"Why did you do this, priestess?"
The beautiful girl who stood on the other side of the street looked at Shin with a glare so deadly it could've killed an elephant. Her shiny black hair was gathered into a long ponytail. She wore a set of traditional white and red priestess clothing, a golden pin shaped like a flower on her collar, and had no visible weapons save for a pair of paper talismans in her hand.
And for some reason, she wore a pair of fake cat ears on her head.
Shin blinked and made a double take. Yes, those were cat ears. In the original story he wrote, called "Death of Saints", the priestess definitely didn't wear anything like that.
'Boss!' Tetsu called out from several meters back. 'Just you wait, I'm going to break that barrier!'
From their connection, Shin knew she hadn't finished eating Mihara's soul yet. He frowned slightly.
'Stay back until you are done with Mihara's soul, unless I'm really in danger. We don't know yet who this person is, what she can or what she wants.'
'But that magic, boss… I will eat quickly, then!'
The priestess clenched her teeth.
"You are despicable!" the girl spat out, pointing at him with free hand. Her cheeks reddened. "I, Ara Jun, will stop you! R-really! Your actions are s-so, um… so disgusting t-that I can… I don't… your guilt is… ugh."
Jun fell silent. She was as red as a tomato now, and not meeting Shin's eyes at all.
He couldn't contain his wince. Jun's looks, her words…
"Were you some chuunibyou high schooler in the real world?" Shin asked, both to buy Tetsu time and to test the waters. "Who in their right mind wears cat ears outside? And are you trying to be righteous by saving a demon? They eat people, don't you know?"
Jun somehow reddened even more, but then glanced behind Shin and changed color to the curious mix of red and green. When she looked back at Shin, her eyes were cold despite the color of her skin.
"Just die. Sarara!"
A demon that emerged from the priestess's body looked like someone wearing hooded white robes that hid every centimeter of its skin. The symbols of the demon's true name written on those robes were three full Verses and one Line long.
It was one Line longer than Tetsu's true name, and only three Lines short of four full Verses. And although a Line wasn't much, in an one-on-one fight it still meant that Sarara was stronger.
Without questions, the white-robed demon moved toward Shin.
"Boss! I will protect you from these interlopers," Tetsu shouted. In an instant, she stood between Shin and Sarara, blocking the demon's way.
From the pleasure and power filling her, Shin knew that she had finished eating. There was still blood running down her lips, and it seemed to anger Jun even more.
She lifted her talismans and threw one at Tetsu.
Shin acted. He raised his leg, kicking the surrounding barrier with demon-enhanced strength. The spell bent and cracked, and looked ready to break with one more kick.
But there was no time for one more kick.
Jun's second talisman almost reached Tetsu.
"Talisman: Sealing Barrier!" the priestess shouted.
In response, Tetsu grinned and brandished her claws. With two rapid swings, she tore the paper talisman into pieces, breaking its magic before it even activated.
"Take this, talisman!" she exclaimed gleefully.
Shin kicked the barrier another time, and it shattered. It couldn't have had much more power than one Verse.
Jun gasped, stumbling back, but her demon was still there.
"Don't be so happy," it said darkly and outstretched its long sleeves towards Tetsu. "Wipe that smile off your face."
A gust of cold and a wave of killing intent hit Shin in the face. Ice covered the ground around Sarara and rapidly spread towards Tetsu. In a blink of an eye, it reached her feet.
Then it went towards Shin, and he had to jump back before he was frozen to the ground, too. The line of ice ended only a meter away from where he landed.
The stretch of ice stopped about ten meters away from Sarara. Was that the demon's maximum range?
Shin glanced at Tetsu and smiled. One Line of advantage didn't mean anything if those weak barriers and some frost was the best enemy could offer.
'Tetsu, let's destroy those two,' Shin said, dashing towards her.
He didn't even need to tell her the rest of the plan.
'Sure thing, partner! They won't stand a chance against us both!'
Sarara moved forward, sending another wave of ice toward Tetsu.
Before it could reach her, the demoness grinned and jumped out of the icy trap around her feet. All that was left on the ground were the metal "boots" she wore.
With a graceful somersault, Tetsu landed right next to Shin.
"No! Talisman!" Jun shouted, throwing her last talisman at them, but she was too slow.
Shin and Tetsu slammed into each other, merging into one. Each time, it was a bit faster and less uncomfortable.
They finished merging at the same time as the glowing magical wall of a sealing barrier appeared around them.
Sarara lifted a hand, sending a narrower, faster wave of ice at them. Inside the barrier, Shin had nowhere to dodge.
Shin smiled and smashed his fist into it, shattering the magic with a single blow.
"This won't even slow me down! We are unstoppable together!" he shouted, leaping out through the cloud of evaporating barrier shards. "You should have never attacked us!"