On her feet once more, Elyliyah thrust her needle-mitts into the ground, summoning every last drop of blood from the town into a torrent that converged upon the plaza.
“Chainclaw…! Finale…!!”
Elyliyah’s chainsaw “finale” was even more massive than the previous five. The random metal shards were deadly sharp. Elyliyah herself already seemed to be out of power. It was the cursed item around her neck forcefully amplifying her abilities.
“I’ll crrrussshhh you—!!”
Rotating at a speed far faster than the previous chainsaws, the finale shot forward, sending pieces of crushed stone pavement flying.
Homura held her left hand up before the barrage of death that was hurtling straight toward her.
“Burrrnnnnn—!!”
In the blink of an eye, the plaza was enveloped in a tremendous cacophony of heat and light. The sound of the explosion echoed throughout the town. Homura’s left arm dangled limply at her side, scorched to a crisp by the massive explosion she had just created.
“Ah…!”
However, the fearsome chainsaw remained intact. Only its surface had been singed.
The chainsaw sliced straight through the explosion. Homura barely dove out of the way in time, landing hard on top of a pile of rubble. The fall left her scraped all over, with random fragments and bits of rubble embedded in her skin.
“Nrk—!”
But there was no time to worry about pain now. The chainsaw was already turning around, chewing up the streets outside the plaza as it rotated.
This time, it was Homura who was exhausted and on the run. She could barely see out of her right eye, and her left arm had been rendered useless. Nevertheless, she managed to repeatedly dodge the chainsaw as it hurtled her way.
Meanwhile, the massive chainsaw continued to destroy more of the town as it barreled to and fro. It looked like its path of destruction would soon reach the giant windmills and the fortified wall where the people had evacuated. Screams rose into the air with each pass as the wheel grew closer.
Homura focused on the caster, Elyliyah. Her only chance was to attack Elyliyah directly. But Elyliyah had surrounded herself with countless strands of undulating barbed wire.
“H-how am I supposed to get close?! Wait…what’s wrong with her…?”
That was when Homura realized that Elyliyah’s condition had taken another turn for the weird. Obviously, the toll on Elyliyah for using such powerful magic must have been tremendous. Blood was spouting from her nose, and tears of blood were streaming from her eyes. Her eyes were vacant, and blood gurgled from her open mouth.
“Elyliyah, you need to stop! You’ll die!”
But Elyliyah didn’t respond. It didn’t seem as if she could hear Homura. Earlier, Elyliyah had insisted that she wasn’t being controlled, but this obviously wasn’t normal.
“Hey, Homura!” shouted Psycho. “Didn’t that shark lady say she was supposed to have help? Maybe whatever’s happening to that little shit is the Dark Lord’s doing!”
“Come to think of it, the whole reason Elyliyah was sent to this town in the first place was because her violent impulses were getting out of control…”
Elyliyah’s personality had first started to change after she was kidnapped, supposedly. But for whatever reason, she had apparently grown even more violent at some point. About a year prior, she had finally been sent to Aurerich because the increasingly violent changes in her personality were getting out of control.
“Do you think it’s possible she had fallen into the Dark Lord’s hands even before then…?!”
Homura turned to stare at Elyliyah again. This time, her vacant eyes almost seemed to be begging for help. The meddling in her mind might have been eating away at Elyliyah without her even being aware of it herself.
“We have to help her…” Homura clenched her right hand, riddled with injuries, into a fist. “Forget about punishment—forget about fighting. What Elyliyah needs right now is an intervention!” she shouted, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge the pain wracking her body. “And I’ve got just the fist to do it!”
If Homura screwed this up, she was going to get herself killed. It had to be done with a single strike. No hesitation. Homura knew what she needed to do, and the fear of death wasn’t going to stop her.
“Hold on. I’m coming, Elyliyah.”
Elyliyah’s life force was draining away by the moment. Homura could simply run and dodge until Elyliyah was dead. It wouldn’t take long. Then this whole ordeal would be over without Homura ever needing to expose herself to danger.
But Homura would rather die herself than allow that to happen.
A new fire kindled in Homura’s breast. She was going to save this girl.
“Burning…”
Homura began running toward Elyliyah as if her life depended on it.
“…fist…”
When she brought her right fist into the air, it burst into flames. Pillars of fire rose up beneath her feet.
“…of…”
The undulating strands of barbed wire lashed out at Homura, piercing her skin, embedding in her flesh, and encircling her. But Homura never stopped. She was incandescent. The entangling barbs melted away. She ignored the gigantic chainsaw hurtling toward her from behind. She burned with a single-minded determination to save Elyliyah.
“…salvation!!”
Elyliyah was sadistic, and she was diabolical, but she was also tragic. Homura punched the girl, hitting her in the vile source of this entire catastrophe—the choker around her neck—with a fist imbued with all of Homura’s strength and fire.
There was an explosive roar, scorching heat, and a dazzling burst of radiance. It was like an illusory sun descending unto the earth. Homura’s flames lit up the entire town as if it was noon.
Homura spoke quietly in the stillness that ensured.
“I…may have overdone that a little…”