"Who


    are they?" Stark mumbled inside his protective barrier. He had


    never seen the devil this serious before. The enemies were


    strong—Stark could feel it. He knew Krul was stronger.


    <i>But


    would they really face him without a plan?</i>


    A


    sense of unease settled deep in his gut. Something about these


    attackers felt…


    wrong.


    "I’ve


    become a burden, haven’t I?" Stark exhaled sharply as thick


    smoke consumed the battlefield. Krul was consuming mana to protect


    him—mana he should have been using to fight.


    <i>He


    can</i><i>’t


    fight at his best while protecting me.</i>


    Stark


    gripped his sword tightly. I need to do something.


    Meanwhile,


    Krul stood still in the smoke. His senses were scrambled, his spells


    failing. This fog wasn’t


    ordinary.


    "What


    kind of spell is this?" His sharp eyes scanned the foggy


    surroundings with a serious look. Footsteps of the knights echoed


    from all directions, yet he couldn’t


    pinpoint a single presence.


    <i>An


    illusion? No. If that were the case, my Expel spell would have


    worked.</i>


    <b>Evil


    Blade.</b>


    Nothing.


    The spell just didn’t


    materialize.


    <i>Interesting</i><i>…


    but why aren’t they attacking?</i>


    He smirked. <i>Are


    they scared? Or</i><i>…


    are they unable to attack as well?</i>


    Krul


    cast <b>Evil


    Blade</b>


    again. This time, parts of the spell flickered to life before being


    snuffed out into nothingness.


    <i>Ah</i><i>...I


    see now.</i>


    A


    slow grin spread across his face. He understood the workings of the


    spell.


    "I


    have to admit, this is a genius way to utilize magic. But alas…"


    His


    glowing eyes narrowed.


    "You’ve


    picked the wrong opponent, little girl."


    Vivy


    cast an anti-magic barrier around Krul first, then masked the entire


    barrier with thick fog. It was a clever way to use Magic and, at the


    same time, buy time for the knights to regroup.


    <i>Anti-magic


    barriers have its limitations.</i>


    There


    were two ways to break one. The first was to attack it from the


    outside—these barriers are fragile against offensive magic or


    direct force. The second was to overload it with more mana than it


    can suppress.


    Each


    barrier has a mana threshold. If the contained mana exceeds the


    threshold limit, the barrier would begin to crack from within and


    eventually disperse.


    Krul


    knew about this.


    Without


    hesitation, he began casting offensive spells inside the barrier. The


    fourth spell was barely complete when he heard it—a sound like


    glass shattering.


    Crack.


    The


    fourth offensive spell materialized and crashed into the sand as the


    barrier broke into hundreds of pieces.


    <b>Expel.


    </b>Krul


    cast instantly, dispersing the illusory fog that clouded his vision.


    It worked this time and the battlefield was visible to him once


    again.


    The


    knights had regrouped, Drek and Thalia standing at the front, their


    weapons raised to attack him at a moment’s


    notice.


    <i>Aura?


    </i>Krul


    clicked his tongue as he noticed the faint glow outlining their


    weapons. <i>No


    wonder they</i><i>’re


    unscathed.</i>


    <i>At


    least they don</i><i>’t


    have a Grandmaster in their ranks. </i>He


    thought.


    Vivy


    looked over at the devil and wiped the sweat from her brow. “Shit…


    I didn’t expect him to figure it out so quickly.”


    Within


    an instant, Krul cast <b>Zor</b>.


    A deadly beam shot straight toward Vivy.


    Drek


    stepped in, raising his staff, and deflected the beam away with his


    aura-coated weapon. At the same time, Thalia closed in on Krul,


    swinging her war hammer at his head.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Krul


    jumped back, narrowly avoiding her strike as it smashed into the


    ground. The impact split the loose sand in two.


    Drek


    and Thalia had become much stronger than before, likely due to their


    use of Aura in battle. Aura for knights was similar to mana for the


    Magus, but being able to wield it was exceedingly rare. It required


    immense patience and effort, making Aura-wielding knights pretty


    rare.


    In


    all of Kastar, only a few hundred knights had achieved this feat.


    Krul


    sensed Zarius’s


    attack from the other side. Without hesitation, he activated the


    engraved glyph on his palm, conjuring a barrier just in time to block


    a flaming rock speeding at him.


    Drek


    and Thalia pressed their assault relentlessly, while the Magus unit


    bombarded him with ranged magical attacks. The remaining knights—each


    a high-ranking one—capitalized on every opening, attacking in


    well-coordinated ways.


    <i>Shit</i><i>…


    I need to break this momentum. </i>Krul


    began to feel the pressure. <i>Those


    pesky priests need to be taken out first.</i>


    The


    devil’s


    power was being actively suppressed by the Zaras’th priests; this


    made the fight much harder for him.


    Krul


    blocked Drek’s


    staff and simultaneously drove a powerful kick into Thalia’s gut.


    Then, turning his focus back to Drek, he gripped the metal shaft of


    his staff and, with a pivot, slammed him into the ground.


    “Ugh…”


    Drek croaked as his armored back crashed against the sand.


    Krul


    wasted no time. He quickly thrust his sword toward Drek’s


    head.


    Unfortunately


    for him, Vivy intervened, firing a beam of light. Forced to block the


    attack, Krul lost his chance to finish Drek, allowing him to regain


    his composure.


    Krul turned on his heel and charged at


    the knights. As they braced for a counterattack, the devil suddenly


    veered sharply, using <b>Speed</b>


    to propel himself toward the priest


    unit.


    “Die, you Zaras’th


    lapdogs,”


    he spat, unleashing <b>Evil


    Blade</b> straight at


    them.


    Zarius swiftly deployed an earth


    wall to


    shield the priests, but the spell shattered through the barrier. Two


    priests were struck directly, their upper bodies severed cleanly. The


    remnants of the spell slashed into two more, their bodies collapsing


    lifelessly onto the loose sand, staining it a deep scarlet.


    “I knew you’d pull something like


    this, you filth,” Zarius snarled.


    “You’ve grown senile, Zarius—you


    barely managed to block that,” Krul smirked.


    Despite the gruesome deaths of their


    comrades, the priest unit under Wez


    did not falter. Wez stood at the center of their formation, ensuring


    that even if the others fell, the spell''s effect would only weaken,


    not dissipate.


    Krul knew he had to eliminate Wez to


    fully dispel the suppression.


    Before he could act, Drek


    and Thalia


    charged at him, cutting off his advance. Their relentless assault


    forced Krul out of the


    priest unit’s


    range.


    “Tch.”


    Clicking his


    tongue in frustration, he skewered a few knights through the heart as


    he weaved between their attacks, skillfully dodging the Magus unit’s


    magical bombardment.


    Zarius turned to Vivy.


    “Why aren’t you using it


    yet? There were plenty of openings.”


    “Um… Lord Zarius, it takes time to


    deploy. We need to hold the devil down for a few seconds.”


    “Ah… I see.” Zarius nodded


    thoughtfully. “I also sense another presence on the battlefield,


    encased in a barrier. Is that the slave you used to track him?”


    “Yes.” Vivy replied hastily. “The


    devil is protecting him for some reason.”


    “Ho… Strange indeed.”


    Zarius’


    lips curled into a sinister smirk. “Kill the slave. There’s no


    reason for such filth to exist anyway.”


    Vivy hesitated briefly but nodded.


    Zarius was far more experienced in battle than she was, and she


    wasn’t foolish enough to risk


    her knights’ lives for a mere slave. She would do whatever it took


    to bring him


    down. Taking the devil down would allow her family to rise back to


    their original power in the political sphere in Kastar.


    “Target the slave,” Vivy


    commanded.


    At once, the knights shifted their


    focus to Stark,


    who stood


    trapped within the cubical barrier cast by the devil.


    Krul had anticipated this. As long as


    he kept


    Zarius and the two Aura-wielding knights occupied, he was confident


    the barrier would hold—for now.


    The knights surged forward, determined to shatter the barrier and kill Stark.


    Inside, Stark


    watched them


    charge, realization settling in.


    He had become a burden.


    Krul was being pushed back, but he had


    managed to thin the ranks of the knights and some of the Magus.


    Despite this, he still didn’t


    have the upper hand—90% of his power remained suppressed.


    This isn’t


    good. I need an opening. I have no choice but to use it.


    The devil retreated, creating distance


    between himself and his enemies.


    “Child! Get ready!” he yelled, shifting his gaze to Stark


    Krul carved an ominous red


    glyph—<b>Bond</b>—into


    the air. A crimson thread shot from his heart toward the barrier,


    piercing Stark’s chest.


    "What is this?!" Stark’s


    eyes widened as the red thread sank into him. A chill ran down his


    spine, and blood rushed to his head.


    In an instant, Krul carved another


    glyph—<b>Transfer</b>.


    A surge of power quickly flooded Stark’s


    body. Strength unlike anything he had ever felt before coursed


    through his veins. Suddenly he could imagine fighting the knights that were attacking the barrier.


    "Now you can fight against these


    bastards," Krul said as the protective barrier around Stark


    began to dissolve. Stark gripped his broadsword tightly, his eyes sharp as he took a stance to fight.


    The devil had granted him a portion of


    his strength—temporary power transferred through a bond that would


    expire after a set time. He had no choice. This was the only way to


    ensure Stark survived.


    Krul had given him just enough


    physical enhancement to match the staff-wielding Aura Knight, but it was up to Stark’s


    skill and tenacity to make the most of it.


    Although the spell drained his own strength, leaving him much more vulnerable to the enemies. Krul knew it was the right thing to do, as he didn’t want to lose


    someone close to him yet again. The devil was sure that he would regret this very moment for the rest of his life if he failed to protect the human child from harm.


    For a brief moment, a memory


    surfaced—one he had long thought buried.


    A memory about a little girl running  towards him with a bright grin.


    Krul


    stared at the sky; a sorrowful look flickered across his face.


    "I thought I had forgotten you…


    after all this time. But it seems your face still lingers in my mind,


    my beloved daughter."


    <i>I will not let the same happen once again.  </i>Krul


    promised himself.