441 Pale Fiend Rematch



The King was in the midst of lopping off the demon's head when we joined in the fight. Of course that wasn't effective since the demon just regenerated straight away.

"We are here to assist, Your Majesty," Katsuki  announced, appearing beside the King and parrying a claw strike from the demon.

"Your help is greatly appreciated, but this thing does not seem to be willing to go down at all."

I joined in on the fight from the other side, "We just need to destroy its Demonic Core, but this one has the ability to shift its Core around so we have to locate and destroy it before it moves it!"

The demon tried to leap at us but was prevented from doing so when Odeta punched it in the abdomen and sent it flying away to crash into the wall.

"How do we find the Demonic Core then?" The King asked.

Odeta turned to grin at the King, "Isn't it obvious? We just smash him until he has nowhere else to move his Demonic Core and then smash him again!"

Ugh… Surely the King wouldn't think that this would be the right--

"Understood, I have a skill that can obliterate him but I will need some time to prepare. If you can distract him for a few minutes, that would be enough."

… Forget I said anything then.

"Leave him to me!" The older Tiara shouted, charging towards the Pale Fiend with her longsword raised.

"Katsuki, Odeta! I will provide support, go with her!" I ordered.

The two of them nodded at my order and followed behind the princess as well, trusting their backs to me.

I thought about calling my Shadow Summons but… I'm still not sure how much I should trust the King yet. Mother seems to be close to her but for all I know, the King might be working against her so let's just play it safe for now.

Besides, we managed to handle the demon with the three of us before, we should be able to do better with the princess aiding us this time.

The demon was in the midst of pulling itself out of the wall when the princess appeared in front of it, her longsword slashing down towards the demon's neck.

It raised its arms as a sacrifice to slow down the attack, letting the sword cut through its limbs and giving it enough time to spin out of the way.

The limbs were already regenerating back before it even completed its spin.

Katsuki reached it next and attacked from behind, stabbing her dagger through its chest from the back at where its heart would have been.

She must have been banking on the chance that the demon might have moved its Demonic Core there but judging by the fact that it tried to turn around and swipe at Katsuki that was not the case.

Odeta charged in next after Katsuki leapt out of the way, the Amrap literally ramming herself into the demon to smash it into the wall again.

For some reason, the image of a truck hitting the demon came into mind when I saw that scene.

The older Tiara then took the chance to stab her sword at its head but the demon recovered faster than she thought and kicked her in the chest, sending the princess skidding back.

I healed her with a simple [Close Wounds] spell as Odeta moved forward in an attempt to get its attention.

The demon swiped its arm at her which Odeta attempted to block with an upraised arm. Unfortunately, the Amrap underestimated the force behind the blow and got flung away from the demon.

I used [Link Portal] to teleport myself to her, catching her out of the air and using [Close Wounds] on her.

"Ugh! That bastard!! You think I'm done?!!" Odeta roared, already leaping away from me to charge the demon again.

At this point, I could feel a surge of energy coming from the direction of the King and I could tell that whatever she was trying to do was definitely something big.

The demon must have also felt the surge of power and guessed our plans, prompting it to try and leap towards the King only to have Odeta tackle it from the side and smash it into the ground.

Katsuki and the older Tiara leapt at the demon while it was down and stabbed their weapons into its back, my Inugami maid going so far as to throw a few more daggers to impale its limbs in an attempt to cripple it.

The pale flame on top of the demon flared and the two girls were blasted away from its back, Katsuki managing to avoid most of the damage by leaping away a split second before the shockwave hit her but the princess bore the full brunt of it.

I rushed to catch the princess whose clothes had been shredded quite badly from the blow. The woman clearly looked hurt but she was still prepared to fight.

Unfortunately, my [Close Wounds] could only heal part of the damage but it was still enough to get her back into the battle.

The Pale Fiend pulled its limbs up from the ground, tearing itself away from the daggers that had been embedded into the ground.

Once again, the demon set its sights on the King who had her sword raised up in the air, the monarch fully concentrated in gathering what looked like balls of light around her.

The moment the demon tensed its legs however, Odeta jumped at it from behind and struck the back of its neck with her elbow.

She must have used [Body Current] to enhance her strength since the blow not only smashed the demon into the ground but also created a large crater in the ground.

Not done with her attack yet, the Amrap mounted the demon's back and started raining blows upon the back of its head, each punch causing the crater to widen slightly.

Katsuki saw that chance to try and restrain the demon again, using her daggers to stab its flailing limbs into the ground to prevent it from moving.

The princess was also just about to rejoin the fight again when a roar came from the Pale Fiend's featureless face, creating an even larger shockwave than the first one that blew Odeta and Katsuki all the way to the ceiling.

Even despite the distance between myself and the demon, I also found myself being pushed back and I had to flare my wings to stabilise myself.

The demon once again pushed itself up on its feet, its faceless head turned in the direction of King Justinia.

With everyone else still unable to move, I used [Shadow Forge] to craft myself a bow and arrow and shot an arrow at the demon.

The arrow hit home on the demon's knee, causing its legs to buckle and for the demon to fall back down onto the ground on its other knee. There goes its prospects in becoming an Adventurer I guess.

Knowing that was only temporary, I pulled back on the bowstring and let loose another arrow, this time hitting it in the chest and throwing it back.

Unfortunately, the demon seemed to have grown smart and knocked away the next arrow I fired with its claw before catching the next one out of the air and throwing it back at me.

I had to duck out of the way as my own arrow pierced through where my head had been moments ago, which allowed the demon to turn back to the King and rush towards her.

Leaping out to bar its way was the older Tiara, the princess having recovered faster than the other two since she had been further away from the shockwave than they were.

The demon tried to jump over her but she brought her sword down in an overhead slash, almost cutting the demon into two halves as her sword slashed through its shoulder and stayed stuck midway down its chest.

Both of them fell onto the ground and the princess lost her grip on her sword as the blade stayed stuck on the demon, the demon itself rolling a short distance away from her.

I took that chance to rush towards Odeta and Katsuki, the two girls still trying to recover from their fall from the shockwave.

The demon tried to claw its way to its feet again but the princess jumped on its back, her hands reaching forward to pull at the handle of her sword in an attempt to disembowel it from her position.

I focused on healing the Amrap and Inugami until I heard a girlish shriek which prompted me to turn back to look at the source of the cry.

The Pale Fiend had reached behind it and pulled the princess off its back with its superior strength, slamming the princess down on the ground like she was a sack of meat.

It then used both its hands to pull out the sword that was embedded in its chest to raise it high up into the air, the tip of the blade pointed straight down at the princess.

The demon seemed to spend a second to look down at the princess in triumph, as though wanting her to know that her life was about to end.

I was already shifting myself to pull back on my bow strings when the blade plunged downwards, stabbing the princess through the chest.

Even from here, I could hear the princess letting out a strangled gasp of pain before the arrow from my bow struck the demon in the head, sending it crashing down on the ground beside her.

Fuck.