Chapter 331: The Price of Being Outplayed

An hour passed before Erza finally calmed down.

She sat on one of the large pieces of broken stone near the crater, silently staring at her own hands. Her violet eyes were still swollen from crying, but the unstable aura that had surrounded her earlier was gone. Beside her, Isvarn sat quietly with Elena still sleeping peacefully in his arms, giving Erza the time she needed to accept what had happened.

Neither of them spoke.

Across the ruined district, however, the Agency had already begun its work. Search teams moved between collapsed buildings while forensic units marked bodies, collected samples, and recorded every trace of the battle. A city that had been alive only hours earlier now looked like the aftermath of a war.

Chief Sara stood among that destruction, occasionally glancing toward Erza and Isvarn before returning her attention to the investigation. There was nothing she could do for Erza right now, and standing around watching her grieve wouldn’t help anyone. There were still dozens of unanswered questions scattered throughout these streets.

Bodies lay everywhere.

Some belonged to demons, while others wore the uniforms of the Shadow Corps. Broken weapons, shattered pieces of armor, blood, and enormous impact marks told fragments of a battle Sara hadn’t been here to witness. Judging from the destruction alone, Raven and her soldiers had fought something far beyond what their division should ever have been expected to handle.

The forensic teams had already begun separating the demon corpses. One team examined what remained of the poison demon, while others carefully documented the remains identified as General Malakar and Zeri. Their conditions only created more questions, but Sara left those questions to the specialists for now.

She was searching for someone.

Sara moved from one fallen Shadow Corps member to another, looking at each face before continuing. She already knew what Monday’s biometric report had said before they arrived in Yuno City, but some part of her still refused to accept it without seeing the truth herself.

Not this one.

She stepped around another body.

Not her either.

Sara’s pace gradually slowed as fewer bodies remained unchecked. She looked across the street again, searching among the wounded being treated by Agency medics and then toward the corpses already being prepared for recovery.

“Where are you…?”

The words escaped beneath her breath.

Then Sara noticed a hand.

It was barely visible inside the remains of a nearby building, extending from behind a section of shattered concrete. Sara’s eyes immediately fixed on it, and after several seconds of hesitation, she began walking toward the ruined structure.

She stepped through the broken entrance.

Then stopped.

For the first time since arriving in Yuno City, Chief Sara’s composure completely disappeared.

Raven lay inside.

Her body carried the full evidence of what she had endured during the battle. Bones had broken beneath the force of repeated impacts, parts of them visible through torn skin, while the wound across her abdomen showed where Zeri’s tentacle had pierced straight through her. Dried blood covered her uniform and trailed from the corner of her mouth onto the floor beneath her.

Yet that wasn’t what made Sara freeze.

Raven was smiling.

It wasn’t a large smile, nor did it make the condition of her body any less horrific. It was simply there on her bloodstained face, faint but unmistakable, as though whatever had happened during her final moments had allowed her to die satisfied.

Sara’s jaw tightened.

Behind her, Agency personnel continued moving through the building, photographing damage and collecting evidence from the battlefield. Their voices remained professional and quiet as they worked, but Sara barely heard any of them.

She simply stood in front of Raven.

This wasn’t an unknown soldier whose name would later appear on a casualty report.

This was one of her captains, someone who had commanded the Shadow Corps and had gone into this battle knowing exactly what protecting Yuuta and Elena might cost her.

Sara didn’t cry.

She didn’t reach for Raven or say anything dramatic.

The expression of the Agency Chief slowly returned to her face as she stood there, but her clenched jaw never relaxed. For a long time, Sara remained completely silent, looking at the faint smile Raven had carried into death.

Eventually, Sara raised her gaze toward the shattered building above her. Seeing Raven like this forced her to accept something she had known from the moment the demons began invading their cities. What had happened tonight wasn’t the end of a battle; it was only the beginning of something much larger, and she needed to prepare herself for far worse than this.

War never ended without taking something precious from you.

Sara’s fist slowly tightened at her side. She had lost soldiers before, but standing before one of her own captains made those words feel different. If this was what the beginning had already cost them, then she could only imagine what the coming war would demand.

She lowered her gaze toward Raven one last time.

The real war was about to begin.

Meanwhile, Erza remained seated on one of the enormous pieces of broken stone near the crater. Nearly an hour had passed since her confrontation with Isvarn, and although her mind had finally settled enough to understand what she had almost done, the fear that caused it hadn’t disappeared.

She had nearly lost herself.

All because, for those few moments, her mind had imagined the worst possible outcome for Yuuta and refused to see anything beyond it. Beside her, Isvarn sat quietly with Elena still sleeping safely in his arms, giving Erza as much time as she needed to regain control.

“Thank you for stopping me, Grandpa.”

Her voice was flat and distant.

Isvarn glanced toward her, and a quiet sigh escaped him. He knew that voice far too well. It was the same distant, emotionless tone he had heard from Erza many decades ago, one he had hoped would never return after seeing how much she had changed.

“It is my responsibility to stop you when you’re walking down a path that will lead to nothing.”

Erza stared at her hands for several seconds before her fingers slowly curled inward.

“It is your job to stop me.”

Her voice trembled slightly when she continued.

“But it wasn’t your job to stand there and let my husband be taken away.”

Isvarn said nothing.

Erza finally turned toward him. The anger from earlier was gone, but the pain behind her violet eyes hadn’t weakened at all. She had calmed enough not to attack him anymore, yet that only made it easier for the questions buried beneath her rage to come out.

“Why did you let my Yuuta go away?”

Her fingers tightened against her palms.

“Why, Grandpa?”

Isvarn continued watching her quietly.

“Was it because he’s human?” Erza asked, her voice trembling more noticeably now. “Is that why you didn’t interfere? Or did you never accept him as one of us?”

Isvarn’s expression immediately hardened.

“That is not the reason, Erza. You’ve misunderstood me completely.”

“Then what is the reason?”

Erza turned fully toward him.

“Tell me.”

Isvarn remained silent for a moment before looking down at Elena sleeping in his arms. When he finally spoke, his voice was calm, without any attempt to defend himself from Erza’s accusation.

“It is true that I didn’t move to help him.”

Erza’s jaw tightened.

“But that doesn’t mean I was cruel enough to willingly let Elena’s father and your husband be taken from you.”

Erza’s fist clenched.

“Then why?”

Isvarn looked directly into her violet eyes.

“Because that demon knew the Law of Deity.”

Erza’s hand immediately loosened.

For the first time since the conversation began, the pain and accusation on her face gave way to genuine shock. She stared at Isvarn as though she wasn’t certain she had heard him correctly, because those were the last words she had expected to come from him.

“What…?”

Erza’s violet eyes widened.

“What are you saying, Grandpa? The Law of Deity?” She turned toward him completely. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

Isvarn’s expression grew heavier as he remembered his encounter with Allen. Even now, the fact that a demon from this world knew of such a closely guarded law bothered him far more than he wanted to admit.

“I was just as surprised as you are. Someone who knows of the Law of Deity must either be old enough or knowledgeable enough to have learned secrets very few beings should possess.” Isvarn paused before continuing. “And that wasn’t the only thing troubling about him. That demon is far more cunning than anyone you’ve fought until now.”

Erza’s eyes narrowed.

Her fist tightened again, but this time there was no uncontrollable grief behind it. She was beginning to piece together everything that had happened—the invasion, the Leviathan drawing her toward Atlantis, the army placed between her and Yuuta, and finally the portal prepared before she could reach him.

“I see…”

Her expression darkened.

“So I was played by him.”

“Yes.”

Isvarn didn’t soften the answer.

“He knew about you. He understood the weaknesses of dragons, and more importantly, he understood how you would react when something you treasure was placed in danger.” Isvarn looked toward the ruined city around them. “He used everything available to him merely to grasp a small chance of victory.”

Erza remained silent.

“The Leviathan kept you away. His army delayed you when you returned. The portal was already prepared, and when I was the final obstacle standing beside Yuuta, he used the Law of Deity to prevent me from interfering.” Isvarn’s eyes narrowed. “He didn’t defeat either of us through strength, Erza. He created a situation where strength alone couldn’t stop him.”

Erza’s heartbeat quickened.

Until now, she had treated Allen as little more than a troublesome pest. She had never believed the Demon King himself could pose a serious threat to her, and in terms of raw strength, nothing she had witnessed tonight had changed that belief.

But that was no longer the point.

Allen hadn’t tried to overpower her.

He had outplayed her.

And now Yuuta was in the hands of someone cunning enough to understand both her weaknesses and laws that should have been almost impossible for him to know.

Erza abruptly stood.

Isvarn watched her without saying anything at first. The moment he saw the determination returning to her violet eyes, he knew there was no possibility of Erza remaining here and waiting for the Agency to discover where Allen had gone.

She took several steps forward.

“My Queen.”

Erza stopped.

“Do not use the mana of this world to search for him.”

Her expression tightened.

Isvarn’s voice became serious.

“You don’t know where that portal took Yuuta. Searching blindly across such a distance would require far more mana than this world can afford to lose.” He looked directly at her. “The mana here is already too thin. If you recklessly draw upon it on that scale, everything will begin falling apart long before you find him.”

Erza knew exactly what he meant.

If she tried searching for Yuuta through mana without even knowing where to begin, the amount she would need could drain this world to the point where the planet itself became lifeless. No matter how desperately she wanted to find him, destroying the world Yuuta came from in the process wasn’t an option.

Her fist tightened.

“I know.”

Erza turned her gaze toward the distance.

“I won’t use this world’s mana. I’ll search with my own senses first.” Her eyes hardened with determination. “I know Yuuta’s presence. I know his scent. If there is even the slightest trace of him left behind, I’ll follow it.”

Before leaving, Erza looked back toward Isvarn.

Her expression softened when her eyes fell upon Elena, still sleeping peacefully in his arms. For several seconds, Erza simply watched her daughter before finally turning her attention back to her grandfather.

“Take care of Elena.”

Isvarn gave a small nod.

“I will.”

“I’ll be back.”

Erza turned away.

The next moment, she launched herself into the sky. Her figure rapidly climbed above the ruined city before accelerating into the distance, leaving Isvarn standing below with Elena safely in his arms.

Isvarn watched until Erza disappeared from sight.

To Be Continued…