The demon soldier glared warily at Rye as he held the small demon tighter in his scaled arms. The small demon has long white hair wearing a plain white dress. 2 curved silver horns sprouted from her forehead.

Rye backed away, "Your friend…" he looked at the burnt corpse.

He restrained himself from apologizing. This was a battlefield. Saying sorry would only humiliate the dead.

Hearing that, the little demon instantly jumped out of the chest and ran to the corpse, "Kaz!"

"Lord Miril, don't!" The demon soldier tried to stop her but he was a second too late.

He stared at Rye in apprehension as he stood to his feet. Rye only looked back at him in return without any signs of attacking. The soldier still has some doubts as he reached the corpse.

Rye watched the 2 demons mourn for the soldier named Kaz. Miril cried as he shook Kaz's body telling him to wake up while the soldier only stared at him in silence.

Kaz was the sluggish soldier who came to look for him and Ash at the hill yesterday. The other one was the one who accompanied him and did all the search.

Seeing the Lord Miril they were all worried about, it was honestly out of Rye's expectation. How could they bring a child to a battlefield? Or was she actually an adult with some complex constitution?

The soldier grabbed a nearby sword. He stood up and got ready to fight Rye, channelling his demonic energy to the blade.

"I won't accept your humiliating pity as a soldier."

"You prioritize your pride over protecting your life and hers that your friend sacrificed his life to save?" Rye asked out of genuine curiosity, "What purpose is it that you serve that brings you pride as a soldier? All you are doing is destroying cities and countries to gain food and territory."

"We are serving our lord's purpose to be the ruler of the world."

"Your lord will be the one who rules the world, not you. Once it is fulfilled, you soldiers will not have any more worth to him. Is that not how the demon world works? To be useful or be thrown away?"

"Our purpose in life is to serve our lord. It is our pride and joy. If our lord wishes to throw us away after we are of no use it is only reasonable," the soldier's eyes turned fiercer, "If you are trying to make us betray our lord it is useless."

"No, I am aware that it is impossible to make a demon betray their lord. It is in your genetics," Rye shook his head, "If I win, are you not concerned about what I will do to your Lord Miril?"

The soldier slightly hesitated, but the girl shouted, "Then I will follow him!"

"Lord Miril!" The soldier instantly rebuked her.

"Only you and Kaz take care of me while everyone else just uses me as a detection tool. Mama and papa don't want me back. I want to stay with you and Kaz in hell!"

Rye, "…"

The last part sounds like a curse. Is hell equivalent to heaven for the demons?

"Lord Miril…"

"I don't think I can kill her though…" Rye sighed.

How do you expect him to kill someone that looks like a child?

They then heard a shout to retreat from the battlefield. It seems like the demons were successfully pushed back. They were moving back to retreat.

But it wouldn't work since he erected a new barrier to block their retreat after dispelling the previous 3 barriers.

When the soldier saw Rye get distracted, he moved to attack. Rye timely dodged his attack. Rye grabbed his hand which was holding the sword and broke his arm with his knee.

"Aah!!" The soldier slumped to the ground, holding the pain in his arm.

"Any last word for the girl?"

The soldier turned to Miril and smiled, "See you in hell, Lord Miril."

Rye, "…"

Are you cursing her?

He swept a wind towards Miril to close her eyes and swiftly decapitated the soldier. After the soldier died, he attached his head back with a healing spell before Miril opened her eyes.

"Irza…?" Miril opened her eyes to see the soldier lying on the ground as if he was just sleeping.

Rye moved the soldier so that he was next to his friend, "You still want to follow them?"

The girl wept again, but this time she didn't wail. She nodded and laid down next to the soldier she called Irza.

"…"

Rye knelt down and cast a sleeping spell on her before he decapitated her with a heavy heart. He also attached her back after she was confirmed dead.

It was his responsibility for not being thorough in delivering his kill earlier. He should formulate another spell to make sure this wouldn't happen again.

He clasped his hands to ask for forgiveness. Regardless of her race and will, he has just killed an innocent child.

If they ended up in hell as they wished, hopefully, they really found each other. If they ended up in the abyss of nothingness, he hoped that they ended up in the same abyss. If they entered the cycle of reincarnation, he hoped that they wouldn't reincarnate as a demon again and could live a normal life together.

He wished that everyone around him wouldn't reincarnate as a demon again and could live for their own sake. The cruellest thing about demons was the fact that they live and die solely for their lord since their birth. Not for their family, not for their loved ones, and not even for themselves.

And the demon lord was now aiming to do the same thing to the humans.

He knew it was presumptuous of him to ask pardon for the demons to Octavian, so he didn't and only kept all his wishes in his heart without voicing it in his mind. He was aware that it was just because his heart was in a mellow mood that he felt all this.

He stood up and etched the view of his destruction into his memory. After giving one last look at the three bodies in front of him, he flew away.

Outside the barrier, the demon army was cornered. The demon beasts were holding the human soldiers back while the demon soldiers tried to flee, but it was useless. They couldn't retreat further and since the illusion barrier has been lifted they found that their camp was already destroyed.

Rye once again cast his fire arrows. This time, instead of raining it down randomly, he took the time to modify the spell to target each and every one of the demons' heads. The number of arrows was precisely the number of soldiers and beasts left.

He descended down and released the spell. Instantly, his body collapsed.

A spell with a precision that calibre took out all his remaining mana. Fortunately, the numbers have already been reduced to less than a third of their initial state.

The human soldiers were stunned in shock as they saw flaming golden arrows rain down in a swift motion. The remaining demons were pierced at the same time. Everything stilled in one silent moment before all the demons fell lifeless to the ground.

Once their brain caught up with the situation at hand, the soldiers wildly cheered their victory.

Aerindel looked around for Rye up at the sky, but he couldn't find him. That last attack could only be from Rye.

He walked through the crying soldiers until he reached the end of the formation. Not too far from there, he saw a white figure standing with his back to him.

Aerindel sighed in relief and jogged to him, "Rye, we–"

He stopped in his track as he saw the white figure knelt down to carry up another white figure. He then saw clearly that the one being carried was Rye.

Then, who is the other white figure?

The figure tilted his head slightly, but Aerindel could only see his mouth and jaw. The rest of his face was covered by his hood.

With a mysterious smile, he promptly vanished.

The heroes also returned victorious nearing dusk. They were injured everywhere and couldn't stand properly without support. Their armour was badly damaged and wouldn't be able to handle any more big damage.

Desmund was completely wasted, carried on Ash's Air Board, while Rosetta was carried by Lilith because of depletion after teleporting them back.

When Ludric saw there were only Aerindel, Freanor, and Nandia welcoming them at the castle's entrance, he immediately became alert.

"Where's Rye?"

Before Aerindel could answer, Freanor stepped forward, "He is deep in sleep in his room. You should all rest too."

Ludric sighed in relief before entering the castle with the rest. Nandia quickly offered to heal him which he refused and told her to heal the others first, especially Rosetta and Desmund.