Chapter 98: We End it here

KINGS FORTRESS is a technique that creates a pocket dimension in reality. The laws that govern the Fortress and everything inside it vary according to the personality of the person casting the technique, making its very existence random to the very core.

That’s why the technique is considered one of the strongest techniques to ever exist.

Splash!!

The area where the two stood completely changed, walls of magic rising up and enveloping them like someone wrapping a Christmas present.

A shadow swallowed Jamie as he stood in the dimension while it took shape.

Bricks materialized everywhere, parts moving all over like the mechanical armor of some superhero. Every gear slid exactly where it was supposed to be, every piece locking into place with terrifying precision for the system to function efficiently.

The process lasted only a few seconds, but when it was done, the King’s Fortress had fully changed, copying the nature of the person who had conjured it.

The place looked like a dungeon ripped straight out of a medieval movie. Long silver chains clung from the ceiling, hanging loosely overhead and swaying with faint metallic creaks.

The walls were made of concrete held together with extreme force, rough and cold and suffocating. The low lighting didn’t help either. If anything, it only made the theory worse—it really did feel like they were deep underground, buried far beneath the world.

On the other side of the room were different torture devices of all kinds—the kind they used to punish criminals back in medieval times.

A device with a flat surface like a bed, but with nails pointing upward. Chains that seemed to have dried blood on the other end, attached to a slab of metal shaped like the kind of hook you’d find in a butcher shop.

All this proved one thing.

There was another side to Eva she had never shown anyone.

And when you thought about it, it made sense. She was the type who never talked much about herself.

She was quick to create an area-control technique instead of fighting me head-on in the open ground. That means only one thing. She’s trying to keep me confined, and reinforcements are on the way. I have to finish this fast—but smart too. I can’t underestimate my enemy, especially now that I’m injured.

Jamie’s eyes met Eva’s, his mind putting everything he had on the table.

Unlike when she had first arrived, her morale to fight had declined slightly—so slightly that it would be hard for anyone to notice.

Maybe it was because she had just used a demanding technique that weighed her down a little, or maybe she was simply stalling for time. Either way, something had to be done, and fast.

And frankly, Eva was already on it.

She raised her right hand a little, steadying her right leg back and her left forward.

[Dungeon Punishment 1: Axes]

She uttered, calling upon the King’s Fortress.

And in a matter of seconds, the air started to change, becoming warmer and warmer as a rolling sound echoed all over the Fortress.

Jamie turned his head, alarmed, looking all over the dungeon walls. He didn’t know where the rolling sound was coming from, but one thing he was sure of was that whatever it was, it was coming into the dungeon—and it was coming fast.

Until—

The sound stopped.

Like the thing had finally reached its destination.

Then—

Slash! Slash!

Axes.

Countless of them.

So sharp they could cut a human in half in a single strike, they dropped from the dark ceiling blade-first. They were all of different designs and sizes, but they all had one thing in common—

If they reached Jamie, he would die on impact.

Jamie couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

His eyes widened in disbelief.

The pain he had been feeling vanished completely, erased by pure fear.

His muscles contracted as he forced himself to rise—

But nothing happened.

No movement.

Not even the slightest.

He wanted to move. He really did.

But nothing happened.

And besides—

He was too late.

The axes were only centimeters away from delivering death to him.

Stab!! Stab!! Slash!! Slash!!

The axes connected, driving through his body and punching out the other side. One entered through his chest, bursting through as blood splattered over the steel and ran down to the wooden handle.

Another came down harder, crushing through his head and pinning him to the ground with a sickening finality.

Suddenly—

Splash!!

His bloody body collapsed into the growing pool of his own blood.

An ironic ending to the legacy of the Second Demon Lord.

“That’s it? I can’t believe you were able to defeat Fiona. It’s unbelievable just hearing about it.”

She spoke with confidence, walking toward Jamie’s corpse. His face was so completely disfigured you wouldn’t have recognized him.

[Deactivate King’s Fortress]

She commanded, and as the veil vanished, so did Jamie’s corpse—turning into ash.

Eva couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Her eyes widened as her mind uncovered what had just happened.

“I was fighting a clone all along.”

Realization stabbed deep into her chest.

Her memory immediately raced backward, trying to find the exact moment he could have done it—something so smooth, so clean, that even Eva’s senses hadn’t picked it up.

The surprise worked. He had no idea I was going to attack him. That means when he fell down, it really was him. And up until now, I was keeping my eyes on him, so how did he do i—

Then it hit her.

The only moment clear enough for an escape was when he had knelt down while trying to stand.

“But how did he—did he use the dark ashes? Fuck!!!! I let him go. How the fuck did I let him go?!”

[WHAT HAPPENED? IS JAMIE PROPERLY DETAINED?]

“No, he has fucking run away! Send every piece of shit body you can find and send them against him now!”

….

On the modern side of the midworld, a flower shop.

Inside, a baby girl cried repeatedly, her tiny voice filling the small shop in sharp little bursts. The husband carried the child in his arms, gently rocking her as he tried to calm her down while the wife cooked that afternoon’s lunch in the back.

The shop itself was warm and alive in the quiet way ordinary places were. Buckets of fresh flowers lined the walls—roses, lilies, daisies, and bundles of bright wild blooms tied together with ribbon. Their iscent hung thick in the air, sweet and natural, mixing strangely with the smell of cooking oil, onions, and whatever was simmering in the kitchen. Sunlight spilled through the front glass, painting golden bars across the tiled floor and the little counter by the entrance.

“He wants to be breastfed, be quick with the cooking.”

“Just bear with her for another minute, I’m not done yet.”

“You know we could just exchange duties, right?”

“I know we could, but I don’t want to. She kept me up all night, now it’s your turn with her.”

Click!!

The front door opened.

And inside entered Jamie.

The bell above the door gave a soft metallic ring as it swung, but somehow that tiny sound felt unnaturally loud in the room.

Instantly, no one moved.

They just froze.

The husband stopped rocking the child.

The wife turned halfway from the kitchen, one hand still holding the cooking spoon.

Even the crying baby stopped.

Silence dropped over the flower shop so suddenly it felt heavy.

They stared at Jamie like they had seen a ghost.

And honestly—

He looked like one.

His clothes were torn and dirty. Blood had dried in ugly streaks across parts of his body and face. His posture was unsteady, his breathing rough, and there was something in the way he stood—something exhausted, haunted, and barely held together—that made the entire room feel colder.

Even the child, who had been crying only seconds ago, simply blinked at him with wide, innocent curiosity.

Jamie stood there at the doorway for a second too long, as if he himself wasn’t sure whether he should be there or not.

Then, awkwardly—

“Hello.”

He gave a small wave, his voice nervous, weak… and almost absurdly normal for someone who looked like he had crawled straight out of a grave.

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