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Trembling, unable to even think of calming her body, Parerina crawled on the ground as she fled, her thoughts racing.

‘What is that? What is that thing? Can a human heart really be like that? That’s impossible!’

How could a human maintain a transparent heart, unmoved by anything in the world? Time, space, life, death, relationships—even the vessel of their own body and the form of their consciousness—it seemed as if none of it affected that human.

The spell of the Dream Heart Demon works by detecting the tremors in a person’s heart. Even those who have firmly centered themselves still have minor fluctuations in their emotions.

A person with a moving heart is called human. A person with a raging heart is called mad. But what do you call someone who has a heart, yet it does not move?

‘A god…? Could it be?’

No way. Even if it were gods, they couldn’t be like that. If they were, there wouldn’t have been such a grand four-way battle in the Bronze Age. Of course, that’s a story of ancient gods, not the current ones, but Parerina thought that even the current gods couldn’t be much better.

Then what is that thing?

Parerina shuddered at the power of light wielded by someone who had mastered the technique of stopping the heart. If she had known such a thing existed, she wouldn’t have chosen the path of a witch. If she had known such a thing existed, she wouldn’t have mocked the Church Order and the Light Power. Perhaps the true path to the highest knowledge and wisdom wasn’t through the power of demons and evil gods…

“That’s far enough.”

Sophia suddenly appeared in front of Parerina, who was crawling on the ground, trying to escape.

“Eek!”

“You thought you could just run away after causing all this trouble? You really have no conscience.”

“If I had any conscience left, I wouldn’t have thought of becoming a demon.”

Hildegard approached, exuding a menacing aura.

“I said I’d show you my true power once you were out of the illusion, but look at you now. The backlash from Sophia breaking your spell must have been worse than I thought.”

“Do you think this is the end for me?!”

Parerina roared in a fit of rage, trying to release the remaining spells in her sockets. One of the best things about becoming a demon was the fivefold increase in the number of spell sockets compared to when she was human. Originally, Parerina had seven spell sockets, but now, as a demon, she had thirty-five.

This meant she could now perform thirty-five spells in a day. But as Parerina tried to release her spells, her face turned pale.

“Why won’t the spells work?”

The spells didn’t activate. The remaining spell sockets were completely unresponsive to Parerina’s will. No, to be precise, they did respond, but only with meaningless ripples, as if they were broken.

Only then did Parerina realize. The shock of having her grand Dream Heart Demon spell broken, combined with exposure to the light of the Immovable King Wisdom Technique—the Immovable Holy Light—which was the natural enemy of beings like her, had temporarily paralyzed her spell sockets.

Desperate, Parerina shouted.

“If you kill me, the monsters will run wild!”

“Oh, that?”

Sophia smirked, shrugging her shoulders, then stepped aside to show Parerina the scene around her.

The sight was horrifying. First, the spirit-type monsters like wraiths and specters had all been exorcised, leaving no trace. As for the undead and chimeras, whether they were flying in the sky or crawling on the ground, all the monsters were lying dead on the ground.

Some of them were trembling or twitching intermittently, so they weren’t completely dead, but they were so incapacitated that they couldn’t even move, let alone fight.

“What… how…?”

Parerina, stunned by the surreal scene beyond her imagination, trembled at the corners of her eyes, unable to speak. Seeing this, Conra, with a pitiful expression, began to explain.

“Our Master has quite a loud voice. She must have shouted again when she broke the spell earlier.”

Though he hadn’t seen it himself, based on past experiences, Conra felt quite confident in his guess. Sophia nodded.

“That’s right, Conra. But your tone is a bit off.”

Sophia, looking displeased, raised her hand to flick Conra’s forehead. Startled, Conra quickly dodged and hid behind Hildegard. But Sophia’s flick was one that could traverse space, so Conra, hiding behind Hildegard, had no choice but to hold his swollen forehead and cry out in pain.

Despite the comedic scene, Parerina couldn’t laugh. To her, Sophia’s actions seemed like something mimicking human emotions while pretending to be human. It was a misconception born from Parerina’s ignorance of the teachings of the Buddha and Laozi, but at least in this moment, it felt all too real to her.

Now truly in a hopeless situation, Parerina, on the verge of despair, suddenly heard a whisper in her ear.

{……. ……?}

It sounded like the chirping of a cricket, but upon closer listening, it carried a clear meaning. Through the spiritual senses she had gained as a demon, Parerina could immediately understand the strange and subtle resonance.

‘You seem to be in trouble. Shall I help you? …Hmm?’

Nonsense. If you were going to help, you should have done it sooner. But Parerina couldn’t ignore the whisper. Her situation was too desperate. She wanted to live.

So help me. I’ll give you anything except my life and self-awareness.

As she expressed her willingness, something strange happened. Suddenly, she felt one of her paralyzed spell sockets loosen. Was this the work of the whisper? Or just luck?

The spell stored in the now-open socket was none other than the secret spell ‘Mist Dash.’ A spell that temporarily turns the body into mist, allowing escape from physical attacks. This could definitely get her out of this predicament. Parerina smiled inwardly.

This time, she had been a bit hasty and unprepared. But if she could escape from here, next time would be different. She had become a demon, after all. She would fully utilize her new abilities and prepare the ultimate stage to face her pursuers.

Carefully watching for an opening, Parerina finally found a moment when the group’s attention wavered and released the Mist Dash spell.

With a puff, her body turned into mist, and within it, Parerina moved with all her might to escape. Just as she was about to roar in exhilaration at the momentary sense of liberation… she found herself dangling in mid-air, her head gripped by Sophia.

“Huh?”

More than confusion, Parerina felt doubt as she rolled her eyes in disbelief.

“You really are a creature that can’t be underestimated. Trying to turn into mist and escape like that.”

Held by the head, Parerina met Sophia’s gaze. Sophia’s blue eyes, which seemed to see through the true nature of things, flashed like lightning.

The body that had turned into mist was now completely restored, the spell broken. The technique of Void Manipulation and the telekinetic spell had trapped the dispersing mist, and Sophia’s main strength had shattered the spell itself.

‘Damn it, you said you’d help. You were no help at all…’

At that moment, with a crack, Parerina’s head shattered. Covered in a white aura, Sophia’s hand was stained with the demon’s blue blood and purple brain matter. Without hesitation, Sophia separated the head from the body. Hildegard took care of dismembering the body below the neck.

All that remained was the process of burning the demon’s body, steeped in evil energy, into ashes with sanctified oil.

It was then that something strange happened.

The head, with the upper part of its nose blown off and its neck severed, suddenly floated in the air and began to speak.

{You’ve done well to slay my servant. Your skill in acting without hesitation is something the dogs of the Church Order still have much to learn from.}

“A demon who made a contract with a witch. You’ve been hiding and watching all this time, and now you dare to show off? How shameless.”

Sophia’s body began to radiate Light Power. The golden Light Power, still lingering from the earlier Immovable Holy Light.

 

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