"CHARGE!"
At the entrance of the Cordelion residence, Yuri appeared with a large group of knights.
At Yuri’s command, led by Ain and Ian, the knights of the Frenzel family let out battle cries and stormed into the Cordelion residence.
Marilyn, on the other hand, remained at Yuri’s side without making a move, merely gripping a sword in each hand.
Under such circumstances, the battle erupted without warning.
Seeing the scene, the black-eyed knights and magic dolls reacted immediately, rushing toward the invading enemies and clashing with them.
"Miss Serena! Are you alright?"
Lizbeth held Moslow in one hand while supporting Serena with the other, repeatedly asking about her condition.
"I-I’m fine... Elder Brother!"
After snapping out of her daze, Serena hurriedly shook her head before looking toward Sergius and calling out anxiously.
"Don’t worry, I’m fine too—"
Sergius responded to Serena, but in the very next moment, he coughed up blood and dropped to one knee.
Clearly, he was far from fine.
One of the black-eyed knights saw this and immediately rushed forward, raising his sword to strike down the severely wounded Sergius.
However, before his blade could fall, his vision suddenly went dark as another figure appeared before him.
Euryale casually waved her delicate hand, as graceful as a willow branch swaying in the breeze. Yet the claw-like gleam flashing from her nails was as sharp as forged steel, instantly tearing the black-eyed knight apart and reducing him to pieces.
Standing at the front of the group, Riezel briefly glanced at the situation before shifting his gaze toward Sorren.
"Looks like you’ve been having a pretty good time, Your Highness. Mind if I join in too?"
Riezel spoke with a faint smile, but his words, which sounded almost like mockery, caused a vicious gleam to flash across Sorren’s eyes as he struggled back to his feet.
"...How did you know I was here?"
Sorren demanded in a low voice.
"What? You think finding you would be hard for me? Sorry to disappoint you, but you still don’t know me well enough."
Riezel replied indifferently as he glanced at the Sword of Authority clenched tightly in Sorren’s hand.
He had already seen that sword earlier while confronting Hendrick in the throne room, so after learning that the Sword of Authority was in Sorren’s possession, he only needed to cast to find him with ease.
Keeping the Sword of Authority on his person was probably the biggest mistake Sorren had made.
"C’mon, tell me. You still got any teleportation magic crystals left to escape with this time?"
Riezel addressed Sorren directly, and the moment Sorren heard those words, the anger and hatred buried deep within his heart were instantly stirred.
Back then, he had only managed to escape with his life in front of Riezel because of a teleportation magic crystal.
Now that Riezel had brought up the matter again while acting as though victory was already guaranteed, how could Sorren not be furious?
"You think you’ve already won?!"
Sorren shouted at Riezel, his voice filled with rage.
"Yeah, you’re stronger than I expected. You actually survived that old fart’s schemes and even managed to kill Rohm, but I’m not the same person I used to be!"
As soon as his words fell, the cold and sinister energy hidden within Sorren suddenly erupted. Like an invisible black storm, the instant the energy burst forth, the very atmosphere seemed to cry out in agony.
"I’ve been completely reborn. I’ve got new power, and now I’m a magic-augmented human!" Sorren declared loudly. "Even a Sword Saint is nothing more than a slightly bigger insect in front of me now!"
Hearing that, Riezel narrowed his eyes.
"Magic-augmented human?"
It was a new term, but its meaning was not difficult to understand.
Just as ordinary humans became magic dolls after being altered by that mysterious influence, a magic-augmented human was likely someone who had undergone the same transformation while retaining their own consciousness, evolving into a being equal to—or even superior to—a magic doll.
In other words, Sorren was no longer purely human but was probably half human and half magic doll.
"So, people really do get stronger once they stop being human, huh?" Riezel said casually, acting like the sinister energy pouring out of Sorren didn’t even exist. "No, that’s not right. You were never human to begin with. You’re just a mad dog that barks at everything it sees and bites anyone it can."
Rather than angering Sorren, Riezel’s ridicule caused him to burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha, that’s right. I’m a mad dog. A mad dog that never lets go once it sinks its teeth into an enemy."
Madness slowly filled Sorren’s eyes as he stared at Riezel.
"So, you ready to get bitten back? Give you an inch, and you take a mile, huh?" Riezel raised a hand and beckoned with a finger. "C’mon then. Let’s see if you actually deserve to be this confident."
"You’ll see."
With a twisted expression, Sorren gripped the Sword of Authority in one hand and the black, curved dagger in the other.
In that instant, the sinister energy surrounding him suddenly surged outward, transforming into what looked like a tangible mental storm as it crashed toward Riezel.
Riezel had intended to take the attack head-on, but a transparent gleam suddenly flashed through his eyes.
"Hm?"
He let out a quiet sound of surprise and instantly dodged to the side.
In his vision, the mental storm was invisible and intangible, so after it missed its target, it caused no obvious destruction. Yet he immediately noticed that everywhere the storm passed—whether through the air or across the ground—was left shrouded in strands of black aura.
"You’re using that weird energy like it’s magical energy to perform swordsmanship?"
Riezel immediately grasped the key detail.
"Hmph, this is called holy energy."
Sorren sneered coldly and spread his arms as he boasted.
"They say this is the power that destroyed the ancient magic civilization."
"Some people discovered this power and used it to forge weapons, create magic dolls, and enhance their combat strength."
"I underwent their modifications and became a magic-augmented human, gaining this power."
"It is the opposite of magical energy. Just as life is opposed to death, heaven is opposed to earth, fire and water cannot coexist, and humans and beasts cannot live together."
"No matter what, this power is far stronger than magical energy. You’ll soon get a taste of it."
As he spoke, Sorren activated his spiritual power, replacing magical energy with the so-called holy energy and generating a second mental storm that blasted toward Riezel.
Riezel cast a defensive magic spell, causing a white protective barrier to rise around him.
Sorren’s second black mental storm slammed directly into the white barrier with a thunderous impact.
Just as Riezel thought had blocked the attack, he discovered that the black mental storm was eroding the barrier, melting it away little by little.
Not long afterward, Riezel’s shattered before the black mental storm immediately surged forward and engulfed him.
Riezel instantly vanished from where he stood and reappeared behind Sorren.
Riezel drew the black sword, Hermit, from his waist in an instant before unleashing a slash crackling with lightning toward Sorren at point-blank range.
"Not happening!"
Sensing the movement behind him through his spiritual power, Sorren roared and unleashed a mental storm in all directions centered on himself.
In an instant, the lightning-filled slash collided directly with the oncoming mental storm, causing lightning and black winds to explode outward.
"Die!"
Taking advantage of that brief opening, Sorren spun around and swung the Sword of Authority in his right hand, tracing a cold arc as it cut toward Riezel.
Relying on his exceptional reaction speed and reflexes, Riezel instantly shifted into a defensive stance as his black sword swept upward, knocking aside the Sword of Authority before immediately reversing direction and chopping down toward Sorren.
At the last possible moment, Sorren raised the black curved dagger in his left hand to block the strike, then used the force of the impact to propel himself backward, widening the distance between them.
"Hm, so that’s the holy relic that can control other people?"
Riezel naturally noticed the black curved dagger.
He had already seen it within Rohm’s memories.
It was precisely because of that dagger that Sorren had been able to control Rohm, control so many knights, and launch a one-sided massacre against the Duke Faction.
"Want it?"
Sorren mocked as he noticed Riezel staring at the dagger.
"I can put in a recommendation for you. If you join us, the people behind me won’t hesitate to give you a mere holy relic."
"Of course, before that, you’ll need to undergo modification and become a magic-augmented human like me."
"Because only those who possess holy energy can use holy relics."
Whether he was trying to tempt Riezel or simply toy with him, Sorren spoke as though he were making a sincere offer.
"So? Interested?"
Upon hearing that offer, Riezel actually considered it.
However, he was not considering whether to join them, but rather the true nature of this so-called holy energy.
Indeed, every time someone came into contact with holy energy, the magical energy within their body seemed to be suppressed, leaving them unable to move.
Lizbeth had experienced exactly that after being kidnapped by a group of magic dolls. Once holy energy invaded her body, she became completely immobilized.
Marilyn had experienced the same thing as well.
After being wounded by holy energy, not only could healing magic not restore her, but her stamina and magical energy also continued to drain away.
Combined with how the mental storm infused with holy energy had eroded Force Sanctuary moments earlier, Riezel now roughly understood the nature of holy energy.
As those thoughts passed through his mind, Riezel’s eyes flickered slightly.
If that were true, what purpose did that mysterious organization have in harnessing such power?
Riezel faintly felt as though he had touched upon the organization’s core secret.
Across all their schemes, the so-called holy energy undoubtedly held immense importance.
Just as Riezel was thinking that, Sorren’s furious voice rang out.
"You seriously think you can let your guard down in front of me now?!"
Before the words had fully fallen, a black mental storm came roaring toward Riezel on a scale even greater than the previous two attacks.
Lightning suddenly erupted all over Riezel’s body.
A thunderous crack rang out beneath his feet as he transformed into a flash of lightning, instantly changing direction to avoid the incoming black storm.
Riezel, in the form of a flash of lightning, traced a zigzag path, appeared directly in front of Sorren, and then delivered a dazzling slash at extreme speed.
Riezel became slightly more serious this time, causing Sorren to fail to react in time.
Sorren had indeed grown stronger.
Already an expert Sword Master, he had gained holy energy and become a magic-augmented human, so his combat ability now rivaled that of a Sword Saint.
However, was Riezel an ordinary Sword Saint?
Unfortunately for Sorren, even though his spiritual power detected the attack’s trajectory, neither his body nor his brain could respond in time.
"H-He got him!"
Seeing the scene, Lizbeth subconsciously cried out while supporting Serena.
"No!"
"Look out!"
At that very moment, Sergius and Serena shouted simultaneously.
Almost the instant their warning rang out, a figure suddenly appeared behind Riezel.
"OOOOOHHH—!!!"
Accompanied by a furious roar, the newcomer raised a massive greatsword high overhead and brought it crashing down toward Riezel’s back.
A terrifying force erupted, and the ground shattered instantly.
Countless cracks spread in every direction before the entire area where Riezel and Sorren stood exploded and collapsed inward.
For a moment, dust and debris filled the sky.
Riezel’s figure shot out from the cloud of dust, his body covered in dust.
"You...?"
Landing on the ground some distance away, Riezel looked ahead in surprise.
Standing within the giant crater left by the shattered earth were not only Sorren, but also the person who had launched the sudden attack.
As the dust gradually settled, the attacker’s appearance became fully visible.
He was a middle-aged man around the same age as Florent, Raven, and Rohm, likely in his forties. He had only one eye, dark skin, an imposing build, rough and rugged features, and a face covered in scars.
"Sir Hardt!"
Serena immediately called out his name.
Hardt, a swordsman of the Cordelion family, had once been a slave before Sergius freed him and earned his eternal loyalty.
He was also a Sword Saint, the man known as the One-Eyed Sword Saint.