Battle on the land below

They don’t seem to have noticed us yet.

“Let’s go back and tell the others”

Martin looks through the scope of his gun.

“They’ll be within my range soon, why don’t I just shoot them down?”

I pause for a moment.

“Right, then Aidan go back and tell the others. I’ll teleport me and Martin if we fail to shoot it down”

“Alright”

Aidan stands up and runs back to camp.

“You mean if I fail to shoot it down, which I won’t”

He focuses on the target. I start to make preparations in case he fails.

“Ally locate”

I focus on Iris. All right. Let’s see what you got Martin.

He mumbles under his breath.

“…6200. 6000, 5800, 5600…”

That dragon is fast.

“…5200, you’re dead”

*BOOM!*

Ah. I should have covered my ears. The front end of the anti-materiel rifle lit up for a moment with a painful boom sound. Martin gets pushed back a little by the force of his weapon.

Despite the ringing in my ears, I look at the dragon through the telescope that Aidan left. I know it’s bound to have some sort of defense against-

*boom*

The dragon gets blown apart.

“Wait. What.”

It falls down in two halves. Martin looks at me, his face in a wide grin.

“I thought you guys said they were tough. I guess they were no match for my rifle”

He laughs.

I keep looking through the telescope. The carcass just keeps falling. So it’s not something like Toshikasu’s Light Clone.

“Relax. I’m telling you, there’s no way the dragon or anyone on it survived that”

“I guess you’re right”

I manage to laugh a little.

“Let’s head back. Or just tell Aidan to come back here. We still have half an hour; I’d rather keep doing nothing here”

“Okay then”

I stand up.

As I turn to head back, a woman with 4 horns is standing right behind us. I knew it wasn’t going to be that simple.

“Al? Why are you just stan…”

He looks at the person in front of me.

“ding there… oh”

“Surprised?”

She’s holding a huge scythe. Is she the half-demon Grayson was talking about? But first we have to get out of here. We have the numbers advantage back at the camp.

“Mass Teleport!”

The magic circle appears underneath us. It only extends as far as Martin’s position. Yes!

“You’re not going anywhere”

She places the tip of her scythe on the magic circle. It dissipates. No!

“How did you survive? That was a direct hit!”

“Survive?”

She looks at Martin’s rifle.

“Oh, you mean that thing. As if we’d be dumb enough to fly out into the open. You did make a mess out of that wyvern. Sister’s illusion spell worked like a charm”

Damn it. We completely fell for that.

“What do you want from us?”

She scoffs.

“As if I’d want anything from you. The demon lord wants your heads though”

She walks backwards a little bit. Martin stands up and holds his gun on his shoulder.

“Should have attacked us while you had the chance”

“It wouldn’t be fun that way”

He points the weapon at her. She smiles. I cover my ears.

*BOOM!*

The projectile disintegrates the telescope which suddenly appeared in front of us.

She appears behind Martin and grabs his right leg, throwing him high into the sky.

“Martin! Chain Lightning!”

Electricity arcs from my hand.

“Ice Cage, Whirlwind!”

Ice bars suddenly surround her, and a vortex of wind forms with her in the center and holds her in place.

“Duplicate!”

The electricity in my hands multiplies. I point both my hands in her direction.

Release.

The current flies towards her, turning the surroundings into ash as it heads towards- me!?

“Silence!!”

The swirling winds and the arcing current dies down. I’m trapped inside the ice cage. I cancel Silence.

Martin lands on the ground with a thud. He was in the air for a considerable amount of time. Just how strong is this woman??

“Nice trick, right? I learned it from that knight. Teleport:Switch”

She stabs Martin.

“No! Stop it!”

I use the spells that were just stored in the book.

Electricity suddenly runs through her body. She just shrugs it off, she seems mildly annoyed though.

“That didn’t even-”

A momentary burst of wind knocks her off balance as an ice cage half her size falls on her.

“Teleport, Stone Pillars, Levitate”

I teleport a couple of feet into the air above her. 5 stone pillars are hovering beside me.

She stands up, ripping the ice cage into pieces with just her hands. Her scythe disappears.

For a half human half demon, she’s incomparably stronger than both. There’s no doubt about it.

“You are Hagiwara’s daughter, aren’t you?”

“H-how do you know that?!”

Good. Looks like I can talk my way out of this situation.

“Let’s talk. A ceasefire if you will”

“…”

She suddenly jumps close to me. I’m screwed.

I get a dropkick to the shoulder.

“Ugh!”

I can feel my bones breaking as I fall to the ground.

She lands on top of me. Whatever wasn’t broken is definitely broken now.

“I’m listening”

“…”

She sits down on my stomach. I can barely breathe. What’s wrong with this woman??

“Well? Was that just a lie? Do you think you can still escape?”

She puts her hands around my throat.

“Speak. Or just die right away.”

“…”

“My bad.”

She takes her hands off my neck.

“ackk *cough* H-Hagiwara had two daughters and a son. Where’s your sister?”

Her hand comes closer again. She snarls.

“And what about my sister?”

“I can s-set her free”

The half-demon woman looks like she’s fine, but thanks to her lineage, she’s also affected by “Oberon’s Blessing”. It causes the demons to be unable to defy the Demon Lord, and increases their aggression and drowns out their other emotions.

Her human side is keeping her rational for now, but as time goes by, she will lose her sense of self. The more she obeys and kills, the faster that day will come.

I suppose it’s the same for her sister. Her sister isn’t here, so I lucked out by guessing she’s doing all this for her sister.

She scoffs. She then looks up at the sky.

“Only a God would be able to do that. You’ve had your chance. I’ve heard enough”

Her hands come close, with the intent to end me.

A harrowing thought occurs to me.

It can’t end like this. I don’t want to die.

Me, a God. I’ve witnessed countless deaths in this world. It never fazed me once.

Now here I am. Scared of dying. I can’t believe I’d stooped so low.

Fear grips every fiber in my being.

“I can prove it!”

Forcing my hands to move despite being broken, I grab her wrists.

Just once, please work!!

A warm light engulfs her body.

Divine energy flows from my hands to hers.

“W-what!?”

She quickly stands up and backs away from me.

“T-there… you’re free”

“You. You’re a God?”

I can feel myself fading. I’m blacking out from the pain.

“Wait, don’t pass out yet”

A magic circle appears beside her. She grabs her scythe.

She stabs my right leg with it. Great. I’m awake again.

“I still need you to free my sister”

She lifts me up over her shoulder.

“W-wait… Martin…”

“That dwarf will live. The other one back at Durahl had it worse.”

Ugh. Just from her walking, it hurts.

And why from all times, why did it only come back now? My divine powers.

I felt it coming back just when I was on the brink of desperation.

And just as it came back, it was gone in a flash.

I’m such a useless God.

“My name is Loralei by the way”

“…”

“There’s no need to tell me yours. It’s either Aelius or Oberon, and I know Oberon would never free me.”

We arrive at the camp. The carriages are nowhere to be seen.

Loralei looks around. No one is here.

“Looks like they left you. This is why humans are despicable.”

She puts me down.

Loralei then takes one more step, then pauses.

“Never mind, they’re still here-”

A spear almost hits her in the face. She stopped it with only her right hand.

Holding the weapon, she swipes it to the left.

“Gah!”

She hits something in the air. Julie appears, knocked out.

The entire area suddenly glows.

Everyone appears, pointing their weapons at Loralei.

“Don’t worry, I got you buddy!”

Jace immediately grabs me and Shaun immediately starts to chant a healing spell.

“Looks like we get to play again. Though it looks like I have the upper hand”

Grayson comes closer.

“I expected as much from you Knight”

Loralei points to the east.

“Your dwarf friend is in that direction. So is the demon army. Your friend here called for a ceasefire, which is why I brought him here. Do you guys intend to dishonor his word?”

Toshikasu looks at me.

“Is that true?”

I’d very much like to signal no. But for some reason, I won’t.

I nod at him.

Everyone puts their weapons down.

Loralei gestures at the sky. The area above us distorts and the Greater Dragon appears. Another Illusion. Looks like they were already here for quite some time.

It lands a few meters away.

She walks over to me and grabs me by the hand.

Shaun immediately objects.

“He’s not healed yet!”

She doesn’t even hear him. She just looks straight at me.

“Stand up. My sister can heal you faster than this human.”

I think I saw Iris glaring at her.

We walk towards the Greater Dragon.

Grayson and the others follow behind me.

A hooded figure jumps down from the dragon.

“Sister? What is going on here? We’re supposed to-”

“Change of plans Evelyn. Just bear with it for a moment”

She takes my hand and places it on Evelyn’s hands.

“Do what you did last time”

I try.

Nothing happens. She looks at me.

“What are you waiting for? Free my sister already!”

“I can’t just do it!”

That was just a coincidence that I even managed to free her. I can’t feel any divine energy in me right now. I feel like a human.

I look at Loralei. Her fists tighten up. It looks like it’s the end of the ceasefire.

She suddenly kneels.

Wait what.

She’s kneeling before me with both legs on the ground.

“Please”

That’s unexpected. Despite what she did earlier, I actually feel a little bad for her.

As if on cue, I feel another surge of Divine energy flow from me to Evelyn.

Seriously? What’s wrong with me? Either come back or don’t.

Evelyn starts to glow a little, then it fades away.

Grayson and the others are surprised.

“What was that?”

“Evelyn!”

Loralei suddenly stands up and hugs her sister.

“I-I’m free?”

“Yes! Can you sense it? The bloodlust, the voices, they’re all gone right?”

“Y-yes…”

I thought I saw tears from Loralei’s eyes. She immediately wipes her face.

“I know we’ve had some differences, especially the Knight, that dwarf, and you”

She looks at me.

“If you still want it, we’d like to offer our services… for example”

She looks at the dragon.

As if knowing what to do, it takes to the skies and flies in the direction of the approaching demon army.

“Evelyn, please heal him”

Evelyn walks up to me and immediately casts a healing spell on me.

Looking at her, I suddenly remember their father. He dedicated the lives of his children to me. He didn’t make it an official wish, but he asked me if I could watch over them.

I look at everyone.

“I think it would be beneficial to us if they join our unit. Before you raise any objections, they were forced to fight us”

I was trying to appeal to them, it came out so bad.

“Sure”

Huh?

Grayson stands beside me.

“If Al says so, then I agree. Having more allies is important”

Toshikasu sighs.

“She hit Julie. But in her defense, we did strike first. Welcome to the team, Loralei, Evelyn”

…

In the end, everyone agreed.

We’re now leaving the plains.

I watch as the Greater Dragon wreaks havoc on the demon army. They’re probably puzzled as to why their “ally” is attacking them.

In a few hours, we’ll be out of the Miele continent.

I can’t say I miss it, but I don’t hate it either.

At least I’ve gotten another clue on how to get my old self back.

I hope Amaris is doing well. And although Yatsumi was annoying, I wish her well too.

Onwards to the Chablis continent!