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–––Freya’s viewpoint

“Heheheh… AHAHAHAH!”

Meria started laughing maniacally after turning the demon to dust. Looking at her, I noticed her body was changing shape. Her hair which used to be blonde like mine changed to a deep burning red, and her eyes followed suit. My aloof mind started to think it looked just like blood… but the changes kept going, the pressure I felt from her growing as the gemstone on her chest that used to have a beautiful glow turned black.

“Hahahah…hahhh…”

Eventually, the changes slow down and she exhales before turning her face to me, and I instinctively hold up my sword. Every fiber in my being was screaming that she was dangerous, her power surpassed even that of the demon now. She noticed that, grinning in a mocking manner.

“Oh… and what happened to you, Freya? I didn’t know you were the kind of person to brandish a sword against your sister.”
“Don’t even try that. You stopped thinking of me as a relative a long time ago, and I can tell you’ve become a far more evil being than a demon.”
“Oh? You could tell then? Still, I couldn’t help myself. Anyone who obtains this much power would want to tease weaker people.”
“!”

Meria moved almost instantly, appearing in front of me and swinging her sword down with ease. I blocked instinctively, but the hit sent me flying back with immense force.

“Ghuh… so heavy!”
“Oh wow, I guess I may have gotten a bit too much power.”

She chased after me, constantly attacking whenever she could. Her sword came from above, the sides, and below, trying to cut me to pieces from every angle. I blocked everything I could, but some attacks went through and started wearing me down.

“Huff..! Huff..!”
“I wasn’t even trying and you’re already exhausted. I thought you were stronger than that.”
“Kuh..!”

My body was covered in blood, but her body was in perfect shape. She was despairingly more powerful than me. Before, I thought we would be roughly equally matched, but after absorbing the life force of a demon she surpassed me, and by a lot…

“I’d love to play around with you for longer, but I don’t have the time. I’m busy with all sorts of things, like absorbing the power of more demons so I can end the world.”

Was she really planning on becoming even stronger than now? At this rate she would surpass anyone else, maybe becoming just as strong as a Demon King. That was… not something I could allow!

Meria snorted looking at my body riddled with cuts and bathed in blood. Her eyes looked like she was looking at an insignificant bug that could do nothing.

“I always thought you were stubborn and a bit of a blockhead, and I guess you’ll be that way to the grave. But fine, I’ll show you just how futile trying to resist is. You can watch me bring hell to this world from the afterlife!”

She charged at me with everything she had, ready to cut my head off. But I also had a trump card of my own!

“Lumiere! O great God of Light! Grant me your light to pierce through the darkness!”
“Wha-?!”

Meria recoiled, noticing the divine power welling up in me. God’s Grace… I obtained this power after countless close encounters with death as I trained. It was a dangerous skill, as my body would be imbued by so much divine power that it almost took me over entirely, so a wrong move and my soul would be consumed. But I could not afford to be careful now, Meria was even more dangerous. If I let her go, she would become yet another Demon King. I had to stop her no matter what!

I chased after Meria, relentlessly swinging my sword at her. Our roles had essentially reversed, now it was she who could only focus on defending.

“Where did you get that annoying power?! Holy power pisses me off so much!”
“Lumiere has given me his power! And I’ll use it to defeat you here!”
“In your dreams!”

The gemstone on Meria’s chest emanated a black shadow and various spells appeared around her. Fire, ice, earth, and wind. They were the same elements the demon had used, except that they were far more powerful when used by Meria. All the spells flew straight at me, but I just charged on without even thinking about dodging.

“Are you serious?! Do you want to die so badly?!”

Meria grinned watching me, but her smile quickly contorted in shock. All the spells of four elements hit me, creating a large explosion in the air, with lights of various colors from each element. But I flew out of it without a scratch on me.

“No… magic has no effect?!”
“Exactly! Magic won’t work against me now!”
“Tsk!”

It took her a moment to react, so my blade sliced her flank before I swung it up toward her neck.

“Dammit..! Don’t get carried away now!”

Drops of blood flew out of her mouth as she cursed, then went on a dive straight down.

“So you’re running now?!”
“Only for now! But don’t think you’re safe yet! I’ll keep getting stronger, and I’ll always be right behind you! Don’t think your life will ever be the same!”

She landed with a strong impact and cleared all the monsters and holy knights around her with one swipe of her sword.

“Out of the way!”

Once she had cleared an area of the battlefield, she picked up a scroll from the ground. That was…

“That’s the demon’s!”
“Yeah, I don’t know where it’ll take me but at least I’ll get away. Goodbye, Freya. Next time I’ll make sure to kill you.”
“Wait!”

I arrived too late, my sword slashing through the air as the scroll took her away.

“She’s gone..!”

Meria had the ability to grow stronger by absorbing the life force of others, so she would become even more dangerous in the future. Letting her escape had been a grave mistake, but I still had other things to take care of.

“Lady Freya!”

One of the holy knights noticed me and seemed relieved. We were still in a battle, I could worry about Meria later. For now, I had to finish repelling the demon’s attack.

“Look sharp everyone! I’ve taken down the enemy’s commander! Now we just need to clean up the remnants!”
“””Ohhhh!!”””

The demons were clearly confused, looking at each other unsure of what to do. They had been extremely confident of their leader, so hearing she was dead destroyed their morale. That was the biggest fault of demon armies, they relied too much on their strong leaders, and their lines crumbled the moment they lost them. It did not matter if the remaining demons were strong themselves, they all became a disorderly crowd that could easily be picked off by the holy knights.

“Follow me! Attack!”
“””YeahhHh!”””

The holy knights shouted loudly and fought with renewed vigor. I knew we could win this fight now, but I kept thinking about Meria.