Inside the Eternal Vision, the white mist that had filled the entire space was visibly thinning out.
All stray energy, matter, and even gravity were being greedily devoured by the space itself, then converted into nutrients for the domain’s owner.
“Ugh… guh…”
A suppressed, pained gasp came from ahead.
As the last traces of mist dissipated, the assassin who had been stealing attacks from the shadows was finally exposed.
Due to the physical exhaustion caused by releasing smoke for so long, she was forced down on one knee, her hands barely supporting her against the ground.
The moment Noctiluca, floating midair, got a clear look at her opponent, she couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and let out a meaningful sigh.
“Tch, why is it another beautiful girl?”
Before her stood a dark elf with short silver hair, signature pointed ears, and dark black skin.
Her height looked to be barely under five feet, her delicate face full of childishness, making her appear like a child who hadn’t grown up yet.
However, if your gaze moved down just a few inches, your attention would absolutely be stolen by something.
Her tight assassin’s leather armor was struggling desperately to contain something that defied biological common sense.
In the gravity-doubling domain, those two heavy mounds of fat seemed ready to burst through the fabric and bounce out, heaving violently with the girl’s gasps, the deep cleavage covered in glistening beads of sweat.
This contrast—”a child’s face but a cow’s body”—deeply offended Kars, who was fundamentally a flat-chested loli herself.
“What’s going on here? Is the Dawn Blade some kind of talent recruitment pool for a brothel?”
Kars scowled.
She could accept that Gray’s former team had beautiful female members, but wasn’t this going a bit too far?
“Is there seriously not a single male member in that team besides that big hunk of metal Saint Knight?!”
“What kind of harem-filled, peach-blossom life was Gray living back then? Damn it! Shameless! Lewd!”
Despite ranting verbally, the girl hadn’t forgotten her main objective.
She slowly descended in front of the dark elf, the massive dark purple heavy armor floating behind her like a reaper, raising its heavy hammer, Nocturne.
“You’re defective goods, but I’m curious—why does an assassin have such great development? Don’t you know that flat is the ideal body type for combat?”
The “Ye Yin Liu” before her didn’t react to Kars’s complaints.
Those gorgeous gem-like eyes remained hollow and lifeless.
As the Eternal Vision continued draining her, the high-concentration mana composing her body began to destabilize and disperse.
Her skin started peeling off like old wall plaster.
“Whoa, that doesn’t look good anymore. Guess I’ll finish you off quickly.”
Kars raised her right hand, lifting the war hammer high.
“Goodnight, fake miss. Next life, remember to use those nutrients for growing taller,” the five-foot-three-inch girl declared. Just before the hammer fell, the copy suddenly looked up.
A flicker of light flashed through her originally dull eyes.
“It really isn’t like you, Captain…”
The hammer fell.
The dark elf’s body instantly disintegrated into countless shimmering fragments, then was completely devoured by the Eternal Vision’s darkness.
Yet Noctiluca felt no joy in victory.
She scratched her head in confusion.
“Captain? What’s this guy talking about? Saying stuff like that just to save her life. How strange.”
***
Meanwhile, in the real world.
Gray slowly exhaled a breath of foul air.
He spun the longsword in his hand, flicking off the grime on the blade, then sheathed it cleanly.
Behind him in the ruins, the once-arrogant “Lobelia” had already turned into a puddle of gray liquid, gradually losing its vibrant, active color.
The youth turned around, looking at the green space rift not far away and the Square Water Mirror that had finally manifested.
Seeing the Authority belonging to his nemesis Noctiluca, Gray only needed 0.1 seconds of deep thought to figure out what was going on.
‘That cunning Greed Demon guarding the Third Labyrinth. Trying the same trick as with the beheaded sub-demon last time—using a scroll recording Noctiluca’s Spatial Authority to separate us. I need to strike hard!’
However, considering Kars’s power and speed—even if she couldn’t defeat that phantom of Ye Yin Liang, she should have no problem buying time.
After all, after generating a Lobelia copy with most of the original’s real strength, Ye Yin’s “Erasure” wasn’t something that could be easily replicated.
That was an Authority capable of cutting even concepts.
Just as he was about to destroy the manifested Square Water Mirror with one slash, something unexpected happened.
The Square Water Mirror, which should have manifested or even shattered upon the copy’s death, remained perfectly intact.
Instead, as if responding to some higher existence, it first displayed dense dark purple patterns, then emitted a blinding, sickening dark gold light.
A wave of mana—unfamiliar to Gray yet instinctively repulsive—gushed out from the crystal.
It was filled with the stench of copper and malice…
Gray’s eyes sharpened instantly.
Without any hesitation, he roared at the light:
“Third Calamity Pillar—Greed King—Mammon!!”
The moment his true name was called out, the rising pressure in the air came to a clear halt.
“Oh?”
An elegant, deep, yet slightly surprised male voice emerged from the light.
As the dark purple patterns grew brighter, the crystal gradually melted, gathering into a golden fluid that slowly shaped itself into a demon wearing a deep red velvet robe, with a monocle and half a gold mask covering his face.
The Greed Demon hovered midair, looking down at the black-haired youth on the ground.
The pressure radiating from him—that belonging to a Great Demon—made the surrounding space nearly groan under the strain.
“To think a hero could call out my true name at a glance… Interesting.”
Mammon’s gaze swept over Gray from head to toe.
Then, as if he’d figured something out, he let out a pleased laugh.
“Heh heh heh… I see. I see.”
Though he could feel his power draining because his true name was known to a human, he wasn’t alarmed at all.
In his view, there was only one possibility for this human to know his true name.
“It was that little one who told you, wasn’t it? That priest named Kars.”
Mammon pointedly glanced at the spatial rift nearby, which emanated Noctiluca’s mana.
Seeing Gray’s eyes flicker, his mocking smile deepened.
‘That Noctiluca… to successfully infiltrate and not be suspected by this human, she’s really gone all out.’
Not only had she stooped to selling her body to serve him, but she’d even given away the true names of her comrades as a “proof of loyalty”?
What a pathetic existence.
If the Demon Lord hadn’t ordered him not to interfere with Noctiluca’s mission, he would absolutely expose the Angel Priestess’s true identity right here.
At that moment, what delicious expression would this righteous young man make?
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