A bull faced demonic beast tries to kill Koari who kept concentrating on her spell, fully trusting her boyfriend.
DOPAWW!! DOPAWW!! DOPAWW!! DOPAWW!!
Hagime reveals himself with multiple gun shots, killing twelve magical beasts along with some concealed ones blocking the rear of the Hero party.
"What's that those horrible sounds?"
"Who's that...?!"
Not trying to waste time by talking nonsense in battle, Hagime skillfully deals with the monsters by making sure a single electromagnetic accelerated bullet kills at least four demonic beasts including the ones concealed by the Chimera's [Camouflage] skill.
And he did so very cunningly. He tried to trick the demons into thinking it's a coincidence by eluding strikes from the visible monsters and only firing when they align with the concealed ones.
Seeing how this unknown individual was rapidly decimating some of the strong beasts in the rear, the demon stayed where he was as his only objective was the protection of the Cattleya.
By the time he had released all his rounds, the monsters blocking their retreat were done for and the smell of blood permeated the entire space due to the unnatural ways they were killed. Aside from a sword slash or a blast from a magician, a single railgun bullet can create a high pressured spray of blood, not talking about it passing through multiple beasts before coming to a stop in the wall of the labyrinth.
"If you don't want to die! Stop gawking and move to the back!!"
Hagime's shout brought the heroes out of their reverie and they quickly take their wounded with them to the retreat route. They could have escaped out but any more movements and Meld might not make it, meaning they could only trust this stranger with their survival while Koari tries to keep him alive.
Why didn't Hagime give Meld a Sacred water, you ask?
Because he brought enough for him and Koari only. If by some unpredicted event and Koari or he gets injured, he will need it, so until the threat is neutralized Meld stays the same.
"You're very strong and those eyes... ...but can you take on a multitude of demonic beasts and Achtod without your weird projectile device?"
Cattleya spoke with confidence to Hagime who now faced them with Donner and Schlagen in their holster.
"So I'm guessing you'd stay and bet on the odd chance that I depend on my weaponry and have no real strength?"
"There is no betting. We've been given a mission that I intend on completing as not to bring 'Him' shame---" "Lady Cattleya!!?"
"That's final... and Mikhail will understand... " "... ..."
"He must be charismatic... Very well"
As someone well adept in warfare, Cattleya didn't make an amateur mistake of underestimating her opponents in battle. Even if she wasn't sure whether it was pure coincidence or not, she revealed all her demonic beasts hiding with the Chimera's skill. The question earlier was only to gauge the opponent's confidence and put up a strong front in retaliation.
'She didn't fall for it eh?... not that it matters it was a game to see if I had the capabilities for intrigue'
There was no signal to start fighting, whoever moved first either had the advantage in momentum or was eager to die at the spear that awaited them. But as mindless beasts and the strongest in this current location, they didn't worry about such trivialities and moved to kill, the one to die was meant to die as simple as that– it's was War.
Reloading his guns in the middle of such a confrontation would be the biggest mistake Hagime could think of, so he made sure he would kill or incapacitate the beasts in two strikes of his fists at most.
After dealing with the demonic beasts that could only wield huge clubs and maces, Hagime leaps to the height of the Labyrinth's ceiling and with a loud clap squashed the flying monster healing beasts who were incapacitated.
Immediately he lands, he turns to his left; holds the jaws of a monster that appeared out of nowhere.
"You took the bait even with your lousy concealment skill" said Hagime who was perfectly holding up the bite force of the Chimera which can be estimated to be around 55,000 PSI. Seeing no need to be in a standstill with a weak monster, Hagime exerts a little strength and tore the monster in half all the way through it's snake tail.
Hagime then spies from the corner of his eye to see Achtod rushing with full force. Not rushing ahead to meet it, Achtod's right fist met Hagime's right fist and the results was a massive shock wave and Hagime being pushed back a centimeter.
Hagime being surprised with the outcome since this couldn't be contributed to built-up momentum, decided to satisfy his curiosity this once since it was the only monster left to obstruct him. He throws another punch with his left to which Achtod response in kind producing more shocks to the extent of the Hero party and Demons being affected.
"S-so strong... who is he?"
"That's Hagime" said Koari in relief with the fact that she wouldn't need to hide it anymore.
"Hagime...??!"
"That can't be! Hagime died, we all saw!!... he has to be an imposte--"
"Pipe down, you idiot! We're not in the clear yet"
Nagayama shuts him up so that the rest can stay cool headed and on guard. He and Shizuku seemed to be the only ones realizing that they are now Commonplace in comparison to this level of battle, that is if the strong dude is really Hagime.
After exchanging exactly 50 blows in quick succession for 5secs that the heroes and Demons only saw blur streaks that continued to produce shockwaves, Hagime was pushed back about 10cm while it was pushed only 5cm.
'From my observation of its confrontation with Kouki and now, it's confirmed that it's Special magic excels in blunt strike force which somehow boosts it's own strike force'
While Hagime was in thought, Achtod launched it's right fist at his head but missed when Hagime instinctively pivets to his left, appears to it's back. Without hesitation he stabs it's back it his metallic arm and proceeds to rip it's spine from its body.
He then moves to his immediate right, forward, left and then leaps to evade an intermediate rank fire spells fired by the demon dude.
"Dammit... he's too fast!" shouted the demon dude in frustration of Hagime using [Air Walk] and [Flicker] to evade his spells but somehow remained coolheaded when remembers his role.
While in constant movement, Hagime looks forward and deduces what's happening. Cattleya was chanting what looked like an Advanced rank spell which honestly was giving him the gebes.
Hagime decides to execute a technique Ken liked to use very much during their stay in the abyss. He used [Sonic Speed] to close the distance in a zigzag movement and then vanished from the demon's sight.
"!!?... Kuhhk!"
Before the demon could find him, he found himself choking midair but soon died from a slight twist in the neck. Wasting no time, Hagime makes Cattleya hurl with his fist in her Solar plexus which did the job of stopping her chanting but she vomited blood, not from Hagime's punch but a backlash from being unable to complete the spellcasting of an Advance rank magic.
A little surprised thinking his little punch could produce such a dramatic effect, Hagime let's her cough a good amount before lifting her for questioning.
"Why are you really here? Demoness"
"... ...Its Cattleya and I was here to recruit the Hero party to our side but they're really unpredictable that's why I tried to kill them"
Hagime backhands her in the face for her obvious lies before speaking his thoughts.
"Really? So you aren't here for the Ancient magic in Oscar's Abode?"
"H-how?... you're also here for same reason!"
"No but have already been there. From my observation, that demon is a subordinate of your lover, Mikhail and you all serve the guy who has conquered one of the Great Labyrinths, right?"
"... ..."
"He is only here as your cannon fodder and also to command more beasts to conquer Oscar's Labyrinth... No comments eh"
"Just know 'He' won't let someone like you live to spoil the grand plan!"
"I look forward to meeting him... you've done well now die" said Hagime who takes some bullets from his person and reloads.
"Thank you..." knowing very well this is mercy compared to what the Church or the Kingdom will grant her.
"Noo!! She has **DOPAWW**--surrendered..."
"There's no need for prisoners of war" said Hagime before Ken arrives and loots Achtod, Chimera and Abund's flesh.
Ken was inwardly thankful of Hagime's presence here because they would have been late to the rescue if the Hero party had to survive fighting two demons and twice the beasts in this timeline.