“Kyaa!”
At the sudden loud noise, Yuli clutched her head and screamed. Her hair was wildly blown about by the blast’s aftermath.
– Yuli!
Linne, who had been standing nearby, quickly moved in front of Yuli, shielding her from the aftermath, allowing Yuli to finally escape its effects. However, when she managed to open her eyes, she saw a situation she had never expected.
Following Alicia’s gaze upward to the blue sky, the huge meteor that had been descending was, fortunately, deflected from striking the city directly by a quick-thinking mage’s defensive spell.
But avoiding a direct hit didn’t mean there were no consequences.
As the meteor exploded, fragments scattered, hitting nearby buildings not covered by the protective magic, causing some of them to collapse outright. Sparks from the explosion sparked fires all over the city.
“Yuli! Selian! Linne!”
Anne, who had recovered her senses first, called out her friends’ names as she pushed her way through the clouds of dust. Fortunately, she confirmed Linne protecting Yuli unharmed, but her gaze quickly darted around, searching for another friend—Selian.
And then she found Selian.
Despite the massive shockwave caused by the meteor collision, Selian was standing firmly in her original spot, perfectly composed, without a single strand of hair out of place, as if the chaos around her didn’t even exist.
“Selian…?”
“Wh-why…? This shouldn’t have happened…”
Despite her outward appearance of being fine, Selian did not hear Anne’s call, her eyes not recognizing her friend as they trembled, and her lips murmured words that were incomprehensible to Anne.
“El… El… I must protect El!”
Then, as if she couldn’t even see the chaos surrounding her, Selian rushed through the now battlefield-like city towards somewhere in the distance.
“Selian!”
Anne called out once more, but Selian was already long gone.
Anne, Yuli, and Linne remained. Though they couldn’t recklessly rush ahead like Selian, they knew they couldn’t stay idle either. Glancing around, they could see monsters, undead, and demons running rampant throughout the city, causing havoc wherever they went.
“Ah, look at these cute little ones we have here.”
In the midst of the chaos, an unsettlingly flirtatious voice sounded from behind, causing the three to turn around and tense up.
The source of the voice was a woman. However, the revealing outfit she wore, even in the middle of the street, the small horns sprouting from her head, and the swaying tail attached to her rear indicated she was a demon.
“Demon…!”
“Hehe, don’t be so on edge, dear. I may look scary, but I’m really just a delicate soul who gets hurt so easily.”
Despite speaking in what seemed to be an overly delicate tone, her eyes were far from those of someone who could get hurt so easily.
“In fact, they make me want to utterly destroy you.”
If anything, her eyes resembled that of a snake eyeing its prey.
– Haaat!
Linne, standing guard over Yuli, swung her arm as if throwing something, and a spear of ice formed mid-air, streaking toward the demon woman.
“Hmm, you seem to be students from the Department of Knight. Is it right for aspiring knights to threaten a lone woman like this?”
However, the sharp ice spear was blocked by another demon’s magic that suddenly appeared, disintegrating into a flurry of ice shards.
Considering that the power of the ghosts is Yuli’s strength as well, that made a 2 vs. 2 standoff. But the situation wasn’t favorable.
Anne’s usual weapon, which was so large it was impractical to carry around, flashed in her mind. She missed the cumbersome weapon more than ever. Of course, with the skill of the heir of the Kleyn family and her own capabilities, handling the average demon would’ve been easy. Unfortunately, the demons before her were far from average.
After all, who could have predicted that the demons would invade Pelches, where the Griffin Academy stood, a city protected for hundreds of years by an impenetrable barrier? Such a scenario where the barrier was penetrated was unthinkable.
But whether unthinkable or not, the event had already occurred.
Clenching her lips, Anne drew the relatively lighter training sword she had strapped on her back. Even so, it was much bulkier than her usual weapon and far from ideal.
“My goodness, what’s with that clunky thing, sweetheart? So… country.”
It was natural enough to be taken as a taunt, but it probably wasn’t meant as one. Aware of that, Anne ignored the comment as much as possible, carefully looking for an opening to attack. As she did, the demoness licked her lips and added another comment.
“Well, I suppose there’s not much you can do, being a kid and all.”
Anne’s face twitched as if an audible sound had been made. Of course, even though her impulsive actions often made her seem reckless, she wasn’t foolhardy enough to act without thinking in a combat situation.
Nevertheless, her impulsive nature was such that she couldn’t resist retaliating in words, like the woman had done.
“What did you say, ma’am?”
It was a short statement, but undeniably effective. Just as Anne had reacted, veins popped on the demoness’s temples.
“Cadan. This girl is my meal, so back off or I’ll kill you,” she growled, her voice now completely losing the seductive tone she had used earlier, instead resembling the low growl of a beast.
“Whoa, looks like we triggered a Lilithian rage switch,” Cadan said with a calm voice, rather exacerbating the demoness’s mood.
“Shut up!”
True to her words, the woman, now identified as Lilith, immediately barked at Cadan, who mockingly shrugged in response.
Snap!
A whip, seemingly drawn out of nowhere by Lilith, violently lashed through the air, the sound of air being torn resounding throughout the space.
The disturbing sound made Anne long for her left-behind weapon once again.
*
“Oh well, looks like those two are already having their fun. How about we play a little, just us?”
As the sound of the sword slicing the air and the whip tearing it apart began to reverberate, Yuli and Linne took their stances, keeping an eye on Cadan.
“Linne.”
– “Yeah.”
Linne’s body disappeared at Yuli’s call, but that didn’t mean she was simply de-materializing or hiding. It was rather a preparation for unleashing her full power in battle.
Though similar to Linne’s usual way of disappearing into Yuli, it was slightly different.
A resonance between Yuli and Linne.
Though they originally led separate lives, had different personalities, and were distinct beings, the impossible became possible thanks to Yuli’s gift as a spirit mage, the deep bond formed between the two despite their short time together, and the binding contract connecting them.
Yuli’s body soon became Linne’s body, and Linne’s magic power became Yuli’s magic power.
Though Yuli, as a spirit mage, undoubtedly had extraordinary talent, she lacked the time to fully harness Linne’s strength. Given a few years—perhaps even just a year—Yuli would have been able to invoke not only Linne’s but also other ghosts’ aid to wield an even greater power.
This, therefore, was the only way to fully extract Linne’s strength with what they currently had.
Moreover, conflicts of opinion or lack of coordination resulting in clumsy displays did not occur. The continuous communication through their unbroken connection made them, for this moment, truly one.
“Ho… This is interesting, young lady. I’ve lived over 200 years, but I’ve never seen such a technique. How fascinating.”
Indeed, was he really a demon? His mannerisms shifted from gentlemanly to unsettlingly sticky, and greed began to fester in his eyes.
“I’ll make a special exception and have you captured alive. You look like someone worth studying in great detail. A decade of intensive research should be worthwhile for someone like you.”
His polite phrasing made the statement of intending to use her as an experimental subject all the more terrifying. Despite the fire in the streets warming their skin, Yuli could feel goosebumps rising on her arms.
= Your kind of perverted interest, I’ll pass. I only want the attention of one person.
A single voice, yet two distinct tones—Yuli’s and Linne’s voices intertwined, emerging from one mouth. It didn’t matter whose tone it was; Yuli’s or Linne’s. What mattered was one thing and one thing only.
They had to quickly fell the demon before them and head out to help their friends.
