Lu Mo walked step by step toward the throne at the end of the hall.
Endless demonic energy still poured down from the Demon King’s Eye. The throne was directly beneath that eye at this moment.
It was as if the throne itself were a beacon that the Demon Realm had planted in the human world. And the throne resonated with that boundless demonic energy.
Because the throne existed, the Demon King’s Eye appeared here.
And the endless demonic energy poured down,侵蚀ing the human world.
The hall crumbled more violently.
The fog formed from demonic energy shrouded everything.
At this moment, the throne became the only real thing in that illusory mist.
The closer she got to that ancient throne, the more Lu Mo could feel the demonic energy inside her becoming lively and joyful.
“Become the king.”
The demonic energy inside her spoke to her.
“Become the king.”
The throne invited her, waiting only for her to sit.
And at that moment, as if sensing Lu Mo’s approach, ancient blood-colored patterns lit up on the throne once more.
A very blurry feminine figure slowly took shape in the mist.
It was only a phantom, but the aura of authority it radiated faintly made the throne tremble.
And it made Lu Mo… feel a trace of resistance.
The identity of that woman went without saying.
She was… the Demon Emperor.
Soon, confusion appeared in her eyes.
The Demon Emperor’s phantom saw Lu Mo.
She had never seen Lu Mo before, nor did she remember any Demon King-level existence from the Demon Realm stepping into the human world.
Just as she was pondering, Lu Mo had already arrived directly in front of the throne.
“You—”
At this moment, the Demon Emperor’s phantom clearly saw Lu Mo’s face, sensed her aura, and was suddenly startled.
She seemed frozen.
Soon, her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say something.
But Lu Mo, without any hesitation, raised the Final Final Annihilation Sword and swung it fiercely toward the ancient throne!
The black sword light tore through everything.
The demonic fog, the throne, the Demon Emperor’s phantom, and the words that had not yet left that phantom’s mouth.
The throne exploded.
The connection between the Demon Realm and the human world was thus severed.
At this moment, the black pillar flickered violently between the throne and the Demon King’s Eye, and the entire world dimmed for an instant.
Everyone instinctively looked up at the sky. Up above, the Demon King’s Eye began to shake violently!
Massive spatial cracks rapidly spread around it.
And the Demon King’s Eye, amid that shaking, constantly collapsed and shrank!
The expressions of the demon race finally changed completely at this moment.
Panic and despair quickly spread among their kind.
“Something’s wrong… something’s wrong!”
“The Demon King… really died!”
“The Demon King’s Eye is collapsing. Can we still go back?”
With the confirmation of the Demon King’s fall, the morale of the demons in the Demon King’s Throne instantly collapsed.
They broke into rout.
And the moment the demons hesitated, humanity launched a counterattack.
Sounds of flesh tearing and screams kept rising.
“Kill!”
“The Demon King is dead. The rest are just rabble. What are you waiting for?”
“Kill as many demons as you can before the Demon King’s Throne completely crumbles!”
The morale of humanity surged to an unprecedented height.
The Demon King was dead.
The Demon King’s Eye was dispersing.
Even though the sky was still overcast with dark clouds, they seemed to already see the long-lost sunlight.
An era had ended.
The sun would still rise as usual.
And then, all demons would turn to ashes.
“Was it Lady Rumina who did it?”
Some city-lord-level expert said excitedly.
Unfortunately, it was not Rumina’s doing.
At that moment, Rumina was just slowly waking from her slumber.
She opened her eyes gradually.
“I am…”
She remembered everything that happened before she passed out.
Lu Mo had pierced the Demon King’s heart, but the Demon King hadn’t died; instead, he activated his Starry Body.
And she had been caught in the blast of that power, severely injured and unconscious.
Had humanity’s Demon King subjugation… failed?
But if it had failed, why could she still wake up?
And… it seemed like she was being held by someone?
“Miss Rumina, you’re awake?”
Lu Mo’s voice sounded at that moment.
Rumina looked up and saw Lu Mo smiling at her.
Although Lu Mo’s condition wasn’t good right now—her face was stained with blood and full of exhaustion.
“Miss Lu Mo?”
Rumina first looked at her face, then at her hands, and then suddenly realized—
Right now, she was being held in Lu Mo’s arms!
Wh… what was going on?
She, the Valkyrie, was supposed to protect her juniors!
But now she was being carried out of the hall by a junior?!
At that thought, Rumina felt a little embarrassed.
A faint blush appeared on her pale face.
She lowered her head and coughed twice.
“Is something wrong, Miss Rumina?”
“No… nothing.”
She said a little awkwardly, “Um… you can put me down now, Miss Lu Mo.”
“Can you walk like this?”
“I… of course I can.”
So Lu Mo gently set her down.
But just as Rumina tried to stand steadily, her body went weak again.
They looked at each other.
She seemed… to have become even more useless.
After a moment of silence, Lu Mo tentatively asked, “Should I take you out of the danger zone first?”
“…I’m sorry for the trouble.”
Rumina answered quietly.
“Alright.”
So she ended up back in Lu Mo’s arms.
But as a straight steel woman, Rumina clearly wasn’t used to this position.
They walked toward the exit of the hall.
“The Demon King… fell, right?”
Rumina asked softly.
They had both survived, the hall was collapsing, the Demon King’s Eye was shrinking—everything indicated that the Demon King was dead.
And this era of demon invasions would also come to an end.
“He is indeed dead,” Lu Mo replied. “Dead beyond dead.”
After all… he had been completely devoured by her.
“How did he die?”
Rumina was still puzzled.
How had Lu Mo survived the Starry Body?
That was a Starry Body.
Even a human Starry Realm expert might not be able to fully control it.
Lu Mo answered seriously, “It seemed like he couldn’t control the power of the Starry Body. After attacking me several times and missing, he collapsed on his own.”
She shook the blood-stained Final Annihilation Sword in her hand.
“Of course, it’s also possible that he couldn’t withstand the impact of the Final Annihilation Sword exploding inside him and just burst apart.”
“Is that so…”
Rumina fell into thought.
Both explanations seemed plausible.
At least they were much more reasonable than “Lu Mo solo-killed the second-phase Demon King.”
“Where is Solaris?”
Rumina asked about the sequence hero.
“She’s dead,” Lu Mo said flatly.
“Oh.”
Rumina nodded and didn’t ask further.
The Demon King’s Throne was full of dangers. Anything could happen.
“Then how did you come to be able to use the Final Annihilation Sword later?”
She continued questioning.
“Cecilia sacrificed her power to me,” Lu Mo said.
Hearing this, Rumina couldn’t help but smile lightly.
She had long noticed that Cecilia was extremely dependent on Lu Mo.
That child would do anything for her.
“So that child… chose you after all.”
She murmured softly.
“She’s an idiot.”
Lu Mo shook her head helplessly.
“That girl really is…”
As they spoke, the two had already walked out of the collapsing hall.
The demonic fog outside the hall had become much thinner.
As soon as they stepped out, they felt the whole world had become clearer.
With the collapse of the Demon King’s Eye, the sky gradually brightened.
Faint rays of light pierced through the dark clouds and scattered down.
Lu Mo saw Cecilia waiting in the distance.
The girl stood obediently in place, her small face full of worry, but she hadn’t moved at all.
Like a dog waiting for its owner to return.
For some reason, a line suddenly popped into Lu Mo’s mind:
“I climbed that broken wall, to watch for his return.”
“But no matter what happens, you’ll protect that idiot, right?”
Looking at Cecilia in the distance, Rumina teased.
“…Yeah,” Lu Mo nodded.
The knight had defeated the Demon King.
The Saintess had lived to see the war end.
This should have been a miracle.
But…
“It’s just that… I might be able to protect her for a while, but not for her whole life.”
Lu Mo suddenly said softly.
Rumina was taken aback.
She didn’t understand. Wasn’t everything over?
Why would Lu Mo say something like that?
Just then—
Cecilia seemed to sense something.
The little cowlick that had been gently swaying suddenly stood straight up.
She looked in their direction, her brow instantly relaxing, and her eyes lit up with unprecedented brightness.
“Miss Lu Mo—!”
She revealed a bright and slightly goofy smile and ran toward Lu Mo with all her might.
She didn’t care about anything else.
The light fell on her, making her golden hair shine.
She looked like a blooming golden rose, or like a dazzling sun.
And the pure, intense light in her eyes made everything else pale in comparison.
The girl ran toward the person she loved.
At that moment, it seemed to become eternity.
Many years later, Cecilia would still remember this scene clearly.
And she would think, more than once—
If only the story had ended right here, how wonderful that would have been.