Chapter 58 The Final Battle Has Begun

Liora' voice dropped to a whisper so only Rein and Aura could hear.

“Now… breathe. Calm down. When you step through those doors, you act like nothing happened—just loyal grandson, coming to see his grandfather. Aura’s illusion should hold long enough that Arthur won’t see through it right away. I’ll handle the rest. Don’t worry about the details—just focus on keeping him occupied. Once the moment comes, you’ll know what to do. And remember—this only works once—so don’t ruin it. Make it count. Ready? Then let’s go.”

Without another word, Liora vanished as though she had never stood beside them at all. Not even the faintest trace of her magic remained.

Rein let out a heavy sigh, dragging his hand down his face as he turned toward Aura. 

“And there she goes. Not even waiting for our response. Okay… here goes nothing. Hope you’re ready, ‘cause I’m sure as hell not. This is gonna be rough. Real rough.”

“You’re not the only one. I’ve fought armies, monsters, even death itself. But walking in there, facing him… that’s harder than all of it. But I'm ready. It's time to stop Arthur.”

Rein let out another long breath, staring at the massive doors. 

“Alright then. Showtime.”

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Hans’s sigh echoed through the hallway.

 “Ahhh—damn that witch and her blinking tricks. She spoiled my perfect little plan to get rid of Rein. Pity. Still… another chance will come. Now then—where were we? Ah, yes. All of you—dying."

He snapped his fingers. Dozens of magic circles flared to life along the walls, floor, and ceiling. The circles ignited at once, detonating in a blinding flash. White light swallowed everything, burning against their eyes, before vanishing just as quickly.

When the light faded, the castle was gone. Stone gave way to cavern—an enormous hollow. Only a ring of lanterns threw a faint glow around a circular pit of rough rock. Beyond that dim pool, the cave swallowed the rest in an impenetrable black.

Silence held for a single heartbeat. Then, from the darkness, shapes moved—huge, lumbering silhouettes resolving into the hulking forms of the knights. One by one they stepped into the weak light, armor scarred and mismatched, claymores dragging sparks across stone. Their helmets were broken, faces barely human beneath.

Hans’s voice echoed, magnified by the cave walls, every syllable soaked in grim pride.

 “Welcome. Welcome… to my death arena. Here is where my test subjects once fought for survival—and where I perfected them. Those who failed the Hero cadet program, the quitters, the weaklings—I remade them here. But don't feel left out. When I am finished with you… you will take your place among my collection. You will be my greatest creations. I turned failures into real knights. Imagine what I could make out of you.”

“…So, this is what you’ve become, Master. You taught me discipline. Strength. The art of the blade… the pride of carrying it. And now? You hide behind tricks. Flashbangs and darkness, like a coward who’s forgotten what honor feels like. Once, you were the man I respected the most. Now you’re nothing but Arthur’s dog. To think the master who raised me… has fallen this low.”

Hans’s laugh slithered through the dark.

“Honor? Discipline? Pride? What naïve little words. I taught you those things, boy, because that’s what you needed to grow. To survive. But did you ever believe I followed them myself? You disappoint me, Vex. Still clinging to childish ideals. There is no honor. There is no pride. Only power, and those strong enough to wield it. And look at me now. The King’s hand. The architect of his shadows. Every ‘failure’ of your precious Hero program reborn by my craft into warriors that never question, never falter. Tools far more loyal than you ever were. Even monsters follow my commands now. You call it falling low. I call it ascending higher than you ever dreamed.”

The oppressive darkness fractured like glass as a blazing aura erupted around Mari, flames licking the walls and floor. The cave was instantly flooded with light so bright it seemed the sun itself had descended.

“Shut the hell up, old man! Enough of your nonsense! No one is making me—or anyone else—into one of your abominations! I will burn your nightmares MYSELF! No one turns my friends into those monsters and gets away with it. Not on my watch!”

“Well said, little flame,” Verron agreed, "I shall leave these pawns to you. Tend to your fire, I will deal with Hans.”

With that, he moved. His body became a blur of darkness, a single concentrated beam of pure force that shot across the cavern. He didn’t bother with the door or the maze of passages. He went straight through the solid cave wall.

KRA-KOOM!

The cave wall exploded inward with devastating force. A man-sized hole was bored through meters of stone, revealing the dimly lit chamber on the other side where Hans stood. He raised a hand and casually brushed a few specks of dust from the sleeve of his obsidian-black tuxedo.

“It’s time to end this madness, Master.”

When Verron disappeared, the cavern erupted into unadulterated violence. Mari didn’t just summon fire; she unleashed the sun’s core.

"Tier 5 Magic: Hellfire Sunburst!"

 The blast shook the very foundations of the mountain, the ceiling above the knightly horde melted. Molten rock, glowing with apocalyptic orange heat, rained down in thick, sizzling globs. Knights were engulfed where they stood, their plate armor becoming their tombs, melting and fusing with their flesh in shrieks of vaporized metal. The very stone floor bubbled and swam in a widening lake of fire.

Selene moved next. Her spear, already humming with lethal energy, struck with such force and speed that the edge of her spear began to glow white-hot, burning with friction and sheer velocity. She wasn't just piercing armor; she was vaporizing it. A knight would raise his claymore, only to have a white-hot line punch through his chest, leaving a smoldering, fist-sized hole clean through steel, bone, and all. 

Kaia was a Lazer beam. Tiny, precise, and deadly. She zipped across the battlefield, twin daggers flashing so fast they carved gashes in the walls and floor. Every motion left deep trenches in the stone. Knights that thought they had her cornered found themselves shredded before they even realized she had moved past them. A flash of light in one spot, a knight collapsing neatly slit. A flicker behind another, twin daggers carving through the back of his knees before he could even turn. Each slash so impossibly fast and precise it gouged the bedrock itself.

Silvia was enjoying herself. She moved between the knights, her twin scimitars spinning on their chains like extensions of her own sadistic joy. She didn't go for kills; she went for dismantling. A flick of her wrist would send a blade shearing through a knight's elbow joint, severing the arm still holding its sword. A graceful pirouette and another knight would crash to the ground, his hamstrings expertly slit. She laughed, ducking under a slow, heavy blow to plant a kiss on a knight's helmet before driving a blade through its visor slit. 

"Oh, don't fall yet," she'd purr to a stumbling giant. 

"The fun has only just begun!"

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Hans’s hand slid to his cane, a blade slid free. He let the sword sing once as it left the cane’s sheath.

“Well, then. As promised, I will deal with you myself. My knights are useful, no doubt—but they’re not you, Vex. Not yet. Let’s see if your skill has rusted since you become a demon.” 

“Try me, master.”