Antagonist Protection Service

Perhaps unable to stand by any longer, only having managed to land a single half-decent hit this whole time, Olga gritted her teeth behind her helmet, her nostrils flaring as if emitting steam.

Releasing her hammer and shield, the absurdly heavy equipment dropped to the ground with great thuds, causing indents just by falling that short distance from her hands.

"Shena... I'll save you."

Raising her heavy-armour gauntlets into fists, she charged forth with renewed vigour and speed.

The opposing Demon only gazed lazily at her, his foot still pressing firmly down on the archer's back.

During that time frame, there was surely an opportunity to easily increase the pressure and crush her spine or even just kill her, but for some reason, Alasil decided not to, instead pulling the girl up by the collar and holding her casually in front of him like a human shield.

"Relentless, aren't you. You want it?"

"Let her go, you son of a bitch...!"

Yelling just that, she continued to rush towards him.

"...How rude. Raising one's voice at a generous offer is not quite what I would call respectful, not in the slightest."

Just before she got to him, the Demon suddenly pulled the archer back, rotating his body half-way and stretching his free hand out towards the tank.

"Let's have the vulgar thing put down, then."

Right then, a small discharge of black electricity sparked from his palm, and in the next moment, Olga's armoured fist collided with it sending a powerful shockwave to wash through the surrounding area.

Immediately upon contact, the lightning surged from his palm to her knuckles, proceeding to shoot right up her arm and into her torso, penetrating the thick plates and shocking her all over.

"Nghh...! Th-that's not enough to stop me, bastard...!"

Despite the obvious debilitating effects on her body and muscles, just as with the captain, she was not taken down by just that much, and swiftly continued, grabbing the Demon's outstretched arm by the wrist.

"You--...!"

Pulling him towards herself, she silenced him by squashing his face against her thick armour, grabbing his other arm and crushing it, successfully freeing her younger sister archer from his grasp, letting her fall to the floor and crawl hastily away.

Pushing him forcefully to the ground, she locked his arms behind his back and trapped him with the immense weight of her body and full-suit armour, his long, black hair falling like a veil over his face.

There was no time for her to go any further.

"...Come... K'yraxth..."

CRACKLE~~!!

With a low, almost inaudible mutter, sinister black lightning crackled in the dark clouds circled above, the atmosphere rising with a tension that felt abnormally high.

Following, everyone who was able instinctively turned their heads up.

There in the sky, present within the clouds, the black lightning flashed to form a strange shape.

"What...?!"

"RAAAAOOOOWWGGHHH...!!"

At that moment, it unleashed a deafening roar like pure thunder, descending from within the clouds like a transcendental being.

An ethereal dragon of black lightning emerged onto the battlefield.

Before anyone could react, the phantasmal creature opened its mouth again, letting lightning fall towards Olga and the Demon.

It crashed down on the two of them in the blink of an eye, not just one bolt but a continuous shower of bolts, falling upon the tank who was on top first before surging into the Demon below a seemingly infinite number of times in a matter of seconds.

The consequences spoke for themselves.

"Big si-- gh...!"

The archer, Shena, watched on in veritable horror, failing to push herself up due to her own failing, quivering legs as the tank was fried to the bone with an endless number of volts, and by the time the dragon's breath was over, she knew the result couldn't have been anything good.

Olga was without a doubt one of the most resilient, most reliable frontlines in the entire Drakon-Rasa Empire... But this time was simply too much, even for her.

"Tsk. Despicable. Utterly despicable, to force my hand so..."

Gazing on as the Demon simply pushed her limp body off of him before rising to his feet and leisurely brushing himself off...

"No..."

...That was the moment Shena had lost all hope.

But the fight, even still, somehow wasn't over for the Black Fang.

"Ah, you're still standing, are you? Commendable, I suppose..."

Turning at the sound of weak footsteps, Alasil turned to find the captain, the latter's body evidently damaged quite heavily still by the previous black lightning, and as confirmed by the man's subtly limping state.

"...But ugly nevertheless. He who knows his place knows when to stay dead. It appears you don't know that courtesy."

"I'll never stand down... when I still have yet to make you pay..."

"As it seems."

Raising his arm, Florian brandished his sword before him. Surprisingly, his hand remained steady, and despite what his body probably wanted to do, he did not shake.

His amber eyes contained a deep fire, one that contrasted heavily against Alasil's dull black like the dead of night.

"..."

"..."

In that moment, two important characters faced each other, gazing at the other with no unnecessary words nor actions.

Interrupting that was another cry that shook the world.

"AWOOOOOO...!"

"...?"

This time, it was the Demon's turn to raise his head, a slight frown surfacing on his face as he realised what it was.

Just like what he had done, a colossal ethereal being jumped into the air―an elegant fox with numerous tails.

"Are you curious? We have a secret weapon too, you know."

Snapping his eyes back down to the captain, who began to wear a slight smirk at the other's confusion, Alasil said nothing, only slowly reaching his hand out to the side, where a small dark portal formed.

Reaching inside the portal, he withdrew a single dagger, its jagged blade black like everything else.

"You are too ugly to let live any longer."

Muttering just that, the Demon wielded the evil-looking weapon towards the captain, just as the latter had done to him.

Wasting no time, their blades clashed, mirrored by the magical creatures above them.