“Fasting earth. Thou art he who rots and melts and degenerates, allowing no recovery. Desire is severed, hope is lost, only cursing voices fill the nights, and winter turns the fields into a slimy desert. Voices of starvation from the depths of the soul. Voices of thirst from the depths of the soul. Life degrades. Beauty weeps. But even so, it never ends. The land that thou dost stand upon informs the living of death—Void Foothold.”
Liliana tried to sink the fused demon into a cursed swamp, but perhaps because of its sheer size, she only managed to get it up to its knees. Before long, it shook off the curse and returned up to ground level.
“Right there!”
Immediately following Liliana’s failed magicka, Titania danced through the air, striking the demon’s face with a sweeping slash. She was aiming for its soft eyes, but a thick miasma repelled her blow.
“Hyaaaaaah!”
Without giving it a moment to breathe, Hatsumi closed the distance with her odachi held high. She gave it a hearty slash across its shoulder. A strike that could split even steel dug into the fused demon’s chest, letting loose a spray of black blood.
“Did that... do it?” Liliana asked.
“No! It was too shallow!” Hatsumi cried.
The feedback from her slash had been weaker than she’d expected. She had in fact been able to deal it a visible wound, but it was a superficial injury. She’d done no more than split open the surface of its bulky muscles.
The three girls scattered and backed away from the demon.
“This thing is way too tough. What’s with its body...?” Hatsumi muttered.
“It’s catching our attacks... with miasma,” Liliana observed.
“It appears so. To get rid of it, we either need magic, or...” Titania trailed off.
“A hero’s power,” Hatsumi finished for her.
The fact that Titania’s sword had done no damage was proof of that. Hatsumi had the power of a hero, and Liliana could use magic that made use of this world’s Elements. They both had a means of fighting, but the problem was Titania.
“Your Highness... do you have any ideas?” Liliana asked.
“I resent it, but I have no choice but to imitate that man,” she answered.
“Who?” Hatsumi muttered.
While the other two wondered what she meant, Titania started chanting. A chill enshrouded her sword. Hatsumi and Liliana could both feel a prickling sting caused by the cold breeze emanating from it. Judging only by appearance, her blade looked like it could freeze whatever it cut and cause frostbite from a single touch.
“Titania-san, what’s that?” Hatsumi asked.
“This is Duke Hadorious’s technique,” she explained. “I can’t do it as well as he can, but it should work.”
“The duke? I thought... you didn’t get along with him,” Liliana commented.
“There was a time when he trained me...” Titania said, her expression as sour as possible. Being the sore loser she was, she really didn’t want to recall that memory.
As that went on, the earth suddenly burst open. The fused demon had slammed its sword into the ground, sending a crack in the earth that ran forward in a wave of destruction and dust. Visibility deteriorated in an instant.
“Crap...!”
“Now we can’t—”
“I’ll blow it... away.”
However, before Liliana could act, the fused demon closed in. Hatsumi sensed its presence earlier than the other two and read the path of its sword. Due to her enhanced spirit, she could make out that the faint shadow through the dust looked somewhat taller than before. It was likely holding up its sword in a reckless attack, as if swinging a club.
Hatsumi relied on the power of a hero and responded to its blows one, two, then three times. Even when she parried the strikes to the side, she felt her hands gradually going numb, pain running up her arms to her core. If her weapon were made of simple steel or mithril, things would likely have gone much worse. Her sword would’ve broken, and the battle would have ended far too soon. It was even possible her odachi would’ve been cleanly bisected.
“Ugh...”
Unable to withstand the fourth attack, Hatsumi was blown back. She took a shallow cut to her abdomen and tumbled across the ground. Right as that happened, Liliana cleared the dust with her magicka, and Titania immediately went on the offensive. She slashed at the fused demon’s elbows and knees, opening cuts and freezing the lacerations to restrict its movements. Using the opening of Titania’s attacks, Liliana ran over to Hatsumi.
“Hatsumi, I’ll heal you.”
“Sorry. Thanks.”
She started using healing magicka, sealing the wound in Hatsumi’s abdomen and the scrapes she’d gotten from tumbling across the ground.
“Aaaaaah!”
The two suddenly heard an urgent scream. Turning to look, they saw Titania pressed down on her back by the demon’s sword.
“Hggggh...!”
Its frozen wounds were still there, and Titania was using two blades to push back its one. Nonetheless, it was only a matter of time before it crushed her. The moment Hatsumi’s wounds were healed, she set forth to help.
Hatsumi ran like the wind, aiming for the two arms that were trying to crush Titania into the ground. The demon switched its grip to a single hand to free up one that reached out toward her. A blast of miasma shot out of its palm. The moment before it slammed into her, Hatsumi exhaled.
“Hatsumi!”
“Hatsu...mi-sama...!”
And just as the two began to harbor fears regarding what was about to happen...
“Phantom Sword Mist Slash.”
Hatsumi’s body dispersed like scattering mist. As the miasma pierced her shadow, the demon took a sweeping slash to its sword-wielding arm. Behind it, Hatsumi stood with her blade poised as if she’d just struck.
With the pressure crushing down on her easing, Titania kicked the demon’s arm and escaped, running over to Hatsumi’s side. Liliana’s dark magic kept it from pursuing them.
“Hatsumi-sama, I’m in your debt,” Titania said.
“I’m just glad you’re okay.”