The dusk of Knox City was shrouded in a thin mist, and the magical streetlights on the roadside emitted a dim yellow glow, stretching the shadows of the two figures on the street very long.
On the way back, Gray and Katy fell into a rare silence.
At this time of day, the golden-haired girl beside him would usually chirp nonstop like a cheerful little sparrow, either sharing some interesting thing those eyes of hers had discovered, or excitedly planning what the Black Crow Squad should do next.
But today, she kept her head down.
Those sapphire-blue eyes that always sparkled with cunning were now clouded over, and her delicate brows were slightly furrowed, as if pondering some serious issue.
Gray stole a glance at his captain, his heart tightening involuntarily.
‘What is she thinking? Is she feeling frustrated because this exploration of the Third Labyrinth was a “failure”? After all, although they had announced to the public that the Boss was defeated, Gray knew in his heart that it was a mess that couldn’t be sorted out. The copy projected by the Square Water Mirror at the end couldn’t be known by anyone except them.’
‘Or is it because of Lobelia?’
Remembering her aggressive attitude toward Katy earlier and the explosive argument between the two, Gray felt he had found the answer.
‘Miss Katy is still a young girl after all. She doesn’t have much experience arguing with people. She probably has to muster all her strength just to swear, so she was really provoked by Lobelia.’
“Um… Miss Katy.”
Gray hesitated for a few seconds, then finally mustered the courage to break the silence.
“Hmm? What is it, Mr. Gray?”
The girl lifted her head, instantly switching her troubled expression to her signature sweet smile, but a hint of lingering seriousness remained deep in her eyes.
“About Lobelia.”
Gray chose his words carefully, his tone sincere.
“Don’t take her words to heart. That woman has always had a bad temper and speaks harshly, but it’s definitely not aimed at you personally. If you’re still angry, I can apologize to you on her behalf.”
“Huh?”
Katy was stunned for a moment, then blinked as if she had heard something funny.
“Angry? Why would I be angry at Sister Lobelia?”
The girl tilted her head, her tone innocent.
‘Ha? Would this seat get angry at some pink-haired cow who only goes into heat? No way.’
‘Sure, there was a tiny bit of fire during the argument, but now this seat is thinking about something much more important than that, you small fry hero!’
‘And that Saint Knight just passed the ball to you for a one-on-one breakaway to the penalty area, telling you to bring up the cohabitation thing, yet you kicked the ball away? Are you made of wood!?’
Of course, she would never say these words out loud.
“That demon…”
“Eh? You’re really not angry?”
Gray looked at the girl’s calm expression and felt like he had guessed wrong again.
“No, I’m not. I’m not a child anymore.”
Katy hummed lightly, then restrained her smile and lowered her voice.
“More than that, Mr. Gray, what I’m concerned about is that newly appeared Calamity Pillar.”
Mentioning the pink-haired demon girl, Gray’s expression also turned serious.
“…When she first appeared and when she left at the end, she called you ‘Righteous One,’ right?”
Gray nodded.
It did seem that the Calamity Pillar pronounced it that way.
“Although I’m not very knowledgeable about theology, that title sounds like it has some deep meaning we haven’t understood yet. Mr. Gray, have you really never seen her before?”
This was what worried Katy the most.
The new Demon of Greed’s attitude toward Gray was just too ambiguous.
It wasn’t low-level desires like appetite or lust.
It was more like looking at a… peerless treasure.
“Absolutely not.”
Gray raised his right hand to swear, shaking his head firmly.
“The first time I saw a demon was after I joined the Dawn Blade. Before I left the team, I never saw that demon. Both Eve and Ingram can testify to that. And Miss Katy, you should have heard it too—she’s a newly born Calamity Pillar. How could I possibly know her?”
Looking at the young man’s frank and resolute expression, Katy sighed inwardly.
‘This idiot probably isn’t lying.’
‘But that makes it even harder to explain. After all, Noctiluca is a pure jock who hasn’t read a single demon text, so she has no idea what the word “Righteous One” means in the Demon Language.’
“True. Maybe that demon just said it on a whim to shake us up.”
Katy smiled, not wanting this topic to add to Gray’s mental burden.
She also needed time to go ask the Demon Lord for verification of her own questions.
However, just as the two reached the downstairs of the building where Katy was staying and were about to say their goodbyes—
“Ugh!”
Without any warning, a violent burning sensation shot through Gray’s entire body along the nerves of his right arm.
It felt like scorching magma had replaced his blood, surging through his veins, trying to break through the confines of his skin and burst out.
Gray groaned, staggering a step, and had to use his left hand to grab the lamppost beside him to support himself.
Large beads of cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.
“Mr. Gray?!”
The composure on Katy’s face shattered in an instant.
She hurried forward to support Gray’s swaying body.
“What is it? Was an injury from the labyrinth not fully healed?”
“No… It’s not an injury…”
Gray gritted his teeth.
The sleeve on his right arm was now stretched tight by the swelling muscles and some invisible force.
He lifted his right hand with difficulty.
On the skin of his hand, a deep-red pattern was slowly emerging, glaringly bright amidst the scattered electric arcs, as if branded by a hot iron.
“Wh-what is this? A tattoo?”
Katy’s eyes widened.
She was sure that a few minutes ago, there was nothing like this on Gray’s hand.
“No… Ah…”
Gray panted heavily.
The sensation in his arm had gradually turned into a dull ache, as if some solid foreign object had been forcibly stuffed into his bone marrow and was now wildly crashing against its cage, desperate to see the light of day again.
“It’s moving… Inside my arm… There’s something…”
Katy stared at that deep-red mark, and for an instant, her eyes turned into the vertical pupils of a demon.
As a former 13th Calamity Pillar, she was all too familiar with the magical fluctuations within that mark.
Authority.
But Gray was human.
How could a human use a demon’s Authority?
Seeing Gray clutching his arm in pain, Katy had no time to think too much.
An absurd idea flashed through her mind.
“Mr. Gray, don’t suppress it!”
The girl grabbed Gray’s burning wrist, her voice urgent.
“Try… to accept it. Guide that power inside you out!”
“Guide…”
Gray’s mind was almost fried by the pain, but he instinctively trusted Katy.
‘Since Miss Katy says so…’
The young man took a deep breath.
Instead of using his mana to suppress the anomaly in his right arm, he tried to touch that violent power, just like controlling his own limbs.
And the moment his spirit energy made contact with that power, the world seemed to freeze.
All pain instantly vanished.
In its place, a cold, mechanical voice echoed deep within his mind.
[Detected optimal suitable candidate. Opening weapon inventory.]
[Please select—Weapon.]
Weapon?
Gray’s consciousness was a bit hazy.
He was a frontliner, a Magic Warrior.
In the past twenty-plus years of his life, the thing that had accompanied him the longest was always the blade in his hand.
If it was a weapon, he subconsciously thought of the one he was most proficient with.
‘I want a sword… that can cut through anything.’
The next second, a clear, resounding sword cry rang out across the silent street.
A dazzling silver light burst from the back of Gray’s right hand.
The light did not dissipate but quickly condensed, extended, and materialized.
When the light faded, a longsword with an ancient design and a mercury-like luster flowing all over it was quietly held in Gray’s hand.
The blade was long, the curve perfect.
There was not a single unnecessary ornament on it.
Only the edge, sharp enough to cut even a line of sight, exuded a chilling aura.
Gray stared blankly at the longsword that had appeared in his hand out of nowhere.
This weapon gave him a sense of familiarity, as if connected by blood.
He even felt this sword was just an extension of his own body.
“Th-this is…”
Beside him, Katy was completely stunned.
Although its form had turned into a longsword, that unique spatial fluctuation, that magical fluctuation that could materialize all kinds of weapons from nothing—she would never mistake it.
Projection Weapon.
‘Isn’t this Mammon’s Authority—[Vault of the Void]?!’
‘Could it really be… like that newly spawned Calamity Pillar’s case, that Mammon’s head was credited to Gray, so his Authority was dropped for him?’
Katy looked at Gray, who was staring blankly at the silver longsword in his hand, then at the deep-red mark on the back of his hand.
She suddenly realized that she might only have scratched the surface of the information about this mission target.