"No. Don't kill him."
Alisa's order made me look at her with wide, confused eyes.
'No, don't tell me she's going to forgive him. That kind of development always-'
"I want to kill him myself."
My eyes widen even more at her declaration. Elien's eyes were also filled with astonishment, with a hint of worrisome.
I continued to look at Alisa, and the more I looked, the more determined she got.
But I knew she was too weak to fight against that thing, and she most likely knew too.
"I'm sorry, but you can't."
She must have expected this response since the look on her face didn't change.
"I know. But with your help, I can do it. I do have your blessing, after all."
'Ah. That right... but what can I even do with that blessing?'
[Would you like to see the new features?]
"Yes."
[1. Continue to watch your avatar.]
[2. Bestow one of your skills to your avatar.]
[3. Improve the growth of your avatar.]
[4. Temporarily boost your avatar's stats.]
[5. Remove your blessing from your avatar.]
Once I read through all the options, I looked at Alisa, who also seemed to read the five options.
Knowing she could do something now, she looked at me with even more determination.
"Fine. But I'll step in if anything goes wrong."
It was hard to refuse such determination.
I chose the fourth option, and something else new popped up.
[Alisa Age: 16 Sex: Female
-Strength Lv.1 -> Lv.01
-Stamina Lv.1 -> Lv.01
-Magic Power Lv.1 -> Lv.01
-Agility Lv.1 -> Lv.01
-Endurance Lv.1 -> Lv.01
-Dexterity Lv.1 -> Lv.01
Current Power Level: 12
Time Limit:--]
I immediately increased everything, and eventually, all the stats stopped at 50.
But even with all the stats' boost...
[...Current Power Level: 300...]
'Huh? Why is it so low?'
I was about to give the bad news to Alisa until I thought of a resolution.
I picked the third option and once again raised the stats to their limit, and the result was far better than I thought.
[-Current Power Level: 3600-]
Alisa's power would rise considerably, but she was still far weaker than the Demon, and another factor could affect her.
[-Time Limit: 1:30]
'A minute and 30 seconds.'
I looked at the time limit for a while before sighing.
"Alright. Alisa, listen to me. What you are going to receive is only temporary."
Alisa nodded and asked me a question.
"For how long?"
"A minute and 30 seconds. So the moment I release this barrier, you have to use all the time you have. Of course, if you are unable to finish, then I will-"
"Don't say that."
"R-Right. Anyway, before you go, let me give you this."
Alisa tilted her head in confusion before something she and Elien didn't expect.
Suddenly, five small spheres shaped of light manifested in the air: two white, one blue, and two golden were now circling Alisa and entering her body one by one.
At first, she was startled by the lights, but after they entered, she knew it was my gift.
She must have gotten a system message from it.
[You have bestowed five skills to your avatar.]
[You have reached the limit to bestowing your avatar skills.]
[Limit will reset in 14 days.]
The skills that I gave her were -Condylostylus Reflexes-, -Earth Swordsmanship-, -Advanced Magic Barrier-, -Holy Heal-, and -Divine Weapon Aura-.
But I still had one more thing for her.
I looked below me and spotted something shiny poking out of the ground. I pulled out the item, which turned out to be a steel spoon, and then activated my skill.
[-Materialization- has been activated!]
The steel spoon that I was holding began to break down from its original form but grew bigger in steel as tiny sparks appeared, and it was now transforming into that of a sword.
Both Alisa and Elien were looking at the new spectacle with curious eyes.
The sword was now complete with its sharp, thin, long blade, and since I had my leather shoes on, I added a bit of its material for the handle.
I handed the sword over to Alisa, which she gladly accepted and admired the sword in her hands.
"Alright, you're set."
Alisa nodded and prepared herself.
I looked over to the Demon, named Regla, and all he was doing was standing still while giving us a scary glare.
He must have seen the lights and my sword creation but couldn't hear anything due to the effects of my barrier.
I took one deep breath in and then out before saying one word.
"Now."
At my word, I deactivated the barrier and applied the boost to Alisa.
Without wasting a single second, Alisa, with her new power, quickly closed the distance between her and the Demon Regla and slashed at him.
"...!"
Regla was able to move out of the way of Alisa's slash but was still startled by the fast attack.
With the first attack not landing, Alisa continued her attacks with eyes that carried hate. Regla continued to dodge the attacks but had to put some effort into it.
That was until one attack managed to cut him in the thigh and spew out black blood.
'How?! What kind of swordsmanship is this?!'
The swordsmanship Alisa was showing to him confused Regla. It was completely alien to him.
"Ahh!"
Unable to take it anymore, Regla activated his skill -Blood Reinforcement- to create a pair of blood claws on both hands and fling his hand towards Alisa's neck.
It was an attack that would have landed, but then one of Alisa's new skills kicked in just in time. Something that even Alisa didn't purposely activate.
Just as the claws filled with blood were about to come in contact, Alisa's upper body instantly backed away and avoided the attack because of the skill -Condylostylus Reflexes- that made it so that she instinctively moved out of the way.
Alisa thought little of it and kept her sights on Regla, who was now open to an attack.
Not wanting to lose this chance, Alisa gripped her sword with both hands and activated another skill.
The blade of the sword, stained with a bit of black blood, shone a bright golden light that disintegrated the blood.
-Divine Weapon Aura-
Regla took notice of the golden light from the sword and gave a frightened look as the blade was now coming at him fast.
Then the sound of flesh being cut was heard.
"Urk...!!"
Although Alisa's attack landed, it could only cut halfway through Regla's left forearm.
Just before the attack landed, Regla had activated two skills to protect himself, -Blood Reinforcement- to create armor made of blood on his forearm and -Demonic Barrier- for a small red barrier just above the armor.
But Alisa's sword easily shattered the Barrier and armor, which only moderately slowed down the sword's momentum.
"Argh!!"
Even if Alisa didn't cut what she wanted, the amount of damage it was doing to Regla surprised her, or rather the element associated was doing the damage.
The golden light, the divine element, looked like it was engraving itself into Regla's arm.
"Enough of this!!"
Below the bloody arm, Regla's palm was in Alisa's view and was carrying a handful of red magic aimed at Alisa, which he released the next second.
It was an even bigger blast than before, covering Alisa in a red beam of magic.
"Alisa!!"
Elien cried out as she saw what had just happened.
On the other hand, Allos was standing completely still and watching the battle with a calm face.
The magic beam had lasted longer than before and caused much more damage to the village and the forest. Then it died out again, debris and dirt filling the area.
In the middle of the debris was Regla, who was clutching his arm, still agonizing from the golden light. Not wanting to feel the pain of the divine element anymore, Regla tightened the grip of his left forearm with a pained expression until the sound of flesh being ripped resounded, followed by a scream of pain.
"Argh!!"
Regla ripped his forearm off, spewing out a considerable amount of black blood.
As the debris cleared up, Regla spotted three individuals lying on the ground he had only met just a while ago and rushed towards them.
Perhaps he was desperate to get closer to the three since he didn't notice the shadow in the debris on his left approaching him.
From the debris, a sword still covered in a golden light poked out and stabbed deep into Regla's abdomen, causing a huge reaction from him.
"Ack!! How... How are you still alive!!?"
He shifted his gaze to the visible Alisa. Her clothes were ragged, and her face and some parts of her body were covered in burn marks.
But those burn marks slowly healed with a different kind of golden light.
"Argh!! Ack!!"
Excruciating pain filled Regla's whole body as he coughed up blood and lost blood from his side.
Some of that blood even got on Alisa's angry face.
With all her strength, Alisa forced the blade deeper into Regla's body.
With his gaze still on Alisa, Regla tried to use the same tactic he had just done and aimed his palm at Alisa, but as magic started forming, it stopped and only made a red magic ball the size of a peanut. Regla had used almost all of his magic power.
'Why won't anymore come out?!'
Regla was confused about why his magic had depleted. He knew better than anyone that he had more magic in him, but for some reason, that magic had disappeared.
No, it wasn't just that. Ever since the start of the fight, he felt weaker in strength, speed, magic, defense, and stamina.
Was it because of the divine element? The divine element was a Demon's worst enemy. Not only did it have a great effect against Demons but had a special ability to raise a person's power when against the demonic power.
This was Regla's first time against the element, and he only knew about what it does from another Demon.
But that effect doesn't lower a Demon's capabilities.
So why did he-?
As Regla tried to find the answer to his problem, he suddenly sensed a stare.
He shifted his gaze to a particular person—a person who had kicked him before the fight.
And once he saw the person's expression change when their eyes met, he found the answer to his question.
Allos was smiling at Regla, showing his human teeth like he was praising Regla for finally realizing what had happened to him.
Before the fight began, Allos had used -Debuff- on Regla, decreasing his overall stats.
"Ack!!"
More blood came out of Regla's mouth as Alisa continued to push the blade deeper into his abdomen. The critical attack made Regla's whole body feel weak.
The divine element, the decrease in abilities, and the potential threat of a stronger enemy made Regla feel something that he had never felt before...
Dread.
'Is this... fear...? Am I feeling fear?! Me, who the Demon King of Dread chose!??'
Anger rose within Regla over the fact that he was feeling fear because of a human.
With no more option left, Regla shouted towards the sky.
"Laio!! Where the hell are you?!!"
The next moment, electrifying black magic appeared meters above Regla and Alisa. The black magic then started to materialize a person.
"Get your dirty hands off the great-!!"
The materialized Demon was headed towards Alisa in the sky, but suddenly a black flame swept the sky and covered the new Demon.
In mere seconds, Regla and Alisa watched as the black flames completely disintegrated the Demon.
The one most shocked at the spectacle was Regla, as he switched his gaze again to Allos, whose arm was covered in the same flame.
'Ah...'
"Ahhh!!"
Alisa shook off the shock and lifted her sword from Regla's abdomen. Resulting in a deep wound that covered Regla's upper body.
"I will not die..."
Blood spewed out, and Regla's body collapsed onto the ground.
[Time limit:00:04]
Alisa's four seconds of power went by, and once it was over, she felt a considerable amount of fatigue and fell to her knees.
I saw Alisa fall down and quickly ran to her. Followed by Elien.
Once beside her, I placed my hand on her and transferred the correct amount of magic power into her body while also using -Holy Heal-. Although it seemed that it was too much on her mind as she was asleep.
"Is Alisa going to be all right?"
"Yes. She just needs some sleep. Could you please take her with you back to the gate?"
"Yeah, I can, but what will you do?"
I turned my head towards the other three injured men and landed my eyes on Regla's body.
"I will help those three and meet you guys back."
Elien nodded and carried Alisa toward the back entrance.
I got up from my spot, headed towards the three men, and used -Holy Heal- on them.
I then walked towards Regla's body. I got down and grabbed him by his hair, and lifted his head to see his face. It looked like a dead man. But my senses told me otherwise.
***
'I will not die...'
"Dammit! I can't believe I had to use this against a human!"
In the forest was a small red flame with a voice coming out of it.
"I need time to heal. And once I am back to full strength, I will kill every human in that village! Especially her!"
"Who are you going to kill?"
The flame wavered as a new voice approached it.
"You-You! Who the hell are you!!"
"Me? The same as you."
The being who looked human suddenly changed his appearance.
Sharp teeth, white strands of hair, pale skin, two horns, one purple and one black eye, pitch black scleras, and a pair of black feathered wings.
"You were a-"
"That's right. I am also a Demon."
"Then why?! Why did you protect those humans!!"
"Why?"
The person gave a sinister grin.
"So that you can feel the greatest despair ever."
The red flame then wavered more as if it was angry.
"Anyway, I'm running out of time. Let's end this, shall we?"
The person walked towards the flame.
"No! Stop! Don't get any closer!!"
The person got down and hovered his hand above the flame with the same grin from before.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure to make painful as possible."
Chapter 5: Worst Species-Pt.2(End)