During the time span when the group led by Cylia and Elsa departed to Grat, the invasions in Rostanta commenced. The whole nation was alerted and prepared for attacks coming from Lucio’s army.

They expected to encounter a large number of enemies, however, they were stunned when the enemies consisted of almost only demons. Only a handful of humans accompanied the demons but they looked like they were forced to tag along.

But the number of enemies did not matter as the demon army waltzed through the defense and took down one town after another as they headed toward Fuera, the capital of Rostanta and the place where Mika and his comrades were waiting.

Then, a dozen days passed until Fuera finished their last preparations.

The enemies were already in sight as they marched to Fuera.

"..."

"..."

Belian and Mika were changing their clothes and equipment in a room.

None of them uttered a word and apathetically did their own preparations.

The room itself was dimly illuminated mostly because of the lights being turned off and the depressing and grey sky outside. It did not seem like it would rain or storm but it also did not look like the sun would come outside for the time being.

"Are you two done yet?" Rachel asked as she knocked on the door.

Belian opened the door for Rachel who was done changing into her new attire.

She wore clothes similar to her academy days.

Rachel wore a black skirt and a black long-sleeved and buttoned shirt beneath her black coat which covered the upper half of her back. Her thick boots reached her shins and she had a small pouch attached to her hips which contained all kinds of potions.

Unlike Lisa and Harik, she did not have a piece of armor on her. But the same could be applied to the guys in front of Rachel.

Belian wore normal black pants and a normal buttoned shirt whose sleeves he rolled up whereas Mika wore lightly loose pants and a tight shirt with short sleeves. In addition, he wore a robe that reached his calves.

"..."

Without a word, Mika took the lead and left the room.

Belian and Rachel followed him, however, Rachel appeared low-spirited.

"Will you two be alright...?" she asked concernedly and sheepishly.

Belian glanced at her.

While the Bugars and Rachel were assigned to the defense, including the majority of the available soldiers and students, Mika and Belian were solely responsible for their offense.

Usually, it would be nonsense to send out only two people, let alone students, to the front and fight the enemies actively whereas the rest remained in the back. However, that was not the case with Mika and Belian.

After all, each one of those two was dangerous on their own and each one of them was equivalent to at least an entire national army.

"Just focus on defending the castle. If you do that then we can rest assured and concentrate on our task." Mika replied while keeping his gaze on the front.

The citizens of Fuera were evacuated beforehand and took shelter in the emergency basements beneath the castle grounds.

"Neither Mika nor I will fall in this battle. There’s no way we will." Belian reassured Rachel with a stern gaze.

"..."

Rachel nodded despite still feeling down.

The three headed to the castle’s entrance where the Bugars and soldiers awaited them.

"Who would have thought that I, the former fire mage of the Grand Order, would let two young people like you set foot onto the battlefield while I’m in the back...?" Zhen chuckled self-deprecatingly.

"..."

His son Ren glanced at him bitterly.

"Thank you for being here. Your presences alone take a great burden off my shoulders." Mika stated, walking past the father-and-son duo.

Ren did not have the chance yet to hold a proper conversation with Mika since the incident during the Grand Order conference two years ago. He had a lot to say but he was always too nervous to speak his mind, especially after witnessing Mika’s true might.

Even now, he could only open his mouth without making a sound.

"Don’t die." Mika added, sounding sterner.

"..."

Ren closed his mouth.

Instead of saying anything, he just put his hand on his chest and bowed his upper body toward Mika.

"This will be your last chance. Anything you still want to do?" Mika asked Belian.

"No, I’m ready." Belian replied.

"I see."

Thus, the two stepped outside the castle’s entrance and headed toward the town’s main street. From there, they split up in different directions and lurked until the enemies came.

The two did not need to encourage each other as they were both confident that the other would be fine.

Belian was lurking in a dark alley, observing the sky whereas Mika was brazenly exposing himself on the roof of a building.

According to the information they received, the enemy’s army consisted mainly of demons, thus, it was highly possible for the enemies to move in the air.

And it did not take long until they sighted the first flying beings in the air from afar.

"..."

Mika counted the total number of enemies calmly, taking the number of foot soldiers into consideration.

"Around 40...?"

Belian narrowed his eyes.

He turned a little nervous after confirming the rough number of demons.

The group expected Lucio to split up his troops but it appeared like he focused his attacks on one nation.

"Well, at least the Grat Team will have an easier time..." Belian commented with a wry smile.

In the meantime, Rachel and the others who were assigned to the defense finished their preparations and took their positions.

From afar, they noticed a light pillar coming from the marketplace.

It was Mika’s signal saying that the demons were in sight.

"..."

Rachel took a deep breath.

"Alright...!" she whispered firmly to herself.

Mika, in turn, heaved a sigh.

"11 C-rank,16 B-rank and 13 A-rank demons. This could be more troublesome than expected." Mika muttered.

His gaze shifted to the human soldiers who rode on horses.

"Only 4...?"

But his eyes squinted as he sensed something strange coming from them.

"Whatever. Let’s focus on them first."

Mika summoned the Holy Spear in his hand. He retracted his hand and then threw the spear vertically into the air.

And before the spear was up high, a brightly shining portal appeared and sucked the spear in.

"Enlarge."

Following that command, the spear enlarged in every single direction. However, the spear was not above Mika anymore but in the midst of the swarming crowd of flying demons.

The spear took on the size of a castle and already blew many demons into pieces.

"Hmm... Seems like I got 5 C-ranks, 3 B-ranks and 1 A-rank demon with my surprise attack..." Mika reported pensively.

Then, Mika spread his white wings and leaped recklessly to the remaining demons.

The Holy Spear disappeared as Mika equipped himself with Excalibur.

"Tch, it’s him!"

"Let’s scatter like we discussed!"

"Head to the castle!"

A few demons issued out commands once they saw Mika heading toward them.

They obeyed and spread out while a few A-rank demons stayed behind.

"Smart decision, however, the result won’t change." Mika remarked indifferently with a sharp gaze.

As a few demons headed toward the castle, they were attacked from beneath.

"Argh!"

They screamed loudly in agony as they were cut in halves immediately.

"..."

It was Belian who intercepted the enemies from the ground.

"Pfft." a demon was holding back his laughter.

"Don’t get cocky because you took down those bottom-feeders." he said arrogantly.

"..."

Mika was surrounded by 5 A-rank demons.

"We’ve heard a lot about you but can you deal with all of us on your own?" he mocked Mika.

"You will find out soo- Hm?"

Suddenly, Mika sensed a threat coming from below.

"Another demon...? No..."

His gaze narrowed as he parried the long black claws of a creature that resembled a demon.

That male demon had black hair and black eyes, however, the more Mika looked at him, the more familiar the demon appeared to him.

The short and spiky hair was familiar to Mika. The shape of the body and face, including its features, as well.

"..."

Mika widened his eyes when he noticed a faint tint of green in his eyes.

"G-Gerard...?" Mika murmured flabbergastedly.

The person attacking Mika resembled Mika aside from the black hair, the black-appearing eyes and the few body parts that were mutated.

However, Gerard did not respond and instead grumbled like a beast as he kept pushing against Mika.

"Heh, was he a friend of yours?"

"..."

Mika’s widened eyes were instantly filled with rage as he turned to the demon.

"?!"

He teleported himself in front of that demon and strangled him which, however, did not make the demon flinch or intimidated.

The demon remained composed albeit Mika choking him full of anger.

"What did you do to him...?"

"Why should I tell you~"

Mika tossed him to the ground.

"It seems like I have to beat the information out of you..."