The "fake" destruction of the Adaika duchy

"Where is Sudaya?" Alut asked.
"The King called him," Suryawari replied.
"The King of Falias Kingdom?" Alut verified.

Suryawari froze. Anyone looking at her could tell she was confused about how to answer her elder brother's question.

"Ah... Yes," Suryawari nodded hesitantly.

"Are we going back to the Nailith Capital?" Alut asked.

"Yes, of course," Suryawari replied confidently.

"Our mission failed. Are you sure about that, my sister?" he asked hesitantly.

"We tried our best. Don't be afraid, my honored elder brother," Suryawari replied.

"We should wait for the knight before going to the Nailith Capital," he sighed.

"Why must we wait for him? He's waiting for us in the Capital right now," she complained.

"Okay, let's go to the Nailith Capital," he replied resignedly.

He was forced to follow his sister, ready to face the consequences. Because the mission had failed, King Segahal would be furious with him. And the worst outcome: they would be executed.

They left the forest. Once they were outside, they could see a shadow appearing two hundred meters away. It was the shadow of a horse with two small circular objects attached to its head, ridden by the silhouette of a man. The shadow vanished and reappeared five meters in front of its previous location. This process repeated until it stopped ten meters away from them.

From the shadow, they knew someone was coming while riding a maginetic horse. They recognized the artifact on the horse's head even before the horse fully appeared. It was a Callustrin—the most flexible artifact for ground vehicles. From the silhouette, they knew it was a high-class Callustrin. Only high nobility possessed one, though they couldn't tell who it was just by looking at the shadow.

Ten minutes later, the figure riding the horse appeared from afar. His horse used the circular devices, just like the shadow they had seen. His crimson hair framed his face smoothly. His eagle-like eyes exuded prestige, and his muscular body was covered in metal armor that shone with a pale green light. His name was Rastanura Budirahya, Viscount of Lahalika and head of the Budirahya family.

"I have bad news!" Rastanura screamed.
"What is it?" Alut asked.

"The territory of your parents is being raided by demons!" Rastanura replied loudly.

"Adaika Duchy?" Alut verified.

"Yes!" Rastanura nodded.

"Who is leading the raid?" Alut asked again.

"A knight wearing yellow armor," Rastanura replied.

"It's impossible for Sudaya to do that," Alut said in disbelief. He knew that person. He had been a knight in the Mahadriya Family before Alut and his sister were born, but in reality, Alut did not truly know the individual inside the yellow armor.

"You know that knight?" Rastanura asked.

"Yes. He is a loyal knight of the Mahadriya Family," Suryawari replied.

"Is Lord Rastanura sure that knight is Sudaya?" Alut verified.

"Ye—"

"A-ah... maybe another person is wearing the same armor. You know, my honored elder brother... similar armors can look identical, right?" Suryawari asked frantically.

She didn't know what Moliac was planning. Given Moliac's actions, she couldn't formulate a sound argument to convince her brother. Now she had only one option left: pretend to be betrayed.

"Ah, that's right," Alut agreed, then looked at Viscount Rastanura. "Did you calculate the Manastron radiating from the armor?"

Suryawari calmed slightly, knowing her older brother was smart—yet his intelligence was precisely why he couldn't grasp the truth behind it.

"I tried, but I couldn't get an accurate measurement," Lord Rastanura replied. "However, I did measure his presence."

Suryawari's second shadow vanished, reappearing five meters away before snapping back to its original position—a clear sign of her inner turmoil to anyone watching. Alut noticed it, but he didn't know what his sister was thinking.

"You look nervous. What happened?" Alut asked.

Her anxiety overwhelmed her thoughts, leaving her with no argument to answer her brother. She struggled to speak. "A-ah, n-nothing... nothing happened."

"Ah, good," Alut responded. He turned back to Lord Rastanura. "How strong was his presence?"

Suryawari hoped Lord Rastanura wouldn't answer, or at least that he had forgotten the specific presence count. She had no idea how to explain it to her elder brother if he did.

"Two thousand presentiars," Lord Rastanura replied.

She knew lying was no longer an option. She had planned to pretend to be the knight's victim, but Alut knew that person too well. He couldn't be mistaken—it was clearly Sudaya.

"I can't be wrong. He is Sudaya," Alut said.

"Is that knight truly of the human race?" Lord Rastanura asked.

"What are you asking about?" Alut argued.

"Are you certain?" Lord Rastanura pressed.

Humans with such high presence values were extraordinarily rare. Those with strong presence possessed the innate ability to perceive facts through intuition, projecting their awareness as if they were physically present and instantly sensing whenever they were observed. Normally, humans with such overwhelming presence suffered only one of two fates: absolute solitude or complete madness.

"Of course," Alut replied confidently.

"Let me state one simple fact: no human can lead the demon race. Nature itself forbids it. Physical law commands demons to kill humans, just as humans bearing the Hero's title are bound to slay demons," Lord Rastanura stated.

"You think Sudaya is a demon!?" Alut shouted.

"It is simply a fact," Lord Rastanura replied.

"I will not forgive him if that person is Sudaya!" Suryawari shouted.

Of course, what Suryawari said was a lie. She knew Sudaya's true identity. He was a demon, just like her—though while she was a Quantum Demon (human in biology, but a demon at the smallest particle level), Sudaya was a biological demon. He came from the Fleosh Kingdom; his real name was Moliac Fermisair, the heir of the Karasole Duchy. And she had fallen in love with him.

"If you don't believe it—" Lord Rastanura's hand rotated the circular components of the Callustrin, causing it to glow with a neon blue light. Out of thin air, two transparent horses wearing Callustrin harnesses materialized. "Ride them and follow me."

They mounted the horses and rode toward the Adaika Duchy. Over a three-hour journey, they traversed twenty-two kilometers. Soon, the castle of the Adaika Duchy came into view—it appeared entirely normal, showing no signs of destruction.

"See? Nothing happened to our parents' castle," Alut replied.

Lord Rastanura reached toward him, holding a pair of eyeglasses in his hand. They were no ordinary glasses; while their blue frames looked normal, the color of the lenses shifted every second. These were Promactum Eyeglasses—an artifact designed to reveal the objective truth of a location. They worked by absorbing light from the destination, made possible because the lenses were crafted from a high-presence-value glass called Maginosilicyum.

"Look again," Lord Rastanura instructed.

Through the Promactum Eyeglasses, the true state of the Adaika Duchy was unveiled: far too many houses lay destroyed, swarms of demons encircled the castle, and—most painful of all—the leader of the raid was a knight clad in yellow metallic armor.

"Sudaya!" Alut shouted.

He swore to kill that knight. Focusing his mind, he felt the Manastron in the air and calculated the mathematical formula for an incantation. He attempted to establish a conduit to glass or water using the ambient Manastron, feeling a sharp, stinging sensation ripple through his body. His casting succeeded; he immediately searched for a body of water or a reflective mirror.

The knight sensed the connection instantly. In response, he shattered the glass, but intentionally left a large shard behind. He then deployed a barrier magic driven by the interaction between Manastron and fruo-quarks—the complex <Brahmasundra> magic—revealing his subtle hesitation to anyone sensitive enough to sense it. However, the combined truth-seeking properties of the Promactum Eyeglasses and the Callustrin allowed them to entered the barrier without any resistance.

"Now, do you believe me?" Lord Rastanura asked.

Alut did not respond. His face flushed red with rage as emotion nearly consumed him. Their second shadows vanished, reappearing five meters ahead before fully entering the barrier.
Once inside the barrier, the sheer despair of the inhabitants lay bare before them. Demons were reducing houses to rubble and slaughtering civilians. If the people of Adaika had the strength to resist, they would have fought back.

In reality, however, they possessed no power to do so.

There was only one undeniable outcome awaiting them—

—they were doomed to perish in their own land.

The demon's hand swung.

Yet he felt no pain.

He opened his eyes. The demon had fallen, and a figure stood behind demon's lifeless body.

"Viscount Rastanura?" the person verified, trembling.

"Yes, I am," Lord Rastanura replied.

"Please, save Lord Mahaku!" the person pleaded desperately.

"What happened?" Alut asked.

"The knight in yellow armor is heading toward Lord Mahaku's mansion!" the person said, gazing frantically over his shoulder.

"I will never forgive you, Sudaya!" Alut shouted.

He focused his mind, manipulating the ambient Manastron to interact with the local Tendor-boson particles. Touching his Promactum Eyeglasses to trace the knight's position, the Maginosilicyum lenses shifted, revealing the target.

He could see the knight wielding a dark sword—pitch-black at the hilt with a crimson blade. Three distinct demon tribes followed in his wake: a giant with a frame far larger than the rest, featuring almond-shaped eyes with red irises and curved, crescent-like fangs emerging from his jaw—a Buto, specifically a Buto Cakil; a pale-skinned figure with pointed ears, a vampire; and a woman whose body was that of a serpent from the waist down, known as a Blorong.

"Moliac," the Blorong called out.

Moliac knew why she spoke—he could sense that someone was observing them through Promactum Eyeglasses.

"Get ready," Moliac instructed calmly.

"Why don't you try resisting him to ensure this plan succeeds?" the vampire asked.

"The plan is to drive him to despair, and that will only succeed if we do it right in front of him," Moliac replied. He turned to the Buto and commanded, "Destroy the mansion now, but make sure the inhabitants inside remain safe."

"Ready to execute," the Buto responded.

Alut's second shadow appeared three meters in front of them, and Alut materialized eight meters away—five meters past his shadow. The Buto knew this was the right moment to execute the plan, but he hesitated—if he acted recklessly, he might accidentally kill the mansion's inhabitants. Moliac understood the Buto's concern.

He utilized his intense presence to scan the interior for facts, confirming that no one was in the immediate impact zone.

All the inhabitants were gathered in the family room; the room directly ahead of them was merely the kitchen.

"Traitor!" a voice shouted.

Moliac recognized whom that voice belonged to.

"That voice echoes from my father's past. Be careful!" the sword warned.

His armored hand clanged against his dull sword, trembling from the impact.

"How can he be so much stronger than he was during the forest mission?" Moliac muttered in astonishment.

"I warned you!" the sword shouted.

He forced himself to focus. If he died here, the mission would fail. He strained to parry Alut's strike with his black sword, but his raw strength was not enough to withstand the blow, and the force of the impact repelled him violently.

"Angkari!" Moliac shouted to the Blorong.

"Got it!" the Blorong yelled back.

She slithered toward the door, searching for Alut's mother—planning to transform her into a Blorong just like herself.
The Buto's fist slammed into the door as he punched forward. Two doors leading in different directions came into view, and to speed up the mission, Moliac relied on his intense presence once more.

"They're in the room on the left," Moliac informed them.

The ground trembled as the Buto's heavy steps pounded the floor. The wall collapsed, exposing all of the mansion's inhabitants: five women in maid attire; one man in butler attire, his blue hair framing his face; one man in noble garments, sharp black hair framing his features—Duke Mahadriya Mahaku, father of Alut and Suryawari also the head of the Mahadriya family; and one woman in an elegant red dress, her long red hair flowing down her chest with the subtle aura of a villainess—Duchess Mahadriya Adavari, Mahaku's wife and the mother of Alut and Suryawari.

The Blorong transformed her upper body into a full giant serpent. As she touched Duchess Adavari with her flickering tongue, the Duchess transformed into a Blorong as well.

"Kill your husband," the Blorong instructed.

Duchess Adavari's new serpent tail coiled tightly around her husband, crushing him until he died.

"I never ordered you to kill innocent humans!" a voice shouted from afar.

Moliac recognized the sound immediately—it was his father's voice. A sudden burst of magic struck the black sword as he raised it to parry.

"Duke Fermi's voice. Moliac, did you tell him about this plan?" the sword asked.
"I forgot, Demon King Zorhala," Moliac replied.

"How strong is your father's presence?" the sword asked again.

"Twenty-five thousand presentiars," Moliac answered.

Alut lunged at him, his body physically enhanced by magic before their blades could even clash. Moliac tried to parry, but a powerful force shoved him backward. A figure now stood in front of Alut, holding a golden scythe in his right hand. Looking closely at the stranger, Alut realized the person's appearance bore a striking resemblance to his own.

"Don't imitate me, demon!" Alut shouted.

"I'm from the human race, idiot!" the person shouted back.

"I'll kill you if you don't reveal your true form!" Alut threatened.

"If you can," the stranger mocked, glancing down at his weapon. "Suryawari."

The scythe responded to the call. Duplicating herself, she fused directly with her wielder. The stranger transformed into a humanoid figure of pure light, with a glowing shawl draped around his neck.

With a single raise of the stranger's left hand, Moliac and his entire group vanished into thin air. A second later, the stranger disappeared as well.