Back to the present.

After surprising the enemy forces and launching an ambush on them, Mika and Belian headed toward the castle in order to provide assistance.

Less than 15 demons remained, however, the morals of the people defending the castle increased enormously thanks to Mika.

"A-amazing..." Vasilya gasped as she looked in the direction of Mika.

"..."

Bakil could just stare dumbfoundedly, wondering how much Mika held back when Bakil and Vasilya fought him previously during the graduation ceremony.

But they were not in a position to sway their attention to Mika, after all, a B-rank demon was in front of them.

"Vasilya, get behind me!" Bakil shouted alarmingly.

Nervously, Vasilya raised her staff in the back.

"You know what betraying us means, right?" the demon asked calmly.

That demon spotted those two when they tried to head to the castle.

"Wouldn’t we die either way...?" Bakil remarked with a nervous smile.

He already had to witness how his non-relic-wielding comrades died at the hands of the demons. Knowing their nature, it would not be surprising if they chose to kill the remaining humans after they took over Fuera.

The demon sighed.

"I am Fordes. Show me what you got then." he said uninterestedly.

Fordes was a demon with the looks of someone in his twenties. His hair was long and wavy. He wore a frilly white buttoned shirt underneath his black formal suit, paired with white gloves.

He summoned a black dagger in his hand. It emitted some kind of eerie-looking smoke.

"!"

In less than a second, Fordes managed to get behind Bakil and leave a scratch on his cheek.

"Ack!"

Bakil fell to his knees and clenched his chest as he desperately grasped for air.

"B-Bakil!"

"Once you get in touch with my dagger, a deadly poison will be inflicted on you." Fordes explained indifferently.

But then, Vasilya pointed her black staff at Bakil.

"Hm?"

"..."

As a result, Bakil got up again without feeling any pain anymore.

"Thanks, Vasilya..." Bakil said, still breathing a little raggedly.

Cindy, Bakil and Vasilya were a part of the few humans who were forced to wield a relic by Lucio. These three were sent to Rostanta whereas a few were stationed in Loogan.

Now, Vasilya had the ability to return the state of someone’s body back to how it was one minute ago. In other words, she could use the staff to heal people.

And while she wielded a relic for support, Bakil’s relic was more suited for offense.

"Haa!!!" he shouted as he launched an attack at Fordes.

Bakil wielded a black sword whose blade was shaped like a thunderbolt.

"..."

Effortlessly, Fordes parried the attack.

"...?"

It was shallow but Fordes sensed how he received a slash across his body.

His gaze sharpened immediately as he tried to figure out from where the attack came.

Bakil just launched a slash diagonally from above, however, Fordes parried that and as a result, he received the same slash just mirrored.

Then, Bakil launched another diagonal slash that ended up like previously.

Fordes blocked it but got another wound on him.

And then, Bakil swung his sword straightly from above.

"..."

Fordes’ dagger clashed against Bakil’s sword.

"!"

Even though their weapons were still clashing, Fordes was slashed vertically from beneath.

"How infuriating..." Fordes remarked sharply.

Bakil’s sword had the ability to launch an additional and mirrored strike after the first one.

Realizing that, Fordes went on the offense and charged at Bakil.

He launched a barrage of cuts with his dagger.

However, thanks to the presence of Vasilya, Bakil could receive healing.

"Ugh!"

Fordes kicked Bakil in the abdomen before shifting his gaze to Vasilya.

His plan was to kill her instantly so that Bakil could not get healed anymore.

That was a solid plan but he did not know that Vasilya was Loogam’s previous student council president and one of the strongest in her year before she had to accept her relic.

"!"

Vasilya created icicles that emerged diagonally from the ground.

"Tch."

Fordes had to use brute force and punch the icicles coming his way even though his fists had to bleed and hurt afterward.

During that commotion, Bakil sneaked up on Fordes from behind and pierced his back while slightly holding his sword diagonally.

Fordes coughed out blood. And he did it again when he was stabbed by the mirrored attack.

"I won’t die yet...!" Fordes grumbled furiously as he turned to Bakil.

Using his dagger, he beheaded Bakil.

Fordes did not waste time and immediately leaped toward Vasilya.

"...!"

But he stopped midway.

Not only were his feet frozen to the ground but his upper body fell off his lower body.

"It can bring you back from death...?" he muttered astonishedly, looking at Bakil who was still fine although his head rolled at the floor a few moments ago.

Fordes died while in shock.

"Finally..."

Vasilya could not stand any longer and slumped down.

"Good work there." Bakil said casually, staring in the direction of the castle.

"If it weren’t for you, then I would have really died. So thanks, I guess." Bakil added in embarrassment.

"..."

Vasilya smiled.

"Well, let’s head to the castle as well. We can’t let them do everything!" Vasilya said motivatedly.

"I guess there’s no need for that." Bakil replied, pointing to the front.

"Hm?"

The last time they looked at the sky, demons were swarming up there, however, now there was not a single demon. Instead, only Mika flew there.

"Don’t tell me..."

"Yeah. I think they’re already done."

In the meantime, Cindy was still occupied with an A-rank demon.

"This has to be a joke...!" the demon muttered annoyedly and disappointedly.

He was bruised up and bled from the few cuts he received but he was overall still fine.

Cindy, however, almost reached her limit. She was injured a lot worse than the demon and could barely stand.

Beside her were three clones of her while two further clones were lying motionlessly on the ground.

"We had no troubles at all, advancing to this town so how could we face such a disgraceful defeat now...?" the demon wondered, gritting his teeth frustratedly.

The demon army sent by Lucio took down one town after another as they headed toward Fuera all while suffering close to zero losses. But now, their army consisting of 40 demons was wiped out.

"I have to report thi-"

"I-I won’t let you get away...!" Cindy stuttered firmly.

She was trembling all over her body but she could not let the demon retreat.

"Do you think you can stop me?"

"..."

Cindy had no answer.

Her relic enabled her to create clones of herself. While the first clone was identical in terms of power, every further clone was just half as strong as the previous version of herself.

But even though she already tried to fight the demon with 5 clones, she stood no chance.

"?"

Then, the demon’s attention shifted in another direction.

"Let us lend you a hand, Ms. Werensten."

"...!"

The voice belonged to Rachel who appeared alongside the Bugars.

They were roughed up but they emitted an aura of confidence.

"W-what are you doing here...?" Cindy asked baffledly.

"The castle was successfully defended and every demon was killed." Rachel stated, shrugging her shoulders.

"And it was all thanks to those two maniacs." she added with a smile as she glanced at the castle.

"We were told to check thoroughly for any remaining demons and thus, encountered you." Zhen elaborated.

Ren fired off a fire ball in the air which then exploded.

"I’ve sent the signal. Shortly, reinforcements will join us. I would advise you to surrender peacefully." he stated sternly.

However, the demon could not help but chuckle which turned into loud laughter.

"I will never surrender to the likes of you! Now bring it on!" the demon declared wrathfully before charging at them with bloodlust.

And while they dealt with the last remaining demon in Fuera, Mika headed back to the borders of the town.

"Looks like you succeeded in defending Fuera from the demons... Congratulations..." Gerard said weakly.

His breathing turned weaker and he was still sweating a lot.

"Sorry that it took so long." Mika apologized.

Mika was practically bathed in his own and his enemies’ blood. Many parts of his body were numb and broken. He was aching from everywhere and felt like collapsing if he had to receive one more punch.

However, all those thoughts vanished upon the sight of his friend who was bleeding on the ground.

"Don’t be. I was rather glad that it took so long. That made me able to enjoy my time as a human again. Even though it’s also my last time..."

Mika gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"Mika..."

Gerard looked at Mika earnestly with a cheerful smile on his face.

"You know it, too, right...?"

"Don’t say more, Gerard..."

"There’s no help for me..."

"Gerard, please..."

"So before I hurt someone dear to me again, please..."

For one short moment, Gerard hesitated.

"Please kill me."