I went fully offensive as he cast his spell.

  I imbued my blade with mana and aura and sliced through the light projectiles coming at me one by one.

  [Shadow Tag.]

  With that, he couldn't teleport anymore. I tried to match his proficiency — but his skill far exceeded mine. No matter how I pushed, he kept me well-engaged, throwing spell after spell to maintain the distance between us.

  He's not giving me an inch.

  "I recognize you," Bephelgor said, laughing from somewhere in the walls. "Josephine von Konrow — Eldest Daughter of the Konrow Duchy. The villainess of the century!"

  My shadow magic was useless. Even going all out, I couldn't land a single hit.

  "I told you," Cassian said, pushing me back again. "Physical attacks don't work on me." He raised his staff. "Use magic. Or you'll never defeat Bephelgor."

  "You realize that by now, don't you?" Bephelgor called out. "Of course — no demon alive has an ability like yours."

  "Then what will you do?" Cassian's voice dropped. Something in it shifted. "Do you realize how many lives were taken by these hands?!"

  He — he was talking about himself.

  "That's why you must kill me, oh blessed one." A massive beam of light came at me.

  "I remember now," Cassian said, his voice going distant. "Someone shook my hand during the Crusades — it flooded back into me. General Gantz. And after that... I don't know what happened."

  "It must have been you, Bephelgor." He said it quietly. "He used me."

  "So what, you senile old man?!" Bephelgor spat. "You're just a relic who sacrificed millions for the sake of my great plan!"

  "I know." Cassian didn't flinch. "And I could never repay that debt to Hecatia."

  A blizzard erupted from nowhere. A tornado swept the room. Pillars of ice shot at me — I turned, felt one graze my back.

  Then the floor opened up in shadow.

  Tentacles coiled around me before I could react, dragging me forward until I was directly in front of him, Cassian's staff leveled at my face. He said something I couldn't parse — words that didn't sound like any language.

  I shattered the restraints with holy magic. White light — my hair radiating—

  [Sanctuary!]

  The entire room flooded with light. Magical symbols bloomed across every surface.

  "You idiot! You think holy magic works on me?! Hahaha—!"

  "I am the beginning and the end."

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Cassian drove his staff into the ground. A magic circle ignited beneath us.

  "Wake up, oh blessed one."

  Everything stopped.

  Frozen mid-motion — the light, the circle, the staff still sinking into the ground.

  "I don't have much time." His voice was calm. "Listen carefully. Can you extend Sanctuary outward? Envelop the entire area with it. Visualize it if you have to."

  "But why doesn't holy magic—"

  "It doesn't work on him directly."

  "Because his real body is the nerves," I said. "Isn't it?"

  Smart.

  Though — wasn't he unconscious when Bephelgor was controlling him?

  "I could feel it even then," Cassian said. "Demonic energy inside of me. There's no other way he could have held me." A pause. "If you can do what I'm asking — I can break free from his control. Momentarily. When that happens, do what you must."

  "I surrender everything given to me — to the great triple-faced goddess Hecatia."

  "How?! Why won't you obey me — STOP—!"

  The demonic essence became visible, coiling out of Cassian's body like smoke, thrashing. Cassian raised both arms and a divine light gathered in his palms.

  "Ars Nova."

  A sound like cracking ice filled the room.

  [Part of Hecatia's authority has been transferred to you! Divinity increased!]

  [Magic Overlord has evolved — Empress of Magic!]

  The power hit me like a wave. Every part of me lit up with it.

  "You senile old man—!"

  He cast at me — but it was slower now. Weaker. I could feel the difference like a drop in temperature. I reached out and caught his shadow in my fist and squeezed.

  He struggled. Couldn't move.

  I walked toward him slowly. Activated Divine Sight. Found one nerve — just one — and pushed my divine energy into it.

  It spread. Root by root, threading through the city's entire network.

  "You bitch! You think you can control me?! I'll control you—!"

  The nerve caught fire.

  His entire tree burned from the inside out, root by root collapsing into ash.

  "No—!!! Impossible! This can't be happening—! Years of work, my great plan, destroyed by a mere young lady?!"

  The nerves across the city convulsed and clumped together — pulling, converging — forming a single massive hand that lunged at me.

  "Then I'll corrupt you instead! Hahaha—!"

  Wait. Where is this?

  Something felt familiar about it and I didn't know why.

  "Hey, Bephelgor."

  A younger Cassian stood across from me.

  Is this—

  I moved to run. An invisible wall stopped me flat.

  "I knew it," he said. "It's your soul that's corrupted."

  I grabbed him by the collar.

  "It's no use," Cassian said. "You're trapped here with me."

  "How—?! How is this possible?!"

  And then it hit me.

  "...Illusion." My hands went slack. "I lost — to an illusion? Goddamn it—"

  "That's right," Cassian said.

  I looked at the old man kneeling on the ground in front of me.

  He had switched our bodies while Bephelgor's judgment was clouded. That was why Bephelgor couldn't tell the difference — couldn't discern what was real.

  I leveled the staff at him.

  "Where my journey ends," Cassian said, "yours begins."

  "Live a good life. Rule the world if you must."

  "No—!" Bephelgor's voice cracked. "I must not die here — don't you want to revive them?! Live and rule it all! I could give you—"

  A fist connected. Bephelgor stumbled to the ground.

  "From now on," Cassian said quietly, "it's her journey to take."

  "NO—!!!"

  The mindscape began to burn around them.

  "Forgive me, Hecatia," Cassian said, walking toward the void. "I can finally join you all on the other side."

  "You can't defeat Bephelgor without his real body — which I believe is his soul. Even if you destroy every nerve, he'll still exist."

  "Then how do we stop him?"

  "Trap him inside my mind. I can hold him there. With Sanctuary, he won't be able to escape. When that happens — you must kill us both with magic. Or he'll come back."

  The old man knelt before me and drove his staff into the ground.

  "I hope that in your next life, you live happily — with your comrades."

  The magic circle he had prepared glowed beneath me. I cast the spell.

  [Fallen Down!]

  A pillar of light came down.

  When it faded, there was nothing left. Not even ash. Just silence and the smell of something ancient burning out.

  "Latom," I said.

  [Quest: Defeat Bephelgor — Completed. View reward?]

  "Later," I muttered.

  I need to loot this place first.