/
Kaneff carried me on his shoulder and moved forward without hesitation. The fast speed made the wind gush at my face.
Just as I was about to pass out because of the dizziness, Kaneff gradually reduced his speed.
“Wake up, we’ll be there soon.”
“Ugh
 She is going to be okay, right?
“I still feel her energy, but I can’t guarantee she’s safe.”
“What does that mean?”
“Because there may not be any more traces of Lia that we know.”
Not knowing what he meant, the anxiety inside me grew little by little.
After a while, we arrived at a place where the surroundings were devastated.
In the middle of it was Lia, caught in the hands of Gastra.
“Lia!”
She flinched, drooping in my cry. My anxiety hit the max when I saw her not responding to my call.
As Kaneff dropped me off, Gastra, who found us, spoke in a friendly manner.
“Oh! Who is this? Isn’t it the leader of the famous Black Hawk?”
“Don’t act like you’re close to me. And I quit my job as a leader long before.”
“Hohoho
 You quit? You had some useful subordinates, what happened? Did they all die?”
“I don’t know. It has nothing to do with me whether those who don’t listen to me are dead or alive. I’ve removed all the shackles that were holding me and now enjoying a relaxing life on the farm.”
“Farm? Hahahaha!!”
Gastra burst out laughing so loudly.
“I can’t believe Black Hawk is enjoying farm life! I guess I’ve been indifferent to the news of the Demon World for too long.”
“I see, after getting your ass kicked by me, you ran too far from the Demon world, huh? It makes sense that you didn’t know the news about the Demon world. I guess it must have been pretty scary taking a sh*t after I shoved my boots into your as*h*le?”
“

.”
Kaneff provoked his opponent with his unique sly tone and behavior.
Gastra’s expression, which had been relaxed all along, hardened for the first time.
“Even if you quit being a leader, that rotten tone and face are still the same.”
“Haha, of course. It’s the small happiness of my life to see the decaying expression of a motherfu*ker like you.”
Boss

That’s very crooked happiness.
Gastra smiled leisurely again, hiding the overflowing murderous intent and anger.
“How about we stop with the useless greetings here.”
“You’re the one who pretended to be close to me first.
.”
“I’m not the reason you guys came here in the first place, right?”
He held out Lia toward us.
As if she had completely lost consciousness, her whole body drooped.
“

.”
“Lia!”
Lia didn’t respond to my call this time either.
Gastra loosened his grip, and the unconscious Lia collapsed to the ground.
“I think this is enough for an audience to celebrate my daughter’s new birth. I was just thinking it would be a waste to watch it alone.”
At the end of Gastra’s words, Lia, who had collapsed on the floor, wriggled. She rose slowly, limping.
“Li, Lia?”
“Tsk
 
 .”
I felt something strange and stuttered, while Kaneff clicked his tongue strongly as if he didn’t like the situation.
“Krrrr
 
 .”
The Lia in front of us had red scales that covered almost the whole body, sharp fingernails, and huge horns. And the sound coming from her mouth was not that of a demon or beast or the Lia I know.
There was no trace of a maid who used to dress neatly and bring me warm tea.
“Sihyeon, do you remember the picnic?”
“I
 remember
.”
There was an incident where Lia went wild. It was the first time I learned about the existence of Sis, another existence within Lia.
“At that time, you stopped me from attacking Lia, and said my way isn’t the right way.”
“

.”
“I still don’t know. What’s the right way.”
Even before Kaneff could finish speaking, Lia, engulfed in red energy, rushed toward us.
“Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!”
-BAANG!!
Kaneff blocked her attack using the chain. As he struggled to stop the attack, he continued to talk.
“When I was the leader of Black Hawk, there was a member who was from the Dragon demon tribe. He was a useless guy who kept bragging about his cute sister who he left in his hometown whenever he had time.”
“Is that
”
“The Dragon demon completely lost his mind because of that motherfu*ker. Before completely losing consciousness, he asked me to kill him.”
“

?!”
“Although he was a useless guy, I had no choice but to deal with him myself because he was a talented guy. The only option I was given at that time was to let him go painlessly.”
Kaneff, Lia, and her brother.
As I learned about the story of the past, I felt a vague feeling of what Kaneff would be feeling now.
“He barely came to his senses just before he died and before dying, he asked me
to take care of his younger sister who’s left behind in his hometown. And
 If his sister couldn’t avoid the same cursed fate as him, he asked me to promise that I would finish her with my own hands.”
“Ah
”
Kaneff turned away from Lia and looked at me.
His expression showed no signs of his usual languor or playfulness.
I felt his will through the deep and clear eyes that were like a calm lake.
“Sihyeon, I intend to fulfill his request. I’m here to cut off her cursed fate of being ruled by terrible madness.”
“Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!”
-BAANG!!
Lia continued her attack again. Kaneff shouted, blocking her way urgently.
“So, Sihyeon! you find out! Because it was you who said my methods were not correct!”
Kaneff started the battle with Lia in earnest, leaving his last words.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Kaneff and Lia’s fight continued.
There was a huge explosion whenever the two people collided, and it made the surroundings brighter than the moon in the night sky.
The surrounding field which had been a mess since we arrived, has long transformed into a completely different place.
“Hahahaha! Look at my girl completely infused with madness. It’s so beautiful! That’s the true descendant of the Red Dragon! That’s your Destiny, my daughter.”
Gastra, who watched the battle, continued to marvel looking at the transformed Lia.
On the other hand, I watched the fight between the two with a tight feeling in my heart. I had no choice but to keep feeling nervous wishing that both of them wouldn’t get seriously injured.
“Lia, aren’t you attacking me too harshly just because I teased you a little?”
“Krrrrrrrrrrrrr!!”
“Even if you wake up in your pajamas every day, I won’t tease you and call you a sleepyhead, even if you grill bread like meat, I’ll eat it deliciously. So
. Please wake up.”
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
Boss?
For some reason, it seemed like Lia’s attack had become more violent.
In the meantime, Kaneff, who was joking, felt a sense of crisis.
Apart from his jokes, the battle continued fiercely. There were dozens of attacks that could have been fatal if Kaneff had let his guard down.
The battle which went on for a while slowly started shifting toward Kaneff’s advantage. Kaneff began to press Lia, defending almost every attack perfectly.
In the end

-CLING! -CLANG!
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
”
Kaneff’s chain completely overpowered Lia and made her unable to move. Lia screamed constantly and twisted her body to get out of the chain.
At the moment when I thought everything was over and tried to be a little relieved, once again a tremendous attack covered Kaneff.
-BAANG!!
Gastra’s fist was blocked right in front of Kaneff’s face.
“Oh? You finally thought about fighting yourself, huh? I thought you’d put Lia in front of you and just keep watching from behind her.”
“I just watched for a moment what my new daughter would look like. I still have some regrets, but I’m satisfied with the fact that she fought with the leader of Black Hawk on even footing for a short time.”
“Just be honest. You were afraid of facing me right away, so you used Lia to drain my energy.”
“Haha! The Black Hawk is really dead now. Talking about losers’ excuses in advance.”
“I guess your as*h*le is missing my boots.”
As soon as the fierce war of words ended, the two began fighting immediately. Just before entering the battle, Kaneff’s whisper rang in my ear.
-Gastra is not an easy opponent.
-I can hold Lia like this only for a while. Please take care of her, Sihyeon!
It seemed like Kaneff was intending to continue the battle with Gastra while using his power to contain Lia. As he dispersed his power, Kaneff had to fight a more dangerous battle.
There was only one reason he made such a dangerous choice.
It was because he believed I could release Lia’s curse. Feeling a heavy responsibility for his faith, I approached Lia.
“Krrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!”
CLING CLANG
Lia’s body shook, exhaling rough energy toward me as I approached. The chains binding her made a rough noise.
I tried to push away my fears and talked to her as usual.
“Lia, this reminds me of the time when we went on a picnic.”
“Krrrrrr
 
 .”
“If we go back to Demon farm, shall we go on a picnic again before it gets colder? I should also prepare delicious food and alcohol like last time, and prepare a lot of games to enjoy together.”
Lia didn’t answer. Rather, she just emitted a ferocious aura
 
.
But I clearly believed in her.
I believed that there must be Lia waiting for the picnic inside her,  who was stained with madness!
I carefully placed my hands on Lia’s shoulders and concentrated. I intended to rescue her from her madness just as I restored the Yakums back to their former self.
The communication ability got invoked and my consciousness got sucked into her deep inner world.
After a little dizziness, her inner world unfolded in front of my eyes.
-Ah

Looking at Lia’s inner world, I felt a terrible feeling as if electricity was flowing all over my body. This was because the inner world was filled with Madness that was incomparable to that of Yakums.
This wasn’t the madness that Gastra instilled.
She was originally born with it, it was part of her inner world
It was the cursed fate that Kaneff talked about.