The big buffalo-horned head rolled across the ground, slowly dissolving into Mana like drifting fireflies.
"Sorry. I'm in a bit of a hurry."
Yuna drew back her spear-like crimson staff and charged straight into the slowly fading barrier.
After learning from the city guards that Schwenk, Grand Bishop of the Church of the New God, had left the city not long before, Yuna had given chase past the walls at once.
After searching to the east, she finally found the Demon Race member guarding the barrier.
At first she tried to communicate with it.
But it seemed unable to speak even the language of Humans, and simply used a glass-like barrier magic in an attempt to crush her flat.
So she killed it in self-defense.
The moment the barrier vanished, she felt it—that nearly-extinguished flicker of Mana, along with an immense, ominous Mana still lingering in the air!
Pushing her Flight Magic to its top speed, Yuna finally caught sight of a ruined, half-collapsed hill, and a man sprinting along with a child in his arms. Then came a burst of blinding radiance.
"Huff… huff…"
Under the cover of that sudden brilliant flash, Timmy managed to carry Übel into the safe zone near Lois and Schwenk.
Then his knees buckled, and he dropped straight to the ground.
Honestly, he thought he looked utterly pathetic.
"Nice work, Schwenk. So you're good for something after all."
Lois had caught his breath too, and was readying his magic once more.
"Is that praise, or an insult?" Schwenk shut his book and started working out how to flee with Übel.
To his surprise, Solitär shifted her gaze the other way.
"So many of them popping up all at once. Humans really are a strange species."
A streak of crimson, tinged with green, flashed past.
"Are you all right!"
Fighting to keep from blacking out completely, Timmy saw the Mage flying toward them, and his eyes went wide.
That face. That distinctive staff.
It was her!
He'd never dreamed he'd meet her again!
And she was still worried about him!
Timmy's heart slammed against his ribs—faster even than when he'd been dueling Solitär, walking the tightrope between life and death.
He couldn't believe his eyes. Was this a hallucination?!
But Yuna didn't spare him a single glance. She brushed right past him and scooped up Übel, who lay collapsed on the ground, paralyzed from Mana exhaustion.
"Eh?" Timmy sat frozen where he was.
She hadn't recognized him!
"Good. She's just burned through her Mana and picked up a few scrapes."
"Sorry…"
Übel apologized weakly.
"I'll deal with you once we're back."
The gentleness gave way to sternness as Yuna lightly flicked the tip of Übel's nose.
Then she turned her head and fixed a ferocious glare on Lois and Schwenk.
"So you're the ones who lured Übel away?"
"It's a misunderstanding—all of it, a misunderstanding! We had no idea she used magic to sneak along after us."
Schwenk's skin prickled, and he rushed to explain.
"More to the point…"
Lois had snapped back to his braced-for-battle stance. He'd seen Solitär drop out of the air and start walking toward them, smiling.
"Time's about up. But Human—what strange clothes are you wearing?"
Solitär's offhand remark made everyone realize that, perhaps because she'd left in such a rush, Yuna was in fact dressed in a loose nightgown printed all over with little bears.
"Those are pretty cute, though?"
Lois delivered his verdict.
"Pfft."
Schwenk nearly laughed out loud.
"She doesn't know me. She doesn't know me anymore. She doesn't know me anymore…"
Timmy sank into his lingering heartbreak, unable to drag himself out of it.
"Now that I get a good look at you, Human—you seem a little familiar?"
Solitär sized Yuna up as she closed in. She could tell Yuna was the strongest of the fresh reinforcements this batch of Humans had brought.
Even so, Solitär didn't think she could lose.
Her Mana volume and experience as a Great Demon were beyond anything a Human of a mere few decades could match.
"It's been a long time."
Yuna set Übel down in Schwenk's arms and told him to try healing her with Holy Power.
She raised her staff and locked her gaze onto Solitär.
As if something had come back to her, a smile crept across Solitär's cold face.
"Ah—you're that Human, the one Macht spared back then… So. Are you ready to be killed by me a second time?"
"I won't lose this time. And I'm going to avenge my disciple."
As she spat out those fierce words, Yuna also held back Lois, who'd been about to help from the side, signaling that this was a one-on-one duel.
Yuna's unwavering stare left Solitär intensely displeased.
This Human, Solitär reasoned, at a moment like this ought to be remembering the past and quaking with fear.
Instead, that look—reckless, blind to the danger of death.
"You really should be more cautious."
Solitär lifted into the air and glided straight up to Yuna. She spread her palm, and a string of exploding Mana burst toward her.
Mana Scatter Magic.
Just flinging Mana outward in a spray—several times faster than condensing it into a Mana sword.
The Mana churned up an endless haze of dust and smoke, and Solitär loosed several more bursts one after another, like a string of firecrackers going off.
Amid the roar, Lois—who'd caught that the barrier was gone—hauled Timmy over his shoulder while Schwenk carried Übel, and they fell back to the rear.
Schwenk's first thought was to head straight home and beg Lord Nanoda to come take over.
By now Yuna had already taken cover beneath her Defensive Magic.
An Ordinary Offensive Magic tore through the smoke and slammed into Solitär's all-around defenses.
"Stronger than back then, aren't—"
Before she could finish, the crimson staff lanced out of the smoke again—faster, somehow, than Solitär's Fully Automatic Defensive Magic. Its tip shaved off a lock of her lovely hair.
Whether by her own doing or not, the distance had closed, and Solitär kept pouring out Mana Scatter Magic.
Even with Defensive Magic, Yuna couldn't fully block the scattering Mana. Her beloved nightgown was slashed open in several places, faint patches of skin showing through.
"Ah, I suppose that stands to reason… it has been such a long time…"
Timmy watched the Demon and the Mage trade attack for attack before him and, with great effort, propped himself up. He couldn't go down yet.
On the other side of the battlefield—
Tutesi, wearing a twisted, manic, gleeful grin, brought her two ring blades slashing down again and again.
Rolwen only parried.
"What's wrong? Wasn't close-range combat exactly what you asked for?"
"..."
The moment wasn't ripe. The man held his silence, saying nothing, waiting for the single stroke that would decide it all.
He looked to be losing ground, yet in truth he was slowly settling into complete control.
He had to finish this in one blow, then go help Timmy.
Gaderia.
"How is this possible? How did you land a hit on me?"
"Instinct. And I really ought to thank you—for shutting off my sight, my hearing, even my sense of smell."
At those words, Grausam clutched his wounded shoulder and vanished from where he stood.
____
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