When Mena heard Shouma was here, she regained enough confidence to crack jokes.
“Man, he’s gonna hog all the glory.”
“Then we’d better focus on saving Vritra!”
Anzu had been waiting for this—at last, she drew her blade.
“Demon lord or not, my blade will cut it! I rule the damn domain!”
Anzu flung herself at her massive opponent, swinging her sword. Her secret art, Scattered Blossoms, allowed her to fly high up above into a mighty downwards swing— Clang!
But thick skin covered in hard scales was more than a match for her attack. The shock numbed her hands on the hilt, and her eyes widened.
“Damn, that’s hard!”
“Talk about tough. Let’s see if magic works. Water Arrow!”
Mena tried her specialty but to no avail.
“Hngg! It feels like punching a bag of muscle! Clearly a defensive special— Augh!”
Nexamic was in mid-sentence when Vritra’s tail attack struck home.
“Look out, Nexamic!”
“Gahhhhh! Tiger Guard!”
Nexamic used a secret art of his own and hardened his body. But the sheer bulk of the tail sent him flying anyway.
“Hngggggg?!”
Lloyd and Phyllo briefly stopped helping evacuate to catch him as he fell.
“Nexamic!”
“……Making things worse.”
Their quick footwork barely kept him from falling entirely out of the building, and he looked unusually sorrowful.
“Th-thank you, both. By way of gratitude, I’ll tell you my secret hip exercises!”
“……Do not need.”
If even Nexamic couldn’t hold his ground against this foe… Well, Riho was swearing.
“Damn, this Vritra’s even stronger! I guess he knew Lloyd and was pulling his punches. This is what he’s really capable of?”
Allan remembered Vritra’s prior attack.
“I thought we were done for, then. Sou wound up hitting a missing scale and vaporizing his body; if we aim for that—”
“I thought the same thing, but I can’t see any missing scales. This snake demon is fully healed.”
As they avoided his attacks, Vritra lashed out, roaring.
“Voohhhhhhh!”
“He’s being tormented. Eve said something about guilt making people violent, but what does he feel guilty about?” Mena asked.
“I’m assuming Asako,” Satan suggested. “He threw himself into finding a cure for her and was barely home. It put a strain on their relationship. Plus, she’s been possessed this whole time, and he wasn’t there to save her— It’s a lot to carry.”
“But he worked so hard!” Selen looked up at him, sadness in her eyes.
A demon lord so strong he’d gone toe-to-toe with Alka at her most invulnerable. There was nothing they could do about his rampage. That thought was on everyone’s mind.
“But should we really call in my mom or the kid grandma?” Marie asked.
Satan shook his head. “That’s Eve’s goal here. She needs to buy time till she adjusts to her body, and if we look for help, that’ll leave the holy sword or Kunlun undefended.”
“And she knows we can’t hurt a friend… President Eva’s a nasty—argh!”
Surtr had let his guard down for a second, and Vritra’s tail snap sent the turtle flying. Lloyd dashed off to catch him over his shoulder.
“Close one!”
“Thanks, Lloyd! You were like a wide receiver!”
Satan was relieved to see Surtr safe, but Vritra’s might was making him sweat.
“I knew the director was a force to be reckoned with… He came to this world with a huge dream—to save his daughter’s life. How could he not be strong?”
The bigger the individual’s goal, the more powerful they became in this new world. Satan believed that theory. Meanwhile, he’d just studied up on environmental problems out of a desire to score with the ladies which couldn’t compare, and made him insecure, here.
“Do I have to take my second form and fight him for real? But that means one of us is gonna die.”
He knew he couldn’t hold back. Anzu flitted over to him.
“Whoa, don’t put yourself down, Satan. I thought your boss’s order had you motivated!”
“Anzu, the director’s requests are never easy. If we at least had a plan to diminish his guilt…like Asako waking up…”
While everyone hesitated to attack, Selen stepped forward. “Vritra! Wake up!”
“Gahhhh!”
But the snake did not respond and merely thrashed his tail around. Selen blocked the incoming rubble with her belt, trying again.
“Look out, Selen! Back down!” Riho cried, but Selen wasn’t listening.
“I will not! Vritra has been at my side for ages! My voice will reach him!”
“But you’re up against a demon lord…”
The snake demon lord was out of control, lashing out at everything. Even in the face of that—Selen was determined to talk him down.
“Vritra is Vritra! My voice will reach him! I must remind him how hard he’s worked—that he has nothing to feel guilty about!”
Riho didn’t know how to argue that—which made Phyllo shake her head.
“……When she gets like this, Selen won’t hear anyone else.”
“Yeah…I’ve known her long enough to figure that much out. Heh.”
Riho chuckled, sighed, then called out to Satan and Merthophan.
“Merthophan! Killing Vritra might well be our only other option, so I’m betting on Selen’s lecture!”
Merthophan nodded.
“As a former instructor, I don’t condone gambling! But I’ll make an exception here!”
“You heard him, Selen. Chew his ass out! We’ll fend off his attacks!”
“……On it.”
Selen folded her arms, grinning.
“It never hurts to have good friends!” she declared.
“Selen!” Lloyd seemed highly motivated to back her up. “I’m your friend, too! Let me help!”
But his extremely confident use of the word friend immediately took the wind out of her sails.
“Y-you’re just saying ‘friend’ because I said that word, and you thought you had to play along! It’s basically peer pressure! Right? Tell me that’s right!”
Wasn’t that demand the real peer pressure?
As she wailed, Allan stepped up next to Lloyd.
“Don’t lose your head, Belt Princess! Friendship is power! Don’t waste it!”
“You are not my friend. Stay out of this.”
“Augh! That’s discrimination!”
“At best, you’re a local lord I keep running into. Azami Cadet Team! Our mission: Talking sense into Vritra!”
Everyone roared back. Their faces beaming with faith in each other.
“Come on! Allan, Riho!”
“On it, Lloyd!”
“Let’s do this, Vritra! Rahhh!”
Allan came in swinging with a wild axe spin that got Vritra’s attention.
“Grr?!”
As the snake turned, Riho fired a mithril arm-boosted ice spell at its face.
“Ha! Even you’ve gotta be annoyed by that snowball!”
She was right—Vritra had flinched. And Phyllo didn’t miss that.
“…………Shh!”