Chapter 256 49
Ziel and the girls looked seriously at the battle between Azalia and the Sacred Demonel. They ignored the pitiful scene between the Sacred Demonel and Fornius before. But Ziel overheard their conversation and got information that the current body of the Sacred Demonel belonged to a divine race named Oillet and was a partner of Fornius.
(No wonder the current appearance of the Sacred Demonel is different from the one shown in the book. It turns out that the guardian of the continent must have a medium body to appear in this world. But why would she use a person's body from the divine race?)
Ziel compared the current figure of the Sacred Demonel with the figure in the book he had read. He finally found out the reason for the discrepancy.
"Ziel, when are you going to fight that guy?" Kalya asked after seeing Azalia cornered by the Sacred Demonel's attack. For some reason, she didn't want to see Azalia die at the creature's hands even though she knew the girl was her love rival.
"Now!" Ziel answered firmly and pointed his finger at the black ball about to devour Azalia.
[Thunder Beam]
A beam of red laser shot through space towards the Sacred Demonel and pierced the sphere of black light. Ziel's attacks continued to shoot out and tore apart the Sacred Demonel's hand. The black sphere almost swallowed Azalia shattered and dissipated into particles. Sacred Demonel ignored her missing hand and narrowed her eyes towards the Monarch Palace. Her eyes met Ziel's.
"You guys should get out of here immediately and gather with the people from the human academy." Ziel said to Clara and the other girls. Then his gaze stopped on Lilith and Kalya.
"Please take care of them for me." Ziel said softly.
"I understand. Leave everything to me. You must be careful and return safely!" Kalya said seriously. Her eyes were slightly wet from sad she couldn't join the fight with Ziel. Kalya clenched her fists tightly and vowed to train even harder once this matter was over.
"Be careful, Ken!"
"You must return safely!"
"I'm sure you can beat that creature!"
"We will pray for your victory!"
Clara and the other girls also had the same feeling as Kalya. They had trained hard and ate Leviathan's meat. But it was far from enough to allow them to stand beside Ziel. The wet eyes of the girls turned full of determination to become stronger.
"I understand." Ziel gave a slight smile. He flew towards the Sacred Demonel and left the girls.
"Do you guys want to return to where the other human academy students are?" Kalya looked at Clara and the other girls and asked seriously.
"I will stay here and watch his fight!" Unexpectedly, Princess Iris was the first to answer Kalya's question.
Clara and Kyouka were dumbfounded after seeing the seriousness on Princess Iris's face. They looked at each other and smiled broadly.
"I'll be here too!"
"Me too!"
Clara and Kyouka held Princess Iris' left and right hands, respectively. It made Princess look at them and smile too. Then Kalya turned her gaze to Lilith.
"How about you?" Kalya asked with a smile.
"Don't you already know the answer? Why do you have to ask again?" Lilith could only avert her eyes to cover her blushing face with embarrassment.
"I'm glad to hear your answers. Ziel's current opponent was very strong, and he might die in this fight. He once fought with one of the continent's guardians in the Elven Kingdom. In that fight, he was seriously injured and lost consciousness due to exhaustion." Kalya said seriously. The girls listened to her explanation without blinking, afraid of losing information about Ziel.
"You also already know the purpose of the Sacred Demonel coming to this place. If Ziel lost that battle and was killed, he would come here and eliminate Lilith since she was also the target. You might get dragged if you stay with her. After hearing that, will you still be standing here?" Kalya stared intently at the four girls in front of her, especially Clara, Princess Iris, and Kyouka.
"Lilith is our friend too, so we won't go and leave her." Clara answered without hesitation.
"Clara is right. Even though she did bad things to us, it happened in the past, and now she is our friend." Princess Iris said, full of determination.
"I agree with both of them. After all, friends are friends." Kyouka smiled and nodded.
"You…" Lilith's eyes were moist from being touched by the words of the three girls. Lilith and the two girls fought earlier, and she almost got hated by them. But now, they unhesitatingly dared to stand beside her to face the Sacred Demonel.
"Alright… Alright… We'd better stop this touching moment. Now is not the time for that. But I'm glad you don't hold a grudge against her anymore." Kalya smiled with satisfaction at the answers given by Clara and Princess Iris.
"Yes. I understand. But, what about you?" Lilith turned her face away and wiped the tears almost flowing from her eyes. As a divine race, she felt ashamed for nearly crying in front of the girls. But on the other hand, Lilith was happy they had forgiven her.
"I? Of course, I'll stay here. I knew I was weak and would only become a burden if I forced myself to join the fight with him. However, if he loses that battle and dies…then I will fight to the death against the Sacred demonel because there's no point in me living if he doesn't exist. Ziel is the most important thing to me in this world." Kalya said with determination.
Lilith, Clara, and the other two girls opened their mouths wide in astonishment at Kalya's statement. They didn't expect Kalya to have such love for Ziel to the point of neglecting everything in this world, including her family and her hometown, the Elven Kingdom.
(Now I understand why Ken chose Miss Kalya. She could sacrifice everything in this world, including her life, just for the man she loves)
Clara and the other girls feel jealous of the love Kalya gives to Ziel. They couldn't act like her and proudly state how much they loved him.
Even though the girls loved Ziel, they still couldn't sacrifice everything for him. Clara can't throw her family away. Kyouka is still thinking about her homeworld, Lilith is still attached to her race, and Princess Iris cares about the kingdom and her friends. That is the big difference between them and Kalya.
Kyouka and the girls couldn't help but fall silent in embarrassment. Then they looked at Ziel, who was currently dealing with the Sacred Demonel.
***
"Hmm… I didn't expect one of the irregulars to have that kind of power. But…" Sacred Demonel muttered and then narrowed her eyes. Of all the irregulars she fought, only Ziel, whose origin she couldn't figure out.
"You must leave this place as soon as possible, Azalia." Ziel turned to Azalia and said seriously. He ignored the Sacred Demonel because he didn't understand his opponent's thinking.
"No! I will fight with you! You know my strength, right? So I won't leave you and fight her alone!" Azalia stubbornly refused.
"You know it's not about your strength, right? If you join the fight with me, you might get caught up in our attack. I don't want that to happen. I want you to understand and no longer argue." Ziel looked straight into Azalia's eyes and said seriously.
Azalia fell silent under Ziel's gaze, and her face turned red. But then she shook her head and looked at Ziel with an eye full of affection.
"All right, I understand! Please be careful and come back safely!" Azalia said with a worried face.
"You don't have to worry. This is the fragment of the world altar I once promised you." Ziel took two world altar fragments from his space storage and gave them to Azalia. But instead of being happy, Azalia's pretty face became cloudy.
"I didn't think about that! I worry about your safety! You must keep it and give it to me when you promised!" Azalia angrily returns the world altar fragment to Ziel and leaves the place without looking at him. Ziel thought that she was acting strangely at the moment but didn't think much of it because there were more important things than that.
Azalia flew towards Fornius and went with them to the Monarch Palace. She was reluctant to leave that place, but because of Ziel's previous words, she became a little sad and offended.
Even so, Azalia was still worried about Ziel. Therefore, she went to the Monarch Palace to protect Kalya and the other girls so that his concentration would not be disturbed and he could focus on the battle.
"Are you done talking to that girl? You don't have to worry. She will also disappear with you." Sacred Demonel spoke nonchalantly. Her torn arm was back to normal.
Ziel didn't reply to Sacred Demonel's words. He drew two swords from the magic circle that appeared on his right and left. Ziel unleashed his power. Aura and mana swirled with Ziel as the center, forming a huge tornado. Then an aurora appeared and split the dark and bright sky due to the Sacred Demonel. The aurora enveloped Ziel's body and created a suit of armor.
"You were the one who defeated that dragon?" Sacred Demonel's face changed after seeing the aurora in the sky, and the armor Ziel was wearing.
"I don't think I need to answer because you already know about it." Ziel said and then disappeared from the Sacred Demonel sight. Since the beginning of the battle, Ziel had used up all his strength because he didn't want to have a long-term battle with a Sacred Demonel whose limits were still unknown.
"Arrogant irregular. Don't think because you can beat that dragon, and you can beat me too! Do not dream!" The Sacred Demonel also disappeared from her place. Right now, she had both hands holding the same sword that Ziel held.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Ziel and Sacred Demonel had a fierce sword fight in the sky. Their figures were nowhere to be seen, and only the sound of swords clashing and shockwaves could be heard from the impact of their attacks.
After several minutes of clashing their swords, Sacred Demonel and Ziel finally took some distance from each other. Ziel looks fine, while the Sacred Demonel has several slash marks on her body.
"I admit your sword skills are quite incredible. But I feel that your strength is not limited to that. Otherwise, that dragon will not lose to you." Sacred Demonel swung his black sword, and aura blades shot towards Ziel.
"Is that so?" Ziel narrowed his eyes because he felt that the sword created by the Sacred Demonel was not only a physical replica but also ability. He also swung his black sword at the Sacred Demonel.
[Orbit Slash]
The black aura blade sliced through the air and shot with terrifying speed towards the Sacred Demonel's attack. Their aura blade clashed, but Ziel's slash was superior and cut off his enemy's attacks.
[Sphere of Anihilation]
The dozens of black spheres shot towards Ziel simultaneously and rained down on him. The black spheres shattered anything it touched in its attack trajectory.
Ziel narrowed his eyes and dodged easily the black balls that came at him. Even though Ziel managed to avoid it, his sense of danger still rang loudly. Ziel suddenly moved his body to the right, and a sphere of light shot where he was before.
The spheres of black light that Ziel had managed to dodge turned around and attacked Ziel again. In contrast to the Sacred Demonel's attacks on Raphael and Azalia, which were straight lines, this sphere of light kept moving and chased Ziel until it hit the target.
Ziel swung his white sword. A gigantic space tear formed in front of him and devoured several spheres of light at once. He kept moving while dodging and slashing the other spheres of black light with his black sword.
While moving to avoid that attack, Ziel kept his eyes on the Sacred Demonel. He was wary of her next attack because this ball of black light was already troublesome for him. Ziel couldn't carelessly touch it. Otherwise, the part of his body that was touched by the sphere of black light would disappear instantly.
After Ziel managed to eliminate all the black spheres that came at him, a metal ball with gold engravings suddenly appeared above his head.
"This is..." Ziel looked up and frowned because he recognized the metal ball. It was the artifact that Raphael used against the Sacred Demonel, an angel golden orb.
Ziel quickly raised his black sword to the sky. But his movement had been locked by an invisible power, and a giant magic circle had appeared above him. On the other hand, the Sacred Demonel also looked up after feeling a power gathering in the sky. Dozen kilometers Clouds rotate and form a vortex. Behind the clouds, a chain of red lightning appeared dan locked her movement.
"Interesting. Let's see whose attack is stronger." Sacred Demonel said indifferently. Then brandishes her black sword.
[Divine Punishment]
[Fall]
[Heavenly Judgment]
[Fall]
Ziel's voice and Sacred Demonel's voice echoed and overlapped in the sky.