Chapter 117:The Devil’s Last Move

The second battle began without a sound.

Then—

BOOOOOOM!

The entire domain erupted.

Bloody Mary's true form moved.

One moment she stood across from Lucifer.

The next—

she was in front of him.

Lucifer barely raised Chirin in time.

CLANG!

The impact sent him flying across the domain.

He crashed through a wall and disappeared into darkness.

Chirin's voice echoed in his mind.

"That was unpleasant."

Lucifer slowly stood.

Dust fell from his shoulders.

He looked at the enormous figure approaching through the darkness.

"You're stronger than before."

Bloody Mary smiled.

"Because now you're fighting me."

The mansion itself roared.

Thousands of mirrors appeared around Lucifer.

Every reflection showed Bloody Mary.

Then every reflection attacked.

Lucifer's eyes sharpened.

Envy.

He read their movements.

Left.

Right.

Above.

Behind.

He moved between them.

One strike.

Two.

Three.

His blade cut through several manifestations.

But more appeared.

Lucifer frowned.

"Annoying."

Bloody Mary appeared behind him.

BOOM!

Her attack struck.

Lucifer was thrown through another wall.

Before he could recover—

the floor rose beneath him.

The ceiling descended.

Two walls closed from both sides.

Lucifer's eyes flashed.

Greed.

Time slowed.

For a fraction of a second, everything became sluggish.

Lucifer slipped through the gap.

The walls crashed together behind him.

He immediately counterattacked.

Cleave!

A massive slash tore through Bloody Mary's form.

For a moment—

silence.

Then the wound closed.

Bloody Mary laughed.

"You still don't understand."

Lucifer wiped a small amount of blood from the corner of his mouth.

"I understand perfectly."

He looked at the mansion.

"You're buying time."

Bloody Mary's smile disappeared.

Lucifer noticed.

Interesting.

He had touched something.

But he didn't pursue it.

Not yet.

Bloody Mary attacked again.

The battle became increasingly violent.

Lucifer fought through the mansion while Bloody Mary turned every part of her domain against him.

Staircases became spears.

Doors became portals.

Mirrors became gateways.

The floor swallowed him.

The ceiling dropped toward him.

Entire sections of the mansion folded into impossible shapes.

Lucifer kept moving.

He never stopped watching.

Every attack.

Every movement.

Every fluctuation in soul energy.

Nothing escaped his attention.

But Bloody Mary was relentless.

She struck him again.

Lucifer blocked.

The impact forced him backward.

Another attack came.

He dodged.

A third followed immediately.

He countered with Dismantle.

The attack connected.

Bloody Mary barely moved.

Then—

BOOM!

Lucifer was driven into the ground.

The domain cracked beneath him.

Bloody Mary approached.

"You're running out of strength."

Lucifer looked up.

His breathing was heavier now.

His body had accumulated injuries from the battle.

Yet his eyes remained calm.

"Am I?"

Bloody Mary raised her hand.

The entire mansion responded.

Hundreds of black tendrils emerged from the walls.

They surrounded Lucifer.

He looked at them.

Then at Bloody Mary.

"You're getting desperate."

She smiled.

"I'm winning."

Lucifer's expression didn't change.

"Those aren't the same thing."

The tendrils attacked.

Lucifer moved.

One struck the ground.

Another tore through the wall.

A third narrowly missed his head.

Lucifer dodged again.

But there were too many.

One struck his side.

Another caught his arm.

A third sent him crashing through a pillar.

He landed on one knee.

Bloody Mary walked toward him.

For the first time, Lucifer appeared to be approaching his limit.

Chirin's voice became serious.

"Chirin. We can't keep this up forever."

Lucifer quietly replied.

"I know."

"Then what's the plan?"

Lucifer smiled.

"She hasn't noticed."

"Noticed what?"

Lucifer's eyes shifted toward the mansion.

"That she already lost."

Earlier

When Lucifer had first entered the mansion—

he hadn't simply walked through it.

He had studied it.

Every corridor.

Every mirror.

Every room.

Every fluctuation of soul energy.

When the mansion attacked him, he had deliberately allowed certain attacks to pass close to him.

When Bloody Mary changed the architecture, he watched what remained unchanged.

When she regenerated damaged sections—

he watched where the soul energy returned first.

And eventually—

he found it.

A single room.

Hidden behind dozens of false corridors.

A room Bloody Mary never allowed him to enter.

Inside that room was the heart of her power.

A black mirror.

Unlike the others.

It didn't reflect the mansion.

It reflected Bloody Mary.

That was the source.

Lucifer had discovered it almost immediately after entering the mansion.

But he had done something much more important.

He had pretended not to notice.

Because if Bloody Mary realized he knew—

she would have moved it.

So Lucifer fought.

He tested her.

He allowed her to believe she was learning his abilities.

He deliberately revealed techniques at specific moments.

He let her believe she was gradually pushing him toward defeat.

All while memorizing the route to her weakness.

And then—

he found Amaira.

That's what he had whispered to her.

Not encouragement.

Not a goodbye.

An instruction.

The location of the black mirror.

Now

Bloody Mary raised her hand.

"This ends here."

The entire domain collapsed toward Lucifer.

Walls.

Mirrors.

Soul energy.

Everything converged.

Lucifer looked up.

His eyes remained completely calm.

Then—

SHATTER!

A sound echoed through the mansion.

Bloody Mary froze.

A single mirror somewhere in the distance had broken.

Her expression changed.

"No."

Another crack appeared.

SHATTER!

Her soul energy suddenly dropped.

Lucifer smiled.

"There it is."

Bloody Mary stared at him.

"You..."

Lucifer slowly stood.

The pressure crushing him weakened.

He looked toward the distant corridor.

Amaira had succeeded.

The black mirror was destroyed.

Bloody Mary's power began collapsing.

The mansion trembled violently.

"No!"

Bloody Mary screamed.

She tried to regenerate the destroyed mirror.

Nothing happened.

Lucifer laughed quietly.

"You should've realized something earlier."

Bloody Mary glared at him.

"What?"

Lucifer lifted Chirin.

"You were never fighting me."

He pointed the blade toward her.

"You were fighting the version of me I wanted you to see."

Bloody Mary's eyes widened.

Lucifer's smile became colder.

"Every time you thought you pushed me closer to defeat..."

He stepped forward.

"...I was learning you."

Another step.

"Every time you thought you injured me..."

Another step.

"...I was buying time."

Another step.

"And every time you thought you had control..."

Lucifer's eyes flashed crimson.

"...I was waiting for her."

Bloody Mary suddenly realized the truth.

The hostage.

The escape.

The whispered instruction.

The way Lucifer had protected Amaira instead of chasing Bloody Mary.

It had all been part of the same plan.

"You used her."

Lucifer shook his head.

"No."

His expression became completely cold.

"I trusted her."

Bloody Mary roared.

The mansion erupted.

Even weakened, she refused to surrender.

Every remaining mirror shattered outward.

Her true form expanded.

Lucifer raised Chirin.

Wrath.

His soul energy surged.

Gluttony.

The energy surrounding Bloody Mary began being devoured.

Envy.

Her movements became visible.

Greed.

Time slowed around her.

Lucifer stepped forward.

Bloody Mary attacked.

He dodged.

She attacked again.

He parried.

Another strike.

Lucifer countered.

Dismantle.

A section of her defense broke apart.

Bloody Mary retaliated.

Lucifer twisted away.

Cleave.

The attack cut through her remaining protection.

She stumbled.

Lucifer appeared directly before her.

Bloody Mary tried to retreat into a mirror.

Lucifer grabbed the mirror's edge.

"Not this time."

Blood Chain.

Crimson chains wrapped around the mirror and dragged it back.

Bloody Mary screamed.

Lucifer raised Chirin.

Her remaining power surged desperately.

The mansion began collapsing.

The entire domain was becoming unstable.

Bloody Mary looked at Lucifer.

"You'll die with me!"

Lucifer stared at her.

"No."

His eyes became completely empty of fear.

"I won't."

He raised his blade.

"This is where your story ends."

SEVERANCE.

The final strike tore through Bloody Mary's remaining connection to the mansion.

Silence.

The entire domain stopped.

Then—

the mirrors began disappearing.

One after another.

The walls returned to normal.

The darkness faded.

Bloody Mary stood motionless.

Her power was gone.

Lucifer lowered Chirin.

Bloody Mary looked at him one last time.

"How..."

Lucifer answered before she could finish.

"Vigilance."

He turned away.

"Never assume the person you're fighting is showing you everything."

Behind him—

Bloody Mary's form dissolved into fading soul energy.

Lucifer looked toward the doorway.

Amaira stood there.

She was exhausted, but alive.

Lucifer glanced at her.

"You took long enough."

Amaira stared at him.

"You were losing!"

Lucifer shrugged.

"I was acting."

She looked at the ruined mansion.

Then back at him.

"You planned all of this?"

Lucifer's smile returned.

"Not all of it."

He started walking toward the exit.

"But enough."

Chirin's voice echoed inside his mind.

"You know, one day you're going to explain your plans before using someone as bait."

Lucifer smirked.

"Where's the fun in that?"

Behind them, the last mirror shattered.

And for the first time in centuries—

Bloody Mary's mansion became nothing more than an empty house.