“The soul that summoned me is now imprisoned in the Maida.” Belphegor said. “Kenos Vir, this is the end for you too.”

He crawled on the ground with a grimy lower body that resembled a snail’s. Above the grime was a stomach that gaped open like a tunnel, and from inside this cavity, tens of demonic arms jutted out. They crowded together and clawed at the air. Further up, a humanoid face was attached to a stout column of flesh, and tentacles extended out from around it.

“You are young,” he said with a wry smile. “You understand so little.”

“I don’t need to understand anything.” I pointed my sword at his face. “I just need to stop you.”

“I am not your enemy. We can strike a deal that will benefit both of us.”

“Yeah, why not? I should definitely trust you, given your charming looks and benevolent nature.”

“You will end up a demon no matter what you do, but you can live a fulfilling life and die as an old man.”

I noticed that his tentacles were furtively moving.

He continued, “There’s nothing to fear if the end is decided. You can live your life the way you want. I can give you the power to be a king, an emperor, a hero―anything your heart desires.”

I moved sideways with light, inconspicuous steps.

“You cannot erase me from this world, Kenos Vir. Years will pass, and I will be resummoned. Will you be alive to stop me? Can you not see the vanity of your struggle in the face of immortal beings?”

Suddenly, Belphegor’s tentacles whipped at me. I was ready for them and jumped out of their way at the right moment. For a few seconds, I scuffled on the dirt, but then I dashed forward with unwavering determination.

“Your whole lives are pointless!” Belphegor roared and whipped his tentacles. “A series of wild dreams! One disappointment after the other! This is why you humans seek our powers. This is why you have needed us since the dawn of time.”

I sidestepped one of the tentacles. It hit the ground and created a dust cloud. As I raised my hand to cover my mouth and nose, another tentacle whipped at me horizontally.

“We’ve never needed your likes, Belphegor.” I shredded the tentacle into pieces. “You’re the ones who’ve always forced yourselves on us. Even Faust could’ve met a different end if it hadn’t been for your deception.”

“Faust wanted to be a tool,” Belphegor said and waved two other tentacles toward me. “He wanted to serve me, and you should, too.”

“You’re more conceited than I thought.” I ran forward, cut the two tentacles, and prepared to slash Belphegor’s ugly face. I was going to end the battle here and now, but I suddenly found my feet stuck to the ground.

What’s happening?

I tried to move, but my feet wouldn’t budge. A miasma surrounded my body. It wasn’t one of Belphegor’s attacks; it was something different. I looked in front of me and realized what was happening. The demonic arms that extended out of Belphegor’s stomach were the source of this dark aura. They were clawing for anything near them. I could feel hate, regret, sorrow, and despair—all radiating from these cursed claws.

“Why are you hesitating?” Belphegor roared.

I was absorbed by the horrible sight and trapped in the thick miasma. My body refused to go near Belphegor; any move I wanted to make was overridden by instinct. Weakened by blood loss, I lost my concentration for a second and woke up to a swing from one of the tentacles. It was so close that I didn’t have enough time to dodge. The impact felt like a lightning strike. Before I knew it, I was on the ground with more blood splattered around me.

“Send me back to my world.” Belphegor slithered closer to me. “What is keeping you from destroying me, Kenos Vir?”

I raised my face off the ground. My stamina was depleted, and I had a new injury to add to the many that I had sustained. My arm… I had landed on my left shoulder, and I was sure that it was either dislocated or broken. The hand that absorbed the demons was now a useless lump of meat hanging at my side.

Things can’t get worse. I raised my body without the support of my left arm. The pain was devastating, but I couldn’t stop now. I grabbed my sword and ran away from Belphegor. I have to keep my distance and come up with a plan quickly.

“Already running away? Or are you looking for your friends?” Belphegor said. “No one will come. Even as we speak, my children are chasing them farther and farther away. Kenos Vir, can you feel the despair?”

One of the tentacles slithered on the ground and grabbed my feet. I fell forward, and my face hit the dirt. A pang of pain shot through my left arm. No, this can’t be happening. The tentacles raised me upside down in the air. I tried to cut them off, but all the strength left my body. I hung almost lifelessly. With a dysfunctional limb, exhausted and bleeding, I was barely conscious.

“Can you feel the despair, Kenos Vir?” Belphegor repeated right into my ear. His body was bending and stretching backward. He was lowering me toward his stomach, and the demonic arms that protruded out of it were fighting to grab my head.

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No, I can’t let things end this way, not after all that I’ve been through.

“Can you see these claws?” Belphegor said. “They belong to the people who made pacts with me, the demons who populate the Maida and devour the souls of sacrifices. Look at how many they are. All of them were once human. And you belong among them.”

Belphegor suddenly let go of me. For a moment, my mind couldn’t process what was happening. The world froze. I was in the middle of the air, about to fall into a sea of vicious claws. I stared at the distance, but Reinfried and Demetrius were nowhere to be found. Rick was not there to scold me; Master Azemir was not there to tell me what to do. I felt lonely, deserted, abandoned.

When the world started to move again, the claws grabbed my arms and legs. They pulled me down into Belphegor’s stomach. I raised my head to prevent them from twisting my neck, and as I struggled, I could see the light of dawn in the sky, almost like a lie.

I can’t do anything now. I was slowly losing consciousness. I’ll end up like Zeke Yuchi. I’ll become one of the demons. But unlike him, I haven’t used this power to help anyone. I couldn’t even rescue Erica and the others from the Maida. My body grew numb and heavy. Even the pain wore away. Maybe it’s time to surrender to this emptiness. I closed my eyes. I failed. I gave everyone false hope.

“It wasn’t false hope, Lance!” I heard a familiar voice.

A human hand suddenly appeared beneath me. While all the claws pulled me down into Belphegor’s stomach, this one hand supported my back and started pushing me up.

“You made the decision quickly and confidently,” the voice continued. It belonged to Alex Rosenberg. “You didn’t think twice when you realized you could help the little girls.”

“You keep saying you saved my life and whatever,” Erica’s voice said. “So, listen, brat, we’re now even!”

Another human arm appeared to support me.

“Archidox!” Belphegor bellowed as he felt the disturbance inside his body. “This is your doing, isn’t it? Archidox!”

One after the other, human arms appeared out of Belphegor’s stomach.

“When we went back to the camp, we told everyone about your sacrifice,” Alex’s voice said. “Everyone’s here for you, Lance.”

“We all trust you,” Wilhelm’s voice said.

“Please save our children from this place,” a woman’s voice said.

“Save my little girl!” a man’s voice added. “You’re our only hope!”

Everyone believes in me… even now. Their hearts, not only their hands, were reaching for me. We were connected; I was their hope, and they were mine. With their support, I felt the strength returning to me. I can’t give up.

“You are mere sacrifices!” Belphegor shouted. “How could you dare oppose the Lord of Demons?”

A demonic claw appeared, followed by a wooden hand. They both push me up like the other human hands.

“Lance,” Zeke Yuchi’s voice said, “We will hold Belphegor back. Use this chance to escape. You need to run away from this fight. Lance? Lance?”

Zeke continued to call my name, but his voice faded from my consciousness. It wasn’t because of weakness or fatigue but because of a strange feeling. A new power was surging inside me.

Everyone trusts me to finish what I started.

My heart thumped against my ribs with an irregular beat. I felt my blood as it ran through my veins and arteries. There was something mixed with it—something was spreading throughout my body. And with the power that it gave me, I started to move.

“Belphegor!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. My body heated up, and black marks appeared on my skin. The fumes I had absorbed throughout my previous battles, the Essence of the Demons, exploded from inside my body.

“This can’t be,” Zeke and Belphegor said at the same time.

Alex, Erica, and the others continued to push me up.

“It’s too early for this,” Zeke added in astonishment.

“Everyone’s waiting for me,” I shouted. “I can’t fail them now!”

I opened crimson eyes and jumped out of Belphegor’s stomach into the sky. My left shoulder healed up, and my left hand transformed into a demon’s claw—five times as large as my other hand.

“You will die here, Kenos Vir,” Belphegor said.

The tentacles zipped through the air and aimed for me. They tried to strike me down, but I shredded them into hundreds of pieces. My claw was sharper than any weapon.

“This is for all the people who suffered because of you!”

I began to dive toward Belphegor. More tentacles tried to stop me, but I grabbed one of them, spun twice around it to avoid the others, and propelled myself down, landing above Belphegor’s face.

“This is for what you made Marie go through!”

I planted my claw into Belphegor’s face. Unable to bear the pain, he grabbed my foot and hurled me away. I landed on the ground, this time on my feet. He turned to face me. The claws and hands retreated inside his stomach, and he shot balls of acid out of it. Making use of my supernatural agility, I avoided the deadly liquid. It burned the grass and destroyed the soil, but I emerged unscathed after every shot. I closed the distance between Belphegor and me, then lunged at him.

“And this is for what you’ve done to Reinfried and his men!”

I stamped on his stomach, trapping the acid inside. His cry at that moment was deafening. Even the people in Azuria must have heard it. Before he could react or throw me away again, I jumped up and stabbed his face.

“Humans are my slaves! Humans are my puppets!”

Belphegor fell back, and I landed on top of him.

“It’s over,” I said with my claw still stabbing his forehead.

“You will pay for your defiance,” he said as he lost his power. “Kenos Vir, in life, you will be nothing but fate’s plaything, and in death, you will be a demon in the Maida.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Belphegor,” I smirked. “But in life and death, I’ll be the person I want to be.”

“Your crimson eyes are only the start, and this claw will tear human flesh one day. Then you will regret your decision, Kenos Vir.”

Leaving this warning behind, Belphegor turned into black ash. As the wind carried it away, I stood up and looked around me. Only now could I see the sunlight. Only now could I feel the wind and smell the scent of the grass. The terrible night was over, and the sunrise was beautiful and peaceful.

How are Demetrius and Rick doing? I hope they survived. I took clumsy steps on the grass. Now that Belphegor’s gone, we should head back to Ashenbrook. I have to help everyone. All the townspeople who were sent to the Maida… Marie’s parents… Erica… Wilhelm… So many bodies to save… So many demons to absorb…

I fell to the ground. My demonic claw gradually disappeared, and my eyes returned to their green color. Black fumes left my body and dissolved in the air. My sight grew dim, and I lost consciousness.