F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 193: Combat

"How is the perimeter, Eve and Syl’Vyr?" Evelyn-sama’s voice comes into my mind. I dodge an angel’s strike and reply to her.

["It’s bad, Evelyn-sama. Some angels are trying to breach this area to stop us from treating the wounded. Syl’Vyr and I are managing for now, but we won’t be able to come help you..."] I tell her while channeling plasmic electricity into my sword.

Three angels charge me. I swing my sword in a wide arc; it explodes, cleaving the angels in two and releasing a massive purple electrical discharge that blasts through several trees. All the training I did at Esther’s mansion is paying off, and Kjori’s sword is still a perfect fit for me.

"..." I stop talking to Evelyn-sama. I’m too busy with the angels trying to reach the medical area. That place is crucial; the supply depot is nearby too. If they destroy it, we’ll be out of food.

"I wonder how Evelyn-sama is doing," I murmur, sprinting fast and using a tree to vault over a trap-magic spell they’d laid on the ground.

I grip my sword tightly, feeling nothing about the killing. Killing was never the problem. It was just that Evelyn-sama didn’t want us killing things. But now that it’s war, I can fight without holding back.

"...!!" I bend completely backward, dodging an axe swing. The angel who missed his attack tries to move his axe again, but his heavy weapon can’t match my swift slash that shatters the axe handle, sending the blade clattering to the ground.

"...W-Wait, I surrender!" He raises his hands in surrender. As I’m about to deliver the final, killing blow, I stop. Evelyn-sama permitted killing enemies, but killing a disarmed person who surrendered is something I know she wouldn’t like.

"...If you’ve truly surrendered, kneel on the ground. Keep your hands where I can see them and don’t resist." I try to see if anyone is nearby, but since it was a small group of angels on this cowardly surprise attack, there probably aren’t many left.

"You’re strange," the angel says, obeying. He kneels and raises his hands, the metallic sound of his light plate armor echoing softly.

"Strange is you surrendering. I thought angels didn’t surrender to demons." Every angel I’ve encountered so far fought to the death and were completely uncooperative.

"...I... I still don’t want to die... If I become a prisoner of war, maybe I’ll be sent back to my family in an exchange..." He says something so ironic it almost makes me laugh, but I decide not to say anything.

’An exchange... Demons aren’t that benevolent...’ Prisoners of war are tortured to the limit for information, and afterwards most are killed or sold as slaves. The Demon King isn’t benevolent enough to send them back.

"..." I sheathe my sword and start tying up the angel with the cuffs from the small survival kit I was issued. Several soldiers received them; they contain 3 pairs of cuffs, 7 meters of rope, a survival knife, compressed rations to last 4 days with three meals a day, and a map of the region.

"You’re quite pretty," the angel says out of nowhere, looking over my entire body as if just appraising me.

"Thanks, I guess... You seem much less aggressive than the other angels, and it’s making this situation kind of weird." I’m genuinely surprised.

"Eh... It’s because I’m not a soldier, you know? I’m a teammate of someone who came here. I kinda got dragged into this place without much choice, so I wasn’t supposed to be fighting." As soon as I tie him up, I start dragging him.

[Evelyn-sama, could you send a standard puppet? I’ve taken a prisoner.] I send the message to Evelyn-sama while walking carefully, looking around.

"Hey, do you know what that creepy light attack was that made everything shake?" I felt it from here, and it was honestly chilling.

"Oh that... Must have been a Royal Guard angel. I heard one of them came along. They’re really strong. All Royal Guard angels are at least Rank X." He says it all as if he doesn’t know how to hide anything.

"Don’t you think you’re being too honest?" I ask, wondering if he’s lying and feeding me false information on purpose, making it seem honest enough to fool me.

"Right!!... I’m kinda bad at hiding things. My friend told me I talk too much, that I should just keep my mouth shut and not say anything, because if I talk I’ll be too honest about myself." He admits, and it seems genuine.

"...Why are the angels so focused on battling the demons? I don’t expect peace, but I also don’t understand years of war without trying for peace." I ask, curious to gauge his response.

"...I don’t know either. Hey, do you think they’ll give us something to eat as soon as we get to prison? I’m hungry. Also, could you retrieve my axe? It’s kinda expensive. It’ll take almost a year’s work to buy another one. The handle’s a bit crappy, but the blade is quality!!!" He says things I don’t need to know.

"Prisoners don’t have that kind of freedom. Your axe will be abandoned, or when the fight’s over it’ll be recovered and destroyed for materials."

"Aaahhh no!! It cost me all my money!! Are they really going to destroy it? That’s so mean! It’s a relic, you know? Relics are expensive. It’s not just any old metal axe!"

’Oh, annoying chatter... It’s not like you’ll ever get to use that junk again anyway.’ He’ll either be killed or become someone’s slave. If he’s lucky, he’ll become a living slave.

From what I’ve learned from the soldiers, angel slaves have an average lifespan of 1 to 5 years, while the average for normal slaves is 3 to 10 years. In other words, demons go hard on slaves who are angels.

"You’d better follow your friend’s advice and stay quiet. You talk too much and..." I draw my sword and swing it in a vertical slash behind me. Immediately, a tree hurled at me is cut in two.

The cut is perfectly clean, and the wood turns red and yellow at the severed point, having been heated to an extreme by the plasma.

I look up and see trees, giant chunks of rock, and flashes of light everywhere in the distance. A frenzied fight seems to be happening. I focus my vision and see Laplace. I barely recognized her because she’s turned into a girl. She seems to be fighting an angel.

"T-That’s serious!!! Hey, we have to get out of here!!! That’s a Royal Guard over there and she’s the really explosive type!! Literally!! We’ll die if we stay too close!!!" The angel panics, his wings flapping rapidly as he looks genuinely terrified.

"...How explosive? And you know her?"

"Very!! Several kilometers!! She’s a friend of my friend, so I’ve seen her train!!!" He unintentionally gives up good information.

[Evelyn-sama, did you already know there’s a Royal Guard angel around here?] I send a message to Evelyn-sama.

[’More or less, Eve. I didn’t know it was a Royal Guard, but I was already speculating that. Did you find out something? I just helped Lucien and now he’s heading there to help Laplace, who’s fighting that enemy!!’] I hear Evelyn-sama’s voice.

[Yes, I’m with the captured angel. He said that angel has immense explosive power and the area isn’t safe, even though we’re very far from the battlefield.]

’...’ Evelyn-sama is silent for a moment.

[’Please return to the medical area. I have some basic magic relics to give you. Syl’Vyr has already finished her part and is on her way to you. I’ll use the communicator and have Laplace draw the enemy farther away.’] Evelyn-sama stops responding as I look at the terrified angel.

"Hey, I’m taking you to a safe place," I tell the angel as I lift him and start running, carrying him.

...

...

...

"Ugh!" I’m thrown to the ground by a powerful lance strike. I leap backward, barely avoiding being impaled through the heart.

[Hey!! Laplace! The angel you’re facing is dangerous! You need to draw him away from the battlefield! Lucien is coming to help you! Just hold on!] I hear Evelyn’s voice coming from the communicator.

’Lucien?’

"Hey, don’t send Lucien!! Are you crazy? EVELYN? EVELYN, DON’T SEND LUCIEN!!! HE’LL KILL ME!!" The only thing keeping me "alive" is my usefulness. It’s the only thing that stopped Lucien from killing me.

I’ve lost all the soldiers I had, and I’m losing to this angel. If he saves me, my usefulness will end, and nothing will hold him back.

"YOU BITCH, ANSWER ME!!" Evelyn says nothing as I fly away, trying to get as far as possible so it takes Lucien longer to find me. The girl angel tries to pursue me, and fortunately I’m faster.

’I need to finish this quickly! I can’t let Lucien ’save me’ or I’ll be in trouble!’ When I’m far from the war zone, the girl angel catches up with a burst of speed. I dodge a thrust and stop, hovering in the air.

"Tired of running, you filthy thing?" she asks, pointing her lance at me. I turn to face her, calmly beating my wings.

"Yeah, I need to kill you fast." It’s a matter of life or death now. Evelyn won’t be able to stop Lucien a second time.

’Based on the magical concentration and the damage... Lucien will take 20 minutes to get here.’ He can’t just abandon the battlefield. He’ll need to give exact orders to fix the damage and deal with the troops I lost.

"[Black Steel Body]" I use a defense spell, creating a large Hikishin armor. It’s transparent and covers my entire body, so it looks like I’m unarmored, but I have the defense of one.