“Kuh…”
“Clara-sama!”
Hilda and Heidi rushed to Clara’s side as she collapsed to her knees.
Whether this would happen or not was a “gamble.” In this country, only a limited number of people can stand against demons. If it’s a Greater Demon, there are only a handful of people on this continent who can, and Clara knew of only “two” at least.
One of them, the Dragon Slayer girl, is not in the Royal Capital right now. And it was known that the other one… the girl feared as the “Thorn Witch” was in the Royal Capital, but even with Clara’s “Foresight,” the probability was only about half.
Not the probability that she would appear and join the battle against the demon.
Not even the probability that she would fight the demon and win.
It was only because she appeared that Clara and the others’ survival probability, which was less than 10%, finally became fifty-fifty.
It wasn’t that the “demon” couldn’t kill Clara because she appeared, but only because she didn’t intend to kill Clara yet that the probability of Clara dying was reduced to half.
Clara, with bloodshot eyes, looked up at the “she” floating in the air, engulfing the demon and the dying knight in flames, and whispered into the night with a hoarse voice.
“Carla Leicester…”
–Kakak–
The demon, who emerged slowly from the raging fire illuminating the courtyard, made a sad expression as it looked at the charred corpse of the knight in its arms.
“—Cruel, Human—”
“You make a face like a failed doll,”
Carla muttered her honest impression to the voice that sounded like a beast forcing out human words. At those words, the demon changed the face of the Fifth Knight Order Commander, which looked like collapsed clay, into that of a lovely boy, and Carla narrowed her eyes happily at that familiar face.
“What a nostalgic face… it’s my deceased older brother.”
Doon!
“Kyaa!”
A shockwave, as if compressed air had burst, blew away Clara and the surviving female knights, and at that moment, the face of Carla’s brother, whom she had killed when she was five years old, laughed close enough to touch.
–Kakakaka–
“–Lightning Strike (Digvolt)–“
The boy’s mouth spewed black mist, and Carla immediately countered with Digvolt.
The demon, at first glance, regarded Carla as an “enemy.” Not as an object to be preyed upon like Clara and the others, but as an obstacle hindering its contract with its thoroughly tainted pure soul, and decided to eliminate her.
Carla and the demon were repelled by the Mana they radiated, the lightning burned the demon’s boyish face, and the hem of Carla’s dress, dyed black, crumbled and scattered.
For the demon, it should have made the face of the “beloved family” in Carla’s surface consciousness, but Carla, who killed that beloved brother, smiled happily without any sense of guilt.
She had killed two of her three brothers, who were scum like her parents. She killed the eldest brother because she wanted to kill him, but she killed the younger brother without any particular reason, so she regretted that.
“I’m so happy that I can kill my brother again,”
Vast Mana gathered in Carla’s hand, and the demon distanced itself from the white light.
“–Holy Flame–“
Three white flames attacked the demon like intertwining snakes, and the demon, realizing that it would be hurt if it took that, took even more distance while offsetting it with the Miasma it spewed out.
The Holy Flame and Miasma raged, repeatedly purifying and rotting the plants and outer walls that received it, turning the place into a desolate ruin in an instant.
–Kakak–
“Fufu…”
The demon and the witch laughed as if measuring each other’s power. Neither of them was serious yet, and they were searching for an opening to make their next move when they heard noises approaching that inhuman battlefield.
“There it is, the ‘Demon’!”
“–Carla!!”
It was the Royal Knight Order who had rushed over. Everyone was wearing full armor with purification charms embedded in it, and they were fully equipped with large shields that had also been purified and long spears, but not only them, but also seeing the person calling out her “name” from behind the group of robed figures who appeared with them, Carla smiled a wide, twisted smile.
“Here they come!”
One of the knights shouted, and the demon chased after Carla, who retreated towards them.
At that moment, Carla lightly dodged the attack magic released from the Royal Magician Order as if to engulf her, and landed in the group, and the demon, not caring about the attack magic, also landed on the ground as if to crush the two magicians.
“Greetings, Father.”
“Carla, you!”
Carla greeted her father, who had subjected her to the experiment that made her All-Attribute, like a noble lady, and Count Leicester, the head court magician, shouted the name of his youngest daughter, who had brutally murdered his two sons and still came down to harass him, with hatred.
At that time, Count Leicester regarded his youngest daughter as dangerous, but he couldn’t bring himself to lay a hand on her because he feared the damage that would be caused when he disposed of her.
At that time, Carla realized that she still couldn’t beat her father even if she wanted to kill her father and family, so she agreed to be her father’s pawn as the Crown Prince’s fiancée.
But that delicate balance of power had already collapsed.
“Stop it!”
The Royal Knights raised their large shields and swung their long spears to block the demon from heading towards Count Leicester.
The demon also transformed its body of black mist into a giant spider, and charged straight ahead, not caring that the spears were gouging its body, and crushed the knights along with their charmed armor.
–Kakakaka–
“Damn it, Lightning–!”
Count Leicester ignored his daughter and unleashed Lightning at the demon with the face of his dead third son. Count Leicester was a Rank 5 Magician, and he stopped the demon with power that exceeded that of the other court magicians, who were at most Rank 4.
“Now!”
Taking advantage of that momentary gap, the Royal Knights and magicians launched a full-force attack. Several spears gouged the demon’s body, and fire and wind magic blew away its misty body, but–
–Kakak–
The demon distorted the face of the boy as it was being gouged, and stretched out two legs to entangle the knights and magicians.
“–Hii.”
The demon smiled to incite fear, and with the faces of boys, it bit and crushed the heads of the knights and magicians who were trembling in fear.
The demon would take damage if it received this much attack. Even if it was a slight injury, if it continued to receive it, its existence would surely be eroded, but the demon deliberately did not avoid the attack, and replenished itself by eating the “fear” of the people on the spot.
Even among residents of the same spiritual realm, this is the difference between “Spirits,” which are based on creation, and “Demons,” which were predators from the moment they existed.
“Damn you!”
At that sight, Count Leicester created a full-power Fireball in his hand. But–
“…What?”
The hand of Count Leicester, who was about to release it, stopped at the face that the demon had transformed into again. It was the face of the eldest son who had been killed by Carla first. He didn’t have any more feelings for his son than that of a pawn being dead, but he hesitated to fire the Fireball because he stopped for a moment.
Most of the Level 5 attack magic is area-of-effect, and Count Leicester could not release it because he knew that it would involve many knights and subordinates, due to his position.
–Kakak–
The demon laughed at him with the face of his eldest son, and while using the knights and magicians, whose heads had been bitten off and were convulsing, as shields, it widened the mouth of the boy, who still had a trace of innocence, like a snake.
“No good!”
Seeing that the demon’s mouth was filled with a large amount of Miasma, Count Leicester tried to extinguish the Fireball and step back before it was spewed out, but a slender white hand grabbed his arm and stopped him.
“Oh, no, Father.”
Count Leicester’s eyes widened at his daughter, who smiled as if admonishing a family member who was making a mistake.
How much power was in this slender arm, it didn’t budge even when Count Leicester put his strength into it, and at the black Miasma that the demon spewed out, Carla, with a smile, slammed the Fireball that her father had created into the Miasma, along with her father’s arm.
Doooooooon!
“Gaaaaaah!”
The rampaging miasma and flames engulfed several knights and magicians around them. Count Leicester, who had lost an arm and was screaming like a beast, rolled on the ground, consumed by the flames and miasma.
“——【Soulthorn】——”
From within the miasma and explosion, Carla emerged, her entire body covered in black thorns, and crushed the charred arm of her father that remained in her hand.
“Aha♪”
【Carla Leicester】【Race: Human Female】【Rank 5】
【Mana Capacity: ∞/590】【HP: 24/52】
【Overall Combat Strength: 1711 (Special Combat Strength: 4906)】
【Divine Protection (Gift): Soulthorn Exchange/Life Time】
The demon, whose eyes had been shielded by the magic of the explosion, cautiously leaped back at her bizarre, monster-like appearance and immense mana, but Carla’s magic was released even faster.
“——【Thunderstorm】——”
With the activation of the Level 7 【Thunderstorm】, dark clouds instantly gathered in the starry sky, and numerous bolts of lightning fell from the heavens, piercing the demon.
By limiting the area instead of making it widespread, the damage to the castle was minimized, but even so, a dozen knights and magicians who were present were caught in the blast.
The demon, caught off guard, took a direct hit and tried to create more distance, but Carla, seizing the moment, leaped forward and struck the face of the brother she had killed before with a thorn-covered fist.
Crack!
The demon, struck in the face, retreated to the top of a spire in the castle, glaring at Carla with his cracked stone mask.
“…Kill…”
“Fufu, very well. I will definitely ‘devour’ you too.”
The demon disappeared into the darkness of the night after hearing Carla’s declaration.
As the surviving knights held their breath in fear, wondering if he had truly retreated, Carla confirmed that the demon’s presence had completely vanished, and a faint voice reached her ears.
“…That ‘demon’…”
“You mistake me, Father. I am glad you are alive.”
Seeing her father, who had lost an arm and whose entire body was burned, although the flames had somewhat neutralized it, Carla released the thorns on her face and showed a smile.
The smile seemed like that of a daughter truly happy for her father’s safety, but the situation was too bizarre. If her old butler, who took care of her, were to see it, he would probably answer her feelings like this…
As if, I’m glad you’re alive because I’m going to kill you with my own hands…
“Then, please take care of yourself, Otou-sama. Fufu.”
As even the survivors and the dying Count Leicester watched silently, Carla, whose dress had burned away, brazenly exposed her limbs, which had grown with magic and were covered only in black thorns, and left leisurely.
“Gof…”
Once she reached a place where no one was around, Carla coughed up blood as if choking, and narrowed her eyes as if smiling while putting on a cloak she had taken out from her 【Shadow Storage】.
“I can become stronger again… can’t I? Aria.”
No resolution! Instead, her father is in tatters…
With this, two demons now have a connection with Aria and Carla.
The remaining one is…
Next time, Aria will begin to move to subjugate the demons.