Everyone has their own keepsake. It's how they kept their treasured memories and remind them of who they are in life.

  Some kept their rusted swords as a memento of their past battles they endured and won. Some kept their old jewelry because they were once owned by their ancestors or their beloved relative who departed from this world. And some kept a few stones as simple trophies from defeating their formidable foes.

  Regardless of a reason behind them, they never let go of their keepsake no matter what. Even if their stories were good or bad for them, their keepsakes are nothing more than preserved memories they would protect.

  However, I don't know much about my keepsake. I only found it when I came to and they only said it was there because I made a promise.

  But to who? And why?

  I know this is my keepsake...

  Yet I hear no voice from my empty memories...

  "DIEEEEEEE!!!!"

  A beam of dark energy was fired from the wild Demon's mouth. However, Casia was quick enough to drag me out of the range before Val and Thurkith flew up and drew their blades.

  "Shadows, possess the life around me." Thurkith raised his blade and to my shock, large black plant vines suddenly emerged from the ground as they stood between him. "Entanglement!"

  The vines quickly grabbed the wild Demon along with his limbs and wings. I have to admit, I barely knew Thurkith for a while, but I'm impressed how he managed to use a plant-based magic along with our usual darkness spells. Although, the demon seemed to squirm around, which I'm guessing it's his attempt to free himself from Thurkith's bindings.

  "Oh, no! You're not going anywhere!" Val clapped his hands together as dark mana gathered around his body. "Look into my eyes and don't move an inch!"

  As he said, the demon flinched before it could squirm more and before we knew it, not one inch of his limbs and wings were moved.

  "Now's your chance, you two! I don't know how long Kith and I hold him in for much longer!"

  "I appreciate the help, you two!" Casia turned to me next. "We can't waste their efforts, Vander. So let's take this opening!"

  I simply nodded, knowing what they're trying to do. Without any second thoughts, I raised my arm and gathered all of the flames in my palm. As for Casia, he took a deep breath as he absorbed them into his mouth. It took a while for us to finished our preparations, but we needed to release it as I saw the demon's ear started to twitch.

  "Let the flames burn you to ashes!" I yelled before I released my spell. "Blazing Embers!"

  I tossed the fire ball towards the demon just as Casia let out a stream of flames from his mouth. Normally, my current ability wasn't enough to reach this spell with the current height of the wild Demon. However, just as it started falling, Casia's flames made contact and it quickly shoot up towards the demon's head. As expected, it exploded before it could make contact to it, causing some of its embers to burn through his fur and skin along with the vines wrapped around his limbs and wings.

  "KRRaAAAA@AAAAAggggHHHHhhHH!!!"

  The demon's agonizing screeches echoed throughout the burning village. I almost lost the will to fight since this demon was once a boy plagued with the misfortune of being treated as a monster to everyone in the village. Yet, I also recalled that he was willing to shed human blood to avenged himself from all of the torment and pain he endured. He already made up his mind and I couldn't change it if I wanted to. However, I also decided to eliminate at all cost. There was no turning back on our decisions and I know the consequences. If I want to help him, at least I should give him peace from his eternal pain.

  "Now... Burn back into the ashes of light! Fire Ball!"

  Without any break, I fired as many fireballs as I could as the others used their own spells to attack the demon. Yet after a while, I noticed that rather than taking a lot of scars and cuts around his chest, we noticed there were barely any wounds and burns left on it. Even when Val cut through his skin with his axe, most of it were healed in a couple of seconds. It seemed like this guy has a great healing factor, yet has a normal weakness against the flames. Casia said he wasn't turned into a wild Demon not too long ago, yet I was surprised how strong he was when he broke through the wall so easily. But with their magic helping me, it should be enough to weaken him.

  Yet, something wasn't right about this... This was way too easy for them so far and the demon hasn't retaliated against us. I knew Casia, Val, and Thurkith were strong in their own right, but this didn't seem like the demon was brutally beaten up without any effort to fight back.

  "Stop it! It hurts! Why are you helping those humans?! They're the real monsters!"

  "Do you expect us to repeat the young Master's words?! You might be a human in this village, but we won't allow a demon rampage in this side for long!" Val answered while firing a few more fireballs in his end.

  "Your existence here is a threat to not only to the humanoids in the Light's domain, but also the demons who had protected the walls on the other side as per the Goddess's wishes," Thurkith added. "We apologized for the pain your people caused you. But as the young Master of the Lavender and the law ordered, you cannot live any longer!"

  "N-No... Even you...don't want me?!"

  "We don't want him"? Strange... It's as if he was talking to someone who wasn't there.

  "They were right... I can't trust all of the strangers, including the talking demons."

  "Talking? What the hell is that demon talking about?!" Val asked in confusion.

  "It's no use. At this point, he's talking nonsense," Thurkith answered. "All we can do now is to follow the young Master's wishes."

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  No, I don't think that demon became crazy. This feeling... Now I know something bad would happen...

  "If this is what the world would treat me, then I will destroy EVERYTHING!!!"

  Before I could warn everyone, the demon's body began to glow red holes. Then with a roar, beams of red energy suddenly fired from the holes as they flew towards us.

  "Crud... Stop attacking and retreat!" I screamed. "That's an order!"

  I let Casia drag me out of the burning village as we flew out before the beams hit us. While we managed to avoid it, we watch the rubble and bodies left behind dissolving into nothingness under the mysterious beam from the demon. Once it disappeared, we gasped to see any trace of a village disappeared. No ashes, no rubble... All that was left was a large crater. Any chances of finding survivors finally disappeared as we couldn't find a single body anywhere from it.

  "W-What the hell?!" Val muttered. "I-Is that even possible?!"

  I have no clue, but I'm too speechless to answer. The fact he managed to erase everything with that one attack made me wonder if he was a normal wild Demon at all.

  "Everyone, look!"

  Thurkith's voice was enough to snapped me out of my shock. Yet it wasn't the end of it. When we look at the direction he was pointing, I saw a few stray beams heading different directions away from the crater.

  "Are you serious?! A few of them are heading towards Concordis and nearby cities!" Casia declared in shock. "I can't reach them in time to stop them!"

  If that's true, then he didn't need to fly away to wreck havoc. Whether we managed to stop his tracks or not, it didn't matter anymore. He would just fire them off whenever he wanted. If that's the case, I guess there's no other choice after all.

  "This is heartless of me to say this, but we need to focus on the demon first!" I said. "If we focus on the beams first, you wouldn't able to reach them as Casia said. But if we defeat the demon before he fires again, then we might avoid anymore casualties from other cities and towns."

  "I agree with Vander. We need to kill him now if we want to protect humanity from our own kind's wrath," Casia said. "Val, Thurkith, we need to stop that beast from firing any more beams."

  "I don't know if I can stop that chimera with my abilities, but it's better than letting that guy erasing all of the humanity here," Val said with a grin.

  "I agree. As one of the vowed mercenaries of the Demon Territory, I won't allow this monster to ruin the peace between our kin!" Thurkith declared.

  I took a deep breath and glared at the Wild Demon once more. "Then it's decided. Don't stop attacking and don't let him retaliate!"

  "AS IF I LET YOU!!!"

  The ground started to rumble as more vines emerged below us. It didn't take long for Casia to take me away from it along with Val and Thurkith. But to my horror, I saw one of them grabbed Thurkith's leg and tried to pull him away from us.

  "Damn monster! Let go of me this instant!" Thurkith took out his dagger and quickly cut them down. However, more of the vines came from behind and grabbed his arms before he could notice them.

  "Mr. Thurkith!" I screamed in horror. "Let him go!"

  "No, Vander! We can't risk losing you!"

  I wished I could have listened to Casia's warning on time. Yet I feared the worse for him if I don't do something. So rather than listening to him, I was about to cast another Fire Ball in my palms. But I didn't notice two more grabbed my wrist, neck, and hips before pulling me away from Casia.

  "Young Master!"

  That's all I could hear from Val as he found myself dragged off towards the chimera's direction. However, I saw Casia flew up with his dragon wings and charged towards me as he reached out his hand. "Grab my hand!"

  I could feel my arms crushed under the grip of the vines. I didn't even know if I could free my arms from it because of how tight it has. At this rate, I won't able to escape here alive.

  "I-I'm sorry. Y-You have to g- ACK!"

  I didn't have enough time to finish my sentence as I watch Casia yanked all of the vines away from my body and grabbed me by the collar. "I don't want to hear your self-sacrificial recklessness, young man! You said it yourself we will go back to our home alive! Whether you're the living successor of Hyde or his experiment doesn't matter to me anymore. You and me are family and I won't let you kill yourself for this!"

  Casia...

  "You heard your guardian, young Master!" My eyes flinched as I turn around to see Thurkith now trapped in vines, yet still smiling despite his current predicament. "I lend my life to protect my kin against the prejudice and harm from our home! If it means taking my own life to kill this monster, then I shall do so for the sake of both worlds!"

  "I'm on board with him!" Val shouted while firing several electric and fire spells at the vines. "We're here to protect all demonkind and we're not gonna rest until we fulfill your wishes, young M- I mean, young Vander! So stop thinking of everyone's safety and worry about yourself first!"

  Everyone...

  I guess it's my fault for not thinking straight for protecting Casia and his friends. I commend them for sticking with me till the bitter end and I appreciate their efforts to fulfill their promise to me. But at this rate, the demon is already too strong and smart for us to stop with only four of us alone.

  You're missing one.

  Huh? Missing...one? And what is this? I don't recall this voice before.

  You already recognize me. However, I shouldn't be the one you should be asking about. Rather, you should wonder why you felt something missing.

  Missing... Missing...

  Oh.

  I almost forgot about him. But I haven't heard him in a while now. I don't know if he could help us or even hear me at all.

  You can reach him. It's only a matter of time until he opens his eyes to the truth. All that's left for him is to see it. Only you have the key to make a breakthrough.

  A breakthrough... The "truth"...

  It's only a matter of time until he remembers and I'm aware he needs to make a choice now. But I doubt his presence is enough to help us defeat the wild Demon.

  Then I'll give you power. Power that is enough to defeat the threat in front of you as long as you two are together. Leave your mind to me and I will let you in to unlock the final piece of his heart.

  His heart...

  In that case, I'll accept this risk.

  "Casia, keep watch on my body."

  "Huh?! What in the world are you talking about?!" Casia asked. "Aren't you aware..."

  "I know. But I need him more than ever. If we want to stop his second barrage, then I need to reach within his heart. Please, Casia... It's the only way we can end this tragedy!"

  That's all I could say. Knowing Casia, he might have guessed what I'm about to do. But he was right at what he was about to say. If I need to reach him, I need to lose my consciousness, leaving my body vulnerable against the demon's attacks. Yet if I don't do this now, not only humanity would be on the brink of extinction, but possibly the Demon Territory and Gabriel back in the mansion. It's the only choice I have.

  "I-I understand. But please, be careful."

  I nodded with a smile. I have full confidence Casia would protect me. I took a deep breath and lied on Casia's lap. I closed my eyes as the last words I heard from him was to command Thurkith and Val to divert the wild Demon's attention away from me.

  If this is the answer...

  If this is the miracle I need to save both worlds...

  Then I need to reach him.

  I need to wake Aster up.

  [You reached out to the [Anima Cecidit]...]