Chapter 34: Demon Lord Emerges

“Okay girls, listen to me,” Jannah gave a command to her friends via thoughts, “We shall attack according to this plan: Cherrie and Tamie attack first, as a Battler Class and a dragon owner; Rianna stands as a defensive unit, providing support to those two; Tiger doesn’t permit him to land on the ground – shake floor and such things, alright? Riza, you assist Rianna by countering the enemy’s fire with yours; and then, when he’s distracted, I’ll land the final blow by sneaking from behind with my Snake. Got it?”

“Roger!”

The girls moved. Cherrie and Tamie charged forward – Cherrie from below, Tamie from the air. They dashed at Erik’s Dragon spirit and bit it in the neck and the stomach.

“Ah!” Erik yelled as he shared the spirit’s pain. “Ugh, you pests! Leo Style, Battler Art, Emperor Mode – Fire Typhoon!”

The Dragon spirit blew a large fire typhoon out of his mouth. The girls shielded themselves with the Air and the Fire which was not enough to protect them from the blow. However, the giant Water Boar of Rianna covered them and dodged the hit.

“Haha! Thanks, Ria!”

“Ugh, I’ll get you there!”

Erik landed on the floor to deal a blow on Rianna when giant boulders rose and hit the Dragon spirit right in the belly.

“You’re not getting anyone, you beast!” Tiger shouted from inside her Green Ox spirit.

Erik roared and blew fire at the girls. Rianna and Riza dodged it together – one by her Water, the other by averting the Fire’s direction. The Dragon spirit swung his wings and made the fire dissipate.

“My fire shall never hurt me! Leo Style, Battler Art, Emperor Mode – Fire Blizzard!”

Another firestorm blew the girls off. It was too powerful for them to dodge, so they got burned and injured, but they stood back up and recreated their spirits. Tamie’s summoned dragon, Ronna, growled in pain and vanished, returning into the scroll. Tamie had no strength left, so she collapsed. The friends got worked-up:

“Tamie!”

Erik grinned and blew another firestorm at them. However, Jannah was also on the move – her Snake which had gained enough time sneaked up on him from the behind, wrapped around the Dragon’s body, and vaporized its fire with its water powers, making him shriek in pain.

“Jannah, good job!”

The girls engaged back in the fight. They attacked the Dragon spirit all at once and bit it in several places together.

“Now he’s ours!”

Erik roared in pain and rage:

“I’ve had enough of you! Leo Style, Battler Art, Emperor Mode, Final Craft – Blast of the Sun!”

The girls grew startled, but before they could get off him, a large red-to-yellow fiery shot blinded their eyes and blew them off. They got burned and injured. Their spirits vanished. They collapsed to the ground. They struggled to get up but fell back down.

Erik wasn’t in a good condition either – his Dragon spirit too had vanished because of his using up so many powers. He looked all beat up, but could still stand on his feet. He wanted to get to his brother’s battlefield and finish with that ‘traitor’ too (as he thought of Goldmund) when both he and the collapsed girls heard an electronic voice:

“Tamie Wingfield. Rank rise. Writer Class, Rank Six – Writer. Level Fifty-five. Congratulations!”

It was Tamie’s Order ring. The girls grew stupefied – she had raised a rank? Erik was no less petrified:

“Rank Six?!”

“Not only that…” Jan shivered.

“You’ve got no time to worry about your brother, mate”.

Goldmund’s vile chuckle sounded. The Burning Sand Dust attacked Jan inside the glass box again. However, Erik had no time for him now – he watched collapsed Tamie in fear. She moved her hand, with the intention to grab her ink-brush.

“No, you don’t!” Erik blasted fire at the ink-brush and burnt it down. “Now you won’t cast a summoning spell!”

There was no use for this additional precaution, though – Tamie’s hand collapsed before it could even reach the place where the ink-brush once lay, now turned into ashes. Erik grinned with triumph and wanted to move to his brother’s battlefield when the scroll shimmered white. Soon, however, that same white light got overtaken by black one. The girls and Erik stared at the scroll in a stupor – what was happening?

What they saw, was even more gruesome than they had expected: the black light gave place to a young man with dark blue hair, shimmering icy-blue eyes, and black clothing. His vile grin sent shivers down everyone’s spines.

“W… Who’s that monster?” Erik, for the first time in his life, trembled in terror.

The ‘monster’ gave out a demonic chuckle. Some unearthly blue fire flamed on his fists. A deep, infernal voice sounded throughout the hall:

“Demon Lord Kokujin D’Infernal. Dōzo yoroshiku[1]”.

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[1] どうぞよろしく (dōzo yoroshiku) – Nice to meet you (Japanese)