Chapter 260: I... I am glad I... protected you…

She called him again, a little confused, but the energy moved her body away from Varek. Then, once she was far enough, the dense black-violet energy formed a thick dome around her, making sure she didn’t see what happened next.

Then—

Lucian stared at the Vampire.

"You should have let go."

He spoke as he tightened his hold on Varek’s arm and—

CRACK

Varek’s eyes widened in sheer horror and agony as his forearm bone cracked under Lucian’s grip.

"MMMFFHHFFMMM!!!"

He let out a loud but muffled scream.

The pain jolted him awake, and this time, instead of trying to remove Lucian’s arm, he tried to pull away and resist, exactly like Naomi had tried to resist him.

He kicked Lucian’s stomach with everything he had, but—

Nothing happened.

He tried again, but again, the demon’s grip did not loosen, not even in the slightest.

In desperation, the Vampire placed his legs on Lucian’s wounded chest, then tried to push himself away.

Again, it did not work.

The Vampire did everything in his power. He pushed, pulled, twisted, and kicked again, but absolutely nothing worked.

Lucian simply stood there, his glowing black-violet eyes staring into Varek’s, then—

He started pulling.

Varek instantly understood.

His eyes widened in sheer horror.

"MMMMHHH—!!"

He fought harder. His blood exploded from his body, forming blades that stabbed into Lucian’s shoulder, stomach, and side, but nothing mattered. Lucian stopped them all with barriers, barriers far stronger than the ordinary barriers Lucian had formed before, and Lucian—

He kept staring at Varek and pulled harder.

ZZRP

Just then, a tear was heard.

And it did not come from Varek’s body, it came from Lucian’s.

The strength he was using was far, far beyond what his body was capable of holding. The strain his arm muscles were under began overloading them and—

They started tearing.

Blood started running down Lucian’s arm. His shoulder screamed under the pressure, but Lucian—

He did not care.

The strength he was using did not disappear either. If anything, Lucian put in more force, his grip became stronger, and Varek felt it.

And just as he did, panic overwhelmed him.

"MMMHHMMM!!!"

He shook his head desperately, begging Lucian to stop. He tried pushing him away, hitting his face, driving his knee into his stomach.

Anything, anything he could do to stop what the demonic monster was trying to do, but—

Lucian, after being punched in the face, only showed a bloodied grin and—

RRRRIIP

He pulled.

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Varek’s entire body convulsed. His arm was torn off at the shoulder.

SPRRUTTT

Blood sprayed like a fountain. The Vampire’s muffled screams did not stop.

Lucian showed the torn arm to the Vampire with a very wide grin on his face, then threw the arm away as if it were the most disgusting thing in the world.

Varek watched it all with sheer disbelief and horror.

"MMHHMM!! MMFFHH!!"

His breathing became heavier. His crimson eyes begged in agony.

But the grin on Lucian’s face did not fade.

"I can see why you like this."

He spoke.

"This is fun."

He let out a soft chuckle.

"Watching your enemy cry and beg, having so much power over him, crushing his pride into bits—

It is very fun indeed~"

The demon grinned.

"I wish I had more time."

He sighed.

But—

He did not have more time.

He only had eight more seconds, so he moved quickly.

He grabbed Varek’s ankle. Varek’s eyes widened in horror as he realised what Lucian was trying to do. He desperately shook his head.

Lucian didn’t care.

CRACK

Once again, Varek’s leg bone cracked.

"MHHFFMM!!"

He screamed, but this wasn’t even the worst pain he would feel, and he knew it, so he thrashed, kicking and punching Lucian with his remaining limbs, all while trying to move his other leg away, but it did not matter—

RRRRIIP

Lucian tore off his leg.

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The Vampire screamed again.

SPRRUTTT

More blood came out. Lucian threw the leg aside.

Varek stared at him, and now, there was no arrogance, confidence, or amusement left in his eyes.

There was only terror.

Pure, sheer terror.

The same terror Lucian had seen in the Hunter’s eyes, not that it mattered. Lucian wasn’t stopping for such minor thoughts, not right now.

Lucian then freed the hand that was holding Varek’s mouth.

"I SURR—!"

Varek used that moment to try and end this, but before he could finish, Lucian’s other hand caught his face again.

"MMMMHHH!!"

Varek’s eyes begged again.

The same thing was happening to him.

The demon wasn’t allowing him to surrender.

"MMMMFFFFF!!!"

He begged.

Just like his victims did, but Lucian was already holding his other arm. Varek struggled frantically, trying to kick Lucian with whatever strength he had left, but—

RRIPPPP

The arm was torn off again.

SPLLURRTTT

Blood sprayed again.

"MMMMMMMHHHHFFFFFFFFFFFHHHHHH!!!!"

The Vampire screamed, and the demon only grabbed his remaining leg, which was convulsing without stop.

Lucian looked into Varek’s eyes again and grinned.

One last second left.

And he—

RRIPPPP

He tore off the last remaining leg. Once again, the blood spurted out like a fountain without stopping.

"MMMMMMMHHHHFFFFFFFFFFFHHHHHH!!!!"

The Vampire screamed again.

And Lucian—

He finally released his mouth as the endless amount of strength he felt coursing through him started fading away.

The fifteen seconds were over.

The Vampire he was holding in the air finally fell to the ground. However, before he could even reach it—

"I SURRENDER! I SURRENDER!!"

He screamed.

In his desperation, he did not even notice that the terrifying energy that had made Lucian the monster he became was fading away, and what remained was a very, very, very weakened demon, who had no control over his energy, a completely damaged arm, a hole in his chest, four blood weapons piercing his legs, and—

A consciousness that was fading away.

But again, it did not matter. The demon had terrified him to the point that his mind no longer considered logic.

Or perhaps...

He himself had done this so many times that the possibility of being tortured any further terrified him so much that he ran away the instant he got the chance.

Whatever it was—

The Vampire did not even let his body fall to the ground. Silver light covered him and removed him from the Trial.

And Lucian—

The instant he saw the silver light taking Varek’s body away, he fell to his knees, then his body followed, and he fell to the ground face first.

"Haa..."

He groaned. His vision darkened.

For a very short moment, he could not hear anything. His body felt empty, completely empty. His strength was completely gone. That black-violet energy started to fade away. The black-violet armour-like energy that covered him started peeling away from his skin, his claws returned to normal, and his eyes lost that light.

Within seconds—

He was human again.

A completely drained human.

His demonic reserves were completely empty.

Just like usual, the fifteen seconds of that form used all of his demonic energy.

Now normally, that would have been the end. Lucian should have lost consciousness. Actually, he could already feel his consciousness slipping away. His mind was becoming heavy, his hearing was becoming distant.

Without the demonic energy to support his body, he couldn’t possibly remain conscious.

And once he lost consciousness, he too would be eliminated.

Which was something Lucian was prepared for. He never took the Trial seriously anyway. He was only worried about Naomi, but now...

Now it seemed like she would have to do it all on her own.

With that thought in his mind, Lucian’s eyes started closing.

But then—

Something happened.

A small stream of warm, familiar energy started entering his body.

Lucian opened his eyes for a short moment, then realised something.

’Evelyn...’

She was still singing. The connection between them was still giving him that nearly endless amount of energy.

Of course, it didn’t fill him instantly. No matter how absurdly high the energy was, his body still needed time to fill his completely empty reserves, but...

The energy was still there.

He...

He could stay awake.

He just needed to force himself to stay awake for the next few seconds. He just needed to fight the body’s constant urge to fall.

And he did.

He forced his eyes open. He even bit his own tongue. His body was filled with wounds, yes, but a fresh wound was much better at keeping his mind awake.

Lucian focused on the endless amount of energy entering him. He let it settle, slowly filling his reserves, little by little.

His darkened vision started getting clearer and clearer, his breathing became steadier, and just then—

"LUCIAN!"

He heard footsteps. He barely moved his head, and his eyes fell on Naomi rushing towards him. The dome he had formed around her disappeared together with his True Form, and the girl ran the moment she saw him, immediately dropping beside him and grabbing him.

"Ghh—!"

Lucian flinched.

"Sorry! Sorry!"

Naomi apologised vehemently.

"Be gentle..."

Lucian groaned.

"Very... very gentle."

Naomi panicked, loosening her hold as quickly as possible.

Lucian stared at her and laughed. Or at least he tried to. His chest hurt too much to laugh properly.

Naomi stared at him, at his horrifying injuries, at the amount of blood he was covered in, at his frighteningly pale face.

"Lucian..."

She cried.

And Lucian—

"I... I am dying..."

He answered as dramatically as he possibly could.

"N-Naomi...

I... I am glad I... protected you..."