Chapter 197 – Interlude: Battle of the Abandoned Capital

“…The Chamber of Keys has been occupied?”

“Yes. It seems they grew impatient waiting for Gardinis to return…”

“Fools.”

Valros spat out the words upon hearing Zaradi’s report.

Gardinis’s trusted followers had likely intended to act only after Gardinis returned with results. But no matter how long they waited, Gardinis himself never appeared. Meanwhile, they and their faction were under surveillance by Valros and Zaradi.

So was this reckless move an expression of loyalty to Gardinis, or fear of their master? They could no longer sit idle and wait… but this was exactly what Valros had feared.

He had suspected they might attack the last Sacred Tree Garden under Mustra’s management and take the Seal hostage. An assault on the Sacred Trees would be considered a breach of contract, and Valros wanted to avoid rendering all the time spent on the seal’s liberation meaningless.

Thus, he had gathered allies with aligned interests and some degree of trust to guard the Sacred Tree Garden… but now this.

“So, the Chamber of Keys.”

It was a good place for a siege. They probably calculated that even if fighting broke out, Valros wouldn’t be able to unleash his full power for fear of destroying the chamber.

“Clever little rats.”

As Valros stood, Zaradi followed.

“What shall we do?”

“What else but crush them?”

“Ha.”

Zaradi grinned at Valros’s words.

Leaving the chamber, they headed for the Chamber of Keys. Walking through Beriondora’s corridor, they found Mustra leaning against the wall with a smile.

“I heard. The Chamber of Keys has been occupied, it seems.”

She must have come out from the Sacred Tree Garden after hearing the news. The side passage led to the corridor heading to Mustra’s assigned garden.

“Indeed. I’m going to crush them now.”

“Oh my. How dreadful.”

Mustra’s expression broke into a wider smile at Valros’s menacing words.

“How goes your progress?”

“A bit more, I’d say. But in your plans, won’t you need the Chamber of Keys as well?”

“That depends. At worst, I don’t mind if it’s destroyed.”

“I see. Lord Zaradi, then?”

“Precisely. I’ve made other arrangements too.”

As Valros tried to pass by, Mustra spoke up.

“Shall I assist? Lord Zaradi excels at defense. If there’s something more important than the Chamber of Keys, it would be more fitting for him to guard near the Sacred Tree Garden.”

After saying this, Mustra laughed. Valros frowned suspiciously but shrugged and replied.

“…Fine. Zaradi, you heard?”

“Yes… May fortune favor you.”

Zaradi bowed and walked toward the passage connecting to the Sacred Tree Garden.

Valros and Mustra proceeded to the Chamber of Keys without further words.

Passing through the corridor lined with stone pillars, they soon arrived before a massive black stone gate.

Before the stone gate, a group of Demons awaited Valros and his companion. They seemed to have formed multiple defensive layers—these were the ones who had been waiting for a chance to strike Valros down.

“Valros is here! Mustra is with him!”

As one Demon called out, Gardinis’s trusted follower Azurabelg emerged from deep within the Chamber of Keys and shouted.

“Halt right there!”

Valros narrowed his eyes and bared his fangs in a grin.

“Gardinis’s schemes are worthless if the master himself doesn’t return.”

“Silence! How could our lord lose to mere humans! Do you even understand the situation!? We have this many supporters! With the Chamber of Keys at our backs, the terrain favors us! Hand over the keys quietly and surrender your authority—”

Azurabelg’s words were cut short. A black flash, casually released from Valros’s hand, carved a crack into the stone gate.

Azurabelg stared at Valros in stunned disbelief.

“Why… Do you know why we kept you under surveillance while letting you move freely?”

Saying this, Valros widened his eyes and bared his fangs. It was a grin like that of a beast in human form. Though called a Demon unlike other Demons, his smile embodied the savagery of their kind, sending a shudder through the Demon ranks.

“It was to let those who resent me but don’t belong to Gardinis’s faction gather together. I thought it’d be better to squeeze out the pus all at once. I assumed even if you feigned loyalty, as Demons you’d eventually bare your fangs. But now that you have, don’t think I’ll go easy on you?”

Azurabelg was well aware they were being watched.

It was precisely because their master was absent and they were under surveillance that they feared both purges and rebellion. Even among their own ranks were Demons skilled in combat but unrelated to those Valros had gathered… They followed Gardinis, but whether Azurabelg could control them in the long run was doubtful. In other words—in Gardinis’s continued absence, Azurabelg’s tension had snapped first.

That’s why he had executed the plan meant to be activated only upon Gardinis’s return.

“So it ends as a purge for demonstration and unity. A pity.”

As Valros crouched, he charged forward with speed that left no trace.

The first to be touched was a Demon in the front line.

“Val—”

A Palm Strike that slammed upward into the abdomen. The struck Demon was sent flying through the corridor’s ceiling like a twig caught in a storm, tumbling through the air. In its abdomen swirled a coiling Miasma. By some power, when Valros clenched the fist he raised overhead, a huge hole was torn through the Demon’s stomach in response.

“Guhah!?”

“Eek!”

A hand chop. What appeared to be a casually released strike sliced a Demon in half clean through the torso, ignoring its Miasma Barrier. Grabbing a nearby stunned Demon, he literally crushed it.

“Impossible!?”

Azurabelg stared wide-eyed.

That Demon had claimed to excel at deploying barriers. He’d positioned it at the front precisely because it was suited for sieges and buying time. Yet it was slaughtered in a single blow—.

No matter how you looked at it, this attack power was abnormal. If Valros had formed a Miasma Blade, cutting through the barrier would be understandable. But Valros merely had a thin mist-like Miasma wrapped around one hand. The scene surpassed Azurabelg’s common sense, and he couldn’t comprehend it.

Or perhaps this was Valros’s ability—the power of a Transcendent, granted only to high-ranking Demons like Gardinis, Luceriage, and Zevion.

In battles between Demons, there were no Blessings or cycles to reduce Miasma attributes. It became a contest of raw strength. He understood that, but even so, this—.

“You bastard!”

Demons who had formed Miasma Blades rushed at Valros. Valros’s body swayed lightly. His movements clearly suggested rigorous training.

The three Demons who had swung their blades were stunned as Valros slipped through without their swords even meeting. And by then, it was all over.

Face, over the heart, and the medulla oblongata. Coiling there was darkness—the Miasma Valros left behind upon contact as he slipped through.

Valros silently clenched his hand. Centered on the darkness he left, the Demons’ respective body parts were gouged out as if scooped away. Belatedly, the bodies of the slain Demons turned to dust.

“Eek! Eeeek!”

Whether fear had overcome them at the sight, some Demons tried to flee past Valros. Valros glanced at them as if looking at something boring but silently let them go. He knew they couldn’t escape even without him lifting a hand.

“My, my. Where do you think you’re going?”

Waiting for them was a laughing Demon—Mustra.

Her movements, different from Valros’s, were languid. From her body rose an unfathomable Miasma.

“Move!”

A panicked Demon fired a Miasma Bullet at Mustra. Mustra also fired a Miasma Bullet in response, crossing her arms to defend. As the Miasma Bullet struck, another Demon leaped out from behind the first and thrust a Miasma Blade toward Mustra’s heart. Mustra—didn’t even try to avoid it.

The Miasma Blade sank deep. Feeling the impact, the Demon grinned, sensing a Critical hit.

A scream came from the Demon behind who had blocked the Miasma Bullet. Turning to see what happened, he witnessed something unbelievable.

“Uwaaah!? My arm, my arm!?”

As if melting candy craft. The Demon’s right and left arms had fused together in their crossed position.

“Haha, too bad. Not bad for an impromptu effort.”

This can’t be, thought the Demon who had thrust the blade, realizing his grin had twisted. Returning his gaze, he saw Mustra still smiling, the blade piercing her heart. Happily. Delightedly.

Yes, she was pleased. Her eyes, distorted with joy, were scrutinizing how to play with him, licking her lips in anticipation.

Miasma attributes. Distance. Mortal peril. A mad grin. Releasing the Miasma Blade, he tried to retreat. But he couldn’t escape. Where had the attack come from? He was impaled from all directions by something like black spears.

“Once in a while, the Fear of one’s own kind isn’t so bad, is it?”

Saying this, she shrugged and laughed. The remaining Demons were speechless.

Abilities that made even other Demons find them utterly horrifying. The one that melted arms and the one that unleashed a spear formation from all sides. Even though they had witnessed everything, they couldn’t grasp the true nature of her Miasma attributes.

If Valros was a Demon embodying storm-like brutality, then Mustra was a Demon who seemed to personify another aspect of Demonkind. Whether they stayed or advanced, it was hell.

“F-fire!”

The Demons unleashed a volley of Miasma Bullets at Valros. But the moment they touched Valros’s Miasma, they were deflected in random directions, streaming away behind him.

Around Valros, dark Miasma floated as a sphere, spinning rapidly around him. A black flash from his raised hand. Simultaneously, from the sphere, a dark Lightning Strike pierced the spot illuminated by the flash.

“Are you insane!? Do you know what’s behind us…!?”

“A bit regrettable, but I don’t mind if it’s lost. It’s not even worth comparing to the Sacred Tree Garden.”

Valros spoke as if it were nothing.

Sweeping. Mowing down. The formed ranks. The Demons. Shattered and blown away.

“You bastard…! You bastard, bastard, baaaaastard!!”

Enraged, Azurabelg charged at Valros while transforming his body’s shape. His form became that of a streamlined quadruped beast. His speed was on par with Valros’s earlier charge. A silver shadow flashed.

“Oh?”

Valros tilted his head slightly, letting out what sounded like his first impressed murmur. A small cut on his cheek. Azurabelg, having turned Miasma into a thin blade and reached top speed from the initial burst, had slashed at him as they passed. His form was like a meteor. Using the lined stone pillars as footholds, he bounced at high speed and charged from Valros’s diagonal rear.

“Die—!”

“Too naive.”

Along with a sense of incongruity, Azurabelg this time lost his words completely.

Valros had stopped the Miasma Blade thrust from his diagonal rear with just two fingers.

“That’s—”

Faster than he could say “impossible,” Azurabelg felt his body being pulled and then slammed back-first into the ground.

The sheer force of it. The floor cratered, cracks radiating out from the impact.

“Guhah!”

“Farewell.”

Writhing from the shock and intense pain, Azurabelg looked up. Above Valros’s raised palm was a pitch-black sphere emitting black sparks—.

“—My, my. How anticlimactic.”

Mustra delivered the Finishing Blow to the last one begging for mercy, then shook her shoulders laughing.

The corridor to the Chamber of Keys. And inside the Chamber itself, none of the insurgents survived. They had been massacred by just two Demons—only the wounded guards remained, staring blankly at Valros and Mustra.

Though extraordinary traces of destruction remained in the corridor, because it was a battle between Demons, not even corpses were left behind.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

“Yes. Without things like this, I just can’t get into proper form. Is the Chamber of Keys intact?”

Valros looked around at the Altar and its surroundings within the Chamber before answering.

“Some damage. It’ll take a little time to repair, but… it should be manageable.”

“That’s a relief. If acquiring the keys had been for nothing, she would be angry too, wouldn’t she?”

At Mustra’s words, Valros gave a small wry smile.

“Probably. He’s free now too. Regarding the Miasma Orb I used to break the seal, I hear he’ll deliver it to Termwills.”

“I see. Then, as planned.”

“I told him to avoid combat. I wonder how that will go.”

“…Hmm. So the old man Gardinis actually lost, did he?”

“That’s how it looks. If he’s been defeated after Zevion and Luceriage… there’s no room for doubt anymore.”

“Doubt about what?”

In response to Mustra’s query, Valros narrowed his eyes and answered.

“What’s in Termwills is a kind of monster.”