Do Not Stand Before the Maid!
Ioleet's fingertips fired a condensing shadow sphere that crushed everything in its path and shot toward the demons.
Yes—crushing everything in its path.
The ancient relic between Ioleet and the demons was naturally no exception.
Kwaaang!
Dorothea's meticulously discovered hero's relic was turned to dust and scattered in an instant by Ioleet's ruthless single strike.
If Rustiel, the relic's owner, had witnessed it she would have belched flames in outrage... but Ioleet didn't care.
After all, she wasn't the one who would have to deal with the aftermath!
'If I just wipe out these guys right here and now, cover everything up perfectly...'
Gladia would have sighed with admiration if she heard it: 'The young lady always has a plan.'
Well, the demons who got attacked would be furious... but what could they do?
The dead have nothing left to say.
In that spirit, Ioleet's attack poured down on the demons!
"Stop, stop them!"
The startled demons desperately squeezed out their mana to weave overlapping defensive spells.
But Ioleet's attack was far beyond what hastily cast barriers could stop.
Crack, fwaaang—!
The demons' newly formed barriers shattered like glass, utterly meaningless.
And the shadow sphere that tore straight through them exploded at the very center, where the condensed shadows burst forth with all their limits.
"Kyaak!"
"Kyulak! W-what is thi—!"
Sharp shadows spread in all directions and tore apart the demons' flesh and everything around them.
Amid the horrific screams echoing through the relic, thick dust clouds rose from the massive explosion and completely blocked the view of the open field.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing, quack!"
Ioleet, having confirmed her magic had landed properly, smacked Kruse's chest with the dazed expression still on her face and shouted sharply.
"Stop daydreaming and attack too!"
"Aah! Y-you hit me again...!"
Kruse, snapping back to her senses, hugged her chest with both hands and protested to Ioleet with an aggrieved look.
"What are you doing?! If you start attacking out of nowhere, how are we supposed to handle the consequences?!"
"I don't care. The future me will handle the aftermath."
"Ah... seriously!"
Kruse stomped her foot in disbelief. But the situation had already exploded, and she couldn't ignore the ominous mana wriggling in the dust.
In the end she reluctantly pouted and began preparing to attack.
Uwoong—!
Bright golden holy power rapidly condensed in Kruse's two hands. She hurled the compressed sacred light sphere with all her strength toward the demons' heads and the void above the relic.
Fwaaah—!
The suspended light sphere bloomed radiantly like a tiny sun before countless beams of sacred light rained mercilessly down on the demons' heads.
Holy Magic — Holy Shower
This magic wasn't originally for attack.
It granted a healing effect to the users and, in the end, even their fighting spirit faded, ending the battle in peace.
This peaceful magic, which Kruse had chosen instead of an attack spell, was her final act of conscience.
But the saintess's warm kindness was meaningless to the demons, who possessed flesh that inherently rejected holy power!
To them, Kruse's Holy Shower was like suddenly falling acid rain from the sky.
Chijiijijiik—
"Ky, kyaaaaak!!"
The demons, already in disarray from Ioleet's attack and thrown into panic, felt the saintess's pure holy power pour over them. Their flesh began to crumble and melt in horrible rejection reactions.
"...!"
Kruse stared blankly with her mouth agape, completely dazed by the horrific scene her own mercy had created. In contrast, Ioleet, watching the hellish spectacle, clutched her stomach and burst into laughter.
"Ahahaha! What the— quack! You should do it too!"
"W-what? Th-that wasn't the original magic...?"
Kruse reacted as if it wasn't her intention to be praised by Ioleet, but the demons rolling on the ground, suffering real-time skin-burning agony no matter how it turned out, saw the two in front of them as nothing more than emotionless demons.
The demons thrashed on the floor, vomiting blood and tears while screaming in agony.
"You... you demons! Appearing suddenly and doing this horrible thing...!"
"D-demons..."
"Wh-what..."
Kruse reacted with hurt feelings to their response, but Ioleet only sneered.
"You should never have acted suspicious in the first place! If you hadn't, this wouldn't have happened. It's all your fault."
Whether it was morally right to strike first because they were suspicious... let's set that aside.
From the moment Ioleet's attack revealed their identity, every trace of hesitation that had lingered in Ioleet's heart vanished.
After all, they were demons with nothing to lose!
In fact, continental law allowed any act against demons.
What mattered to her was simply that they were the enemy!
The resentful last words of the enemy only brought her joy!
Ioleet once again drew mana to her fingertips.
At the same time, shadows from all around swirled around her fingers, condensing into a black sphere.
Her ultimate technique, developed with Gladia... no, Shadow Hole, fired once more toward the demons.
The demons were still writhing on the ground from Kruse's holy power, begging desperately, and instead of casting urgent defensive magic like before, they could only thrash in the agony of their bodies melting.
Just before Ioleet's finishing blow would sever their necks.
Scratch—.
"...Huh?"
Kruse's voice, laced with confusion, echoed through the relic.
Her eyes saw the light sphere raining merciless holy power on the demons from the sky split cleanly in half like slicing tofu and vanish into nothingness.
And at the same time, holy power within her body thrashed wildly, sending her a warning.
Run!
"A-Ioleet-nim...!"
Kruse trembled like a poplar tree and called out to Ioleet, but it was already too late.
Boom—!
Accompanied by the heavy landing of collapsing relics, one figure fell from above.
The falling figure reached out a light hand toward the Shadow Hole that was about to overwhelm the demons.
Fwaaaaaang!!
"...!"
Ioleet's eyes widened in shock.
Her magic, which had been about to crush everything, was blocked by the single hand of the unidentified figure and dispersed utterly meaninglessly.
The thick dust slowly settled, and the figure standing on the relic's rubble finally became clear.
"...A worm has appeared while I was away for a moment."
A man emerged from the dust wearing a pitch-black robe. He simply stood there, yet the abyssal magic emanating from his entire body crushed the air of the relic with heavy pressure.
The demons, who had been dying in the agony of their flesh melting moments ago, trembled like saviors had appeared and prostrated themselves.
"Si-Sion-ssi...!"
"Save, save us..."
"Shut up."
The man lightly brushed off the demons' pleas clinging to him and turned toward Ioleet and Kruse.
"Pathetic bugs. Having such a miserable end at the hands of just two brats."
The man's low voice echoed through the relic.
He flicked his fingers lightly in annoyance, and Kruse's remaining holy power that had been scattered to torment the demons was instantly swallowed by the black magic and evaporated like a lie.
"Hiiik...!"
Kruse gulped at the sight of her holy power vanishing without a trace.
Danger! Danger danger danger!!!
To exterminate a saintess's holy power like that?!
Kruse had already noticed when her holy power reacted that the intruders were demons.
Demons and saintesses were supposed to be mortal enemies, yet this man casually dealt with the saintess's holy power...
There was obviously a huge gap between her and this male demon.
She clung to Ioleet, who was glaring at the man in front of her, and whispered desperately.
"T-this won't do! Ioleet-nim! We have to run!"
"I know. Just calm down."
Even in Kruse's frantic cry, Ioleet couldn't turn her head.
The moment she looked away from the man for even a second, he would kill us all!
Ioleet possessed the most sensitive senses regarding darkness-attribute mana.
The darkness within that man was conveyed perfectly to her.
Her instincts were screaming wildly to run away right now.
'They wouldn't just leave us to escape...!'
Did she hit first for nothing?
A faint regret began to form in Ioleet's mind.
***
Meanwhile.
"Step aside!"
"Kyaak!"
Whoosh!
I ran straight through the demons blocking my path, cutting them down without mercy.
It was nothing short of the return of Joseon-Yi-sun in the arm of a sword, a figure that moved like lightning.
"G-Gladia...! I feel like I'm going to throw up...!"
"Endure it! Senior!"
...Of course, the sword in my arms, I mean, Dorothea-senpai, was miserable.
But I had no mind to worry about Dorothea-senpai's condition.
I focused only on the demons' behavior of blocking the way as if stalling for time, and the overwhelming magical aftertaste that appeared after sensing the young lady's mana!
All of this indicated that the young lady was in great danger right now!
"St-stop it!"
"Shut up!"
Kwaaang!
I stomped the annoying demon clinging to me until it burst, then swung my sword toward the demons blocking my path.
"Step aside! Do not stand before the maid!"
You're all done! I have to go to the young lady now!!!!