After I died, my personal maid rebelled.

In the crimson vision, it was as if fresh blood was rushing and washing over my eyes.

Her fingers, which tried to move, only grasped a pile of broken rubble. As her frantic breathing squeezed her lungs, the cold air finally reawakened her will.

With a groan, Diana rose from the ruins, leaning against the broken wall as she vomited a disgusting mixture of internal organs.

She woke up, but the nightmare had no end.

The beautiful past has long since crumbled, and she can hardly even define herself as a human being anymore. The body occupied by others proves that she is just a tool, a tool called war.

As the necrotic nerves began to regrow, Diana shook her head violently, trying to clear the blood from her vision.

The intense pain convinced her that she was still in the royal city and that this was not a dream. Not far ahead, several more figures were struggling to emerge from the ruins.

An unfamiliar black-haired girl and the elven princess Tina were covered in blood, with black mist rising from their bodies.

"Ah, are you awake...?"

With her right arm tightly gripping the metal left hand that was being reshaped, Tina gave Diana a mocking smile.

While Nicole, also an embodiment of the curse, was still directly resisting Oswald's powerful attacks, Diana was blasted away less than five minutes after she appeared.

"News has come from the palace that everything that could be taken has been taken. As things stand, we can't stop this monster."

Tina glanced at the calm girl. She didn't want to waste any more time. Anyway, the plan was going smoothly, and there was no need to fight Oswald to the death here.

As the three were talking, the fierce battle in the sky had already dispersed the storm.

Nicole, whose insect wings have grown back, wields the Skull Spear and quickly increases her movement speed, colliding with Oswald, who is manipulating the Wind Slash, creating several dazzling streaks of light.

As a curse of hunger, Nicole exhibits terrifying growth potential. As long as there is fresh flesh to devour, she can continue to evolve in battle until she can fully keep up with Oswald's attack speed.

Meanwhile, in order to cope with the all-pervasive slashes, her entire body was gradually covered with a layer of pink exoskeleton, which helped her withstand Oswald's fatal blows several times.

The tall Nicole flapped her wings against the wind, like a powerful Valkyrie, swallowing all the surrounding heads into her skull spear. The extended spear tore through the dust and wind, locking on in an instant.

Oswald, who had been attacking at high speed, stepped back, his brow furrowed, and a dazzling torrent of life burst forth.

Houses collapsed one after another in the torrent, and even someone as strong as Oswald did not choose to take Nicole's attack head-on.

Whether by coincidence or not, Tina, who was about to escape, also stopped in front of the annihilated street.

The laser beam flashed past her nose just centimeters away, kicking up a cloud of hot dust.

A brief silence fell over the battlefield in the heart of the royal city.

Seizing the opportunity, Oswald jumped off the roof to meet Paul. Paul, who was exhausted, struggled to his feet. With just a glance, Oswald understood his intention.

There's no need to stop; as long as our brothers from the Northern Army storm the capital, victory is assured!

Oswald gently punched Paul in the chest and gave him a sincere smile. The greatness of mankind lies in the greatness of courage. What curses, what calamities, are nothing but a bunch of paper tigers who only know how to display terrifying methods!

"Watch out, he's going to..."

The moment Oswald stepped forward and drew his sword, the girl who was about to warn him suddenly exploded into a cloud of blood mist. Tina, who was a step too late to open her domain, was also pierced through the heart by a sword in the silence of the phantom.

The seamless burst of lightning brought a series of explosions, tearing Tina, who was covered in blood and flesh and scattered metal pieces on the ground, into Paul's arms.

"Blazing Star!"

A true man never looks at the bombardment behind him. Oswald, brandishing his sword once more, flashed to Diana's side.

Diana gasped for breath, feeling the sword above her head heavier than a mountain. She hurriedly used her abilities, and all sorts of knives, spears, and halberds shot out from the void, only to be shattered one after another by the serrated blade.

Like a torrent slicing through weapons, the swirling gust of wind lifted Diana's sinful head, only to have it snatched away by Nicole, who was flapping her wings across the air, narrowly escaping Oswald's deadly pursuit.

But Diana's torment was not over yet. At the same moment she activated her powers, an unnamed flame suddenly ignited her head.

Amidst the horrifying screams, even Nicole felt a chill run down her spine. She quickly threw Diana's head away and extinguished the flames in her palm.

Ruthlessly using the lives of the people to rebuild her body, the girl's waiting opportunity still hadn't arrived. Taking advantage of the fierce battle between Oswald and Nicole, she set her sights on Paul.

However, before she could unleash her blood-red aura, amidst the dazzling sparks of clashing blades and spears, Oswald suddenly extended a finger towards her.

Boom!

A surge of thunder, accompanied by several corrupt chains burning with pitch-black flames, violently knocked the girl to the ground, dragging her from a pool of blood to Oswald's feet.

The violent struggle ceased as the staff pierced her stomach, and the vast, undying magic, as dark as a black lighthouse in daylight, burned and twisted her body and soul together.

"Ah! Ah!"

He crushed her throat with a single foot, his cold gaze never lingering on the girl. The only enemy that had ever troubled him was the Hunger Curse—Nicole!

Despite the abstract nature of Lilith and Diana, Oswald knew that Nicole, who was gradually developing her hunger powers, would be even more terrifying than the Bloodstained Saintess Maria from back then.

The only good news is that Nicole's sanity seems very unstable, meaning that she fights mostly on instinct.

Nicole landed with her wings folded, her speed not slowing down in the slightest. When her skull spear pierced out, it emitted a wail like endless hell, and in the blink of an eye, she had fought dozens of rounds with the insect calamity in Oswald's hand.

The clash of swords and the sharpness of their blades were smoothed out, and the cold light from their collision shattered the earth. The immense power within their bodies, capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, was unleashed without reservation at this moment.

The two men's strikes were almost millimeter-level precise, and their speed and power were still increasing. The gale generated by their collision alone was no different from a large typhoon, shaking and sweeping away all debris within a hundred meters.

The space emitted a series of shrill screams, and sonic booms rippled through the phantom between the two. The girl beneath their feet had somehow turned into a pile of minced meat.

Oswald clicked his tongue, drew his staff, and distanced himself from Nicole. As expected, Nicole, who had chosen to give chase, suddenly stopped a second later. An inexplicable fear made her spread her wings.

The earth suddenly cracked open, and Nicole, a step too late, was bitten hard by the undead giant python that burst out of the mudstorm. Together with the python, Nicole continued to rise in height, facing the baptism of blood and the sound of her exoskeleton shattering and grinding.

Oswald ascended rapidly on the chains of corruption, the wind path locking onto the breath of death turning him into a blur as he passed by, finally disappearing into the azure sky.

Nicole glared angrily and forcefully tore off the ends of the sturdy, dense chains around her. Perhaps only she could see at that moment just how fast Oswald's sword had come.

The wind rose and fell, and what began as a white line of storm suddenly expanded into a raging torrent with a radius of nearly a kilometer.

The world fell silent, for it would echo through the city again and again, the overflowing, swift winds slicing through the stubborn rocks, and even the giant python could not escape, slowly dissipating in the wind.

As the terrifying howl resounded for the first time, Nicole, with only half her body remaining, fell heavily in front of Oswald like a drifting, lonely leaf.