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–––Freya’s viewpoint

“Wh-what’s happening?!”

My aide helping lead the holy knights was flustered by the sudden exploding monsters, his voice faltering under the shockwaves.

“I knew it..!”

I had a bad premonition this could be the case. The demons were not using monsters as part of their forces, but as weapons. Somehow I had not even considered the possibility of taking the same gemstones that had made those oppressed men explode in front of me and rigging them onto monsters, but there was no point in lamenting that now.

Just one monster exploding had caused heavy damage to the holy knights and nearby monsters. A deep crater was left on the ground, with the monsters and holy knights blown away scattered around it. Some had survived the blast, but they would not last long without healing magic.

“L-Lady Freya…”
“Don’t stop! Don’t even bother attacking the enemy! Prioritize getting away from here!”
“U-Understood!”

It might seem heartless, but abandoning the injured was the only way at least some of us would get out alive from here. Some of the wounded holy knights pleaded with their eyes and held their hands out to me, but I had to turn my heart to stone and ignore them. I led the army, turning around at the wall and moving away from it.

Even now there were monsters blowing up around us, trying to take us down without caring if there were other monsters nearby. It was hard to say how many of us would make it out alive, but I could only grit my teeth and sink my heels deeper into my horse’s sides.

–––Lacus’ viewpoint

“Hehh, so many of them managed to avoid that situation… I guess that’s a saint for you.”

That was Freya, I remember seeing her before. I had used a similar amount of mana as the enemy to build these walls, trapping the enemy in a tight spot where we could blow them up, but Freya had managed to escape with most of the holy knights. But they were not unscathed, many had minor injuries, while those with more severe wounds were abandoned, which made the survivor’s morale plunge. Most of my monsters were dead, but I did not really care about them. The demon soldiers were all safe and with high morale, and the enemy threat was largely neutralized, so we just had to swoop in and claim this victory.

“Go in and slaughter the-?!”

I had to swing my head back to dodge a blade, before flying back to put some distance between me and my attacker. For a moment I got scared thinking it was Lapis, the only human I knew how could use Flight Magic, but I quickly sighed in relief when I saw who it was. I had no idea this girl could use that magic as well.

“I didn’t think I’d see you up here, saint girl. When did you even learn to use Flight Magic?”
“It’s the result of my training. Regardless, I believe you’re the one commanding that army, right? I’ll put an end to this battle.”
“And you don’t even say hello after so long, how rude. I guess that’s just how pressed for time you are now. Well, I suppose anyone would be so impatient if their army was being blown to pieces.”
“Enough!”

I dodged her sword with ease this time. If I took my time and remained calm, her sword would never pose a threat to me. She has gotten far stronger compared to the time she fought Ditoner, but she still has not caught up to me. None of her swings could hit me, not even her first surprise attack, and she likely knew that as well. But she continued swinging her sword at me, probably hoping that defeating me would end the battle.

“So you’re hoping the army will fall if their commander is taken down, hm? Do you really believe you can accomplish that though?”
“I don’t care about believing, I’ll just do it!”
“I guess there’s no way to reason with an idiot!”

Her attacks slowly became more fierce. I clicked my tongue and put more distance between us to dodge better. She was getting used to my movements faster than I liked. At this rate it would not take long for her to strike a hit against me.

“This is getting boring.”

I formed multiple small fireballs and ice arrows which I shot at her. This attack had completely missed Lapis in the past, but it should work on Freya. She did not seem as adept at dodging as Lapis, and she was quite desperate as well. The spells flew at her from almost every direction, but rather than trying to evade them, she ignored them and continued trying to attack me.

“You think such careless attacks will work on me?! You clearly have a lot to learn!”

She probably thought she could take a few hits if it meant taking me down, but my magic was not that weak. Just one volley had to hit a normal person to tear them to shreds. Watching that holy girl try to reach me at the cost of her own safety was too amusing, but before I realized a sharp pain spread through my shoulder.

“Wha-?! How are you still alive!”
“I also have a few tricks of my own!”
“Aghuh?!”

My magic clearly had hit her, so why was she still intact?! I was utterly confused, and she exploited that. She quickly pulled out her sword that had dug into my shoulder, launching a second attack almost instantly. I tried to guard as fast as I could, but instead I watched her blade go through my wrist, cutting my hand off. Her sword did not stop and prepared to swing again, and this time her eyes were focused on my neck.

She’s going to kill me! That thought flashed through my mind when something pushed Freya away.

“Guh… It’s you!”

Freya looked shocked. The person in front of her, smiling menacingly, was Freya… no, that was the girl with that same face, Meria.