The sound of flesh rustling and lapping filled the room.

  It was a sound completely different from the ones they had faced outside the underground facility.

  “This was a trap. Was it also within your expectations?” Olivia glanced over her shoulder, her stare resolute compared to a moment ago.

  “Unfortunately so. Yivern doesn’t play fair. My mother suffered from its nasty tricks and ultimately lost against it.” Keleanos spoke softly, his eyes anchored on Yivern as it wiped blood off its hands.

  While they were talking, the maids took it upon themselves to wipe the floor with the minions, who fell with incredible ease.

  The feeling building inside them grew ever stronger, all of it directed at Yivern for hurting Alisa.

  “I knew something was wrong from the beginning. People were avoiding us, moving around like programmed puppets. This was obviously its doing.”

  Keleanos stared down for a split second before lifting his gaze back to the gory scene unfolding before him.

  “Nothing had substance. Everything—even the scenery your maids saw—was a creation of Yivern,” he said, convinced.

  “You’re meant to say the entire city—” Olivia winced.

  “—was an illusion, yes.” He completed her sentence naturally. “I bet if we were to go outside right now, we would only find ruins and desolation.”

  He continued, his heart heavy.

  “The brightly lit streets, the strange glowing signs, the people walking… even the rain, I figured, was fake.”

  Both fell silent. Only the maids’ frantic steps and limbs sloshing to the ground filled their ears.

  I knew it. Olivia almost whispered, but closed her mouth instead, letting her inner voice speak.

  She recalled a strange event from the previous day.

  That odd glitching… It was the illusion breaking when moonlight struck the fake world.

  Since entering this city, everything we’ve seen, done, and walked through was a lie. That’s an incredible feat.

  Her eyebrow twitched upward.

  It is meant to show the true power held in a Devourer’s hands. How easily they can manipulate the world around them.

  Keleanos kept his eyes on Yivern, who only smiled at the scene as if everything were under control.

  But as the maids closed in on Yivern, three shadows appeared behind it.

  “….”

  Its smile vanished as a long blade of void magic pierced its throat from the side.

  Two smaller blades struck its flanks, while another plunged into its stomach from the front.

  Yivern didn’t flinch—not even when the first blade pierced its flesh.

  Zara took the throat. Martha took the stomach. Noelle took the flanks.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  For the first time since entering the room, Olivia felt the pressure in her chest ease as blood trickled down the void maids' blades.

  Not a word escaped their mouths as they glared at the monster.

  Then, a sudden shudder ran up Olivia’s spine as the Devourer smiled from one ear to the other.

  She took a step forward—too slow, too late—her hand lifting on instinct.

  “Wait—! Get away!” she shouted, but it was too late.

  CRACK

  The three maids were sent flying to opposite sides of the room.

  Zara crashed into the wall, her back shattering against the hard surface as blood burst from her mouth.

  Martha slammed headfirst into the surgery table, her nose breaking on impact before she rolled toward the rest of the approaching maids.

  Lastly, Noelle took a direct hit to the head. She crashed to the ground, then—carried by the sheer force of the blow—bounced upward and struck the ceiling so hard her body embedded itself into it.

  “No…” Olivia’s fingers trembled as she looked on in horror. Only Martha barely moved.

  Even Keleanos clenched his teeth at the sight. His heart bled just imagining what Olivia was feeling now.

  For a fleeting instant, he, too, had thought this was it for Yivern. But reality was always far harsher.

  With Yivern’s deranged smile still etched onto Rakia’s stolen visage, the entire room froze.

  The maids’ words were stuck in their throats, choking any reaction they might have had.

  Three of their sisters—the most skilled among them—had been defeated with terrifying ease. There was nothing left in their minds but despair.

  From that moment onward, everything collapsed.

  Losing their will to fight, the maids stood frozen as Yivern walked toward them.

  But this would not be how they died. Not as pitiful women.

  Even if this was the last thing they ever did, they would struggle until their final breath.

  As one, they leaped forward and clashed with the Devourer—

  Only to fall, one by one.

  Olivia’s heart twisted in agony as her friends crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

  Without a second thought, Yivern stepped over Martha’s body, pressing its heel deliberately into her back.

  The suffering maid spat one final pool of blood as the Devourer’s weight crushed into her scapula.

  Enraged. Helpless. Broken.

  Olivia clenched her fists.

  She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes empty.

  “Keleanos, we need to lea—”

  Her words met nothing.

  The man she was searching for was gone.

  Her head snapped forward just in time to see him charging toward Yivern with everything he had.

  “Call it stupid if you want,” he shouted, fist raised, “but I still want to punch you!”

  Yivern regarded him with mild interest—and indulged him.

  Keleanos’ fist slammed into Yivern’s cheek with a heavy thump, barely shifting its face to the side.

  It sighed, lifting its right hand.

  BAM

  The blow sent Keleanos flying. He rolled across the ground before crashing into the far wall, clutching his chest as blood spilled from his mouth in thick puddles.

  Yivern ignored him after that, turning its attention instead to Olivia.

  Heartbroken, she no longer even tried to fight.

  Yivern seized her by the throat and lifted her from the ground.

  “Well. This was an interesting encounter,” it said calmly. “I’ll be sure to cherish you as puppets.”

  Its grip tightened, nails digging into her flesh.

  “Ha—”

  A smile formed on Olivia’s face as a low laugh escaped her lips.

  “Hahaha~”

  Yivern’s smile faltered as her laughter grew. It felt terribly annoyed, as if its victory had been spoiled.

  “HAHAHAHA!”

  Everything had been lost.

  Her maids lay broken across the room.

  Keleanos struggled to stay conscious.

  And she was being strangled to death.

  “What’s so funny?” Yivern spat, venom dripping from its voice.

  “Haaa~ Nothing,” Olivia replied calmly, as though the hand crushing her throat didn’t exist. The pain felt distant, as if reality had lost all meaning to her.

  “I just find this funny. Extremely humorous.”

  Her eyes drifted toward the ceiling.

  Blood trickled down her neck and down her arm. A drop of blood pooled at the tip of her finger before falling toward the ground, where it made no sound.

  “Illusions… right?”

  Those were the last words she spoke—

  —or so Yivern thought.

  “What?”

  Her smile didn’t fade. Her voice didn’t vanish.

  “Did you really think you had a monopoly on illusions?”

  Her eyes burned a vivid red as her body dissolved like mist in Yivern’s grasp.

  The maids vanished.

  So did Keleanos.

  “Heh. Master’s a real piece of work.”

  Threads of void coiled tightly around Yivern’s neck as Alisa emerged from thin air.

  “That’s just how Olivia is.”

  BAM

  A gauntleted fist slammed into Yivern’s side, launching it across the room and into the wall.

  The void thread bit into its neck—drawing nothing—but Keleanos’ blow sent the Devourer crashing hard.

  From the back of the chamber, Olivia and her maids reappeared, standing tall, unbroken, smiling.

  “How did you like my little farce, Devourer?” Olivia asked, a finger resting at the corner of her mouth.

  Have a good rest of the day, and take care.