Time seemed to slow down as Zach saw his life flash before his eyes, mixing with the approaching fist. A fraction of a second before the fist made contact with Zach's head, Zach's life in review caught up to the present.
Zach hurriedly activated his Blessed Defense in front of him.
Unlike the previous times when Zach activated his skill, the golden shield didn't come into existence as a dome around Zach. It was a limited rectangle slightly bigger than the fighter's fist.
Zach concentrated all of the defensive power of his skill into the smallest possible area.
The fighter's heavy fist crashed into the golden shield, smashing it to pieces. But the shield absorbed enough of the blow for Zach that the fist only sent him flying without turning him into a stain on the floor and walls.
"Ack!"
A splatter of blood escaped Zach's mouth as he flew.
He hadn't died instantly, but the hit had still left him with serious injuries, both internal and external.
Yanael blanked when she saw it. It was her turn to have time around her slow down as she watched Zach's body sail through the air before landing with a bounce and coming to an absolute halt. Zach's body wasn't moving.
Yanael froze, but the grip on her weapon and shield tightened until her knuckles were bone-white. Her teeth ground against each other as her jaws locked tight.
In the beginning, Yanael hadn't thought much. She had been summoned. That was what her existence was. Naturally, she was loyal to her master. That much was basic.
What her master would do with her after summoning could alter that loyalty. Zach's initial impression on Yanael had been strange.
But it didn't take long for her to grow fond of that strangeness and see through it for the caring and thoughtful person Zach was. He didn't ask for anything twice if she had already given an answer, whether he was satisfied with the answer or not. Even if it was an answer he wanted but couldn't understand, he thought until he did understand.
He made sure Yanael was never bored but didn't overwork her. He treated her as more part of his family than a lesser being brought into existence only for his convenience. He respected her.
Yanael didn't know what would happen to her if Zach died. Would she cease to exist entirely? Would she fade into darkness until another summoned her again? Would she remain as she were, a servant without its master? A disgrace?
She didn't care.
The answer to that question didn't matter.
It didn't matter because Zach wasn't going to die.
Yanael would make sure of it.
Heat like lava flowed from Yanael's heart as she broke free from the slowed time and began moving while the world remained still.
The boiling energy inside Yanael coursed through her veins like a raging river before bursting out.
Golden light filled the room for less than an instant before returning to Yanael.
Her halo was fully restored and shone even brighter than when she saved Zach from the chandelier. Both her wings were fully extended and one of them brushed against the wall, leaving behind a deep scar.
The iron straightjacket had turned to splinters lodged in her surroundings, regardless of material. The fighters, floor, ceiling, and walls carried the traces of an unforgivable crime.
The straightjacket had obstructed and crinkled Yanael's maid uniform.
The shackles around her ankles received a similar punishment for the crime of touching Yanael.
Unfortunately, Yanael's weapons were still tattered, but they wouldn't remain that way forever.
With a fierce expression, wildly unbefitting of Yanael's position as a calm, benevolent, and beautiful maid, Yanael raised and swung her sword.
Time caught up as Yanael's sword stopped at the end of its arc and a yellow line lingered in the air. As the faint proof of Yanael's slash faded, the heads of all the fighters around her fell in a pile in the middle of the encirclement, where Yanael had been standing a moment ago.
Now, she was already next to the fighters around Zach's body. Only one of them received a fate different from its comrades.
The one who struck Zach wasn't beheaded.
Yanael's sword flashed dozens of times.
At the end of the light show, the fighter was nothing more than a pile of diced meat and bone on the floor.
Yanael spat on it, disgusted and filled with loathing toward the lousy creature that harmed her master.
With the fighters dead and the threats gone, Yanale turned to Zach.
"Master!"
She knelt and grabbed both sides of Zach's face to get a better look at his condition.
Zach's eyes remained closed, but his lips moved slightly.
Yanael leaned in closer to hear what he was saying. It could be his last words, after all.
Instead, Zach went for the kiss.
Yanael dropped his head back on the floor and stood up to free the Sentinel and check on the Mannequin.
"Sorry, I thought we had a moment."
"What was that?"
"I thought we had a moment."
"What?"
"I thought—"
"What?"
"I—"
"What?"
"Nothing."
"That's what I thought."
With the Sentinel out of its chains and the Mannequin on its feet somehow, Zach and the familiars stood in front of the floating and rotating lump of what looked like polished dirt.
"Anyone know what it is?"
Zach looked at the mute Mannequin and silent-as-stone Sentinel. They didn't say anything.
He turned to Yanael.
"Not quite. But if you don't mind, Master, I want to take it."
"Go right ahead."
Yanael stepped onto the stone ring around the pool and reached out to grab the orb. As soon as she touched it, it fell into the pool with a splash and a worrying crack.
Zach's eyes widened as a shower of mud tainted with black streaks splashed against his Blessed Defense. Yanael's empty hands were still holding the air as she looked at the orb at the center of the pool.
It had split in half.
The Sentinel, which had swiftly avoided being splatter flew over next to Yanael and pointed at one half and then at itself.
"...Sure. I don't think I can use both halves."
The Sentinel didn't hesitate and immediately flew down to the half it chose and touched it. Like a mirage, the orb melted into the Sentinel's body.
Yanael sighed before summoning her sword. She raised it over her head with both hands. She even summoned her halo and wings again so she could unleash her full power.
After taking a deep breath, she brought it down.