Everything's white and I can't feel anything. It stays that way for at least 30 seconds, and then everything goes back to normal.
"Huh?" I'm in a desert plain without my clothes.
"!!!".
"No way..." My mind quickly connects the dots, and the voice I hear just confirms everything.
"Sweetie, I finally found you! I never thought you'd be so good at hide-and-seek."
"B-Beelzebub..." My body trembles with fear as I see Beelzebub flying a few meters above me.
"You...destroyed everything?"
"Yes, I had to make sure you wouldn't run away."
This vast plain with no end was the city it evaporated completely. I didn't feel any pain from the attack because my body was 100% pulverized, leaving no room for pain.
Ironically, the collar withstood the attack and is now on me. Even the bracelet Uriel gave me was destroyed.
"U-Uriel!!!" The realization hits me soon after. Uriel was also in the city.
I calm down when I see him running towards me. He was probably protected by the sword in exchange for part of his life span, as he had mentioned before.
He soon reaches me and stands between me and Beelzebub. He also takes off the pendant to recover his magic, but my magic is low, which means Uriel's will be low too.
"Hero...don't interfere with this," Beelzebub says as he descends to the ground.
"I don't think so. If you want Ayla, you'll have to...!!!" Uriel quickly blocks a punch with his sword the movement was so ridiculously fast that I didn't see anything.
Uriel shows extreme difficulty and starts being pushed back by the punch.
"Heal, heal, heal, heal, heal, heal!" I start casting as much healing magic as I can on Uriel so he can at least recover the low magic he has.
"Well, well, it seems my kitten has gained a little courage... Was it because of the hero?"
"!!!"
"Sacred Barrier." Uriel uses magic to protect me. I see a fist approaching and stopping at the barrier. I could only see it when the blow stopped it would have literally blown my head off, as the impact of the punch destroyed the ground around it.
Uriel advances towards Beelzebub, who turns his attention back to him. This experience fills me with fear, but I have to help Uriel. He can't win alone without magic.
"Heal, heal, heal." The only thing I can do is apply healing magic. Fortunately, it has been strengthened and seems to be really helping Uriel recover his magic, albeit slowly.
"Stellar Slash." Uriel imbues the newly recovered magic into his sword and launches an attack. The attack travels what seems like miles, but even though it hits, it doesn't scratch Beelzebub.
"Is that all you've got, hero? What do you think you can do without magic?" Beelzebub is just toying around. He's better at magic than hand-to-hand combat, but he's practically not using any magic.
Their exchange of blows is absurd. I can only hear the sound and see the ground breaking in various places. It's impossible to see their movements. I continue to cast healing on Uriel, even without seeing, hoping to be useful.
Soon, an arm comes flying, catching me by surprise.
"U-Uriel, y-your arm!" They pause their movement for a moment, and I see Uriel missing an arm. Uriel doesn't seem to care, as if it's common for him to lose a limb.
"Heal..." Fortunately, my basic healing magic can regenerate his arm. I've never been so glad to have high magic stats before.
They resume their exchange of blows, and to try to help, I start carving runes into the stones on the ground. I know this will irritate Beelzebub, who seems to hate runes, but that's exactly what I want. If he gets irritated, he might get distracted, and maybe the thunder rune can even deal some damage.
Soon, a damn meteor starts falling where I am.
"...!!!" Uriel cuts the meteor into pieces, while another attack flies towards me, but it's blocked by the barrier. It seems Beelzebub really hated seeing me carving runes.
Uriel takes advantage of the change of targets to attack, and I use the thunder rune. I don't even know if I hit, but it might be useful.
"Ayla, can you use another one of those?" Uriel asks, as I can only hear him since I can't see them. Everything around is destroyed, like a battlefield, but I don't have time to let fear take over.
"Y-Yes, I can," I say to Uriel.
"Aim it over there," Uriel says, as a spot near me receives a sword cut.
"O-Okay." I pick up one of the stones I carved the thunder rune on and use it. Immediately, Uriel appears in the spot, surprising me.
Soon, his sword absorbs the lightning.
"Magic Amplification [Thunder]." Uriel uses a spell. It seems to be my thunder, but the electrical discharge is tremendously large, covering an area I can't see. The ground is smoking, and there are visible burn marks in some areas, indicating the ground received too much heat.
I soon see Beelzebub. It really worked he has minor injuries, but it's the first damage he's taken since the fight began.
"Ayla, do you have any other runes?" Uriel asks. Beelzebub then heals himself, but I had time to throw 3 trap runes to Uriel. They soon merge with his sword.
They return to that frenetic exchange of blows, but I feel it Beelzebub is clearly focused on me, and his anger can be felt. If I get caught, something horrible will surely happen.
I continue to heal Uriel. I'm glad Beelzebub underestimates Uriel, so at least he doesn't start spamming high-level magic. If he did that, we wouldn't stand a chance.
I don't have time to lament the thousands of lives lost in the city. We need to defeat Beelzebub or at least make him retreat.
"!!!" Beelzebub is caught off guard by a fire trap rune. He dodges far away, while I see a huge fire column the size of a skyscraper forming.
But as soon as he stepped on the ground of the area he dodged to, an earth rune is activated.
Massive earth spikes that can be called large structures form, and Beelzebub is hit. Soon, I see the spikes being destroyed, and Beelzebub has a hole in his stomach.
I never thought these runes would have so much power when used by Uriel.
"YOU BITCH!" For some reason, Beelzebub blames me entirely, although technically it really is my fault since the runes are mine.
I soon start carving more runes. Uriel's sword can kill Beelzebub, but it will be difficult for Uriel to land a hit when Beelzebub is clearly slower. However, with the help of the runes, it's possible.
Soon, Uriel coughs up blood.
"U-Uriel????".
"I'm fine, Ayla..." I soon notice the reason. The barrier disappeared for a moment and reappeared. I don't know how Uriel is doing it, but this barrier that protects me is clearly hurting Uriel.
I then hand several runes to Uriel. I never thought I'd be involved in a fight where the opponents use attacks that devastate cities it's simply insane.
The only thing that drives me and doesn't let fear take over is the adrenaline and the hope that Uriel can win.
Soon, Uriel combines all the runes into the sword, and the exchange of blows begins. Beelzebub is now slowly being pressured. He has already healed, but Beelzebub is not a fighter, but a mage, so fighting hand-to-hand with the hero is bad for him.
Furthermore, I never stop using healing, so Uriel is slowly recovering his magic and using it to enhance his abilities. The only thing that saves us is that Beelzebub doesn't admit he's having difficulty and start using magic. As long as he doesn't use magic, Uriel won't lose.
Soon, Uriel starts using the traps even in the air, as I see that fire column going forward instead of up. Fortunately, the runes are using my magic, so Uriel's magic consumption is reduced.
Although Uriel is pressuring Beelzebub, the damage Uriel receives is very severe. He has already sustained several serious injuries and lost his arms a few times, although I always heal him. This has started to drain my magic a lot. Even though it's basic magic, I'm still using it repeatedly, and the cost seems to increase depending on the severity of the injury. If Uriel doesn't end this soon, I'll be too exhausted to help.
"Damned hero." Beelzebub seems to have completely lost his composure with the repeated use of the runes. Now we're in trouble several disaster magic spells are being used.
I see several tornados, an earthquake occurring, it's raining fire, there's magma in various parts of the ground, and several meteors have fallen.
'This bastard is planning to screw up the entire continent?' Uriel uses the thunder runes to destroy the meteors and the fire runes to stop the tornados, but the fire rain, the magma, and the earthquake are things he can't undo with the runes I've made.
Soon, everything turns white again it's the same attack that pulverized the city. Now that I'm protected by the barrier, I realize how chilling this attack is.
"URIEL!" I scream for Uriel, who is out there. I just hope he's okay. I couldn't bear it if he died.