“…..I think it’s not like that anymore.”
As Sephir, sweating profusely, spoke on the pink shimmering magic circle, Athena and Mari looked at her with puzzled expressions. Sephir murmured to herself in a trembling voice.
“I’m… I’m going to die from the Demon King… I’m definitely going to die.”
“We’ll protect you, so why are you so worried?” Athena said nonchalantly. Sephir rushed to her, grasping her hand tightly.
“Re..really? You have to protect me, right?”
“If you let go of this hand right now, I will kill you, just so you know.”
“Hi..hick..”
Sephir, flinching and stepping back, looked at Mari with desperate eyes.
“Ma…Mari… we have lived in the same house, you’ll protect me, right…?”
But unlike Athena, Mari gave an affirmative answer.
“Yeah.”
‘If you fail, mom will be annoyed, you know.’
Mari, maintaining the thought of yelling if Sephir heard her, smiled brightly. Feeling empowered by that, Sephir refocused on the magic circle.
“Alright.. I’m a Succubus Queen.. this time I will definitely press Hera’s nose down!”
After taking a few short breaths, Sephir sent her mana into the magic circle. The magic circle slowly started to turn black and soon became completely pitch-dark.
Swallowing a dry gulp, Sephir turned to us and said, “I… called. Now all that’s left is for the Demon King to respond-?!”
It was at that moment.
Boooom-!
“Keek?!”
A strong light erupted from the magic circle. With the sound of something exploding, Sephir was hurled against the wall.
“Sephir!!”
Sephir, now slumped against the wall, had fainted. I tried to rush over to her, but someone rushed out from the billowing smoke of the magic circle and pulled me tightly toward them.
“Hyaak?”
My body felt suddenly weightless as I was swept into someone’s arms. In a daze, I looked up to see the Demon King, panting heavily, staring at me.
“D-Demon King..”
“You almost didn’t make it. If you had come a little later, I would have burned somewhere to the ground.”
The Demon King looked at me, unable to move in her grip, and pressed her lips against mine as if she was going to headbutt me.
“Ump?!”
In shock from her sudden attack, I tried to keep my lips sealed to stop her, but she forced her way into my mouth, prying it open with raw strength.
And then.
Slurp-
“Unh..! W-wait a minute..!”
Her tongue quickly slid into my mouth as if it were a snake, wrapping around mine forcefully. A kiss that could not be taken lightly. But it didn’t last long.
“I’m going to kill you!!”
With a short scream, someone rushed in suddenly, pushing the Demon King away and smashing through the wall of the inn with me.
In the brief moment, I saw ash-colored hair.
“L-Lily!”
My heart sank at the thought of anything happening to Lily. As I peeked out of the huge hole in the inn, I saw two women fiercely clashing below.
“Tch. How dare you interrupt me.”
“I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you.”
“You still can’t control your anger, huh? Well, fine. I’ll personally put out that flame.”
With their mana bursting out, both of them were radiating a murderous intent.
“Ah… no, wait.”
Right now… here in the middle of a town full of people, they would fight? It’s a clash between a Hero and a Demon King. The aftermath would definitely not be small.
But no matter how much I called out to Lily, her eyes had already vanished.
Eventually, both began to leap toward each other, and in this dire situation, I couldn’t think straight.
Maybe that’s why…
“Hera, I’ll stop it.”
Without properly hearing Athena’s voice from behind, my body surged ahead of my head.
“Hera!!!”
As I came to my senses at Athena’s scream, I realized I had already squeezed between Lily and the Demon King.
And with their attacks unleashed that were far too late to halt, Arbes and Lily looked at me with shaken eyes.
“U-uh…?”
With Lily’s voice shaking severely, I braced myself to absorb the two energies with my bare body.
A huge shock crashed into me, and I could hear Athena’s voice, shouting at me from afar.
*
I couldn’t think of anything. My vision narrowed to the extreme, and my heart began pounding madly. All I could see was her, bleeding heavily.
“Hera!!!!”
As I rushed forward, I noticed Lily shivering beside the coughing Hera.
“U-Unnie… Blood… Blood is…”
“N-No… I’m okay…”
Hera, forcing a smile, didn’t look fine at all. My heart raced, and I sprinted to her side, grabbing the swaying Hera with one hand while reaching for Lily’s face with the other.
Thwack-
Even though I was sure she could react, Lily made no move at all, ultimately offering her cheek to me.
With a sharp sound, Lily’s head whipped around.
Yet, she remained silent.
“Athena… don’t.”
Seeing Hera, trembling and clutching my body, trying to stop me made my heart ache deeply.
“Hera!”
My expression froze, angry at the situation, but with Hera smiling at me, I couldn’t be mad.
“It wasn’t intentional… it’s my fault for suddenly interrupting…”
While she spoke, blood began to flow from Hera’s mouth.
Could it be she was actually wounded?
“…..Don’t say that.”
I struggled to suppress my boiling heart as I cradled Hera in my hands.
“J-just wait.. I wasn’t trying to—”
As I tried to take Hera away, someone else’s voice rang out.
The Demon King, staring at Hera with trembling hands, appeared quite flustered, unlike her usual self.
While my desire to tear her apart overflowed, unfortunately, that opportunity never came.
Someone else beat me to it.
The earth shook violently, and a massive magic circle formed around the Demon King.
Soon, icy tendrils began to wrap around the Demon King’s entire body.
The Demon King, offering no significant resistance, knelt on the ground, succumbing to the pressure of the tendrils.
Following the tendrils, I saw a girl with sky-blue hair.
Couldn’t she contain her rage any longer?
With her vertical slit pupils wide open and her breathing ragged, Mari had sharp scales protruding from her skin.
Behind her, a formidable pair of wings emerged, and a massive tail swung fiercely.
“How dare you… hurt my mom…”
The overwhelming mana of the Dragon began to crush the Demon King’s surroundings, pressing down as if it would burst her.
Slowly, Mari’s power tightened around the Demon King’s throat.
While I secretly hoped she would die right there, unfortunately, my master was annoyingly too soft-hearted.
“Athena… help me…”
“……”
“Please… okay?”
“Tch.”
With a mighty swing, Athena formed her sword and severed Mari’s spell.
Instantaneously, the murderous intent directed at the Demon King turned back towards her.
“What are you doing?”
Mari looked at me, confused, as if she couldn’t understand my actions, her eyes glaring intensely.
“Stop. Healing Hera comes first.”
“……”
Though Mari’s eyes flared with anger, she couldn’t ignore my words, and she immediately withdrew her hostility, flapping her wings and stepping forward to Hera.
After placing her hands on Hera’s body, a radiant blue mana began to seep into Hera.
“Ugh…”
Maybe familiar with Mari’s mana, Hera accepted it all with an improved expression.
Soon enough, Hera’s complexion began to stabilize, and finally, seemingly tired from the effort, she drifted off into a deep sleep in my arms.
Gently, I laid her back on the bed and stood up, gazing at the furious girls before me.
“Hey, you bastards.”
*
The Second Corps Commander, Lycan.
No, he could no longer be called a Commander.
His rebirth as a Demon God made it a different existence altogether.
“Kuha! I feel so invigorated!”
As Lycan swung his gigantic axe, the terrain was devastatingly altered—unprecedented raw power flooding out.
Overwhelmed by his strength, the Demon God spoke to him.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes, Demon God! As long as you issue a command, I will handle anything!”
Amused by his confident demeanor, the Demon God chuckled and issued a short command.
“Just bring one girl to the Demon Realm. That’s all you need.”
The Demon God was convinced.
As the peace relied on that girl, he believed that killing her would restore everything back to normal.
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