Don't Forget Even in Death

Without warning, the demon Shion burst in and thrust a hand toward the two of them.

At his fingertips, dense darkness coiled into a sphere no larger than a ping-pong ball. Then, as casually as if he were flicking a forehead, he snapped his fingers.

Ping—!

The gesture looked playful, almost frivolous—but the compressed demonic energy that shot from his hand warped the air around it as it screamed toward Kruse's brow at blinding speed.

An attack aimed first at the Saintess, the most troublesome of the three.

"…!"

Caught completely off guard, Kruse froze, unable even to react.

In that life-or-death instant, when her forehead was about to be pierced clean through, a black shadow erupted from beneath her feet and seized her by the waist, yanking her roughly backward. Aiolet had managed to respond just in time.

KWA-AAAANG—!!

"Kyaaaaah!"

The floor Kruse had occupied a heartbeat earlier cratered as if a bomb had gone off, collapsing into a hideous scar. It was hard to believe such devastation had come from a casually flicked lump of mana.

"Hey! Quack! Get your head in the game! You trying to die!?"

Aiolet, who had saved Kruse with her shadows, shouted as cold sweat ran down her face.

"A-Ah!! I-I'm so sorry!!"

While Kruse apologized with a face gone deathly pale, Aiolet bit down hard on her lip and launched her counterattack at once. Keep defending and they would die like dogs—that much was obvious.

Wooooong!

Aiolet's shadow rippled, and through Shadow Control it transformed in an instant into dozens of razor-sharp spears that hurtled furiously at Shion.

Yet the eyes watching that vicious barrage remained utterly indifferent.

"Pathetic. To dare wield darkness before me."

Shion extended a hand lightly toward empty air—and something astonishing happened. Aiolet's shadow spears, which had been flying with such ferocious momentum, froze mid-flight at a single gesture of his fingers.

"Huh…?"

Faced with a situation she had never experienced in her life, Aiolet's thoughts ground to a halt.

Ever since she had acquired the skill with Gladia's help, her shadows had never once slipped from her control. Now, for the first time, they had been stolen by someone else.

Not a difference in mana—a difference in mastery.

The gulf between a demon who had commanded darkness from birth and a human.

With another casual wave of Shion's hand, the dozens of shadow spears Aiolet had created spun about and poured down upon Aiolet and Kruse themselves.

We're dead…!

Stripped of control and unable even to defend, Aiolet was about to throw herself clear when Kruse—finally recovered—cut in.

"Saint Shield!"

Paaaaaah—!

Blinding golden holy power took the form of a massive shield and planted itself solidly before the two of them.

KWAGAGAGAGAK—!!

The shadow spears Shion had turned back slammed into the Saint Shield with a deafening roar. Under the relentless onslaught, Kruse's feet scraped across the floor as she was driven steadily backward. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Seeing her teeter on the brink, Aiolet frantically gathered every nearby shadow and layered them behind the Saint Shield for cover.

Puh-buh-buh-buh-bung—!!

"Kyaaaaah!"

"Hold on, quack!"

"Uwaaaaah! I am holding on!"

Several more breathless exchanges followed.

Kruse's holy power—blessed with a natural advantage against demons—served as the main shield, absorbing Shion's attacks head-on, while Aiolet concentrated entirely on plugging every gap that opened.

If I spread it carelessly, he'll snatch control again…!

The bitter lesson of moments earlier had burned the gap between them into Aiolet's mind. Release her mana loosely and widely, and Shion would seize the initiative and turn it against her just as before.

So instead of expanding her shadows' range, Aiolet compressed them into an extremely narrow zone where her control remained absolute, focusing everything on a handful of precise strikes.

Paaang—! Kwaduk!

Whenever Shion's demonic energy snaked through a crack in the Saint Shield Kruse had hastily raised, Aiolet's shadow would lash out and swat the blow aside with perfect timing.

Light and darkness. Two fundamentally incompatible forces meshed with uncanny precision, miraculously weathering Shion's relentless assault.

"Haa… haa…"

"Huk… heuk…"

"…"

Aiolet and Kruse were gasping as if their lungs would tear free, looking ready to collapse at any second. They had clung to life, but after only a few exchanges their stamina was already scraping rock bottom.

Looking down on that desperate state, Shion's brow furrowed in irritation.

Outwardly he still wore an air of composure, but inside he was nothing short of frantic.

For the Saintess to show up here, of all places…!

Shion—infiltration specialist for Stella Academy and high-ranking officer of the Demon King's army—swallowed a silent groan.

A thousand years had passed since the Hero struck down the Demon King. In that time the surviving demons had been steadily preparing for His resurrection… and now this interference!

Despite endless persecution by humans, we had finally brought the Demon King's revival within sight…

Recover the Demon King's heart, which the Hero had taken, and the glory of the past could be restored. That was why Shion had risked everything, carrying the hopes of every demon, to infiltrate Stella Academy—so closely tied to the Hero. He had never accounted for a situation like this.

Where did the information leak…?!

Had Rustiel somehow sensed their movements?

Nothing else could explain such impeccable timing. For the Saintess to appear precisely when they had slipped inside…

Surely they hadn't simply smashed the barrier the principal herself had erected. (They had.)

I stationed subordinates with exceptional concealment skills throughout the ruins specifically for situations like this, to keep watch… so where the hell are they all?!

For the record, they had run into Gladia and gone to meet the Demon King ahead of schedule.

And the other subordinates I ordered to gather here have gone completely silent, too…

Those ones had also met Gladia on the way and were currently enjoying a thorough slaughter.

Ignorant of all that, Shion could only grow more agitated as time slipped away. On top of everything, the lower-ranked demons he had brought in first had been ambushed and suffered catastrophic losses. Without them, the investigation would inevitably slow.

This situation is a complete mess…!

Even a half-baked Saintess still possessed holy power that rivaled the greatest of her predecessors. An ordinary demon would be reduced to ash at a single touch from her. And then there was that black-clad woman glaring at him beside her.

A mere human, wielding darkness that surpassed most demons… if he hadn't known she was human, he might have mistaken her for some high-ranking demon he had never met.

To finish the two of them quickly he would have to draw on his full power—but then Rustiel, sensing the surge of demonic energy, would come flying in an instant…

Should I retreat for now?

In the brief moment Shion's eyes flickered with conflict, Aiolet—who had developed a certain cunning after spending so much time with Gladia—read that subtle shift perfectly. For reasons she couldn't name, she was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠certain the demon before her was hesitating. She stepped in front of the Saintess, chin raised in arrogant challenge.

"Hey. You sure you've got time to stand around like that?"

"…What?"

"I don't know what rock you crawled out from under, but you don't seem to grasp the situation at all."

When Shion only frowned in silence, Aiolet's lips curled into a mocking smirk. She could feel Kruse staring at her back with eyes that screamed Lady Aiolet, have you lost your mind!?, but she ignored it.

You clueless quack, just shut up and stay still!

Aiolet knew perfectly well that if things continued as they were, they were the ones who would wither and die. They were holding on somehow… but they were already near their limit. She had assumed that fighting this loudly would bring Gladia running, yet Gladia still hadn't arrived—which meant the other side had almost certainly prepared some countermeasure.

I have to buy time somehow, or create an opening.

"Why do you think we bothered crawling all the way in here?"

"…"

"You know it too. This place is off-limits without the principal's permission."

Aiolet, who had herself trespassed just like the demons, spun the lie without so much as wetting her lips. Behind her, Kruse was privately impressed by the sheer shamelessness—while Shion, who knew none of the truth, found his eyes wavering.

Everything had already been full of questions. A perfect, undetected infiltration plan… and yet the Saintess and that girl had appeared at precisely this moment. And they had shattered the barrier he had secretly erected right under the principal's nose, as if to announce their arrival. They had to have some kind of ace up their sleeve…!

…Well, the truth was that Dorothea had simply smashed it while trying to look cool in front of her juniors, but there was no way Shion could have known such an absurd fact.

In his mind, the miraculous logic was already solidifying: the Saintess, acting under Rustiel's orders, had come to stop the demons.

Aiolet did not miss the tremor in his gaze and drove the spike home at once.

"We don't even need to go all-out to beat you. We just have to keep you entertained like this and stall for time."

Please buy it, please buy it, please buy it…!

Cold sweat poured down her back, but outwardly she maintained her arrogant front and snorted at Shion.

"Once we hold out a little longer, our principal will ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠come running and clean everything up for us. So if you want to live, you'd better tuck your tail and scramble out of here right now."

Please work! Please get scared and run, you crazy demon!

It was bluffing with her very soul on the line.

A heavy silence settled over the ruins. Shion stood with his head bowed, completely motionless.

…Did it work?

Gulp.

Aiolet and Kruse swallowed dryly under the crushing tension—

"Kuhk… kuhkuhkuhk."

—when Shion's shoulders began to shake, and a grotesque laugh tore free.

"Rustiel is coming? Hah. Then I have even less time."

Shion slowly raised his head. The impatience in his eyes was gone, replaced by a fierce sense of duty.

"That conversation just now convinced me. You, and the Saintess as well. Leave either of you alive and you will only become obstacles to the Demon King."

Wooooong—!!

Demonic energy erupted from Shion's entire body—energy of a completely different order from before.

"I will no longer hold back. Even if I die here, I will take the two of you with me."

The eyes of a fanatic who had cast even the instinct for survival aside.

Kruse looked at Aiolet as if to ask what they were supposed to do now, but—

Shit… we're completely screwed! Dia! Save me!

Bluff: total failure!

Aiolet: maximum crisis!

Meanwhile.

"Out of the way!"

"Graaagh!"

Shwaaaak—!

I cut down the demon blocking my path and ran like a madwoman.

Senior Dorothea, who had been cradled in my arms, had long since wriggled free and was now pouring magic nonstop onto the surrounding demons.

We were clearing obstacles and pressing forward when—

…Something's wrong.

My sprinting footsteps slowed by a fraction.

"The enemy's tired! Rush her!"

Shwaaak!

"Gyaaaagh!"

I diced the demon who had charged in, mistaking my slowed pace for exhaustion, into a star-shaped spray, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and continued the thought.

At my full speed I should have reached Miss Aiolet ages ago. So why…?

It wasn't my imagination.

Collapsed pillars, long gouges in the floor… the terrain keeps repeating.

Like a hamster running inside a giant wheel, scenery I had already passed was appearing before me again.

I knew exactly what this meant.

A Space Barrier…!

That bastard gimmick that occasionally popped up in the game to give players a free blood-pressure treatment.

A cheap demon trick that stitched space to space and forced you into endless grinding…!

I called urgently for my senior.

"Senior! Senior!!"

"Y-Yes! What is it, Gladia?"

"It's a Space Barrier! The space around us is twisted!"

That was all a master of spatial magic like Senior Dorothea needed. The moment she heard me she kicked up a wind and soared into the air, scanning the surroundings.

"Y-You're right! It is a Space Barrier!"

"Can you dispel it?"

"T-To reverse-engineer the formula and dismantle it would take at least ten minutes… but if I can just find the core, I can smash it right away!"

The core, huh…

At her words I cut down the demons around us and pushed the senses of Sword Saint and Mind's Eye to their absolute limit. Everything nearby began to move in slow motion, as if time itself had stopped, while every scrap of information about my surroundings was forcibly crammed into my brain.

M-My head…!

Too much data slamming into my mind made my skull feel ready to split—but—

…Found it.

"Senior! This way!"

Having locked onto the center of the spatial distortion, I spun my body like a windmill, blasted the surrounding demons clear, and opened a path for her. Senior, who had been frantically analyzing space from the air, came dashing over at once.

"G-Gladia! Your nose—there's blood…!"

I wiped under my nose and came away with red on my fingers.

Ah. Maybe I overdid it a little…?

But it was necessary! This was no time to worry about my own body!

I grabbed the senior who was hopping from foot to foot in front of me and said,

"Senior… you trust me, right…?"

Her eyes went round as saucers.

The situation was critical, demons howling like beasts as they poured in from every side—and suddenly I was asking if she trusted me. Of course she was flustered.

Even so, Senior Dorothea, though clearly rattled, nodded.

Okay. Confirmed!

Sorry, Senior, but what's a friend for if not to help in a pinch?

"I trust you too, Senior! Just once—I need you to fly!"

"Y-Yes?!"

I could have simply cut the spatial core myself, but there was no telling how the twisted space might collapse. Better to leave it to the specialist!

As her startled voice rang out, I detonated every ounce of strength in my body.

Shuuuuuung!

Feeling for all the world like a shot-putter, I calculated the perfect trajectory and hurled Senior Dorothea into the air with everything I had.

"Kyaaaaaaaaah!!!!"

Her scream echoed between the ruins. One demon, seeing her suddenly sailing through empty space, rushed to intercept her—but—

"Not a chance!"

I hurled the sword in my hand like a javelin and skewered him.

The instant my hands were empty, darkness flooded back over my vision and I felt the surrounding demons closing in to exploit the opening—yet—

Perfect.

Nothing but enemies around me… how convenient.

I swung a fist and blew the jaw off the nearest demon, then spun, seized the arm of another who was approaching from behind, and ripped it clean off.

Shwaaaak!

"Aaaagh!!"

Blood fountained, soaking my maid uniform, but I didn't stop. Still gripping the freshly torn, steaming demon arm, I used it like a club and smashed the skull of the next one who came at me. Immediately I executed an elegant turn and drew the spare sword I had stashed in my inventory.

Chang!

As my vision brightened once more, I saw Senior reaching the center of the space and dismantling the Space Barrier—and the remnant demons stumbling backward in terror at the sight of me.

Good. That does it.

Once I clean up these ones, I can go to Miss Aiolet.

"…Y-You devil of a woman."

One of the demons still blocking my path ground his teeth and glared at me.

Haa. A devil, he says.

Just because I've got a little blood on me, he's going to start discriminating?

Filthy racist!

I, Gladia, have no mercy for racists!

I closed the distance on the bigot who had called me a devil and diced him into pieces in the blink of an eye.

Watching his body scatter across the floor, I flicked the blood from my blade and looked down on him with perfect poise.

"Calling a person a devil… how rude."

I met the terrified, dying eyes of the trembling thing and added, in a perfectly polite tone,

"I'm not a devil. I'm a maid."

A faint smile touched my lips as I leaned in and drove the final nail home, almost whispering into his ear.

"Don't forget—even after you're dead."