Yuri had no intention of dragging out the fight.
Once his resolve was set, there were only two possibilities left to him — kill, or be killed — and to avoid dying, he poured all the firepower he had into killing.
Mana swirled above Guilty.
It swelled, growing in size until it became a massive current that could sweep through the entire chamber.
The moment Yuri took a step forward, Sibylla's eyes turned black.
The tentacles swaying behind her shot upward, plunging into the vortex. The unexpected intrusion disrupted the vortex's fractal structure, causing it to rupture.
The Whirling Vortex Sword shattered.
Yuri had to bear the full brunt of the backlash.
His skin was covered with countless scratches from the explosion of mana.
"Kh…."
The damage inside was worse.
But Sibylla hadn't come out unscathed either. The tentacle she had used as a sword was shredded like rags, twisting weakly.
Without another thought, Yuri lunged toward Sibylla.
The tentacles blocked his path.
He slashed them apart into dozens of pieces with Guilty, then aimed for the Sibylla beyond. But the shredded fragments reshaped into wedges and stabbed into Yuri's back.
Though the sudden pain startled him, Yuri didn't stop and swung Guilty again — but his weakened strength met the block of Sibylla's blade.
Sibylla glared at him, her eyes blackened all the way to the whites.
Yuri gave a small, mocking laugh.
"Let's stop at just the wings. That's not really my thing."
"I told you to stop."
Twisting her sword to the side, Sibylla struck Yuri's chest with her elbow. Perhaps because she had grown thin, her elbow bone felt sharp.
Taking advantage of the moment when Yuri stepped back, Sibylla swung her blade.
Yuri ducked low, spun around, and swept the ground with his leg.
Sibylla tripped.
Yuri immediately drove Guilty downward.
She didn't react, but the tentacles on her back shot up, blocking Guilty. The tentacles coiled around the blade like snakes and tightened. Yuri's hands trembled.
In that moment, Sibylla kicked him in the stomach.
Yuri fell backward, barely holding onto Guilty.
Sibylla sprang to her feet and swung her sword at him.
Adjusting his stance, Yuri slashed the air. The secret of the one-point thrust aimed for Sibylla's neck.
But it was shallow.
A cut formed on her neck and blood flowed, but it was little more than a scratch.
While Sibylla tilted her head, touching her neck, Yuri took a deep breath.
From the clues he had gained in his sparring with Moyong Chan, Yuri had been researching the power of chaos. As a result, sleep was no longer rest for him, but he accepted it.
The heart demon threatened him, but as much as it did, his mastery over the realm of chaos rose.
The mana method called heart-soul slash, and the power of chaos it unlocked — these two forces created a synergy within Yuri's body.
Murky mana swelled on its own.
Now the energy he exuded was no less dark than the black magic Sibylla wielded.
Yuri burst forward explosively.
His speed was far greater than before.
Chaos pushed against his back. Time slowed, and his accelerated thoughts were razor-sharp. Using every trajectory he could envision, he attacked Sibylla.
To kill her.
That was his only thought.
Whatever their relationship had been, whatever emotions they had built between them, none of that had a place upon the blade.
Yuri stripped everything away, holding only the intent to kill.
His sword aura turned vicious.
Even if it meant offering his own flesh, he was filled with the will to kill at all costs.
That killing intent, in itself, pressed upon the enemy.
Overwhelmed by the momentum Yuri radiated, Sibylla's responses grew more passive.
Yuri gripped Guilty and advanced toward her. In his eyes, the core of black magic was coiled inside Sibylla, but it had not yet completely consumed her.
However, as the battle continued, its roots were spreading farther in all directions. The tentacles, thin until moments ago, had grown thicker.
Black magic was always like that — the longer it lasted, the stronger it became.
"Phew…."
Yuri fixed his gaze on the tentacles reaching toward him.
Now there were not one, but three.
"Three wings, you've gotten greedy."
The three tentacles, staring at Yuri like snakes, surged forward. Twisting Guilty in various angles, he blocked their attacks and instead sliced them apart.
But the tentacles only grew longer as they were cut.
Attacking them was meaningless.
He would have to kill the core.
Through the swaying tentacles, Yuri's gaze locked on Sibylla.
Inside him, the energy of chaos surged violently. His whole body was overstrained, but Yuri didn't care.
He closed his eyes, then opened them.
Suddenly.
That instant stretched long.
From the moment his eyelids fell to when they rose again, the span of time had drawn out.
Crossing that long gap, Yuri sidestepped the tentacles and twisted his body. Taking a step forward, he blinked.
As his eyelids lowered,
A long darkness spread.
The scene of the heart demon returned to him.
The earth formed, a blue sky spread overhead. Mountain ranges rose, and the sun traced its path across the sky.
It was the process of a world being assembled.
He experienced it every night, but now was a bad time.
Yuri felt at his waist — Guilty was still in its place.
He had something to do.
He walked into the world created by the heart demon.
It didn't take too long.
"…"
Yuri's eyelids rose.
The heart demon was over.
He saw Sibylla and the three tentacles rushing toward him.
As though the world had stopped and resumed, not a moment had passed while he was trapped in the heart demon.
There was no time for deep thought.
Feeling the grip of Guilty in his hand, Yuri stepped forward.
The chaos infused into his sword was stronger and more savage than before. Even with the three tentacles coming at him, he felt no tension.
Yuri swung Guilty without hesitation.
The tentacles were shattered into dozens of pieces.
Passing through the flying fragments of flesh in the air, Yuri reached Sibylla in an instant.
Before she could react, he stabbed her in the stomach.
He felt the sensation of piercing flesh.
Without stopping there, he twisted the blade to inflict greater shock.
Sibylla's body shuddered.
Yuri relentlessly searched inside her for the true body of the black magic.
This dark, persistent creature that seemed as though it would never die — even it could be cut down by the power contained in the swordsmanship his ancestor had left behind, the heart-soul slash.
After sweeping through her insides, he found the black magic.
Yuri drew Guilty out slightly, then swung it hard toward that point.
He intended to tear apart Sibylla's body along with the core of the black magic.
The heart-soul slash opened its jaws to devour the enemy.
But her body, half-split, suddenly stopped.
He looked up.
Sibylla, bloodshot eyes brimming with moisture, glared at him.
"This won't be enough."
Yuri looked down.
The Guilty that had pierced her body was being gripped by something black and sticky. That thing was holding on, keeping his sword from moving further.
"Do it properly."
"Shall I?"
Yuri detonated the energy of chaos. Guilty vibrated, shaking off the aura of black magic surrounding him.
Her body lifted slightly upward.
The fissure widened.
The sword that had stabbed her stomach slowly rose to her solar plexus, and was now cutting through her ribs.
The core of the black magic was completely fused with Sibylla's heart. The more she wielded the black magic, the more tightly it entwined. Her insides had already been overtaken by it.
Each time Yuri invoked the heart-soul slash, the core of the black magic edged backward.
But within her body, there was nowhere left to retreat.
With all the persistence his strength allowed, Yuri kept cutting upward through Sibylla's body. Her organs dropped away one by one.
Before long, Guilty touched her heart.
The core of the black magic contracted sharply.
Yuri did not stop. The vile will lurking within struggled desperately, but Guilty remained unmoved, steadily dismantling the black magic.
At last, her heart was split in two.
At the same time, the black magic erupted.
The tentacles on her back crumbled into powder, then swelled into a black mist.
The entire cavern was swallowed in pitch-black smoke.
The death throes of the black magic's core were unbearably acrid.
"Sibylla."
Yuri looked up.
Perhaps because of the black magic's stubborn vitality, Sibylla still wasn't dead. She gazed quietly up at him.
Yuri asked,
"I did it properly, didn't I?"
Sibylla gave a faint laugh and nodded.
"Yeah."
He remembered when they had first met. She had been putting on a stiff façade to hide her precarious state, but Yuri had seen through her at once. That was why, somehow, he had felt for her.
They had grown closer little by little, fighting Orcs together in the Allied Army.
Between people close to each other, there is no need for words to know the heart.
'Remember the wish voucher?'
When he met Sibylla in the tower's prison, Yuri had asked about the wish voucher.
'It seems our fates have diverged. The wish voucher's expiration date has come. You won't be able to use it in the future, so if you're going to, use it now.'
Sibylla could have said anything. Not to stop her, or to leave the Holy Kingdom.
She must have guessed why Yuri had appeared before her, yet in the end, she did not use the wish voucher.
She said nothing.
That was her answer.
Therefore, Yuri could guess what truth she had never managed to voice.
He whispered,
"If you had asked me for help before that…"
"What's not meant to be, isn't meant to be."
Sibylla gave a faint smile.
"Yuri."
"Yeah?"
"The wish voucher. Still has time left?"
"It does."
"I'll use it."
"What is it?"
"Put your ear close."
"I'm really ticklish, though…"
"I'm sleepy now. So don't fool around…"
"Alright."
Sibylla whispered something into Yuri's ear. His expression blurred, then he smiled.
***
Yuri's group was running through the mountains.
In the end, Yuri had killed Sibylla and destroyed the core of the black magic. Then all the knights of the Holy Kingdom lost their strength and collapsed.
The power they had seemed to wield without fear or pain had in fact come from the black magic Sibylla carried.
Once the situation became clear, Yuri laid Sibylla's body on the ground and fled immediately. They had to get out of the mountains before more troops arrived.
"This far should be enough, right?"
"No pursuing forces."
"Guess we pulled it off without meaning to. Well done, well done!"
Francesco celebrated their victory.
But Yuri's expression was far from bright. Their victory had been sealed only when he personally killed his friend.
While the group rested, Yuri stood a short distance away, staring up at the sky.
Jared approached.
"Your Highness. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"If you need my broad chest…"
"No need."
"If you feel like shedding tears…"
"No such thing."
"Yes."
Jared stood beside Yuri. He half-lifted his arm to put around Yuri's shoulder, but couldn't bring himself to, and let it fall again.
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
Jared cleared his throat.
"You really are alright?"
"I said I am."
"Then, may I ask you something?"
"Ask."
"Lady Sibylla, in truth, she wanted you to stop, didn't she?"
"Yeah. Foolish girl."
"You two really were just friends, right?"
"Right."
"But earlier…"
"Mm?"
"At the end, I saw it. Are you sure there was really nothing between you?"
When the acrid fog had suddenly risen, Jared had approached to try to save Yuri.
So he had seen it.
Inside the choking smoke, the two had been talking. At times, they had even laughed.
It hadn't been like someone facing death and someone delivering it.
At length, they had whispered something to each other, and Yuri had kissed Sibylla.
A kiss short, if you call it short, long, if you call it long.
And at its end, Sibylla's head had fallen.
That was the last Jared had seen of them.
"You saw."
"Yes."
"Keep it secret."
"Of course."
"Jared."
"Yes?"
Jared looked at Yuri. Yuri, wearing a wry smile, was gazing up at the sky.
"There's no such thing as friends between a man and a woman."
Yuri tapped Jared's chest and turned away.
"Uh…"
Jared stared at his heavy back for a long time.