The Grand Banquet Hall of the Lorenzio Palace unraveled.
The gold leaf on the pillars turned into black, weeping tar. The classical music warped into a cacophony of thousands of screaming insects. At the center of the unraveling reality, the figure of Prince Bell flickered, his golden aura being swallowed by a towering, nebulous shadow—Baal.
At the center of the chaos, Prince Terhun—the man known as Bell—convulsed. His golden hair turned into a tangled mess of shadow, and his eyes became two burning pits of crimson.
[The First Devil 'Baal' is manifesting!]
['Demon Realm Gate' has reached its final stage!]
With a conceptual pulse of «EXPULSION», Baal purged the "unnecessary ink" from his castle. Kim Suho, Fors, Yun Seung-Ah, Yoo Yeonha, Xio and every noble present were launched through the windows and stone walls as if the palace itself were vomiting them out.
The world they landed in was no longer the Republic they recognized.
The city was sinking.
The sky was a bruised, stagnant gray, and the river had become a flow of molten sulfur.
The palace had become a jagged spike of obsidian rising from a Lorenzio landscape that now resembled the Abyss.
A massive black dome, the Demon Realm Barrier, now encased the entire central district, vibrating with a heartbeat that felt like an iron hammer against the soul.
"Suho! To your left!" Yun Seung-Ah screamed.
She swung the blade, her movements a blur of white flower petals.
But as her sword bit into the shoulder of a Grade-1 Demon—a hulking mass of obsidian bone and eyes—she felt a sickening lack of resistance.
Her blade passed through the demon's form, leaving only a faint trail of frost that was instantly evaporated by the demon's heat.
"My attacks..!" she yelled, parrying a jagged bone-mace.
Kim Suho stood in the center of the carnage, Misteltein glowing with a dim, flickering gold.
[The 'Star Stream' is doubting the Probability of your Authority!]
[Probability is insufficient to manifest!]
"Come here!" Suho shouted, his voice gravelly.
He didn't need his ultimate skills to be a monster.
He moved like a line of pure sunlight, his sword severing the heads of three demons in a single, fluid arc.
Beside him, Yun Seung-Ah cursed, her Flower Sword strikes leaving only shallow scratches on the armored carapaces of the invading demons.
They stood over a group of terrified kids.
The sheer number of monsters was overwhelming.
For every ten he cut down, a hundred more crawled out of the "Spatial Lag."
"Tsk! My mana is not effective!"
"Then stop using that junk."
A voice, sharp enough to cut through the demonic roars, echoed from the top of a ruined carriage.
Yoo Yeonha stood there, her charcoal-gray suit miraculously clean, her glasses reflecting the violet lightning of the sky.
Beside her, Fors Wall looked pale, her hands trembling as she held open a massive, glowing tome.
"Yeonha-ssi!" Suho called out, relief washing over him.
"Suho-ssi, honestly, what would you do without my logistics?" Yeonha snapped.
She looked at Fors.
Out of the empty air, a literal mountain of weaponry cascaded onto the bone-paved street.
These weren't the standard-issue swords of the Arunheim guard.
They were the forbidden treasures of Exorcism specially preserved by the countries of the first world that Baal had collected.
[Devil's Ledger]
[Staff of the First Exorcist]
[Solenne Verdict]
...
"If you can't buy it," Yeonha said, a cold, predatory smile appearing on her face, "you simply steal it. Everyone! Rearm! Use the weapons with the [Exorcism] attribute!"
Yeonha's gaze drifted to a separate, obsidian-wrapped bundle. She touched it gingerly. It was a weapon she had specifically asked to create out of multiple national-grade legendary exorcist legacies.
Yes, It was cruel of her to do it.
A straight mock to all the history of exorcism of Arunheim.
Still, she smiled ominously.
It was for Yoo Joonghyuk.
The temperature in the square suddenly plummeted to sub-zero, yet the air smelled of burning sulfur.
The ground beneath the pile of weapons began to bubble, liquefying into a pool of congealed, dark-red blood.
A man emerged from the pool.
He was dressed in tattered, blood-stained Victorian finery, his silver hair long and unkempt.
His eyes were swirling whirlpools of liquid malice.
This was the Ancestor of the Beria Family, a nightmare of the Abyss Pathway.
He looked at Kim Suho and let out a metallic, bubbling chuckle.
"The Sword Saint," the Ancestor hissed. "I have waited so long to taste the blood of a real 'Hero'. Do you know what happens to 'Conscience' in the Abyss? It becomes the first thing we eat."
The Ancestor raised a hand, and the blood on the ground rose to form a Sword of Magma.
One swing of the blade sliced through a nearby marble pillar as if it were butter, the stone melting instantly into slag.
"I'm a Bloody Archduke," the demon whispered. "Shall we see how long your 'Misteltein' can keep your heart beating?"
A voice yelled from the sky.
Everyone looked up.
Jang Hayong was currently locked in a wrestling match with a Demonic Dragon the size of a cathedral. He was punching the dragon's snout with enough force to create sonic booms, but the creature's scales were reflecting his "Status."
"Hey! I might need a hand over here! This guy is really big!"
Outside the barrier, the world was screaming.
The Imperial Knights were hammering against the black dome with their shields.
"The Princes! Save the First Prince!"
Han Sooyoung stood atop a charred carriage, her eyes fixed on Lee Gilyoung.
The boy was no longer shivering.
He stood perfectly still, his eyes turned into emerald, faceted lenses.
"So, Abaddon," Sooyoung commanded, her voice cold. "Will you help us?"
[The Constellation 'Ruler of the Deepest Pit' is entering the Scenario!]
The space behind Gilyoung distorted.
A shadow loomed—a mass of chitinous wings and twitching mandibles.
Abaddon, the King of Locusts, began to pour into Gilyoung's body.
[Baal... imprisoned me...] Gilyoung's voice was now a buzzing echo of a million insects. [You wish to... open the pit? Then let the sky... turn black.]
Gilyoung pointed a finger at the Demon Realm Barrier.
From the cracks in the cobblestones, a swarm of Biblical Locusts and Gigantic Mantises erupted.
They were eating the very "Logic" that kept the dome closed.
A wide, jagged crack tore open in the dome.
Yoo Joonghyuk, Han Sooyoung, Harin, other heroes and knights rushed into.
Suddenly, a second shadow blotted out the sun.
A Chimera Dragon, its body a patchwork of mythic legends, roared as it dove through the opening.
A young girl's voice yelled from the dragon's back.
Yoo Joonghyuk looked back, his face beautiful in its indifference.
Shin Yoosung and Lee Gilyoung landed in the center of the square, finally reunited.
They held hands, and the combined "Status" of the Beast Master and the King of Locusts created a shockwave that sent the lower-tier demons flying.
Back at the rearming station, the Beria Ancestor snarled.
He pulled out a blackened, ancient charm and began to chant in a language that felt like it was dragging everyone's souls into a graveyard.
"Silence..."
Beria said one word in Ancient Hermes.
The charm of unknown Pathway looked like a iron doll's head.
It didn't explode.
Light didn't blind anyone.
Nothing happened.
Charm landed peacefully on the ground, hitting Suho's shoe.
Calm voice interrupted.
A huge, snow-white rabbit with bright red eyes hopped out of Fors Wall's coat.
The rabbit that she found in Shimurin's base.
As it touched the ground, the rabbit's form blurred and expanded.
In a flash of white light, a dignified old man with thick white hair and a white apron appeared.
Hermes. .
The Beria Ancestor froze, his magma sword flickering.
"..!"
Even though 'He' felt a sense of déjà vu, Hermes still muttered, looking at the devil:
"Don't use ancient Hermes in front of me."
Hermes tapped his wooden cane on the ground.
The Beria Ancestor's spell didn't just fail; it reversed.
The rust-red marks of the 'Death' spell began to appear on the Ancestor's own silver skin.
"I'm going to help you this time, kids," Hermes said to Suho and Yeonha.
Inside the pitch-black heart of the conceptual castle, Jin Sahyuk stood over a crouching Bell.
The air was absolute zero.
Bell was coughing up a black, glittering fluid—the blood of a dying Story.
"Baal... he saw the truth of the 'Novel' in my head, Sahyuk. He's angry."
Bell looked up at her, a sad, playful smile on his face.
"Kill me. Do it now. My body is the anchor. If I die, the 'Switch' fails, and the Demon Realm cannot fully manifest on Earth."
Jin Sahyuk's hand trembled.
She hated him.
She had spent years trying to kill him.
But now, in the silence of the void, he was the only person who truly knew what she was.
"You're a complete idiot, Bell," she whispered.
"Do you care for me now, King?" Bell joked, his voice fading.
Sahyuk didn't answer.
She activated [Reality Manipulation].
Absolute barrier of her Dominion encased them.
She unleashed her power, not just striking his flesh, but erasing the Modifier of Bell from the universe's records.
Bell was smiling as he dissolved into white, glowing particles.
He was finally free.
"What an idiot," Sahyuk whispered, her eyes stinging.
SQUELCH.
A blade of molten, white mana erupted through Sahyuk's chest from behind.
She coughed a mouthful of blood, her vision blurring.
She turned her head slowly.
Standing behind her was a man with long, unkempt hair and eyes as deep as a tomb.
She knew him.
Yi Yeonjun.
The previous boss of the Chameleon Troupe.
"Hello," Yi Yeonjun whispered, his voice like the rustling of dead leaves. "I'm sorry that I couldn't say goodbye, my old friend."