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–––Freya’s viewpoint
Was there any way for me to defeat him? No matter how much I thought about it, I could not see a scenario in which I won. Any attack I did would get evaded and create an opening for me to get hurt. Seeing me hesitate like that, Ditoner’s attitude changed from his earlier annoyance to gleeful joy.

“Now you’re afraid?! This is what happens when you get me mad! You humans should just shut up and become our toys! Surrender! I’ll still let you surrender now! If you do it I’ll let you live to breed monsters for us! Just like everyone else in this country!”
“…What did you say?”

I could tell what he had done here simply by looking at all the slaughtered corpses around. Yet he seemed to have no respect for their desperate fight to save their lives, like they did not matter. As a servant of the god of light Lumiere, and a hero protecting people, I could not allow myself to overlook that!

“Oh? What’s this? You’re getting mad for something? Pfft ahahahah! What will getting mad do for you! You’re too weak to even protect yourself!”
“…”

I ignored his provoking laugh and firmly gripped my sword. I was ready, if I could not win fighting him head on, then I had to use other tactics. He was too confident and had let his guard down now, so my plan had a chance of working. I knew I could win if I aimed at a moment when he would let his guard down.

“…What are you thinking? You do realize that no matter how much you flail that stick around it won’t do anything, right? Or is your brain too small to comprehend reality?”
“…You really like to run your mouth, what a pity. Just come at me already.”
“…Tsk! As you wish then, time for you to die!”

His overwhelming strength gave him an excess of confidence as he walked towards me with a wicked smile. Meanwhile I focused on amassing magic on my right hand with my sword, as well as my empty left hand, preparing for him to attack. When I saw his blade was about to swing down at me, I lifted my left hand as if covering myself.

“You think that will help you at all? Just die!”

He swung his sword down for a killing blow, aiming to split my body into two starting from my head. At the same time, I struck up with my palm full of magic towards it.

“Guh!”

The excessive force made me almost cry in pain, which I held back by gritting my teeth. I could feel his blade cut through some strands of my hair already, but at the same time my hand stopped it at the perfect moment, sacrificing my fingers for it. But I had other things to worry about than the pain, Ditoner had finally shown an opening by being too confident, and I had bought myself time by paying with my fingers.

“Hyahhhhhh!”
“What the-?!”

I yelled as I swung my right hand with my sword. All the magic concentrated in my right arm made my muscles swell up, and I could hear them slowly tearing as I swung with all my might. My arm started losing its usual color and turned a dark blue as I swung it, moving faster than it had throughout the entire fight and closing in on Ditoner’s torso.

“Dammit!”
“I won’t let you go!”

If he evaded this attack, I was truly a goner. I would have no other chance to win, so I had to finish it now. I took a step forward before he could jump back, my sword sliding into his body and cutting cleanly through it.

Ditoner watched in shock as his upper body moved away faster than his lower body, his mouth filling with a large amount of blood. Once his body hit the ground, I could not sense any life left in him anymore. I had succeeded in stopping him. My face contorted with pain as I looked down at his body.

“…That’s what happens when you get too confident. You don’t win a fight with power alone.”

My party came running towards me and quickly began healing my wounds, meanwhile I looked up while taking a deep breath. Lapis and the demon illuminated the night sky like fireworks, using powerful spells against each other constantly. It was so breathtaking I almost forgot the situation I was in and just watched mesmerized, but I forced my brain to chase that feeling away.

“…It looks like they’ll finish there soon as well. Lapis really is amazing.”

That demon looked far more powerful than Ditoner, yet Lapis seemed to have the upper hand as she chased the demon around making me feel confident about the battle. Seeing her like that made me realize that even if I had fallen, she would have definitely avenged me. I had a hunch that would be the case earlier as well, and that was the only reason I pushed myself this far.

The demon looked cornered, desperation showing on her face, while Lapis was composed and calm. I was really curious to know just how powerful she really was, but I would have to wait for the fight to be over before I could ask her to tell me her secret. Meanwhile…

“Let’s focus on recovering our strength now. We’ve accomplished our first goal after all.”

I felt the pain fading from my body, and my strength slowly came back. Meanwhile I silently waited for the fight overhead to finish.