At first, Lilith thought it was an illusion shown by her life flashing before her eyes. She wanted to believe it was. But Yuka was indeed standing there in reality, having gallantly rushed to Lilith's aid and saved her life.
"Are you okay, Lilith?"
While keeping her gaze fixed on Lyuvius, Yuka asked.
But Lilith, instead of answering, suppressed the emotions threatening to overflow and countered with her own question.
"Why did you come? What about Izayoi-kun..."
Lilith had trusted Izayoi. Although she had never seen his true capabilities with her own eyes, she felt certain that he was even more skilled than Yuka.
She believed that Izayoi, by force if necessary, would take Yuka away from the city. He, who should care deeply for Yuka, wouldn’t send her into such a perilous, battle-filled situation. That's why Lilith had left it to Izayoi. She couldn’t comprehend why Yuka was here now.
Yuka averted her eyes for just a moment, then spoke with a bitter expression.
"I punched him and came here."
Yuka, who was likely less capable than Izayoi, had punched him and come all this way. Under normal circumstances, it would be an unbelievable tale. However, Izayoi did have a soft spot for Yuka. A possibility dawned on Lilith, and she suppressed a burgeoning headache.
Therefore, Lilith did not notice. Yuka, while turned away from her, visibly relaxed her facial expression.
"What's going on...?"
Lyuvius, who had stood up while the two were talking, muttered with an expression that passed bewilderment and seemed almost foolish.
"Why is the wall still standing...!"
Where Lyuvius's sharp gaze landed, the defensive wall still stood imposingly, as always.
"It withstood Hell's Breath? No, that’s impossible. So then..."
Lyuvius’s piercing gaze riveted onto Yuka.
"Did you do this, human...!"
"I don’t know anything about that,"
Defiantly glaring back, Yuka moved a hand toward the sword at her hip. That’s when she was halted by a voice from behind.
"You can’t, Yuka-kun. His strength is on a different level. Even you can’t possibly win against him...!"
Lilith, having experienced the battle, understood this all too well. Yuka had made remarkable progress over the past month, but she was still no match for Lyuvius. He was simply too powerful.
"I'll buy us some time. You use the chance to escape, Yuka-kun."
Wincing from the intense pain in her shoulder, Lilith rose again, knight sword in hand, and took an unsteady step toward Lyuvius. However, Yuka extended her hand to stop her.
"Don't push yourself. With those injuries, you can't properly swing a sword, right? Leave the rest to me. For now, Lilith, retreat and tend to your wounds."
Lilith groaned weakly at Yuka’s unusually spot-on remark.
Lilith’s body had already exceeded its limits. Having lost one weapon, she, as a Rank A adventurer, couldn't be expected to be combat-effective. Understanding this better than anyone, as it concerned her own body, Lilith struggled with what to do.
Logically, Yuka, not the exhausted Lilith, should be the one to fight. But emotions rejected this logic.
Yuka, with her still-youthful and charming face, appeared to Lilith as a girl that needed to be protected. Although age, appearance, personality, and circumstances were all different, the sight of a girl ready to fight inevitably reminded Lilith of her past master.
She didn’t want to let her fight. She didn’t want to lose her again. This time, Lilith had to protect her.
Compelled by obsessive thoughts, Lilith stepped forward, and just as she was about to take another step,
“—Lilith”
She was stopped by a voice, gentle yet firm.
"Don’t worry about me. You go back to everyone and take command.”
“But, why?”
“I want you to protect the wall, Lilith. From what I saw earlier, the situation looks quite dire."
Yuka glanced towards the wall as she spoke.
"I trust you, Lilith. Gather all the adventurers and somehow hold out. While you do that, I'll take this guy down."
"That's reckless! No matter how strong you are, against him—"
Before she could tell her she can't win, Lilith swallowed her words, met by Yuka’s determined eyes.
Lilith recognized those eyes. They were the eyes of someone who had resolved to accomplish something, eyes that Yuka now had.
"Believe in me, Lilith. I will definitely take him down, so leave this place to me."
Yuka declared confidently. Her small back seemed impossibly large, and Lilith lost any words to stop her.
In this world, there are no absolutes. Yuka’s certainty should be without basis, yet somehow, there was an allure to her words that made Lilith want to believe in them unconditionally. She felt as though something could overturn the overwhelming power difference.
—Perhaps she can entrust her with this.
Lilith, for a moment, closed her eyes in anguish. After a short while, she opened them, as if severing her hesitation.
"I understand. But, I want you to promise "Going out of your way to wait for me, quite the gentleman, aren't you?"
Yuka is overtly hostile, always on guard to draw her sword at any moment.
"I didn't intend to wait for you. However, it seems like there are various things I need to ask you," says Ryuvius, looking up at the sky.
Where his gaze falls, a pitch-black dragon is engaged in some kind of... struggle. Spewing white flames, swinging its hooked claws, and scattering shockwaves with its roars. Yet, all of these actions seem to aim at nothing in particular, making it look like it is rampaging in confusion to those observing from a distance.
But, for the two here, it was a different sight altogether.
"A technique to deceive the eyes, huh. To be able to fly to the skies as well, you have quite a reliable companion there, human."
"Well, I wonder what you're talking about."
Yuka responds to Ryuvius's provocation without flinching. Her response was calm, as if she had anticipated it beforehand.
Judging that a straightforward approach wouldn’t work with her attitude, Ryuvius also takes a combat stance.
"Fine, if you're intent on playing dumb. I'll just ask your body directly."
He exudes a fighting spirit as if dialogue is unnecessary. Responding in kind, Yuka draws her sword and employs body enhancement. A suffocating tension envelops them both.
"I'm counting on you, Izayoi."
Murmuring so inwardly, Yuka charges toward Ryuvius.
▼
At first, the soldiers left on top of the defensive wall could not understand what was happening. They should have been swallowed by the dazzling white flames that approached them, yet they feel neither pain nor heat. Maybe they were burnt to a crisp in an instant without even being able to feel it. Opening their eyes, they saw other soldiers, also tilting their heads in puzzlement.
Everyone is alive. The defensive wall also remains intact without losing its grandeur as if the previous white flame was an illusion.
However, the magicians among the soldiers, those versed in magic, understood exactly what had happened. Therefore, they stood still with uniformly astonished expressions.
A commander, noticing their state, suppressed the confusion and asked them.
"What happened?"
"Well, it seems that some magic was used to protect us. But..."
The magician looks around at the other magicians lined up behind him. Each one shakes their head, signaling they were not responsible.
"No one here can handle magic capable of protecting us from those white flames. No, even before that, a human who can use such outrageously scaled magic..."
Impossible, the magician wanted to declare. But they were indeed protected. By the hands of an unknown, extraordinary magician. Given that, they couldn’t deny it.
Understanding the magicians’ conflict, the commander refrained from further questioning. Rather, he realized they couldn’t explain any more than that. To the soldiers, still unable to escape from the confusion, the commander sent precise instructions and initiated attacks on the nearby demons using those who remained. However, they aimed only at small to medium-sized ones, paying careful attention not to provoke the black dragon.
"We can hold out for a little longer, it seems..."
However, the commander’s expression was not optimistic. The reason is evident: the presence of the pitch-black dragon looming high in the sky. In addition to the unidentified extraordinary magician.
▼
Meanwhile, the person responsible for protecting the defensive wall and soldiers, Izayoi, was literally standing in the air above the battlefield.
Using illusion magic to render his form unperceivable and casually standing on a foothold formed in thin air, Izayoi looks down on the bloody conflict unfolding beneath him.
"To think that so many demons were still alive..."
Izayoi’s gaze fixes on a point on the battlefield, melancholically muttering. There, right now, Ryuvius, the most powerful demon on this battlefield, and the intruding Yuka are clashing.
"It's gotten troublesome..."
Sighing and muttering, Izayoi looks straight ahead. In front of Izayoi, the black dragon—what Ryuvius calls Hel—is snarling menacingly, its black wings spread in a threat. The revelation of the true identity that had become a problem in the conversation with Yuka is not an issue as long as it doesn't become known that Izayoi fought. Even if someone unseen fought and was suspected of being a demon, it's only a problem if the suspicions are directed at Izayoi. Although it is quite a far-fetched argument, there is such an ulterior motive.
There is also a meaning that he simply wants to confirm whether his skills have not dulled as he hasn't used magic recently.
"Well, let's start with something light,"
Without any tension, Izayoi constructs a spell formula in an instant and without chanting,
"Unfortunately, it seems I'm not good at holding back. Don't fall too easily, okay?"
A ridiculous number of "Fire Bullets" appeared around Izayoi. The number easily exceeds fifty.
If a human were to do the same thing, they would need to gather as many sorcerers as there are fireballs, but for Izayoi, this is just a light task after all.
Izayoi mercilessly unleashed a hail of "Fire Bullets" toward Hell, who seems to be somewhat astonished.