CHAPTER 111: CHAPTER 111: KALAMUS HOUSE (9)

The air inside the mansion was dense, heavy with the stench of blood and corruption. Elkid looked at me with fear in his eyes, unable to fully understand what was happening to me.

"Master... what’s happening to you? I can’t bear to see you like this... you’re... you’re almost dried out, like a walking corpse. The strange thing is you still eat huge amounts of food, and I don’t understand how... you’re still alive in this state."

His gaze swept over my wasted body—sunken eyes, pale skin clinging to my bones, as if I had become nothing but bone wrapped in flesh.

"Run!" I growled, my voice more beast than man. "Get out of here before this consumes you too!"

It was the last shred of my consciousness begging him not to make me do what I wanted most, but Elkid didn’t move. He stood his ground, fists clenched, refusing to take even a single step back, ready to sacrifice himself for me.

"No... I won’t... I won’t leave you alone," he said firmly. "If you’re going to lose yourself, then I’ll follow you."

My inner demon roared with fury, dragging my body toward Elkid with unnatural speed. Every strike I threw shattered columns, broke walls, sent rubble flying. I struck Elkid with all the strength I had, yet still he rose again, gasping, inching closer each time.

For a moment, the violence was absolute: Elkid collapsed beneath a blow that would have split an ordinary man in two. But then something shifted in his eyes. He understood—the attacks weren’t fatal. Every strike that should have killed him veered aside, as if some buried part of me refused to destroy who I shouldn’t.

Seizing on that pattern, Elkid moved with precision, anticipating every rush. When I tried to crush him, he’d place his head in the path of my fists, forcing me to hold back, turning my strength against me and pushing me away. The roles began to reverse. My body was strong, but my half-conscious will resisted the idea of ending him.

Finally, Elkid pinned me. He slammed me to the ground with a strength that seemed impossible for a human, chaining me with mystic bindings he had learned during our years of training together. For the first time in days, clarity pierced the haze. The demon inside me shrieked and fought for control, but my mind surfaced just enough to speak.

"Elkid... listen," I said weakly, arrogance gone for the first time. "This isn’t me... it’s possessed me..." My eyes locked onto his, pleading. "You have to... you have to kill me. Seal the demon... before it devours everything left of me."

Elkid nodded slowly, eyes burning with pain. There was no hatred, no anger—only resolve. He knew that saving me meant destroying me, and still, he didn’t hesitate. As he tightened the chains and began invoking purifying seals, the demon screamed, a sound that shook the mansion’s foundations. The darkness within me thrashed, but Elkid’s sacrifice and loyalty drove it into a corner.

For a moment, the world seemed frozen. The clash between Elkid’s will and the demon’s corruption reached its most violent peak. And though the demon roared inside me, for the first time since its arrival, I felt the faintest chance of redemption...

Elkid grit his teeth, frustration and fear burning within. The seals vibrated with power, radiating mystic light and fire, yet none of it hurt the demon clinging to me. The corruption remained untouched, mocking every attempt.

"Damn it!" Elkid snarled, raising the sword he had inherited from the ancient Arcanists. "If the seals won’t work, then I’ll fight another way!"

With a cry, he lunged, trying to drive the blade into my chest with a cut infused with pure energy. The sword crackled with light, cutting through the air with a shriek sharp enough to split mountains.

But when it struck me, it barely scratched the surface. The impact boomed like thunder, and Elkid staggered back in shock. Every strike he tried bounced away, as if my flesh, my bones, my very being had been reforged into an indestructible matter.

"No way!" he gasped, panting. "Nothing can hurt him!"

I felt his desperation, his fear—and the demon inside me reveled in it. Every failed strike fed its power, hardening my body even more. My resistance grew endless, an impenetrable wall no mortal could break.

Elkid froze, analyzing every move, every weakness, searching for a way to turn the demon’s own strength against itself. His eyes blazed with determination: if he couldn’t destroy me directly, he would find another way to contain me, to buy us time.

Silence filled the mansion. Only the echoes of our battle and the pounding of dark power inside me broke the stillness. Elkid knew every second mattered—and that as long as my body remained unbroken, the demon’s threat lived on.

"Kalamus..." he whispered, voice low but firm. "I’ll save you... even if I have to destroy you to do it."

And with that, he rushed me again, throwing every trick, every move, every strategy he had ever learned. But each strike was absorbed, deflected, as if my body refused to die.

The demon inside me roared with delight, and for the first time, Elkid understood he wasn’t just fighting my body—he was fighting a power no mortal had ever faced.

"Master, I can’t do anything unless you cooperate with me. Use all your strength to hold it back for just a moment—I’ll try to activate this place’s defenses to contain it. We still have the forbidden spell inherited from your ancestor."

His words stirred something inside me. He was right—we still had one last chance. All we needed was to buy enough time, to pin myself down so the spell wouldn’t fail.

------

Thank you all for the support throughout this month. I hope you’re enjoying the novel, we’ll keep working hard for another month, and I hope to count on all of you...!!

!Keep supporting this Novel..!