Iskara is curious to see how strong Jacob currently is.

  Even though she craves the dark power in her pocket, part of her is still unsure.

  Maybe, a small part of her thinks, maybe he is strong enough.

  Or maybe not.

  Even if she stayed by Jacob's side, with her oath erased, it's only a matter of time before her family starts taking drastic measures.

  In fact, it's something that she can't even explain to Jacob--the length her family will go to take everything back from her, the kind of monsters they'll put in her path.

  Jacob, bless his soul, has no idea what real power looks like in this world.

  Yet, a part of her watches in silence as the first monster's claw grabs the edge of the plateau.

  “How strong have you gotten?” Iskara asks.

  “Quite a bit stronger,” he says. “I suppose you must have heard about my master by now. We haven't really talked.”

  A second, multi-jointed claw digs deep into the rock of the plateau, spiderwebbing the surface.

  “I heard all of what you apparently said. So, Baalrek the Mad was your guide. That explains how you knew about Lucifer's Veins.”

  Without someone like Baalrek the Mad, he would have been nothing.

  “I would have never been able to help you without him,” Jacob says, briefly closing his eyes, reminiscing. “King Baalrek was quite difficult to deal with, but he was the most honorable man I've dealt with in my entire life despite some of the madness clinging to him even when he was my master. He left me a few gifts.”

  Iskara has received reports through her family spies. She knows that Jacob is stronger than before. Yet, no one has assessed how strong he is at the moment.

  “I look forward to seeing it,” Iskara says.

  “I look forward to showing you,” Jacob turns and smiles at her.

  For a moment, she feels a deep pang of guilt.

  Jacob's smile is warm and friendly, like someone's who has no idea what she's up to.

  He trusts me completely, Iskara realizes. He must not even suspect for a moment that I'm not going to stay among the Champions.

  A third claw slams down, then a fourth. The creature heaves itself up. It’s a nightmare of obsidian plates and vibrating sensory pits, its mouth a vertical slit that leaks a caustic, yellow vapor.

  Behind this monster made of extremely thick black iron--from which the name Iron Monsters' Peak--more monsters appear.

  Terrifying nightmares rise first in form of shadowy silhouettes, then as carapaced creatures that ooze acid from every orifice and own bladed limbs made to slaughter whatever living creature dares to block their path.

  He's been fighting those things? Iskara balks at the appearance of the monster and their aura. These are defensive monsters. I don't know what his new Class is like, but... how is he fighting those things alone?

  Jacob is not late to answer.

  He dashes forward toward the first wave, shouting back at her, “wait there! We have to protect the obelisk at all costs!”

  Wait? My offensive capabilities are much, much greater than his. Why would he want me to wait?

  It makes absolutely no sense to Iskara. But still, she watches.

  In a way, it doesn't even matter. If he gets wrecked, it will just be as good an excuse to leave the Champions for good. The war that she's about to wage is not something that can be supported by weaklings.

  The first monster that has climbed the plateau is lunging against the running Jacob.

  Iskara is surprised by the speed of the monster, especially considering its bulky form.

  It must carry a devastating amount of power in its frame--how's Jacob going to fight that thing directly?

  A rank-up can give you a lot of power, but Jacob is not a Breaker. Yet, he's trying to be one for reasons that the Infernal Princess finds hard to understand.

  When she sees him swiftly evade the monster's claws but barely tap his sword against the black iron covering its body, she just frowns.

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  What is he doing?

  Jacob dances around the monster, his movements fluid and eerily silent, a stark contrast to the thundering, heavy crashes of the beast’s limbs.

  Tink.

  The tip of his blade kisses the creature's obsidian shoulder plate.

  Clink.

  A second later, he spins under a horizontal swipe that would have decapitated a lesser warrior, his blade flicking out to tap the monster’s knee joint.

  It's maddening to watch him waste time like that as more monsters climb over the edge of the plateau.

  Is this a joke?

  Against monsters that are covered in nigh-impenetrable armor, why would he waste his time like that?

  Is he trying to show off? Is this some type of peacocking that's supposed to impress me?

  “Stop playing with the monsters!” Iskara shouts, her patience thinning. “The others are closing in!”

  Jacob waves at her mid-air, still with the same smile on his face.

  He keeps this show up. He becomes a blur of motion amidst a rain of flailing claws. He pivots off a falling claw, vaults over a spiked tail, and with every pass, his sword lashes out.

  Tap. Tap. Tink. Ding.

  It sounds like a blacksmith gently testing the quality of metal.

  Iskara’s hand drifts to the pocket containing the dark power.

  This... this is real power.

  She releases the dark seed and prepares to step in the moment he gets hit. With the monster's wave becoming thicker and thicker, it's certainly just a matter of time.

  The more monsters you have to deal with, logically, the harder it becomes. Even she would start having trouble by now.

  Yet, she suddenly feels a deep rumbling shake the foundation of the plateaau.

  Something is happening.

  A bloody mist appears on Jacob's skin and his aura swells.

  What the--

  Jacob's power suddenly increases and now, he faces a large monster, whose power is around Intermediate Diamond Rank, close to Advanced Diamond Rank in terms of sheer destructive power and he takes his thin, silvery sword against a massive bladed limb.

  Why is he trying to trade?! Iskara is flabbergasted. Has he lost his mind?!

  But Iskara suddenly notices something.

  The carapace of all the monsters that are surrounding Jacob is smoking. It's hard to spot on the black iron that covers them, but it feels like the plates are giving off tremendous heat that they hadn't before.

  And now, as Jacob is about to clash, his power seems to swell even more.

  When his sword and the limb suddenly hit each other, its the monster's appendange that gets completely shattered. And Jacob's aura keeps growing as a result.

  He becomes faster and starts using a slashing Skill. Once again, though, Iskara is confused. She sees him deliver thin cuts all over the monsters until all the pieces in her head start falling in place.

  He's a Hellraiser Sword user. He always wanted to go for Afflictions, didn't he? This means that he must have a Skill that takes Afflictions he delivers and turns them into power for him. That's ... terrifying. Such a Skill would be coveted even among the strongest Royals in my family.

  Iskara has been raised among the best of the best. Even her brother, Azrakel, who was not enough for her family's standards, would have shone like the brightest star among anyone else.

  Yet, the kind of Skill Jacob is using is something that goes beyond what most warriors can even imagine. Sure, it takes time to charge it up, but Iskara understands on a very deep level just how terrifying something like that can be.

  In a prolonged fight, if someone doesn't kill Jacob immediately, Jacob is only going to get stronger and the enemy is only going to get weaker. This is madness.

  Now, Jacob starts running back toward her and shouts, “I've weakened them! Help me out!”

  Iskara is caught off guard but she immediately activates all her buffs.

  * * *

  Jacob sees Iskara's eyes change. One moment, they're their usual color, then, they turn as if they are made of pure gold. It's suddenly impossible to distinguish pupil from iris.

  The Golden Sight, Jacob thinks. King Baalrek explained it to me before. It's the mark of when Lucifer's Veins are fully awakened. That's how it manifests. Now, she can stack however many buffs she's able to control onto her body.

  “Mana Hyperconduction, Greater Strengthen, Greater Haste, Greater Regen, Greater Aura Polish, Greater Armor Skin, Bones of the Giants,” Iskara channels as many buffs as she's learned and Jacob feels her aura swell beyond his.

  In a moment, she's become stronger than him.

  She's already progressed to Platinum Rank, it seems. She's upgraded her Skills. Jacob checks briefly with the Grimoire and confirms that Iskara has, indeed, jumped to Platinum Rank--he can tell because her Class Skills changed.

  And so, they start fighting together.

  “Let's coordinate!” Jacob tells her and extends a hand toward the monsters. Even though they've been riddled with curses, they're still too strong for him to take on alone and safely.

  [Baal's Cage (Diamond)]

  [Description: Baal’s Cage creates a cursed field that oppresses the target and slows them down.]

  Mist spreads and envelops the monsters, making them more sluggish. Jacob makes sure to check that no more monsters are climbing the plateau from any direction and then charges into the fray beside Iskara.

  The Devil's Engine is powering him up, but he can feel he's straining the Skill. He briefly checks it with the Grimoire to make sure he's trying his best to fix its flaws.

  I need to redirect the Mana off the Horned Veins in my forearms, but it's too much power. I can't.

  He grits his teeth and for a moment feels a deep frustration taking over.

  He's been trying to improve his Skills, but now that they're mostly Diamond Skills he's dealing with, it's becoming harder and harder to fix the problems even though he's well aware of them.

  Yet, seeing Iskara move makes something click in his own understanding of the battlefield.

  He sees her slide below a monster and, instinctively, without even thinking, he jumps and slashes at it. Destabilized by Iskara's attack, the monster falls right into Jacob's sword, with its brains being cleaved in one clean slash.

  Jacob stops for a fraction of a second as he rolls on the ground, looking at the dead monster behind him. He looks at Iskara, who's equally impressed they managed to coordinate this well, and adjusts his grip on the sword.

  With a brief nod, they jump toward the next monster.