Astensia felt her body trying to fight, but there was no use depending on her body in a time like this. The only thing that could save her in a time like this... was her mind.

So, weakly, Astensia reached up with both hands and grabbed the pincer that was piercing her chest.

Even with no numerical strength left, even with her system parameters screaming at zero, she urged herself to do it simply because she was willing to.

As the Demon shrieked, Astensia forced her blood-slicked fingers to find purchase against the razor-sharp chitin.

The crab demon tried to yank its pincer free, but Astensia held on. Her muscles screamed. Her bones groaned. The edges of the pincer cut deeper into her palms, slicing through flesh, scraping against bone.

She was the Ironwill Knight. No matter how depleted her stats were, no matter how tired her muscles and bones were, all she had to do was will herself to move. To fight.

If she believed in herself enough, she could do anything.

"I’m Astensia Valengard of the Northern Wastes," she groaned, the words bubbling through the blood in her throat.

Slowly, her head raised and her burning, furious eyes met the monster’s. "I am the Ironwill of Mortality."

The Crab Demon shrieked again, louder, sensing the terrifying aura radiating from its prey.

It could feel what she was doing. The pincer was cracking.

"Even without my revered strength... you are no match for my perseverance," Astensia growled, her muscles bulging, veins stretching. "No match for my will!"

She pulled harder. The crack widened.

"ALL OF YOU PROFANITIES WILL BE PURGED FROM THIS TOWN!"

With a final, agonizing effort, she pulled upward—

—and the pincer snapped.

The crack echoed across the town like a gunshot. Purple blood erupted from the broken limb, spraying across Astensia’s face and chest. The Crab Demon reeled backward, shrieking in agony.

Free from the grip, Astensia fell, hitting the cobblestones hard on her back. The severed tip of the pincer, still lodged in her chest, was pushed violently out of her body by the impact, sliding out with a squelch.

But the Crab Demon was only maddened by pain. It bent down to crush her with its remaining claw.

However, Astensia’s hand had found her sword.

She picked it up—barely, with the last of her strength—and as the pincer descended, she drove the Blessed Blade upward into the Demon’s eye.

SKSSSHHH!

The creature froze. The blade had entered through the orb and buried itself to the hilt in the creature’s brain.

"Blessed Blade Form," Astensia whispered. The sword started to glow.

"Blessed Buster Sword."

Instantly, the blade expanded, growing wider, thicker, longer, until it was the size of a greatsword wielded by a giant.

The expansion literally exploded the Crab Demon’s entire head from the inside out. Brain matter, chitin, and purple blood rained down across the streets as the headless behemoth collapsed dead beside her.

Astensia’s hand fell limp against the ground. The edges of her vision went dark. She was sure she was going to faint.

Then, a golden notification pinged in her vision.

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. Lvl 201 → Lvl 202. ]

[ Your stats have been increased! ]

A fresh surge of immense power and stamina rushed through her veins, healing her torn chest and flooding her depleted muscles with vitality.

Astensia’s eyes narrowed in pure confusion as she stared at the system prompt.

’I didn’t do that...’

×××××××

Back at the central square, the battle against the Demon Commander was at its peak.

Jaxen Ironhold was on one knee, his heavy vanguard shield dented inward and his left arm hanging uselessly at his side. Silas Mercer was bleeding from his nose, the 9-Star Gold runes on his arms flickering and threatening to burn out from overexertion. Kaleb Vance had exhausted his localized supercell, leaving only a drizzle of rain to cool the burning streets.

In the center of the carnage, the Demon Commander thrashed. Its leathery wings were torn, and one of its massive crab-pincers had been blown clean off.

But the beast was still standing, its stomach-mouth gnashing and dripping acidic saliva as it prepared to charge Jaxen to finish him off.

Vernon Heavenblum stood fifty feet away, his chest heaving, his elegant uniform torn and stained with purple ichor.

He raised both hands, funneling every last drop of his Grace into his palms. The air around his arms began to violently spiral, pulling the ambient oxygen into a hyper-compressed, spinning drill.

"Wind Spear!" Vernon roared. "SHIELD BREAKER!"

He thrust his hands forward. The attack shot out as a spiraling javelin of deadly wind, it sped across the square, spinning so fast it distorted the air around it.

The Demon Commander turned its massive chest-eye toward the attack, but it was too slow. The [ Wind Spear ] drilled directly into the center of the giant yellow eye, shredding the writhing tentacles around it and tunneling straight through the monster’s torso.

The wind erupted out of the Commander’s back witu a purple blood splashing out dramatically.

After a second of being still, the monster fell backward and died.

The moment its life extinguished, the concentrated Demonic energy inside its body detonated.

A violent shockwave of Gloom and miasma blasted outward in a ring, rolling across the ruined buildings and spreading through the entirety of Hebthej like a tidal wave of death.

Vernon stood victorious, his cape billowing behind him.

Halfway up the spiraling staircase of the clock tower, Thor and Valeria braced themselves as the shockwave of Gloom washed over them.

The solidifying air made Valeria stagger, her breath catching in her throat as the aura of the demonic energy pressed against her lungs.

Valeria tightened her grip on Starsplitter, looking down the dark stairwell. "Vernon killed the Commander," she mentioned, catching her breath.

Thor stood perfectly straight, the static in her hair crackling violently against the Gloom. She looked up toward the top of the tower and narrowed her eyes.

"Good. Now it’s my turn to kill something."

They resumed their climb.

The interior of the clock tower was the most repulsive, vile environment Valeria had ever seen. The heart of the Demon invasion had completely sunk the place into absolute evil.

The stone walls no longer looked like stone; they were coated in a thick, fleshy mucosal membrane that had this throbbing sensation like they were the hearts of all the Demons in this town.

The massive iron gears and cogs of the clockwork were jammed with severed limbs and wrapped in thick, pulsing red tendons. Thick droplets of miasma rained down from the ceiling and as they climbed, the clock ticked dramatically, counting their steps.

Monsters still guarded the ascent. A brood of mutated, spider-like Demons with human faces dropped from the fleshy gears above.

But they were all destroyed by the wrath of Thor’s lightning.

Finally, they reached the top of the tower.

There was supposed to be a door here, but like everything else, it too had been corrupted. Rather than a wooden entrance, it was completely covered with gooey redness and decayed substances.

The pulsing here was impossibly strong. Bulging, visible shockwaves of Gloom and miasma kept spreading out from behind the door.

Each one was stronger than the last.

Thor stopped, standing still for a while. Then, she glanced over her shoulder at the Grand Dragoon. "Do you feel it too?"

"Yes," Valeria concurred, feeling the aura in her bones.

"My armor is negating some of the energy," Thor stated coldly, looking down at her silver breastplate, "but it’s still too much. The power of this monster is unbelievable. It must die. Now."

×××××××××

Down at the chapel, the vanguard successfully killed the rest of the Demons. Nereus’s strongest shadow summon, Argus, had killed the Serpent Demon.

Seradine Locke hurried over, grabbing Astensia by the arm and helping the exhausted Heroine to her feet.

Astensia’s breathing was heavy, but her wound was actively healing and the color had returned to her face. She stepped over the headless Crab Demon, bending down to claim her Blessed Blade and her dented shield.

She slid them onto her arms and immediately snapped her gaze toward the massive pile of crushed stone and splintered wood.

The chapel.

"The civilians!" Astensia gasped, her eyes widening in panic. "Master Lancet!"

Without waiting for the others, Astensia leaped toward the rubble, Rilla, Jaxen, Seradine, and Nereus rushing behind her.

"Stand back!" Astensia yelled. She raised the Blessed Blade, channeling the fresh surge of power she had just mysteriously acquired, and brought the heavy claymore down on the largest fallen pillar.

The stone shattered into a hundred pieces. Jaxen and Seradine immediately joined in, using their raw physical strength to heave massive chunks of masonry out of the way, digging frantically through the ruins.

Finally, they breached the collapsed floorboards, finding their way to the ruined door of the catacombs.

Astensia pushed her way inside, descending the stone stairs into the firelit darkness.

There, illuminated by Frieda’s floating fireball, stood the student Awakeners, and behind them, the massive, huddled group of terrified civilians.

Astensia let out a breath of relief, lowering her sword. "Are you okay?" she asked, her voice echoing in the damp space.

"We’re fine," Renan nodded, stepping forward. "Cassian is injured, but Maevia healed him."

The civilians, however, were not fine. They were staring at Astensia as if a ghost had just walked into the room. The clearly recognized her glowing golden armor, the winged helm and the legendary Blessed Blade.

"Is that not..." the burly blacksmith pointed a trembling finger at her.

Amira looked at the man and replied plainly, "Yeah. It’s her."

The blacksmith’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he almost fainted, caught just in time by two other civilians.

Renan gestured to the caved-in ceiling above the stairs. "It seems like the chapel closed in on us."

Nereus, stepping out from the shadows behind Astensia, nodded apathetically. "It did. It changes nothing. We must now focus on clearing the smuggler tunnel to the south gate."

Astensia didn’t look like she was listening. Her blue eyes were darting across the firelit catacombs, scanning the faces of the students, peering into the dark corners, looking past the huddled civilians.

But she couldn’t find him. Her breath stopped for a second.

"Where’s my Master?"

Everyone paused, turning around to the spot near the shattered doorway where they had seen Lancet last.

Renan turned his head. Amira frowned, looking to her left. Frieda held the fireball higher, casting light into the far edges of the catacombs. Nereus’s dark eyes narrowed.

The spot was empty.

"Where’s Lancet?"