Outside of Youra’s prison.

"I will kill you...!" Rachel muttered, glaring coldly at Eliza who wielded her relic.

"Another brat...? Why are they all always coming after me...?" Eliza wondered.

Rachel knew beforehand that Eliza was the one who killed Harik, thus, she searched for her on the battlefield even though she had to fight her way to her explaining all the bruises she already had on her body.

She knew that this was a tough match-up as Eliza was a former Grand Order member who was now also wielding a relic.

However, compared to that match-up, Belian had a much easier time.

Still, he felt conflicted.

"..."

He was glaring intensively at a fragile demon who was just a C-rank.

"P-please spar me...!" the demon begged while being on his knees.

"You..."

Belian clenched his fists until the veins were about to burst.

"You’re kidding me...!" he muttered in spite.

"I was searching for you all this time wanting to take my revenge on you...!"

The demon before Belian was none other than the demon who took everything from Belian when he was a child.

He was finally meeting his target, however, he could not feel any more disappointed.

In his memories, the demon was a cruel and fearsome creature but now said creature was begging for his life. And the biggest problem was that the demon was just a mere C-rank demon. A demon for whom Belian did not need to train at all.

"Everything was taken from me by a demon like you...?" he murmured, gritting his teeth as he raised his sword.

Meanwhile, Sara also faced an opponent she did not expect to be here.

Or rather, someone whom she did not expect to be alive.

"How is that possible...?" Sara stuttered in disbelief.

The former water mage of the Grand Order, Dura Waret, was in the air.

She had the characteristics of a demon due to her black wings, hair and eyes. Her body had foreign marks on them and on her feet were signs of fish-like scales.

Sara hesitated at first but soon got her act together before she gripped her sword tightly.

"I’m sorr-"

"!"

But as soon as she took a step she stopped.

Not just her but everyone else on the battlefield, including the demons.

With goosebumps all over her body, Sara looked in the direction everyone else was looking at.

"W-what the heck is that...?" she wondered pensively and cautiously.

Then, without anyone noticing, a person managed to arrive at the center of the field.

It all happened within the blink of an eye and once everyone realized the presence of that person they turned to said individual.

"Hngh?!"

However, it was too late.

Many, especially those near that person, sensed something extremely cold piercing their body.

"..."

Sara slowly cast her gaze below and saw a black ice pillar sticking out of her chest.

"Bluergh!"

A lot of blood escaped her mouth.

She realized that it was too late.

"..."

Dumbfoundedly, she took a look around and saw that not just her comrades but also demons were either pierced or completely frozen by the person.

"..."

Then, Sara took a look at the one who was responsible.

"?!"

Her eyes widened extremely.

"Sylvia...?" Belian, whose feet were frozen to the ground, muttered in shock.

The one called Sylvia had black wings and long grey hair with black tips. Her black eyes were void of anything and her body was covered with dark matter instead of actual clothes.

Just like Dura, she had traces of scales but they were located on her left forearm.

"Sylvia... Is that really you...?" Rachel asked weakly.

She had holes in her body after receiving multiple ice pillars from different angles.

"Sylvia..."

Desperately, Rachel reached out to her.

"!"

However, she was met with a barrage of icicles piercing her from the front.

"Rachel!!!" Belian shouted as he had to watch his comrade getting skewered by another former comrade.

He tried to break out of the ice, even using his relic which should melt everything it touched but it was in vain. Belian could not break the ice.

"?!"

Instead, the ice seemed to move up.

"Sylvia! What are you doing?! Sylvia! Hey! Do you hear me?!" Belian shouted but Sylvia did not pay any attention to him and continued her instant massacre.

"Sylv-"

And soon Belian was completely frozen in a black ice block.

"Damn it... Is this how it ends...?" Sara remarked with a weak self-deprecating smile before her head was torn off by an ice attack.

Thus, the nation of Grat fell once and for all at the hands of a third party.

Back to the present.

After a few additional days of traveling Lily arrived in Hafor, the biggest port city in Malnor.

Although Malnor was a nation under Lucio’s government, Lily managed to get there undetected due to her flying there with her creature.

She also wore a robe to hide her identity from the people but there was no need for her to worry about being sold out by the normal folk as they were all against Lucio’s ideology.

Only because Lucio threatened them with his demon army did the normal people pretend to obey him.

"..."

Lily just arrived and headed to the port but she could already sense the source of Grat’s downfall from far away.

Thanks to a handful of survivors, Lily managed to receive a report concerning Grat.

Solely based on the description of the young woman who attacked them, Lily could come to a clear conclusion:

It was Sylvia.

It also made sense if one looked at the articles about the missing people returning.

Lily did some investigations and found out that all the missing people had once embarked on the sea and never returned since then, meaning that they most likely encountered Leviathan who swallowed them. And if one believed the myth about Leviathan setting its victims free after a certain amount of time, then everything would make sense.

After all, Sylvia was also once swallowed by Leviathan.

"..."

The sky turned darker despite it still being in the middle of the day.

Lily squinted her eyes more and noticed something strange on the horizon of the sea.

Simultaneously, demons who were stationed in Hafor noticed it as well and headed toward there.

"They didn’t notice me yet..." Lily whispered as she hid herself in a deserted and rundown boat.

It should have been in the middle of summer but all of a sudden Lily began to shiver from the cold.

"What’s going on here...?" she wondered, exhaling a cold breath.

Lily waited a little longer until she sensed the temperature dropping even lower.

"...?"

She also took notice of the boat starting to freeze.

But it was not just normal ice.

It was black ice.

"G-get away from her!"

"Argh!"

"Shit! Who is-"

Lily heard the demons panicking outside and how they seemingly failed to escape.

More and more demons headed to the sea but just a few moments later they flew away hurriedly.

"W-we have to report this to Sir Lucio!"

"I-Isn’t she a demon...?!"

"Are you stupid?! Sir Dreyar is the current strongest demon in the human realm! How could someone on par with the top demons be also here without us knowing?!"

Soon, the demons left Hafor and headed to Loogam.

"Guess I can get out now..." Lily murmured vigilantly as she sneaked out of the boat.

But once she took a look at the sea, she could not believe her eyes or close her mouth.

"What the..."

She summoned a bird and flew to the sea.

It looked like there was a land of black ice on the sea.

There were pillars and sharp icicles emerging from there and the ice layer kept spreading further toward the mainland.

"!"

Lily flinched.

She should have known due to the reports from Grat, however, seeing the person from up close affected her more than she thought.

"It’s really you... Sylvia..."

Lily tried to hold her tears and emotions back.

She gritted her teeth.

"..."

Using her wand, she summoned 100 fire creatures at once.

"Stay calm, Lily..." she reassured herself by taking deep breaths.

The current Sylvia was an enemy who killed everyone, including her friends, in Grat.

"!"

Again, it felt like she received goosebumps.

Sylvia, who was apathetically moving toward Hafor finally took notice of the flying Lily.

"..."

She stretched her hand toward her.

"Keh...!"

Multiple sharp ice pillars headed to Lily who barely dodged them by maneuvering her creature.

"?!"

However, all the moving made her lose sight of Sylvia for one moment.

And now, Sylvia who used her wings to fly up was right in front of Lily, staring deeply into her eyes.

"Syl-"

Sylvia launched a quick kick that sent Lily into the water.

"Damn it...!"

Lily coughed painfully.

She may have hindered a worse fall by shooting out a fire blaze in the direction of the water but she still crashed brutally.

"Sylvia... Have you forgotten who I am...? Is fighting you the only option...?"