The entire group began to quake as the darkness that enveloped the surroundings dimmed, rendering Mai's light useless as nothing could be made out.
In an instant, the ground split open as they began falling into what seemed to be an endless abyss.
---
Time passed as their unconscious bodies finally woke up. Mia lay on top of Crimson, her Divine protection allowing her to avoid any injuries. As for Crimson, he was in a miserable state; the severity of his wounds could be compared to his skin being peeled off as if he had been cut by a million knives.
They both lay in a pool of crimson's blood as Mia panicked upon seeing the state of her love. Without hesitation, she chanted, calling upon the goddess of life to heal him.
She did it over and over again, her attempts lasting hours until she ran out of mana. All her efforts managed to cause Crimson to regain stable breaths and slow down his bleeding.
But knowing how the circumstances were, she knew there was no way she could save him. Hence, she started crying as she lay her head on his chest, not worried about the bloodstains since she was already covered in it.
"The omniscient being, grant me the power to see how I can survive."
Crimson muttered with a weak breath as his body radiated a glow once more.
He started to take in as much breath as he could through his mouth, his actions sucking in the abundant mana that filled the atmosphere.
His faint aura slightly intensified and dimmed, following the patterns of his breaths.
Mia didn't notice, as she was exhausted from using all her mana for the first time, also showing how weak his breaths were. She fell asleep after crying her eyes out while Crimson continued his actions.
Time passed as Mia woke up, finding herself lying alone in the blood pool. She immediately stood up, turning around to search for Crimson as tears welled up in her eyes once more.
Remembering that she had made a pact with him due to their engagement, she decided to use it to find him, calling upon the goddess of love to help her locate her spouse.
She followed the mental direction she received after chanting, tracing it through the woods to a nearby river, where she saw Crimson washing himself in it.
"Crim."
She said in amazement as she covered her mouth, trying to comprehend the unbelievable scene she had just witnessed. Crimson was fully healed, without more than a scratch on his body.
She rushed into the river and gave him a hug as she muttered,
"How's this possible?"
After their moments of affection, Crimson tried his best to narrate what happened to her. She was more than shocked, as she didn't know humans could collect mana from the surroundings like the creatures of the labyrinth.
This was because no information regarding the phenomenon had ever been recorded throughout the history of mankind.
"How did you know that... How did you know that would even work?"
She asked, staring directly into Crimson's eyes.
"My power..."
He replied, stopping as the sound of several explosions rang through the forest, black smoke appearing in the distance.
"Let's check it out."
He said, feeling an urge toward it.
After putting on his now-tattered uniform, they made their way east, in the direction of the smoke. Upon reaching close proximity, the sounds of two people talking could be heard.
Knowing it wouldn't be safe to let themselves get spotted, as there was a high probability the voices belonged to demons, they decided to hide in the woods, eavesdropping on the conversation.
"Hahahaha, exploding stuff is fun. Too bad we won't get to do it on humans for a while."
"You're always lusting over the pleasure of killing them. Now that we're on a break, take one as well, Gilbert."
"Yeah, you're right, but I don't think we'll have to wait until the demon lord has been reborn to get the chance to slice and dice some human flesh, am I right, Rice?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
The conversation ended in a second as Crimson realized they had been spotted. Knowing that demons capable of speech were rare and as dangerous as they came, he decided not to panic. Even though a fight couldn't be avoided, fleeing wasn't an option. They needed to keep their cool in order to win.
As Mai and Crimson hid behind two opposite trees, the demons appeared out of the blue. They bore humanoid features but had black skin, long sharp claws and tails, black eyes, and were clad in armor, both bearing weapons—a sword and an axe.
"Hmm, it's a pretty lady and a fine gentleman. What are such fine specimens like you doing in the demonic realm? Well, either way, they look like something I can slice up."
"You're right, brother."
The other said as they both drew out their weapons, each one targeting a prey.
"Goddess of protection, grant me your Divine shield."
Mia chanted right before the attack of the one wielding the axe could hit her.
"Boom!"
His axe exploded upon impact as the force threw her into the distance. She crashed, breaking through several trees before stopping. But due to her Divine protection, not even a scratch could be made out on her as she stood right back to her feet.
"Impressive. Being able to call upon the power of the gods themselves? Only demon generals can do that. You seem to be a special lady."
The demon said, a grin on his face as he walked toward Mia.
"Hey, Gilbert, if that one has any tricks up his sleeve, he would have pulled it out by now. This one might give us a problem. Finish him off quickly and come help me."
Rice said as a black aura started emanating from his body.
"Not while I still draw breath."
Mia exclaimed as she pulled out her sword.
"This'll be fun. Get ready to die, pretty boy."