The Party is driving through the desert in the Hummer. Ruby is in the passenger seat with Yue in the middle. Myu is sitting on Yue's lap and everyone else is in the back.

The Grimms are in their normal forms.

In front of the Hummer is Shea driving Hajime's motorcycle.  "HYA-HOOO!" She yells.

"Sheesh, Shea sounds like she's pretending to be from the wastelands of the North Start." Hajime complains.

Shea then sticks her butt up into the air. "Butt up! Rabbit time!" She starts shaking her ass.

Ruby glares at the rabbit. "Ram her."

Hajime smirks and stomps on the gas petal. "Ramming time!"

Shea also speeds up as Hajime keeps trying to run her over. "Hya-hahahaha!"

Hajime growls.

Myu turns to Hajime. "Papa! Myu wants to do that, too!"

"There's no way we're letting you do that." Hajime sweats.

"Awww."

"No until your Sixteen." Ruby states and Hajime glares at her. "Okay, Eighteen." Hajime just rolls his eyes.

"Don't interrupt him." Yue says to Myu and the Feesh girl sighs.

Hajime smiles as he glances at Myu. "I'll help you get on it later, so sit tight till then."

Hajime looks forward to see Shea standing up on the motorcycle, doing a pose.

"Papa's worried about you, Myu." Yue says. "That's why he's overprotective."

Ruby then pats Myu on the head. "Yup, and I'm and my girls will protect you too."

"You're such an adoring Aunt!" Tio says.

Tio continues. "This unexpected gentleness is quite exciting..." She starts to chuckle and hug herself.

"Auntie Ruby, Big Sister Tio's doing that heavy breathing again." Myu informs.

"Filthy Perv!" Ruby yells at Tio, which makes the Dragon moan more.

"She's sick, and there's no cure." Yue says to Myu. "Don't pay her any mind."

"Hya-hha!" Shea laughs as she hops back down onto the motorcycle.

They party approaches a city and the Grimms change into their human forms.

A few minutes later the party arrives at the Outpost town of Horaud and they walk through its streets. It's not a very big town, it's just the Entrance to the Great Ocrus Labyrinth. 

Myu sits on Hajime's shoulders. Shea and Yue stand on either side of him.

Blake and Neo stand on either side of Ruby, holding her hands. Tio stands behind them. A frown forms on Ruby's face as she looks around as memories of the Labyrinth play through her head. 

A frown also forms on Hajime's face. Myu leans down and looks at Hajime. "Papa? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Reuben and I just been here before." Hajime informs. "It's only been four months, but it feels like years."

Blake and Neo glance at the frowning Ruby as she tightens her grip on the two girls hands.

...

...

The party enters a room at the guild. There's a man behind a desk doing paperwork.

"Is the guild leader here?" Hajime asks the man behind the desk.

"Hmm?" The man looks up. "You adventurers?" He stands up. "I'm Loa Bawavis."

Hajime holds up an envelope."We've got a letter for you from the Fuhren guild leader.

Loa walks over and grabs the letter out of Hajime's hand. "Thank you." He opens up the envelope and starts reading the letter. "Huh. According to this letter... sounds like you went on quite the rampage."

Ruby, Myu and Hajime sit down on a couch across from Loa. The girls all stand behind the three.

"That's just how things turned out." Ruby stretches.

"Hard to believe newbies like you took out an entire army of 60,000 troops in one day and destroyed an evil organization in the course of an afternoon, but I've never known Ilwer to lie." Loa looks at Ruby and Hajime.

"Well, we've done crazier." 

Suddenly the door bursts open and Endo falls onto his knees, breathing heavily and his concealment spell wears off. "Urgent Message!" He yells. "There's a Demon in the labyrinth!"

"And who are you?" Loa asks.

Ruby and Hajime both slightly gasp as they look at Endo.

Loa turns to the two. "Do you know him, Hajime Nagumo? Reuben Xiao Long?"

'I really need people to start using my new name!' Ruby complains in thought.

"Y-You're... Nagumo? Xiao Long?" Endo asks

"As always, you've got as much presence as a ghost, Endo." Hajime says.

Loa stands up and motions to Ruby and Hajime. "This is Hajime Nagumo and Reuben Xiao Long, both gold-rank adventurers. You're part of the Hero party, yes?"

"I-I'm Endo." He greets.

'Yang called him the Hentai Protagonist.' Ruby says in thought. 'I never watched Hentai so I don't get what she means.'

Endo looks at Ruby and Hajime. "Hey! A-Are you really Nagumo and Xiao Long? I-I mean, you look like you've changed a whole lot, Nagumo, just from your  appearance and stuff... But Reuben you look mostly the same, just more... Female?"

"Yeah, we crawled up from the pits of hell." Hajime states. "No duh we've changed a bit."

"A bit? You're a totally different person! But okay. I'm glad you're both alive." Endo then stands up and runs over to Hajime, who is the closest, and puts his hands on the white haired teens shoulders. "Wait, so that means you're both tough enough to survive down there, right?"

"Yeah, that's about right."

"Please, Nagumo! Come into the labyrinth with me!" Endo begs. "You have to hurry, or they'll die! Everyone's gonna die!"

Flashback.

Great Orcus labyrinth

The hero party is on a floor full of crystal pillars going in every direction.

"What's going on?" Shizuku asks.

"We've explored so much of the labyrinth, so why haven't we encountered any monsters?" Kouki questions.

Yang looks around in caution. 

"Maybe the ninetieth floor just has no monsters on it?" Ryutarou questions.

"No, there has to be monsters here." Yang states. "It wouldn't make sense if there wasn't."

"Kouki, want to head back for now?" Shizuku asks.

"Shizuku?" Said Hero questions.

Endo starts looking around.

"I've got a bad feeling about this place for some reason." Shizuku states. "Maybe Captain Meld knows something about that."

Endo finds some monster blood on the ground and he wipes a little up with a stick. he then holds the stick up. "This is monster blood, right?"

Everyone looks to him and gasps as they start to find much more monster blood around the area.

Shizuku, Kouki and Yang kneel down to a puddle of Monster blood. Daisuke stands next to them.

"It's blending in with the color of the ground, so it's hard to tell..." Shizuku states.

"But there's a lot..." Daisuke says.

"And it's fresh." Endo observes.

Kouki starts to sweat a little. "This must mean there's an even more powerful monster around here."

"And that monster attacked another monster?" Shizuku asks.

"Not only that, but it's hidden its tracks." Endo informs.

Kouki then looks around. "If there are only tracks in this area, that means it didn't have time to cover them up."

Yang suddenly stands up and readies her first. 

"Xiao-Long-san?" Shizuku questions.

"We're not alone." Yang says as she looks int some shadows, everyone follows her gaze.

Heels clacking against stone is heard coming from the shadows. A female demon, with a white albino bird on her shoulder, walks out from the shadows.  Everyone tenses up.

The demon stops and smiles at the Hero party.

"A demon?" Kouki questions.

"This is bad." Yang mutters as a little sweat falls from her cheek.

"You there, wearing the stupidly shiny armor, you're a hero, yeah?" The Demon asks. "Wanna join up with us?"

"Wh-What?" Kouki questions. "What're you talking about?"

"I'm asking you to join us."

"I refuse!"

"You could join up with all your friends, you know." The Demon says.

"My answer's not changing!" Kouki says with determination. 

"You know... One of your friends took us up on our offer." 

Suzu puts her hands out and readies a spell.

"You won't fool me!" Kouki yells and everyone readies for a fight. "None of us would have done that!"

"Are you sure about that?" The Demon asks.

Protective domes flash around everyone for a second. Everyone readies their weapons.

The Demon pets her bird. "Fine, then. If you won't accept, then I have no use for you. I'll let the monsters have you.

Suddenly Shizuku yells out as her protective barrier breaks and she falls to the ground. Suzu screams and cancels the protective spell as she falls back into Eri's arms.

"Shizuku! Suzu!" Kouki yells.

"You two alright?!" Yang yells.

"Bathe in protective light!" Kaori starts casting. "Turning tide and heavens, Divine Intervention!"

Three disks of light fly up into the air and start raining magic down onto everyone, even the demon. It also reveals a chimera standing next to her that was hidden.

It's a wolf, with a goat with wings on its back and a snake for a tail. It lunges forward, but a barrier stops it and Kouki runs forward with his sword ready. "Get away from Shizuku!" He yells

Yang puts both her fists back and they light up in flames. "We ain't letting you win today! Turn all those oppose me to ash and dust, leave nothing behind for them to find! Flame Bullet!" She throws her fists forward and a few small balls of flame fly from each fist.

Eri holds up her staff. "Engulf mine enemies, O crimson mother! Reckless Blaze!" A wave of fire bursts out from her staff and moves towards the Chimera.

Ryutarou throws a first forward and flame ball flies forward.

As Kouki and the spells reach the Chimera, a wall of rocks blocks him and the spell. He jumps back, but the spells hit the rocks.

Suddenly a large pig monster moves out from the flames where the Chimera was. It raises its fists and brings them down towards, Kouki, but he jumps back in time.

Yang puts up her aura as another pig monster appears beside her and slams a spear into her. Yang flies back and slams into a crystal pillar, her aura flashes. "How hard did he hit me?"

"What's with these things?!" Kouki shouts.

"Reckless Blaze!" Eri casts again and a wave of flames moves towards the large pig monsters that have appeared.

"Where'd they come from?" Ryutarou asks.

Yang grunts as she stumbles back over to everyone.

"W-Watch out, everyone!" Endo yells.

Suddenly the flames are moved somewhere else. "No way..." Eri mutters.

Everyone looks to where the flames went and they see a large tortoise appear out of thin air. It opens its mouth and a fire ball appears.

"No!" Eri shouts.

Suzu grunts and starts casting a spell. "Let the light of protection grow tenfold, restored by my will!" She holds her hand out and a magic circle appears. "You think I'm weak?!"

The tortoise fires off a flame breath spell.

"Divine Intervention!" Suzu casts and multiple large magic shields appear in front of her and Eri. The Flame breath smashes into the shields, they manage to stop it.

"Wh-Why the hell are these monsters so strong?!" Daisuke asks.

Shizuku runs over to Daisuke. "Hiyama-kun! I'm gonna cut through them! You keep the others safe!"

"Y-You got it, Yaegashi!"

Yang cracks her fists and her hair catches on fire. "Let's do this!" Her fists light on fire.

Yang lunges forward at a large Pig monster and slams her fist into it, knocking it back and leaving a burn mark behind. She then lets a few more punches fly and manages to knock the large monster over.

 She then jumps back as another Pig monster slams a large club into the ground where she was. She jumps on to the club, then jumps up to the monster's face and brings her fist back. "I hope you're hungry!"

Yang throws her fist forward and punches the monster in the face, while also casting Flame Bullet. The pig roars as it falls backward and Yang lands on the ground.

Yang's hair returns to normal and her eyes go back to Lilac. She then lets out a triumphant laugh, only to stop as a red aura surrounds the two pig monsters and all their wounds heal up as a Birds caw is hard.

"She can heal them?!" Shizuku yells in shock.

"They're on a totally different level than all the other monsters we've encountered!" Endo says. "What should we do, Yaegashi-san?"

Yang backs up as the two pig monsters start getting back up.

Shizuku turns to Endo. "Endo-kun... There's something I have to ask of you and your particular abilities. Send a message to Captain Meld. Because you're an Assassin, you should be able to sneak out without them noticing you and get to Meld."

"Me?!" Endo asks in shock.

"I can't do this myself."

The two pig monsters stare down at Yang and she readies her fists.

Endo steps back and uses Presence Manipulations, making him disappear. "I'll get it to him, I swear!" He starts running away. "I swear..."

Present

Endo sits across from Hajume, Myu, who has a snack, and Ruby. "I swear..." He mutters.

A crunch breaks Endo out of his thoughts and he looks up to see Myu eating.

Myu loudly crunches onto another snack. Then on another.

Endo raises his fists up and slams them into the table in front of him. Making Myu gasp in shock and drop her snack. "And what the hell is with this girl?!"

Myu tears up and puts her face into Hajime's chest. "Papa!" This angers Hajime and Ruby.

Hajime holds Myu close. "Why the hell are you taking things out on my daughter, you little prick? Huh?"

Ruby growls and an angry aura surrounds her. "You wanna die punk! I'll kill you for making her cry!"

Endo yelps in fear and grabs onto Loa, who is sitting next to Endo.

"Hajime's totally her Papa now." Yue says and Neo nods in response.

"He didn't even think twice when he called her his daughter!" Shea smiles.

"But will he be able to let his lovely daughter go?" Tio questions.

"Ruby is taking the role of Auntie, very seriously." Blake says, and Neo nods again. 

"That was scary, huh?" Endo asks Loa. Loa rips his arm our of Endo's grip.

.

.

.

Back in the labyrinth after Endo just left.

Back down in the Labyrinth, everyone's waiting for the next move. The two pig monsters haven't moved since they got up.

Yang glances at the Demon girl, she has a smirk as the bird's red eyes glow. Suddenly the Chimera starts to sink in the ground and disapears.

"What'll it be, Hero?" The Demon calls out. "At this rate, you're done for."

"I won't give in, and I'll prove that to you!" Kouki yells. "Limit Break!"

The two pig in front of Yang roar. "I guess we're getting back to it!" Yang yells and she slams her fists together and glows yellow. "Limit Break!"

One of the Pig Monsters swings a club down onto her, but she throws her first forward with a yell and her fists connect with it. Yang smashes the large club apart and she lunges forward and pulls a fist back. "Turn all those oppose me to ash and dust, leave nothing behind for them to find! Flame Bullet!"

Yang throws her fist forward as she casts the spell and she hits the pig in the chest, and small balls of flame shoot out of its back.

The monster falls back as Yang falls towards the ground, she turns to the second one just in time to see a large spear heading for her head. Yang activates her aura and holds her arms up as the spear hits her.

Yang flies back and slams into the ground near Suzu, her yellow aura shatters.

"You okay, Xiao Long-san?" Suzu asks.

Yang coughs a little and gives the girl a thumbs up as she lays on the ground.

The demon holds her hand up and a gray gas appears."By mine eye, all that is known to my enemy shall be shut and closed. All that will remain is their demise, a cold graven image. let my enemies be crushed and return to the earth! Crashing Gaol!"

The gas starts to expand upwards. Daisuke looks back to Suzu. "Taniguchi, stop her!"

Suzu holds her hands out. "G-Got it! Enemies of God mayst not tread upon His holy ground! Herem!"

Yang stands up as a large dome surrounds everyone. The grey gas pushes down onto the top of the dome. Suzu grunts as she holds her hands up to keep the spell going.

The Demon giggles and the birds eyes glow. Suddenly multiple magic circles appears behind Yang and she hears meowing as cat monsters come out of them.

Yang turns around to see the disturbing looking cat monsters. "Incoming!" She yells as they charge towards Suzu.

Yang lunges forward and punches a couple of the cat monsters down, then she spin kicks another way. She turns around and punches another one. A couple try to run past her, but she grabs them and slams them into the ground.

A cat Monster runs up to yang and brings its spike like arms forward, Yang turns just as the Cat's arm pieces through her stomach.

"Xiao Long-san!" Eri yells.

Yang spits up blood as she grabs the cat's arm, to prevent it going further. A couple cat monsters run past Yang and proceed to stab Suzu in the stomach.

"T-Taniguchi-kun!" Yang yells as blood falls from the corner of her mouth.

Suzu lands on the ground with widen eyes and blood starts to pool under her.

Yang grunts and punches the cat that stabbed her in the face, sending it away. A group of cat monsters lunge towards Yang and she yells as she activates Burn and slams her firsts together, sending out a shock wave that kills the monsters on impact.

The magic dome surrounding the Hero party falls and the gray gas falls on Suzu.

Kouki runs towards Suzu. "Heed me, O wind! Blustering Blast!" He points his sword forward and a ball of wind blasts the gas away from Suzu, revealing her in terrible condition.

Suzu starts to turn into stone from her legs up. 

"Suzu-chan!" Kaori yells.

Yang coughs and nearly falls over, stopping her self by putting a hand out as the other puts pressure on her wound. Red starts to stain her clothes. 

Kaori runs over to Yang and starts healing her, but said blonde grabs her staff. "Don't waste it on me, I'll be fine." Yang states.

"B-But Xiao L-" Kaori starts.

"Focus on Suzu first, she's in worse condition."

Kaori nods and moves away from Yang. Yang grunts in pain as she stands up and looks down to her bleeding stomach. "This is bad." She whispers.

Shizuku runs over to Kouki, who fells to his knees. "Kouki!"

"Dammit!" Kouki mutters.

"Let's retreat!"

Kouki looks at Shizuku with an angry look. "They killed one of our own, and we're just gonna run?!"

Shizuku slaps the Hero across the face. "Calm down!" She yells. 

Present on the surface

Endo continues to tell the story. "I hurried to Captain Meld to tell him about the demon."

Flashback.

Endo runs down a hallway as fast as he can. His skill is keeping him hidden from anything that would attack him. "The Captain is protecting a teleportation circle to the 70th floor!"

Endo reaches the room with Meld and a few other knights. Endo falls to his knees in front of Meld and deactivates his skill, slightly scarring Meld.

"Captain! It's me!" Endo shouts.

"Who, Kosuke!" Meld says. "Where are the others?!"

"The others, they're...!" Endo proceeds to tell Meld what happened. He sobs a little as a couple tears fall from his eyes.

Meld puts a hand on Endo's head. "Don't cry, Kosuke. You did what only you could do. Thank you for delivering the message."

(Meld is like a cool Uncle. I like his character a lot.)

Meld takes his hand off Endo's head and the teen looks at the Captain. "Yaegashi said they'd come back on their own, but... But I'm gonna go back to them!"

Meld smiles, then his eyes widen as he looks behind Endo, and he pushes the kid to the side. Meld kicks a monster in the face as it appears out of thin air.

Endo, who is on the ground, looks up to see the Chimera. "N-No, it noticed me?!"

Meld turns to Endo. "How much longer are you gonna keep embarrassing yourself?!" he holds his hand out. "Go on already!"

"Huh?!"

They hears scream and look over to see a knight fall to teh ground and blood splatters from his chest. Another knight is being crushed by the Snake tail.

Meld grabs his sword off his back as he glances at Endo. "Don't space out! Tell the people up above about the demon!"

"B-But what about you, Captain?!" Endo asks.

"Destroy the circle on the other side! We'll protect it with our lives!" Meld runs towards the Chimera.

"B-But..."

"That's this coward's final wish!"

The Chimera tries to bite Meld with the wolf head, but he jumps out of the way. He swings his sword and cuts deep into the monster.

"Survive, Kosuke!" Meld yells.

Edno gets up and runs over to the teleportation circle and jumps through it.

"I'll show you the strength of the Heilich Kingdom Kinght's resolve!" Meld yells at the Chimera.

Present

Endo grits his teeth. "He wanted me to survive... He did it for me, he..."

 Currently in the Labyrinth

The Hero party is running down a path. Cat monsters lunge at the party. Yang grunts as she punches a cat away from her, but it causes her to stumble and nearly fall over, she puts her hand against a wall to stop herself.

Yang puts more pressure on her bleeding wound, her aura flashes over her, but goes away after a few seconds.

Another cat lunges at Yang, but Shizuku gets in front of it and cuts it in half. She then turns to Yang and holds her hand out. "Here."

Yang grunts and grabs Shizuku's hand and the girl helps her up. "Thanks."

Shizuku nods and goes to Kouki and helps him off the ground. Then the party continues running. Then Daisuke stops, which makes everyone stop.

Shizuku, Kouki and Yang walk over to Daisuke. Ryutarou is carrying Suzu while Kaori heals the girl. Eri stands beside those two.

"H-Hey." Daisuke starts. "Maybe we should just do as she says already?"

"What're you saying?!" Kouki questions.

"I-I also think we should do as she says!" Eri blurts out.

"Not you too, Eri!" Shizuku says.

Tears form in Eri's eyes. "I just don't want all of us to die!"

"Don't trust that demon!" Kouki orders.

"Look, if we keep trying to run away, how many of us are gonna survive this?" Daisuke asks. "Just accept the reality of our situation already!"

"If we want us all to survive, we have to do as she says..." Eri claims.

"We aren't going to trust that demon!" Yang grunts as she turns a little pale. "I'm not betraying what Reuben... what he stood for. What I stand for."

"You won't make it back to the surface at this rate." Daisuke claims. "We have to if you want to survive."

Suddenly Meld's voice is heard. "Just think about surviving..."

Everyone turns back and sees Meld, stabbing his sword into the ground to help himself stand up. Blood covers his armor.

"Meld-san!" Kouki calls out.

Meld looks up at the group. His left eye closed from the blood falling from his head. "From the very beginning, this was our war."

Meld gasps as blood spurts out from his back and the Chimera appears behind him. The Demon girl walks out from behind Meld with a smile on her face. Meld falls to the ground and everyone yels out in shock.

"I'm sorry..." Meld whispers.

"Meld-san!" Kouki yells.

"You Bitch!" Yang screams as her eyes turn red and her hair catches on fire. Her aura flashes as she stands up and readies her fists.

Meld closes his eyes and his head lolls down. 

Kouki grunts in anger and a golden glow surrounds him.

"No, Kouki!" Shizuku yells. "If you use Limit Break now, your body won't be able to take it!"

Kouki glares at the demon in anger and she throws her hand to the side and a few cat monsters fly towards him.

Yang yells as she flies forward with her fists cocked back.

Back up at the Surface.

"A demon, huh?" Ruby asks.

"Reuben Xiao Long, Hajime Nagumo, if what Ilwer says is true, then I've got a request for you." Loa says.

"You want me to rescue the heroes, is that it?" Hajime asks.

"Nagumo! Xiao Long!" Endo calls out. "They're your friends! You'll go same them, of course you will, right?"

"Don't go assuming they're my friends."

"Huh?"

"I'll give it to you straight." Hajime starts. "To me, the lot of you are no more than strangers who happen to share my homeworld, and nothing more."

"Wha?!" Endo questions what Hajime just said.

Ruby just leans back onto the cough and puts her hands behind her head.

Back in the labyrinth.

Yang's hair glows brightly and her red eyes shine as she punches the head of a cat monster clean off.

Kouki knocks down the Chimera with a heavy slash to its side, then he bolts straight towards the Demon. A magic circle appears below her and a rock wall surrounds the demon.

Kouki cuts through the wall and delivers a large gash to the demon's chest, cutting off a locket necklace she was wearing. She lands against a wall and slides down it.

Kouki holds it sword out. "Die!"

He goes to stab her, but the locket flies in front of his face as it opens. Revealing the demon girl hugging a demon man. Kouki's eyes widen and the sword stops inches from the Demon's face.

The Demon girl opens her eyes and looks up to the Hero, the locket lands on the ground behind Kouki.

"I'm impressed." The Demon says. "Have you finally gotten it into your thick skull now? You're trying to kill someone."

"I-I'm..." Kouki stutters.

Yang grabs a cat monster that was about to attack her and she throws it into a wall. "Just finish it Amanogawa!"

"You really have no self-awareness, do you, boy?" The Demon asks the Hesitating Hero.  "We are at war!"

A magic circle appears behind Kouki, the locket sinks into it as a Large Minotaur monster comes out. It punches the Hero and sends him flying away.

"Kouki!" Shizuku yells.

Back on the Surface.

Endo is kneeling in front of the Party, just outside the room they were in.

"Please, Nagumo, Xiao Long, save them..." Endo begs and he starts to cry. "Save all of them... Your sister's down there, Reuben, that has to count for something!"

Memories of Yang play through Ruby's head and she grits her teeth. "Fuck." She whispers.

Ruby walks past Endo with her hands curled into fists.

"Where are you going?" Hajime asks.

"Tch, to save my sister." Ruby states as she glances back at Hajime. "Now let's go already!"

Back down in the Labyrinth. 

Kaori is healing Meld the best she can, but she's running out of mana. Tears start to fall from her eyes. "I'm sorry, I can't.. I don't have much mana left..."

The Minotaur roars and brings its fists down onto the group. But Yang appears and she starts glowing. "LIMIT BREAK!" She holds her hands up and stops the Minotaur's fists.

Yang's arms shake under the pressure. Shizuku slides past the Minotaur as Yang pushes it back.

A red aura covers the Demon. "You're not like the other heroes. You actually came prepared to kill."

"Kouki didn't have that, and it held our party back." Shizuku mutters. "But I'll make up for it!"

Yang yells as she throws the Minotaur up into the air and it lands on its back. Shizuku runs towards the downed Minotaur, but another appears as a magic circle shines in front of her.

The Minotaur roars and throws a punch at Shizuku and she brings her sword up to block it. But the force behind the punch was to great and it sends her and her weapon flying into different directions.

Shizuku crashes through multiple pillars before slamming into the wall, she vomits up blood as she slides down the wall.

"Shizuku!" Yang yells, she goes to move towards the hurt girl, but the Minotaur she threw gets in her way. "Out of my way!"

Yang throws a flaming Punch and it connects with the Minotaur's gut, but it barely pushes it back. Yang grunts and she pulls another first back, only to get slapped away by the Minotaur.

Yang slams into a wall and yelps in pain. She crashes into the ground and holds her stomach in pain. She looks up to see Kaori make it over to Shizuku, with Suzu providing a defensive dome around the two.

The two Minotaurs punch the dome and it starts to break. Yang spits up some blood and she starts to stand up, only for her legs to give out and she crashes back to the ground.

"D-Dammit!" Yang grunts.

The dome around Shizuku and Kaori shatters and the Minotaurs roars as they reach out to the two girls.

"Shizuku! Kaori!" Yang yells.

Suddenly a spike crashes through the ceiling and impales both Minotaurs through the neck, killing them. Smoke raises up from the impact.

"What... just happened?" Yang questions.

The Demon takes a few steps back in shock.

The two Minotaurs turn to dust and two figures are seen in the smoke.

"You two're still good friends, huh?" Hajime asks Shizuku and Kaori.

"And you're still tough as ever." Ruby's voice rings out.

The smoke clears and Ruby and Hajime are visible.

Yang's eyes widen and tears start to fall. "Reuben?"

...

...

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04-25-2023

4918 words

(The two Xiao Long siblings finally reunite! Let's see how it goes in the next chapter!)