His Majesty, The Demon King.

Lilin looked up, and managed to lift her arms just in time to block a Blood Mana blade. It bit into her skin, the Mana surging through her body able to neutralize the damage before it went beyond the tip of her skin. Six reacted just in time as well, but even her best efforts weren't enough. She launched backwards, crying out as she slammed through one of the grandiose pillars, crashing into the one behind it as she sunk to the ground. The barrier around Annie held up to the attack, but cracked under the strain. It shattered afterwards, unable to maintain itself under its own weight after blocking the attack.

"Impressive, Six. Your claim that it could withstand an attack from me was founded."

Lilin was shaking. How could that attack have been so hard on her even with so much Mana? And it wasn't a focused one, either. The King had formed three blades at once. Lilin took her fighting stance, only for the King to suddenly be right in front of her. She barely saw him move, and just managed to duck under his gauntlet as he tried to grab her. She jumped back, flapping her wings to get into the air and make distance. The King looked at her from behind his helmet, and she could see his crimson eyes enflamed with Mana.

"You absorbed the Mana," he observed, "most impressive. Were you not betraying me, I would be so very proud of you."

"WHY COULDN'T YOU BE PROUD OF ME BEFORE?!" Lilin screamed. "I DIDN'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU!"

"Then why do you fight me?"

"BECAUSE I'D RATHER FIGHT FOR THEM THAN FIGHT FOR YOU!!"

Lilin charged in as she screamed, lashing out with everything she had. She swung her claws furiously as she cast spell after spell. Blades and spikes made of blood deluged the King, the dust kicking up tinted red as they slammed into his armor again and again. Each second saw dozens of attacks from Lilin, her eyes only able to keep up with everything because of the Mana infused with everything in her body. The dust started to obscure even her vision, but she kept attacking until she felt a clean hit.

Annie watched as Lilin's battle became more and more obscured, praying desperately to both her God and Aramasa that the winner in the dust cloud wasn't the King. As if to answer her pleas, the King's helmet was sent careening out of the smokescreen. It slammed into the ground, leaving cracks in the floor where it landed. Lilin jumped back and out as well, panting heavily as sweat flew off her body with each flap of her wings. As the dust settled, she watched where the King had been, desperately hoping he was dead.

Of course, that was just wishful thinking. Standing fully upright and almost entirely unharmed was the King, his helmet finally gone. Underneath was a middle-aged man. His hair was ruffled, the slick, black coils tangled frantically around a series of wild boar horns. In comparison to the small and controlled horns of Lilin and Six's bulky yet elegant curled horns, the King had an absolute mess of bone that looked like it was meant to make an impaling as messy as possible. His almond skin had a well-kept goatee underneath it, sitting just below his furious glower. He shouted now, his voice shaking the very ground the castle was mounted on.

"I made a mistake. I never should have trusted you, nor should I have trusted Ten. I intend to correct these mistakes."

Annie's view of the fight was suddenly cut off by a pillar of stone rising in front of her. Then something happened on the other side of that pillar that sounded like a plane crash. She let out a panicked scream as several more pillars surrounded her, then collapsed over top of her. The crashing kept happening, again and again, Annie unable to see what had just happened. Euwelyn strained as her clay replicas started to rush into the throne room, several of them focusing on maintaining the protection around Annie to endure the King's barrage of blood spears.

"L-LILIN!" Euwelyn screamed, finally breaking her out of her hopeless daze. Lilin dived towards her father, aiming at his head with an axe kick as she encased her heel with sharpened blood. Her attack hit home, but it didn't hit his head. Instead, it clashed with his horns, cracking some of them under the force but otherwise leaving him unharmed. The King tossed his head, throwing Lilin towards the Earth General as he turned to face them.

"Belligerent pests," he spat. "Of course you would be attacking me together."

Lilin saw the Air General, Tobin, enter above Euwelyn, soaring in on a cyclone of air magic. His robes fluttered as his pale eyes took in everything in an instant, his thin limbs quickly moving to do some weird hand gestures before encasing the fight in a circle of furious winds. He spoke in a calm but firm tone, his voice somehow filling the throne room almost as much as the King's did.

"So long as I am here, King, you will not be able to exit. Face us head-on, or be torn apart by the whirlwind."

"As if such a pathetic thing could hurt me," the King sneered in response. "If you were capable of such things, why not simply tear me apart?"

Tobin didn't react to his bluff being called out. Instead, he stood in a stance and threw a punch. Channeling his near-limitless Mana, he sent out a powerful air burst from his fist. The punch gave it direction, allowing it to strike the King's chest with immense force. He let out a loud grunt, his armor flexing under the force but not denting. The King looked at Tobin, recognizing that this was the greatest threat now.

The King continuously created and launched thin needles of blood at Tobin's neck and chest, forcing him to focus on dodging instead of attacking. Simultaneously, the King faced Euwelyn and began to coat the floor in blood to give him better control over her abilities. Seeing his attempts to cut off her main resource, Euwelyn immediately started to pull up as much of the ground as she could. She amassed a large mound of earth before the ground was fully covered, though several of her clay constructs had their feet caught in the blood pool. In a flash, Euwelyn felt several of them crumbling as the King encased their bodies in blood and crushed them under a massive amount of pressure.

"DAMN IT!!" Lilin shouted as she dove in for a second attack. She caught the side of the King's head with a powerful kick, knocking him off-balance and making him stagger. The stream of needles aimed at Tobin stopped for just a moment, allowing him to launch another several powerful wind attacks before the King could resume his volley. The King finally raised his arms, blocking the attacks manually before turning and grabbing Lilin by the ankle.

"BEGONE."

A mix of Mana and physical force sent Lilin flying towards the wall. She was swept up by the wind currents, spun around the entire room again and again. She couldn't breathe, choking as she lost all sense of direction. After only a few seconds, she had been spun around the entire room multiple times and thrown out of the wind currents. She slammed into the wall, her vision filled with stars as she sank into the ground. She tried to get up, but her muscles were completely shredded. She tugged at her limp body with Mana, but there wasn't enough left for her to pull on. She tried to keep her eyes open, but everything was going dark.

"Shit," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "Fuck... I guess... This isn't... The worst way...."