"Princess—about that woman—" Asuma began.
Urialla raised a hand, silencing him mid-sentence.
"Yes, I know," she said calmly, her golden eyes never leaving Tamina. "Her aura is fluctuating unnaturally. It flickers between layers, as if something is suppressing or disguising her true rank." Her expression hardened. "For now, treat her as an unknown variable."
She glanced sideways. "Caution is mandatory."
"Yes, Princess," Denias replied without hesitation.
In the same breath, he vanished.
The ground cracked where he had stood, and in the next instant his blade screamed through the air toward Tamina's throat.
"So this," Tamina said softly, eyes widening only a fraction, "is the strength of a Royal Guard."
She raised her arm just in time.
CLANG—!
Denias's sword collided with a dagger that looked eerily similar to Zargan's weapon—jagged, shadow-forged, and pulsing with dark aura. The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward, blowing debris and dust into the air.
Leon's eyes widened. "She blocked Denias's attack?!"
That alone was absurd.
Captains of the Royal Guard were monsters—individuals whose strength rivaled or surpassed elite Black Knights. To even survive a direct exchange was proof of terrifying power.
Denias stepped back lightly, eyes narrowing. "You blocked me."
Tamina looked down at her dagger.
Cracks spider-webbed across its surface before it shattered into fragments of shadow, dissolving into smoke.
"I barely survived," she admitted calmly. "It seems I'm not yet capable of facing someone approaching five-star strength."
Without hesitation, black mist coiled around her hand.
Another dagger formed instantly—sleek, lethal, and humming with condensed aura.
"You three," Denias said sharply without turning his back, "take the Princess and proceed to the garden. I'll handle these two."
Urialla glanced at him. "Are you certain?"
"Yes," he replied flatly. "You'll only slow me down if you remain here."
She raised an eyebrow. "That is an odd way to address your ruler."
A faint smile touched Denias's lips. "Then trust me—and move."
For a heartbeat, she studied him.
"Very well," Urialla said. Her voice dropped into command. "Make a path for us."
"Yes, Princess."
Denias's sword began to change.
The blade elongated unnaturally, stretching into a spear-like form as raw aura flooded into it. The air screamed under the pressure, stones lifting from the ground as if gravity itself was buckling.
He raised the weapon high.
Then swung.
The arc of his strike tore reality itself, unleashing a massive wave of compressed aura that surged forward like a tidal wall.
Tamina leapt back instantly, shadows exploding outward to cushion the blow.
Zargan crossed his blade defensively, shadow tendrils hardening into armor as the attack slammed into him.
The impact shook the entire stairway.
"Now!" Asuma shouted.
They didn't hesitate.
Asuma, Amira, Leon, and Urialla sprinted past the clash, racing up the ancient steps toward the garden while Denias held the line alone—steel and shadow colliding behind them.
As they ascended, Asuma glanced back once.
Denias stood unmoving amid the chaos, blade lowered, aura raging.
Holding back monsters.
Buying them time.
As the dust and shattered stone finally began to settle, the silence lasted only a heartbeat.
Then it broke.
Zargan burst from the lingering smoke like a living missile, his grotesque blade gargling and screaming as if alive. The sound alone sent chills through the air as he swung down with brutal force.
Denias met him head-on.
Steel clashed against corrupted metal in a storm of sparks. Denias slid back half a step, boots grinding into fractured stone, before retaliating with a relentless barrage of precise sword swings. Each strike carried terrifying weight—fast, controlled, lethal.
Zargan answered in kind.
The two collided again and again, blades screaming as shockwaves tore through the surroundings. Every exchange was a gamble between monsters, neither yielding ground, neither showing fear.
Behind them, Tamina's eyes scanned the battlefield.
The trio—and the princess—were gone.
Her gaze snapped toward the stairway leading to the garden.
"Tch."
She turned to pursue—
CRASH.
Zargan's massive body suddenly flew past her, slamming into a stone wall hard enough to crater it. The impact sent debris raining down in all directions.
Before she could react, Denias was already there.
He crossed the distance in an instant, his enlarged blade arcing toward her neck with murderous intent.
Tamina barely had time to raise her arm.
A dagger formed from shadow just in time to intercept the blow.
BOOM!
The force sent her skidding backward across the ground. She twisted mid-slide, barely managing to regain her footing.
"...He's a problem," she muttered, eyes narrowing.
With a flick of her finger, shadows beneath Denias's feet came alive.
Black, grasping hands erupted from his own shadow, wrapping around his legs and yanking downward, locking him in place.
"Now!" Tamina snapped.
Zargan charged, his massive sword raised for a killing blow.
Denias didn't panic.
He inhaled once.
"Alternating Blade Style: Counter Strikes."
His sword moved.
No—the world did.
In less than a second, the air itself was carved apart. Shockwaves tore outward as invisible slashes shredded everything around him—stone, shadow, and flesh alike.
Zargan's body was split cleanly in half.
For an instant, silence returned.
Tamina stared, eyes wide. "What... was that?"
She dissolved the shadow hands protecting herself just in time to see the impossible.
Zargan's severed halves twitched.
Black mist surged between them.
Flesh, armor, and shadow knitted back together grotesquely, bones cracking into place as his body reformed.
Denias exhaled slowly. "...So that's the catch."
His gaze shifted from Zargan to Tamina.
"You're the real problem."
Tamina smiled thinly.
"Very perceptive."
She raised both hands.
"Shadow Magic—Knight of Chaos. Berserker of Shadows: Awaken."
Zargan screamed.
His massive sword shrank and condensed, now slick with flowing blood. Jagged horns tore through his skull as his armor warped into something far more monstrous—organic, pulsing, alive.
His aura exploded.
The pressure crushed the ground beneath him.
Denias's eyes widened. "Did this thing just—"
Zargan vanished.
The next moment, Denias was struck square in the chest.
The impact sent him flying through multiple buildings, stone and steel disintegrating as his body tore through them like a comet. The collision shook the city, drawing stunned gazes from knights and demons alike.
But Zargan wasn't finished.
He landed, threw his head back, and opened his mouth unnaturally wide.
A beam of condensed shadow and corrupted energy erupted forth, scorching the skyline as it obliterated everything in its path—streets, towers, and the place where Denias had crashed.
A section of the city vanished in blinding light and ash.
Tamina watched the devastation calmly.
"...Now," she murmured, "this is a five-star monster."