Continuously pummeled by the black-haired youth, the Flame Snake Duke was battered into something resembling minced meat and finally lost consciousness.
"Spineless wretch!"
The youth tossed the Flame Snake Duke aside in disgust. Suddenly, two members of Lucile's household—the armored spirit and the maid—rushed up, pressed their hands together before him, and bowed in reverent gratitude.
"Lord Kai, thank you so much!"
"We thank you from the bottom of our hearts!"
Their posture of worship reminded Lucile of prayers to the gods—a faith she was supposed to have abandoned long ago.
"Big brother, thank you for saving Lady Lucile and Grill!"
Din threw her arms around the black-haired youth, Kai, beaming as she voiced her thanks.
"W-Who is this person?"
Unable to keep up with the situation, Lucile asked.
"Milady, Lord Kai is going to defeat the monster in this mansion and release us from the curse that binds us!"
"Yes! Lord Kai is an extraordinary Great One! He will surely release you from that gloomy bastard, Milady!"
The two sang his praises, their faces overwhelmed with emotion.
Kai let out a deeply exhausted sigh.
"Don't mind them. These two are laboring under a massive misunderstanding."
Raising his left hand toward Lucile, he pulled a book-like object from thin air and flipped it open. Several slimes materialized like rising smoke.
"You lot, heal everyone in this room. That small-fry fire lizard knocked out over there—well, I have a use for it, so heal that one while you're at it."
The slimes bounced cheerfully around Kai before enveloping Lucile. In less time than it took to blink, her pain vanished.
"I-Is this a dream?"
Leaving the dumbfounded Lucile behind, the slimes enveloped the injured, restored them completely, and vanished.
Kai walked over to the Flame Snake Duke, who was still dazed after being healed.
"Hey, fire lizard!" he barked.
"Y-Yessirrr!"
The Flame Snake Duke snapped into a rigid posture, sitting at attention. Kai jerked his thumb toward Lucile and the others.
"From now on, protect them with your life. That is the condition for keeping you alive. Though I suppose even a small fry like you needs some insurance... Girimehkala! Discipline this thing! Beat that crooked attitude out of him once and for all!"
"Understood!"
A gruff voice boomed from above. Black mist suddenly engulfed the Flame Snake Duke, and he vanished from sight.
"Now then..."
Kai turned back to Lucile and the others.
"My subordinates will protect you. Evacuate and—"
Before he could finish his order, the mansion rippled with black waves, exposing pulsating, blood-red tubular vessels. It felt as though the entire building had been plunged into the entrails of a colossal beast.
"So it's begun."
Kai drew the longsword from the scabbard on his back and strode forward.
"Ah..."
Overwhelmed by an immense pressure unlike anything she had felt in her life and the sight of Kai tinged with pure ecstasy, Lucile caught her breath. Instinctively, she understood with crystal clarity what had truly provoked the King of Curses that had bound them for so long.
"Come, let us go. It is my turn now. King of Curses, was it? Come at me with everything you have. If I can find even the slightest meaning in our clash, I shall destroy you in a flash."
Muttering to himself, Kai strode out of the room, his entire body radiating an ominous, wavering aura of black and red fighting spirit.
"Lady Lucile?"
Grill, having been pulled back from the brink of death, called out in confusion.
"We are safe now. Let us evacuate as that Great One instructed."
"B-But our opponent is that monster, you know?!"
Grill objected to Lucile's confident words, but she shook her head firmly.
"The curse that has bound us shall be destroyed this very night."
She declared it with clear, deliberate conviction.
"Why can you say that with such certainty?!"
"For the same reason a frog in a well cannot challenge the boundless ocean and win. They exist on entirely different planes."
Indeed. That Great One was almost certainly a Transcender—and an extraordinarily powerful one at that. In the end, the mansion's curse was merely an entity of the mortal world. How could something that merely devoured human souls ever hope to defeat a being who commanded the very laws of the world?
"The ocean? A frog? I have no idea what that means..."
"You will understand soon enough."
Most likely, he would come to realize it all too painfully.
"Now, as instructed, let us take our leave."
For Lucile and the others had to witness it—the absolute, total annihilation of the evil that had bound them for so long.