‘Does she really have to pull her pocket watch from her inner pocket, hold her arm sideways… and say those lines? Alastor Form? What does that even mean? If she really has to go through all that process, that weapon has zero practicality in combat, doesn’t it?’ Eugene grumbled in his mind.

Even though he thought that way, he could see that wasn’t actually the case. The previous day, Carmen had shown Eugene her Heaven Genocide’s Destiny Form for the first time. Eugene had been able to follow the transformation process with his eyes at the time, but Carmen’s speed right now was incomparable to her speed from yesterday.

When she had muttered ‘Alastor Form’ under her breath, her right hand was already covered in a silver gauntlet. In other words, she had slowed down her Destiny Form’s transformation the previous day to show it to Eugene.

‘Amazing….’ Eugene marveled as he looked at Carmen’s right hand.

Destiny Form had previously turned her fingers into blade-like claws. Alastor Form was Heaven Genocide’s gauntlet form. The knuckle guard looked rough and tough, clearly designed for smashing her opponents to pieces.

Iris had been casually deflecting attacks with a twisted smile pasted on her face, but Carmen’s Alastor Form was enough to make her stop smiling. Her eyes were now wide open. She blinked as she looked at Carmen’s right hand.

“…What the…?” Iris muttered.

‘What was that ridiculous name she had just mumbled? What’s up with that fist?’

All kinds of thoughts jumbled in Iris’ head. This centuries-old dark elf looked wild and free, and her manner of speaking did not belie that impression. However, that didn’t mean she could understand Carmen’s peculiar preference.

Carmen didn’t care much about Iris’ approval, either.

Her left foot soundlessly tapped the ground, and Carmen moved forward as if somebody had pushed her from behind. Keeping her left fist on her waist this time, Carmen pulled her right fist back, and Eugene could hear a mechanical noise coming from her elbow.

Swoosh.

Iris couldn’t use her demoneye at the right moment. Before she could figure out what was going on, Carmen’s fist forced Iris to understand the situation. The shock was so powerful that Iris’ feet left the floor as she was pushed back. Iris couldn’t even make a sound as Carmen’s punch made her bend over.

People generally need a moment to recover their breath after taking a hard punch to the gut. But before Iris was able to do that, another shock overwhelmed her, restarting the whole process. Carmen’s hits showered her at an unbelievable rate, not giving her a moment of rest.

Carmen’s speed was so ridiculous that Eugene could only follow part of her movement. Was it even possible to move that way? Keeping her legs still, she didn’t use the momentum of her upper body, including her waist. She had previously had her right fist at her waist, but now, it pistoned through the air as she continued to launch her fist attack. During the whole process of swinging her right fist back and forth, Carmen got faster and faster….

Was it possible for her to do all that with just her right arm?

“?Machine Gun Blow,” Carmen spoke as she finished her combination strike. Even after attacking Iris so many times that the latter couldn’t even breathe, Carmen wasn’t out of breath. The sound of Carmen’s fist attacks belatedly followed after.

“Cough!” Iris used her darkness to stop herself from flying backward. The sheer amount of strikes per second she had eaten made her spit out blood and pieces of her intestines, but she was still in one piece.

As Iris was pushed back, Eugene sprung at her. Deflecting Iris’ punch, Eugene swung his knife at her. Biting her blood-smeared lips, Iris summoned another cluster of darkness.

When her darkness was about to stop Eugene’s knife, Eugene made his sword force explode. Then, with extraordinary control, he covered the blade with sword force once more.

The knife was only as long as Eugene’s fingers, but he had no trouble spinning it all over in a wild, chaotic dance. Before Iris’ eyes, her darkness was shredded to pieces. Although the pieces wouldn’t disappear, Eugene’s attacks were too fast for them to reattach.

Iris’ insides ached. She couldn’t believe that she had let Carmen land that many hits on her in such a short time. Iris hurriedly tried to retreat, wanting to get herself together, but Eugene’s nonstop attack from above brought back a very old memory.

‘This style of attacking from above….’

Eugene’s attacks were fast and heavy; he put his whole weight behind each strike. His wild knife dance seemed chaotic, but Iris couldn’t find an opening to counterattack. When she thought she had finally found a chance to attack, Eugene used her counterattack against her.

‘…Asura Rampage?’ Iris came to a realization.

The darkness dispersed by Eugene’s attacks couldn’t come back together. Throughout his tempestuous assault, Eugene had not only used the knife but also magic. In order to make sure that Iris’ darkness wouldn’t simply restore itself, he had used space expansion spells between his attacks from above. On top of that, Eugene had made his sword force into a thin and long thread and used it to bind the small clumps of darkness that drifted apart.

‘How’s this possible?’ Iris wondered.

Iris certainly wasn’t capable of doing this.

‘Sword force thread… I know this one.’

She wouldn’t be able to forget that moment even if she tried for her entire life — the moment she had lost her dear father 300 years ago. That damn Vermouth had slaughtered her father with that horrible sword, filling Iris with despair. At the time, she had wished she could throw herself between them and save her father.

The Moonlight Sword emitted that pale moonlight that seemed to be the embodiment of destruction. She had been well aware that the light would burn her to ashes, but she had been perfectly willing to make that sacrifice for her father. However, she was unable to do that. A son of a bitch who was just as annoying as the **ing Vermouth had stopped her.

The Stupid Hamel.

Had she not had the Demoneye of Darkness, she would have been slaughtered by Hamel. There was a big gap in power between Iris and Hamel. Indeed, she was the most powerful dark elf, the Demon King of Fury’s daughter, and the so-called Rakshasa Princess. However, Iris had been the weakest one in the Demon King of Fury’s castle 300 years ago.

The sword force threads connected with each other inside the darkness. Eugene spun his karambit around his index to the back of his hand. As he wrapped the sword force thread on his left hand, he continued to meticulously attack with other methods — he had summoned a gust of fair wind, and his Lightning Flame sparked around him. His left hand moved as if he was playing with a cat’s cradle.

‘…Dead End!’ Iris thought in shock.

As the threads furtively approached Iris, they tied her up. The threads looked weak and thin, but they were sharp enough to mutilate bodies as soon as they touched the threads. Had Iris been a normal dark elf, the threads would have mangled her.

Rip!

Dozens of lines were drawn on Iris’ red suit — Eugene’s sword force threads had cut her clothes, relieving her skin amidst the gaps. It was soft, without a single blemish or callus. Even though Eugene’s sword force had touched her skin, it had only drawn drops of blood from her skin.

‘She’s still persistent.’ Eugene gritted his teeth.

The Demon King of Fury’s children were adopted. Instead of passing his power through blood, the Demon King had bestowed various abilities on his adopted children. Iris’ Demoneye of Darkness had belonged to the Demon King of Fury. The Demon King had also bestowed her with a very durable body that was uncommon among elves.

“You bastard…!” Iris crumpled up as she tried to wiggle out of Eugene’s sword force thread.

Pzzzzz!

Eugene made the Lightning Flame mixed with his sword force to swallow Iris whole, but it wasn’t enough to make Iris lose consciousness.

“You are the Lionheart hound…!” Iris cried.

Well, he was Hamel, who had died 300 years ago. He had just reincarnated as Vermouth’s descendant.

Of course, Iris wasn’t able to reach that kind of conclusion; no one would. On top of that, Iris knew that Vermouth, whom she hated, had passed down Hamel Style to his son after Hamel’s death. She was also aware of how the descendants of Vermouth’s son had continued to inherit the Hamel Style.

‘Thank you for your misunderstanding.’ Eugene thought with a mental shrug.

Without answering, Eugene reached out his hand to Iris. His Lightning Flame had still been burning up Iris, but in accordance with Eugene’s will, the Lightning Flame had condensed itself, putting pressure on Iris.

Carmen sprung forth from Eugene’s back. Eugene no longer doubted the practicality of Carmen’s Heaven Genocide. She hadn’t even said ‘Form Change,’ but her right hand was in a totally different form from the previous Alastor Form.

Her Heaven Genocide no longer looked like claws or a gauntlet. It was now a heavy cannon shooter, covering her entire right arm.

Ziinnnggg..!

Through her Cores, the unrefined mana in the air was concentrated on Carmen’s right arm.

Woosh.

She was using the White Flame Formula to the fullest extent. Only a few people had reached the Seventh Star of White Flame Formula after Great Vermouth. Since Doynes Lionheart had died, Carmen Lionheart was the only living person who had reached the Seventh Star of the White Flame Formula.

To put it simply, Carmen was the strongest person in the Lionhearts.

‘Wait, is she also using the Lightning Flame?’ Eugene thought as he realized what had happened.

The part of the Lightning Flame that had been tying Iris up was also concentrated in Carmen’s iron cannon shooter. The circuit engraved on the surface of the cannon shooter lighted up. Iris’ eye shone in black light.

Thuuud!

Carmen’s attack was different from before. Yet, Iris felt an immense shock — her darkness burst. Iris had used her darkness passage to diffuse the power of Carmen’s attack, but it was still powerful. The shock spread throughout Iris’ entire body, breaking her teeth and bursting her eyeball.

Iris flew backward. Carmen had created a chance for Eugene to attack, and Eugene didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

Eugene grabbed the Moonlight Sword’s handle inside the Cloak. Right now, Eugene saw a possibility of killing her with the Moonlight Sword. Iris was flying away like a puppet without strings.

Hamel had won and survived as he went through numerous battles 300 years ago.

Therefore, he knew that a rash conclusion during battles equaled a sword shoved into his throat. Letting go of the Moonlight Sword, Eugene held Akasha.

Carmen had developed her intuition to a clairvoyant level, but unlike Eugene, she lacked the experience of surviving life-and-death battles. Although Carmen’s power was respectable, she spent her whole life in the age of peace, where Demon Kings and humans didn’t try to exterminate each other’s kind.

That was why she hadn’t sensed something was wrong and just marched forward.

‘Blast Form. Gigant Impact.’ Carmen thought.

She knew her attacks had worked. The power of her attacks was lessened while trying to break through Iris’ darkness barriers and having been diffused by Iris’ darkness passage. Still, she had successfully destroyed Iris’ innards.

Carmen saw a chance of victory. Although she wasn’t sure whether or not her body would be able to take it, she knew she could kill the Rakshasa Princess if she took a few more steps forward. The question of what would happen after she killed the Rakshasa Princess crossed Carmen’s mind, but she concluded that there was nothing to worry about. The Rakshasa Princess was the one to instigate the fight. Besides, the Rakshasa Princess and her Fury Independence Army were problems for Helmuth too. So Carmen would have no problem if she killed the Rakshasa Princess right here.

‘For the Lionhearts’ honor.’ Carmen solemnly thought.

The Lionhearts’ honor was now in the gutter. Killing the Rakshasa Princess was the best starting point to pull out the clan’s honor from the drain.

Creak.

Carmen’s right arm changed its form. She really wanted to speak the names, but there was no time to speak them out.

‘Form Change. Destiny Form. Destiny Breaker….’

Woosh!

She should be shortening the distance between her and Iris, but she got further away from Iris.

‘What’s going on? Wasn’t I stepping forward? My sense of distance is all jumbled up. Why did I catch on late?’ Carmen thought in perplexity.

That was because she could never imagine Eugene, who was fighting on the same side as her, would use subspace magic and grab her nape to pull her backward.

“Why—”

Before Carmen could form a sentence….

Craaackkk!

…a pitch-black darkness sphere rose up in the space where Carmen was trying to move forward. The darkness summoned by Iris all appeared abruptly, but Carmen and Eugene could avoid it since there was a telltale sign — Iris’ demoneye glowed before she used her power.

However, the darkness showed up without any telltale sign this time. Besides, the darkness right now had a completely different property from the previous darknesses that had appeared beforehand. Carmen could feel it even though she hadn’t touched it.

If she hadn’t stopped — no, if she had kept marching forward, she would have died without realizing the reason.

“…Tsk.” Iris clicked her tongue in discontentment.

Iris had stopped flying when she crashed against her darkness, bending her upper body backward. Iris leaned forward, her bones creaking. Her eye had burst, so her eye socket was empty. However, blood and darkness were whirling in her empty eye socket.

“Are you a lucky one, or do you just have a great instinct?” Iris spoke, but blood dripped out of her mouth the entire time she talked. Then, chuckling, she leaned against her darkness.

“It’s a pity. I could have crushed you into a meat pie if I had been just a little bit faster.”

The darkness sphere, which had previously appeared, popped and disappeared. Slowly sliding down the wall, Iris stared at Carmen and Eugene.

“Princess,” One of the dark elves spoke, standing outside Iris’ darkness. “We are out of time.”

“It hasn’t been that long. It’s just been ten minutes, right?”

“They are already approaching.”

“This country is uselessly safe.” Iris stood up, clicking her tongue. As she stood, she could feel her legs had weakened slightly. Still, she didn’t stagger and stood upright, using all her remaining energy.

‘Interesting,’ Iris thought.

Humans had put her in a tight spot. The humans were younger than Yagon, the mother**er and the Demon King of Incarceration’s three demons. Instead of feeling humiliated, Iris felt ecstatic about this.

Feeling her tired eyes, she blinked as she giggled. Then, her exploded eye regenerated, and her crushed teeth grew back.

“I’m guessing our negotiation has broken down, huh?” Iris spoke brightly.

Eugene could feel Iris’ desire to kill him and Carmen had subsided. Shrugging, she gestured at the dark elves behind her. One of the dark elves approached, putting a cigarette between Iris’ fingers and lighting it up with a golden lighter.

“Or shall we sit at the table and begin negotiating again?” Iris asked, blowing the smoke. 𝘦𝑎.𝒸ℴ

“I can try talking to your successor if you would just let me kill you,” Eugene calmly answered.

“It is difficult for me to grant your wish. The Fury Independence Army means something because I, the rightful heir of my father, exist.”

The dark elves gathered around Iris. One dark elf took off her suit jacket and put it around Iris’ shoulder since Iris’ clothes were as good as rags now.

“Eugene Lionheart and Carmen Lionheart,” Iris called as she savored the cigarette smoke in her mouth, holding the cigarette that had burnt away in an instant.

“Let’s meet under sunlight, not in a musty basement.” When she dropped her cigarette, Iris and the ten dark elves dropped to the darkness underneath their feet. Using the darkness as a passage, all dark elves disappeared from this basement.

‘…She didn’t have the power to do this 300 years ago.’ Eugene thought as the moment when Carmen almost got crushed by Iris’ darkness sphere came to his mind.

The darkness on the floor turned back to natural shadow, not Iris’ darkness.

Glaring at the shadow, Eugene was absorbed in thoughts.

‘It is a shocking improvement, Iris. You could only shoot and move fast 300 years ago, but I now see that you have gotten pretty good at close combat. On top of that, you can use new abilities with your demoneye. You must have trained a lot to become a Demon King.’

Eugene chuckled as he pulled out his index finger from the karambit knife.

“I’m lucky,” Eugene concluded.

He didn’t have to feel bad about failing to kill Iris in this basement. Actually, Iris was the one who should feel bad about today’s battle. Maybe, she was certain she could surely kill both Eugene and Carmen if the third party hadn’t interfered.

Although for a different reason, Eugene was also confident. In fact, he had become more certain as he fought against her — no matter what he did today, he wouldn’t have been able to kill Iris. If Eugene had kept fighting, he surely would have needed to devise an escape plan.

However, Iris had retreated even before he tried. Their fight was short, but Eugene had learned about the new power of Iris’ demoneye; she definitely couldn’t have done all that 300 years ago.

To sum up, Eugene had learned about the current Iris, but Iris didn’t know much about Eugene. He thought he made a great choice of not pulling out his Moonlight Sword, Demon Spear, or the Annihilation Hammer. This would be Eugene’s greatest advantage the next time he tried to kill Iris.

“…Phew.” Carmen changed her Heaven Genocide into a pocket watch again.

“…Are you all right?” Eugene asked as he looked at Carmen’s bloody right arm. Without answering, Carmen flicked her fingers in a certain direction, making her coat fly back to her. When Carmen first entered the basement, the coat had fallen off her shoulders, unable to keep up with Carmen’s speed.

“…You helped me,” Carmen spoke as she put her coat around her.

“Don’t mind it.”

“I would have died if you didn’t pull me away.”

“I was behind you, so I could see the bigger picture.”

‘That was all it took for him to figure it out?’

Carmen couldn’t really understand it, but she didn’t pry any further. She wasn’t able to feel her drooping right arm. Therefore Carmen pulled out her cigar with her left hand and put it in her mouth.

“…Lighter,” Camen spoke out of the blue.

“Pardon?” Eugene asked back.

“The golden lighter used by the dark elf just now. It made a sound when she opened it.”

“…Ah, yup,” Eugene half-heartedly said.

“I wanted to ask where she bought it.”

“…Lady Carmen, you don’t light your cigar.”

“I might want to light it someday,” Carmen mumbled as she turned away.

𝘪𝘳.𝒸𝑜𝑚