A few moments prior.

Lily was flying on her phoenix as she chased after a demon she just spotted.

"?"

She made the phoenix do a backflip midair when she sensed another enemy ambushing them from below.

It was dark matter with the silhouette and appearance of a knight wielding a great sword.

Said knight had jumped up to them, attempting to pierce them from below.

"..."

Then, another one ambushed them from the left side by launching a lightning beam. And this time, it was a young woman with a large and pointy hat.

Like the knight, that woman was not a living being but a creature made out of dark matter.

"Did you think that I wouldn’t notice you?"

Lily had lost sight of the demon when the knight previously attacked her, however, the demon then appeared before her.

It was a man with long and slicked-back hair. His skinny upper body was completely exposed as he only wore baggy black pants paired with boots and a scarf around his neck.

He wielded a wooden staff with a big black jewel on top of it.

"Tell me, little girl. What do you want from me? I assume that you already knew that I’m a demon so why were you following me? Or were you perhaps just suicidal?" he asked sternly, pointing his staff at Lily.

"I thought it was obvious. I was chasing after you in order to claim your head." Lily replied sternly.

"My head, you say?"

The man was smiling but that smile did not reach his eyes.

"State your name." he ordered.

His veins were about to burst and the pressure he emitted turned heavier.

"Lily Hayth. But shouldn’t you introduce yourself first before asking for another person’s name?" Lily said, flicking her wand in her hand a few times.

Then, a few more people made out of dark matter appeared from nothing.

"I am Safras, an A-rank demon." he finally stated threateningly.

Lily did not seem fazed by his rank.

"It’s my first time seeing a human reacting fearlessly after hearing my introduction."

Safras cracked his neck and hands.

"I don’t know if it’s confidence or just sheer idiocy but I will show you why I’m an A-rank."

The people he summoned gathered by his side.

"My ability allows me to create a certain number of bodies resembling those whom I killed. This way, I can copy not only their behaviors but also their powers!" Safras declared proudly.

"..."

Lily counted 7 creations.

"If it’s a battle of quantity then I’ve already won." she stated as she pointed her wand at Safras.

"?"

"I won’t go all out. After all, I don’t want to destroy the town. Therefore, I guess 60 will suffice."

At that moment, 60 fire creatures were summoned in the air and surrounded Safras and his creations.

"W-what...?!"

Flabbergasted, Safras looked around himself.

"Attack."

Every single summon of hers opened their mouths and fired off a fireball at the center. And because of the timing, those fireballs exploded at the same time and made it appear as if a giant fireball was set off in the sky.

The impact of that attack was so tremendous that the sky was illuminated by the flames.

"..."

Lily, who was unscratched because her creations could not hurt her, gazed at the silhouette of Safras who was in the midst of smoke.

All his creations were destroyed and when the smoke began to disperse Safras was visible again.

His body was completely burnt and a few body parts, like his right arm and leg, were missing.

"Seems like I didn’t need to use my ace." Lily commented quietly.

"You damn monster..." Safras remarked weakly with a rough voice. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

He fell.

[Was he really an A-rank? If he wasn’t lying then he must have been a very low-ranked A-rank.]

"Yeah, I guess so." Lily responded indifferently, looking down at the motionless body of Safras.

The voice she replied to belonged to her relic. It sounded like the voice of a young man.

Just like Sara was able to hear her relic’s voice and talk with it, Lily could do the same. And whenever she was alone, Lily would occasionally talk with the relic, learning things she did not learn yet and receiving advice about using her relic the best way.

In the end, it was also thanks to her relic that she could grow so strong in those two years.

[Anyways, I’d advise you to make them disappear before the town panics.]

Lily nodded softly.

When she descended to the ground, she looked at her roughly 60 summons.

In reality, Lily possessed an even greater number of creations.

During one mission as a Grand Order member, she had to summon every single one of them which led to the utter destruction of the enemy and the area. Since then, some people started to call her ’The Empress’ due to her having command over an entire army who would only listen to her.

Her army and individual strength reached levels where even other nations became wary of her.

"Thanks for your assistance." Lily said apathetically before her summons returned to the storage.

She also made her wand disappear.

"Did I perhaps miss the Empress’ live performance?" Olivia joked.

"Your Highness? What are you doing in this town?" Lily asked with raised eyebrows after noticing Olivia.

"Me? I was here becau-"

"I finally caught up to you! Do you know how hard it is to ride two horses?!"

"?"

Lily looked over Olivia’s shoulder and saw Sara arriving with two horses.

"Huh, is that you, Lily? Long time no see!" she greeted her energetically.

"Don’t interrupt me, you brat."

"Ack! I’m sorry!" Sara apologized while rubbing her head after Olivia chopped her there.

"Well, as you can probably think we were on a mission nearby, however, two demons escaped so we had to chase after them." Olivia finished her previous phrase.

She glanced at Safra’s burnt corpse while talking to Lily.

"But I suppose we didn’t even need to lift a finger." Olivia sighed with a smile.

Sara curiously stared at Safra.

"Wow, you killed him without even breaking a sweat, Lily? Maybe hearing that will improve his mood!" Sara remarked impressedly.

"He?"

Lily was fixated on the last part.

"Yeah, Mik- HM?!"

Olivia immediately pressed her hand against Sara’s mouth to shut her up.

But Lily was not oblivious enough to miss that.

"We will head back for now. There are still some things we have to do as Hunters." Olivia stated, acting as if nothing happened.

"Wait..."

For the first time in a while, Lily acted based on her emotions and feelings.

"He... Mika is here, too...?" Lily asked softly while clenching her chest.

"..."

Olivia, who was still keeping Sara quiet, looked back at her with an indifferent gaze.

"Sorry, but he won’t come here."

Following that, Olivia took some steps forward.

"T-then!"

"Hm?"

Both Olivia and Sara twisted their necks once more to her.

"If you see him, could you relay a message for me...?" Lily asked slightly desperately.

Olivia sighed.

"I think there’s no harm in doing that... So what is it that you want us to tell him?"

Lily gulped down her saliva as she turned stern again.

"I..."

There were multiple reasons for her to get stronger.

One was to find Mika and be worthy enough to stand alongside him in the future without being a hindrance.

And the other reason was for her friend whom she lost to soon.

Sylvia.

"The others and I will graduate soon. I don’t know about the others but I already know what I’m planning to do afterwards." Lily stated firmly, clenching her fists.

Currently, she had strength that almost none of her peers could rival. Even whole nations acknowledged her strength.

That acknowledgment helped her get a position in the Grand Order which she originally dreamed of joining in.

She racked up one accolade after another and still kept on training and honing her skills. But unlike her first goal concerning Mika, she was uncertain about her goal involving Sylvia.

Lily was doubting if she had reached the conditions to do it.

"After I graduate, I will kill Leviathan."

"?!"

Sara and Olivia widened their eyes.

"D-did you just say Leviathan...?" Olivia asked for confirmation.

"..."

Meanwhile, Sara was hugging her slightly trembling body.

"Yes." Lily replied without hesitation.

"You’re insane, do you know that...?" Olivia said, palming her face.

Unlike Lily or Sara, Olivia did not encounter Leviathan but from all the reports and documents she had read about it, she instantly understood that it was a being far beyond human logic.

If there would be someone capable of fighting against it, then it would be the leader of Hunters. But even then, Olivia could not imagine the conclusion of that clash.

"Now, please relay the following message for me."

The two Hunters listened well and curiously.

"Decide for yourself. Will you take revenge for Sylvia with me or will you keep running away?"