"Ke… Kefra, Miss Kefra!?"
Erica froze on the spot. She had never expected that the person who appeared would actually be Gwen's older sister.
When Henny saw this purple-haired beauty, she was also somewhat puzzled.
"Erica, this lady is…?"
"This is… the elder sister of Royal Knights Captain Gwen."
Seeing that Henny was still confused, seemingly trying to piece together the relationships, Erica waved her hand and said, "Forget it, it's a bit complicated to explain right now."
Hearing the two of them talking back and forth, Kefra narrowed her eyes slightly and spoke with a soft smile, "Well then, Erica, could you tell big sister what you're doing here?"
"And also, little kids shouldn't play with fire."
She was, of course, referring to Erica's spell just now.
Devin Lesser let out a sudden sigh of relief. Just moments ago, he had thought his death was certain. Fortunately, this woman had appeared in time to save him.
With the threat of death momentarily gone, Devin quickly reverted to his arrogant self.
"Hey! You there! I don't care who you are! Save me! I can give you anything you want!"
Before he could even finish his words, several blades stabbed into the ground beside him, each one missing his skull by mere inches.
"I didn't tell you to speak. So shut your mouth."
Kefra didn't even spare him a glance as she warned him coldly.
Devin went pale and immediately closed his mouth, not daring to say another word.
The world went quiet again. Kefra turned her gaze toward Henny, and a dangerous gleam flickered in her eyes.
"Well then, young lady, aren't you going to explain yourself?"
Henny felt fear rising in her chest. She could sense the woman's thick hostility and instinctively took a half-step back.
Seeing this, Erica quickly stepped forward to explain, standing between the two of them.
"It was Devin Lesser who humiliated Henny first! He did so many awful things! Someone like him shouldn't be allowed to stay in the Academy..."
But before she could finish, Kefra cut her off.
"That's enough, Erica. You don't have to say another word."
"In fact, that fat pig's life or death has nothing to do with me."
Hearing this, Devin's body tensed up again.
Judging from her tone, was she still planning to kill him?
But right now, no one cared about him.
Kefra looked at Erica, her face devoid of its usual warmth.
"He should be dealt with by others, not you, Erica."
"Your father's position is not stable, especially after what happened last time."
"If you make a mistake this time, Viktor won't come to save you again."
Hearing Kefra's words, Erica's heart began to race.
She didn't want to cause trouble for her father. Nor did she want to rely on Viktor for everything.
So she quickly spoke up, trying to explain, "We can just blame his death on the demon..."
The instant she mentioned "demon," Kefra's eyes changed.
They became frighteningly cold and sharp.
"So... you do know something."
Erica's body froze. Every hair on her body stood on end.
She could feel it, danger.
Even back at the volcano, when she was on the brink of death, she hadn't felt fear like this.
This was Kefra's pressure, her killing intent.
She was terrifying.
It was as if she had dropped her usual friendly mask. The real Kefra was like a predator, a fearsome hunter.
'Does Kefra want to kill me?'
'No… that's not it!'
That tangible killing intent wasn't aimed at her, it passed right by her.
It was locked tightly onto the person behind her.
Erica spun around sharply, eyes fixed on Henny.
"Henny!"
At almost the same moment, Henny lost control.
The tentacles around her thrashed violently, as though triggered by Kefra's overwhelming killing intent.
"So, you really are a demon host."
Kefra's expression turned wild and manic.
She had already noticed the faint demonic scent on Erica yesterday, the kind of filthy stench that only demons give off.
It was subtle and hard to detect, but as a seasoned demon hunter, Kefra had slain countless demons and their hosts.
Her body was bathed in demon blood. Her killing intent was so intense that any demon host would instinctively react to it, and lose control.
And now, Henny's current state confirmed everything.
At this point, Erica also realized why Kefra had come here.
"So, when you asked me yesterday where I'd gone…"
"It was because of this demon, wasn't it?"
She opened her mouth, hoping for an answer.
But Kefra didn't bother to respond. Her killing intent surged like a flood, wild and uncontrollable.
Her purple hair seemed to glow faintly, and she licked her lips, a sign of excitement when facing prey.
Still, she gave Erica a warning.
"Erica. Stay away from her."
She didn't even need to say it, anyone could see that Henny's condition was dangerously unstable.
The shadow-like ink on the ground gathered at lightning speed, wrapping around Henny completely.
In seconds, her body was enclosed in blackness, though her faint outline could still be seen.
Then, the silver-white daggers on the ground suddenly linked together, forming ripples that sealed her within.
A precise silver magic circle appeared in front of everyone.
Kefra had been chasing this demon for a long time, pursuing it across the world, all the way to the royal capital.
And now, she'd finally cornered it. There was no way she would let it escape again.
Henny screamed in pain as the magic circle rippled, and magic began forming from nothing around her.
Her survival instinct kicked in, she started to fight back.
Erica hadn't expected things to spiral out of control so suddenly. Watching the two sides clash, she stamped her foot anxiously.
"Professor Viktor! Hurry and help us!"
The next second, Kefra and Henny collided.
Countless tentacles whipped through the air like barbed whips, slicing through layers of air as they lashed toward Kefra.
Kefra's twin silver blades moved at lightning speed to block the strikes, but even she couldn't fend off that many attacks at once.
Two tentacles slipped through the gaps in her defense.
"Ugh!"
A sharp pain shot through Kefra's abdomen. She looked down and saw her stomach torn open, blood spilling out.
The two tentacles tried to burrow inside her, aiming to rip her open completely.
Kefra seized that instant when Henny's movement slowed, leaping backward and twisting her blades to slice through both tentacles.
The severed limbs splattered onto the ground, turning into puddles of black fluid.
Kefra quickly pulled out a red potion and took a gulp, restoring some stamina before wrapping bandages tightly around her wound.
"Kefra!"
Erica called out in alarm, but she couldn't intervene now.
Kefra launched herself forward again. Henny's black tentacles lashed toward her once more.
Kefra stepped onto one of them, vaulted into the air, and the tentacle instantly curved back to chase her.
Her eyes flashed coldly. In an instant, her body blurred like a falling star.
A white flash, and she was suddenly behind Henny.
The twin silver daggers sliced through the dark membrane on Henny's back with ease.
Two deep wounds appeared, blood seeping out.
Henny cried out in pain, the agony seemed to bring back a sliver of awareness.
A moment later, her vision went dark, and she lost consciousness completely.
"Henny!"
Erica screamed. Henny's fainting made her realize something was terribly wrong.
Kefra, meanwhile, flipped backward and landed steadily on the ground, putting distance between them.
"Clumsy combat skills. You thought the same trick would work twice?"
Kefra twirled her daggers in her hands. She had deliberately exposed a weak spot, taken a hit, just to create an opening.
And Henny had fallen for it.
Kefra tore off her blood-soaked bandages, revealing her waist.
The wound was completely healed. Not even a scar remained, thanks to a demon hunter's powerful regeneration.
But then, the tentacles around them began twitching uncontrollably, as if driven mad.
Kefra raised her blades defensively, her expression deadly serious.
'Something's wrong.'
Normally, her special daggers forced any demon to separate from its host.
Her "attack" just now wasn't to harm Henny, but to sever the demon's connection.
Yet now, instead of leaving, the demon's power was growing even more violent.
'The power… it's getting stronger?'
She couldn't understand it. The next instant, thicker ink enveloped Henny's body.
A deep, abyss-like echo reverberated from her.
"Gu… you're really something, demon hunter."
That voice, Erica froze in disbelief.
'Miss Kefra… is a demon hunter!?'
Demon hunters, also called slayers, were the mortal enemies of demons.
No wonder Kefra had questioned her like that before.
She must have sensed Henny's demonic aura even back then.
Kefra wasn't surprised that Erica had realized it now. Her violet pupils, however, were filled with uncontrollable bloodlust.
The blood of demon hunters made it almost impossible for them to stay calm when facing demons.
That was their instinct, to hunt and destroy.
If she had still been rational before, now, with the demon's true form emerging, Kefra began losing control.
Henny's body stood up stiffly, like a puppet pulled by strings. The shadow behind her swelled rapidly.
In an instant, black ink erupted outward, swallowing Henny whole.
Erica stood frozen, unable to believe what she was seeing.
The massive, dark form began to rise from the pool of ink.
Henny's small frame clearly couldn't contain the demon's true body.
So it opened a gaping mouth, devouring the edges of her shadow.
The shadow expanded, growing monstrously large.
Emerging from it was a horned head, no eyes, no nose, just a gigantic face with a tongue stretching hundreds of meters long.
It spewed ink into the sky, turning the already-dim heavens completely black.
Its flesh, like thick liquid, oozed and expanded into a mountain-sized mass.
The overwhelming pressure forced Kefra and Erica to retreat dozens of meters.
They stared at the enormous creature before them.
Kefra trembled, not with fear, but with excitement. Like a beast on the brink of frenzy.
Erica, staring up at the giant hand blotting out the sky and the maddened Kefra beside her, felt her mind go blank.
This was something they could never hope to defeat.
The demon's bloated body split open with a vertical crack, revealing thousands of jagged teeth, reeking slime, and countless corpses of devoured creatures, its trophies.
Kefra couldn't hold back anymore. Demon hunters never feared demons.
And that was why there were only ever two fates for them.
Either they'd never encounter a demon in their lifetime, or they'd die hunting one.
Without hesitation, she burst forward in a streak of white light.
But...
She underestimated it.
The moment she set foot on the demon's body, a massive dark hand gripped her throat.
As she struggled, the demon grinned.
Its laugh was sharp and piercing, a sound like falling into an endless abyss.
"You looked like you were having fun hitting me just now, little one."
"Now it's my turn."
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