Why must the devil be Defeated?

"Ugh..."

In the spacious and bright room, a moment came when a soft groan slowly arose and then filled the space.

Shane opened his eyes and blankly stared at the ceiling until, after a while, his vacant mind gradually began to refill with spirit.

"Where am I...?"

Shane murmured in bewilderment.

Beside him, an extraordinarily calm voice immediately responded.

"You are now back in your room within the Bigusler Family home, Lord Shane."

The moment the familiar, indifferent voice reached Shane's ears, Shane instantly became alert and fully awake.

Immediately, Shane sprang up from the bed and looked to one side.

"Lasha!"

Shane unconsciously called out the name of the maid standing by the bed.

It was indeed Lasha.

"You have finally awakened."

Lasha's voice contained no ups and downs.

However, Shane keenly noticed a fleeting look of relief in her eyes.

"Lasha..." Shane looked at her for a good while before he hesitantly said, "Did I fall asleep...?"

"...Yes, you were asleep," Lasha said after a pause, then added, "Although it was for quite some time, you are unharmed, which is a fortunate thing amidst the misfortune."

As she spoke, Lasha handed a sword she had been holding to Shane.

"Your Holy Sword."

Lasha mentioned it as if she was talking about a very ordinary iron sword.

"Holy Sword..."

Shane reflexively took his Holy Sword and then finally remembered.

"That's right, I lost consciousness during my confrontation with Moro."

It was the state he had fallen into due to an excessive expenditure of power when delivering the final strike to solve the Transcendence Moro, who had attained incredibly terrifying strength.

Shane remembered, at that time, he not only completely unsealed the Holy Sword but also pushed the "Reincarnation Destiny" to its limit, obtaining strength ten times greater than normal, and with the Holy Sword's power, he finally managed to sever the "Death Sun" that descended from the sky.

Afterwards, he also managed to slay Moro on the spot.

But at the same time, his Magic Power was drained dry by the "Reincarnation Destiny" pushed to the limit.

Plus, colliding head-on with the "Death Sun," even the protection of the "Inner Destiny" and the Holy Sword couldn't fend off all the damage, and he, feeling a burning pain all over, lost consciousness and fell from the sky.

Shane's memory ended there.

Seeing Shane like this, Lasha, as if she could guess what he was thinking, began to speak.

"After that, Princess Lilith, who managed to escape danger, seems to have caught you and brought you back here."

That's why Shane was lying here, in a deep sleep.

Now, the wounds on his body had completely healed, and the Magic Power within him was once again replete, returned to his prime.

No, it was more than just returning to his prime.

Shane discovered that the Magic Power within him had increased, and his strength had grown considerably.

Just in terms of Magic Power, if previously Shane could only maintain "Reincarnation Destiny" at full strength for ten minutes, now he could probably sustain it for close to fifteen minutes.

"Why has my Magic Power increased so much?"

Shane stood stupefied.

But then, Shane thought of something and began to check his current Level in his mind.

Upon seeing it, Shane was dumbstruck.

————「Lv.95」.

"...No way?"

Shane was completely flabbergasted.

Before this, Shane's Level was seventy-nine, only a step away from Level Eighty.

Now, what should have been Level seventy-nine had suddenly become ninety-five, leaving Shane in utter astonishment.

No wonder his Magic Power had greatly increased - had he actually advanced sixteen Levels in one go?

"Am I...at Legendary Level now?"

Shane was bewildered.

But then he understood.

"Normally, the more difficult the battle, the easier it is for a person to grow and rapidly increase Levels. I really exerted myself this time. In the end, I almost died, and having slain a being who stepped into Transcendence Level on the spot... it seems somewhat reasonable that my Level would increase so much all at once."

In the end, Moro no doubt tapped into some power to exert Transcendence Level combat strength, and Shane, being able to defeat her while his potential wasn't exhausted and his growth rate was unusual, naturally caused his Level to skyrocket.

Of course, Shane always felt that his ability to defeat Moro owed much to luck.

"By that time, Moro was at the end of her rope, and couldn't even fight back."

Otherwise, even if Shane had played all his trump cards at that moment, he shouldn't have been able to kill her with a single strike.

An abnormality had then appeared in Moro's body; that's why after Shane had managed to cut down the "Death Sun," he was able to finish her off.

Shane glanced at the Holy Sword in his hand, then turned to look at Lasha.

"How long have I slept?"

Shane tentatively asked.

"You have been asleep for three days," Lasha said expressionlessly. "Your injuries had completely healed two days ago, and your magic power took a day longer due to the amount needed for recovery, but it also completely recovered last night."

Accordingly, Shane woke up this morning.

For others, it probably wouldn't be so easy.

However, the "Inner Destiny" Shane possessed not only provided astonishing defensive capabilities, but also allowed him to quickly heal his injuries by consuming magic power. Coupled with the "Reincarnation Destiny" that enabled quick recovery of magic power, Shane was able to fully recover in just two days.

"What's the situation now?" Shane asked Lasha as he got out of bed. "What about Tielle and Lilith?"

"Lady Lilith is outside on guard, seemingly feeling guilty about not being able to help earlier," Lasha immediately grabbed a coat from a nearby clothes rack, helped Shane put it on, and replied, "Miss Tielle was also badly injured and has been recuperating."

"And the others?" Shane furrowed his brows and continued, "They are alright, aren't they?"

"Captain Rockte and Miss Tilly are fine," Lasha said slowly. "However, there are some troubling issues regarding Lady Cape."

Next, Lasha explained the whole situation to Shane.

After Shane dealt with Moro and was taken away from the battlefield by Lilith, the battle was declared over.

Because of the clash between Shane and Moro, the Imperial City bore the brunt of the shockwave and was left in a semi-destroyed state. Only a few buildings protected by barriers remained intact, the Bigusler Family's residence being one of them.

The civilians in the Imperial City did not suffer too many casualties, seemingly because the adventurer's guild pitched in, with adventurers protecting many of the commoners.

The Imperial Palace was almost completely destroyed, being at the epicenter of the impact; even the top level barriers couldn't protect it entirely, turning it into half a ruin.

Then Rockte and Tilly arrived with their teams to the rescue, saving Tielle, Cape, Harvis, the female knights of the Broken Blade Knights, and the survivors from the palace.

Sarilo and Geno, along with the nobles who conspired with them, fled the Imperial City with their families amidst the chaos.

Clearly, Moro's death and Shane's emergence made these people feel that their struggle for power was futile.

So they took the chance to desert, no longer daring to stay in the Imperial City.

"Now, Captain Rockte has retaken control of the Imperial Knights and is handling various post-disaster matters in the city with the Imperial Knights," Lasha said. "The eleven monsters summoned by Princess Moro that day haven't been dealt with yet; their whereabouts unknown, leaving many worried that they might be hiding underground in the city, causing much apprehension."

Lasha was referring to the eleven demon infants.

They were all of the legendary level and possessed half-physical traits, making them difficult to subdue unless one had a weapon like the Holy Sword, designed specifically to counter them.

Naturally, they survived.

But with Moro's passing, their fate became uncertain.

"Lord You Lin seems to have been searching for them, trying to put an end to them, flying about in the sky. Lady Cape had sent out the Broken Blade Knights and the Royal Knights to cooperate with the Imperial Knights on the same task. However, Lady Cape herself incurred severe injuries, and Prince Harvey's condition wasn't great. Currently, the situation in the Imperial City can't be said to have improved," Lasha reported, lowering her eyelids momentarily.

"What's wrong?"

While adjusting his sleeves, Shane noticed Lasha's demeanor and quickly inquired.

"... I should apologize to Mr. Xi'en first," Lasha fell silent for a moment, then spoke softly, "Miss Lani is missing."

Shane stopped his movements.

"Missing?" His eyebrows knitted tighter as he looked at Lasha, "What happened?"

"I'm not sure," Lasha shook her head, her tone still calm, "That day, Lady and I went out to prevent damage to the Bigusler Family from the disaster, and by the time we returned, Miss Lani was gone."

Upon hearing this, Shane also fell silent.

But after a moment, Shane relaxed his brow.

"Forget her," Shane said, "Although the mystery surrounding her hasn't been cleared up, now is not the time to worry about her."

Yes.

Now was not the time to worry about other matters.

What Shane was more concerned with at the moment was...

"My identity has been revealed, hasn't it?"

Shane voiced his hunch.

"Yes," Lasha lifted her eyes to look directly at Shane, "The fact that Mr. Xi'en is the Hero is now known to everyone."

Shane gave a wry smile.

Sure enough, that information had been exposed.

Now, all kinds of problems would ensue.

"The Human Realm has been quite restless of late," Lasha said to Shane, "Mr. Xi'en might go out and see for himself."

"Alright then," Shane sighed.

He knew that from today forward, he would likely have no peace.

Even worse, one misstep could make him the villain of this world.

Yet he had no regrets for being overly impetuous.

If anything, Shane wished he could go back to the moment he faced Moro.

"I should have gone all out from the start and finished her off."

Pity, even if he had really done that, Moro would surely have initiated her contingency, achieving her goals, wouldn't she?

Anyway, the current situation could turn very troublesome.

How should he face it now?

What a headache...