"So now—what are you two going to do?"

Zagu stepped out of the smoke and dust, one step at a time.

He didn’t deliberately flare his presence, yet every single footfall felt like it was stomping directly on Muen’s and Ariel’s hearts.

This was a top-tier powerhouse.

He didn’t use magic, but as a martial fighter his realm was the real deal—Fifth Tier peak, only a single step away from the demon Grand Dukes’ Crowned One realm.

A full major realm above both Ariel and Muen.

And it wasn’t just realm. As the demon race’s First Demon General, he’d been through who knew how many internal demon conflicts, led who knew how many assaults on human armies—every ability he’d tempered in that process was the best of the best.

He wasn’t some fake who only had realm and nothing else.

Without exaggeration, whether it was Muen or Ariel, at full strength, in a one-on-one where they didn’t use certain out-of-spec methods, their odds of beating him were slim to the point of despair.

Let alone in their current state.

And yet, all along, Zagu had still chosen the steadiest approach.

Driving hounds.

Encirclement.

Bleeding them out.

Bite-and-tear.

Like a giant swamp monitor-lizard, calmly tailing poisoned prey, waiting for the moment they collapsed on their own.

Because Shenyi had urged him, that unhurried hunt hadn’t been carried all the way to the last step.

But even so, he’d waited until the prey couldn’t even use their sharpest fangs anymore before he finally appeared in front of them in person.

Even the idle chatter just now had only been a confirmation of the prey’s final state. Right up to the last moment, he’d never completely relaxed his guard.

Steady to an outrageous degree.

After all, a seasoned hunter takes everything into their grasp from the very start—and Zagu was the demon race’s most outstanding, most experienced hunter.

So the ending... had been decided the moment he began the pursuit.

The calm smile beneath Zagu’s visor was just as unhurried. He didn’t believe that at this point, these two little human mice still had any way to flip the board.

"You’re putting on airs for what?"

But Muen suddenly let out a disdainful cold laugh. "You really think we only have that one trump card?"

"What?"

Zagu’s eyes narrowed.

Could it be that besides that weird black flame, this guy had some other—

"You’re looking down on me too much."

Muen’s mouth crooked.

Black flame really was his right-hand man and left-hand man against strong enemies, and in every fight up to now it had played an unimaginable role.

But when it came to his biggest trump card—for him, Muen Campbell—surely it was still...

"Black Book, save me!"

Muen shouted without hesitation in his mind.

No matter how dangerous things got, Doraemon always had a way, right?!

"..."

Right?!

"..."

Right?!

"..."

Righ—fuck, I knew you were unreliable!

Feeling the dead stillness deep in his mental space, the heroic surge that had just flared up in Muen’s chest instantly turned into a river of grief and furious tears.

The Black Book was great in every way.

The only problem was that like some female sea-king who kept a warm guy on a leash, the odds of it replying weren’t one hundred percent—so low it was honestly pathetic.

Or rather, it seemed like it wouldn’t react at all until he was one hundred percent about to croak.

Ptooey. Trashy woman! If I’m not croaking, can’t ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) you take the initiative for once?!

Looks like that side really was a dead end, so then—

"Why are you looking at me?"

Ariel wiped the blood at the corner of her mouth and rolled her eyes at the look Muen threw her.

"Don’t look. That move really can’t be used again in the short term."

"No... I feel like you’ve still got some other big move you haven’t pulled out, right?"

Like some beautiful old grandpa hidden in your ring.

Some ancient relic that could smash Zagu to death in one hit.

Or some bond with a terrifying existence that would cross countless miles to come save you at a critical moment...

Whatever it was, hurry up and pull it out already!

"..."

What Ariel pulled out was only an even whiter eye-roll.

"Don’t stare at me. It’s disgusting!"

Alright. Looks like her beautiful old grandpa in the ring was still sleeping, and as for anything else, none of it seemed like it could be used here.

Makes sense. If she really had those things, she wouldn’t have been forced into such a miserable state earlier.

"Looks like there really is no other way."

Muen let out a long sigh, brushed the dust off his knees, and slowly stood up.

Just one of Zagu’s strikes had already dealt his body a serious blow, but at least he could still stand, still... clench the blades in his hands.

"Ptooey."

Beside him, Ariel spat out a mouthful of bloody foam with zero ladylike grace. Bracing herself on the greatsword, she staggered and straightened her back.

"So it was just bluffing."

After confirming once again that the two humans in front of him had truly been driven to the end of the road—that they could no longer pull out any trump card that could threaten him—Zagu’s wariness turned back into that calm control, like everything was already in his grasp.

"What? Still going to struggle? If you give up resisting now, out of respect for you, I might grant you the right to choose the way you die."

"Oh?"

Muen raised a brow, seeming very interested in the suggestion. "Meaning I can die however I want?"

"..."

Zagu, who’d only said it casually, froze for a beat, then smiled. "Of course. That much, I can do."

"Hey, you bastard."

Ariel shot Muen a sideways look, pure disdain on her face.

But Muen acted like he hadn’t seen it at all. Smiling with anticipation, he said,

"Then I want that old bastard Shenyi to turn into a cute girl, kneel down, and *** me so I die of pure bliss—how about that?"

"Huh?"

For an instant, Zagu blanked. Even though what Muen Campbell had said was “turn into a cute girl,” Zagu’s mind still uncontrollably conjured Lord Shenyi’s wrinkled old face.

Th-this...

No wonder Muen Campbell was someone Lord Shenyi had personally marked to die—he could even accept something like that?

Eh? Wait.

Could the reason Lord Shenyi ordered him hunted be because...

Zagu, the type who habitually overthought, immediately launched into a storm of imagination, spinning out one vivid and spectacular piece of emotional action after another...

"Heh heh. If you can’t do it, then you shouldn’t go around making promises."

Muen chuckled.

An opening.

The “pure” Zagu had underestimated how unbelievably unhinged humans could be—and underestimated how strong human mouth-cannon was. So when Muen made that “request,” it made Zagu’s vigilance—maintained ever since just now—loosen for a split second.

And in the very instant Muen’s words dissolved into the air, Muen vanished from where he stood.

Time-slow.

Maximum output!

Mana surged madly through his entire body. The high heat from the alchemy core’s operation almost scorched Muen’s back, and the terrifying load from acceleration kept tearing at his already extremely weakened body.

But he couldn’t care anymore. Against an enemy like Zagu, if he held back even a little, he could die under that spear at any moment.

So the already short distance between them was closed in an instant.

Elizabeth, pure as flawless jade, carved an exquisitely beautiful crescent through the air.

"So you really... haven’t given up?"

Zagu’s shock lasted only a heartbeat.

He reacted far faster than Muen had expected.

Even though Muen’s speed was so fast there wasn’t even an afterimage, Zagu’s scarlet pupils still tracked—his gaze still locked immediately onto where Muen would appear.

The spear sang!

A vicious black shadow like a demon’s fangs met that perfect, immaculate crescent.

A blasphemous color tore through holy purity. In just an instant, the crescent was shattered.

"That’s not right..."

But Zagu murmured in surprise.

Because that crescent collapsed far too quickly—so quickly it gave him no decent feedback at all.

What was Muen Campbell trying to do? Throwing out a knife like that—was he planning to ram his face into the spear?

Or was he, like before, pulling some phantom trick?

Of course...

Neither.

Muen didn’t believe the same trick would fool Zagu twice, and at this distance a light spell wouldn’t help either—so his true body appeared right in front of Zagu, looking like he really was about to smash straight into that vicious spear.

And yet in that very instant, his figure flickered—and vanished again.

"Shadow Step."

A long-unseen martial skill, used once more.

No.

It couldn’t really be called “once more.”

Because as his proficiency increased, this move had already fully fused into Muen’s style. He didn’t need to “activate” it on purpose at all.

But this time, Muen consciously strengthened one specific trait of the move.

This was the extension of its usage after complete mastery—even after reinforcing the technique.

The extension wasn’t faster blinking.

It was... changing direction.

The faster you went, the harder it became to control your movement—but this skill Muen had learned back in his earliest days, with delicate control, let him burst force from different directions under his feet, giving him an almost right-angle sudden turn even at the high speed of time-slow.

So even under that explosive speed, he wasn’t just fast anymore.

He was nimble.

Zagu’s pupils contracted slightly. He snapped his head around, catching Muen’s figure as he forced two hard direction changes and swept past him.

He’s going to...

"Run?"

I see.

Zagu understood.

Even after relying on each other all the way here, once faced with true death, he’d still choose to abandon his companion and flee alone?

Heh. Pathetic humans.

Sure enough, a race with such base instincts would forever only—

"Hey. What are you spacing out for?"

Suddenly, terrifying heat made Zagu’s magic-guided armor feel scalding—almost instantly.

But Zagu had no time to care about that heat, because blinding light spilled endless shadows, and a red-gold greatsword came crashing down like Judgment Day, pressing in from every direction.

Its speed was extremely fast—only one step slower than Muen Campbell.

"Human!"

He’d meant to temporarily ignore this human woman and chase his primary target, Muen Campbell, but knowing he couldn’t do that now, the veins on Zagu’s forehead jumped a few times, and he had no choice but to turn and meet her again.

The power of this sword was terrifying. Even he couldn’t ignore it.

But he still didn’t understand.

"Why? He already abandoned you—why are you still throwing your life away to buy him time?"

Was this what humans called... love?

"Who gives a shit about him, idiot."

Seeing Ariel’s gaze—so utterly calm—Zagu froze again.

There was no resolve in it, no willingness to sacrifice herself for someone else. It didn’t look anything like some fool with their head scrambled by human romance.

In those pitch-black, deep eyes there was only calm.

The calm of someone who seemed to already know what would happen next.

And the very next moment...

Zagu realized he’d probably made another wrong decision.

Because that so-called terrifying red flame of judgment...

Was actually just an empty frame. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The crimson blaze swept over him and, aside from singeing a few strands of his hair, did absolutely nothing.

The real attack wasn’t here.