Chapter 317: Curtain Call

While Bayle fought Nihilux with everything he had, Alice made her move.

"Summoning Miracle: Blessed Arsenal!"

A dozen weapons of golden light materialized, spinning around her.

Meanwhile, Focalors floated calmly high above, too absorbed in watching the dragon’s fight to notice.

It was convinced that distance kept it completely out of harm’s way.

Alice was about to prove otherwise.

"Don’t drop your guard, you idiot!"

The ground cracked beneath her feet as her enhanced legs launched her upward with everything they had.

Alice shot straight into the sky, passing directly beneath Focalors before continuing her ascent until she was positioned above it.

And that was exactly when she launched her attack.

All her weapons of light fired at once, but none of them aimed directly at the demon.

The projectiles spread out through the air around it, sealing off one escape route after another until it was practically boxed in.

Focalors had no time to react.

The only way out left was down, so it dropped instantly as the projectiles whistled past all around it.

But Alice was already waiting below.

The moment the demon lost altitude, the warrior dropped on it like a meteor and slammed a descending punch that drove it into the ground with a deafening crash.

The impact tore open a crater in the earth, and for the first time, Focalors found itself flat on the ground.

"There you go, much better," Alice said, landing in front of it.

Focalors slowly picked itself up, brushing the dust off its overcoat. And though it had no face, something in its posture radiated renewed amusement.

"Well, you’re sharper than you look at first glance," it taunted. "Fine. Let’s play it your way, Lady Fists. Let’s see how long you can keep this up."

And then they threw themselves at each other.

Focalors opened its palm, and half a dozen bolts of dark energy formed in the air and shot toward Alice.

She didn’t bother dodging.

She crossed her arms, charged straight through, and plowed through them one by one with pure brute force, letting them detonate against her armor.

"Is that all you’ve got?!" she roared, closing the distance. "I’ve felt tickles harder than that!"

Her fist went for the demon’s orb, but Focalors dodged nimbly and, surprisingly, countered with a blow that sent her flying several meters back.

Alice rolled across the ground, sprang back to her feet, and charged right back in without missing a beat.

The fight quickly turned into a frantic exchange of blows.

Focalors dodged Alice’s strikes while throwing up magical barriers in front of it.

Alice shattered them in a single hit and threw herself right back at it, forcing it to keep its distance.

But whenever it found an opening, Focalors struck back.

It fired bolts of dark energy that caught Alice and exploded against her body.

Even so, Alice kept pressing forward without stopping.

Her weapons of light moved alongside her, chasing Focalors and striking without pause as the demon kept retreating.

"Hold still and fight for real!" Alice growled, dodging an explosion by a hair.

"But this is so much more fun this way!" Focalors replied, delighted.

It raised both hands, and the darkened sky lit up all at once.

Dozens of meteors rained down on her from every direction, exploding around her in a firestorm that swallowed the whole area in smoke and flame.

The dwarves gasped, convinced the woman had been reduced to ash.

But as the smoke began to clear, Alice was still standing.

"Nice fireworks," she said, charging back in. "But I’m afraid you’ll need more than that to beat me."

Meanwhile, the other battle was no less brutal.

Bayle gave Nihilux not a single moment’s rest.

The dragon slammed into the slimy mass over and over, tearing into it with claws and fangs, ripping whole chunks off that shapeless body.

Nihilux tried to defend itself, hardening its tentacles into spears or trying to wrap around him to crush him beneath its bulk.

But Bayle shook it off every time, and answered with fire.

Torrents of flame engulfed Nihilux’s body, evaporating huge amounts of its viscous substance and forcing it to retreat as it pieced itself back together again and again.

It could withstand every attack and rebuild its body afterward, but the toll was starting to add up.

With every exchange it lost more mass, its movements grew slower, and its body gradually began to weaken.

"My master was right!" Bayle roared, driving his claws into its core. "You’re nothing compared to me!"

The two battles, Alice against Focalors and Bayle against Nihilux, gradually drifted across the plain until they came dangerously close to one another.

And that was when Alice, in the middle of trading blows with the demon, saw her chance.

Focalors dodged a punch and stumbled back hastily, not realizing every step was carrying it closer to Bayle, who still had Nihilux pinned down.

Alice caught the opening instantly.

There were no words, no signals.

Just a brief exchange of glances that made it clear both of them had understood exactly what needed to happen.

"BAYLE! NOW!"

They struck at the same time.

All of Alice’s weapons of light shot upward at once, fusing into a single golden spear that hovered in the sky for an instant before plunging down like a condensed ray of sunlight.

And at the same moment, Bayle unleashed a torrent of crackling lightning from his jaws.

Nihilux reacted on pure instinct. Its mass surged outward and covered Focalors just as the combined attack was about to reach it.

The spear of light tore through its body from top to bottom while the lightning ripped it apart from the inside.

Nihilux convulsed violently and finally burst into countless fragments of viscous matter that began to evaporate.

The Demon Lord’s summon had fallen.

And with its disappearance, something shifted in the atmosphere across the entire plain.

Throughout the whole battle, the dwarves had stood frozen, watching the clash unfold before them in disbelief.

None of them dared believe what their own eyes were showing them.

"They’re... they’re winning!" one of the warriors exclaimed, his voice cracking with disbelief.

"They took down that giant thing! They tore it to pieces!"

"Come on! Finish off that demon too!"

The dwarves’ fear transformed, first into hope, then into pure euphoria.

They started cheering at the top of their lungs, raising their fists and weapons, chanting for that human who was quickly becoming the hero who would save their people from annihilation.

Mark, from where he stood, watched the uproar with satisfaction.

’Perfect,’ he thought, glancing sideways at the dwarves. ’They’re eating it right up.’

Then he shifted his gaze toward the edge of the plain, where the half-human generals waited alongside the remains of the horde.

They stood completely silent, frozen as they watched the battle unfold, watching the Demon Lord’s own envoy get humiliated before their very eyes.

Mark smiled faintly.

The deception was working perfectly on both sides.

"Everything’s going smoothly," he murmured.

"Emperor!"

Ragna’s voice called out to him. The dwarf had approached, his face lit up with emotion and hope.

"If you defeat that demon, my entire people will owe you their lives!" the dwarven leader said. "I swear the dwarves will never forget what you did for us today—!"

Mark turned toward him, ready to respond.

And that brief moment of distraction was all Focalors needed.

The demon vanished suddenly from amid Alice’s attacks and reappeared behind Mark’s back.

A sharp blade of dark energy was already forming in its hand, plunging down at full speed, aimed straight at the back of his neck.

"MASTER, LOOK OUT!" Alice screamed.

But Vorax reacted instantly.

The little slime hardened and took the shape of a sword.

Mark gripped it with one hand and blocked Focalors’s strike just inches from his neck.

With a swift motion, he shoved Focalors back, stepped forward, and drove his sword straight into the center of its chest.

Then the demon’s body began slowly coming apart, dissolving into dark particles that scattered through the air like ash carried on the wind.

"Splendid... simply splendid," Focalors laughed, without the slightest trace of pain or resentment in its voice. "You’re quite the actor, Emperor. My lady is going to be delighted with the performance."

And with those final words, it vanished without a trace.

An expectant silence spread across the plain, broken a moment later by the triumphant roar of the dwarves.

But Mark barely heard them.

Because right before his eyes, a translucent window had just materialized in the air.

[CONGRATULATIONS!]

[You have completed the main quest: "The Death Emperor’s Ascension".]

[Rewards granted:]

[You have leveled up to level 53.]

[Inventory unlocked.]

[Class spells unlocked.]

[New feature unlocked: defeated enemies now grant experience. From now on, you can level up in combat.]