Chapter 23: Demon Lord – 1

At such a ridiculous proposition, Therese only shrugged and gave a faint smile. “Took you long enough? Iʼve been in this world for sixteen long years, you know.” 

I widened my eyes in shock. “T-Therese? You—” 

Before I could finish my question, Angelica cut me off abruptly. “Hero, letʼs defeat her. Right now!” 

“Ha?” 

A sudden shockwave smashed into the floor, violently knocking everyone standing inside the hall off their feet.  

“W-what was that?!” 

“An explosion?” 

“S-someone go and call a teacher over now!” 

I winced and slowly sat up on the floor, rubbing my sore elbow. On the spot where Therese and Angelica had been standing moments ago was a large crater-like depression in the floor and a cloud of dust that had yet to settle. 

“Goddamnit, did that idiot really start a fight?!” Seraphine yelled, dusting herself off. “You’re that legendary Hero Stefania, arenʼt you? Do something to stop them!” 

“D-do something??” I blurted, staring at her with incredulity. “How do you know—wait, how are you so calm about this?” 

“That doesnʼt matter now.” She grabbed my hand and yanked me to my feet. “Weʼre going to try and catch up with them, YOU figure out a way to restrain your girlfriend along the way. Got it?” 

I didnʼt even have the time to protest before my feet were swept out from under me; instinctively I slammed my eyes shut, anticipating a hard fall—

—instead, a bizarre sensation of floating suddenly enveloped my body, as if I was suspended in mid-air in a bubble. 

I cautiously opened my eyes and yelped almost immediately. “S-S-Seraphine!” 

“Donʼt scream into my ear like that, will you?” she muttered, calmly plugging in her earphones and turning the music up on her iPod as she floated beside me. “Have you never flown before? This should be nothing surprising to you.” 

“H-HUUH? IʼM GONNA DIE!!” Flailing my arms and feet, I screamed and screamed and cried until the brink of passing out. Seraphine simply ignored me as she cautiously scanned the ground far below and pointed towards the east. 

“There, I see them.” Without hesitation, she kicked off against an invisible ground and we shot forward at an incredibly fast speed, silencing my futile cries. 

I probably blacked out due to the g-force, because the roar of the wind became muffled and my vision blurred to a static-like distortion; amidst the disconcerting background noise, a strange thought suddenly flashed into my mind. 

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Allow me to take over from here. 

A calming spell swept over me—heavy and slightly sweet like honey—and my body completely surrendered to the voice in my mind…

I opened my eyes and blinked, trying to regain my bearings. The girl named Seraphine had stopped in mid-air, gesturing at what appeared to be a rift in the space directly below her.This is Stefaniaʼs perspective

“Here!” 

Though I hadnʼt gotten used to this body yet, I immediately propelled myself against the wind and dived down into the shimmering rift torn in the fabric of space-time. Judging by its inky-black border, the rift must have been created using demon magic—meaning that Lukterasia created the dimension to either escape or trap Angelica within. 

Both my assumptions were proven wrong, however, when I entered through the rift and instinctively shielded my eyes from the blinding light bursting forth. 

“Hero, h-help me!” Lukterasia shouted as she tried to restrain a hysterical Angelica, who was recklessly summoning her divine power to attack her captor. 

“You bitch demon, let GO OF MEEE!!” 

“I will if you donʼt keep trying to kill me—!” 

I was momentarily stunned by this impossibly hilarious scene unfolding before my eyes; a loud crack quickly snapped me back to the present, however. 

“I canʼt s-sustain the dimension for long!” Lukterasia directed a pleading look in my direction. “Do something to calm your companion down, please! Sheʼs going to destroy this world at this rate!” 

Angelica furiously yelled, “IʼM GONNA TAKE YOU DOWN NO MATTER WHAT—” 

Her divine power reached its fullest potential and burst forth, shattering the artificial dimension in an instant. Lukterasia was forced to release her to shield herself from the explosion with a force that could rip apart an entire planet with ease. 

At the same time, I finished casting my barrier spell and managed to isolate Angelicaʼs pent-up magic from the atmosphere of Earth. Well, to be precise, it wasnʼt a barrier—no barrier cast within mere seconds would be able to withstand such sheer destructive force, after all—but rather a mana manipulation spell to weaken and redirect her magic to myself. A surge of vitality and immense strength flowed into my body and through my veins, giving the much-needed mana to deal with the disaster unfolding befoe me. 

“GOT YOU—” Angelicaʼs maniacal laughter was cut off as her mouth was magically sealed shut. “—mhmf?!” 

“Alright, you caused enough trouble for everyone already,” I said with a smile, suspending her and the countless dimensional fragments in mid-air. “Iʼm going to borrow your magic to fix everything back to their original state while you reflect on your actions, okay?” 

Her widened eyes glared daggers at me, but she couldnʼt do anything but to follow my instructions. 

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