Snow dust suddenly fell down, blowing onto the faces of the two giants.
They opened their blurry eyes, shook their heads, and once again swayed as they slowly stood back up.
Once again, without any tactics, relying only on brute force, they stomped across the trembling earth, charging toward that furious demon.
The flaming greatsword in its hand suddenly burst out hundreds of meters long, powerful fire elements wrapping around the Flame Giant's entire body.
Leighton drove his pitch-black claws deep into the greatsword and forcibly tore that massive energy blade into two halves, turning it into drifting strands of natural energy that faded in the air.
The Flame Giant looked at its greatsword suddenly returning to its original form and instantly let out a breath.
The moment it raised its head again to look at the demon, a pair of huge crimson hands lunged toward it with terrifying speed.
The demon lifted its enormous body, together with its flesh and snow dust, and under the red moonlight, slammed it violently down into the icy ocean.
It continued tormenting the powerless giant until it once again lost consciousness, its four limbs drooping toward the center of the earth.
Behind it, the Ice Giant moved step by step toward Leighton.
That enormous power passed through the surge of the blood-sea, letting the demon feel a powerful impact.
It lifted the unconscious Flame Giant in one hand, swung it around a few times, and smashed it hard toward the Ice Giant's head.
Bang!
The massive impact made an entire mountainside collapse suddenly.
Raging rocks and snow dust crashed onto the solid ground, exploding into a blast of freezing air that blew everyone present off their feet.
Bracing against the airflow, the members of the Pale Mage Council had shock filling their eyes.
They truly could not imagine that the two giants, as large as small mountains, were actually so unable to withstand even one blow before the demon.
They stood frozen in place, not even realizing that they had already been thrown aside, lying on the snowy plains.
There wasn't even a trace of blood in the surrounding snow dust. At some unknown moment, they had already been teleported to a tall location far away from the battlefield.
The entire vast Extreme North Icefield had now become a battlefield between the demon and the giants.
That crimson, savage crocodile-like creature shook its sticky saliva as it treated the giants like toys, smashing them repeatedly into the ground.
Delk stood beside Vladimir and slowly asked, "General, you've seen a lot. Can you explain this scene to everyone?"
Vladimir reached out and slapped Delk hard across the neck.
"Do I look like someone who's seen something like this before?"
"Hurry up and go count the casualties! Damn it!"
Delk endured the pain, chuckled twice, and quickly ran off.
Vladimir picked his cigar back up, looking at the shocking scene before him as he scratched his pale back of the head.
"Phew… sigh, this one's a bit hard to explain…"
The Pale Mage Council had deployed all its forces. At first, it was only to push the barbarians back a hundred miles.
Yet this battle directly annihilated more than half of the Flame Sword and Frostclaw forces.
Even if some remnants survived, the barbarians would no longer be able to form any threat.
Even Vladimir himself had always believed this would be a brutally deadly fight.
He never expected the barbarians to summon two enormous giants when facing extinction.
But even more unexpected was that right after the giants appeared, an even greater figure followed behind, a demon large enough to swallow the sky.
A demon helping humans exterminate the barbarians?
Even if this headline appeared in the royal capital, it would cause an uproar.
Biting his cigar, Vladimir took a deep drag to clear his mind a bit.
Under this blood-red sky, everyone stared wide-eyed at the fierce battle between the giants and the demon.
Or rather, a one-sided beating.
The demon seemed to deliberately retract its claws and instead used its enormous red fists, as big as their heads, to uppercut the giants' jaws with brutal force.
The power was so great that even their bones were about to shatter.
Another jab shot out; the two giants were in a straight line, their ribs turned into fragments.
Inside their bodies, their organs were jolted with sharp pain.
The flames constantly burning on the Flame Giant's body dimmed noticeably in the fierce wind of those punches.
The Frost Giant dragged its pain-stricken body, planning to freeze the demon within the blood-sea.
Cold frost rose from the blood-sea, spreading upward toward the demon's legs.
But Leighton only blew lightly with his breath.
The hard ice shattered completely like brittle thin sheets.
His giant tail, covered in steel scales, swept out fiercely, crushing the Frost Giant's legs completely, like cracking through blocks of ice.
It collapsed onto the ground with a painful howl, the dozens-meter-high white frost mist looking especially clear under the blood moon.
Countless magi and sorcerers stood atop the cliff.
Seeing the sight before them, they couldn't help but cheer excitedly, "Beautiful! Well done!"
"That punch, yes!"
"Hit its mid-lane! Hit the mid-lane!"
With the venting cheers rising one after another, it was as if the hatred toward the barbarians was being poured entirely onto those two pitiful ice-and-fire giants.
Gwen, however, stared blankly, utterly confused as she watched.
"Why?"
A being that could be called world-ending, a demon, was actually beating two giants to death.
No one felt fear or dread. They were even slapping the ground, shouting in celebration.
This was completely different from what she imagined.
"You think demons will definitely slaughter humans?"
"You think humans will definitely fear demons?"
The voice behind her sounded faintly, as if carrying some kind of power that guided her thoughts.
"Why?"
Gwen opened her mouth, but everything she wanted to say got stuck in her throat and she couldn't speak.
Any words felt pale and powerless before this scene.
Ever since demons appeared throughout history, including the last time the Greed Demon appeared in the capital, every time, humans were always the side suffering heavy casualties.
They were the source of terror for humankind.
But…
How was she supposed to explain this scene before her eyes?
"You weren't wrong, demons and humans indeed cannot coexist."
"But they've always existed by our side."
Viktor's voice lingered by her ear.
"Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust. Seven emotions, corresponding to the origins of all demons. Doesn't that sound strange?"
"Because these seven emotions are something that almost only humans, creatures rich in feelings, can possess all at once."
Suddenly, Viktor let out a soft laugh.
"The demon before you is the embodiment of Wrath."
"Guess, why did it appear?"
Gwen's eyes suddenly widened. She stared dumbly at the demon before her, at its battle, at the sorcerers cheering with applause.
A trembling dread rose from her heart.
'Because… of the Delin family?'
As if realizing something, Gwen's voice shook.
"Because of the anger in their hearts." Viktor placed his hand on her head like he was comforting her, his tone carrying a trace of satisfaction.
"Don't worry. Even though your surname is also Delin, what that family has done has nothing to do with you."
"I know. You understand the deep sins of Angus very well."
A red formation lit up instantly behind Viktor. There were no carved symbols or runes, just simple flames burning around the two of them.
Under the blood moon, the warm glow looked slightly out of place.
But the fire did warm Gwen a little, at least calming her enough to breathe.
Yet Viktor didn't stop speaking.
"Their anger became the demon's nourishment. So the demon appeared, and helped them."
In the same way, Viktor's voice suddenly turned colder.
"Their existence cannot bring Angus any benefit."
"So the northern Iron Fortress shut them out."
Who was truly the demon? Who was truly just?
Gwen closed her eyes. She felt that the knightly faith she always firmly believed in seemed to be collapsing.
As a knight, she should have protected her land.
But the reality before her was happening right before her eyes.
The continuous death toll in the North over the years was being answered here.
Angus had always shaped himself as fair and just.
Even now, countless knights admired him because of that "justice."
The northern people living inside the fortress constantly thanked this so-called "hero."
Within the fortress, they wove their own version of justice tirelessly.
Yet all of them ignored the people beyond the north, the ones farther north.
They were also humans. Also citizens of the Empire.
But because information was sealed within the fortress, everyone praised Angus.
Praised this "righteous" grand knight.
Until Viktor stepped forward, tearing apart that false justice, ripping open the Delin family's disgusting facade, exposing it completely.
Deliberately placing it right before her.
"Look, Gwen."
"Look at what is unfolding before you, the most real truth."
Gwen's lips turned pale.
The battle was not yet over.
That enormous demon grabbed the Flame Giant that was rolling across the snowfield by the head and lifted it up.
It shoved its head into the ground, punching again and again into its already broken skull.
Its resistance slowly faded, and the flames on its body gradually dimmed.
But the demon continued.
In Viktor's eyes, the Flame Giant's health bar was about to hit zero.
Countless sorcerers and magi were even casting explosive spells in the air like fireworks, their excited cheers rising wave after wave.
"Good!"
"Keep going! Keep going!"
"Don't stop!"
"Woohoo!"
They kept venting their anger, which made the red glow on Leighton grow brighter and brighter.
Until it lit up the entire gloomy sky.
The Ice Giant naturally couldn't escape its fate either.
Leighton grabbed a sharp piece of ice and stabbed it hard into the snowy plain.
He grabbed the Ice Giant's head, wrapped in layers of icy rock, and smashed it hard toward the sharp ice.
He seemed determined to test whether the giant's skull was stronger or the ice itself was superior.
With blood splattering all around, the demon only grew more frenzied, its swings faster and faster.
Finally, the health bars of both giants were completely empty.
Their bodies turned into natural energy, dissipating slowly with the raging snowstorm.
The demon spat contemptuously the blood from its huge jaws.
A heaven-shaking roar burst out, rising with the flood-like cheers of the crowd, echoing across the entire Extreme North.
"They too once placed their hopes on the northern knights."
"But that hope was never answered."
Viktor looked ahead with satisfaction, at Leighton showing off his power, at the sorcerers and magi shouting excitedly, thrilled beyond measure.
"See it?"
"Those self-proclaimed righteous knights are not even as worthy as a single..."
"Demon."
Gwen lowered her eyes, biting her lips.
A strange light flickered deep in her gaze, her heart unable to calm at all.
As a knight, seeing a demon help humans, while the knights who were supposed to protect the North hid in the shadows, not daring to appear, it perfectly matched the truth Viktor spoke.
When the bloody reality unfolded before her eyes, the inexplicable "justice" she once held seemed to be collapsing.
In that moment, even she no longer knew what she had been defending all this time, what her belief truly was.
"I…"
Suddenly, a finger pressed onto her lips, stopping her words.
Viktor rested his chin on her shoulder, his voice soft, brushing against her ear, ticklish.
"Shh..."
This intimate gesture made Gwen tremble slightly.
And the voice only she could hear sounded again.
"I told you."
"You only need to believe in me. That's enough."