Slayers - Volume 13 - Chapter 3

3: The Demons Hiding in the Palace Assemble

“Fell Zaleyd!” The fight kicked off with an unprompted blast from Mileena. The spiral of light she conjured tore through the air, aimed at the demon on the ceiling! But...

Fwoosh! Mianzo’s roots produced a luminous sphere of their own to blast apart the incoming strike! The two spells canceled each other out!

“Waaagh!” The ensuing explosion was the soldiers’ cue to panic. Some of them must’ve seen the demons that had showed up the last time we were in town, but this one’s appearance was particularly terrifying.

While some of the soldiers threw open a nearby door and ran for their lives, others picked up spears and swords and rose to attention. Too bad swords and spears couldn’t reach the ceiling, and even if they could, they wouldn’t hurt a pure demon. As for the soldiers who ran, the strange warping of space caused them to reenter the room immediately through the opposite door, which only added to the chaos.

Then Mianzo’s roots—the portion that had just fired the intercepting ball of light—began swelling. Were they growing another head?! I feared so at first, but the swelling knot grew far larger than a head before—Bloosh!—exploding nastily to release a black something onto the ground below.

Thwap... It hit the floor lightly and then slowly rose up. It stood a head taller than the soldiers around it, but it was far thinner and black from head to toe. It almost looked like a mummy, but its form—too distorted to be human—and the purple light blazing behind its narrowed eyes suggested this was no mere undead creature.

“The demon... created another demon?!” Mileena cried in surprise.

“No,” I responded. “She was just storing it.”

“W-Waaagh?!” The already panicking soldiers thrust their swords and spears at the new demon in their midst.

Whackawhackwhack! The dull sounds of impact rang out. Some of the soldiers’ blades missed their target and hurt their comrades. Others easily slid through the demon’s body... And yet, pincushioned as it was, the corners of the demon’s mouth curled into a smile.

“Fall back!” Gourry roared as he sprang into a run. But both his charge and the soldiers’ retreat came a second too late.

Splush! The demon swung its hands, and several soldiers hit the floor with a heavy squelching sound, transformed into lifeless lumps of flesh.

“Damn you!” Gourry drew his sword as he approached the black demon, and—Clink!—he leaped back a second later, swinging to the side to block a silver blade that emerged from a nearby suit of plate armor.

Hang on a minute! They’ve got more demons?!

The silver blade remained crossed with Gourry’s own as its wielder continued to extract itself from the armor. It looked like a silver water strider, except it was as big as a person and had a dangling mass of random organs where its body should be.

“Kraaah!” With a curiously bird-like cry, the black demon dashed at Gourry from his flank. And then...

Vwoosh! Luke swung for its arm. “The damned things just keep comin’!”

Realizing that Luke’s sword was a magical one, the black demon leaped back to put distance between them. But you can bet Mileena and I weren’t just sitting around and watching!

“Elemekia Lance!” I incanted, unleashing an amplified version of the spell.

“Elemekia Flame!” Mileena fired immediately after.

We were aiming up at Mianzo, and our one-two timing would make the spells impossible to dodge... At least, as long as she stayed stuck to the ceiling.

Vwip... No surprise, Mianzo didn’t hesitate to drop down to the floor, allowing our spells to crash harmlessly into the ceiling overhead. But this wasn’t a bust—getting Mianzo on our level was an equally desirable outcome for us. It was hard to deal with the rooty monster while she was out of sword range, after all. We’d just leveled the playing field a little.

The moment Mianzo landed, the mouth of her dead-eyed head spewed a high-pressure jet of water! Blood spurted and soldiers toppled. The trajectory of the jet moved toward Gourry’s back, and... Splut! A spear thrust from a nearby soldier pierced the cheek of the demon’s head, reducing its concentrated torrent to a messy shower!

Nice! Even if physical attacks can’t really harm Mianzo, they can still defuse her physical water attacks! We can work with this!

Mianzo’s roots lashed out to knock over the spear-wielding soldier who’d attacked her, the fall withdrawing the spear from her cheek. By then, me and Mileena had already closed in. The demon turned her head toward us... but it was too late!

Mileena produced a dagger from her pocket and buried it in the demon’s cheek, splashing water over the two of us, but throttling the deadly geyser into nothing more than a stiff spray. Mianzo produced a second head beside her existing one, but I pulled out a dagger of my own and plunged it through that one too. Then, as Mileena and I finished chanting our next round of spells...

?!

Immediately, I kicked off the floor and slammed into Mileena, throwing us to the side. In that same instant, a pale hand sliced through where we’d just been standing. Once it completed its arc, the owner of the hand emerged slowly from Mianzo.

A fourth demon? How many of these things are there?!

This one was pure white and had four arms but—in exchange, I guess you’d say—no head.

“You dodged... that?” the white demon asked in surprise.

It was a close call, to be sure, and I’d been too close up to really see it coming. I’d just felt a chill run up my spine and moved on instinct.

But I didn’t have time to explain that to anyone. Mileena and I exchanged a glance, then ran straight for the white demon.

Gourry was at a big disadvantage... At least, he should have been.

The water strider demon was using three legs to stabilize itself, and the remaining three to slash at him. Its speed was excellent, its blades were sharp, and its attacks came in brutal, unending waves. No matter how extraordinary Gourry was with a sword, it was taking everything he had just to hold them at bay... and he wasn’t even fully succeeding at that.

But the demons had made one fatal mistake: They’d assumed the four of us were the only ones they’d be fighting. It was true that the soldiers weren’t capable of killing demons per se, but...

“Hyahhh!” With cries of effort, they thrust out their spears, tangling them up in the demon’s legs! Even if they couldn’t hurt the thing, they could restrict the movement of its corporealized form. And that opening was all Gourry needed.

“Hah!” Slash! The big lug’s sword cleaved the tip of a soldier’s spear right along with one of the demon’s legs, followed by its body.

“Skreeeeeeee!” With a death rattle reminiscent of a real insect’s, the silver demon fell to pieces, hit the floor, and shattered like fine porcelain.

“We’re saved!” As the soldiers lavished their gratitude on Gourry, he turned to face Mianzo.

Just before Mileena and I got in range of the white demon, who stood ready to counter, we leaped to the sides and unleashed the spells we had at the ready!

“Fell Zaleyd!”

“Hell Blast!”

Our target? Mianzo, who was focused on Gourry as he approached! The white light seared the demon’s head, and the deathly lance pierced its tangling roots!

“Gyaaaaah!” With a scream, Mianzo turned to a pillar of ash. Gourry’s sword plowed through her pulverized body and kept going, impaling the panicking white demon as well.

“Go ahead and try ganging up on us...” Slash! Luke’s steel blade, bathed in light, cut through the black demon at the same time. “But you better send some less trash goons to do the job! Don’t underestimate us just ’cause we’re human!” His magic-infused sword effortlessly felled the demon.

And with that, the brief battle came to an end.

“You... You’re so strong...” one of the soldiers said with a sigh of relief.

Things had gotten kinda hairy for a few minutes there, but the fight itself had been quick. I’d known me and Gourry would hold our own well enough, though it seemed like Luke and Mileena had gotten pretty good at tangling with pure demons themselves.

We’d figured out the trick, you might say. Keep the battle short, strike ’em unawares, and aim for one-hit kills. Granted, I wondered what it said about me that I’d led the kind of life where I was picking up such tricks... Best not to think too hard about that.

Of course, we’d also gotten a little help from the soldiers, whom the demons apparently hadn’t factored into their plans. Still, our little support squad was far from unscathed. The majority were unharmed, but a number were seriously injured and I could peg a handful for dead at a glance.

“Who’s in the worst shape?! We can do a little first aid with recovery magic!” I called as I surveyed the room.

“Could you look at this one?!” came one response.

“This one too, please...” came another.

“I’ll bring medicine and bandages!” a soldier offered, darting into the next room.

A few of the injured soldiers had gotten off lucky, while most of them were in a bad way. Luke, Mileena, and I did an okay job of shrinking their wounds with Recovery, but the spell only accelerated the natural healing process by taking an advance on the target’s stamina. I wasn’t sure how many soldiers we could really save that way. We could’ve done better with Milgazia and his more impressive healing spell, Resurrection, around, but...

“I went and got medicine and bandages!”

“Great! We’re casting spells to close the wounds, but it’s just a stopgap measure! Use the medicine and bandages to take things from there, and once these guys are stable, fetch a doctor— Wait, you went and got medicine and bandages?!” I cried out in the midst of the chatter.

Everyone else caught on a moment later. The strange barrier that kept the room sealed off from the outside world had lifted.

“Wait, we can leave?!” one of the soldiers shouted, walked to the door leading to the courtyard... and stepped outside.

“Then you don’t have to stay here any longer. Go on,” another soldier urged us. “We can tend to the wounded ourselves. But if there are demons in the castle, for whatever reason, you’re probably the only ones who can fight them. So... please, go!”

His words caused us to gasp.

“Please... go on,” added a soldier who’d taken a huge sweep to the gut from Mianzo. “We’ll be... fine. Just... go on...” He forced a smile onto his pallid face. “I know protecting the castle is our responsibility, not yours... But stopping the demons will make it easier for us to get to a doctor. Please...”

“I understand,” I said with a nod. The four of us turned to leave, with the soldiers watching us go...

Outside, we were greeted by darkness and a sky full of stars.

“They’re not here,” Gourry whispered as he looked around.

He was right. Milgazia and Memphys, from whom we’d been separated when entering the base of the tower, were nowhere to be seen.

“Say... you don’t think they got got, do you?” Luke asked, suggesting a frightening possibility.

Things might’ve gone down that way, sure... But I preferred to remain optimistic.

“It’s possible they’re stuck in their own warped pocket dimension. They also might’ve chosen to go on without us,” I countered.

“Yeah... I wouldn’t buy it from the dragon guy, but I can hear the elf girl right now. ‘Those humans are merely a burden to us anyway. Let’s go on ahead, Uncle,’ and all that BS.”

Yeah... sounds like Memphys to me.

“That leaves us with only one option,” Mileena said, turning her gaze... to the night-cloaked palace.

All seemed quiet inside the palace. We were standing at a back door on its northern side, trying to hear what lay beyond. At the very least, it was clear that Milgazia and Memphys weren’t having a big fight just inside.

“Doesn’t sound like there’s anyone nearby,” Gourry said softly, with his ear to the door.

Hmm. In that case... let’s have a look at this lock. I inspected the mechanism, then asked, “Gourry, can you slice the bolt through the gap in the door?”

“Think so.” He responded to my absurd request in his usual laid-back way, then took position in front of the door. The others backed off, and... “Hahhh!” With a shout, he cut a silver arc in the darkness.

Clink! We all heard a quiet metallic ring... And just like that, the lock was out of service.

“Dang... Your skill’s as crazy as ever,” Luke whispered, sounding halfway between awe and disgust.

Meanwhile, Gourry slowly opened the door. We entered a lobby of decent size, at the far side of which was a long corridor leading further into the building. Dim magical lights hung all around us, but there were no signs of any people.

“Strange. Nobody standing watch over the palace entrances?” Mileena muttered.

“Yeah. Smells like a trap to me,” Luke responded.

“Either way, we have to keep going. It’s either the minister or the court sorcerer... We’ll go with the closest one first,” I said.

The others nodded in response, and so we began following the route that Allus had laid out for us.

“Y’know, Gourry, I’ve been wondering... Was that sword you got there always so sharp?” I whispered to him as we ran down the hall as quietly as we could. I recalled it being a pretty nice magic sword, but not strong-enough-to-take-out-pure-demons-in-one-strike kinda nice.

“Oh, this thing? It was that guy... Mil-whatsits?”

“Uh, Milgazia?”

“Yeah, him.”

Hang on, dude... You’ve been traveling with him for days and you still can’t remember his name?!

“He said that my blade wasn’t enough to beat demons as it was, so he drew this weird pattern on it to make it stronger.”

“Huh?” He made it sound so simple that I couldn’t help but blink. He made Gourry’s sword... stronger? “Th-This is the first I’m hearing about it!”

“Yeah, guess I never mentioned it.”

Yeesh... Using patterns—in other words, inscriptions—to strengthen objects was a form of magic we couldn’t perform. Which meant...

“Oooh, Gourry!” I cooed. “You’ll lemme have a good look at that sword later, won’t youuu?!”

“Sure... But you’re not gonna swap it for a copy and then sell it off, right?”

“Nonsense! I would never sell it off until I’d investigated it thoroughly!”

“Wait, so you would do it after that?”

“Who can say what the future holds?”

“That’s...” he started to object, but then stopped abruptly.

The rest of us came to a halt as well. The long hall was still empty, and the doors flanking it betrayed no sound. That left the singular door up ahead of us at the end of the corridor. We were aiming to pass through it, but...

“Is someone in there?” I asked.

“No,” Gourry replied, his eyes locked on the door. “Something.”

That warning sent a jolt of tension through the group. Gourry was implying that whatever lay ahead wasn’t human.

“What’ll we do? Take another route?” I hedged.

Luke snorted dismissively. “Doubt whatever’s in there is gonna let us hunt around for another way...”

“He’s right. Better to face it head-on than to improvise a detour and find ourselves surrounded.” Mileena nodded slightly.

And so it was decided. We approached the door, hesitated a moment, and then...

“It’s unlocked. Please come in,” beckoned a voice from inside.

On the other side of the door, we found a wide-open room. I didn’t know what it was originally designed for, but there was a door in each wall and a stairway leading up on one side.

A man stood at the center of it all, dressed in flowing indigo robes embroidered with symbols that likely indicated his station. He looked about thirty, with a goatee that seemed out of place on his soft-featured, fair-skinned face. He easily could’ve been mistaken for a scrawny middle-aged dude drowning in his own clothes if not for the keen light of intellect flickering in his eyes.

Could this be...

“I appreciate you coming despite the late hour. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I am Sardian, this kingdom’s minister of trade—at least, superficially so.”

Knew it. He’s that guy Allus mentioned.

I smirked. “‘Superficially,’ huh? That’s pretty forthright. So you’re just gonna face us head-on, trickery be damned?”

“You would not be wrong to interpret it that way,” he said with a bow.

Hmm... so that’s his game, huh? To be honest, I’d been sweating over the possibility that he’d play human and sic more soldiers on us, so this was actually kind of a relief. Still, him coming right out and challenging us threw me off my game.

Guess he’s pretty confident, huh?

Generally, demons that could pass for humans were stronger than those that couldn’t, so it was safe to assume that this Sardian guy was pretty powerful. Hopefully not on Sherra’s level, though...

“So you’re the jerk behind all this, huh? Spill already! What’s your plan?” Luke barked at him.

At this, Sardian simply smiled. “I cannot reveal that, I’m afraid. For now, I’d like you to fight this pawn I’ve prepared. If you’ll allow me...” Sardian snapped his fingers.

Whoosh! A red figure dropped down to his side from the stairs leading up to the second floor. It looked like it was made of clay dyed with blood and crafted into a human silhouette. It had no eyes, nose, mouth, or ears—just abstract patterns drawn on its face and body in black.

And the sword in its hands... The moment I saw it, I felt a chill up my spine.

No... it couldn’t be...

“Passin’ us off on your peons already, huh?” Luke snarked, apparently not realizing what he was looking at.

Sardian just shook his head. “Perish the thought. To simply overwhelm you with demonic riffraff would be the height of vulgarity. Instead I shall fight you myself, alongside this specially chosen opponent. Allow me to introduce the demon produced by Lady Sherra’s innovative techniques... Jade Caudwell.”

Sardian’s words sent a shock through our group. It was just as I feared.

Lesser and brass demons were made from lower-rank demons—which were too weak to manifest in this world under their own power—possessing and transmogrifying non-sentient beings like animals. This wasn’t a naturally occurring process, mind you. Sorcerers, or higher-rank demons, had to call them forth. This suggested that the current demon spawnings near the castle were the result of some mastermind summoning bottom-tier demons to possess the local fauna—cats, rats, dogs, et cetera.

Still, while it was easy to demonify small animals, humans had too much individual will to make hosts for lower-rank demons. Under normal circumstances, at least. If you could sufficiently weaken a person’s will before calling a demon from the astral plane to possess them, humans could indeed get demonified something awful. We’d encountered a few examples of this in our travels. One of them being Jade’s father, Grancis Caudwell.

Sherra’s sword Dulgoffa created humanlike demons by crushing a person’s will... And that was precisely the aura the creature standing next to Sardian gave off. I’d sensed it the moment I first saw it, and the worst-case scenario that ran through my mind had sent a chill up my spine. I desperately wished I hadn’t been right.

There remained a slim possibility that Sardian was bluffing in an attempt to rattle us. That this wasn’t actually Jade. But we knew that Jade had come to search the castle and that he’d been missing ever since. Sardian wouldn’t claim this was Jade unless they at least had Jade in their custody—the lie could be exposed right away otherwise. And if the demons had Jade in their grasp, there was no reason to think they wouldn’t use him in exactly this way.

Which means... that really is...

“Y-You... You son of a...” Luke hissed through gritted teeth. Sardian merely smiled in return.

“Be careful. This Sardian guy... He’ll be tougher than he looks,” I warned everyone.

Sardian shot me a strained grin. “Tougher than I look? How rude! I might just have to make you regret that. Let us begin... Jade.”

When the demon snapped his fingers again, the so-called Jade charged at us!

We... We have to fight!

We all drew our swords and braced for battle. Gourry got out in front to meet Jade’s charge, while the rest of us began chanting spells. We knew what Jade was capable of based on our time together. In terms of pure fencing skill, he was better than me, but not as good as Luke and way below Gourry. But how would possession affect that? We wouldn’t know until we crossed blades.

Gourry and Jade ran toward each other, drawn together like magnets. But just as they were about to clash—Whoosh!—Sardian appeared right beside Gourry!

Did he blink through space?!

Sardian conjured a glowing ball of magic light, but before he could hit Gourry with it, the big lug leaped back in haste!

“What?!” Sardian shouted in surprise. He’d already released the ball, and Gourry’s sudden retreat meant Jade was now in its trajectory instead!

It was coursing to collide with our former comrade, but—Swip!—a swing from Jade’s sword dispersed the incoming orb. He must’ve had a magic sword too! Still, the swing left his midsection completely unguarded. Gourry quickly stepped in.

“Nothing personal!”

His sword drew an arc through the air... and the change happened instantly. What was an abstract black pattern on the creature’s red clay face became the visage of Jade Caudwell.

The sight of the familiar face caused Gourry to flinch. With incredible reflexes, he stayed his blade just before it made contact. But Jade, without a moment’s pause or even a chant, conjured a glowing globe and released it... right into Gourry at point-blank range!

He doesn’t have time to dodge! If that hits him—

Whoom! There was a flash of light and an explosion. Gourry went flying.

“Gourry!” I canceled the spell I’d been chanting and ran over to him. Jade went to give chase, but a few magical attacks courtesy of Luke and Mileena kept him at bay. “Gourry...”

“Hah!”

Huh? As I got close, the big lug sprang back to his feet, sword at the ready. But... that hit him dead-on!

Yet while I saw a black singe on his shirt over his stomach, I saw no sign of an actual injury. “Hang on... Are you totally fine?”

“I smashed it with my hilt! C’mon, let’s go!” he declared as he charged at Jade again.

Oh... of course. To prevent a direct hit, he’d detonated the glowing globe with the hilt of his sword, leaping back in the same moment to mitigate the force of the blast. Boy’s sure got superhuman reflexes, huh? Ah, well...

I chanted a new spell, preparing to face Sardian and Jade once more.

“Tch! Clever child...” Sardian now conjured countless balls of light and rained them upon us.

Fwa-fa-fa-fa-fwoom! We all leaped back as multiple small explosions erupted at our feet. Then, Jade appeared from out of the smoke, still wearing his expressionless human face. Of course, this didn’t mean that he was back to himself. This was just a tactic meant to unsettle us.

I knew that, and yet... it was still hard to fight an enemy made from someone you knew that still bore the face of a friend. In fact, I could sense hesitance from everyone in our group as they faced off against Jade.

Meanwhile, Jade was unfazed as he charged again. His target this time was... Mileena, the closest to him!

Shing! They briefly crossed swords. Jade swiftly withdrew his own to try a thrust instead. Mileena parried it, sliding her blade along Jade’s and channeling the momentum into an upward slash. Jade dodged it with a step back, then produced and fired another glowing globe.

“Fell Zaleyd!” Whum! Mileena unleashed a spell to intercept the orb, then leaped back to get some distance.

Jade tried to pursue, but he was kept in check by a timely slash from Luke. Meanwhile, Gourry slipped past them both in a dash toward Sardian. Shing! Just as Jade’s sword blocked Luke’s...

“Dolph Strash!” Luke’s completed spell streaked at Sardian!

If the demon tried to dodge or repel the incoming magical attack, Gourry would use that opportunity to strike. Defending against that kind of teamwork would be tough... At least, for a normal opponent. Sardian, however, kept his cool as he simply vanished into thin air.

He’s gonna blink through space again!

In the moment Sardian was gone, Mileena and I ran up to Luke, while Gourry pivoted with a horizontal slash. Sardian reappeared—right in the path of his sword!

“Gaaah!” Sardian leaped away as he felt the sword slice through his stomach.

Yes! Even if it wasn’t fatal, that had to hurt!

“I-Impossible!” Sardian’s eyes quavered with fear as he quickly drew back. Dude apparently hadn’t expected us to put up this kind of a fight.

We’d known that Luke’s tag-team move with Gourry would force Sardian to blink through space to avoid it. The question, then, was where he would reappear. We had an inkling—behind one of us. Of course, we didn’t know who specifically, so we’d all moved to cover each other. Mileena and I had positioned ourselves with our backs to the wall within range of Luke in order to lend a hand if Sardian appeared behind him while he was locking blades with Jade. Gourry, meanwhile, had launched a preemptive counterattack in case he won the honor—and Sardian had chosen the worst possible place to reappear.

“Elemekia Lance!” I released the spell I’d been chanting at Sardian as he took his distance from Gourry. The big lug closed in on the demon at the same time.

A flash of doubt crossed Sardian’s face. He could easily dodge our double-team by blinking through space again, but he knew he couldn’t take another hit like that last one. With no other recourse, he held his ground and batted away my incoming spell with one hand.

Pop! “Gwah?!” The pain from the hit seemed to be greater than he’d expected.

A typical human-cast Elemekia Lance could take out a lesser demon-grade foe in one blow, but it was far from fatal for more powerful demons. A direct hit would smart, no doubt, but Sardian could tank it easily enough. That was why he’d chosen to slap down the spell and focus on Gourry. Too bad for him my Elemekia Lance was amplified, baby! It packed a little too much oomph to just bat away barehanded!

While Sardian was cringing from the unexpected hurt, Gourry’s sword whistled through the air! He sliced diagonally down at the demon and wrought the third scream in a row from his throat. But before Gourry could land another blow on the backswing... Sardian vanished once again.

He reappeared some distance away from us all at the edge of the room, his face twisting in hatred... No, he was actively transforming! What lay behind his warped eyelids were no longer eyes, but black vortices. The hairs of his goatee linked together into small, winding black horns. This probably wasn’t one of those dramatic “true form” reveals... Probably more that the damage he’d sustained was making it harder for him to maintain a human appearance.

“Damn you all...” All smugness had vanished from his tone.

Luke continued to keep Jade in check. Jade would unleash more magical attacks from time to time, but about all they did was force Luke to dodge them (easily enough) before regaining the ground he’d lost. That said, the sight of Jade’s human face still seemed to rob Luke of the will to attack with all he had.

Once Sardian had teleported to a corner of the room, Mileena turned to Jade. Perhaps she was planning to beat Jade, then join in the dogpile on Sardian. She finished chanting her spell, her eyes still fixed on Jade, and—Whommm! Before she could unleash it, a sudden shockwave sent Luke, Mileena, and Jade all flying!

What?! It didn’t seem to do much damage, because the three of them immediately sprang up, ready to keep fighting. The strike that had blown them all back hadn’t come from Sardian. A new arrival had appeared on the opposite side of the room.

“You seem to be struggling to defeat these humans. It’s difficult to watch, Sardian,” said a large, swarthy man. I recognized him from Allus’s description.

Go figure. It wasn’t one of them; it was both of them. Court Magician Farial, another demon in human’s clothing...

“Stay out of this, Farial!” Sardian shouted, his voice seething with loathing. “I said that the two of us were enough to beat them, and I meant it!”

“I don’t care what you said. Your incompetence was so painful to watch that I decided, of my own volition, to join the battle. And you’re in no state to refuse my aid,” he said haughtily, then started walking toward me.

“Don’t take them lightly, Farial! It wasn’t mere luck that allowed them to beat Lady Sherra!”

“I know that.” Farial raised a hand in my direction.

Gourry leaped in front of me protectively. And then... Whommm! The subsequent shockwave that rattled my eardrums was far more powerful than the one that had blown back Luke, Mileena, and Jade. The aftershock alone shook the walls and loosened small fragments of stone from them. A direct hit would’ve shattered my bones and ruptured my organs... Thankfully, Gourry had sliced through the blast with his sword.

Farial clearly hadn’t expected him to do something as bonkers as counterattack a shockwave. I could see his eyebrow twitch.

I wasted no time leaping aside and letting loose a spell of my own! “Zellas Bullid!” The light I released became a beam trailing an afterimage in a beeline for Farial! It was a homing-type spell, and if it hit, it was sure to leave a mark!

Gourry followed in my spell’s wake. Farial stayed rooted to the spot, conjured almost a dozen bullets of light, and fired them at Gourry! It was clear he wouldn’t be able to avoid them all if he pressed his charge, so he stopped and raised his sword...

In that instant, every last one of Farial’s bullets changed course and pierced through my beam of light instead. Zingazingzing! Unable to withstand the barrage, my spell naturally fizzled out. Dude had faked out Gourry to stop him in his tracks and then counterspelled my Zellas Bullid, nicely putting the kibosh on our team play. Not bad! Guess he wants to prove he won’t underestimate us like Sardian did!

Gourry resumed his charge at Farial, while I began chanting a new—

No. A chill ran up my spine, and I quickly leaped to the side. A silver flash swept through where I’d been standing a second ago. It was Jade! Zinnng! I just barely blocked his next strike with my drawn shortsword.

Sardian took off running toward Mileena, who was chanting a spell and moving to meet him head-on. Maintaining his speed, the demon conjured two balls of light and unleashed them at Mileena. She boldly picked up the pace, slipping between the two attacks. When she did...

Bwoom! The balls of light burst! The force of the explosion pushed Mileena forward, and she lost her balance. Sardian used the opportunity to close in... but he was forced to leap away when Luke swept in with a slash!

Magical light infused the blade in Luke’s hand. He was wielding a sword I’d named the Magic Sucker. I had no clue where he’d picked it up, but it could absorb and store a spell in its blade to unleash later at the user’s will. I wasn’t sure what spell he had charged it with at the moment, but Sardian clearly wanted to avoid taking a hit from it.

Luke rushed past Mileena in pursuit of the demon. Mileena regained her balance and joined the chase... That was when Sardian disappeared. He blinked through space and resurfaced—right behind me!

Not good! There’s no one in position to protect me! Worse yet, I’d just unleashed a spell! And I was still in the middle fending off Jade’s strike! Argh! Desperate times call for desperate measures! I let the force of Jade’s attack drive me back, then channeled that momentum into a leap... directly at Sardian!

“Gah?!” Sardian and I both let out a groan as we collided.

Obviously, he hadn’t been expecting me to do anything so primitive as body slam a pure demon. He was so taken aback by my audacity that he completely lost his balance. I continued my backward skid to get some more distance from both Sardian and Jade.

“...Nng.” I grimaced when I felt a sudden scorching pain.

When I’d slammed into Sardian, he’d apparently been in the middle of conjuring another magic orb—the early stages of which had fried my back on impact. I couldn’t see the wound, but I could still move my arms and breathe, so I figured it wasn’t too bad. Physically speaking, that is. The real problem was the persistent pain, which would make it tough for me to maintain the concentration necessary for an incantation. Pain itself could make a decent focus, but it would be difficult... no, impossible to cast a spell powerful enough to harm pure demons while also fencing and dodging incoming attacks.

Of course, I probably would’ve been killed outright if I hadn’t slammed into Sardian... but the aftermath was nevertheless a discouraging blow to our prospects. Luke and Mileena quickly ran toward me.

“Lina!” Gourry dashed over too, turning his back on Farial in the process. The demon followed, but kept a safe distance from Gourry based on his speed and the reach of his sword. “Are you okay?!”

I nodded. “It’s not so bad. It does hurt, though...”

My fellow spellcasters Luke and Mileena immediately caught my drift, and their expressions accordingly turned grim. I couldn’t pull my weight now. We were effectively down to three fighters.

Farial approached where we were clustered together. Sardian returned his attention to us as well, while Jade moved around to our side...

“Ohohoho... My, my. Defeated already? You humans are such high-maintenance allies.”

For once, that mocking voice was like music to my ears.

“What?!” someone exclaimed. I wasn’t sure if it was Sardian or Farial, but we all looked up together.

A figure donning blue clothes and white armor stood upon the railing of a second-story balcony. Her platinum hair fluttered in the... Well, there was no breeze inside, so it wasn’t actually fluttering. Nevertheless, the new arrival whose entrance had inspired a strange sense of déjà vu in me was none other than Memphys, from whom we’d been separated back in the northern tower!

“The elf?! It can’t be! You broke through our forces already?!” Farial cried in surprise.

Memphys smiled confidently in response. “My presence here should be all the answer you need. Don’t you think?”

Aha, so they were fighting demons elsewhere after all...

Memphys jumped boldly off the balcony, using her wings to land gently on the ground floor below.

“Then... that dragon too...” Sardian whispered.

“Indeed,” a familiar voice replied from the balcony Memphys had just leaped from. “We’ve cleared out your forces for now. Why don’t you tell us, then... just what you demons are planning?” Milgazia asked as he descended the staircase.

“Geh!” Farial hissed, glaring at Memphys in lieu of a response. For a moment, his brows twisted and the air around his chest turned hazy... but that was it. “Impossible! My blinking...!” he exclaimed in panic.

It was hard for me to ascertain exactly what had just transpired on visuals alone, but it seemed Memphys had done something to restrict his ability to teleport.

“In that case...”

Vreeeeee! Sardian let out an ear-splitting cry, and the air around Memphys warped. Her Zenafa armor was likely guarding against an attack from the astral side, the aftershocks of which manifested as distortions in the space around her. But while that was still going on, Sardian leaped at her! A pincer attack from both the astral and material planes!

Memphys was rooted to the spot, and Farial was keeping Milgazia in check in order to prevent him from helping her. Thankfully, Mileena was free!

“Ra Tilt!”

“Graaaaah!”

Her pillar of blue fire engulfed Sardian! A strike from the most powerful attack spell in all of shamanistic magic was enough to draw a scream even from a pure demon! And, not missing the interruption in the astral side attack—

“Dis Shield!” Memphys extended a hand toward the agonized demon. “Megiddo Arc!”

Fwoosh! As she unleashed the words of power, an explosion of crimson flame consumed the demon’s body! Raaaaah...

Was that final roar the bellowing of the flames or a death rattle? Whichever it was, both the demon and fire soon disappeared, leaving only quavering sounds behind. Yup. The demons had been so shaken by Memphys and Milgazia’s appearance that they’d completely forgotten about us little old humans. So much for not underestimating us.

It was about then that Milgazia reached the bottom of the stairs. “What will you do?” he asked Farial, his eyes locked on the demon.

Farial gave him a hard smile back. “Don’t make me laugh. I hope you’re not still expecting me to divulge our plans. That wouldn’t be to my benefit in any way... Demons like us and living beings like you are incompatible from start to finish. That leaves only one path I can take.”

“Fighting, eh?”

“Precisely!” With a howl, the demon leaped forward, flying like an arrow toward Milgazia! He knew a projectile or an astral side attack would never work, so he was going to challenge the dragon elder head-on!

Whom! Their magic-infused fists slammed into each other, causing the whole world around them to shake!

“Hraaaaah!” Both howled as the violent collisions of magical power sent streaks of plasma scorching through the air. Strength and magic vied for dominance. And then... Farial’s arm transformed! Black tentacles sprang forth from his limb and wrapped around Milgazia’s right arm!

But in that moment, it was Farial who went wide-eyed in surprise. As his upper half lurched forward—Zrrum!—golden wings appeared from Milgazia’s back and beheaded the demon.

Whump. Its collapsed body turned the color of charcoal ash and then dissolved to dust. That was the end of Farial. But...

“Uncle!” Memphys cried in a trembling voice without so much as a glance at the dead demon. She was fixated on Milgazia’s right arm... or rather, the stump at his shoulder where his arm used to be. The missing appendage lay on the floor, right next to where Farial’s body had fallen and disintegrated.

What in the world...?

“No need to worry,” Milgazia assured us, sounding unperturbed as he picked his right arm up with his left. “I suppose I never told you, Mephy... I lost my real right arm a thousand years ago in the Incarnation War. This is a prosthetic created by magic, though it works so much like my old arm that even I forget it’s artificial sometimes.”

Wow... I guess he really did forget it if he was relying on it in a showdown with a demon and all...

I could only assume Milgazia had detached it intentionally when Farial’s tentacles ensnared him in order to get him off balance.

“Now, the last one left...” He reattached his arm and turned back... to our final opponent, Jade.

Jade hadn’t moved in a while. Rather, he probably couldn’t. The demon manifested inside him had instinctively realized that it couldn’t beat Milgazia and Memphys.

“I see... They used a human,” Milgazia said distastefully as he regarded Jade. He’d apparently realized on his own that this was a demidemon using a person as material.

“Ain’t there a way to fix him with your magic?!” Luke shouted.

The dragon elder shook his head. “I’m afraid that his humanity no longer remains. There’s nothing I can do. Even if there were a way to drive the demon out of him and restore his appearance, there would be no way to retrieve his soul. But at least...” Milgazia raised his hand to Jade.

Luke quietly pushed it aside. “At least... let me read you your last rites, Sir Jade,” he said in a hollow voice.

I’d forgotten... It was Luke and Mileena who’d first met Jade and taken on his job.

His sword at his side, Luke slowly began to walk toward Jade. “Sorry, could you...” he started.

“I won’t interfere,” Mileena swiftly replied.

Perhaps realizing that Milgazia and Memphys had no intention to intervene either, Jade finally started moving. He and Luke thus faced each other, their blades at the ready. They broke into a run at the same instant. The distance between them closed instantly. They both raised their swords...

Suddenly, Jade produced a ball of magic!

“Graaaaah!” With a shrieking cry, Luke sliced through the magic ball—and Jade’s face all at once.