Chapter 2: Invasion of the Capital

A few rays of moonlight shone in through the barred window, lighting an otherwise dark cell. The stark contrast between the white light and the dark room was striking.

The furnishings in the room were rather Spartan. The floor was made of metal, and there was only a single wooden pallet, a tiny desk, and a squat toilet. Frankly, prisons back on earth were more comfortable than this cell.

Aiko leaned back against the wall, huddled up in a corner of the bed with her face buried in her knees.

Three days had passed since she'd been imprisoned here. Thanks to the bracelet strapped to her wrist, she couldn't use any magic.

At first, she'd tried all she could to escape. But even cutting herself and drawing a magic circle with her blood hadn't allowed her to cast magic. And naturally she wasn't physically strong enough to break the bars of her cell.

Nor had she been able to slip past the silver-haired nun who came to bring her food. The nun was far stronger than her and had easily been able to overpower Aiko.

The bars over her window prevented her from escaping through there. The most she could do was get one arm through.

Though even if there hadn't been any bars over her window, she wouldn't have been able to escape. Her cell was at the top of a tower on the summit of the Divine Mountain. It was unlikely she could reach the ground without dying, and even if she could, the mountain was crawling with priests. Avoiding all of them and making it back to the capital was an impossible task.

In the end, Aiko had been reduced to huddling in a corner of her cell. Though she was worried about her students, there was nothing she could do for them.

"What are they trying to do to my students... What's happening..." As Aiko mumbled that to herself, she thought back to what the nun had said before kidnapping her.

Apparently, the nun's master would have found it inconvenient if Aiko had told her students what she'd learned from Hajime. The nun had wanted one of the students' plans to continue unhindered.

Worry and despair swirled around inside her mind. Aiko thought back to the boy who'd died in Ur, Yukitoshi Shimizu. She worried that another one of her students might be trying to do something they could never take back, and she couldn't help agonizing over it.

Stuck alone in this prison, she had plenty of time to think. The more she pondered over recent events, the more she realized that there had been something wrong inside the palace when she'd returned. Eliheid and the other leaders of the kingdom had been acting strangely fanatical when she'd gone to see them.

That silver-haired nun must have done something to them. If the strange spell she'd cast on Aiko had really been some kind of mind control technique, then it stood to reason that the king and his retainers had been brainwashed.

However, neither Shizuku nor Liliana had been acting out of the ordinary. Still, there was no telling what might have happened to them in the time since she'd been captured though.

As she prayed for their safety, Aiko remembered one other thing the nun had said.

She'd said that she needed to eliminate the "irregular."

That word brought to mind a specific student of hers. The boy who'd saved her life, and the boy who'd killed Shimizu. Despite being so strong-willed, he'd still seriously considered the advice she'd given him.

And then... they'd maybekindofnotreallysortofpossiblyalmostkissed.

As much as Aiko had tried to bury that memory, it kept surfacing when she least expected it. She blushed, despite knowing the desperate situation she was in.

Aiko shook her head, trying to banish the memory from her thoughts. She was worried for his safety, but she also really wanted to meet him again.

"Nagumo-kun..."

"Yeah? What's up, Sensei?"

"Wha!?" Aiko couldn't believe her ears. There was no way Hajime would be here right now.

She glanced around her room, but saw no one, then tilted her head. Am I hearing things?

It wasn't just her imagination, though. Hajime called out to her again.

"Up here, Sensei."

"Huh?" I'm not just hearing things! Aiko looked up at the window.

Hajime was poking his face between the bars.

"Huh? What? Nagumo-kun? How? This is the top floor... on the summit... Huh?"

"Yeah, I know. Just calm down, Sensei. I need to make sure there aren't any traps here..." Hajime swept his gaze across the room, confirming with his demon eye that the space was clear. There was a flurry of red sparks, and suddenly a hole appeared in Aiko's wall that was wide enough to let a person through.

Aiko's room was at least 100 meters from the ground. And yet, Hajime just waltzed into the room as if the ground extended past Aiko's walls.

Hajime smiled as he saw the shock on Aiko's face.

"Why do you look so surprised? I thought I was doing a pretty good job of hiding my presence, but it sounded like you knew I was already here... Made me lose confidence in myself, honestly."

"Huh? I did? How?"

"I mean, you called my name, didn't you? Wasn't that because you knew I was here?"

Naturally Aiko had known no such thing, and had only muttered his name because she'd been thinking of him. Not that she could tell Hajime that. And so, she hurriedly tried to change the topic.

"A-Anyway, why are you here..."

"To save you, of course."

"You came all the way here just to save me? Really?"

Hajime raised an eyebrow. Her odd actions made him wonder if she hadn't already been brainwashed. He walked up to her and turned his demon eye on her, just to make sure she wasn't under the influence of some strange magic.

Aiko blushed and her heart began to beat faster. The boy she'd been thinking about had happened to come save her just when she was hoping for him to, and now he was standing next to her bed staring intently at her.

If they'd had a simple teacher-student relationship, Aiko would have simply asked him what was wrong. But they didn't, so she found she could do nothing more than stare back at him.

Hajime's eyes found no traces of mana, so he decided that Aiko was likely still herself. He took her by the hand and examined her bracelet. It seemed he wanted to remove the artifact that was sealing her mana. But that wasn't what Aiko saw it as. She squealed and said some rather scandalous words.

"We can't, Nagumo-kun! This is too sudden! And I'm your teacher!"

"Don't you want to be able to use magic again? Or is there some kind of trap that'll activate if I break this? Doesn't look like there is, but..."

"Huh? Oh, that's what you were doing..."

"What did you think I was doing?"

"Ahahahaha... I'm sorry. It's nothing..."

Hajime stared quizzically at Aiko, who tried to play it off with a laugh. She once again changed the subject, asking how Hajime had known she'd been captured.

"The princess told me."

"By the princess, do you mean Liliana?"

"Yeah. Apparently she saw you get taken. She couldn't tell Amanogawa or the others because she was worried they were under surveillance, so she slipped out of the castle to try and find us."

"So it was Liliana-san... You agreed to help her?"

"I guess. This is partly my fault, after all. I know you probably didn't want to see my face again, but... you'll just have to deal with it until we meet up with the others." Hajime smiled awkwardly, then shattered the bracelet sealing Aiko's mana and stood up.

He probably thinks that because of what happened with Shimizu-kun. Aiko grabbed on to Hajime's arm. Then, she looked directly into Hajime's eyes and told him her true feelings regarding the incident.

"I would never wish for something like that. I'm truly happy you came here to save me. It's true that I still haven't come to terms with what happened to Shimizu-kun... Honestly, I doubt I ever really will... Still, I'd like to think... that I at least understand why you pulled the trigger. I don't hate you for it, or bear any sort of grudge."

"Sensei..."

Aiko smiled, her gaze holding equal parts kindness and sadness.

"I was unable to tell you back then, so I'd like to tell you now. Thank you so much for saving my life. And I'm sorry I forced you to kill a classmate."

"..." Looks like you were right, Yue. She figured it out. Hajime smiled bitterly to himself. Regardless of whether or not she'd realized, it didn't change the fact that Hajime had done something terrible to her.

"I just did what I wanted to. I'll accept your thanks, but I don't need an apology. Anyway, let's get out of here. The princess should be with Amanogawa and the others right now. We'll decide what to do next after we've all met up."

"Very well. Be careful, Nagumo-kun. The Holy Church has branded you a heretic. And it's possible the person who kidnapped me is..."

"I know. There's some stuff I need to do here once I get you to safety, so I'll probably end up fighting them sooner or later. I came here knowing that." Hajime nodded, his ironclad resolve evident in his gaze.

Aiko blushed, but she quickly snapped out of her fantasies. There was one other thing she needed to warn Hajime about. Before she could though, they both heard a loud crash in the distance. The air shook.

Aiko stiffened and looked up at Hajime. He looked into the distance, his gaze fixed on a certain point. He guessed that the commotion had come from the ground, and telepathically got a report from Yue.

"Tch, this is some pretty shitty timing... Wait, actually, this might not be that bad." Hajime clicked his tongue and turned to Aiko.

Aiko didn't know Hajime could use telepathy, but after all the artifacts of his she'd seen, she didn't doubt that he'd done something to find out what happened. She demanded an explanation with her gaze.

"Sensei, the demons have attacked. That noise was the sound of the capital's barrier being destroyed."

"Demons are attacking!? Doesn't that mean..."

"Yeah, Heiligh is under siege. My comrades told me through telepathy. They've got a huge army of monsters with them too. They caught the human army totally by surprise."

"Impossible." Aiko paled and shook her head.

Her shock was understandable. It should have been impossible for the demons to bring an army capable of invading the capital this close to the city without anyone noticing. Moreover, the barrier guarding the capital was nigh invincible. It was unthinkable that the demons had not only shattered the barrier, but had also done it without being spotted.

"For now, we need to meet up with Amanogawa and the others. We'll discuss more later."

"O-Okay."

Hajime scooped Aiko up into his arms and prepared to jump. She squealed and threw her arms around his neck. However, just then, a blinding light rained down from above.

"Ah!?" It resembled moonlight, just more intense. Hajime's instincts told him it was dangerous though, and he heeded their warning. Without even a backward glance, he leaped through the hole he'd made. He heard Aiko shriek and cling even tighter to him, but there wasn't any time to spare for her.

A second after he leaped out of Aiko's cell, the silver light blew it to pieces.

The light made a strange noise as it slammed into the stone wall. It wasn't the sound of a physical object slamming into rock, nor was it the distinctive hiss of heat melting stone. No, it sounded as if the light had simply dismantled the component parts of the wall. The top of the imposing tower blew away in the wind, its stone turned into particles finer than sand.

Hajime steadied himself in the air with Aerodynamic and muttered to himself.

"Was the tower... disintegrated?"

"Correct, Irregular." Though he hadn't been expecting an answer, he got one anyway. The girl who answered him had a voice as pure as a bell's peal, but it was utterly devoid of emotion.

Hajime looked up and saw a silver-haired, blue-eyed girl gazing down at him. She was floating above what had been the tower's summit. Her appearance matched the description Liliana had given of the nun who'd kidnapped Aiko.

She wasn't wearing a nun's habit, though. Instead, there was a helmet on her head, gauntlets on her arms, and greaves over her legs. Over her torso, she wore nothing but a white sleeveless dress.

There were, however, metal plates covering both sides of her waist. Though it was a bit odd, it was clearly a combat uniform. She resembled one of the Valkyries from Norse mythology.

She soared into the sky, as if gravity had no hold over her. With the moon framing her silhouette, she turned to face Hajime, a pair of glimmering silver wings unfurling from her back.

The way they shimmered made it look like they were made entirely of mana.

Her glorious silver hair fluttered in the breeze. There was a mysterious, otherworldly beauty to her. Unfortunately, her eyes ruined her good looks.

While everything else about her shone like the moon, her eyes were as cold as ice. There was not even a trace of hatred in them. Only a mechanical, emotionless frigidity. It was as if she was just a doll.

The girl met Hajime's sharp gaze and spread her arms wide. Her gauntlets shimmered, and a pair of large, hiltless swords appeared in her hands.

The two-meter longswords glimmered with the same silvery light as the rest of her. She swung them as if they were weightless, and addressed Hajime in an emotionless voice.

"I am Noint. An Apostle of God. My duty is to remove unwanted game pieces from my lord's game board."

A clear declaration of war.

The girl standing before Hajime was a true Apostle of God, sent directly by Ehit himself. So those so-called gods finally decided to get in my way? He'd ruined too much of their fun, so now they were going to eliminate him.

The air began to tremble as Noint gathered her silver mana.

Eventually, a wave of pressure crashed down on Hajime and Aiko like a waterfall. Aiko grit her teeth and tried to withstand it, but she was as white as a sheet. The pressure was too much for her. However, just before she fell unconscious, she was surrounded in a veil of crimson mana. Hajime's aura of mana blocked the wave of pressure Noint exuded.

Aiko's eyes snapped open and she looked up at Hajime. Despite the overwhelming pressure, he didn't seem the least bit cowed. On the contrary, there was a murderous glint in his eyes, and a fearless grin on his face.

Aiko was captivated by how confident he looked. Hajime stared Noint down and boldly declared his thoughts.

"I'd like to see you try, God's Puppet!" Eight thousand meters in the air, far above the skies of the Divine Mountain, God's Apostle and the monster who crawled out of the abyss clashed.

A short while before Hajime and Noint's battle began, Yue, Shea, Kaori, and Liliana snuck into the palace. Liliana was leading them to where Kouki and the others were.

Yue and the others' primary goal in the capital was to find the labyrinth hidden within the Divine Mountain and clear it, so normally they would never have bothered helping Liliana meet up with Kouki and assist in solving the kingdom's problems. In order to ensure Aiko's safety, though, they needed to make certain Kouki and the others weren't brainwashed. After all, they were the ones who'd be looking after her once Hajime got her out. Furthermore, the Divine Mountain was the Holy Church's base of operations. It was where their main temple was located. In order to infiltrate it unnoticed, Hajime would need to get Aiko alone. While they could take on the Holy Church, Hajime and his comrades didn't want to start an open war with them just yet.

As there was nothing else for them to do in the capital, Kaori and the others decided to join Liliana as she snuck into the palace.

Only Tio had remained outside. She was waiting on standby, in case anything happened. Yue had thought it best that at least one person stay somewhere they could have a full grasp of the situation.

The secret passage that Liliana led the girls through brought them out in an unused guest room. As the last person in line stepped out of the passage, an antique wooden drawer slid over the passage's entrance, hiding it from view.

"Everyone will probably be asleep. Let's start by going to Shizuku's room," Liliana whispered quietly to the girls behind her. Her decision spoke volumes about who she trusted the most out of the students. It wasn't Kouki, who was ostensibly everyone's hero and leader.

The girls nodded, and they filed out of the room. Shea, who had the best hearing of the group, took the lead this time.

Shizuku and the other students' sleeping quarters were in another wing of the palace, so they had to jog through a number of hallways to get there.

When they were almost there, there was a massive boom that shook the entire castle. A second later, the sound of shattering glass rang out through the capital. All of the windows in the hallway the girls were standing in blew out, littering the ground with glittering shards.

"Wawawah, what just happened!?"

"Don't tell me..."

Shea crouched down and nursed her bunny ears. They'd been perked up, listening for even the slightest of sounds, so the deafening boom had hurt pretty bad.

Behind her, Liliana paled and dashed over to a shattered window. Yue and Kaori followed behind her.

What Liliana saw confirmed her fears.

"Impossible... The barrier's been... destroyed?" She brought a hand to her mouth and gasped.

The night sky was speckled with a million dots of light. However, most of those weren't stars, but the remnants of the now-destroyed barrier that covered the capital. There was a brilliant flash of light, and another thunderous roar. A second barrier flared into existence and bore the brunt of the blow. Still, cracks spread across its surface.

"E-Even the second layer can't... How did our defenses grow so weak!? At this rate..." The great barrier that protected the capital was actually three separate layers of defenses. Those barriers were created by an artifact held by the palace. Magicians worked day and night to pour mana into it, ensuring that it never waned.

For centuries, it had stood firm, protecting the capital from invasion. Never before had it been breached. It was one of the main reasons humans had been able to fight evenly against demons.

And yet it had been destroyed in an instant.

Not only that, the second layer was nearly gone too. Each successive layer was smaller, but also more powerful. Despite that, it looked like the second layer would be destroyed in a few more seconds.

The palace burst into an uproar. Hallway lamps were lit and people ran to and fro.

"Did someone betray us? But if that was the case, they'd only bring a small force... Isn't that an entire army at our doorstep? What is going on?" While Liliana was muttering to herself, Tio contacted the others.

"Can you hear me? It's Tio. Would you like an explanation of what's happening?" Yue, Shea, and Kaori's telepathy stones began to glow. Tio's voice rang out through them. It seemed she'd already grasped the situation outside.

"Yeah. Thanks, Tio."

"Understood. A massive army of monsters has appeared one kilometer south of the capital. The white dragon we fought at the Grand Gruen Volcano is there too. It was that dragon's breath that demolished the barrier. However, I do not see the demon who controlled it anywhere."

"So we're really under attack? How did a monster army get here without anyone noticing? What were the scouts at the Reisen Gorge doing!?" Liliana screamed hysterically.

Yue and the others could more or less guess how they'd made it past unnoticed. That demon, Freid Bagwa, had cleared the Grand Gruen Volcano and therefore could use spatial magic.

Opening a portal large enough to transport an entire army was difficult, but not outside the realm of possibility. At her level of skill, Yue could even do it with some help.

Only teleportation would have allowed an army of this size to escape the notice of not just the scouts posted at the Reisen Gorge, but the villages and forts along the way to the capital. It was the only method that made sense.

Seeing as Freid wasn't riding his white dragon, Yue guessed he must have exhausted himself opening the gate and was currently resting.

A second later, there was another sound of shattering glass. The second layer had been pierced.

Liliana urged Yue and the others to keep going. They needed to meet up with Shizuku as soon as possible. However, Yue shook her head.

"We'll part ways here. You go on ahead."

"B-But why?"

We need to meet up with the others and set up a final line of defense as soon as possible!

Yue glared out of the window and spoke clearly.

"That demon hurt Hajime. I'm going to make him regret being born." She still held a grudge about that surprise attack. The others took an involuntary step back. Yue rarely displayed her emotions, but right now her voice was burning with rage.

"Y-You're really mad, aren't you Yue-san...?"

"Aren't you, Shea? Or did you already forget what he did?"

"Never. I won't let him die even if he begs for it." Shea's expression grew serious, and the warmth went out of her voice. When it came down to it, she was just as pissed.

It was rare to see Shea, who was always so cheerful, say something so violent. She, too, held quite the grudge.

"Which is why, Kaori-san, Lily-san, we'll be going to teach that oversized lizard and its master a lesson."

"Yeah. We'll take out his army while we're at it."

Before Kaori or Liliana could say anything, Shea and Yue leaped out of the window.

Poor Freid's fate was sealed. There was no way he would be able to hold his own against Shea and Yue in an even fight. While the overpowered bunny and her broken vampire companion spelled doom for their enemies, they inadvertently also served as the capital's saviors.

At the very least, they would buy time for the humans to regroup, which was why Liliana hadn't tried harder to get them to stay. A chill breeze wafted through the shattered window, carrying with it the panicked screams of an entire city.

Liliana and Kaori stood there for a few seconds. After a while, they exchanged glances and resumed jogging toward Shizuku's room.

"They really love Nagumo-san, don't they?"

"Yep. When they get like that... Well, they're terrifying. I wouldn't want to be their enemy."

"Kaori... do your best to not die. I'm rooting for you."

"I will. Thanks, Lily..."

Though they were ostensibly helping the humans in this fight, Liliana was sure neither Shea nor Yue actually cared about what happened to the capital. Their sole reason for fighting was Hajime. Inwardly, Liliana despaired a little.

"Even though I'm the princess... everyone's just forgetting about me..."

Would Lily cry if I told her I kind of wanted to go with them too? Kaori thought absently to herself as she ran.

The capital was in chaos. People all over the city had come out into the streets to watch the barriers keeping them safe shatter one after another. The city guard was frantically running around, trying to get people back into their homes.

Some people had already packed their belongings and were trying to flee the city. Yet others had fled to the palace and were banging on its gates, begging to be let in.

Barely a few minutes had passed so people were still getting up, but there was no doubt that soon there would be riots in the streets.

The palace didn't have the manpower to quell them right now, either. Especially since the uproar in the palace was even bigger than the one in the streets.

That was only natural, though. The kingdom's top brass had awoken to find out that the demons already had a dagger pressed to the city's throat.

They did their best to organize a counterattack, but— Smaaaaash! They didn't make it in time.

The final barrier shattered, and the demon army, bolstered with a horde of monsters made from ancient magic, swarmed toward the capital.

The only protection the city had left were its stone walls. They were sturdily built, but everyone knew they wouldn't last a second against an army that had taken out their barriers.

A wave of demons cast their strongest spells at the city walls. Gouts of fire, bolts of lightning, pillars of ice, and clods of earth all slammed into the ramparts. A massive monster the size of a cyclops smashed its mace into what remained.

At another section of the wall, a massive boar over five meters long rammed into it over and over. Each impact shook the entire length of the wall.

Up above, a flock of Ash Dragons and black, eagle-like creatures soared over the wall and began attacking the capital proper.

The soldiers on the wall tried to stem the tide of flying monsters, but there just weren't enough of them. Moreover, they'd been taken entirely by surprise. It was like trying to stop a tornado with a fan.

Tio stood atop a tall clock tower that was in the center of the city and surveyed the battle. A few seconds later, Shea and Yue alighted next to her.

"Tio, did you see that disgusting demon anywhere?"

"Tio-san, where's that bastard hiding?"

"You two... I understand how you feel, but Princess Liliana seemed quite happy when you offered to go with her... Are you sure you should have abandoned her so casually like that?"

"Who cares about that."

"There's no time to waste now."

Yue and Shea didn't feel the tiniest bit of remorse. I suspect this is Master's influence. When it came to people they didn't care about, the two of them could be quite blunt.

Yue and Shea started scanning the army of monsters, looking for Freid Bagwa. Just then, they received a telepathic transmission from Hajime.

"Hey, Tio! Get over here!"

"Whoa!? Master? What's wrong?" Tio was surprised by the urgency in Hajime's voice.

"I've got a really dangerous enemy to deal with here. I need you to take Sensei for me. I can't fight at full strength while protecting her."

"Understood! I will head over immediately!"

If Hajime was up against someone that required him to go all out, Tio knew there was no time to waste. She instantly transformed into her dragon form and shot up toward the Divine Mountain.

"Hajime, be careful."

"Hajime-san, don't you worry! Yue-san and I will take care of that stupid demon for you!"

"O-Okay? Weren't you two with the princess— Holy shit! Crap, I can't really talk right now! I don't know what you two are up to, but don't die, alright?"

Hajime was curious as to what Shea and Yue were planning, but he was a bit preoccupied at the moment. He cut the transmission and focused on his own fight.

Yue and Shea hesitated. If Hajime was having a hard time fighting, then maybe the optimal choice was to run to his aid instead of staying down in the city. Even if he wasn't fighting at full strength because he had to protect Aiko, few enemies could match him.

"Yue-san, what do you want to do?"

"Hajime'll be fine. He has Tio with him. Let's get that demon. If we don't kill him, he might destroy some of the other labyrinths' magic circles."

Indeed, that was the other reason Yue had decided to prioritize killing Freid. She wanted revenge of course, but she also knew she couldn't let any other user of ancient magic run free.

It was possible that he already knew the location of the labyrinth inside the Divine Mountain. In which case, if he cleared it first it was possible he'd destroy the magic circle afterward like he did in Gruen.

From what they'd learned in the other labyrinths, Yue knew that, given time, each labyrinth would restore itself to its former state. Even the monsters in it would automatically return. However, there was no telling how long that might take.

That was why she didn't want to give Freid a chance to destroy the Divine Mountain's magic circle. And the best way to make sure he couldn't do anything would be to kill him.

Though her main driving force was still revenge. Keeping the labyrinth safe was maybe 10% of the reason she was here. Two of the black eagles spotted Yue and Shea, and swooped over to them. They were around three to four meters long, and made for quite a fearsome sight.

Shea pulled out Drucken from her Treasure Trove and calmly fired an explosive slug at one of them.

Yue snapped her fingers, and a barrage of wind blades rained down on the other.

The two eagles were turned into mincemeat. One had its head blown off from the bullet's explosion, while the other was chopped to pieces. Their broken corpses fell to the roofs of the houses below.

Chances were the people living in them were awake now, if they hadn't been already.

The other flying monsters took notice of the pair and began circling them. A good third of them had demon riders on them.

They kept their distance, wary of the power that had brought two eagles low in the span of a few seconds. However, when they realized they were facing a little girl and a rabbitman, they scoffed. Throwing caution to the wind, they began chanting spells.

Naturally, they didn't think Yue or Shea could fly. Regardless of what tricks they had up their sleeve, the demons doubted the two girls would be able to withstand a concerted barrage from above.

In all honesty, Yue and Shea had no interest in defending the capital. Their only target was Freid Bagwa. However, that didn't mean they would ignore enemies that attacked them.

Just in case, Shea tried to negotiate.

"We're not your enemy~ We only fought back because those things attacked us first~" Of course, the demons simply thought they were being made fun of, so that didn't stop their chanting.

Thinking these two girls weren't even worth their time, a number of the demons flew off to look for other prey. A second later, they heard a loud roar and a series of screams.

"Wh-What is that!?" The demons turned around to see a dragon made of lightning devouring their comrades and their mounts one by one. They could hardly believe their eyes.

"H-Help—" One of the demons managed to escape the slaughter and flew for dear life toward his comrades, but before he could reach them, something blew him to pieces.

Shea's explosive slug had made mincemeat out of him.

The demons who'd gone on ahead gazed on in horror as chunks of demon and Ash Dragon flesh rained down on them.

The demons stiffened and quickly prepared to guard against the next attack. They cast their gaze about, looking for the two girls who'd obliterated their comrades.

They were so terrified that they forgot to even blink the sweat out of their eyes. Still, they spotted Yue and Shea relatively quickly. However, the two girls weren't chasing after the demons. In fact, Yue and Shea were completely ignoring them. Like before, they scanned the horizon, looking for something.

Their demeanor made it clear to the demons that they weren't even worth these girls' time.

Their nervousness turned into anger. These girls had slaughtered the demons' friends, and they'd done so with the same casual indifference that one would swat an insect. They had walked all over the demons' pride.

Blood boiling, they charged at the two girls.

"You fucking biiiiiitch!"

"Uwoooooooooh!"

"Dieeeeeeeee!"

Despite their rage, they maintained formation. It showed just how well-trained these demons were. They simultaneously unleashed magical attacks from all four directions. Demons were far more skilled at magic than humans were. Normally, a barrage like that would be a death sentence for anyone. However, Yue just sighed. Then, she waved her finger like a conductor's baton.

"You should be able to tell the difference in our skill." Yue's thunder dragon coiled about her, protecting the two of them from the demons' magic.

It then opened its maw wide, and the demons nearby practically flung themselves into it. At least, that was how it looked.

The demons on the other side tried to cast a barrage of piercing spells, but before they could a section of the dragon opened up and Shea shot out of it, charging straight at them.

"Tch! Flame Bullet!" One of the demons cut his chanting short and instantly cast a beginner-level spell to try and hold Shea back. Countless tiny balls of flame hurtled toward the bunny girl.

Shea fired Drucken and used its knockback to adjust her trajectory, easily avoiding the barrage of fire. She then swung Drucken in a wide arc, aiming for three demons who were in the middle of chanting.

"Take thiiiiiiiiiiiis!" Shea freely manipulated the hammer's weight, making it weigh over four tons at the moment of impact. Thanks to her improved body strengthening abilities, she could still swing it easily despite the weight.

The demons never stood a chance. They were ground to a pulp, and the spines of the monsters they were riding on shattered. Monster and rider alike barely had time to scream before they died.

Shea then lowered her and Drucken's combined weight to under five kilograms and used the recoil from its shotgun blast to shoot up into the air.

At the same time, she switched Drucken into barrage mode and fired an explosive slug at the remaining demon who'd shot the fireballs at her.

"Get blown to the other side of next week!" The force of the bullet sent the poor demon blasting off to the moon.

Shea poured mana into her Aerodynamic enchanted boots and created a light blue mana platform for her to stand on.

She tapped Drucken against her shoulder and surveyed her surroundings. This cute bunny girl had quickly become the demons' worst nightmare.

A short way away, Yue faced the final remaining demon. He charged in a glorious but futile suicide attack.

"You damn braaaaaaaaat! This is for my friends!" Even if it meant his death, he wanted to get at least one hit on this girl.

Yue stared coldly at him.

"You're three hundred years too young to call me a brat." The demon had aimed for the moment Yue's dragon had devoured another one of his comrades. He was confident it wouldn't be able to turn in time. He sneered, certain he'd be able to stab her in time. When he was mere meters away, however, a blade of wind chopped his head off, and he plummeted to the ground.

Lamenting the waste of time, Yue returned to searching for Freid.

Shea alighted next to her, Drucken still resting on her shoulder.

"They totally thought we were fighting for the kingdom, didn't they?"

"Yeah. Well, whatever. If that's what they want to think, then just let them."

"You really don't care about them, do you? Well, I guess I don't either."

Despite their best efforts, they were unable to locate Freid Bagwa among the horde.

Yue began to worry that he'd located the entrance of the labyrinth and teleported there already, but just then—

"Ah!? Yue-san!"

"Mmm..." The moment Shea called out, Yue leaped off the clock tower.

A second later, an egg-shaped portal opened up, unleashing a barrage of aurora-colored light.

The light enveloped the clock tower, obliterating it. And it didn't stop there, either. Eventually, it swallowed up all of the houses and buildings in its path.

"As I suspected, you do have some form of clairvoyance. How troublesome..." They turned around to see the foe they'd been searching for, Freid Bagwa. He was riding his white dragon.

He looked rather irritated that the two of them had managed to dodge his surprise attack so easily.

As Freid fully emerged from the portal, a hundred Ash Dragons and their demonic riders surrounded Yue and Shea.

There was a thunderous crash, and part of the city's outer wall crumbled away. Demons and monsters swarmed into the city. A number of squads broke away and started running toward Freid.

It looked like Freid wanted to make sure he finished the girls off for good.

"To think you actually survived. That man's tenacity is something I should not have underestimated... He's dangerous. In order to defeat him though, I shall have to make sure his comrades, you girls, die first." Yue and Shea grinned fearlessly at him. They spoke the same words that Hajime had said a few seconds ago, eight thousand meters above them.

"I'd like to see you try."

"Just try and kill me!"

The army of monsters and demons all attacked at once. Flaming javelins hot enough to scorch the very air, jets of water powerful enough to cut through steel, blades of wind sharper than swords, blocks of ice larger than boulders, dark gray spheres filled to the brim with petrification magic, and bolts of crackling thunder all hurtled toward the two girls.

Finally, a massive aurora trailed behind all the other spells.

There were forty demons, and more than a hundred monsters. Their attacks flew in from every conceivable direction.

The spells melded together into a storm of deadly magic. Still, neither Shea nor Yue seemed the least bit worried. In fact, they didn't even try to dodge. Most of the demons assumed they'd just given up. Freid, however, had an ominous premonition. He hurriedly pulled his dragon up and away.

"Cosmic Rift!" Yue cast her spell.

Two shimmering portals appeared in front of the aurora. Freid narrowed his eyebrows. Since the two portals were right next to each other, even if the light went into one, it'd just come out of the other and hit the girls anyway.

Freid's mistake had been assuming that Yue had summoned only a single pair of portals. This was because summoning a single pair at once was the most he could do.

Because Freid was distracted by the two portals in front of the girls, he noticed only too late that there was yet another portal behind him.

"Blast— Everyone, run!" Yue and Shea disappeared inside the first gate, while the second swallowed up the aurora and spat it out behind the demons. Freid shouted out a warning, but there was no time for them to escape.

Freid was able to fly out of the way in time, but most of his army was decimated by the deadly aurora.

"How dare you make me kill my men. I underestimated you... I should have predicted that you would be able to open multiple gates at once." Through his anger, Freid felt a burgeoning seed of fear. Yue was capable of far more impressive feats of magic than he was, even with the same spells.

He was curious as to how Yue was capable of casting spells without any incantations or magic circles, but his priority was to find out where his opponents had disappeared to.

"Freid-sama! Over there!" One of his men pointed at the outer wall. Yue and Shea were standing atop it. They hadn't wanted to fight in the city because there was a possibility innocent citizens would get caught up in the battle. Furthermore, they knew he wouldn't call off the entire invasion to chase them down. This was a challenge. If he wanted them, he'd have to fight them without his whole army.

On the other hand, if he left them alone he'd be leaving his rear vulnerable to attack.

Freid knew he couldn't just ignore them. He homed in on them with his Farsight and saw Yue and Shea hold out their hands and curl their fingers back, as if to say "bring it on."

The demons were livid. Not only were they being belittled by a bunny girl and a girl shorter than a kid, it was clear they were confident the demons wouldn't even pose a threat to them. Though they were few in number, demons were confident that they were the strongest creatures in the land. They took pride in that, and seeing that pride trampled over enraged them.

"You little bitch!"

"You're just a filthy little beast! Don't get so full of yourself!"

The demons spat out curses and charged. Still, they didn't rush forward blindly. They were wary of Yue's powerful magic, and sent the monsters first as shields. Many of the monsters and demons on the ground fired off attacks at Yue as well.

Shea had an unbelievable amount of explosive slugs stored inside her Treasure Trove, so she knew she didn't need to hold anything in reserve. She fired off bullets one after another into the hordes of enemies.

Pale blue shockwaves of mana exploded all across the battlefield, bringing death to anything they touched.

All that remained in their wake were crushed corpses.

In order to stop Shea's mad rampage, Freid's white dragon and the Ash Dragons all fired their breath at her.

Even Shea, with her body strengthening, wouldn't come out of such a concentrated attack alive. However, she wasn't the least bit worried.

"Spatial Severance." Yue summoned a black sphere in front of Shea.

The super-dense black hole bent the trajectories of the dragons' breath, and absorbed them all.

"Ngh, you used that before too. That must be ancient magic which I have yet to acquire. Listen up, men! I'll take that blond mage! The rest of you must strike down that rabbit girl! Keep them split up and don't let them coordinate attacks!"

"Yes, sir!"

Freid determined that it would be easier to take them on if he separated the two of them. Shea tried to rush back to Yue, but one of the demons wrapped his black eagle in a tornado and shot straight at her.

She tried to swat him out of the way, but a number of other demons attempted the same thing, making it difficult. And so, she instead used Drucken's recoil to leap out of the way and swung her hammer in a wide arc, blowing them all away.

Another wave of demons shot at her, and this time she knew she wouldn't have time to dodge, or counter, so she held Drucken aloft and took a defensive stance.

She pressed one of her hammer's many triggers, and a round shield popped out of the end with a metallic clunk.

"I'll kill you even if it costs me my life!" The blond-haired demon who rushed at her spat that out with such vehemence that Shea doubted it was just rage at his dead comrades that fueled him.

Shea was steadily pushed back, further and further away from Yue. She toyed with the idea of increasing her weight and temporarily retreating to the ground. Before she could though, a portal opened up behind her.

She glanced over and saw Freid ordering wave after wave of demons and monsters to keep Yue occupied while he cast another teleportation spell.

"Yue-san! I'm sorry, but I can't get back to you!"

"Yeah. That's fine. I'll kill this guy for you."

Just before she was pushed through the gate, Shea saw Yue give her a thumbs up. Shea smiled back at her friend with any sense of worry she was feeling draining from her face.

The demon attacking her snarled. He hated being ignored, especially when he was right in front of her. Shea let herself be pushed back by the enemy, and fell through the portal.

"That grinning face of yours makes me sick. I'm gonna rip your limbs off and drag your corpse in front of your friends." That was the first thing Shea heard as she stepped into the air on the other side of the portal. It appeared as though this demon in particular held a grudge against Shea. She tilted her head as she looked at him.

"Have we met somewhere before? I don't recognize you."

"Do you remember the red-haired demon woman you killed?" Shea didn't understand why he was suddenly bringing up a woman.

The man ground his teeth, thinking Shea didn't remember her at all. He screamed at Shea, his voice dripping with venom.

"The one you killed in the Great Orcus Labyrinth!"

"Oh! You mean her!"

"You biiiiiitch!" Seeing that Shea had totally forgotten about her until now, the man roared and sent a barrage of wind blades at her.

Shea dodged them all without even looking.

"Hey, what was so important about her, anyway? I don't get why you're so mad."

"Her name was Cattleya... and she was my fiancée!"

"Ah! I see now... Well, that explains it." Shea nodded in understanding. It seemed this man was Mikhail, the guy who the demon they'd killed had talked about.

Shea didn't know how he'd found out Hajime was the one who'd killed her, but it looked like he had come for revenge. That was why he wanted to kill Yue and Shea, and then drag their corpses in front of Hajime.

"What gave you the right to kill Cattleya!? She was kind, and wise, and loyal!" Shea dropped the playful act and gave Mikhail a look that chilled him to the bone.

"Why should I care?"

"Y-You!"

"If she didn't want to die, she shouldn't have fought us in the first place. I mean, she was the one who attacked us. Hajime-san even warned her. He gave her a chance to run. I can understand why you'd want revenge for your dead lover, but there's no point in telling me about her. It's not like it has anything to do with me. If you'd killed someone I cared about, would you want to hear about what kind of person they were? No, right?"

"Sh-Shut up! I'll make you pay for what you did to Cattleya! You won't die an easy death!" Mikhail created another tornado and sent it flying at Shea.

Seeing as it didn't need to surround the eagle, Shea guessed that it was his own magic that did that and not the black eagle's. With another chant, Mikhail summoned numerous blades of wind to cut off Shea's path of retreat.

Shea blew the wind blades away with a swing from Drucken, then made herself lighter and jumped out of the eagle's path.

However, in the time that they'd been talking, many other demons had appeared through the portal as well. Shea was now outnumbered. Judging from the fact that they were all riding black eagles, she guessed that these demons were Mikhail's personal squad.

The demons simultaneously fired a barrage of stone needles at Shea. They fell upon her like a hailstorm. However, she simply diverted them all with an explosive slug from Drucken. Then, she jumped into the opening she'd created and closed in on one of the eagle-riding demons.

Without mercy, she slammed Drucken into him. His bones and organs were crushed instantly, and he was sent flying off into the darkness. Shea then extended Drucken's handle and pulverized another demon-eagle pair a little further away.

"Grr, don't let her get close! We control the skies! Keep your distance and bury her in a barrage of magic and stone needles!" Mikhail instantly grasped the scope of Shea's close-combat strength and ordered his men to stay back. The demons surrounded Shea and once again rained spells on her, but she lithely dodged every attack, dancing through the sky with the help of her Aerodynamic-enchanted boots.

Every time she tried to close in on an enemy though, they instantly flew back, maintaining their distance. Shea was starting to get annoyed by their hit and run tactics.

"Sheesh. Quit darting around like that! Fine, I'll just have to beat you all to a pulp!" Her bunny ears standing on end, Shea pulled something out of her Treasure Trove.

It was a red sphere, made entirely of metal. And it was a good two meters in diameter. There were chains hanging off one section of the sphere. Shea attached the top of Drucken to those chains.

Gravity took its hold on the sphere, and it began falling to the ground. Shea kicked it back into the air and hit it as hard as she could with her hammer.

There was a loud metallic clang, and the ball was sent flying at an insane speed.

The demon it was headed toward tried to dodge out of the way, but the sphere fired a shockwave out of its side and adjusted its trajectory. Unable to escape, the eagle and its demon rider were crushed by a ten-ton ball. Their shattered remains fell to the earth below.

With another swing from Drucken, the sphere reversed directions and headed back to Shea's side.

In the time it took to return, Shea kept the demons busy with her explosive slugs. Those that couldn't defend in time were killed. Once the sphere returned to her, Shea sent it hurtling off to a new target.

This was the newest addition to Drucken that Hajime had fashioned. It was basically a massive kendama. Shea could freely control its weight and its direction by using her magic and the recoil from the explosives Hajime had packed inside it.

"Oraoraoraoraoraoraora!" Shea sent her massive kendama whizzing across the battlefield. It went out, killed someone, returned to her, then went out again. The dazzling red meteor lit up the skies of the capital, spelling death for anyone in its vicinity. Before long, it was drenched in the blood of demons.

"Curse you and your strange techniques! Everyone, retreat! Attack her from the very edge of your range!" Mikhail bit his lip and barked out orders. He circled Shea, firing off restraining spells one after another in order to slow her down.

However, Shea leaped higher into the air, dodging every one of them. It was as if gravity had no hold over her... But then another torrent of spells came down from above.

"Hmph. Pathetic!" Shea raised Drucken over her head and twirled it rapidly. The kendama attached to it began to spin as well.

The rotating ball became her shield, deflecting the barrage of powerful spells that had been fired at her.

"I have you now!" Thinking she had her hands full defending against his subordinates, Mikhail rushed at Shea.

His eagle launched a deadly barrage of stone needles, which Mikhail accelerated with the wind spell Gale Sovereign. The storm of needles rushed toward Shea.

Shea increased her weight tremendously and allowed gravity to pull her to safety.

Mikhail smirked. This was still within his expectations. He began chanting another spell, planning on burying Shea in a storm of wind blades. And that was exactly when things stopped going as planned. Shea pulled a fist-size metal ball seemingly out of thin air and let it fall.

"Here goes!" She kicked it with all her strength toward Mikhail.

Before he could finish his spell, the ball slammed into his eagle with a meaty thunk.

"Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!"

"You little..." The black eagle hurtled toward the ground, with Mikhail still on it. In one last act of desperation, he fired another burst of wind-powered stone needles as he fell out of sight.

Shea just barely managed to deflect them with Drucken. Still, a few them punched through, piercing her arm and shoulder.

"He did it! He got her with the Cotriss' needles!"

"It's over now!"

The needles weren't large enough to cause any serious damage, but the demons all grinned as if they'd already won.

Shea cocked her head in confusion. A second later, she realized why they were so happy. The parts of her body that had been stabbed started to petrify. It appeared this Cotriss monster's special magic was to fire needles that petrified anything they touched. That was quite a troublesome ability.

Normally something as deadly as petrification could only be cured through light magic or strong healing items. And so, as Shea was fighting on her own, they thought she was definitely done for. There were no healers in sight, and even if she did have some medicine on hand, they definitely weren't going to give her enough time to drink it. Before long, she'd be fully petrified.

A second later, though, their triumphant grins turned into looks of dumbfounded despair; for Shea had proven herself beyond the realm of common sense.

"Grr, I let my guard down. Still, this isn't enough to stop me!" She pulled the needles out of her arm and closed her eyes. The petrification stopped spreading, and like the receding tide, began to shrink. Within seconds the petrification had vanished, and the holes in Shea's arm had closed up.

"Wh-What the!?"

"How did she do that!?"

She had neither downed any potions, nor had they seen her chant any spells. She'd just concentrated a little and the petrification, along with her wounds, had just vanished. The demons trembled in fear. Their voices shook. They were facing something they couldn't understand.

Of course, Shea hadn't actually done anything special. She'd just used restoration magic.

As with the other ancient magics, her aptitude for it was strikingly low. The most she could use it for was healing minor wounds and removing status effects. Unlike Yue's automatic restoration, she couldn't regenerate lost body parts, or instantly heal fatal wounds either. And she definitely couldn't return objects to their former state. Still, with a little concentration, she could heal minor wounds and fractures and recover from most slow-progressing status effects in a few seconds. Given enough time, she could heal more serious injuries as well.

The demons' despair was understandable.

The combination of her overwhelming strength and near-instant regeneration had left them bereft of options. There was no way for them to beat someone who could fly through the sky, heal on command, and possessed the firepower of a tank. Generals back on earth would have been terrified by her overwhelming strength.

The demons had the same look of terror in their eyes that Hajime's past opponents had when they'd seen his might.

This bunny girl's a monster!

"Now then, let's get back to it." Shea shouldered Drucken and launched herself at the stunned demons. Her fluffy bunny ears fluttered in the breeze.

Each swing of her hammer brought certain death to a demon.

The fear finally broke them. The demons charged at Shea, all thoughts of strategy and formation gone.

Shea calmly dealt with their rush, crushing them with her kendama or obliterating them with her explosive slugs.

As the last member of Mikhail's squad fell victim to Shea's hammer, a dark shadow covered the moon.

She looked up and saw dark clouds forming above her. Mikhail fell through them, heading straight for Shea. It seemed his eagle was too injured to do anything other than dive straight down.

"You may be good, but I bet even you can't dodge a thousand lightning bolts at once!" At his words, countless bolts of lightning poured down, with no discernible pattern or logic. Electricity filled the sky.

Normally, the skill Thunder Hammer fired a single massive bolt of lightning from the heavens. However, Mikhail had fractured the spell and spread its power over a much wider area. He truly was a master of magic.

The lightning bolts quickly overtook Mikhail.

It seemed his plan was to take Shea down with him while she was distracted by the barrage of lightning. Even if the spell's power had been diluted, and even if Shea was a godlike monstrosity, the thunder would at least halt her movements for a bit.

Moreover, the lightning was traveling at 100 mph. No one could follow it with their naked eye, much less dodge it.

Mikhail had grit his teeth and watched his comrades die one after another while he'd chanted this spell. No matter what, he would make sure it didn't end up being in vain.

What happened next, however, exceeded Mikhail's estimations once more.

Shea was actually dodging the lightning bolts. No, perhaps it was more accurate to say she was standing where she knew they wouldn't hit.

Mikhail had underestimated her. He hadn't realized Shea also possessed a skill that let her dodge things too fast to see.

In the past few weeks, Shea had unlocked another one of Future Sight's derivative skills: Prophetic Vision. It allowed her to see two seconds into the future whenever she wished. It wasn't nearly as powerful as Branching Paths, but it also required far less mana to activate. Furthermore, she could activate it in quick succession. This was the result of her constant training.

"Just what in the hell are you!?"

"Just your average bunny girl." Shea joked with Mikhail as she continued dodging the storm of lightning bolts. Naturally, Mikhail, too, passed right by her. As he did so, Shea rounded on him with her kendama.

He was too close for the ball itself to hit him, but the chains wrapped around him, trapping him in place.

"Nnnnnngh! Let me go!"

"As you wish~" Shea swung Drucken around, and sent Mikhail hurtling toward the ground. The centrifugal force built up with Shea's swing was tremendous, and Mikhail slammed into the ground with the force of a meteor. The barrier of wind he put up at the last minute managed to keep him alive, but only just. Most of his bones were shattered, and he was coughing up blood.

Shea alighted on the ground near him. Then, she shouldered Drucken and walked up to the broken demon.

Mikhail looked at her with empty eyes. Just staying conscious was an ordeal by that point. The corners of his lips twitched up into a self-deprecating smile. Even he didn't know if it was because he'd failed to get the revenge he so badly craved, or because he'd just watched his entire squad get wiped out by one girl. After what he'd seen though, all he could do was smile.

Eyes locked on Shea, Mikhail uttered his final words. In his mind, he apologized to Cattleya for not being able to avenge her.

"Gah... you... cough... monster!"

"Fufu, thanks for the compliment!" Sadly, his insult only served to make Shea happy.

Ah, if there really is an afterlife, I'll need to look for Cattleya there. That was the last thought that flashed through his mind before Shea's hammer ended his life.

Shea looked down at Mikhail's battered corpse and smiled to herself.

"Looks like I'm finally strong enough to be called a monster too. Fufu, I'm finally getting closer to Hajime-san."

"Now then, I should see how Yue-san is doing..." Shea looked over to where she sensed Yue's mana. It looked like she'd been teleported quite far.

If I hurry, I might still be able to get a few good hits off on that fucking bastard. With that, Shea dashed off to rejoin Yue.

Ash Dragons filled the sky in such numbers that they blotted out the moon. There were easily more than a hundred of them. At their center was a massive white dragon with a gaping hole in its chest. Atop the dragon rode Freid Bagwa.

"I hope you don't consider this cowardly. Dividing your enemy's strength is one of the basics of strategy." Freid watched as Shea and Mikhail disappeared through Freid's Cosmic Rift. Then, he turned back to Yue as Mikhail's eagle squad flew in after him.

Though she showed no signs of using wind magic, she continued floating in the sky. Freid had expected to see some kind of reaction from Yue after throwing her companion into a portal, but she just silently stared him down.

Like all demons, Freid considered himself superior to the other races. He was proud of his race, had an unwavering belief in his god, and was basically an inflexible guy all around. That was why he would never be charmed by someone of a different race.

Still, he thought it would be a waste to kill this girl, who shone as beautifully as the moon. That was the power of Yue's looks.

Of course, he knew he needed to kill Yue in order to weaken Hajime, and he still hated her for killing so many of his comrades, but he couldn't help but chat for a while longer.

"What a waste. Woman, no matter how skilled you may be, even if you can cast spells without chanting, so long as you are a magician you have no hope of victory. What do you say? Why not join my side instead? Someone of your abilities would be treated well here." Yue didn't bother even considering his proposal.

"Hmph. Never in a million years, you ugly wretch," Yue sneered.

Though she'd called him ugly, Freid was more handsome than most men. His good looks, combined with his influential position, meant that demon women were all over him. By no standard could he be considered an ugly wretch.

However, Yue had seen the expression of pure rapture Freid had made when he'd spoken of his god. That blind devotion had disgusted her.

Of course, his expression now was normal, but that just made him all the more laughable to Yue. Even leaving all of that inside, Yue had no intention of being with any man other than Hajime.

Freid's smile froze in place.

"So you would choose martyrdom over me? Or is your loyalty to this country that strong? I'll tell you now, they're not worthy of your loyalty. The people here are fools, deceived into blindly believing falsehoods. They are not worth sacrificing your life for. You would be better served learning the teachings of our god, the great Alv-sama. Once you open your eyes to the truth, you too will— Ah!?" Yue's answered his religious prattling with a barrage of wind blades. She couldn't bear to hear any more.

A fountain of blood appeared in the night sky. Yue's blades had clipped Freid's shoulder as he tried to dodge out of the way. The fact that he'd been able to react in time at all proved that he was skilled enough to conquer a labyrinth. Had his senses been less finely honed, he would have lost an arm just then.

Yue stared coldly at Freid, who glared angrily back. She held only contempt for this would-be demon conqueror.

"Save your pretty speeches. You hurt Hajime. For that, you will die." Yue summoned forth a freezing blizzard.

It whipped around her in a tornado of snow and ice, hiding her from view. The white storm that connected heaven and earth lowered the surrounding temperature to near-freezing. The Ash Dragons closest to her were frozen in seconds.

She'd combined the intermediate-level wind spell Tempest Flash with one of the strongest ice spells, Frost Prison.

The frozen Ash Dragons fell to the earth, shattering into a thousand pieces as they hit the ground. It was as if Yue had brought about a localized ice age. The dragons had been frozen all the way through. Even as they shattered, their blood remained frozen.

"So you refuse to even consider it. Very well. Kill her!" Freid grit his teeth and ordered his men to attack. He'd just lost twenty Ash Dragons in one go. He didn't want to lose any more. Aurora balls closed in on Yue from all directions, all at the same time.

A rainbow-colored meteor shower rained down on her. The aurora balls easily penetrated Yue's icy tornado. In fact, they ripped the entire thing apart.

Freid expected to see Yue bloodied and beaten, but was instead met by the sight of her standing unhurt amidst a cluster of black spheres.

The moment he saw she was still alive he ordered his monsters to fire again. However, those deadly aurora spheres were continually sucked into Yue's black holes, or had their trajectories completely redirected. Yue manipulated her gravity and soared higher into the sky.

Despite the deadly barrage she faced, she was unfazed. The countless Heavenfalls and Spatial Severances surrounding her looked like miniature satellites protecting their star.

"If breath attacks won't work, then we'll just hit you directly! Charge!" The Ash Dragons obeyed immediately. Their talons were sharp enough to make mincemeat out of a tiny girl like Yue.

They came in waves, hoping to overpower her with numbers. Everywhere Yue looked, she was surrounded by gray. But even then, she wasn't worried. Yue simply closed her eyes and began concentrating.

Thinking an unmoving target would make for an easy mark, the Ash Dragons closed in, their talons bared and their maws open wide.

Seconds before she was ripped to shreds, Yue's eyelids snapped open.

She spoke the name a single spell.

"Void Shatter." Space itself splintered. Everything looked like it was being seen through a cracked mirror. Thousands of lines streaked through the sky, and where those lines joined, the world blurred.

Any Ash Dragon caught along those lines was ripped apart. Blood rained from the sky as the dragons were shredded with a sickening ripping noise.

This was her new spatial spell, Void Shatter. It split space along lines she defined, mercilessly cutting anything caught along them.

Because it warped space itself, there was no defending against it. Thirty more Ash Dragons joined the list of casualties.

Freid shivered. Even he couldn't cast a spatial magic spell on that scale, especially not that quickly.

"Such skill. Could you also be someone chosen by god? Are you perhaps the champion of that false god, Ehit? I see now why you refused my proposal!" Freid nodded to himself, convinced of his own misunderstanding. Yue looked at him as if he were a particularly disgusting cockroach.

"Preposterous. I fight for Hajime and Hajime alone. Don't lump me together with the likes of you." Freid seemed more bothered by her insulting his god than he was by her insulting him. His expression grew dark.

It looked like Yue had angered him for real.

"Very well. Then there is nothing more to discuss. I shall slaughter you, and parade your corpse in front of your lover. I'm sure that will be sufficiently shocking enough to render him defenseless."

"You talk big, but can you actually do it, ugly?"

A vein pulsed in Freid's temple as Yue sneered at him again. Rising to Yue's challenge, he attempted to back his words with actions.

He barked an order to the same bird-shaped monster Yue had seen on his shoulder at the Grand Gruen Volcano. A second later, a chunk of the monsters who had invaded the capital rushed over to Yue. It seemed they were planning on attacking her from the ground.

While still maintaining her gravity spells, Yue also cast Draconic Thunder to deal with the monsters below.

Dark clouds formed above her, and a second later a shimmering golden dragon descended from the heavens. She fired the auroras stored inside her Spatial Severances at Freid and his dragons to hold them at bay while she focused on annihilating the enemies on the ground.

Her thunder dragon, which normally swallowed everything in its path, was blocked by a six-legged turtle monster... An Absod, it seemed. It was the same creature they had encountered when rescuing Kaori and the others.

In fact, the Absod was devouring Yue's dragon.

Absods' special magic was that they could absorb other spells and store them in their shell. And this Absod was far bigger than the one they had fought in the Great Orcus Labyrinth. Yue guessed that Freid had refined its design.

Still, Yue's Draconic Thunder was nothing to sneeze at. Even as it was sucking in the dragon's thunder, it was being lifted off the ground. Its shell creaked from the strain of defending against the dragon's maw.

Even improved, it seemed incapable of dealing with composite magic made of multiple spells. Though it could absorb the lightning, it couldn't absorb the gravity magic as well.

Before the Absod's shell was crushed by the pressure, another showed up and began absorbing the dragon's gravity magic.

Draconic Thunder couldn't stand up to two powered-up Absods, and was dismantled before long.

The Absods then fired the absorbed magic back at Yue.

"How annoying." Two beams of light, one yellow the other black, headed straight for Yue.

Yue's gravity spheres had their hands full absorbing the Ash Dragons' auroras, so she adjusted her gravity to fall upward instead.

"I already know how to deal with that strange lightning spell of yours. So long as my Absods are here, your magic is useless." Freid grinned triumphantly.

Yue didn't bother responding. She looked down at the Absods for a few seconds, then closed her eyes again and began concentrating.

"Planning on twisting space again? I won't let you!" His white dragon and his Ash Dragons fired their most concentrated barrage yet. At the same time, monsters that looked like black panthers leaped up toward Yue.

Even if Yue could keep the auroras at bay, her movements were dulled when she was casting. Freid was confident the panthers would get her.

The panthers unleashed a storm of tentacles at Yue, weaving between her black spheres.

The tentacles inflicted countless wounds on Yue, leaving her a bloody mess. Despite how bad it looked though, none of the injuries were deep.

Even if they had been, Yue's ultimate defense lay not in her barriers or her gravity magic, but in her automatic regeneration.

When her comrades were with her, she used barriers to protect them and even dodged attacks because she didn't like getting her clothes ripped up. However, her original fighting style had been to ignore all damage and focus entirely on attacking.

Freid watched in satisfaction as his panthers flayed Yue. However, his jaw dropped open in surprise as those wounds vanished the next second.

"Is that ancient magic as well? Just how many labyrinths have you conquered!?" It was true that they all had restoration magic, but in Yue's case at least, that wasn't what she was using. Freid knew his only hope now was to annihilate Yue before she had a chance to recover. He ordered his monsters to commit to an all-out attack. Then, he began chanting another spatial spell as well.

Unfortunately for him, Yue finished first. Her eyes flew open, and her beautiful voice rang out across the chaotic battlefield.

"Five Heavenly Dragons." Another wave of dark clouds obscured the sky.

A raging tornado whipped up next to them.

Streams of water rushed together and froze into one solid mass.

Grey dust coalesced into a monstrous dragon.

Blue flames burning hotter than hell coiled around her.

Five enormous elemental dragons appeared in the night sky above the capital.

They were each comprised of a different element held together by gravity magic.

The air crackled in the wake of these five heavenly beasts, and all the Ash Dragons screeched in fear. They had instinctively realized that these divine creatures were far more powerful.

Freid's creations were no longer interested in killing Yue. Their only thoughts now were of escape. They looked pleadingly up at their master.

"How..." Freid stared blankly at the dragons. This was so far beyond his understanding of magic that he couldn't comprehend it.

"You hope to seal my magic? Know your place." Yue glared haughtily down at Freid. She looked every bit the empress she'd once been as she pointed a single slender finger at the ground.

The heavenly dragons obeyed their sovereign's will and descended upon her enemies.

The lightning dragon went straight for the Absod, eager for a rematch.

The Absod began absorbing it again, but this time Yue's fire dragon was right behind it. While the Absod was busy with one dragon, the other melted its shell with its blistering heat.

"Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" The Absod screamed in pain. It was being liquified while still alive. Freed once more, the lightning dragon sped on to find other targets.

Namely the other Absod, who was trying to absorb Yue's storm dragon. The thunder dragon swallowed the Absod whole, leaving only ash behind.

Meanwhile, the frost dragon had frozen another Absod solid, while the earth dragon was petrifying everything it touched.

Once freed, the storm dragon rushed off to slice through all the other monsters Freid had summoned.

Strong as she was, Yue still had difficulty controlling five dragons at once. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she continued directing them.

Seeing an opportunity, Freid commanded his Ash Dragons to attack.

Yue recalled her five elemental dragons, and her primal forces of nature collided with Freid's devastating Ash Dragons.

The difference in strength was clear. Freid's poor dragons were slaughtered one after another by Yue's creations.

It was only now that Freid began to understand that he was up against a monster far beyond his abilities to handle. That boy he'd manged to take by surprise at the Grand Gruen Volcano wasn't the only person Freid needed to worry about. Hajime's companions were just as deadly.

He finally realized how arrogant he'd been when he'd asked Yue to join him as his subordinate.

The only way he'd even have a chance was to go all out.

"Shake the foundations of this world, which neither a dragon's roar, nor a giant's hammer, nor the marching of a thousand armies can hope to touch. Only the sighs of the gods may make the earth to scream out thus! Lament and despair your inevitable destruction— Void Fissure!" The space around Yue began to warp. It was followed by a low rumbling, which sounded like the screams of the planet itself.

Yue knew what kind of spell Freid had cast, and instantly switched to defense. Void Fissure's scope was too large for her to avoid. Normal magic held no chance of defending against it, either.

Yue dispelled her dragons and her gravity spheres, then instantly cast spatial magic of her own. She wouldn't be able to survive if her concentration was split between multiple spells.

She got her spatial barrier up just in time to catch the explosions caused by Freid's Void Fissure.

They weren't normal explosions. It was as if space itself had ruptured.

Freid's remaining Ash Dragons and the monsters on the ground were wiped out instantly, the ground underneath Yue was torn apart, and the clouds above her were shredded to bits.

Void Fissure was a spell that forcibly contracted then rapidly expanded space in a certain area. The resulting shockwaves caused explosions that were unblockable by normal means.

"Hmm... So this is the power of ancient magic." Though everything else had been destroyed, Yue was still alive.

Her clothes were tattered and a dribble of blood spilled from her mouth, but she was relatively unscathed. Considering how destructive Freid's spell was, it was amazing she'd taken so little damage. And even the slight wounds he had managed to inflict healed instantly.

Yue should have been obliterated without a trace. The reason she hadn't was because just before Freid's spell hit, she had cast Illusion Cage.

Illusion Cage was a spatial spell that locked a section of space in place. It was a versatile spell that could be used both as a barrier, and as a means of capturing a target. However, its mana cost was insane.

Because of how rushed she had been, Yue hadn't been able to completely fix space around her. That was the only reason she'd taken any damage at all. Of course, that slight damage had been healed instantly thanks to her automatic regeneration. She also cast restoration magic on her clothes to make it look as though she'd never been hit at all.

Yue stood there amidst the destruction, basking in the moonlight. To Freid, she looked almost divine. This time, though, he hadn't underestimated her. Freid fired off another attack from her blind spot.

"I knew you'd survive that, you little monster!" Even as he'd cast Void Fissure, Freid had opened a Cosmic Rift behind Yue. He'd passed through it and had his white dragon fire an aurora attack.

Though Yue was able to dodge out of the way by falling to the right, the dragon bit into her arm as it passed by.

A massive spray of blood filled its mouth. Despite how soft Yue's skin was, the dragon didn't bite all the way through. It kept Yue's arm trapped in its mouth and fired another aurora from point-blank range.

Freid was exhausted from casting high-level spells in quick succession, but he was confident that this time he'd checkmated Yue.

When he saw Yue's expression though, Freid's confidence melted away, replaced by complete and utter despair.

She was smiling at him. It was faint, but her lips were definitely curled upward. Freid found himself unable to look away.

She no longer looked like a divine being. If anything, she looked more akin to a devil than a god. The moonlight, which had emphasized her solemnity before, now cast dark shadows over her face.

Her crimson eyes, framed by her golden-blond hair, glowed in the night.

You dare bare your fangs at me? Yue whispered the name of the spell she had prepared.

"Revival Reversal." The river of time can flow backward too.

Yue didn't say those words aloud, but Freid knew he was in trouble.

Freid and his dragon felt it hit at the same time.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The dragon bit Yue's arm off as it writhed in pain, but she didn't seem to mind. Once her body was free, she flew upward using gravity magic.

Seconds later, her arm had grown back.

Yue looked down at Freid, who was by that point bleeding from multiple deep wounds.

"How does it feel? Those were the wounds Hajime gave you before. It hurts just as much, right?"

"Gaaah! You bitch, how did—" Freid grit his teeth against the pain and looked up at the girl who was smiling sweetly at him.

Both of them were covered in blood.

The hole in the white dragon's chest looked raw and inflamed, as if the wound were fresh. It clawed at its injuries, struggling to stay in the air.

Freid's left arm was now crushed, and there was a massive gash in his chest. He was also coughing up blood, too.

Both of them looked to be on the verge of death.

All of those injuries were ones Hajime and the others had inflicted on Freid during their fight in the Grand Gruen Volcano.

Revival Reversal was a restoration spell that restored the injuries a target had suffered in the past. It was a terrifying spell that could reopen scars that should have long-since healed.

Yue had wanted to defeat Freid with this spell from the very beginning.

This was her way of getting revenge. Back in the Grand Gruen Volcano, she'd been forced to retreat without being able to land a single blow on the man who had hurt her precious Hajime. She'd sworn to herself back then that the next time they saw Freid, she would beat him to a pulp.

Once they'd cleared the Sunken Ruins of Melusine and learned restoration magic, she'd discovered the perfect spell to do it with too. Getting Freid back by making him relive his defeat just seemed all too perfect.

There was one problem that had made using this spell difficult, though.

Revival Reversal required the caster to be within three meters of the target, and touching some part of their body. Moreover, it could only replicate as much damage as the caster used mana. Close combat was Yue's Achilles' heel. She honestly doubted she would have an opportunity to close in on Freid, especially as he was riding a mobile dragon. Her plan had been to batter Freid down and get close once he was too weak to fight back. But before she could, he'd come to her of his own accord, which was why she'd smiled so happily when his dragon had bit her arm. He'd given her the perfect chance to get her revenge.

"It seems... I lack the ability to defeat you as I am. At this point, my only option is to—"

"You're not running away." Yue raised her hand, intending on delivering the final blow to Freid. However, before she could, a barrage of magic came at her from below.

"Freid-sama! Please retreat!"

"We'll buy time for your escape!"

The demons who'd invaded the capital had turned back to help their lord. When they'd seen him struggling, they'd called off the assault.

"You guys! Ngh, forgive me!" Furious at what Yue had done to their master, the demons attacked without any regard for their own lives.

Naturally, their pitiful barrage couldn't harm Yue. Still, they were able to buy just enough time for Freid to slip away through a Cosmic Rift.

He vanished just before Yue's flaming javelin hit him.

"Die." Yue looked coldly down at the demons who were shouting curses at her. With a wave of her hand, she cast Void Fissure, the same spell Freid had used on her. Twisting explosions rocked the ground.

She'd packed more mana into it than usual; it had irked her that these pests had interrupted her revenge.

"Tch... He's like a cockroach." Yue clicked her tongue.

Next time she would make sure to kill him.

Yue took a deep breath to calm herself. Just then, a cheerful voice rang out across the battlefield.

"Yue-saaaaaan! Is that bastard still alive? If so, let me get a few good hits on him too... Whoa, what happened here? Did you cause an earthquake or something?" Shea bounded up to Yue, leaping from one pale-blue mana platform to the next.

"He ran away..." Shea could guess more or less what had happened from those few words. His resilience surprised her. Shea smiled bitterly and comforted Yue.

The two of them exchanged information and replenished their mana. While they were describing their respective fights, they saw a flash of rainbow-colored light above the palace, followed by a red streak.

They watched as pillars of light descended to the ground, shattering the city's walls and vaporizing tens of thousands of monsters in an instant.

Silence followed. The two of them looked at each other and said a single word in unison.

"Hajime."

"Hajime-san."

No one else could have caused that. They two girls were one in mind.

"Let's go to the palace for now."

"Yeah..."

Yue and Shea looked down one last time at the wasteland that had once been the outskirts of the capital. With weary smiles, the two of them flew off toward the palace.