The orange-red crescent slash whipped up searing air currents as it swept straight towards the demon girl. But at that moment, her previously dazed gaze sharpened viciously. Without hesitation, she raised her arm, encased in rocky armor, and blocked the incoming strike. Ayano Kanngai's heavy downward slash easily shattered the surface layer of that stone armor, but just as her blade tried to cut deeper, it got stuck.
"So tough?!" Ayano was visibly shocked. But before she could follow up, she caught sight of the demon girl's right arm—glowing faintly with pink light—swinging towards her. Unsure of the opponent's full capabilities, Ayano dared not take any chances. She quickly withdrew her sword and leapt back.
Meanwhile, the demon girl glanced down at her own right arm, only to see that the crack carved into her armor by the Enraiha blade had suddenly spread, extending all the way down to her forearm. Frowning slightly, she swung her right arm sharply, flinging off the shattered stone fragments and exposing smooth, flawless skin beneath, unmarred by any wound.
Standing nearby, Kazemaki Ryuya immediately retreated, his expression tense as he warned, "Trouble... she actually blocked the Enraiha's burning slash. What the hell is that stone armor made of?" Saying that, he immediately shouted to Ayano, the heiress of the Kannagi family, "Miss Ayano! I'll focus on restraining her! You keep up the attack!"
"Got it!" Ayano responded firmly. Her feet stamped down, scattering fiery sparks as her figure flickered like an afterimage, instantly appearing to the demon girl's right side. "Let's see whether your real arm is as hard as that stone armor!" Before her words had even finished echoing, the Enraiha blade was already cleaving through the air, forming a fiery arc as it slashed directly at the demon girl's exposed right arm.
"?!!" The demon girl clearly sensed the danger. Apparently aware that Ayano's sword was not something she could carelessly block, she hurriedly dodged. In that moment, tiny red-and-black bat wings suddenly unfurled from her back. With just a faint flutter, her body darted five or six meters sideways, moving horizontally as if gliding through the air.
That kind of movement?! Ayano hadn't expected such a sudden maneuver. Although she'd committed to her slash with force, she had held back just enough to allow for quick adjustments. She immediately pulled back, reorienting herself to prepare for a counterattack.
However, in the next instant, the demon girl's bat wings fluttered again. Her body zipped forward, practically teleporting, and reappeared right in front of Ayano. "Damn it!" Ayano barely managed to raise her sword in time, clashing with the demon girl's swinging left arm. The grayish-white stone armor smashed directly against the sword's blade. The sheer force of the blow made Ayano's expression change, her feet sinking deep into the cavern floor.
"Ryuya-nii!!"
"I know! I'm trying to restrain her!" Kazemaki Ryuya urgently responded, slamming his palms together as four violent whirlwinds erupted around him, transforming into chain-like streams of wind that repeatedly tried to bind the demon girl's limbs. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch the agile opponent.
Though the chaotic melee between the two and the demon girl seemed drawn out, in truth, it had all unfolded in just three or four seconds.
At the same time, dozens of meters away, Takina Inoue handed a test tube containing a golden liquid to Luo Shu. "Quick, Luo Shu, take off the glove and drink this."
Without hesitation, Luo Shu swiftly removed the glove and handed it to Chisato Nishikigi, then took the test tube from Takina, uncapped it, and drank the contents in one gulp. Throughout the entire process, his gaze remained locked on the distant demon girl, carefully observing her every move.
Meanwhile, Chisato drew her pistol and began firing. Bang! Bang! Each bullet struck directly against the exposed side of the demon girl's face. But every impact merely caused red markings to spread rapidly from the impact points, and each bullet was effortlessly deflected. One stray bullet even ricocheted dangerously close to Ryuya.
"You've got to be kidding... bullets don't work? And these are armor-piercing rounds..." Chisato muttered, stunned. Realizing her gun was useless against this opponent, she stopped shooting and quickly grabbed her backpack from the side. "No choice. We'll have to use the tools. Miss Ayano, stall her as long as you can! Takina, come help! We'll find a chance to pin her down. Luo Shu, get ready with that thing!"
Hearing Chisato's command, Takina immediately stepped forward to help. Luo Shu, frowning, reached for the ring on his right hand and retreated behind the two girls. His actions earned him a silent, approving glance from Chisato.
"Hey! Hurry up! Ayano and I can't hold her off much longer!" Ryuya shouted urgently as he struggled to restrain the demon girl's movements.
Her speed was simply too fast. With those demon wings, every movement was like instantaneous teleportation. That erratic speed left Ayano barely able to land any effective blows. Even so, her Enraiha blade had successfully broken through the armor on the demon girl's left arm and lower leg during the skirmish.
Through the course of battle, Ayano had confirmed that the Enraiha blade could inflict real damage. If the demon girl took a solid hit, at minimum, it would severely injure her. But unfortunately, despite her relative inexperience in combat compared to Ayano, the demon girl's instincts were frighteningly sharp. She consistently used her stone armor to block critical strikes, narrowly avoiding Ayano's killing blows time and again.
This kind of battle felt like the demon girl had a passive "one-hit immunity" skill, leaving Ayano completely frustrated. "Damn you, bat girl! If you've got any guts, fight me properly!"
The demon girl didn't reply. Instead, having realized that her stone armor could only deflect Ayano's sword a limited number of times, she began to plan her escape. Her demon wings twitched slightly, preparing to dart away again.
But in that exact moment, Luo Shu narrowed his eyes, firing a thin, precise wind blade that pierced straight through the most vulnerable part of her fluttering wings.
"Ah!!"
A shriek of pain erupted from the demon girl's lips. At the same time, Chisato and Takina had finished assembling their abyssal tool—a disturbingly grinning Barbie doll. The two quickly aimed the doll's hollow, eyeless sockets directly at the demon girl.
In that instant, two bright-red pupils, identical to the demon girl's own, appeared inside the doll's eye sockets. Simultaneously, Chisato and Takina each grabbed hold of the doll's four limbs.
Thud.
The demon girl, whose wing base had been mostly severed by Luo Shu's wind blade, crashed hard onto the cavern floor. At the same time, thanks to the doll's effect, her arms and legs were seized as if by invisible giant hands, forcibly spreading her out in a restrained X-shaped position.
"Luo Shu! Now!" Chisato and Takina shouted in unison.
But even before their cry rang out, Luo Shu had already anticipated the moment. He appeared near the spot where the demon girl had fallen, placing his left hand firmly atop her head, while using the gem embedded in the ring on his right hand—a gem housing a blood-red eyeball—and aligned it with the demon girl's own crimson eyes.
"Sleep for a little while."
With Luo Shu's quiet whisper, the demon girl's pupils slowly rolled upward until only the whites of her eyes showed. Her entire expression slackened as if broken. Even her mouth hung open, drool leaking uncontrollably from the corner of her lips.
"What... the hell is that?!" Ayano was so startled by the bizarre sight that she instinctively backed away from Luo Shu.
"Just a side effect of the tool," Luo Shu explained calmly, almost casually. But in the next second, something triggered his instincts. He abruptly turned his head towards Ryuya and shouted, "Get out of the way!!"
"Huh?" Ryuya froze in confusion. But in that exact moment—splurt—a hand pierced straight through his abdomen, stabbing cleanly through his torso.
"You've got to be kidding me..." Ryuya stared blankly at the hand protruding from his stomach, dazedly muttering, "Why... me...?"
Behind him, Ken Yakushiji, who had been hidden until now, slowly curved his lips into a grin. In a cheerful tone, he whispered close to Ryuya's ear:
"Because you're too treacherous... Kazemaki Ryuya!"