalry she revered.
It was resignation.
She had lost her father, her family, her homeland, and in the end, even hope.
She then decided to burn her own life, to give everything she had, and at the very least, plant a seed of hope for humanity.
‘I’ll kill Decarabia.’
That fatally wounded Decarabia, who was retreating. She would kill him.
To die alongside a demon as a knight wasn’t a bad end.
“No.”
A familiar voice suddenly slipped into her ears.
“A future where all the demons’ plans succeed—that’s a very bad ending, Luina Bercheff.”
She turned her head. Since when had he been there?
Someone was watching her.
Neatly combed black hair, red eyes that looked down on everything.
“…Fernan Pellenberg?”
Luina ground her teeth.
The traitor who, along with Rosalia Vienderk, had betrayed humanity.
If not for that betrayal, the Empire wouldn’t have been divided so miserably.
Bercheff wouldn’t have fallen either.
‘I’ll kill him. I’ll end this traitor.’
Her murderous intent overflowed.
“You’re mistaken.”
But Fernan Pellenberg remained unfazed.
“I’m not a traitor to humanity. I’m just a merchant.”
A common man who only wanted to earn money and spend it.
“No, wait, I’m not just a merchant anymore.”
I’m a debt collector.
“Luina Bercheff, I haven’t recovered my investment yet. How do you plan to die so easily?”
“What? What are you saying…?”
Before she could even ask, something went straight into her mouth.
A sweetness flooded her senses. Chocolate.
She was stunned.
“Get up, Luina Bercheff. You cannot die.”
────!
The world flipped. Luina opened her eyes.
Boom, boom!
A roar struck her eardrums. Vibrations ran through her body.
And she felt soft hands enveloping her, and Fernan’s face looking down at her.
“…Fernan?”
“That’s right.”
“How…?”
“You held on well, Luina. Leave it to me from here on.”
Fernan turned his gaze far off, toward Andrealphus fighting Professor Grad.
“Luina, what do you think of that?”
“It’s a demon that must be killed.”
“No, that’s not what I mean.”
Fernan shook his head.
“Isn’t it unfair?”
“…Huh?”
“Those of equal level should fight each other. As it is, how is it different from a human abusing a defenseless puppy?”
“What kind of nonsense is that all of a sudden?”
What I mean is—
“Go, Wooden.”
─────!
A gigantic figure fell from the sky, crushing Andrealphus.
The demon was knocked down and smashed into the ground.
“Destroy it. As if crushing the head of a beast.”
— Gwoooooooh!
The golem that slammed into Andrealphus roared.
____
Join the discord!
https://dsc.gg/indra
