Chapter : 1593

  The sound was deafening. It wasn't the sound of metal on stone. It was the sound of two absolute laws of physics colliding. The unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.

  The shockwave radiated outward from the point of impact. It blew the dust from the courtyard into a ring of clouds. It knocked the unconscious guards rolling. It pushed Lucifer's cape back.

  For one impossible, glorious second, the diamond held.

  The black spear spun, drilling into the crystal surface. Sparks of dark energy and chips of diamond dust flew like fireworks. The spear stopped. It was halted in mid-air by the sheer density of Jasmin's spirit.

  Lucifer's eyes widened slightly. The boredom vanished, replaced by a flicker of genuine surprise.

  "What?" he muttered.

  He looked at the statue. It wasn't a knight. It wasn't a lord. It was a low-born girl with a spirit that shouldn't have been able to stop a stiff breeze, let alone a Devil King's execution technique.

  But she had. She had caught the death meant for a Sovereign.

  Roy Ferrum, his eyes wide with horror and awe, looked up at the glittering figure hovering above him. He saw the face of the diamond statue. It was Jasmin's face, frozen in a scream of effort.

  "Jasmin..." Roy whispered.

  For that one second, the servant was stronger than the master. For that one second, the Diamond Queen was the strongest thing in the North.

  ________________________________________

  The collision between the Spear of Nihil and the Diamond Queen created a sphere of distorted gravity in the center of the courtyard. The air rippled like water. The ground beneath Jasmin’s suspended form was pulverized into fine sand, creating a crater purely from the pressure of the impact.

  Lucifer stood ten feet away, his hand still extended in the throwing motion. He stared at the diamond statue. The spear was spinning against her chest, a drill of darkness trying to pierce a wall of light.

  "A diamond spirit," Lucifer said, his voice cutting through the roaring noise of the grinding energy. "Rare. And developed to this level? By a servant?"

  He frowned. The surprise faded, replaced by a cold irritation. It was the irritation of a man who finds a pebble in his shoe. It was insignificant, but it was annoying.

  "You are strong for an insect," Lucifer acknowledged. "But you are still an insect. Did you think hardness alone is enough to stop the Void? Did you think you could deny me?"

  He didn't summon another weapon. He didn't cast a spell. He simply pushed. He exerted his will. He poured more of his spiritual pressure into the spear.

  "Break," Lucifer commanded.

  The black spear flared. It grew larger, the darkness intensifying until it looked like a tear in reality. The humming sound rose in pitch to a shriek. The rotational force of the spear doubled, then tripled.

  Inside the diamond form, Jasmin felt the universe compressing.

  She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She was the diamond. She felt the tip of the spear grinding against her chest. It felt like a hot iron boring into her soul. The pain was beyond anything physical. It was the pain of her very existence being eroded.

  Hold, she screamed in her mind. Just hold. Just a little longer. Give Master Roy a chance. Give him a second.

  She poured her life force into the shell. Every memory, every hope, every dream she had—she fed it into the diamond. She burned her future to buy a moment of the present.

  But physics was cruel. The difference in dimension was too vast. Lucifer was a King-Level entity, a being who had existed for eons. Jasmin was a girl who had awakened her power a month ago.

  The first crack appeared.

  It started at the point of impact, right over her heart. It was a tiny, hairline fracture, a white spiderweb in the flawless transparency.

  CRACK.

  The sound was like a gunshot.

  Roy heard it. He saw it. "No!" he roared, trying to force his paralyzed body to move, trying to reach up and pull her down. "Jasmin! Release it! Run!"

  She couldn't run. She was locked in place by the force of the attack. If she deactivated her spirit now, she would be vaporized. If she held it, she would be shattered. There was no escape.

  A second crack appeared, shooting down her torso. Then a third, running up her neck. The beautiful, clear diamond began to turn opaque, white stress lines clouding the perfection.

  Chapter : 1594

  Lucifer watched with clinical detachment. "Structural integrity failing," he noted. "Ninety percent. Eighty percent. You are stubborn, little girl. But stubbornness breaks."

  He clenched his fist. The spear surged forward another inch.

  Jasmin felt her spirit core—the source of her power, the glowing ember inside the diamond—begin to vibrate. It was overheating. It was cracking under the strain.

  She knew. In that moment of absolute clarity that comes before the end, she knew she wasn't going to survive this. She wasn't going to wake up in the infirmary. She wasn't going to make tea for Lloyd again. She wasn't going to sing with Annalisa.

  She tried to turn her head. It was impossible, but she shifted her focus. She looked down through her own transparent body at the man she was protecting. She looked at Arch Duke Roy.

  Her diamond eyes didn't have pupils, but Roy felt her gaze. It wasn't fearful. It wasn't full of regret. It was sad, yes. There were tears—diamond tears—forming in the corners of her eyes. But underneath the sadness was a fierce, burning pride.

  Tell him, she thought, projecting the intent toward Roy. Tell Master Lloyd I did my job. Tell him I was his shield.

  The cracks spread to her face. The world became a mosaic of fractured light.

  "Goodbye," she thought.

  The end was not silent. It was the loudest sound the estate had ever heard.

  "DIE!" Lucifer roared, shoving his hand forward.

  The Spear of Nihil pulsed with a final, overwhelming surge of power. The tip punched through the outer layer of the diamond.

  SHATTER.

  It sounded like a thousand chandeliers falling from the sky at once. It sounded like a glacier calving into the ocean.

  Jasmin’s diamond form couldn't hold. The structure failed catastrophically. The statue exploded.

  WARNING: IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ JASMIN’S REMAINING, THEN YOU SHOULD JUST AVOID NEXT 5 SENTENCE.

  But it was not a clean disintegration. The Spear of Nihil had pierced her center, erasing her torso and spirit core in a flash of void energy. But the diamond hardness of her extremities held.

  The explosion sheared her apart.

  There was a sickening, heavy sound of crystal clattering against stone. Her right arm, severed at the shoulder, spun through the air and embedded itself in the dirt. Her left leg, crystallized and bent at the knee, fell near the crater.

  And her head.

  Her head, perfectly preserved in transparent diamond, rolled across the courtyard. It came to a stop face up, her expression frozen in a scream of absolute effort, her hair fanned out like a halo of jagged glass.

  But the spear didn't stop. It punched through the cloud of diamond dust. It drove straight through the center of where Jasmin's chest had been.

  There was a wet, sickening thud.

  The spear pierced her physical body, which had been encased within the spirit. It went through her heart. It went through her spine. It destroyed her spirit core instantly.

  Jasmin didn't scream. She didn't have time. Her life was extinguished in the nanosecond the spear cleared her body.

  But her sacrifice was not in vain.

  Because the diamond had held for that one, crucial second, and because the explosion of her form had created a kinetic shockwave, the trajectory of the spear was altered. Just a fraction. Just a degree.

  The black spear continued its path downward. It was aimed at Roy's heart. But the deflection pushed it to the right.

  THUNK.

  The spear slammed into Roy. It didn't hit his heart. It buried itself deep in his right shoulder, punching through the rusted armor, through the muscle and bone, and pinning him to the ground.

  "ARGH!" Roy screamed, the pain finally breaking his silence. The dark energy of the spear began to eat at his flesh, burning like acid.

  But he was alive. His heart was beating.

  The explosion of Jasmin's death sent a cloud of dust and debris washing over Lucifer. The Devil King didn't move his feet, but he raised an arm to shield his face. The shockwave ruffled his cape. A single shard of diamond—a piece of Jasmin—flew past his cheek, leaving a thin, red scratch on his perfect white skin.

  Lucifer lowered his arm. He touched his cheek. He looked at the drop of blood on his finger.

  He looked at the spot where Jasmin had been. There was nothing left. Just blood mist and glittering dust settling on the stones.

  He looked at Roy, pinned to the ground by the spear, groaning in agony but breathing.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Chapter : 1595

  Lucifer’s face twisted. It wasn't rage. It was annoyance. It was the look of a perfectionist who had drawn a straight line and had someone bump his elbow.

  "You missed," Roy wheezed, staring up at the Devil with hateful, tear-filled eyes. "She made you... miss."

  Lucifer flicked the blood from his finger. He looked at the scattered remains of the diamond.

  "An insect," he muttered, his voice cold. "A fragile, pointless insect throwing itself into a fire. She achieved nothing but a few seconds of delay."

  "She achieved... everything," Roy gasped.

  Lucifer stepped forward. He walked to Roy. He looked down at the spear protruding from the Arch Duke's shoulder.

  "Delay is not victory, Roy," Lucifer said. "I missed the heart. Fine. I will just pull it out and stab you again. Or perhaps I will just step on your head. The result is the same."

  He raised his boot. He positioned it over Roy's skull.

  "This time," Lucifer said, "try not to have any servants interrupt. It is rude."

  He began to bring his foot down.

  ________________________________________

  Lucifer’s boot descended. It was a slow, crushing motion, backed by the weight of a mountain. Roy stared at the pristine white sole, knowing this was the end. He couldn't move. The spear in his shoulder pinned him like a butterfly. The pain was blinding, white-hot tendrils of void energy eating his nerves.

  He didn't close his eyes. He thought of Jasmin. He saw her face in the diamond dust scattering across the floor. He felt a surge of grief so profound it momentarily eclipsed the physical pain. She died for me. For an old man who failed to protect his house.

  The boot was inches from his face.

  BOOM.

  The sky above the estate tore open.

  It wasn't the purple light of the Devil. It was a brilliant, blinding flash of blue and gold. A massive circle of complex runes, fifty feet wide, burned itself into the air directly above the courtyard.

  The air pressure spiked wildly. The smell of ozone and ancient parchment flooded the area.

  Lucifer stopped. His foot hovered inches above Roy’s nose. He looked up, his expression shifting from boredom to mild irritation.

  "Guests," he sighed. "So many guests today."

  From the center of the magical circle, a pillar of light slammed into the ground between Lucifer and Roy. The shockwave forced Lucifer to take a step back—his first retreat of the entire invasion.

  As the light faded, a figure stood revealed. It was Headmaster Valerius. The ancient mage was floating a few inches off the ground, his robes billowing in an arcane wind. His eyes were glowing with white light, and he held a staff that pulsed with the power of the kingdom’s ley lines.

  But he wasn't alone.

  Around the perimeter of the courtyard, space distorted. Pop. Pop. Pop.

  Twelve figures materialized. They wore the golden armor of the Royal Guard. These weren't the standard soldiers; these were the King's personal elite, the Lion’s Claws. Each one was a High-Ascended level warrior. They landed with weapons drawn, forming a protective perimeter around the fallen Arch Duke.

  And behind Valerius, a massive projection appeared. It was a holographic image of King Liam Bethelham himself, projected from the capital.

  "LUCIFER!" The King's voice boomed from the projection, amplified by magic. "Step away from my Arch Duke!"

  Lucifer lowered his foot to the ground. He looked at Valerius. He looked at the Royal Guard. He looked at the projection of the King. He looked utterly unimpressed.

  "The Headmaster," Lucifer drawled. "And the little King. You are late. The party is over. The decorations are broken."

  He gestured vaguely at the ruins of the castle and the red stains on the floor.

  Valerius didn't speak. He slammed his staff into the ground. A dome of blue protective energy sprang up around Roy, shielding him. The mage’s face was a mask of concentration. He knew who he was facing. He knew that even with the Royal Guard, fighting a Devil King was a coin toss with death.

  "You have violated the Treaty of the Gray Lands," Valerius said, his voice echoing. "You have attacked a Sovereign Lord of Bethelham. This is an act of war, Lucifer. If you do not depart, the full might of the Academy and the Crown will descend upon you."

  Lucifer laughed. He picked at a piece of lint on his sleeve. "The full might? You threaten me with ants, wizard. I could kill everyone here in three minutes. Maybe four, if you run fast."

  Chapter : 1596

  He looked at Roy, safely behind the blue barrier. He looked at the spear still stuck in Roy's shoulder.

  "However," Lucifer said, his tone shifting. He looked at the sky. The purple hue was fading, returning to blue. His window of absolute dominance was closing. Maintaining a manifest form in the human world without a host required immense energy, and the portal he had used was destabilizing.

  He looked at Valerius. "I did not come for a war today. Wars are messy. Wars take time. I came for a message."

  He pointed at Roy.

  "The message has been delivered. The Lion is broken. His claws are rusted. His cubs are scattered."

  Lucifer turned his back on the assembled might of the kingdom. It was the ultimate insult. He didn't even consider them a threat worth facing.

  "The debt is partially paid," Lucifer said over his shoulder. "The girl paid the interest."

  He looked at the spot where Jasmin had died. He didn't smile. He just stared at it for a second, his expression unreadable.

  "Diamonds," he muttered to himself. "Annoying things."

  Lucifer raised his hand and slashed the air. Reality ripped open, revealing a swirling vortex of black and violet energy—a gateway back to the Abyss.

  He stepped toward it.

  "Wait!" King Liam’s projection roared. "You will answer for this!"

  Lucifer paused at the threshold. He turned his head slightly.

  "I answer to no one, Human King," he said. "Pray I do not return. Next time, I will not stop at the Duchy. I will burn your throne room."

  However, as soon as Lucifer spoke, Liam’s aura surged, rising as high as an ocean that could cover the entire world. Even Lucifer knew that if this power were unleashed, both humans and demons would suffer catastrophic consequences. Still, he didn’t care what King Liam might do here. Since he couldn’t use the Spear of Nihil for a few days, he planned to avoid fighting him. He also knew that Liam wouldn’t fight back—not now, at least. So, he smirked and looked away.

  With a swirl of his white cape, the Devil King of Pride stepped into the void. The rift snapped shut behind him with a sound like a thunderclap. The purple tint vanished from the sky. The oppressive weight lifted from the air.

  Silence rushed back into the courtyard.

  It was a heavy, terrible silence. The adrenaline faded, leaving only the horror of the aftermath.

  "Secure the perimeter!" the Captain of the Royal Guard shouted, breaking the spell. "Medics! Get to the Arch Duke!"

  Valerius dropped the barrier. He floated down to Roy's side, his face pale. The ancient mage looked old, suddenly. He looked at the devastation around them—the crushed soldiers, the ruined gates, the crater where the diamond statue had been.

  "Roy," Valerius whispered, kneeling beside his old student. "Roy, can you hear me?"

  Roy Ferrum lay in the dust. The Spear of Nihil had dissolved into black smoke when Lucifer left, leaving a gaping, cauterized hole in his shoulder. The Diamond Queen had shattered, but in doing so, she had stripped the spear of its conceptual power. The erasure curse had been spent destroying her absolute defense, leaving only a bolt of void mana to strike the Arch Duke. Roy didn't feel the wound.

  He was staring at a spot a few feet away. The wind was picking up, blowing the loose dust into the air, but the heavier pieces remained.

  Roy was locked in a gaze with Jasmin.

  Her crystallized head lay on the stones, staring back at him with sightless, diamond eyes. Nearby, her severed arm lay reaching out, as if still trying to push him out of harm's way.

  'Jasmin,' Roy rasped, the image burning itself into his mind. The horror of it—the beauty of the diamond mixed with the butchery of the act—broke something inside him.

  'The girl?' Valerius asked, following Roy’s gaze.

  The Headmaster froze. He had seen battlefields. He had seen massacres. But the sight of the young maid, turned to an imperishable statue and scattered like broken pottery, made his stomach turn.

  'She... she stopped it,' Roy whispered, his voice trembling uncontrollably. 'She didn't run. Look at her, Valerius. She is still looking at me.'

  "A noble soul," Valerius said softly.

  Valerius closed his eyes for a moment, unable to hold the gaze of the severed head. He waved his staff, and a gentle cloth of mana wove itself over the remains, covering the head and the limbs, hiding the tragedy from the open sky.