The Main Battlefield

Blake is pissed the hell off as he sends pillar after pillar of black flames straight at the masses of demons down in the snowy plains below him and the rest of the spell-casters of the Human Army. He’s pissed because not only did his game friend in Hunter XI vanish several months back, leaving him to fend for himself again in the game and making him struggle to bring back the guild they had made to power after their loss, but Scarlet Asger has already eclipsed him in level and Class in less than a year of his knowing her.

It’s absolutely fucking ridiculous, that’s what it is.

And to make matters worse for him, the girl in question vanished for several months only to reappear again!

He doesn’t want to admit it, but he missed her over the time she’s been gone. Even if he knows he doesn’t even have the slightest chance of being with her in a romantic setting, not only because of her own lack of interest, but because she isn’t even human. And her father and grandfather are terrifying enough.

Blake shivers at the thought of going out with the granddaughter of the Demon King.

But despite that, he still can’t help but miss her.

“Love does some strange things…” his fae mutters, but he ignores them to instead continue blasting balls of black hellfire straight at the demons down below, killing dozens at a time despite those demons being the weaker Class II demons. And the demons in question let out hoarse screams filled with horror and pain from the soul-burning hellfire killing them.

“Son,” Blake hears his father’s voice, but he refuses to turn around and look at him. Because he knows exactly what he’s going to say. “If you want to catch up to her in strength, you’re going to have to do better than hunting mere Class II demons.”

“Fuck off,” Blake says, still not looking at him. And right when he’s expecting to be hit in the head for talking back, he sees his father stiffen up for a moment out of the corner of his eye. So he stops sending fireballs at the demons and turns his head to look at what his father is staring at.

And the first thing he sees has his lips parting in surprise.

Out of nowhere, blood started to rain down over a corner of the battlefield without his noticing. And that blood is only continuing to spread as Blake watches it through to the rest of the battlefield, blocking out the sun in the process.

Then Blake hears whispers echoing from the demons’ side of the battlefield.

“The Warden!” “She’s here!” “Everyone prepare your cures!” “Get ready to use your potions!!” “Healers!!”

Blake feels his heart almost stopping in his chest as he finally turns his gaze to the edge of the large plane of snow down beneath them – snow that is currently being dyed red with the blood rain – to see the girl he has not been able to get out of his mind for months now walking up to the battlefield with her arms and legs shapeshifted into that of a werewolf with silky black fur streaked with crimson. And he can’t help but feel a little surprised at the sight of her armor. Because while he knows that the media hasn’t so much as been able to get a single recording of her battles since she arrived – likely due to White’s interference to let her go all out – he didn’t realize she had gotten entirely new armor.

And that new armor… it looks really nice on her…

Blake shakes his head to get rid of the blush on his cheeks before looking at his father, only to find the man looking at the girl with a fire in his eyes as well. Except that the fire in his eyes is similar to the one his father gets towards Scarlet’s mother, but without the love and lust part of it, only the desire to battle part.

He can’t be… is he really thinking of her as a possible rival for himself now?

“Well, she’s only twenty years old and should be halfway through Class IV already judging by her mana level,” his fae comments, making Blake grimace as he turns to look at the girl again. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up stronger than the Knights of Humanity within the next couple decades.”

Blake’s grimace grows more severe at that, but he takes a deep breath and glances at all of the Guardians he can see along with the demons they were fighting, only to find everyone within sight of her having stopped moving to watch the girl. And both sides show surprise at her appearance. The humans likely due to her new outfit just like Blake, and the demons because… Blake doesn’t know why the demons are surprised.

“Maybe she hasn’t shown them her human form yet?” his fae suggests, making his eyes widen slightly.

Possibly.

He listens to some of the conversations held by the demons before realizing that his fae’s suggestion is the truth. She had never shown her face to the demons before during the war. Not in this form.

Blake turns his attention back to Scarlet right when she raises a hand and grins, making red particles begin sparkling very faintly around everyone as she no doubt spreads her plagues along with the blood rain.

She really has become a monster on the battlefield, hasn’t she?

Scarlet

Well this is fun.

I can’t help but grin as I spread twelve different plagues through the demon army with both of my skills, which, in turn, gives me at least a little bit of participation in each and every demon kill on the battlefield. Meanwhile my blood rain makes the terrain harder for everyone but me to move in as I quickly rush through the demons and begin my slaughter.

It’s too bad I can’t use Blood of Ruin here without attacking the humans too, but at the very least Life Absorption is doing its job, draining dozens upon dozens of demons of life energy all at once. To the point that I’m pretty sure I can completely let loose without a care in the world about my own health out here. Because my own regeneration in addition to Life Absorption will keep me from staying hurt, and my armor is made so that even if the entire thing is destroyed, I’ll still be clothed with the silken under armor beneath it.

A wild feeling of glee enters my mind as I let loose, even if I’m not in my fully transformed beast form and only have my arms and legs shapeshifted.

This is going to be fun!!