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Swoosh-.

Something emerged from that ember. A blood-red hand that seemed to have been dipped in blood. Red eyes, symbolic of demons. As Viola looked at the demon with long, dark hair tinged with crimson, she asked.

“What… is that?”

“A demon.”

“I can tell that much. But what exactly happened…?”

There was only one. All those demons had vanished, leaving just one behind.

“There was only ever one.”

The problem was the initial belief in the hundreds of demons. Only Viola and Elaine had confirmed it with their eyes.

“It’s much easier to deceive the eyes of two Valkyries than to bring hundreds of demons here.”

“No way…”

“An illusion-based demon.”

Viola had seen hundreds of demons in the single demon before her. And Elaine had seen the same. With one exception.

“Belveim seemed to have known.”

Suhyuk’s gaze turned to the demon slowly rising.

“Judging by how she desperately tried to keep it hidden.”

“… When did you figure it out?”

Suhyuk hesitated briefly before answering the demon’s question.

“I suspected from the beginning.”

There was no real need to answer the demon’s question, but…

-The truth

-How did he know?

-Well said (image of a cow climbing)

-Good question

The viewers were just as curious.

“But I needed confirmation.”

“Confirmation?”

“Neither Asgard nor Muspelheim can intervene heavily here, right? That’s what’s set by the system.”

That was the first point of suspicion.

“And the city was too quiet. If there were truly that many demons, the city would’ve been in chaos long ago.”

“Is that all?”

“No. Surely not.”

Up to that point, it was just a sense of something being off. He became certain later.

“You killed Belveim.”

That was the biggest clue. Suhyuk’s gaze turned to the bewildered Vigo.

“You used him.”

“Me-me?”

“Yes, you.”

Perhaps her death was a mechanism within this trial to ensure its completion. If not for that situation, even Suhyuk wouldn’t have been so certain.

“A demon with illusion abilities. If that demon has something to hide, it’s obvious, isn’t it?”

The most fundamental condition for breaking an illusion is realizing that it is an illusion. The same goes for illusions that fall under the illusion category.

The moment you recognize it isn’t real, its power diminishes. Therefore, demons or players with illusion abilities put a great deal of effort into ensuring their illusions aren’t discovered.

Moreover,

“Above all, there is no such thing as an insurmountable trial.”

The last statement was directed into the mic. This was for the viewers. Terms like trials wouldn’t make sense to demons or Valkyries.

‘Was that why?’

Listening to the explanation, Viola thought back to Suhyuk entering the flames.

“I need to check something.”

From the start, Suhyuk knew the flames were fake. Entering the flames was a way to confirm it.

But.

‘Is merely knowing enough?’

Though she was a swordswoman, Viola wasn’t entirely ignorant about illusion abilities. Training to become a Valkyrie included dealing with the illusions and hallucinations used by demons.

Even if she knew she was under an illusion, even recognizing the demon before her as an illusion was only the first step.

‘Knowing and overcoming it are different matters.’

The illusion was crafted so well that even a Valkyrie was ensnared. Recognizing it as real, even for a moment, could mean instant immolation.

To overcome it meant having immense confidence in one’s own strength and mental fortitude.

“I’ve answered everything, so let me ask you one thing.”

Although his earlier explanation was for the viewers, Suhyuk took the opportunity to ask a question.

“How did Belveim come to know about this? I doubt she figured it out on her own.”

The one question that remained unsolved. Given that they had gone to great lengths to kill Belveim, it was clear she knew something, but the process was unclear.

Fortunately.

“She came to see me because of that item in your hand.”

The demon, who knew the reason, provided an answer.

“She wanted me to just take it. Her resentment towards Asgard was considerable.”

The demon’s lips curled into a smirk. Despite being exposed, he wasn’t significantly disturbed.

No.

Instead, he looked past Suhyuk to Viola with mockery in his eyes.

“Is your household quite dysfunctional too?”

The demon taunted Viola, using Belveim’s betrayal as fodder. Having just been betrayed and stabbed in the back by her friend, Viola clenched her jaw so hard, her teeth threatened to break.

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear it from someone worse than us.”

“We’ve always been like this. But you all weren’t, were you?”

The demon’s taunt left Viola at a loss for words.

He was right. Demons had never valued comradeship or friendship.

For them, companionship was something to be betrayed at convenience, and when nourishment was needed, to be devoured like a meal.

“You pretend to be noble on the outside, but inside, you’re hypocrites just like us.”

The demon was essentially saying that they were no different from each other.

What makes you any different from us?

Briefly, the demon’s gaze shifted to the gem in Suhyuk’s hand.

The Heart of Thunder.

The artifact desired by Valkyries descended to earth and demons risen from hell.

“It’s all because of that.”

The demon’s true desire lay in Suhyuk’s hand.

“You Valkyries have fallen and become no different from us demons.”

Swoosh-.

The demon reached out a hand.

“Hand that over to us. Then such tragedies will never happen again.”

With that, Suhyuk glanced at Viola. He could sense her wavering. Viola was already shaken by Belveim’s betrayal and Elaine’s death.

What had held her together was the single word “mission”.

But.

To hear that the mission was the reason her comrades died.

“Don’t listen.”

Viola flinched at Suhyuk’s voice and looked up.

“He’s like a snake. His voice is laced with illusions.”

Hearing was as sensitive a sense as sight. Just as sight could be deceived by illusions, voice was often used as a medium to cast illusions.

“What? You figured that out?”

“Belveim fell for your tricks as well.”

“Nonsense.”

The demon grinned at Suhyuk’s deduction.

“You even got that right?”

With an almost affirmative reply, Viola’s eyes widened.

“No way…”

“Don’t make it seem like it’s all my fault. Do you think I chose her for no reason?”

Shrugging, the demon continued to taunt Viola.

“She already had deep doubts about the mission well before. I just added a bit of spice, something very stimulating.”

“You…”

Grit-.

Clenching her teeth, she exuded killing intent.

Crack-.

As Viola took a step forward, the temple’s floor cracked. Her body was so tensed with anger that she didn’t even care about the floor. Putting all her strength into her legs, she lunged at the demon.

“How dare you!”

Wham-!

With both hands gripping her sword, she swung it with all her might. The walls of the temple were sliced, and the ceiling trembled.

Rumble-.

Her strike cleaved the demon’s body in two. But that didn’t satiate her. She continued to swing her sword.

Swing-.

Slash, slash-.

In an instant, repeated blows split the demon’s body into ten, a hundred pieces. Viola wasn’t swinging her sword to kill the demon.

She was using it to vent the rage boiling inside her.

Moments later.

As she was about to swing her sword at the now-unrecognizable demon again.

“Stop.”

Grip-.

A hand caught her wildly swinging arm. Suhyuk was the one who stopped her.

“I don’t want to stop.”

“If you were cutting him properly, I’d let you continue.”

“What?”

Wondering what he meant, Viola looked back at Suhyuk, who had stopped her.

Whoosh-.

Suddenly, the world around her changed. Feeling a strange sense of discomfort, she turned to the demon and saw that he wasn’t cut into hundreds of pieces; he didn’t even have a scratch.

“What?”

“You were wildly swinging your sword at empty air.”

Crush-.

With his other hand, Suhyuk crushed a long, red thorn he had grabbed with his grip.

“Without realizing that this was aiming for your neck.”

“Ah…”

Viola, drenched in sweat and exhausted, slumped to the ground.

She looked half out of her mind. Part of it was due to moving violently while badly injured, but more than that, she seemed to have sustained significant mental damage.

It made sense. An illusionist’s power was always about wounding the mind more than the body.

Of course.

That didn’t work on everyone.

“It seems it doesn’t work on you.”

The demon’s expression changed for the first time, showing displeasure. Unlike with Viola, his ability didn’t affect Suhyuk. He had assumed he’d dealt with all of Asgard’s Valkyries, but an unexpected variable had appeared.

“If it were any other time, even she’d be a tough opponent.”

Viola was a woman of great mental fortitude. Losing two comrades and still running here for the mission showed that clearly.

The reason she fell into the illusion multiple times despite this was simple.

“She’s just… hurting right now.”

The pain of losing comrades was something Suhyuk understood well. If it were him standing there instead of Viola, he too would have easily succumbed to the illusion.

Right now, the demon in front of them was a perfect counter to Viola in her current state.

Step-.

Suhyuk walked past Viola and approached the demon.

“So, I’ll just have to help her out for now.”

“You seem to be under a misunderstanding.”

Creeeak-.

Numerous blood-red thorns materialized around the demon.

“Do you think illusions are the only thing I can do?”

It was as if the demon was wielding thousands, even tens of thousands of weapons. Considering the system’s penalties, Muspelheim had chosen and sent one of their finest.

This demon likely had the strength equivalent to three Valkyries, including Viola. Illusions were just one of his many abilities; he was undoubtedly a high-ranking demon.

But.

“It doesn’t matter.”

If this was the final trial.

Sizzle, sizzle-.

Suhyuk could use something powerful enough to ignore all that.

Sizzle, crackle-!

As lightning spread over Suhyuk’s body, an eerie black light began to envelop it.

“No matter what you can do.”

At that moment.

Boom-!

With a thunderous roar, black lightning struck Suhyuk from the broken ceiling of the temple.

『The ‘Lightning Lord’ dwells in your body.』