“Looks like you’re alright, Reiji.”
One was a blond boy in armor, and the other was a black-haired priestess.
“Elliot?!”
“Sorry for being late.”
“What’re you doing here?!” Reiji shouted.
“Do you need to ask?” Elliot said, shrugging. “I’m pretty sure I already told you I’d be following you to Astel. Right, Christa?”
“Yes,” his attendant confirmed.
The two of them immediately ran up to Reiji.
“Thanks. You saved me,” Reiji said.
“I’m just glad you’re fine... Are you?” Elliot said, unsure due to Reiji’s appearance.
“I just look a little ragged,” Reiji told him. “I didn’t take that much damage.”
“Hmm? Is that so? Then, can you still fight?” Elliot asked.
“Yeah.” Reiji nodded.
The two of them turned to face the grotesque demon. It’d apparently blocked the lightning with its arm. Despite the arm now being charred black, the demon had no issue moving it. It wasn’t clear whether it’d even taken any serious damage.
“Did I not put enough strength behind it?” Elliot commented. “I don’t recall holding back... So? What is that thing?”
“I don’t know,” Reiji said. “It came out right when the fighting started. It’s stronger than any other demon I’ve seen before.”
“I see... That means it’s one of the newly created demons.”
“Mm... Probably.”
“Christa,” Elliot said, “make sure none of the other soldiers come this way. Reiji and I will face it.”
“But what about your support?” Christa protested.
“I don’t need it. Go. That’s an order,” Elliot told her.
Christa tensed at his unusually strong tone, then soon enough agreed and left to aid the soldiers who were still fighting the growing swarm of demons.
“Let’s work together to bring it down,” Elliot said. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah! Of course!” Reiji shouted.
Elliot put on his bucket-shaped helmet and slashed at the incoming grotesque demon. It retaliated with frighteningly fast claws, but Elliot dodged them. His movements were those of someone who felt no fear when fighting a larger and stronger opponent—someone who’d been in this situation many times before. Reiji couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.
However, despite Elliot’s clear display of experience, the grotesque demon’s brute strength was still too much for him, and it was far too fast. Before long, Elliot was forced onto the defensive with more and more frequency.
“Ugh! This is rough...!”
Elliot was sent flying, and even after landing, his heels skidded across the ground. Watching his movements carefully, Reiji chose the right time to support him.
“Elliot!”
“Guh! Thanks!”
Reiji charged in to make himself a target. He had just as much power as he’d had before. He could still deflect its attacks. When he stepped forward, it stepped back. When he defended, he held his ground. If he kept up the offensive...
And just as that thought crossed his mind, Reiji was assaulted by nausea.
“Ugh...”
He was at a tremendous loss for breath. His shoulders heaved up and down as if the tables had been suddenly turned against him.
“Reiji, are you alright?” Elliot asked.
“S-Sorry. I’m just depleted of mana from using this power...”
“It’s fine. There’s no helping it.”
“How are you holding up?”
“I can finally feel my arm again.”
Elliot sounded calm, but his brow was damp with cold sweat. He had to be panicking too. He wasn’t exhausted, but the grotesque demon’s power was just that terrifying.
“I’d rather not fight that thing for too long,” Elliot said, confirming Reiji’s suspicions. “Let’s finish it in the next blow.”
“I’ll hit it with everything that I have,” Reiji agreed.
With that, Elliot lowered his sword and held out his gauntleted right hand. A portion of the gauntlet spread out like an angel’s wings and fired another pillar of light into the heavens. Immediately following that, a lightning bolt shot out at the grotesque demon.
“Prepare yourself; the next one’s even stronger,” Elliot declared.
The gauntlet let out a thunderous roar, creating another pillar and another flash of lightning. Was this piece of equipment emitting the energy on its own? Or was this Elliot’s power at work?
A great shock wave broke out, and the lightning slammed into the demon, spreading out like a cage and forming a barrier around it. Each time the demon tried to step forward, it was blown back by the lightning.
“Reiji, can you handle it?”
“Y-Yeah!”
Elliot had created the perfect opportunity for him. This could be their first—and last—chance. So, naturally, Reiji put all he had into his next strike. He squeezed out every last drop of mana he possessed, drew everything he could muster from the Lupis Judaix, and concentrated it all into the Ishar Cluster’s blade. Azure lightning, quite different from what Elliot had created, rampaged all around Reiji. Every now and then, whatever the lightning touched transformed into crystals.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
Give me power!
He pictured himself yanking on the chains that connected him to the source of this power. He pulled back the hilt of his sword as if drawing a bow. The further he pulled it back, the more mana concentrated within its blade and the more it affected his surroundings. Crystal pillars surrounded the grotesque demon and converged on it like a jail—this gathering portended the Ishar Cluster’s Alpha Strike.
“Crystallized Las Shiara!”
Reiji unleashed the power, but just as the crystal pillars were about to fully envelop the demon, a deep miasma swelled from its body, smashing the crystals into tiny fragments. Still, it wasn’t going to get away unscathed. Reiji immediately fired an enormous crystal, gouging it into the demon’s torso.
“Gaagyaaaah!”
The grotesque demon let out a jarring shriek—the first sound it’d made this whole time. Its voice felt like it could pollute the mind and drive one to madness, just like a mandragora’s death scream.
The two of them had managed to deal it a major blow. Expending all that power had been worth it. Elliot looked exhausted too, having mustered a significant amount of strength behind that lightning cage. He was still gasping for breath, much like Reiji was.
“Phew. Looks like we’ll manage one way or another,” Elliot said with a sigh.
“Yeah, if we keep this up—”
“If you keep this up, do you really think you’ll win?”
And just as things were starting to look bright, a voice cut Reiji off out of nowhere and shattered their hopes.
“How shallow-minded...”
Reiji and Elliot turned toward the exasperated voice. Standing there was the female demon, her sword in her hand. Reiji froze in shock. This wasn’t because she’d appeared out of nowhere without him noticing. It was because of what was standing at both her flanks. There were two other grotesque demons, identical in appearance to the first.
“No way...” Reiji muttered.
“This is bad...” Elliot grumbled. “There are two more of those things...?”
How many times had Reiji been rendered speechless since the beginning of this war? Even Elliot, who’d put up a pretty good fight against the grotesque demon, had a stiff expression. Fighting only one had pushed them to their limits, and now there were three of them. It was easy to imagine what would happen if Moolah set these demons upon them.
Reiji had been too careless. Why had he convinced himself that there was only one of those demons? He ground his teeth at his oversight.
“Another hero?” Moolah asked.
“Who...? What exactly are you?” Elliot said. “Oh, and don’t give me the boring answer that you’re just a demon.”
“I’m a demon general and commander of this army, Moolah.”
“I see. I suppose I could’ve guessed as much given your power...” Elliot said. “By the way, what are you here for?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Moolah stated.
As in, the demons were planning to annihilate them here.
“Reiji, can you still fight?” Elliot whispered.
“I have the Ishar Cluster, so I’ll manage somehow. And you?” Reiji whispered back.
“I still have some strength in reserve, but I’m pretty spent. I’m guessing this is going to be a pretty tough fight.”
As was to be expected, the technique Elliot had used earlier had exhausted the majority of his strength.
Moolah raised her arm high as if to order her troops, and then...
“No, that would be boring.”
Instead of swinging it down, she pulled it back. The grotesque demon Elliot and Reiji had worked so hard to maim returned to her side.
What was going on? If she ordered the demons to attack, it would be entirely possible to defeat two heroes at once. Why was she calling them off instead?
“What’s the meaning of this?” Reiji asked.
“It’s exactly as you see,” Moolah said.
“What...?”
Moolah sank into thought for a moment, then opened her mouth to speak once more.
“I simply came up with a splendid plan. You must so resent dancing to someone else’s tune, no?”
“I don’t—”
“From here on out, this is my fight,” Moolah cut him off. “Look forward to it.”
With that, she flung back her mantle, turned around, and left. The three grotesque demons followed in her wake.
What did any of that mean? What was her plan? How were they dancing to someone else’s tune?
Reiji and Elliot remained in a confused daze, when suddenly, the situation in the city started changing too.
“Elliot-sama!” Christa yelled, running toward them and gasping for breath.
“Christa? What’s wrong?” Elliot asked. “Why aren’t you helping the soldiers retreat?”
“Well, um...” Christa started, clearly bewildered. “The demons have started to withdraw.”
“They’re falling back?!” Reiji yelled.
He turned to look at the city. Just as Christa said, winged demons could be seen flying away from them.
“What’s going on...?” Reiji muttered.