/
Normally, she would have had some doubts, but she just couldn’t afford to think like that right now. Berith’s eyes eventually narrowed as she raised her body halfway.
“What?”
“The knot on the dress is at the back…”
It was such a natural excuse that she couldn’t even believe herself. As Julia brought up her torso, Berith’s fingers crept along her waistline and naturally went behind her back.
In that brief moment when he had lowered his gaze towards the knot, Julia rushed out of the bed and instantly stretched her hand towards the dagger.
“Uhkk!”
As soon as she stood up, the strength in her legs loosened before she fell and rolled over the floor. She had accidentally bled out from the palms that were gripping on the blade, but she eventually managed to get the dagger into her hands. Julia then fixed the dagger properly in haste and gripped it hard.
Berith, who was still sitting on the bed, simply shed a sneer as he watched everything unfolded.
“Is that really your intention?”
“I’m not going to just let you, huh, have your way…”
“It’s really pathetic and pitiful. Have you not yet realized that things like that are no different from toys to us, demons?”
His expression, which had his eyes narrowed, suddenly hardened. The direction in which the blade was headed had no longer been to Berith, but to Julia’s slender neck now.
Her hand immediately trembled from the intoxication. A surge of red blush had increased all over her pure white skin.
“If I die, you won’t be safe either.”
“What are you up to?”
“I am the Demon King’s…”
Even though her eyes were blurred by the drug, her will towards death remained sincere. At the same time, the gentlemanly mask that Berith had been wearing since before was now peeled off. He took one step closer to her while revealing his serpentine eyes.
“It would be a pity if you died, but it’s simply enough to throw your body somewhere far away. The Master’s rampage is imminent and no one else has seen you anyway, so who knows what will happen?”
“Before you, those who already knew my real name, hu-uhk!”
It was only her own hair that brushed against her back, but an intense, stinging sensation had spread throughout her entire body. As her waist flinched, the blade that was held very close to her neck began to cut deep into her skin.
The blood that seeped down the nape of her neck eventually dyed the pure white dress in red.
“I can’t believe that someone else had known it before me, who is it?”
“……”
Julia couldn’t bear to open her mouth. Berith was the 28th demon. The top 20 and below had rather equal magical powers that were only a little bit different from each other, but that was just in case. She could not rule out the possibility that he would be angry with Revenna and Kimaris as well.
“Kukuk.”
When she finally could no longer open her mouth, Berith’s eyes became dazzled with complete ecstasy as he thought that it was a mere lie. He then declared the end of the game and began rushing straight to Julia.
Julia eventually added a little more strength to her hand that was still holding onto the dagger. Rather than having become his instrument while being humiliatingly deprived of her power, she would rather stab herself in the vital point and lose her own breath.
‘In the end, it’s going to be like this……’
Right at the moment when she aimed the blade, all the sounds around her were tinged with a creepy silence. Not the sound of Berith’s laughter or even the sound of her own hot, stifling breath. And then—
“Aaaaaaccckkkk!!”
From behind her, an unimaginable amount of light began to pour in through the huge window. Her vision instantly turned white. It was like the moment when the world ended.
Julia, who had her back against it, closed her eyes without her realizing it, but Berith eventually fell down with a painful scream as he was facing the same light directly. Then, the huge glass window shattered. Everything in the castle had been swept away by the powerful pressure difference and the whole thing in the castle was oriented towards the Demon God’s tower.
“Huh……?”
Julia’s small and light body was no exception too. Unbeknownst to her, she was also being swept out the window along with the huge pieces of furniture.
It was right then that she—in astonishment—tried desperately to reach out her hand in return.
“It’s the small key!!”
An arm had stretched out from the black military jacket and gripped tightly onto Julia’s wrist. The hair in a high ponytail fluttered like crazy amidst the gust of wind.
“What are you doing! Help me out quickly!”
“You really thought that we’re all monsters like you, huh?!”
Revenna’s high pitched scream could be heard behind Agares’s back.
Julia, who had the magic resistance, did not know the fact that the large explosion from the tower had swept through the castle and all nearby territories as well. Every single demon that could not withstand the explosion was eventually destroyed without a trace. The same was also true for the familiars that had been raised by those high-ranking demons.
At that moment, Julia realized that a lot of loud shouts and screams could be heard from all over the castle. Then, her eyes widened.
“Julia, hands…!”
“Mister Kimaris!”
At the risk of being swept away by sudden squall, she immediately reached out towards Agares. Julia then threw away the dagger that she had been holding on without any ounce of hesitation at all and she began stretching out her own hands towards her.
Her hands, which had been staggering in the air for a short time, eventually brushed against one another.
“Pull up! Damn it—what the hell are you even doing!”
“Huuuuhh.”
“Are you hurt?!”
Revenna screamed in surprise as she ripped out the hem of her dress that had obstructed her steps and ran in haste. The cut wound across her neck had become even bigger during the whole chaos just then. Julia’s white dress was all drenched in red now.
A jet-black surge of magical energy gradually erupted from Revenna’s hands. Although the range was not that wide, it was still enough to block the magical storm for a while.
“Little key, just let me take a look first!”
Meanwhile, Agares pulled Julia deep into her arms. And when her hands were finally free, she then created a complete, solid shield. Only the space where they were currently sitting had regained its original stillness amidst the blast of gale that was still raging in all different kinds of directions.