Chapter 317: Don’t Touch My Papa

Zeri stepped forward.

This time, there was no playful excitement in his eyes. The childish amusement that had followed him throughout the battle was gone, replaced by something cold and merciless. His golden eyes remained fixed on Yuuta while the tentacles behind his back slowly spread apart.

"No more games, Uncle. I’m going to kill you for real."

Yuuta clenched his teeth. He knew Zeri wasn’t bluffing anymore, but instead of looking at him, Yuuta turned toward Elena. She was still pressed close beside him, her little hands holding onto his damaged clothes while tears covered her face.

"Why...?" Yuuta whispered.

Elena looked at him in confusion, but Yuuta’s gaze had already shifted toward the three Shadow Corps soldiers standing in front of them. His frustration immediately boiled over.

"Why did you fools come back?"

The three soldiers stiffened.

Yuuta’s voice was weak and broken from his injuries, yet the anger behind it was unmistakable. "Do you think this is some kind of playground? Do you have any idea what everyone has been doing until now?"

"Sir..."

"What was the point of all of it?" Yuuta demanded. Even speaking hurt, but he didn’t stop. "Your captain fought him. Your comrades fought him. People died just to create enough time for you to take Elena somewhere safe. Raven specifically ordered you to evacuate her!"

The soldiers lowered their eyes.

Yuuta tried to raise himself again, but a violent pain through his ribs forced him back against the rubble. He sucked in a shallow breath before continuing through clenched teeth.

"And after everything they sacrificed, you rushed straight back here." His crimson eyes moved between the three of them. "You’re making their sacrifice meaningless."

"Sir, we’re sorry," one of the soldiers finally said.

She was trembling.

Her sword remained pointed toward Zeri, but tears were sliding down her cheeks beneath her damaged mask.

"We know we disobeyed our orders. But... we couldn’t handle it anymore."

Yuuta stared at her in disbelief.

"Couldn’t handle it?"

His frustration immediately rose again.

"Do you even understand what’s standing in front of you?" Yuuta looked toward Zeri before turning back to them. "How many people did it take just to slow him down? Look around!"

The three soldiers didn’t answer.

"Look at your comrades. Look at Raven. Look at me!" Yuuta’s voice cracked from the strain. "We threw everything we had at him. I cut his head off, and he’s standing there like nothing happened! I’m lying here unable to move, Raven is dead, and almost your entire unit is gone."

His breathing became increasingly painful, forcing him to stop for a moment.

"What the hell makes you think the three of you can stop him?"

The question silenced them.

Yuuta wasn’t trying to humiliate them. That was exactly what made his words hurt more.

He was right.

All three soldiers knew they couldn’t defeat Zeri. Even together, even if they somehow pushed their wounded bodies beyond their limits, the difference between them and the High Demon was absurd.

The female soldier slowly tightened her grip around her sword.

"We know."

Yuuta frowned.

"We know we’re going to die."

"Then why—"

"Because she was our family!"

Her voice suddenly rose.

Yuuta stopped.

The other two Shadow Corps soldiers lowered their heads, and the woman’s shoulders began trembling harder.

"Captain Raven wasn’t just our commanding officer, sir."

Memories flashed through their minds.

They remembered a time before they had become the soldiers standing here now. They remembered the ritual they had almost been sacrificed in, the terror they had experienced and the woman who had come for them when they had believed no one would.

Raven had rescued them.

Afterward, she hadn’t simply abandoned them and moved on.

She had stayed.

She had trained them, pushed them and taught them how to survive. Whenever they fell, she forced them back onto their feet. Whenever they were afraid, she stood ahead of them. Raven had turned frightened survivors into warriors capable of wearing the uniform of the Shadow Corps.

Somewhere along the way, their captain had become something far more personal.

"She raised us into the soldiers we are today," the woman continued, tears running freely now. "She protected us when we had no one. She yelled at us when we were stupid, trained us when we were weak and fought beside us every time we were sent into danger."

The soldier wiped at her tears with the back of her hand, but more immediately replaced them.

"She was like our big sister."

Yuuta’s anger faltered.

The woman looked directly at him.

"So tell me something, sir."

Yuuta remained silent.

"If someone killed your family right in front of you..." Her voice trembled. "Would you just walk away?"

Yuuta’s expression changed.

His eyes instinctively moved toward Elena.

The little girl remained beside him, frightened and confused, still clutching his clothes.

He couldn’t answer.

The soldier saw the answer anyway.

"If someone murdered someone you loved and then stood right there in front of you, would you be able to forget about it just because fighting them was dangerous?"

Yuuta’s jaw tightened.

"No," the soldier whispered. "You wouldn’t."

The other two Shadow Corps members raised their swords beside her. Their bodies were injured and exhausted, their faces stained with blood and tears, but neither stepped away.

"So how can you expect us to forget Captain Raven?"

Another soldier spoke, his voice quieter but equally determined. "Maybe we’re being selfish. Maybe Captain would be furious if she could see us right now."

A broken smile briefly appeared on his face.

"She’d probably beat all three of us herself for ignoring her final order."

The third soldier swallowed hard before taking his place beside them.

"But we can’t run away after watching her die."

All three faced Zeri.

"We’ll fight until the end."

Yuuta ground his teeth.

He understood them.

That was what made the situation so frustrating.

If Raven had been Elena, Erza, or anyone Yuuta considered family, he knew exactly what he would have done. He would never have calmly walked away while their killer stood before him.

But understanding their grief didn’t make their decision any less disastrous.

Their desire for revenge had brought Elena back into danger.

The very person Raven had sacrificed herself to protect was now sitting directly behind them.

Damn it...

Yuuta looked down at his useless body.

He couldn’t even stand.

If those three soldiers attacked Zeri, they would die. Once they were gone, there would be nothing between Zeri and Elena.

Nothing except a man who couldn’t move.

A slow clap suddenly echoed through the ruined street.

Yuuta’s eyes shifted toward Zeri.

The High Demon stared at them with a completely emotionless expression. Whatever amusement he might normally have found in their conversation was absent. He looked almost irritated now, one clawed hand hanging beside him while the tentacles behind his back twisted impatiently.

"Are you done with your little drama?"

The soldiers immediately focused on him.

Zeri tilted his head.

"Because I’ve been standing here waiting for what feels like a year."

The three Shadow Corps soldiers tightened their grips around their swords.

One stepped slightly to the left.

Another lowered her center of gravity despite her injured leg.

The third moved directly in front of Elena and Yuuta, making herself the final barrier between them and Zeri.

Yuuta said nothing.

There was nothing left to say.

The situation was already completely messed up.

Then Zeri moved.

The three Shadow Corps soldiers reacted immediately. Despite their injuries, all three attacked together, approaching from different directions exactly as Raven had trained them. One came from the left with her sword raised while the second rushed from the opposite side, attempting to force Zeri’s attention away from the third soldier guarding Yuuta and Elena.

It didn’t matter.

Zeri appeared in front of the first soldier before she could finish her swing.

Her eyes widened.

"What....."

His clawed hand struck her with overwhelming force, throwing her across the ruined street. Her body crashed through the remains of a vehicle and disappeared among the wreckage without moving again.

"NO!"

The second soldier attacked from behind, grief overwhelming whatever fear remained. He brought his sword down toward Zeri’s neck, but one of the tentacles extending from Zeri’s back intercepted the blade effortlessly. Another tentacle whipped around before the soldier could retreat and struck him across the body.

The impact lifted him completely from the ground.

He flew into the side of the building with a violent crash and dropped among the rubble. His sword bounced beside him before becoming still.

Two soldiers.

Gone in seconds.

Yuuta stared in horror.

The last female Shadow Corps soldier stood alone.

Her sword trembled in her hands.

She had known this would happen. All three of them had known they couldn’t defeat a High Demon who had survived Raven, Yuuta, Black Fusion, and even decapitation.

Knowing it hadn’t prepared her to watch the two people beside her die so easily.

Zeri turned toward her.

The woman swallowed.

Then she tightened both hands around her sword and charged anyway.

"AAAAAH!"

Zeri didn’t even move from his position.

A tentacle shot forward.

The soldier tried to cut it, but another wrapped around her sword arm before she could swing. A second caught her waist, ripping her from the ground, while another twisted around her legs. Her weapon slipped from her fingers and clattered uselessly onto the pavement.

Then the final tentacle wrapped around her neck.

Yuuta’s eyes widened.

"No!"

The woman was lifted several meters into the air.

Her hands immediately grabbed the tentacle around her throat, desperately trying to loosen it, but her exhausted fingers couldn’t make it move even slightly. Her legs kicked weakly beneath her while Zeri watched with the same cold expression he had worn since deciding the game was over.

"Stop!" Yuuta shouted, forcing his arm against the rubble. "ZERİ!"

His body refused to rise.

The soldier’s movements gradually weakened.

Her vision blurred as she struggled for breath, but instead of looking at Zeri, her eyes wandered across the destroyed street.

They found the building Raven had been thrown into.

For an instant, fear disappeared from her expression.

Captain...

Memories rushed through her mind. Raven reaching for her when she had believed she would die as a ritual sacrifice. Raven training her until she could barely stand. Raven scolding her mistakes, protecting her on missions, and standing at the front whenever their division entered danger.

The big sister she had chosen to follow until the end.

A tear slipped down the soldier’s cheek.

Then her eyes moved away from Raven’s resting place.

She looked toward Yuuta.

Yuuta saw the regret on her face.

Not regret for fighting.

Regret for failing Raven’s final order.

Her lips moved with difficulty.

"I’m... sorry... sir..."

Yuuta froze.

The woman forced the last few words through the pressure around her throat.

"We couldn’t... protect..."

The tentacle tightened.

Her body went limp.

Yuuta’s crimson eyes widened in horror as her hands slowly fell away from the tentacle. Zeri released her a moment later, allowing the soldier to drop motionlessly onto the broken road beside her sword.

Silence followed.

All three were gone.

Yuuta stared at the last soldier’s body, unable to tear his eyes away.

"You... stupid idiot..."

His voice trembled.

His fingers dug uselessly against the rubble.

"Why...?"

Anger and frustration twisted together inside him until he couldn’t distinguish one from the other. They had known they couldn’t win. They had known Raven’s last order had been to protect Elena, yet grief had dragged them back here anyway.

And now they were dead too.

"Why did you come back...?" Yuuta whispered through clenched teeth. "You idiots..."

Footsteps approached.

Yuuta raised his head.

Zeri walked over the broken street without looking at the bodies again. The tentacles behind him moved slowly while his golden eyes remained fixed on Yuuta.

"Well, Uncle..."

Zeri glanced around at the fallen Shadow Corps.

"Now there aren’t any more pests in my way."

Yuuta’s expression hardened.

Zeri raised one hand in front of his face.

It was trembling.

His smile disappeared as he stared at his own fingers, remembering that final exchange. No matter how hard he tried to dismiss it, his body hadn’t forgotten what it had felt when Yuuta’s mysterious power approached his neck.

"I still don’t know what you did to me." Zeri slowly closed his trembling hand into a fist. "That strange feeling you put inside me... I don’t even understand what it was."

His golden eyes shifted toward Yuuta.

"But I hated it."

Zeri continued walking.

"So I’m going to make you pay for making me feel something I don’t even understand."

Yuuta pressed his palm against the floor.

Move.

His arm trembled.

Nothing.

He tried forcing strength into his legs.

Move, you stupid body.

Nothing responded.

Zeri was getting closer.

Yuuta clenched his teeth until his jaw hurt.

"Move..."

He pushed again.

Pain exploded through his ribs and spine, but his body barely shifted.

"Move, damn it!"

Elena flinched beside him.

Yuuta didn’t notice. His eyes remained fixed on his useless arm as desperation overwhelmed him.

Why?

After everything he had endured, after all those nightmares and all that training, when it actually mattered most, he was lying helplessly on the ground.

"Why do I have to be this weak...?"

Zeri’s footsteps became louder.

Yuuta tried again.

His arm collapsed.

"Damn it...!"

He couldn’t protect anyone like this.

He hadn’t saved Raven.

He hadn’t stopped those three soldiers from throwing their lives away.

And now Elena was here.

Zeri finally reached the entrance of the ruined building.

Yuuta raised his head.

No.

He could see exactly where Zeri was looking.

"Elena..."

Before Yuuta could say anything else, something small moved in front of him.

His eyes widened.

Elena stepped between them.

Her tiny arms spread as wide as she could make them, placing her entire body between her injured father and the approaching High Demon. Her legs were trembling, tears still covered her cheeks, and compared to Zeri’s transformed body she looked impossibly small.

"Elena...?"

Yuuta’s heart nearly stopped.

Elena stared up at the monster who had just killed the last people protecting them.

She was terrified.

Yuuta could see it in every part of her body.

But she didn’t move away.

"Don’t..."

Her voice shook.

Zeri stopped.

Elena swallowed through her tears and spread her arms even wider, desperately trying to cover Yuuta behind her.

"Don’t touch my papa!"

Yuuta stared at his daughter in horror.

Zeri’s golden eyes slowly lowered toward her.

There was no smile on his face.

No joke.

No playful remark.

The High Demon simply looked at the little girl standing between him and Yuuta with a cold expression.