All of us soon entered the portal only to be greeted by a scene that could only be described as ‘true hell’, the dungeon was no longer there but what took over was a ridge of flames; rivers of magma flowed all around as a floating circular platform stood at the very center. The entire place was surrounded by mountains taller than Everest which added up to the intense feel of the place.
“Everyone, be prepared!” Aurora commanded to which all of us took out our weapons and entered into preparation stance.
All of a sudden, alarms rang inside my head as a sudden heavy gust of wind exploded from the front, blasting most of the people at the frontline back as a beautiful lady stood there with two large black wings on her back with twin horns peeking out of her forehead.
“Fire!” Aurora immediately commanded without hesitation as all the magus fired several spells at the same time ranging from fireballs, water balls to wind slashes. In an instant, the place where the lady stood was covered in a cloud of dust.
“Heaven’s Strike,” His Majesty’s voice suddenly echoed as a golden cross appeared above the clouds of dust, slamming down on the spot as a loud horrific cry echoed throughout the area. It was a cry that blasted through our ears, it felt like my ears were about to explode.
All of a sudden, our bodies suddenly flew back dozens of feet back as the lady could be seen standing with her eyes flashing red. Her nails were long and sharp as she looked at us with an angry voice, “You peasants dare?” before a hundred health bars suddenly appeared above her head with a nametag similar to that in the game.
— The Devil of Ashen, Lucia
10,000,000,000 HP
I was speechless upon seeing her health points, it was a phenomenal number, to say the least. Suddenly, as if unfazed by the attack, Kaori stood up and materialized two swords on her hand. The sword to the left was a crystal white sword while to her right was a super dark sword that carried a terrifying aura and pressure.
“I would dare,” she mumbled before her figure vanished, reappearing above the devil with eighteen swords floating all around her, firing towards the devil at point-blank as she swung her sword eighteen times as well. Each swing of hers created either a black or white flash followed by a heavy shockwave.
None of us dared to come close, her slashes gave us this feeling that it could slice us in half which is why no one dared to interrupt. She was like a demoness fighting a devil, the eighteen slashes became a hundred in an instant with the devil blocking at least half of them.
“Her reputation really isn’t for play,” Seele who was standing nearby chuckled before looking at us with a wry smile, “Let us join the fun as well, shall we?”
“Indeed! All magus, fire within my word! Shields protect the magus and archers while the rest head to your positions!” Aurora instructed as all of us nodded at the same time, taking out both my daggers before dashing forward together with Seele.
The two of us played around a bit while dashing, swapping places at times before reaching the destination as the two of us simultaneously flew up in the air while pointing both our daggers towards the devil.
“Astral Union.” “Dance of the Dead.”
The two of us cast our spells just before striking the devil with both of my daggers becoming the galaxy itself while Seele’s daggers turning into two bones and synchronously, the two of us struck both the shoulder and horn of the devil at our respective sides, chipping one piece of the horn as we fled back in an instant before a gigantic figure flew up in the air.
“Dynastic Slam!” a roar echoed before the orange-haired woman slammed down her sword, creating a gigantic crater that pushed the devil back a bit as Aurora instructed all the magus and archers to fire at the same time, creating a rain of spells and arrows.
“Hellfire,” a melodic voice suddenly echoed before all of a sudden, a dome of fire appeared around the devil which was nostalgic.
“RETREAT TO THE SHIELDS!” I screamed as all of us ran back behind the shields before an eerie cry echoed throughout the entire place as all the defensive personnel dragged their shields all around, creating our own dome of shields.
In an instant, a loud explosion could be heard from the gaps of the shields as the temperature rose super high. It felt like we were being burned inside out despite the shields taking the full brunt of the heat, it was one of the spells of hers which usually would be weaker but somehow it felt stronger.
“THIS WILL BE THE END!” the melodic voice echoed once more before a heavy amount of force slammed down on the left side of the shields, blasting all of us miles back as the devil’s figure vanished once more, appearing at the other side and blasting us to the other side.
She kept repeating until Kaori got annoyed as she summoned sixty-four swords all around us, raining down all around us as some of the swords vanished followed by a splash of purple blood but that didn’t stop the devil who slammed us back and forth until all the shields were no longer in order.
“Ayumi, use your strongest bow spell on the devil once I say so, okay?” Kaori whispered into my ear as I nodded before she closed her eyes, opening them soon after as her eyes turned blood red. The aura around her changed, it was like she was out for blood.
In an instant, two blood-red swords materialized on her hands. The two swords felt suffocating to look at, blood dripped from the swords with each step she took before all of a sudden, she suddenly swung a sword to her left before a large splash of purple blood rained down.
“The Swords of the Empress?” the melodic voice suddenly questioned but was replied with two slashes by Kaori who didn’t reply.
“Ayumi, prepare,” her voice echoed inside my head, reminding me of what I was supposed to do as I closed my eyes and focused all points of my mana onto the imaginary bow inside my head. Pulling the imaginary bowstring as I gripped the air tightly.
I couldn’t see the bow, but I could feel it on my hand, echoing its presence towards me as my hand moved by itself, aligning itself to whichever entity I wished to target. It was as if my hand was being pushed in the direction by another entity.
The voices, the heartbeat, and the sounds all around me amplified. I could hear Aurora and the others planning out their next move, they have decided to wait until I finish my attack before moving forward with a combined spell from the magus side and a quad-attack from all sides by His Majesty, the Princess together with Aurora herself and Seele which seems a bit solid but there was this odd feeling inside that I couldn’t get off.
“I see, that’s your weakness,” the devil’s voice suddenly echoed as I opened my eyes out of instinct before the devil could be seen looking at me with a smile. Her eyes created a sense of pressure that wanted to knock me down.
“AYUMI, NOW!” Kaori screamed as I immediately released the bowstring before a bright yellow arrow flew out from my imaginary bow, slamming down towards the devil who only smiled as she looked at me before the entire spot was covered with a dust of cloud.
“GO!” Aurora instructed as all of them followed through their plan with Aurora, His Majesty, the Princess, and Seele running off towards the devil with their individual spells and weapons. In an instant, the cloud dissipated, revealing their target—which was no longer there. I felt a sudden eerie feeling inside as we looked around confused.
All of a sudden, a scream suddenly came from Kaori who was a little bit away from me, running towards my direction as her eyes looked at me wide open, “AYUMI! RUN!” but it was too late as I looked back before the devil could be seen standing there with her gigantic one hundred health bars, sixty of which were empty.
“It’s time to take a nap, little kid,” the devil smiled, raising her hand up before swinging it down towards me as I looked at her surprised before suddenly, a spatial crack appeared in between us as Kaori’s white hair came out.
In an instant, blood rained down upon the scene as the two bloodred swords of Kaori could be seen, stabbing the devil’s heart. It looked to be the end of it as the devil fell down before Kaori turned around with a smile, “Is it over?”
“Ye—KAORI?!” I was about to respond before noticing the hole on her chest, a bloody hollow hole that pierced through her entire chest. I felt my entire world freeze as I raced towards her, grabbing her as the two of us fell down.
She looked at me with a bright smile, tears rolling down her cheeks as a small kiss planted on my cheeks. Her lips were bloodied as a large hole could be seen on her chest, overflowing with blood as her hand touched my cheeks one more time. Her eyes looked blurry as she tried to open her mouth—as she tried to speak, “Ayum… I love you, smile… please.”
I felt my heart bleed as her eyes soon closed, her head limply rested on my legs as the two swords that pierced the devil soon shone blue. The two swords soon turned into crystals, floating up to the air as a loud laugh echoed.
“How does it feel? To lose someone you love?” the devil laughed.
Looking up, the devil could be seen standing there with a mocking look with eighty of her health bars full. I felt anger, rage… I wanted to smash that look on her. Tears fell from my eyes as I grasped Kaori’s cold and pale body tightly, I wanted to scream—to cry as hard as I could.
“Pathetic,” she laughed.
