The Red Rose and The Black Rose

"[Hellfire Ball] [Hellfire Ball] [Chain Dragon Lighting]" A deep, evil voice echoed out from the chaos of roars, swords, explosions, and fire, causing huge red fireballs and draconic silhouettes of pure electricity to shoot out from his hands towards their targets.

The fireballs exploded between the ranks of the Deorum Regnum soldiers, destroying their heavy machinery and formation with ease, but not killing them thanks to their armor and sufficient magic resistance, in addition to the lack of modifiers and not being in the center of the explosion.

On the other hand, the electric beam shot out while imitating a fake roar in its powerful sound like a living thunder, sliding through the wind like an erratic snake until it reached a figure armored from head to toe in paladin armor.

Upon reaching him, the human screamed in pain as his body froze and charred, only for the electricity surrounding him to spread back into the draconic beam and leap to another nearby Theocracy soldier.

Meanwhile, a massive sword was swung downwards, causing a Theocracy soldier to howl in pain as he was cleaved in two.

Iron balls shot out from cannons in the distance, which had been slow to position themselves due to now having to target their own ranks.

However, said iron balls only crashed like birds through a window as they hit the Demons' massive shields, not even making them retreat even slightly.

A roar came from somewhere, coming from a massive Frost Dragon that was the first to arrive.

However, Betelgeuse didn't give it time to do much, reaching out a hand towards it.

"[Gate]" At this, a huge kaleidoscopic portal opened in front of the Dragon who was trying to assist his allies, crossing through it and disappearing as the portal closed.

…

A Frost Dragon passed through a portal of incomprehensible patterns in the void, to arrive at one of the snowy peaks of the Azerlisia Mountains.

He landed, and sighed.

"Ha… I finally have a vacation…" He snorted, before collapsing into the snow.

…

"Hm, the rest of the aerial combat units should be far enough away that they won't be able to get there in time even if they really try. The B.A.F.W.s were properly neutralized when I 'eliminated' their queen, disorganizing them and making their elimination easier. Everything is going according to Her Majesty's plan~" The Devil hummed with a wide smile under the shadow of his hood.

He admired the scene of Demons slaughtering the wretched humans, and vaguely fighting against the Deorum Regnum soldiers, but not enough for it to be noticeable.

He shook off his wonder at Her Majesty's handiwork, and extended a hand.

"[Meteor Fall]" He chanted, and something materialized above the height of the black and red clouds of the land corrupted by the Star Demon's flames.

Thus, it took a couple of seconds for a huge rock surrounded by fire to break through the clouds, quickly surpassing the speed a normal meteor would have had, and getting dangerously close to the headquarters, where all the Commanders and Generals should be.

However, a beam of light came from afar, impacting against the meteor, and causing a powerful explosion that rained down boiling rock and fire.

"Hm. What a nuisance." Betelgeuse hummed, preparing for the performance. His first combat performance in his service, not counting the training of the Supreme Ladies and Commanders…

A beam of light quickly shot towards his direction, but Betelgeuse simply extended a hand towards it and chanted.

"[Magic Shield]" To which a sort of greenish crystal like dome surrounded it, to then break into pieces when the beam of light impacted with it, but having fulfilled its purpose and neutralizing the shot.

The Devil looked towards the source of said gunshots, and saw her.

"Ah~ You must be Commander Miia~" Betelgeuse greeted with a slight bow.

And on top of a giant armor, the girl stood with an indifferent expression and a bow in her hand, pulling its string of a mysterious metal, and causing an arrow of light to automatically manifest.

"... I will send you to your partner." She muttered this in a short and indifferent response.

"Fu… Fuhahahahahahaha!" The Archarchaeologist burst out laughing while holding his stomach. "I would love to see you try~!" He roared as his hood fell from the sudden movement of looking at the Commander, revealing the black flesh like shadows, the silhouette built of red lights that imitated oval eyes, and another that imitated a mouth made of irregular and pointed teeth, more like a moving mask.

"I assure you that you will change your mind." Miia exclaimed, the arrow beginning to have a sort of spin at its tip, like a drill, as it aimed at Betelgeuse.

"Hahahahaha~! Very well~! [Summon Mid-High Demon: Corrupted Light Champion]! [Summon Low-Mid Demon: Evil Thoughts]!" Betelgeuse chanted as it pointed in two different directions.

The first caused a pentagram to appear in the middle of the Theocracy's forces, to which a spear shot out violently, impaling an unfortunate human, as whatever was being summoned burst out of the summoning circle.

On the other hand, the second circle appeared beneath Betelgeuse… And instantly, a huge flock of abominations vaguely imitating birds, with red-feathered wings but no head other than a proboscis similar to those that flies possessed, rushed out, beginning to surround Betelgeuse like a dome as they flew in circles.

At the same time, a huge series of sky-blue magic circles appeared around Betelgeuse covered in deformed birds, beginning to gently rotate as a massive amount of energy slowly condensed.

Miia stopped herself from frowning, and fired her arrow, a projectile of pure light shooting out like lightning while creating trails around it as if it were spinning in the same trajectory.

However, the birds quickly focused on the arrow, charging head-on.

The arrow stabbed deeply into the bird-like arrow that formed, easily passing through the birds and disappearing into the pile…

It had been blocked.

The Commander clicked her tongue as she drew her bow back together.

However, Echidna quickly detected something, causing thrusters on her sides to release a powerful push, pushing the two out of the path of something…

An abomination of twisted, sharp, deformed black tentacles sprouting from an armor shell like pieces of finely carved marble on a pure knight of light, but stained with dirt and worn down by time, breaking it and showing itself as black flesh, sometimes with cloudy, dark eyes, along the largest cracks or openings along the living sculpture, even replacing parts of the body like the left foot, half of the face in a deformation almost resembling a kind of helmet like trunk that gave way to a tentacled mouth that replaced the once proud crown-like decoration of the monster.

In his still mostly intact hand, a massive shield of white marble and solid, sharp black flesh fused into a single construct stood, matching the size of the Infernal Protectors' shields.

In his other hand, constructed of tentacles that quivered like shadows and tongues with huge, gaping eyes, they held a long, black spear with marble blades on both ends, though the lower end was noticeably smaller.

{Corrupted Light Champion PNG}

Such a 3.5 meter monster had jumped from where it was summoned, leaving a pile of bodies and shattered armor of Theocracy soldiers in the process, and propelled itself towards Echidna.

The blow it planned to give with its shield failed, but it did not stop it from brandishing its spear and throwing it towards the armor it had just dodged.

Said spear shot out with brutal force, breaking the sound barrier easily as it collided with the 'surprised' Echidna.

The pointed weapon stuck in the Mecha's shoulder, making her have her left side pushed back and destabilizing her a little, causing an arrow from Miia to shoot out into nothingness instead of trying to hit the attacker.

The monster, due to its lack of wings and ability to fly, began to fall, but without first extending a hand, and its tentacle-shaped fingers quickly extended meters and meters almost instantly, trying to reach the flying armor.

However, Echidna did not stand still, swinging her own spear at the tentacles, effortlessly tearing them apart, causing them to quickly retreat in failure, while the summoned monster fell in a powerful tremor to the ground by its weight alone, causing a crater beneath it on a pile of Theocracy soldiers' tents and a large uprising of dirt and dust.

The monster, however, slapped away the dust, pushing aside the cloud that slightly obstructed its vision.

However, that barely allowed it to see the arrow of light that headed towards it.

It tried to stick where its eye should be, but the monster quickly moved its head to the side, receiving a graze on the marble armor and cracking it a little more as the arrow stuck in the ground behind it.

At this, the Corrupted Light Champion roared in an unpleasant gurgle of agony and fury, swinging his shield forward, more in a sort of swipe, blocking a second arrow… No, deflecting it, causing it to shoot off in another direction and embed itself in a canyon in the distance, completely shattering it.

However, the mere action of blocking the entire impact of the arrow caused the already cracked ground beneath him to feel a great pressure.

Miia pulled the string of her bow, firing 3 arrows of light at the same time.

The 3 projectiles shot out towards the monster of darkness, with it roaring as it placed its shield in the middle of them.

Echidna grabbed the spear on her shoulder and easily pulled it out, only for it to disappear from between her hands.

And returning to the summoning, it roared violently as its spear could be seen in its own hand again.

Miia frowned slightly, before looking at Echidna.

Both of them nodded at the wordless conversation, with Miia once again drawing her bow, while Echidna had several parts of her armored body moving mechanically and prepared to charge like a missile.

Betelgeuse looked at the fight hidden behind the Evil Thoughts.

"Mm. That was only about 15 seconds… This will take time." He grumbled as he was disabled by the channeling of the Super-Level spell and turned his attention to the bloody fight between his Demons and the United Army, and the fake showdown of the Corrupted Light Champion and Commander Miia.

…

If one were to describe the Platinum Dragon Lord's state of mind, from the safety of his palace far away from the Demon Empire, but still present in said cursed place, it would be a mix of emotions that clashed with each other, being so negative, that they basically neutralized each other, leaving an absolute blank of furious silence.

His gaze, through the manifestation of his will and control thanks to his Wild Magic in the platinum-colored armor, was fixed on the monster in front of him, ignoring the words of his companions.

And even when the monster didn't seem to have eyes, it seemed like it stared back at him.

"Ooaaaaggggghhh!" The monster roared, almost challengingly…

How… Unpleasant and insulting…

Platinum clenched his fists, even in his impenetrable castle he clicked his tongue, almost hitting the ground with his fist in a fit of anger, but he resisted not wanting to ruin the irreplaceable structure.

Suddenly he was pulled to the side by an external force, in his slight distraction.

Looking back to where he was, he saw what was nothing less than a ray of fire almost like red plasma passing by until it reached the clouds.

Even the temperature of that thing was distorting the light, while it even managed to melt the ground a little despite being meters below…

"Platinum! React!" A red gauntlet lightly hit the face of his armor, as if trying to stun him to get him out of another daze.

Of course, logically speaking, such a thing made no sense, as Tsaindorcus' consciousness was in his real body hundreds of kilometers away from this empty armor.

However, it still worked.

"... Sorry. I got distracted." The armor muttered, before looking at the abomination that they couldn't stop from appearing.

"That's certainly something…" Golden sighed.

"Should one of us go and kill it?" Silver asked.

"No, we'll go together. The faster we kill it, the better." The Platinum Dragon Lord replied, gently pushing Scarlet aside and looking at the definitely evil, demonic, and corrupt monster…

First of all, there was no other way to describe it. It was a Dragon.

A huge beast that, while it couldn't match the true forms of the 4 Dragon Lords present, would still be pretty close to it.

Scales black like obsidian, but dirty, as if covered in sulfur and ash mixed with dried blood. A long, whip-like tail, with dorsal blades all the way down to its back, which was basically a bed of spikes. Two huge bat wings stretched out, which were fully extended upwards, showing its sharp bones and the dark blood red color of the cartilage of its wings, as well as the hook-like fingers of its wings.

Fully extended, the wings seemed to double the size of the beast, which stood on all four legs covered in sharp, curved claws while having a texture like saws, as if seeking to cause as much pain as possible, even its arms were covered in similar blades.

Its neck was long, bathed in fresher blood than the rest of its body, but still dried and old, more noticeably, and it was conventionally a slender beast, implying that it was surely very agile.

And its head… It was something of a corrupted parody of a Dragon… It looked like a mix of one with a bird and a Demon… Thin, with two side crests with 3 extensions and 2 small horns of a reddish hue behind it, overshadowed by the huge curved horns as if forming an Omega symbol. Its snout was a beak, similar to a needle, perfect for impaling… And its eyes were… Conventionally non-existent… Unless that thing in the center of its head, like a single diamond-shaped hole with a reddish light like hellish flames could be considered an eye.

{Bastard of the Beast PNG}

The monster, after its failed attack, stood still, as if examining its opponents.

"Maybe we can at least strike up a conversation." Scarlet suggested.

"... I don't think we can do that with a Komodo servant." Platinum replied.

"And I doubt a False Dragon would be very interested in what we have to say if it's opposing us in the first place." Silver snorted.

As if it was a miracle, Golden remained silent, seriously examining its opponent in the same way the Black Dragon did.

And suddenly, the Dragon's single eye flashed with a red light, with all 4 armors suddenly feeling a pressure around them…

It wasn't anything significant enough to actually be disadvantageous… However, it was very unpleasant…

"This is…" Scarlet growled, clenching his fist and unclenching it several times, trying to get used to the feeling.

Only for the monster to roar once more, opening its beak and showing the endless abyss that was its tongueless, fleshless faces, just absolute black.

And so, it flapped its wings, rising from the rubble of the tower Scarlet destroyed.

"Attack!" Platinum shouted, before making his katana and spear shoot out towards the Dragon.

Silver manifested his sword, spinning it between his hands, and shooting out like a missile alongside Gold, who clenched his fists ready to strike.

On the other hand, Scarlet sighed and stood next to Tsaindorcus, who began to advance at a slower speed behind Silver and Golden.

The Dragon had to deal with Platinum's weapons first… However, it wasn't difficult.

Its whip-like tail extended, lashing the two weapons with its immensity and speed and deflecting them.

Still, Platinum extended his hand, causing the two weapons thrown aside to spin around and reposition themselves, charging towards the Dragon again.

The Dragon let out a screech different from its previous roar, which made Platinum frown…

Tch, how annoying… Very annoying… Why won't it just shut up…?

However, only then did he realize that the screech ended earlier than he himself was complaining about, as if he had been confused and distracted…

And at this, Golden arrived and struck… Nothingness.

"Huh? Where is it? It couldn't have moved that fast." Golden replied, looking around.

In the sudden collective confusion, the monster had somehow disappeared.

"Teleportation?" Scarlet asked, only to notice something black in his peripheral vision…

"It's most proba-" Platinum was about to say, but suddenly felt something approaching at high speed, looking down as he tried to get away.

But he wasn't fast enough, seeing as a projection of pure, murky darkness that perfectly mimicked the Dragon's shape had risen from the black abyss that suddenly replaced the ground.

While the beast couldn't devour him, it did manage to catch his arm, lifting him up as the shadow rose.

"Tch! [Explosion]!" Scarlet shouted towards the shadow, trying to stun it.

At this, a sudden explosion manifested itself on the shadow beast's head… And instead of letting go of Tsaindorcus, being knocked down, or simply ignoring him… The shadow dissipated like smoke…

"Hu-!? Agh!" Golden growled as a tail whip hit his back, sending him flying and crashing into Silver.

"He's playing with us…" Scarlet growled, pointing his finger at the shadow of the beast that came again from the black abyss of the ground, where a red flash could be seen in the center…

From his finger, a ray instantly shot out, hitting the shadow and destroying it, then pointing towards the abyss, and chanting again.

"[Wild Magic: Draconic Missile]!" And from his finger, a red and turbid energy was channeled that was evidently unstable, as if it were going to explode at any moment while he concentrated on a kind of arrow, to shoot out instantly, all in less than 3 seconds.

The projectile entered the abyss, and it suddenly closed, with the Demonic Dragon coming out of it like a lizard from its underground lair, and it wasn't a shadow, it was him.

"Tch, what is that c-?" Silver grumbled after composing himself, trying to rationalize such strange and unknown abilities without the use of Wild Magic…

But he was interrupted when the ground suddenly shook, as if an earthquake was taking place.

Of course, the tremor didn't disturb them, since they were flying, but the massive explosion that rose up, breaking the ground already charred by the destruction of Scarlet, did confuse them a little. Especially because of how disadvantageous the pile of ash and dust that rose was.

"... [Wild Magic: Total Senses]" Tsaindorcus sang, having the dust in front of him suddenly turned into a window under his vision.

The ashes didn't disappear, but now they no longer obstructed his view.

And taking advantage of the fact that the beast that was sliding like a lizard on the ground spread its wings to take flight again, he suddenly lowered his hand.

"RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" The beast shrieked when Platinum's hammer fell on its back, crushing its spines and pushing it into the ground.

"It doesn't seem to be very resistant." He mentioned the platinum armor.

"The problem is hitting it." Silver blurted out. "[Wild Magic: Hero Appears]!" The knight shouted, suddenly disappearing in a flash, and instead, appearing right in front of the Dragon in a flash of somewhat garish colors. "[Heavy Justice Slash]!" He chanted again, swinging his sword at the beast…

However, the abomination's eye flashed violently, causing red electricity to surround Silver and slow his movement to the point of looking like a turtle.

Of course, at least from the perspective of all the heavyweights present. His speed was still enough to break the sound barrier.

In that moment of slowing movement, the black lizard opened its mouth practically at Silver's point-blank range, and something wanted to come from the abyss.

"NO!" Golden roared, extending his hand.

"Gold, no!" Scarlet screamed.

"[Wild Magic: Golden Stella]!" A golden spear of light shining like a sun appeared in his hand, and he didn't hesitate for a second to throw it at the beast, aiming for its head in search of saving Silver.

However, the Dragon quickly closed its mouth, as if canceling its breath, and disappeared in a pile of red flames.

"Ah." Was the only thing Golden and Silver could say when the spear of light was now in front of the knight.

A powerful explosion of light took place when it hit the Dragon Lord's chest, making him fly away while leaving golden smoke in its wake.

And if that wasn't enough, a sudden explosion of red fire happened in the middle of Platinum and Scarlet, separating them as they flew away from the sheer force.

And where that explosion happened, the Dark Dragon appeared, which used its long tail as a whip to whip Gold's back again, making him fall to the ground.

"UGH! I DON'T LIKE THIS KIND OF WHIP!" The armor roared before crashing into the shattered ground and leaving a perfect silhouette of him marking the spot where he was buried.

Platinum grabbed his bastard sword as he steadied himself, before looking at the Dragon, who was staring at him.

"…Enough." He growled. "[Wild Magic: World Isolation Barrier] [Wild Magic: Indomitability] [Wild Magic: Cloak of Light] [Wild Magic: Destroyer Bane] [Wild Magic: Platinum Blood]"

From Platinum, a sort of golden dome stretched into infinity ethereally, as different colored auras surrounded him for a few moments, leaving his armor a little brighter.

He then placed a hand on his temple.

(Let's get this over with.) He mentally said towards his companions.

The Dragon roared towards Tsaindorcus, before receiving a powerful explosion on his back that made him fall a little, only for Scarlet to appear above him and point his hand towards the Fake Dragon.

From it, a red ball of energy shot out, hitting the slightly stunned Dragon, causing a massive explosion that pushed him further…

After that ball of energy, more came, and more, until making at least a dozen of these.

However, Scarlet tensed, feeling a slight sensation of fear, and then received a claw from behind.

But the monster did not get away with it, but a hammer hit its head while making it release an intense burning sound, making it screech while Golden appeared in a flash in front of him.

"[Wild Magic: Golden Punch]" He shouted, with his fist surrounding itself with a bright, golden flash and then hitting the monster's chest, being possible to hear a crack as the beast flew to the ground.

"[Thousand Slashes]" was heard from Silver, who appeared next to the downed Dragon, and then appeared on the other side.

The beast tried to get up, but an instant later, a huge series of power cuts, or more specifically, 100 power cuts, appeared all over its body, cutting into its flesh and making the beast scream.

Tsaindorcus, in his castle, snapped his claws and his neck.

Time to put an end to this annoying and insulting thing.

…

(What a nuisance… And the Doppelganger was doing this for 3 days…?) Black Abyss muttered in her mind, as she was now faking the deep sleep that an unknown force had forced upon her.

She heard from the report that the Doppelganger gave in her mind all the things that had happened in her 'absence', and it was quite as expected. Both anger and uncertainty, not to mention certain members of the Scripture who wanted to simply continue or retreat, but were prevented by the others.

In itself it was a challenge to achieve the switch between Black Abyss and the Doppelganger, as an additional attack on the group had to be planned, and Elise cast a spell that created a dome that prevented seeing inside it in her 'despair', which allowed Black Abyss to crawl through a small [Gate] while the Doppelganger left.

Seraiah was able to control the situation overall very well, keeping the group 'together', with complications, but not separated as one would expect with the different thoughts of various members.

Elise did a very good job of not leaving both Black Abyss and the previous Doppelganger alone, supposedly using spells to speed up the process of their uprising, which the others believed without much doubt, as they were pretty screwed in the overall situation they were in.

Black Abyss represented the largest individual strength of the group, or well, Titania, so they couldn't really advance and hope to survive long without her. Such a situation allowed the Theocracy's largest force to be stagnant for a long time, while the Demonic armies reduced the Theocracy's overall forces, which was one of the main threats to Deorum Regnum's security.

Still, being stuck meant nothing more than a temporary delay, in the past few days they were resting and advancing slowly but surely, and the strongest of them, Seraiah, still remained highly strong, being stronger than the average of even Deorum Regnum in the entire Kingdom, counting civilians all the way to Superbia.

She could certainly understand why he was the leader of the strongest Scripture, but even so, it didn't mean he was the strongest in the Theocracy. That title went to someone else, who was currently on reserve, and she was largely unaware of her capabilities…

During these days she was hoping that Zesshi would show up, but now she was better off knowing that she didn't, she needed her absence since she didn't know her full capabilities. How was that achieved? Simple, by manipulating communications with the Half-Elf and making her have to wait for the Cardinals to approve her deployment.

And indeed the Cardinals ordered it, but a few captured and lobotomized envoys with [Control Amnesia] and interference with [Message] spells to Zesshi and other attempts at communication, and that was it~

After all, her plan went in several ways, the main one being the betrayal of the Theocracy with the portals, allowing Betelgeuse to attack from two different points and cause great damage.

But it was not the only action of that type that she would take.

No one here knew anything about what was happening in those areas, even the Dragon Lords will take time to find out, that will be in enough time for her to carry out the second part of the plan, the 'betrayal' of the Black Scripture towards her. How? Well, Elise, when she was supposedly performing spells to awaken her, in reality they were another kind of things.

With the help of Eyesight, Elise was sowing unrest and negative emotions in the most hostile members of the Scripture.

It wouldn't be easy to really make them angry enough to try and kill them, but that's what time came. The longer they go on with it, the less patience they'd have left, and with a lack of patience, everything gets more rowdy, abrupt, and prone to going wrong. In this case, even Brain had already been receiving harassment from the Scripture.

Of course, most of this conflict came from the 6th Seat, who hated Black Abyss and Elise to death, and didn't have much affection for Brain. After all, while Brain was now considered a hero, he was once a famous criminal.

On this, Seraiah didn't find too many ways to contain it, words were harder to control, and she even heard in the Doppelganger's reports that the Captain had to resort to threatening certain Seats to keep them quiet. That was a big step forward, because the one who was usually calm and reserved, was left with very little patience and cold thinking. The stress of the situation was difficult for a human to tolerate for so long.

And of course, that was part of what she was looking for, to resort to the next phase of the plan, the attack. Who would you blame if you had to advance in a dangerous place for days on end, slowly and constantly fighting, using everything to prevent anyone too strong from finding them, only to be attacked in that place because you couldn't get out of there in time due to that person?

Black Abyss would be the target of the hatred of those Seats, and with the final touch of Eyesight, she was completely sure that she would be attacked by them. Therefore, she would have every right to kill them, without being seen in a bad light by Brain and anyone else who is watching, especially the Dragon Lords, although they should be busy for the whole time if she did not do the math wrong, unless she had underestimated them and overestimated the 'Archon'.

And once she knew what was going to happen, the only thing she had to do was act according to the plan. In that way, she made a tiny movement with her eyelids, almost as if she wanted to wake up, but being prevented by the supposed magic that kept her asleep, but which was actually a signal for Alice, who never took her eyes off her, seeing such a tiny action and knowing what she had to do.

"... Could we... Rest... A little...?" She murmured, feigning tiredness in her already constant sadness, making Seraiah stop.

He looked at her in silence, and then looked at the rest of the group.

He looked around, seeing the dead trees turned into sharp coal.

"... Good. We haven't found a single Demon in this place, so it should be safe." He nodded, receiving mixed reactions from those present.

"Ugh, at this rate we'll never get there." 11th growled.

"It's no use to us if Titania isn't awake anyway." 5th sighed.

"Tch, I'm sure we can handle Komodo on our own." 6th snorted with a frown.

"Luhcrius, shut up." 2nd sighed.

10th remained silent, looking around as he held the somewhat tired 4th Seat in his arms.

Brain, on the other hand, refused to comment, simply moving away a bit to examine the trees.

"5th, do you have any summons left to patrol?" the Black Scripture Captain asked.

"No, just combat." He shook his head.

"I'll stand guard then." Seraiah exclaimed, looking at 6° for a couple of seconds.

"There, there, I behave…" He snorted, as if he already knew what that look meant.

Thus, Seraiah separated himself slightly from the group, inspecting the surrounding area, as careful as possible for any enemy detection… He glanced at the group for a moment out of the corner of his eye, but then sighed and walked again.

Elise silently looked at Titania, and then at Divine Song.

"… Miss Lucilla…" She whimpered, drawing the blonde's attention.

"Y-Yes?"

"Could you… come, please…?"

"O-Of course. Ahem, please, 10th, put me down." The Priestess asked the big guy, who nodded and left her on the ground.

Quickly, the 4th Seat approached Elise, who left Titania lying on the ground.

"... I've noticed that you're tired." The Saint murmured sadly.

"E-Eh? N-No! I-It's just…!" The blonde quickly blushed a little and tried to deny it, but fell silent at the depressed look of the one-eyed black-haired girl.

"... Is it okay if I help you with that…?" She asked sadly.

"Huh? N-Not at all! Please, Miss Elise, don't waste your energy on me, I'm fine." The Priestess tried to reassure her.

"Please… Insi-" Elise tried to continue, but was suddenly interrupted by a tremor…

"Huh!? What is this?" 6th growled, feeling the ground shake.

"Earthquake…?" 11th clicked his tongue.

"No, this isn't natural." 5th shook his head.

"It could be Demons." 2nd Seat sighed, causing 10th, 6th, and Brain to quickly grab their weapons.

"If they are Demons, I will tear them to pieces." The Paladin declared.

"… I will show no mercy." 10th declared as he held his axe tightly in one hand, and the fallen Morgol's bastard sword in the other.

Brain only kept his katana ready to be drawn at any moment, while 11th quickly deployed a magic barrier around Elise, Titania, and 4th.

"... This is strange." 5th frowned, feeling the trembling calm down.

"It stopped…" 4th blurted out somewhat frightened.

"And the Captain didn't come back." 2nd added…

Soon, her doubts were cleared up in the worst way.

With brutal speed, something flew through the charcoal trees, breaking them one after another.

However, before reaching the group, that something extended a spear towards the ground, using it to try to stop its speed, then using its feet on it…

And little by little, as that thing that ended up behind the group stopped… The growling figure of the Captain of the Black Scripture and with a little blood running down his temple was spotted.

"Captain!" 2nd shouted worriedly.

"Go away. Now." She ordered immediately though.

"W-What?" But Capita-" 4th was interrupted when something shot out from between the trees again, like a bullet, impacting with 11th's shield.

The blue-haired mage choked for a moment as the barrier was shattered into a thousand pieces just like that, while the remains of a large armored suit fell from where it had collided with the shield, beginning to crumble into ashes.

"A Demon!?" 6th shouted, a little surprised at how an Infernal Protector was used as a projectile at such speed.

"Aw~ I didn't hit any rats~" … And a familiar voice sent shivers down the spines of the humans.

"Impossible!" 2nd shouted, backing up behind 10th, who quickly got in front of the entire group.

"How-!?" Brain opened and closed his mouth, shaking slightly as he watched the scene…

Armored Demons began to emerge from between the trees, all of them Infernal Protectors and the occasional Infernal Wizard.

"It's been a while, little rats~" The Evil Lord of Pride hummed, advancing between the armored Demons with confidence, almost mockingly. "I hope you don't think I would die for something as simple as a fucking White Rat, its flea rat, and some snow~ Hahahaha~!" The Demon laughed proudly and amused, gripping his sword firmly in his hand while not even seeming to show that he was on guard…

And he did not advance alone ahead of the Demon army…

A second Demon, one visibly more human, in a sense, lacking full body armor, but still inherently a Demon…

Although his almost fully exposed chest and mouth are human, the 3 twisted horns sprouting from his long red mane over the black metal visor with 6 red eyes, the fangs, the almost deathly pale skin, and the large pair of black, leathery wings on his back, showed that he was still a monster…

Wearing black armor with gold trim on his shoulders, arms, and back, and a pair of cloth pants with a pair of belts and a red cloth to a pair of visibly ordinary leather shoes, the second Demon walked forward with an indifferent expression as a large black scythe that seemed to be made from a single piece of metal was held lightly by his gauntlets.

"That's…" Elise opened her eyes, looking towards the red-haired Demon.

"M-Miss Elise…? D-Do you know th-?"

"It's the Evil Lord of Greed…" She blurted out in terror and despondency as she pointed a hand at 4th in a display of random positioning to protect herself.

"Hand over the White Rat~" The Demon, the Lord of Greed, exclaimed, pointing his hand towards the group, placing the scythe he carried resting on his shoulder.

The group backed away a bit, with Elise quickly clinging onto Titania, grabbing her arm.

"That won't be possible." Seraiah blurted out as he moved forward to join the defensive position.

"What an arrogant rat~ Haha~" Pride sneered.

"Mm~ Be reasonable~ You're surrounded~ And you won't be able to defeat us~ We are Empress Komodo's Generals~ If you hand over the White Rat to us, in the name of Her Majesty~ You'll be allowed to leave~" The Lord of Greed hummed charismatically and cloyingly.

"You don't even need to give us the Crying Rat~" The Lord of Pride laughed again.

"W-Why do you want Titania…?" Brain asked shakily.

"To hand her over to Her Majesty, the Demon Empress, of course~" Greed laughed.

Seraiah spun his spear, pointing its tip towards the Demons.

"We will not hand Titania over to you Demons." The Captain declared firmly.

Brain nodded, taking a battle stance, 10th growled as he prepared, all of them actually, expecting a battle…

The truth had to be told… They had no chance of winning anything at all… Just hope for a miracle and for Titania to wake up, but she hadn't for over 3 days… What else was there for them but to despair?

"Mm… Well, if they want it that way." Greed shrugged, and Pride quickly moved.

Before anyone could react, the Lord of Pride grabbed his sword and threw it like a projectile, as much as he wasn't supposed to use it like that.

Seraiah was barely able to avoid it…

But on the other hand.

[Touch of Undead] activated as Alicia grabbed 4th's shoulder, making her freeze in an unpleasant sensation, not even being able to minimally process that Pride moved.

Elise quickly let go of Lucilla, and backed away while clutching her mouth, horrified as the tip of the Demon's sword nearly stabbed into her stomach.

However, the very helpful and friendly 4th Seat, was kind enough to take the projectile into her chest.

"A-Ah." Was the last thing the Priestess let out, before collapsing.

"NOOOOOOOO!" 10th roared angrily, before letting out a battle cry as he ran full-on towards the two Demons. "WAAAHHHHHH! [BATTLE BEAST]! [HUMAN INDOMITABILITY]! [RAGE]!" The muscle giant roared martial arts, brandishing his axe like a club.

Pride, worthy of his name, extended a hand, intending to block the wretched attack with his bare hands…

To his own surprise, the axe actually pierced his armor, digging deep into his hand and then pushing him until he collided with a tree and broke it.

The Lord of Greed, at this, stepped back, firmly gripping his scythe and extending a hand towards the furious 10th, who, having used his axe with one hand, slightly lost his balance, but instead of getting back up, he took another step forward, trying to reach Greed while brandishing Morgol's sword.

However…

"[Grand Disarm]" The Demon chanted towards 10th, causing Morgol's sword and axe to mysteriously slip from his grip as if nothing had happened, falling to the ground and leaving the mountain of muscles disarmed.

At this, Greed smirked, swinging his scythe at the slightly confused Strongest Human.

However, he had to deflect where his scythe was aimed, using it to counter a white sword that came from a flank using 10th's massive build as a block to its advance.

6th grunted as his sword was blocked so easily despite his surprise attack.

However, he had to back off as a sword nearly fell on him.

The armored Demons began to advance.

"If you want to resist so much, do it with these guys~ They'll love you trying to kill them~" Greed laughed as 10th grabbed his weapons back and roared like a wild beast, swinging his axe and sword from one Demon to another.

It was enough to kill each Infernal Protector in one blow, but he was making a grave mistake, typical of a Berserker, someone who didn't know the Infernal Protectors, or was stupid.

He was killing them with overwhelming force that far surpassed what the Infernal Protectors needed to be eliminated.

And the greater the damage caused, the greater the damage of that 15% thorn damage.

But the crazed 10th Seat didn't care about the pain. He kept hitting, even as Infernal Protectors stabbed their swords from his back, surrounding him.

"Tch, damn it…" 5th growled, watching 10th being surrounded as 6th retreated, while the Demons advanced… And there was no way to escape either. They were coming from behind as well.

And if the appearance of Pride with clenched fists and one bleeding, practically smoking from his helmet was any sign… They were at a total disadvantage…

"M-Miss Elise! Please heal 10th Seat!" 2nd begged.

"Y-Yes!" The one-eyed girl nodded, extending her hand towards the muscular giant.

He growled as he felt his muscles tense a bit, weaken, his vision blurring…

Of course the Ghoul wouldn't really heal him~

"T-The d-demonic energy is too much…!" Elise exclaimed, revealing the 'reason' why the giant was starting to strike inaccurately, weakly, and stagger.

"Tch. Defensive stance. We can't let them take Titania away." The captain ordered.

Brain didn't know what this defensive stance of the Theocracy was, but he wasn't going to comment, and simply stood closer to the rest, trying to cover their backs.

"This can't be…" White Orchid growled, looking at the Captain.

"Tch, it's all because of that fucking heretic." 6th growled.

"Ugh… I don't think my Basilisks will do much… Captain, have a potion." 5th tried to be of help to his current uselessness, grabbing a blue potion from his belt and tossing it to Seraiah.

He grabbed it, and quickly drank it.

"Captain… Ugh, do you think we can get out of this…?" 11th grumbled.

"… They're weak, we can handle these, but the problem is with the Generals." Seraiah informed, avoiding a Protector's sword, and stabbing her spear quickly into the Protector's eye, making it roar and Seraiah grunt from the slight eye pain.

To be honest…

The Captain had to admit, even if it was just in his head… They needed a miracle right now…

… A pair of closed eyelids trembled slightly… And with a deep breath, they opened.

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[Ïa Shub-Niggurath]

The call to the Black Goat of the Forest of a Thousand Young. A prayer, a request, a sacrifice in Her name. Food for Her calves must be given. Tens, hundreds, thousands, millions. A thousand Young will devour the offering, and the Black Goat, in response and gratitude for such a sacrifice, will render a favor equivalent to such an offering. Her own children. The Dark Young.

Ïa Shub-Niggurath, Hail the Black Goat.

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Super-Level area of ​​effect and summoning spell. Within a selected area, be it 360 degrees with a total radius reduction, or within a smaller area but with a larger radius, a medium-level Instant Death effect is applied, proceeding to consume the affected targets, calculating the total experience consumed in these eliminations, even in hypothetical cases such as enemy summons, which therefore do not have experience per se, it allows to summon a number of level 90 summons, Dark Young, based on said total amount of experience. If the experience obtained does not reach level 90, then there will be no summoning of the Dark Young, and there is a 30% chance of receiving the debuff: Dissatisfaction of Shub-Niggurath, which increases the effectiveness of instant death spells by 5% and lowers resistance by 5 levels.

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