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The moment Margaret faced off against the Demon King, she realized that this was not a fight she could win.

Of course, she was protected by Jeongjae’s powerful magic, so it wasn’t a competition where she was simply overwhelmed. However, the Demon King’s strength was far greater than Margaret had anticipated, revealing a gap that even the best dual-wielding skills of the world’s top Fairy Lord could not close.

“You’re weaker than I remember.”

The Demon King shouted with a sharp voice as he delivered a powerful kick to Margaret’s chest. At that moment, she couldn’t counter the Demon King’s words and focused solely on defending against his attack.

The only advantage Margaret had was her attack range. She was close enough that there was no time for magic circles to be drawn, and her rapier was far superior to the Demon King’s claws. This superiority in distance was a significant reason why Jenis preferred the Eramenia sword, despite being capable of dealing equally powerful claw attacks.

But what was initially supposed to be a springboard for an aggressive offensive had now simply become a defensive measure, desperately blocking the enemy’s approach. Unlike other times, today Margaret could not use her footwork for attacks but was instead forced to focus on defense. The Demon King’s movements were powerful and sharp, creating a looming sense of crisis that a wrong step could lead to her ankle being blown away.

Jeongjae, who had safely sent back the soldiers defending Margaret’s territory, glanced at the fight and said,

“You look like you’re struggling. He’s not someone Margaret can defeat.”

“Please help, Grand Mage. You shouldn’t fall in a place like this.”

An elven soldier, hearing Jeongjae’s worried murmur, urgently pleaded with him. Jeongjae, who was already thinking of charging in, nodded and adjusted his robe.

“Of course. You are right. She must not fall until the fight is over.”

Then the Grand Mage joined the battle.

Suddenly, a powerful lightning spell rushed in, startling both the Demon King and Margaret, forcing them to retreat. Thanks to Violet’s quick evasion, the lightning did not hit her, but Jeongjae bought time for Margaret to rush back to the battlefield while the Demon King was pushed back. Margaret glanced back at Jeongjae and bowed her head slightly.

“Did you see I was being pushed? I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“I should be the one apologizing for worrying you more often than that.”

“There’s no need to apologize to an idiot like you. But what do you think my soldiers thought when they saw me being pushed around?”

At Margaret’s retort, Jeongjae couldn’t help but chuckle. The Demon King did not take long to react. Sensing danger with Jeongjae joining the fight, Violet gestured to the green dragon in the sky.

“Attack! Protect me!”

The dragon let out a breath without a word, directly targeting Jeongjae. The Grand Mage quickly deployed a defensive magic circle, repelling the dragon’s breath. Margaret looked up at the dragon, grinding her teeth.

“I forgot about the dragon. Those are beings that should never be disregarded, no matter the situation.”

“It’s not that I forgot, it’s just that my opponent in front of me is too fierce.”

Recognizing that the dragon was preparing to unleash another breath, Margaret grabbed Jeongjae’s wrist and said,

“Let’s go to the castle. It’ll be safer there.”

“To the castle? No, but your castle doesn’t have any defensive capabilities at all. Especially against such a dragon…”

“I’m not going to rely on the castle walls for protection. They have something they want. It means they cannot burn the castle.”

Jeongjae quickly understood what Margaret meant. This was not the first time this had happened. The Moriarty Machine in Baron Harriet’s Territory. Dracula, who had come to secure it, had refrained from unleashing his full power for fear that an elaborate device would be destroyed if they fought near the shabby Harriet Castle. Thus, it was highly likely that this would have a similar effect.

The Demon King would not have come to Margaret’s territory just to burn the Fairy Princess’s land out of some petty reason. If he simply wanted to burn it down, sending dragons would suffice. The fact that he risked coming this far into the heartland likely stemmed from a strong desire to reclaim something that had been taken from him by Margaret.

“You pathetic rodents! Now you even want to hold your own castle hostage!”

Seeing Margaret and Jeongjae moving toward the castle, the Demon King screamed furiously. Margaret nodded at him and replied,

“From what you just said, I know you cannot break my castle. Thank you.”

“What a bunch of nonsense…”

At that moment, as the Demon King charged at Margaret, Jeongjae intervened between them, grabbing the Demon King’s wrist and sending a powerful current of magic through her body. Electrocuted by surges of millions of volts, the Demon King trembled and stumbled backward.

“She endured the shock with her own mana. She won’t be paralyzed for long. We need to hurry!”

Margaret briefly considered whether she might manage to plunge a blade into the Demon King’s neck, but it was too risky of a gamble. As Jeongjae said, the Demon King would not remain stunned for more than a few seconds. As he spread his wings and began to chase after them, Margaret dashed toward her castle, standing before its walls.

If the dragon were to attack her, it could not evade the damage to the castle either.

Seeing that Margaret was in a position to evade the dragon’s breath, Jeongjae rushed to her side to provide support.

“So, do you think we can win if we disregard the dragon?”

Gasping for breath while taking a fighting stance behind the small castle, the Demon King asked with a mysterious smile. Margaret answered, driving a dagger into the front of her boot.

“What’s the reason to lose? You are undoubtedly powerful, half-Succubus. But not as much as the two of us combined. The magic of Eramenia is still firmly holding you down. Whatever nonsense you may claim, this is your grave.”

“Perhaps so. If I came here with a regular mindset.”

With that, the Demon King opened her robe and pulled out a small glass vial. Margaret could not recognize what the vial was as she tilted her head, but Jeongjae’s eyes widened in horror as he realized what the red liquid inside it meant.

“Dragon’s blood has been spilled, thanks to you injuring my dragons so wonderfully.”

“Margaret! Shoot! Stop her from drinking that!”

At Jeongjae’s shout, Margaret immediately drew her bow and pulled back the string. The arrow fired by the elven lord flew straight toward the vial in the Demon King’s hand, but even as the arrow approached, the Demon King calmly opened the vial and brought it to her lips.

The arrow bounced off her wings. The half-vampire brought the dragon’s blood to her lips.

Just a sip—so little it could hardly be called a tasting. But Jeongjae, who could feel the mana radiating from the being, realized that with that alone, the Demon King was transforming into something entirely different from before.

“Margaret.”

“What is it, Mage?”

“Should we run away?”

His words were half-joking but also half-serious. Realizing what he meant, Margaret shook her head, laughing lightly in disbelief.

“This is difficult. Sometimes there are battles that cannot be won. But there is a world of difference between confronting and being pushed versus not confronting at all. Prepare support. I will take the lead.”

“You’re not Rose. Your physical endurance can’t handle a direct confrontation with her!”

“There’s no time to dilly-dally!”

And just then, the Demon King charged in. Margaret raised both arms and legs, lifting her blades high as she leaped into the air. Jeongjae urgently cast a powerful protective spell around her, augmenting the electric magic already entangled with Margaret’s blades.

Upon collision, a counter-attack spell activated, sending the Demon King flying back. However, the impact of the Demon King’s strike crashed into Margaret mid-air, shattering her protective magic as she was blown back, crashing against the castle wall. Jeongjae rushed to clasp his arm behind her head, preventing her skull from colliding with the wall.

“Ugh!”

Jeongjae screamed, clutching his arm that had gotten caught between the elven skull and the wall. With her eyes fixated on the Demon King, Margaret asked,

“Thank you. Are you alright? Given how fast I just flew, I should have taken a hit like a hammer from the forge.”

“I’m fine thanks to the robe. It’s just a slight crack in the bone.”

“Damn, I wish my head had been a little softer. But truly, thank you. If I had smashed my head against the wall like that, I can’t assure what injuries I would have suffered. Had I known this would happen, I would have worn a helmet into battle…”

The Demon King was spreading her wings again and charging quickly. Jeongjae, meanwhile, had no strength left to support Margaret as he hastily began to heal his broken arm with magic. It was difficult to perform proper spells with a broken arm. Knowing this, the Fairy Lord decided instead to delay by weaving her way through rather than confronting the Demon King head-on.

The problem was that the Demon King had completely read her movements.

“You weakling!”

The Demon King’s malicious kick struck the Fairy Princess squarely in the abdomen. She felt a moment of breathlessness and plummeted to the ground. Just then, Jeongjae, who had finished his first aid, shouted with wide eyes.

“Margaret!”

“You can’t kill the Crown Princess. But you, you will end here, Fairy Lord!”

“Blaze forth, burn! Flames, rise!”

It was the moment the Demon King was approaching Margaret. Jeongjae, unable to think of a proper defense spell to counter the Demon King, remembered a defensive spell that utilized the flame magic and immediately activated it.

As soon as Jeongjae’s incantation dropped, a fiery wall of flames encircled the Grand Mage and the Fairy Princess, shooting from the ground to the sky. Even the Demon King was startled, stepping back as the powerful flames erupted, shielding the two. In the meantime, Jeongjae quickly reached Margaret to check her condition.

Margaret had fainted briefly from the Demon King’s strike but was just managing to regain consciousness and blinked her eyes open.

“It’s fire.”

Margaret said with a frown. Just as Jeongjae was about to come up with an excuse, Margaret struggled to raise her hand and placed it atop Jeongjae’s head, smiling.

“Well done.”

The Demon King, trying to break through the flame wall by sheer force, approached the fire but recoiled upon meeting the fierce gaze of the Grand Mage peering beyond the flames.

“If you’re coming at me that way, I have no choice. But you must know the flames won’t protect the castle.”

The Demon King regained her sanity momentarily and made a rational decision. If Jeongjae’s flames would only protect him and Margaret, she determined to enter Margaret’s castle to find the note she desired and leave this place. Margaret, who was watching the Demon King with blood on her lips, grasped Jeongjae’s robe and said,

“If she enters, burn it down.”

“What, what? But it’s your castle. What the hell…”

Jeongjae shook his head in astonishment. Margaret, despite her pain, gripped Jeongjae’s robe tighter, looking him directly in the eye with a gaze that knew the real reason for rejecting the idea of pouring flames over the castle.

“There are no people inside. It’s time to break free from the non-member. If it means sacrificing my castle to extract you from that nightmare, I would gladly offer it. So set the flames! Didn’t you promise?”

The Demon King walked into Margaret’s castle, completely oblivious to what the two were discussing. Margaret’s determination was unwavering. She knew that this wouldn’t free Jeongjae from the nightmare of being a non-member, but it mattered that she was prepared to make that sacrifice.

Nodding once lightly, Jeongjae reached out his hand toward Margaret’s castle.

“Blaze forth.”

An intricate geometric magic circle sparked and rose above the castle. The green dragon floating in the sky began flapping its wings, realizing what was happening, but it was already too late.

“Strike down!”

 

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