Tai said, "You are now my followers. Go to the kingdom and wait for me." Then he turned and added, "It's time I settle the score."
With every step he took, his aura rose — as if it mirrored Tai's hunger for killing and revenge.
Saven began to tremble, whispering to himself, "How are we going to escape this?"
Liana said, "I must kill him… to protect Saven."
She gripped her holy sword and rushed at Tai to kill him.
"Tilly — we must kill him," Liana cried.
Tai let out a sharp scream that tore through the night, followed by a devilish laugh that pierced hearts like a poisoned dagger. "I was right," he spat. "I shouldn't have trusted them. I came here from my previous life because of this — I trusted people and called them my friends."
Fifteen centimeters separated them. Liana stood, her heart shuddering in terror before Tai. Despite the fear, her gaze hardened into irrevocable intent. With surgical precision and false calm, she severed Tai's head — ending the terror that had possessed her, drawing the curtain on a confrontation where she was no longer the victim.
Was Tai dead? His head fell to the ground; the dreadful aura that had surrounded him vanished as if it had never been. A heavy silence blanketed everyone, broken only by ragged breaths, their eyes frozen on the horrific sight. One question echoed in every mind, a chord struck deep in their fear: "Is Tai really dead!?" That moment marked a turning point — terror braided with eager suspense — leaving them to wonder about the nature of this being who was not merely an ordinary man.
Was the nightmare over? They began to gather slowly, all eyes fixed on Tai's severed head and the place where that terrible aura had been. No one dared approach; instead they huddled together as if seeking safety in numbers. Soft whispers swelled into a single, rising question threaded with hope, fear, and doubt: "Did we survive… or not?" The question reflected their disbelief — after all the horror, they could not accept that the nightmare had ended so easily, that they might truly have rid themselves of Tai.
Then Tilly broke the stillness, her eyes and body trembling with fear. "Look — Miss Miko's coffin," she stammered.
They looked and found Miko out of the coffin — in Tai's arms. The corpse lay within Tai's shadow; he was, they realized, merely a copy.
Holding her, Tai lifted his gaze to the heavens. "I see you as the moon at its full," he murmured. "And I — like the sun — reflect your beauty. My love for you is as countless as the stars." Clouds gathered, hiding the moon, and the rain began. Tai added, "So why do I see you leaving me while you're in my arms?"
Blood ran cold in their veins; hesitant whispers turned into mute cries of terror. Once they confirmed what they were seeing, their bodies convulsed violently, as if the chill of death had seeped into their bones. Tai — whom they had believed dead — still lived. Their hopes of escape collapsed into a brutal new nightmare.
In a voice heavy as grave dust, staring at the trembling moon through the curtain of black rain, Tai murmured: "The rain is the sky's tears for your rotten souls, and the moon is beautiful because it witnesses your end in eternal silence." He placed his wife inside the coffin, and his aura flared once more to announce the end of everything.
Liana shot forward like an arrow, her blade flashing in the lightning's glare, cutting the air toward Tai. Tilly transformed into her true form and sprinted with everything she had; the distance closed to a deadly five centimeters. Liana raised her sword, intent on ending the nightmare with a single, irreversible strike. Tilly bared her hands; her claws were honed like blades. But when the sword fell to sever the head, Tai slid into nothingness. He didn't move, didn't vanish; his body seemed to become a mirage before her eyes — a wave of cold air passing through the blade without so much as touching his coat.
Liana hadn't yet processed the shock of non-existence when Tai kicked her hard in the gut, sending her sprawling. Before she could catch her breath, he seized her hair with a brutal grip and hauled her up to face him. In a voice that shook the place, a grotesque mix of fury and mocking contempt, Tai said: "Don't get excited… I couldn't care less whether I kill a man or a woman, a child or a girl. They're all the same. If I want to kill you, I will." His words were more than a threat — they proclaimed a demonic nature that made no distinction among victims, shattering whatever hope remained in the hearts of those who witnessed the horror.
Tai's grip on Liana's hair was savage, but it wasn't the pain that froze her blood — it was his eyes. When their gazes met, Liana saw not only rage or madness, but an abyssal void of nothingness, a darkness that swallowed every scrap of hope. She saw echoed screams beyond counting, the shadows of lost souls, a living nightmare shaped from unbearable loss. Liana's core trembled; her spirit quivered before her body. Tai was no longer merely a terrifying man — he had become the living embodiment of hell itself, an echo of a misery deeper than any imagination. From the depths of her pure terror she rasped, drenched in despair and shock, while Tai stared back with eyes that carried endless torments: "You… what the hell happened to you?" she asked — knowing, deep down, that the answer would be worse than anything she could imagine.
Tai kicked her with cruel force; Liana flew through the air and slammed into the ground some twenty meters away. The impact shattered the stillness of the night. The terror of the survivors crystallized into stunned desperation. Tilly rushed to strike him but saw Liana thrown aside; they stumbled through mud and rain, legs flailing, and found her writhing on the ground, hands clamped at her throat in a desperate bid for breath. Her tears mixed with rain; her broken gasps were all that was left. Each beat of her heart was agony — the dread of a fate sealed by a being stripped of all humanity.
Saven's fear transmuted into a white-hot rage; his eyes became smoldering embers. His armor — once a mere slab of metal — reshaped into a colossal dragon form, pulsing with life.
Lights and shadows danced over the gleaming scales, fangs bared, poised to strike — as if a legendary guardian had awakened to defend the innocent.
Tai watched this majestic transformation with a cold sneer. He laughed, then let his words drip like slow poison, his voice rising above the roar of the rain in a tone thick with scorn and challenge: "Look at that armor… you think you can hurt me, huh?" His tone carried absolute confidence in his ability to overcome any obstacle, as if that mythical dragon were no more than a puppet in his bloody theater.
Saven advanced in measured steps toward Tai, Tilly at his side; both fixed their eyes on Tai, poised to confront the living nightmare. The air bristled with tension, yet Tai remained frighteningly calm. He lifted his head slightly, regarded them with an emotionless stare, and spoke his final words before the clash — low but sharp as knives: "Your time to die has come."
(End the chapter)