On that day for the first time in centuries, the roars of fighting soldiers echoed across the once desolated place.
Leading those people was Zack Yorn.
He and the majority of his small elite troupe were charging at the demon Martha.
"..."
Meanwhile, Mika stood behind and observed the situation for now.
Naturally, he wanted to help, but he had to use his time efficiently due to his restrictions.
It would be reckless for him to rush at the enemies with Excalibur from the get-go without even knowing what their demonic gifts actually were.
"So I have to deal with you, huh?"
Barnt appeared quite excited at the thought of fighting Wendy and Ophelia.
"We have to split them up first, Wendy." Ophelia voiced her opinion.
"Got it!"
Thus, the two also initiated their first move.
They headed to the eastern side of the fortress.
"Hm? Are you running away?"
Barnt tilted his head.
He then looked at Martha, who was focused on what was in front of her and looked back at Wendy and Ophelia.
He shook his head and grinned.
"No need to worry about her." he said to himself before he went after the two.
A few people from the troupe also decided to go after Wendy and Ophelia to offer their support.
"They should be able to handle him. After all, they have two S ranks." Mika muttered as his gaze was still directed at them.
Turning back to Zack, he made up his mind.
"Let's see and wait for what she can do."
But as of now, she did not show anything yet.
With a mocking grin on her face, she evaded the magic attacks from dozens of people.
Based on that feat alone, it could be assumed that she was at least a high B-rank demon.
Even Zack, who was catapulting sharp and large rocks at her, did not manage to leave as much as a scratch on her.
"Tch..." he clicked his tongue.
Just like Mika, he also waited for her to show her abilities.
"Try dodging this!"
An A-rank wind mage levitated into the air and with a chop-like movement he launched a wind slash at Martha.
"..."
Not impressed by that, she dodged that attack with minimal movement.
After that, she appeared right in front of him and choked him with her right hand.
"Hrngg!"
"Now let the real fun get started..." she muttered excitedly.
She ripped off the eye patch on her right eye, revealing a black eye, which was typical for demons.
But in that eye, there was a purple circle amidst the black.
And when the struggling wind mage looked into her right eye, the circle started to glow.
Following that, he stopped struggling.
Martha threw him with ease back to the ground.
Fortunately, other group members caught him before he got slammed into the ground.
"Hey! Are you okay?" the one who caught him asked concerned.
"Kill them." Martha said with a sadistic expression.
The next thing everyone heard was a splashing sound.
"!?"
Blood poured down on those, who stood nearby.
"H-hey..."
Many were bewildered by the scene.
"M-m-my body...?!"
The wind mage was even more confused.
Having no control over his body, he pierced through the chest of the one, who helped him.
"Blergh..."
The one, he attacked, was puking out a great amount of thick blood.
It did not take long until he finally collapsed.
Meanwhile, the wind mage was trembling all over his body and grabbed his head.
Due to one of his hands being completely smeared with blood, one half of his face started to get drowned in red.
"Just what are you doing?!"
Another one grabbed him by the shoulder.
"I-I-I don't know...! M-my body moved on its own...!"
"Huh?"
Martha's grin widened.
"Kill." she said bluntly.
And in that moment, the mage used a wind slash to chop off his comrade's head.
"N-no...! S-stop it... Stop me...!"
Tears started to form in his eyes.
Enraged, Zack faced Martha.
"What did you do?!"
Despite the calmness in his voice, he was filled with wrath.
"Kill." she said again, ignoring Zack.
Everyone distanced themselves from the suspicious mage and formed a circle around him.
The mage, however, reluctantly moved to the next person and was about to attack him.
"P-please, stop...!" he begged wailing.
Then, someone charged at him from the side.
"Forgive me..." that person said regretfully.
And with a swift sword strike, the mage was beheaded.
"Mr. Retyr..."
Standing in the middle now was Gustav Retyr, a magic knight, Mika met at the borders.
He swung his sword again to get rid of the blood.
"What a vile ability..." Gustav remarked silently in disgust without his typical contagious smile.
Zack looked at Gustav for a second.
But that distraction was enough to make Martha disappear from his sight.
She appeared right behind a random combatant and tapped that person on the shoulder.
"?"
This time it was a woman.
She reflexively turned around only to be met with Martha's eyes.
The circle in Martha's right eye glowed again.
In the meantime, Wendy and Ophelia successfully lured Barnt away from Martha.
"So this was your goal, huh?" Barnt said indifferently as he descended to the ground.
Everybody was on edge.
"Did you really think that splitting us up would be beneficial to you?"
He began to chuckle.
"But too bad, haha!"
He could not hold his laughter in anymore.
Ophelia remained stern.
"Now I can finally go all out without having to worry about accidentally hitting her!" Barnt stated.
When he touched the ground, the earth beneath them instantly turned black with dark particles emitting from that black ground.
"!"
"Everybody, jump!" Ophelia shouted.
Just in time, most of them jumped away and landed on the ground.
When they looked beneath them, they saw how black tentacle-like things sprouted from the ground trying to wrap themselves around their legs.
"That was close..." Wendy muttered still tensed up.
She looked at the members at her side.
It was at that moment when she realized that not everyone was able to escape.
"Ahhh! N-no, help me!" one of the support unit screamed.
The black tentacles got him and pulled him down again.
"Damn it!"
Ophelia aimed her hand palm at Barnt and shot off a lightning strike.
But Barnt stretched his arms toward the attack.
Darkness started to engulf his entire arms.
And when the lighting struck him, nothing happened to him.
Instead of dealing damage to him, the attack was seemingly absorbed by his arms.
"What was that...?"
Ophelia confusingly stared at Barnt, who was grinning.
"H-help...!"
At the same time, their comrade was now lying on the ground struggling to get up.
"I-is it consuming him...?"
The others could only helplessly watch as their teammate got swallowed by the ground.
"So you're a B-rank, I suppose. No wonder I could eat you so easily." Barnt stated disappointed.
Ophelia gritted her teeth.
"Wend-"
"Is it my turn now?" Barnt said interrupting Ophelia's thoughts.
He created a black sphere in a nick of a second and threw it to Ophelia and the others.
"I have a bad feeling... Jump as far away as possible!" she shouted in panic.
And when the black sphere was almost reaching them, it expanded.
From afar, it looked like a black explosion.
However, no dust was thrown into the air nor was there any sound.
"..."
Ophelia, Wendy and two others managed to evade it.
"Aaargh! M-my legs!"
"!"
They turned their attention to their wounded comrade.
Lying on the ground was a woman, who tightly held onto her thighs.
"..."
She continued to scream, whereas the others watched anxiously.
The massive amount of blood created a small puddle.
And said blood all poured out from her wounds.
"Your..."
Her legs were gone.
Only a short amount of time passed since the battles broke out, but as of now, it seemed dire.
While Barnt and Martha remained unscathed, Mika and the others already had to deal with a few casualties.
"Maybe it's time for me to join them..." Ray Taker muttered as he witnessed Barnt's gigantic black explosion from the carriages.
"But Mr. Yorn ordered us to stay here." one of his comrades argued nervously.
Currently, Ray and two others were stationed there and watched over the rescued students and
Judi, who still remained in her carriage.
"Sorry, but I can't shake off that weird feeling from earlier...." Ray said with his gaze directed to the front.
"I know, right? Those demons still give me the shivers." one of his comrades agreed, while he was checking with the other one for any injuries on the students.
"It shouldn't be possible for them to be here..." Ray uttered.
"Hm? Isn't their origin still unknown to us?"
"I hope that they won't touch him for now..."
"R-Ray...?"
Ray faced his two comrades and smiled apologetically.
He went on and lifted the unconscious Gerad up and carried him in his arms.
"I guess, my patience has reached its limits."