They flapped their flippers, apparently expecting to fly faster through the power of yelling louder and flapping harder. The strange cacophonous screams had all their enemies shuddering. As for the two who were watching the penguins soar off toward the demons, they couldn’t help but question whether this would accomplish anything.
However, with each impact of penguin against demon, a demon was blown away, covered in curses, and rendered immobile. In an instant, a multitude of demons were left glued to the ground and unable to move.
“Sooo... is it our turn now?” Hatsumi asked.
“No... not yet,” Liliana said. “Please... wait a moment.”
“Huh?”
It seemed Liliana’s magicka wasn’t over yet. The demons were bound to the ground and unable to move inside what looked like a giant black puddle. What followed was none other than another chant.
“Black curtain of the depths. Thou art he who neither opens nor closes, covering many oceans. Fear lies beneath the waters, waiting only for the lid to open. Peer in, take a peep, and learn. Beneath the mired curtain lies a boundless and inexhaustible hunger for life, waiting and ready at all times. You and you and you, all of you hear my words. Here and now, you may look upon the source of all terror—Open the Big Jaws of the Sea.”
The large black puddle undulated. It was as if an enormous fish was swimming right beneath its surface. Before long, a gigantic set of jaws burst out of the puddle, as if a vast whale came to unhinge its jaws before a school of fish. Yet the thing that emerged had the uneven and jagged teeth of a shark, and it proceeded to devour the demons in a single gulp.
The other demons kept their distance, making sure not to approach the cursed body of water. Just as planned, they were now scattered. All that was left was to crush them.
Hatsumi and Titania split up and overwhelmed the demons.
Reverse Mirror. Visions of Rust. Disembodied Blade. Wailing of the Restless Dead. Hatsumi unleashed one technique after the other.
Lightning-fast slashes. Crossed blades. Rotating swords. Flipping decapitation. Titania, too, used a multitude of moves.
The demons fell one after the other at a speed far too fast for the eyes to follow. They were nothing to these two.
“They’re not as strong as I thou— Huh?”
And just as Hatsumi started to voice this observation, she raised her voice in confusion. The demons she’d cut down were laughing. They were cackling. It was as if they were sneering at this display of humanity’s utter foolishness. What made even less sense were the other demons. They weren’t doing anything to try and defeat her. They stood where they were and pierced themselves in the chest with their own hands.
“What’s going on? What’re they doing?” Hatsumi asked in bewilderment.
“I don’t know...” Titania muttered.
The demons laughed and committed suicide, each mumbling something as they died.
“To the Evil God’s side...”
“All hail Nakshatra-sama...”
It was as if they were offering up their own bodies in service of something greater.
“Hatsumi, Princess Titania! Something... bad is coming!” Liliana shouted.
That was when Hatsumi came to a sudden realization.
“The blood is spreading!”
“Oh no! A magic circle,” Liliana cried. She was the very first to figure out what was going on.
The blood spilling from the demons formed a circle. Immediately following that, the girls were blinded by an intense radiance. The blood-colored light left afterimages in their eyes, and before long, an enormous figure manifested.
It had a giant torso about the size of a house. It had a human shape, but it looked nothing like a human. And on its head crested huge horns.
Both Titania and Hatsumi recognized it.
“That demon can’t be...”
“No way, you’re kidding me...”
It was none other than the demon Rajas. The sword in its hand and the clothes it wore were those of the demon Mauhario. The resulting sight in front of them was a mishmash of the best parts of those two demon generals.
“I see, so this is that female demon’s splendid plan...” Titania said.
“What do you mean?” Hatsumi asked.
“Reiji-sama mentioned her saying something about a splendid plan before she retreated,” Titania explained. “We were wondering what kind of scheme it could be. This must be it.”
However, it seemed the fused demon didn’t inherit the memories of its references. It was simply made to have their forms. Even after seeing Hatsumi and Titania, it didn’t react.
“The others are likely encountering something similar,” Titania conjectured.
“So both Reiji-san and Elliot-san’s destinations have one of these too...”
“What... do we do? Call Suimei?” Liliana asked.
“We haven’t even crossed blades yet. I don’t want to call for help,” Hatsumi said, hefting her odachi on her shoulder. “You two, step back.”
“Very well.”
“As you... say.”
Hatsumi took a deep breath, mustered her spirit, and set her aim for the fused demon’s neck.
“Kuchiba School of the Phantom Sword of the Kurikara Dharani...”
She unleashed a horizontal slash. This was the same decapitating blow she’d used in the battle against Mauhario. Anything and everything in her blade’s path was fated to be torn apart. However, in this one instance, she managed no more than the smallest of scratches.
“No way...” Hatsumi said, voice trailing off in shock.
This was impossible. She’d never imagined her blow would deal so little damage. Her mind completely blanked out. And in that short opening before she could recover, the giant demon attacked.
“Ugh!”
Hatsumi immediately blocked the blow. There was no swordsmanship or anything to its strike. It relied entirely on brute strength and sent Hatsumi flying back.
“Hatsumi-sama!” Titania cried.
“Guh! I’m fine! Don’t worry about me!”
Hatsumi landed. She’d managed to block successfully. Had the demon possessed any proper skill, however, things might’ve ended up differently for her.
Titania forced her way in to provide support. The fused demon was tied up by her two dancing blades and seemed incapable of catching her. However, even she found the brute force of its swings troublesome, and she avoided stepping too far in. What followed next was support from Liliana.