Chapter 10: When Hope Burns Bright
The clash on the main streets was relentless. Screams, steel, and fire blended into a terrifying symphony as guards and knights pushed back against the ever-rising tide of demons and cultists. Blood pooled between cobblestones, smoke curled into the sky, and buildings crumbled under the weight of the chaos.
Then, the earth shuddered.
A pulse of suffocating, blood-red aura erupted across the battlefield like a tidal wave.
"W-what is that?!" one of the knights shouted.
Cracks splintered the stone streets like spiderwebs, and before anyone could react, an explosion of rubble and dirt burst upward from the center of the avenue. A massive crater replaced a whole block of buildings. From its depths, the beast emerged.
It was monstrous. Nearly eight meters tall at the shoulder, its lupine body was coated in matted, obsidian fur soaked in blood. Its limbs were grotesquely muscular, its claws like jagged black spears. Rows of fangs too large for its mouth jutted from its jaw, and three sets of glowing red eyes scanned the battlefield with maddening hunger.
The Bloodhound.
It let out a roar that shattered windows for blocks. Demons and cultists alike turned in horror, only to be torn apart as the beast surged forward. It didn't distinguish between friend or foe. Knights were ripped in two. Guards were smashed against walls. Cultists were devoured in single bites. Even low-rank demons tried to flee but were mercilessly shredded.
The chaos forced Elena, Bernard, and the Duke to react immediately.
Duke Roseviver's expression hardened. "With me! We strike now before it gets any closer to the heart of the city!"
With a guttural war cry, he charged.
Knights rallied behind him, slamming into the beast's path with glowing weapons and shouts of defiance. But the Bloodhound moved like death itself.
One swipe.
The front line of knights were reduced to bloody smears.
The Duke himself managed to land a powerful strike along its shoulder, aura-empowered blade digging deep. The beast snarled in pain—but its response was instant. With a brutal flick of its limb, it smashed the Duke with the force of a collapsing tower. His body spiraled through the air before slamming into a building wall, cracking the stone as he crashed into a heap of rubble.
As he groaned and struggled to rise, a looming figure landed before him with a deep thud.
Barog the Black.
Covered in dark runes, muscles rippling with unstable energy, Barog's maniacal grin widened as he raised his axe over his head.
"Die, noble worm!"
The axe fell.
CLANG!
A flash of light. Sparks exploded outward.
The dust cleared—and Bernard stood before the Duke, one hand gripping his sword, its flat edge pressed firmly against Barog's axe.
"You'll have to go through me."
Barog howled in laughter, stepping back before launching a brutal swing toward Bernard. Steel clashed with steel, aura flared violently, and the two Legends began their vicious duel.
Elena rushed to the Duke's side, kneeling beside his battered form.
"Stay still," she muttered.
With a deep breath, her hands glowed. A golden circle etched with arcane runes formed beneath them.
"Sanctum Mend: Radiant Core."
A Rank 6 healing spell activated. Warm light poured into the Duke's body, his shallow breathing easing as his bleeding slowed. His expression softened, but he remained gravely wounded.
Glancing toward Bernard, who was locked in deadly combat with the maniacal Barog, Elena's brow furrowed.
"He can't beat him alone," she whispered.
Then—the Bloodhound stopped.
Its six eyes locked onto her.
It tilted its head.
And then it moved.
It began sprinting, leaping over corpses and fire, its eyes fixated on Elena like a predator who had finally seen its ideal prey.
Elena's eyes widened. Its aura was focused entirely on her.
"Shit."
She threw up a short-range spell.
"Spatial Fold!"
In an instant, she and the Duke vanished—just as the Bloodhound's monstrous body slammed into the ground where they'd been, carving a crater.
They reappeared fifty meters behind it, and without hesitation, Elena used telekinesis to lift the barely conscious Duke into the air, floating him beside her as she ran.
"Let me down," he coughed. "I'll face it. You need to run."
She ignored him.
Around her, the streets were littered with corpses, ruined homes, and patches of battle still raging. She darted between collapsing walls, dodging cultists and low-rank demons who barely even noticed her in the chaos.
Knights and guards spotted her.
"Protect princess Elena! Protect the Duke!"
A wave of loyal warriors threw themselves in the Bloodhound's path. They were vaporized. Torn apart. One was eaten alive before even drawing his blade.
Elena's breath was ragged.
Mana reserves were dangerously low.
She reached the edge of the City Square, the center of the battle. The place was filled with wreckage, and only a few bloodied knights were left alive. Her knees gave out.
She dropped to the ground.
The Duke grunted, pushing himself up weakly, braced by a pair of loyal knights.
Behind them—the Bloodhound arrived.
It stalked around them, massive and silent, glowing eyes drinking in the scene like a predator enjoying the taste of fear.
Elena forced herself to stand.
This is not where I die… she thought, raising her fists.
The Bloodhound roared and tensed to leap.
Then—it froze.
Its eyes widened.
Its snout twitched.
A laugh echoed from behind Elena.
"That's quite the stance for someone out of mana, Princess."
She turned sharply.
Golden hair. Smirking lips. A cocky glint in his eyes. Muscles like Dragonguard's—but with an athletic twist.
Leon.
He stood relaxed, sword still sheathed on his back, arms crossed.
"Standing your ground against a mutated Rank 10 Bloodhound," he said. "Impressive."
Elena's heart froze.
Mutated? That… wasn't in the reports from her last life.
The Duke blinked. "Leon… Slayer."
A knight, trembling, asked, "W-Who is this man?"
Leon turned to him, grinning wider.
"I am Leon, the Flaming Sword, Slayer of Ten Thousand Demons, Protector of the Innocent, and Savior of Damsels in Distress!" he declared, flexing.
Elena barely held in a laugh.
Still the same ridiculous idiot, she thought with fond exasperation.
The Bloodhound roared.
Leon's eyes sharpened instantly.
His grin vanished.
His aura exploded.
Flaming swords—ethereal and spectral—seemed to lash out in every direction. The air sizzled. The stone beneath him cracked from the pressure.
Even the Bloodhound flinched.
Elena gasped. The aura felt like being slashed a thousand times by searing blades. Deadly. Relentless.
She compared it to Dragonguard's.
Not quite as heavy… but it's sharp. Lethal. Pure.
Leon stepped forward, his blade unsheathed in a single motion, flames enveloping it.
"How dare a filthy demonic mutt interrupt my epic introduction."
His golden eyes locked with the beast's.
The Bloodhound lowered itself, snarling.
Leon raised his sword.
The air trembled.