Sherry and Felicia

"Let me carry him!"

"What?! How dare you?! You were the one who refused to help him! And I'm the healer here! I'm the one who should carry him! Not that I'll ever allow those dirty hands of yours to touch him!"

"Grr, you can barely even lift him up! Look! You're all shaking! You can't bring him to the village like that!"

"Shut up! I might not be a monster like you but I still have my pride as his future wife!"

Once Hugo's condition stabilized, Sherry and Felicia promptly agreed to bring him to the village.

It was the only thing they could agree on, however, as they promptly argued on who got to carry him.

"Future wife?!" Sherry barked. "I'm his future wife! Not you!"

"You don't deserve to be his wife!" Felicia yelled back. "You and your grandmother — you two are the same rotten people, putting him through… through this! This farce of a fight! Do you know how hard it is to regrow an arm for a human? We'll need to find a Grandmaster-level priest! And with him being an enemy of the Church, we can't just walk up to one and ask them to heal him!"

As they yelled at each other, tears were still falling from their cheeks.

The truth was, they both felt guilty. That was why they wanted to help Hugo so badly. They wanted to ease that guilt they felt in their hearts for their own mistakes. Every time they saw that stump where Hugo's right hand was supposed to be, all they could think about was how it could've been avoided if they had acted differently.

Before they could leave, however—

"Wait! Don't go! We can still help!"

Kiri and Aria appeared.

They descended from the skies, with Aria landing first since she couldn't fly like her companion.

"You… you're Lord Hugo's summons?" Felicia's mouth opened. "But how? You shouldn't be able to—"

"We came here out of our own will!" Kiri declared, fists raised to her chest, eyes burning from determination. "We… we're going to be Master Hugo's familiar! I think… I think I can heal him once I become stronger from it!"

Aria nodded, her eyes showing the same resolve. "His arm… We shall reattach it."

Felicia froze. Never before had she heard of a summon willingly coming to their master like this. And they said they could reattach his arm? That's impossible! She knew very well that human physiology doesn't work that way. You would need to connect every nerve, every muscle, every blood vessel perfectly before you rejoined the skin. It was a feat only a high level holy magic could achieve.

But, she had to let them try. She knew very well how much they were loyal to Hugo. They wouldn't wish him harm.

Slowly, she put down Hugo's body that she had been carrying in her arms.

"Sherry. Get the arm." She ordered.

The Izurd nodded before quickly running to where the arm had fallen off.

She didn't need to be asked twice. She knew as well that those two fey could be trusted. They had fought with Hugo and through that, they had grown and matured.

Unlike her. She was still the same immature brat she was years ago.

"!!!"

Seeing the arm up close, the Izurd froze.

Tears swelled inside her eyes once again.

Averting her gaze, she carefully lifted the bundle of meat and bone that used to be Hugo's. Hugging it gently, she swiftly returned to Felicia, who was now kneeling down, with Hugo's head on her lap.

"Now, put it down over there," Felicia directed, a firm look on her face. "I'll reopen the bandage. You should keep your distance. And you, fairy, would just pressing it to the stump be enough?"

"Y-yeah, it should be," Kiri replied. "Probably. But please, hold on. We need to give him our true names first."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Felicia stared daggers. "You know he's unconscious right now."

"Not to worry!" Kiri smiled. "I think we can enter his subconscious. Our bond… it's that strong after all!"

Felicia's eyes narrowed for a moment before relenting with a sigh. "Fine. Do it. But do it fast. He will need to rest a lot, after losing that much blood. And I can't make him drink my blood-generating potion in his weakened state."

Kiri nodded before hovering horizontally above Hugo, placing one hand on his forehead. Aria followed suit, crouching down and placing her hand on his left cheek.

The two of them closed their eyes. And then…

----------

Hugo

U-urghh…

Where… where am I?

All around me was darkness. The pitch-black kind, where seemingly nothing existed except for myself.

And then, light.

Not the blinding kind, but a soft, warm one, emanating from somewhere in front of me, at a distance.

Then, I saw them — my two summons.

"Master Hugo! Say our name, Master Hugo!" Water Fairy yelled.

Say… their name?

Oh, right, their true names…

"I… I can't." I shook my head. "You guys will be stuck with me for the rest of my life. And I… haven't exactly been treating you guys that well…"

It's true. How many times have I used them as meatshields in combat? And I only called them out if I needed them. I never really trained them properly either, being too busy with my magic training.

Truth be told, I never wanted to rely on them. I don't like relying on others. I'm done leeching on other people's kindness. It's my turn to help my surroundings instead.

They are too simple-minded for me to accept their sacrifice. They're not like Sherry or Felicia.

"Say it, Master Hugo! If you will just say it, we can bring back your arm!" She yelled again. "With my healing water—"

"—and my regenerative clay—" Earth Sprite interjected.

"—we can reattach it in an instant!"

Oh right, my right arm got cut off by Quania.

I looked down and right. How odd. My right arm is still here. So I guess I'm my soul now?

That's right. I got knocked out from the attack.

Heh, I guess I failed then. God damnit. So much for being greedy.

"Master Hugo…" Earth Sprite continued, averting her gaze to the side. Unlike Water Sprite, she was not yelling so her quiet voice was barely perceptible from this distance.

I walked up to them (or maybe floated), only to quickly find that I wasn't getting any closer.

"It's my fault… my armor… it wasn't strong enough…"

"That's not true. Your armor… it was actually really effective against her sword."

I wasn't lying just to comfort her. That sword can cut through normal magic but it can't cut through fey magic.

Considering the archfey, I had a feeling this was part of her design. Or rather, it was the reason why Quania was under her thumb.

They weren't partners. Quania was being manipulated by her.

Sherry's grandmother… She was just like her.

I had heard the story from Myrilla, how she was betrayed by her human lover. And she believed it was his treacherous nature that was to blame, and not the succubus Demon Lord that had seduced him. Even though she should know how "persuasive" a normal succubus could be, let alone their strongest.

Her emotions ran amok, leading to her defeat. And she decided to hide from it all, by making a contract with a sadistic fairy that clearly enjoyed her suffering.

And now, that same sadistic fairy wanted Sherry to feel the same despair.

Unforgivable.

"Please, you have to hurry, Master! The archfey can come at any second!" Water Fairy yelled again.

"The girl you traveled with, that half-fairy, is fighting her right at this moment." Earth Sprite looked at me with a grave expression. "If you want to help her then you'll need our power. Our true, full power."

Victoria? She's here?!

How?! Has she unlocked her fairy powers?

And why is she helping me? How does she even know I'm here?

No, I can just ask her later. I have to come to her aid. There's no way she can win against that archfey.

To counter fey magic, you need fey magic too. And that means…

My gaze rested on my two summons once more.

I folded my arms under my chest. "If I form this contract," I put up my gravest look. "I can order you two to do anything. Even things you may find unpleasant. Or even things you hate. And you won't get a pat on the head, a praise, or a hug for it. You'll have to be my slaves, working for me without pay for the rest of my life."

I wouldn't treat them that way, of course. But I had to tell them the worst possible scenario. They would practically bind their souls to mine. There would be no escape unless I freed them.

Earth Sprite nodded. "I won't mind. I want to help you, Master, no matter the consequences."

Water Fairy followed, a smile on her face. "Me too! You may become a bad master in the future but I know you won't! I can just feel it! We're kindred spirits after all!"

...I couldn't find it — the single, slightest hint of hesitation in their expression that I could use to deny their request.

A dry smile broke out on my face. These two. I have no idea where their loyalty comes from.

"Kiri Dewdrop. Aria Earthroot. I accept you two to be my familiar."

----------

Sherry and Felicia

This surge of power! It's…

Felicia could only watch with her mouth ajar as the two summons flew up to the skies, light enveloped their entire bodies.

They really did it!

Sherry reacted the same way, standing up to get a closer look at the sight.

The light shattered, creating a shower of brightness scattering all around the two girls.

Revealing Kiri and Aria in their new form.

Aria was now clad in a knight-like armor from top to bottom, and nothing else. As for Kiri, the water fairy looked quite different than her old self. She looked older, more mature, less of the teenager she once was. An intelligent look was drawn on her face, a stark opposite to the naivety her old self used to exude.

The two descended like angels, landing softly like a feather beside Felicia, Hugo, and Sherry.

"Miss Felicia! Can you please put Master Hugo on the ground?" Kiri spoke, an uncharacteristically serious look drawn on her face.

Felicia nodded, gently moving his body from her lap to the ground. Sherry quickly made a makeshift blanket under him with her hair. The two then stood up, letting the fairy and the sprite have their space.

"Now, Miss Sherry." She glanced at the Izurd. "Please hold his arm in place. And Aria, transfer your mana to me."

Sherry was speechless. She could only nod at the fairy. Was she really that same fairy Hugo had all those years ago?

Aria put her hands on Kiri's waist, closing her eyes in the process. Kiri herself on the other hand remained standing, only reaching out her hands in the general direction of Hugo without actually touching him.

T-this is...

Felicia could feel it. The mana enveloping this place — the earth sprite was sucking it in.

She can do that? But that means she can rival the power of an archfey! No doubt she has evolved further!

I-is this… Hugo's rank-up magic?

A circle of water, formed out of the moisture in the air, now surrounded the three. Kiri's eyes glowed, the water now feeding into her wings, growing it bigger and bigger until it eclipsed her own size. The blue water sparkled with strength and brimmed with life, an undeniable proof that she had reached the apex of her species.

“By my authority as the Fairy of The Lake, I baptize him as my Chosen One. And let my water of life return his arm to him!”

Fairy of The Lake? But that’s— that’s the name of the fairy from that myth! The one that gave the Legendary Hero Arthur his divine sword Excalibur!

To be frank, she knew that part of the legend was questionable at best. If you were to go by the Church’s official statement, the sword was given by the Heavenly Dragon instead. However, the narrative she heard from the Magocracy was that fairy tale. One day, the Hero and his group traveled into fairy land, and he ended up being blessed by the Fairy of The Lake.

She might actually be the one giving him the sword. Or maybe she merely blessed the sword. Or maybe it never happened at all. Who could say? She was never really that concerned with histories or myths of the past.

Water enveloped Hugo's arm like a gentle blanket, shining the brightest at where it was connecting to his stump. Felicia could only watch in awe as one by one, every nerve, muscle, and bone reattached itself with the main body. The meat soon followed, and then, at last, the skin.

Her healing potions and salves couldn't do that. Not in a million years.

Sherry reacted the same. Izurds could regenerate from all sorts of wounds. But there was no way they could reattach a decapitated arm.

When she finished, Kiri smiled, before bringing Hugo's face to her bosom, hugging him as if she was his older sister.

"It's alright now, Master… Everything is fine. I am here to protect you…"

And then, she and Aria slowly reverted to their previous forms, before collapsing to the ground, out of breath.

They had done it. They had saved their Master at last.

Or so they believed.

The sky above them shattered, sending Victoria crashing down with the speed of a bullet to the ground.

Immediately Sherry and Victoria readied for battle, with the latter yelling "You two! Bring Hugo to the village!" to Kiri and Aria.

"R-right!"

The two promptly agreed. They knew that both them and Hugo were in no condition to fight.

The sky cracked further, before shattering into pieces completely, exposing the archfey who descended in a furious rage.

"Foolish child! You think you can take my authority away as an Eldest?! You might be Titania’s spawn but I’m the Minister of Summer! I’ve lived eternally in this star ever since the days of the Ancients! You are but a mere sapling facing against a great tree!”

The archfey was now holding a greatbow in her two hands. Just by sight, one could tell that it was no ordinary bow. By size, it was gargantuan, fitting for how large the fairy was herself. By property, it was pulsating with earth and fire mana, similar to how Quania’s sword pulsated with demonic mana. By design, it was ornate, filled with subtle accents in every inch of its wood, perhaps even runes.

“And you two!” She shifted her gaze towards Kiri and Aria, who were now flying as fast as they could away from her. “Hand him over!"

She aimed her bow, producing an arrow out of magic in her hand—

Only to be interrupted by an energy slash hitting her right at the abdomen, courtesy of Sherry.

She disappeared, reappearing back behind the demoness. But Sherry had already anticipated it, so she simply spun around and sent her another slash, produced by a sword she created out of her own hair.

"YOU LIED TO ME!" The Izurd yelled as she charged forward.

"Lie? It's called embellishment. All good stories have that!" The archfey replied, a smirk forming on her lips as she dissipated the energy slash before it could reach her.

"SHUT UP! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT HE WOULD NEVER CALL ME A GORILLA!" Sherry fired her hair towards the fairy like a machine gun.

"He did all those things with that girl, you know." The fairy's smirk grew as she conjured a wall of flowers to block her hair. "You should hate him. Unless you're one of those girls who are fine with being cheated on." The fairy continued to fly backwards, baiting Sherry to chase after her.

All the while ordering her fairy subordinates to attack Hugo and the others.

The world shook, the dimensional separation the archfey had made slowly undoing itself at the seams. She had no need for it anymore. If she couldn't get the despair she wanted, she would just do it herself.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Felicia rushed to grab her staff before casting her shadow magic, creating a pool of blackness under her before sinking into it. She then moved with said shadow in a flash, going towards Victoria. She had no idea how she could be here but she couldn't just leave her on her own.

Only to find that her body wasn't there anymore.

What? I'm sure she fell here in this crater.

Ah, forget it! I have to keep Milord safe!

Not finding her goal, she quickly switched her goal. She would let Sherry attack the archfey while she helped Hugo's familiars guarding him.

The world shook once more. It was the final warning, before a deafening crash filled the air, followed by a surge of magic dissipating into the air.

Reuniting Felicia with Theo and the others.

She swiftly manifested herself in front of them. "Go to Hugo's side right now!" She pointed at the direction where the familiars took him. "I'll hold that archfey back!"

"I'm coming with you." Myrilla spoke. She remained as composed as her, with a firm and determined look on her face. "I have quite a few words to speak with that archfey."

"Me too! How could she do that to Master Hugo?!" Theo chimed in, raising his fists.

"Don't be stupid!" Tama bonked him in the head. "You can't do anything against her!"

"Tama's right, unfortunately." Tira looked firmly at her adopted son. "All we can do is to make sure Sir Hugo can recover in a safe place."

Just as they were about to split, however…

"Look out!" Felicia yelled.

A swarm of fairies manifested around them out of thin air, every one of them holding a stem of flower in her hand. If not for Felicia's shadow barrier, they would've been right on top of them.

"Stupid mortals! How could you see us? That's unfair!"

"Yeah, that's unfair!"

"That's right!"

Felicia didn't really see them. She simply sensed the sudden shift in the ambient mana around her.

"Come out! Come out and play!"

"Yeah, play!"

"Play!"

"We're going to turn you into pretty little flowers! You should be happy!"

One by one, the fairies bombarded the shadow dome with tiny beams coming out from their flowers.

There was no doubt about it. They were the Archfey's minions.

“I’ll handle this.” Myrilla spoke. “Dissipate the barrier the moment I’m finished with my chant. And hold everyone to the ground with your shadows.”

“Got it.” Felicia replied. On their journey these past months, both had learned each other’s magic. And she got a pretty good idea on the spell she was going to use.

“O spirits of the Wind!” Myrilla raised her left hand to the skies while gripping her staff with her right. “Hear my plea! Let your songs be my sword and guide my enemies to the abyss!”

“Vacuum Sphere!”

Felicia retracted her dome. Just in time to allow the small orb that had manifested on Myrilla’s left hand to fire upwards.

It exploded, forming an airless sphere, sucking all the air around it.

A reverse application of wind magic. Instead of conjuring air, it instead created a vacuum instead.

“W-what?!”

“Aah, I’m flying! I’m flying away!”

Felicia grabbed both herself and the others with her shadow tendrils, ensuring they wouldn’t be swallowed upwards like the swarm of fairies.

“Now!” Myrilla yelled. “You three! Attack!”

The three she spoke of was, of course, Theo and his family.

“Thousand Slashes!”

“Thousand Cuts!”

“Thousand Thrusts!”

After traveling for Hugo for so long, and being willing to improve their own combat skills, it was no surprise that they would pick up martial art techniques of their own. Using their auras, they sent a barrage of attacks towards the fairies gathered above them.

“Aahh!”

“Kyaahh!”

“That hurts!”

When the spell died, not a single fairy remained. The trio let out a sigh of relief. Finally! Their training bore fruit!

Only for the next wave of attack to commence.

Another earthquake filled the flower field as cracks began to appear all around their surroundings. The cracks soon burst, revealing not fairies this time, but monsters coming out from them.

“W-what? Monsters?” Theo’s voice shook. “D-did they come from the outside?”

“Yes.” Myrilla answered, narrowing their eyes. “They wandered into her territory and they had been trapped here since. And now, she unloaded all of them to us.”

From demonic deers to orcs, to even one dragon, they were now completely surrounded by them. They had to be at least a hundred of them, if not more.

“Tch, that’s unfair!” Felicia bit her thumb with her teeth, a tic she always did whenever she got nervous.

“H-hey, Felicia, can you use that shadow magic of yours to sneak us out of here?!” Tama asked.

“No. My shadows can’t swallow that many people safely,” the alchemist answered. “The only way out of here is for us to fight. Pierce a hole through their weakest spot. Remember. These monsters aren’t working with each other. They should be confused and disoriented.”

“Meaning,” Myrilla interrupted. “We should make our move immediately. Before they can regain their bearings.”

Felicia had no disagreement with the demoness. Her assessment was correct.

And yet, taking on a crowd like this, without Hugo, it would be tough.

If only she was a better mage in combat…

“I’ll throw a blinding bomb. Use the opportunity to go through the two o’clock direction. I believe that’s their weakest link.” Felicia continued. She might not be a god mage like her Lord Hugo, but she’s a good strategist. She could see that the crowd there is thin and filled with weaker monsters.

“R-right!” Theo replied, readying his stance for a dash.

Felicia reached down her cleavage, taking out a small palm-sized white sphere. Thrown with sufficient strength and speed, it would explode on its own, triggering its effect.

“In three… two… one…”

“Guwaahhhh!”

Felicia froze, stopping herself just before she threw the bomb.

A wave of black swept through the battlefield, stabbing and slicing through every monster it touched.

It was hair. Belonging to none other than Quania.

She and the others could only watch as the ex-demon lord slaughtered each and every monster, both with her hair and the sword she wielded. Even though she lost one arm, it didn’t hinder her in the slightest.

Even the dragon fell in an instant. A simple slice of her sword bisected its neck into two, killing it instantly.

When she finished, she turned to the group and said, “Go to his side. I’ll take care of that deceiver.”

With a powerful jump that left a crater behind, she disappeared, her movement too fast for Felicia’s eyes to follow.

They didn’t need to be told a second time.

Quania had decided to join their side.

And now, the wrath of a former demon lord (and her granddaughter) would come, barreling down against the archfey.

They would only get in the way.

----------

A/N:

Aria's Rank Up version is based on MGE's Living Armor. Only the color is brown instead of blue.

Naturally, this gives Hugo the defense he desperately needs. Combined with Kiri's massive healing, he's practically unbeatable. At least before he ran out of mana anyway.

Pretty lewd, wearing a girl like that.