As it was 7 a.m., the devil in the circle said, "It's almost complete. When the seal is broken, I can manifest my true form, and the mortal world will be mine. By noon, the seal will be broken."
Liebe flew toward him with his black wings and said, "That will never happen, ugly," as he slashed off the devil's hand. The devil tried to regenerate, but his hand wasn't regenerating. The devil screamed, "It burns! What the hell did you do?!"
Liebe said, "This? It's just a taste."
The demon simply regenerated his arm and said, "I'm Avaran. I'm feeling quite merciful today. If you run away now, I might just let you."
Liebe said, "Pleasure to meet you. Now die! Dark Magic — Ever Engulfing Dark!"As the attack hit, part of Avaran's body turned to nothing.
Liebe thought to himself, That attack cost more than 20% of my total magic. I have to be more careful than that.
As Avaran regenerated, he said, "Even though this body can only handle 50% of my power, as the seal on the 25th floor — my home floor — weakens, I can manifest more of my true power. Of course, the more I do, the faster this host perishes. Right now, I'm at 69%, and when this seal crumbles, I will reign supreme."
Liebe said, "Hey, bitch face, do you know how many uglies said the same thing to me? All of them. And I can promise your corpse won't be any different. You'll die the same pitiful death as them."
Avaran laughed and said, "You intrigue me, human. Yet I can sense you are a real monster in your own right, being able to stand before me without dying from the pressure of my magic power."
Again, Liebe said, "Dark Magic — Cleansing Dance!"He moved at extreme speed, using his own blood while cutting off the devil's arms. As he went for the heart, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pierce it.
Avaran simply said, "Go back!"Liebe was pushed away and used his swords to slow the impact.
Avaran said, "You can't pierce my heart that easily. Tell me your name before I kill you."
Liebe said, "I'm Liebe Faust. Engrave it into memory before I kill you."
Avaran said, "Fall." Liebe fell into the ground.Avaran said, "A Faust? Thank the heavens! You were delivered to me on a silver platter. One of my most hated creatures will die today."
Meanwhile, inside the library, as Mey understood what was happening outside, she tried her best to use the communicator, yet her magic wasn't enough. She tried again and again, but couldn't help but cry, knowing that Liebe was going to die if she kept doing nothing.
Meanwhile, at the coast, inside the battleship, Gelda entered the room.Eldrie said, "So what did the captain say?"
Gelda said, "No matter what, we can't leave without finding Liebe's body. We have until 3 a.m. tonight to make landfall at Hallelujah Island and bring back Liebe's body, no matter what. And if Liebe is alive, it all works out fine. But if he truly is dead, she will personally wipe out Valtia from the face of the world."
Licht said, "What?!"
Alysa said, "Is that even possible?"
Gelda said, "Lilith stated that she will kill every man and woman in Valtia."
Licht said, "Is that a possibility?"
Gelda said, "Yes. You don't know what she's capable of when she's mad, and right now she's grieving — so I doubt she's in her right state of mind. If she comes here, nothing will survive, including the other delegates."
Licht said, "It's already 9 a.m. We only have 15 hours left. I'll go to the bridge and tell them to dock the ship. We need to make landfall right now, otherwise, we can't finish looking. And how are we expected to find a guy on an island the size of 150 square kilometers?"
Eldrie said, "But what are we supposed to do? Entering the island means we can't sense or use mana at all."
Gelda said, "We can request them to turn off the Z-jammers and ask Warner for help."
Licht said, "If the Z-jammers weren't there, I could find Liebe in 10 minutes."
Eldrie said, "We don't have time to waste. We'll just have to destroy them."
Gelda said, "We shouldn't do anything destructive until Lilith gets here."
Eldrie said, "And then what? Watch everything and everyone die in the blink of an eye? We have to take matters into our own hands!"
Suddenly, there was a small buzzing sound in Licht's earpiece.Licht shouted, "Everyone, shut up!" as he focused. The sound was buzzing — then a click of metal, then silence, then another click — and finally, one last metallic clink.
Licht understood. It was Morse code.After checking, he found out it was "S."
Alysa said, "An S? What the frick is an S supposed to mean?"
Eldrie said, "Don't you understand? An S — he's trying to tell us to stop the Z-hammers so he can use his magic and return to us!"
Alysa said, "That must be it! Why else an S? He must have damaged his vocal cords from the fall!"
Gelda said, "Or it could be telling you to shut the hell up."
Eldrie said, "You wanna fight?"
Gelda said, "You just noticed?"
As they started to fight, Alysa broke them up and said coldly, "Guys… I know you're hurting. You're scared."She began to tear up. "I'm scared too. It's been more than 24 hours since Liebe went missing after the fall, and none of us even know if he's still alive or not. We're all thinking the same thing — what if he's gone? What if she doesn't show up? What if… I'm scared. Without him, I don't have anyone else to talk to. I'm more scared than anyone else. So please, please, just try to stick together until we find him."
As Licht shed a tear from his left eye, Gelda said, "Why were we even fighting?"
Eldrie said, "At a time like this? What are we, kids?"
Licht said, "Here's the plan — I'm heading to the bridge."
Gelda said, "I'll get a map and try to deduce his location."
Eldrie said, "I'll make preparations for landfall."
Licht said, "And Alysa, take some rest. You need it. You haven't slept much for the last two days."