King Cazer froze at Ethan's words, disbelief washing over him. He couldn't comprehend how a boy barely older than his daughter could demand something so outrageous.
"Give you authority over my kingdom?" he snapped. "Impossible! I will not allow it. Ask for something else."
Ethan didn't react. He simply stood there, expression empty, as if the King's words had never reached him.
DING!
— SYSTEM MESSAGE —
[Quest: Kill the Demon Dragon Sage]
[Countdown: 59:59]
Damnit… Ethan thought as the timer burned into his vision. Only one hour to kill the Dragon Sage? This is bad—really bad. What the hell do I do now?
The city was still drowning in chaos, cries echoing through the air, voices overlapping in panic, from mothers, fathers, and children alike. The old Ethan would have been shaken by it all, but after losing his parents and everyone he once held dear, he felt nothing.
"We're running out of time," Ethan said, gripping Princess Mia's hand.
"Follow me," he added calmly, his voice steady and composed, as if he weren't in the middle of a city on the brink of collapse.
King Cazer and Queen Kia had no choice but to follow. Pride meant nothing in the face of extinction, if they stayed behind, they would die.
They moved after him through the devastation. Corpses littered the streets. Mighty towers that once symbolized Gondolin's glory now lay shattered in ruin.
They passed a mother pinned beneath fallen stone, her child sobbing desperately as he tried to push the massive slab away with trembling hands. Cries filled the air—raw, broken, endless.
And through it all, Ethan kept walking forward without slowing down.
Mia couldn't take it anymore. Tears streamed down her face, but she made no sound, only silent sobs as the suffering of her people unfolded before her eyes.
Ethan glanced at her briefly… then looked away, his expression unchanged. Somewhere along the way, he had come to realize something unsettling, he was becoming nothing more than a cold-blooded weapon, moving according to the System's will.
Mia suddenly slowed, her steps faltering. She couldn't endure it any longer.
"H-hey… umm… Black Blade," she called softly, her voice fragile, "won't you help the villagers too?"
"…."
Ethan said nothing. He kept walking, steady and unbothered, as if her words had dissolved into the smoke around them.
She quickened her pace to keep beside him. "Please… help them," she begged, her voice trembling. "They're just children… ordinary villagers. They don't even understand what's happening."
Still, he remained silent, his movements swift, focused and urgent.
She opened her mouth to plead again, desperation rising in her chest, then…
SLAP!
The sound cracked through the chaos like a whip.
Mia's head snapped to the side as she stumbled and fell to the ground, tears spilling instantly from her eyes. Even the King and Queen stood frozen in shock.
"How dare you strike my daughter!" King Cazer roared, fury overtaking his fear. "You will pay for this, just wait!"
"My baby—are you alright?" Queen Kia cried, rushing forward and pulling Mia into her arms, shielding her as if the world itself had turned against them.
Ethan answered them with silence.
He stepped closer to Mia, his shadow falling over her as she knelt in her mother's arms. His voice, when he spoke, was calm—too calm.
"This is reality, young princess," he said. "Out here, everyone fights for their own survival. This is a battlefield, not a playground."
He did it to break her naïveté.
His crimson eyes held no softness.
"The weak are always the first to perish. If you don't understand that… then you're not worthy of calling yourself a princess. Or a noble."
DING!
— SYSTEM MESSAGE —
[Achievement Unlocked: Ruthless Executioner]
The notification appeared faster than he expected. Ethan's eyes flicked to the translucent screen hovering before him, scanning the newly earned title.
Ruthless Executioner…? he repeated inwardly.
But he didn't have time to dwell on it.
Another alert flared almost immediately.
[Countdown: 50:29]
The timer was still running.
Panic surged through Ethan. Without another word, he turned away from the princess and her parents and moved swiftly toward the Palace, the very place he had left behind under his true identity, Ethan Cole.
Queen Kia helped Mia to her feet, holding her close as they hurried forward. King Cazer followed just as quickly, urgency overtaking pride.
Together, they rushed to catch up with Ethan.
Mia had never imagined being slapped, especially not now, in the middle of chaos. That single act ignited a storm of resentment in her, a hatred she could hardly hide.
They stepped through the shattered remnants of the castle gate, where twisted debris and crumbled walls were all that remained.
Ahead, Ethan's eyes locked onto a fierce scene, Reinhard locked in brutal combat with the Demon Dragon Sage, flames and mana colliding violently around them.
They clashed with relentless force, each strike echoing like thunder. Reinhard fought with flawless precision, every blow measured and exact, but despite his skill, he inflicted little physical damage on the Demon Dragon Sage.
The Sage, in contrast, wielded fire magic along with his attacks, his flaming hands scorching Reinhard's body with each strike, leaving burns that sizzled against the air.
From a distance, Ethan could see it clearly, Reinhard wasn't even using a fraction of his true strength. The memory of Reinhard's words echoed in his mind:
'This battle isn't mine, Master. It's yours.'
And the fact that the system hadn't flagged this fight on the Grand Quest menu told Ethan everything, there was a real chance for him to win.
"That… that demon is on another level," the King muttered, his hand trembling like a bell that had just been struck.
The Dragon Sage's mana flooded the area like a crushing tide. The pressure alone forced the King down to one knee.
Even Mia and Queen Kia couldn't stand anywhere near it, the aura was suffocating, heavy enough to steal breath and courage alike.
Step. Step. Step.
Ethan walked calmly into the heart of the battlefield.
He stopped.
From the shadows, his black blade returned to his hand as if summoned by instinct, sliding back into his grip like it had never left.
"Hold."
Ethan's calm voice cut through the battlefield like a blade.
Both Reinhard and the Demon Dragon Sage froze instinctively, the sheer authority in that single word forcing a brief halt to their clash.
Slowly, deliberately, Ethan reached up and removed his Rage Mask, the artifact that had been suppressing his demonic mana all this time. The mask dissolved into shadow, melting into his cloak as if it had never been separate from him.
The air shifted.
— SYSTEM MESSAGE —
[External Mana Compressor: Detached]
[Internal Mana Compressor: Demon Crystal — Active]
Ethan's demonic mana erupted outward in a violent surge, shockwaves rippling through the air and slamming into the King, the Queen, and Mia. The ground trembled beneath their feet.
What… is that presence? King Cazer thought, his breath catching in his throat. It's not human… but it's not just demonic either. It's something far worse.
In all his years, through wars, rebellions, and encounters with high-ranking demons, he had never felt anything like this. Not once in his life.
Even the Demon Dragon Sage felt it—the violent surge of Ethan's aura tearing through the battlefield. Yet the creature did not flinch. It met Ethan's scarlet gaze without trembling, without fear, as though acknowledging a worthy adversary.
Reinhard, however, moved at once. He disengaged smoothly and retreated toward Ethan, stopping at his side. Then he knelt, one hand pressed across his chest, head slightly bowed.
"Master," he said calmly, "I have been awaiting your arrival. As commanded, I kept the Demon occupied."
[Countdown: 45:02]
Ethan's eyes flicked to the rapidly ticking timer. He didn't waste a breath replying to Reinhard. Instead, he stepped forward, toward the Dragon Sage.
Dusk was creeping in. It had already been fourteen hours since the deadly demon assault began.
Ethan understood the reality of it. Fourteen hours wasn't enough to defeat a high-ranking demon under normal circumstances, let alone finishing one in less than fifty minutes.
And worst of all, he knew this: defying the System always came with consequences.
"So… you are my opponent."
The Demon Dragon Sage finally spoke, its voice rumbling like the earth splitting apart.
Ethan narrowed his eyes. He still couldn't see its level. That alone told him everything, the Demon was far beyond his current Executioner Mode, just like Devon and Herod back in Almsworth.
Behind him, King Cazer's eyes and mouth slowly widened in horror.
So… everything that boy—Ethan—said was true.
His legs gave out, and he collapsed to the ground, regret and shame twisting across his face.
"No… no… this can't be…"
Mia's breath caught in her throat. She had just heard it, the unmistakable voice of a demon.
So… Ethan was right all along.
And they had left him… alone.
King Cazer suddenly snapped out of his daze. "M–Mr. Reinhard… where is Ethan? Rivington told you to protect him!"
Reinhard did not answer immediately.
He turned, slowly. Deliberately. His gaze locked onto Cazer's, eye to eye, unblinking.
"You have no right to speak," Reinhard said coldly. "Do not even utter my name."
His voice dropped lower, sharper.
"Or I will kill you with my bare hands."
King Cazer fell into stunned silence. Not only had he been humiliated by a child cloaked in black, but now even Reinhard, the forbidden, the mysterious, had stripped him of all dignity. And before them all stood a speaking demon, a nightmare he had once dismissed as myth.
In that moment, every doubt shattered. The truth loomed before him, vast and merciless, and the weight of his ignorance crushed him far deeper than any blade ever could.