Persephone came to a stop and immediately tried to get back to her feet. The spider threw a rock at her, but she brought her gun up and shot it out of her way. The dust from the explosion prevented her from seeing the spider come closer and it managed to hit her again, this time sending her over the edge of the roof.
"Persephone!" Damian shouted.
Persephone held onto the roof ledge for dear life. She dared to take a look down and saw that they were at least four stories above the ground. If she were to fall here, she would surely die.
"You can do it, Persephone!" Damian shouted.
'Can I?' Pressephone thought.
I'm only going to mess it up again.
"Come on!" Damian shouted. The daemon turned around to look at him in anger and his entire body shivered, "You can do it!"
'I-I can't,' she said in fear as she saw the spider walk to the edge of the roof and peer down at her, 'I can't do anything right'
"Come on, Persephone! I believe in you!"
Persephone's eyes widened.
"I know you can do it! So come on!"
Persephone's grip on the wall tightened and she looked up with an intense glare. She took a deep breath as she saw the spider open its slimy mouth in front of her. It screeched, and she screamed.
SCCCRREECCHHH!!
"AARGH!"
She brought her gun forward quickly as the spider screeched at her. She pulled the trigger and a small explosion sent the spider reeling backward. She forced herself to climb up the roof and immediately jumped to her feet. The spider shook its head and then screeched at her again.
"I-I think I just made it mad," she said before the spider shot forward and slammed into the ground where she was. Persephone jumped to the side and rolled to her feet. The spider opened its mouth and shot out a string of web at her but she was able to dodge out of the way. Her gun came up and she aimed at the spider's head.
Click!
BOOM!
A larger explosion rocked the place and Persephone brought her hand down, wondering if she finally got it.
"Look out!"
The only thing that alerted Persephone to the imminent danger was Damian's shout. She brought her hand in front of her and water immediately congregated into a plate-like shield, covering her entire body.
The sider slammed into the shield with the force of a train and Persephone grunted as she was pushed back into the wall. The spider bared down on her and began hacking and hitting the shield. She could see the sheer fury in its eyes as it tried its best to break through.
'There aren't even any injuries on it,' Persephnoe thought as she looked at eh spider's head - where she had aimed previously. There wasn't even a little bit of a scratch on it! It was like she hadn't been trying all this time.
'It was all useless after all. I'm so weak, I can't even hurt something like this…'
"You actually managed to both piss me off and make me mad at the same time,"
A voice sounded from the edge of the roof and Persephone turned quickly to see Thalus walking towards them. He brought his hand forward and a ball of water swirled to life in front of it.
"Die,"
BBOOOMMMM!!!!
The water shot off like a railgun and slammed into the side of the daemon making it screech as it was sent flying over the roof.
Persephone's hands failed and the shield she had been holding in front of her dissipated as she began falling. A hand caught her and lowered her to the ground.
"B-Brother?"
Thalus looked down at her for a moment before looking away, "Wait here," he said and then he stood up and began walking to the edge of the roof. He looked down and saw the daemon climbing back up at insane speeds. He jumped down from the roof and latched onto one of the legs with his hand, dragging it back to the ground.
"Where do you think you're going?" he said as he slammed the spider into the ground. He stretched his hand to the side and water began to travel over his arms, they gathered at his palms and then began to stretch and thin out till they formed a sword.
The spider screeched and attacked once more, but Thalus swiped his sword around and one of its legs fell to the ground with a thud. He dodged around another leg and then cut it off with another slice of his sword.
"Don't tell me this is all you've got," he said as the daemon fell to one side while struggling to stand with four legs, "This is extremely boring"
From their place on the roof, Damian and Adrian had a front-row seat to the complete beating Thalus was laying on the monster.
"Woah," Damian said out loud, "He's strong"
"He's an A-class," Persephone said from the wall she was sitting against. She didn't bother watching the battle, she already knew who would win.
Damian looked back at her, "You did great back there, Persephone!"
Persephone blushed and looked away, "Y-Yeah... thank you"
"No, I mean it! You're really strong. I can't believe you held back a B-class on your own"
"I didn't really do anything. I-I didn't even manage to injure it"
"Maybe not," Adrian finally said from the side, speaking up for the first time, "But you saved our lives with your insane brand of bravery. Thank you"
"Yeah," Damian said, "Thank you"
Persephone blushed even deeper, "Y-You're welcome"
Adrian's head lobbed and then fell limply to one side. Damian recoiled in shock, "Adrian! Are you alive!?"
"I think I lost too much blood," Adrian said while slowly losing consciousness. I'll just sleep for a while"
"Just don't go into the light, alright! Adrian! Adrian!!" Damian shouted, but Adrian had already fallen asleep.
The sound of a loud screech forced Damian to look back at the battle going on below the school. He saw Thalus swing his sword in an arc, taking off another leg, before twisting the sword around and stabbing up into the spider's belly. The spider jerked once before it finally stilled and fell to its side.
Thalus looked up at them and then walked into the school. A few minutes later, he appeared from the stairs and approached them, "Are you two okay?"
"Yeah," Damian said
"He's unconscious?" Thalus asked as he came closer and inspected Adrian. Damian nodded.
"Yeah, the spider got him in the shoulder before bringing us up here. I'm glad Persephone was there though, she saved us"
Thalus looked back at Persephone and then closed his eyes and sighed, "I see," he said before he opened his eyes, "Good job, Persephone"
The smile that bloomed on her face could have rivaled the sun.
"Thank you, brother"
-----
"Of course they will be fine, but just in case I think I should go check it out… No, it's not about me worrying about them. I think you should know me better than that, Arie. Oh, hold on…"
Helios took the phone away from his ear and then looked outside the window of the car he was in. He listened for a moment before frowning.
"Hey, Arie," he said into the phone once more, "I think I'll call you back… No, there's nothing wrong, just a pest problem"
Helios shut the phone and then spoke to the driver, "Stop the car"
The driver looked at him through the rearview mirror. They were driving through a mountain range with a forest on the left side. Did he want to stop here?
"Are you sure Mr. Helios? We aren't even close to Tokyo yet"
"Just stop the car"
The driver finally stopped and Helios got down, "I'll make the rest of the journey on my own. No need to wait up."
The driver nodded and then drove off, leaving Helios alone in the middle of nowhere. Helios stood straight and then stretched, "Ah…" he sighed, "And to think I thought things had gotten boring"
He bent backward and looked at the person standing a few meters behind him, "So… Who are you?"
-----
Arie took the phone away and put it back on the table.
"Is there a problem?" Ophelia asked from her place behind him.
Arie shook his head, "Oh no. But I believe Helios ran into some trouble"
"Someone is after him?"
Arie nodded, "Yes"
"Then shouldn't we send help?"
"No, I don't think we should. But arrange for the hospital to receive a patient soon"
"Is the opponent that strong?"
Arie blinked and looked back at Ophelia, "Oh, you think it's for Helios?"
"Isn't it?"
Arie shook his head, "Ophelia, there is a reason why you've never seen Helios fight before. After the war, he mellowed down quite a lot, but he isn't the strongest Karma user for nothing, you know"