Chapter 74….
Dante’s sword moved only once.
That alone was enough.
Enough to cut apart the red mana, the red night, and the red inverted cross.
“…You.”
Perhaps because his power had shattered, Aaron spewed blood from his mouth and glared at Dante with wide, bloodshot eyes.
It was a look that screamed he wanted to tear Dante’s throat out at once.
But he couldn’t.
Right now, Aaron couldn’t even twitch a single finger.
Outwardly, there was no visible wound. But inside, it was different.
What Dante’s sword had cut was not limited to the red things.
Splurt—!
The moment he opened his mouth, more blood gushed out.
“Khuek—!”
Choking on the blood that clogged his throat, he coughed and staggered.
He was in ruins.
Every channel through which his mana flowed had been severed, and even his sacred seal was covered with spiderweb-like cracks.
Not only his life as a knight but even his actual life itself was on the verge of ending.
Unable to move even a finger, Aaron collapsed where he was, still glaring at Dante.
“Arcracion, finish the battle.”
The red night had vanished, yet the corpse knights still moved.
Only a dozen remained.
Now that the power suppressing their bodies and sealing their mana was gone, they wouldn’t be too difficult to deal with.
Judging so, Dante gave his command and stepped forward.
Step—.
Aaron shivered as Dante drew near.
But Dante gave no attention at all to the broken wreck before him.
Aaron had never been his true enemy.
The real opponent was the woman watching him silently from behind.
“Lucia.”
He called her name—one he no longer even wanted to utter.
But Lucia didn’t answer.
She only fixed her sunken eyes on Dante.
“The cult you mentioned, and that ‘One’ you speak of—answer who they are.”
She smiled brightly.
A completely unfitting expression for the situation.
“To think a plan I spent decades on would collapse because of you alone.”
Lucia let out a small sigh.
“But don’t be mistaken. This fight isn’t over yet.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
The knights she had brought were all dead.
Even if they had revived and still roamed now, they would eventually fall again to Arcracion’s swords.
Aaron too was finished—so close to death he wouldn’t last five minutes without immediate healing.
Lucia had no cards left.
And yet she wore the expression of someone who still believed she would win.
“I acknowledge your strength. No, I acknowledged it long ago. I realized early that your talent was not something of mortals.”
“So that’s why you targeted me?”
“Sadly, since you left for the duchy, I never had the chance to act. But yes. I had intended to seal your talent. I meant to put my children forward as the heads of this needlessly powerful family.”
As expected.
But a question still lingered.
In his past life, Lucia’s plans had indeed succeeded.
Yet in the end, the family had fallen—destroyed by those with the same power as the knights she had brought today.
That part made no sense, no matter how he thought about it.
And likely, in this life as well, he would not be able to find the answer so easily.
He couldn’t even find the right words to ask, and even if he questioned her directly, she’d never give a real answer.
“But your talent far exceeded even my and the cult’s expectations. You were even quick to notice things.”
She clicked her tongue.
“Had I known you were this much, I should have acted even if it meant sending someone after you in the duchy.”
She looked genuinely regretful.
“My complacency and your overwhelming talent have undone all my plans. Now only one path remains.”
“…One path?”
At his question, Lucia’s smile deepened.
“Annihilation. Today the Aquites family will perish. This mansion, and everyone in the marquisate, I shall offer as sacrifice to Him.”
It wasn’t bluff.
She had seen Dante’s and Arcracion’s strength with her own eyes—yet she spoke with absolute conviction.
It wasn’t cheap bravado like Aaron’s.
She truly believed she could carry out her words.
And Dante could feel it clearly.
Swish—.
He instinctively raised Arpheon.
He meant to cut off her head before she could make her move.
That way, nothing worse could happen.
But just as he braced to leap forward—
KWA-AAAAANG!
An explosive power burst out from her body.
Red mana.
Similar to what had gushed from Aaron’s inverted cross, yet incomparably greater.
The mansion walls collapsed at once, and those who had been watching from afar were blown away.
It was like a raging storm.
“Do you think you can defeat me too?”
Behind Lucia, countless crimson hands sprouted endlessly, forming a single shape.
Red wings—Scarlet Wings.
The moment they appeared, a suffocating presence filled the space, making even breathing painful.
“Behold, Dante. This is proof of His living will. This is the punishment that will burn the blood of the filthy heretics.”
That was no human.
It wore the shape of one, but it was something else entirely.
“That is…”
And Dante had seen such an existence once before.
In a battle with no name, in his past life.
A crimson sky spreading like fire.
Screams and pleas echoing beneath it.
A mad cult that vowed to paint the world red with human blood.
“…Crimson Creed.”
He had never imagined Lucia was one of them.
Compared to this, the red night Aaron had conjured earlier was nothing more than a faint glimmer—a firefly against the sun.
But Lucia…
She now displayed a power almost identical to those fanatics who had once led countless people to death.
“…So it was you.”
The one who destroyed his family.
Who killed his father.
Who killed Milleon.
Who killed Eina.
Rage ignited within Dante’s chest, burning ceaselessly.
No—what burned wasn’t just his emotions.
‘…The Holy Flame?’
For the first time since his battle with Erebos, the slumbering Holy Flame blazed furiously within him.
In an instant, his body filled with sacred power.
But Dante felt no joy.
The Holy Flame’s reaction meant Lucia’s power was akin to Erebos’s.
His mind grew heavy with questions.
The cult.
The Crimson Creed.
That “One.”
And Lucia.
Many clues had surfaced, yet no clear conclusion emerged.
He knew only this: the Crimson Creed, to which Lucia belonged, had destroyed the Aquites family.
And afterward, they appeared across countless battlefields, harvesting innumerable lives.
He needed clearer information.
And for that, he had to capture Lucia.
As Dante pondered, Lucia spoke.
“You know of us?”
Admiring her dreadful wings, she reacted to the words “Crimson Creed.”
Grinding his teeth, Dante answered.
“How could I not?”
Suppressing the emotions that threatened to burst out, he studied her wings.
“How strange. We’ve never once shown ourselves openly in this world.”
Tilting her head as if confused, she soon smiled like it didn’t matter.
“Where you heard that name from—I can find out in time.”
Rrrrrrrip—!
The mana radiating from her twisted the very sky.
“For now, all of you can just die.”
PABABABABAK—!
Crimson mana crawled up from the ground, transforming into dozens of spears, and pierced the servants and soldiers.
They fell dead on the spot without even a scream.
Over a hundred lives extinguished in an instant.
“Kh—, Commander!”
Arcracion knights barely managed to block the wave, calling out to Dante.
“Form defensive lines! Assume at least Behemoth-level, and begin the hunt!”
Dante gave his orders swiftly, lowering his stance.
Arcracion answered with actions, not words.
WHOOSH—!
In an instant, they gathered around Dante, raising their swords toward Lucia.
They had fought through hundreds, thousands of battles—but never had they faced such a grotesque foe.
“Beware the wings. Touch them and your flesh will rot.”
After warning his men, Dante shifted his weight, ready to strike at any moment.
“You know so much.”
Lucia looked impressed, then raised her hand.
“Then try stopping this. If you can.”
KWA-AAAAANG!
From her fingertips, scarlet mana poured out like madness.
Each bolt stronger than the spears of knights who had awakened their traits.
And there were over a thousand of them—unleashed in less than a second.
“Fall back, Commander!”
“I’ll block it!”
“Hhhhk!”
Three knights leapt in front of Dante.
Jionhac, Milleon, and Elaine.
They pooled together the last of their mana and swung their swords.
KWA-AAAAAANG!
A massive explosion erupted.
The ground overturned, the space itself distorted.
The three knights barely managed to withstand it, but they couldn’t disperse the aftershock.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA—!
The already crumbling mansion collapsed completely.
Even those who had tried to flee farther away were caught in the blast, crushed instantly.
“Uaaaghhh!”
Screams and cries echoed.
Gritting his teeth at the sound, Dante stepped forward.
“Make a path!”
At Trishiel’s shout from behind, the three knights split left and right.
At the same time, the remaining Arcracion knights swung their swords in unison, as though one body, opening a gap.
SSHHHHHHH—!
The raging storm split apart.
Lucia came clearly into Dante’s sight.
‘Cut her down!’
KRRRRR-BOOOOOM!
From Arpheon thunder roared, ripping through space toward her.
