When Jericho and Erica got to the capital, they headed straight for the castle, on their way there, they heard a very loud sound, and saw a cloud of dust coming from the south side of the castle, they both headed to that direction, then after a few minutes they heard another loud sound, but this time it was coming from the north side, they stopped at their tracks, to decide where to check out first, but quickly realized they had to split up if they want to cover everywhere quickly… "I think we have to split up here Jericho (Jericho gave a heavy worried sigh)… yes I feel your concerns and the danger I might be in if it turns out to be Jace on the other side, but Jericho it's a risk we just have to take, that might save someone's life" said Erica making a really strong argument.. "remember I am the commander of the Holy Knights, and I earned that rank and title, just trust me, I will be fine" she adds reassuring Jericho, he sigh again and saw her point of it being their only option… "okay let's do it… you head for the sound we originally heard, while I will go check the other one out.. (she nods and turned to leave, then Jericho called out)… Erica, if it's something you feel you can't handle, please just head to where am at and lead it to me, we will take it out together" said Jericho with trust in Erica, she nodded and ran off… "please be careful" Jericho said to himself as he watched her leave, and then headed to the other side.
"just who are you?" Pyon asked…. "I am the last face you will be seeing alive" she said with a very intimidating stare, then she attacked him… "Soul Technique… Hurricane Inferno" Erica called, her whole body glowed, together with her sword, as it traveled from her and out of her sword, a flame so powerful and hot it completely vaporized the surrounding area, Alice had to push herself and the others with her some distances away from Erica, after she heard the ability she was activating, which was the right call… it traveled all around her, and Pyon was standing there feeling very uncomfortable with the heat, but he still unfortunately misjudged the power of the casting from Erica, and he applied just two layers of protection on himself with his poison ability, the attack from Erica completely destroyed his defenses and left him exposed, he got burnt really bad, and his healing ability at this point had started to slow down… "(he screams in pain)… just what is this, this is not a normal fire… what are you woman?!" said Pyon still screaming in pain, but Erica ignored him and jumped in for another attack, this time swinging her sword at him, she moved so fast it was completely unbelievable to Pyon that she was human, her sword grazed his neck as he jumped out of the way just in time… "{what is this… I didn't see the attack until it was too close… even if am getting drained, I still have my natural agility as a Demonoid… is she really human}" Pyon thought to himself in shock as he continued to barely evade her attacks.
"lady knight… just who is that woman" Princess Clover asked as she continued to stare in awe of what she was witnessing… "well… that is the heir of our nation, and also the commander of the Holy Knights… crown-princess Erica Von Righteous" Alice answered with her eyes still on Erica… "are you serious?!… that is princess Erica!!" said Rose in a surprise tone, Alice nods… "hmmm… that name sounds so familiar… am so sure I have heard of someone with that name before, not sure where" said Clover, deep in thought trying to remember, heavy sighs rang all around her as she said that.. "w-what?" she asked, confused by their reaction… "am so sorry about my princess, she tends to forget people easily, cause all she thinks about is her research, she doesn't mean anything offensive by it" said a very apologetic Rose, Alice gave an awkward smile and told her it was okay… "{jeez, I feel bad for the commander, I've always thought she extremely overreacts when ever she talks about princess Clover (giggles)… I will have to apologize to her when this is done}" Alice thought with a smile.
Erica has pushed Pyon back with her multiple attacks, not giving him any room to counter, Pyon's healing ability was now slow, but it was still active, so the burns he suffered were healing up, thinking hard of how to get the upper hand against Erica, his eyes then locked on the approaching guards sent by king Leohart, a smile appeared on his face, then he sent an attack their way… "Soul Casting… Base Dilitirio" he said, as his one good arm started to glow, he placed it on the ground sending the attack towards the guards, seeing this, Erica attack slowed down, as she prepared to stop the attack of Pyon, she Swing her swords towards it, and called… "Soul Technique… Inferno Wall" the casting traveled out of her sword and then manifested in between the guards and the incoming attack of Pyon, they collided and Erica defense casting was barely able to stop it as a huge explosion was heard when they made impact, it pushed the guards to the ground and had the others turning away from it, as a huge black smoke formed, her sword then shattered as it has reached the capacity of it's durability… "get out of here, go protect the princess and the others" Erica screamed at the guards, they got up and made their way to the side of Clover and the twins.
Right from the corner of her eyes, she saw a hand flying towards her face, she quickly lifted her hands to block, as the hand made impact, the force was so great it knocked her off her feet, she fell and rolled on the ground as the punch connected…. "COMMANDER!!!" Alice screamed with concern, but Erica gave her a sign that she was okay, Pyon ran forward towards Erica, filled with confidence now and laughing hard as he saw how defenseless she looked… "(heavy laugh)… look at you now, nothing without your sword, am going to take great pleasure in ripping you limb from limb!!" he screamed with excitement has he got closer, he then grabbed her and throw her up in the sky, then he jumped high, creating a dent on the ground as he lifted, he infused his hand with poison, and aimed it at her chest, as he was looking to drive it through her chest and out the other side, seeing him coming as she was falling back down, a grin appeared on Erica's face, Pyon's excitement quickly turned to confusion as he looked at her, when he got close enough to strike, Erica grabbed him, using his body as a walkway, she turned and was on top of him as they fell fast, to his surprise… "and who told you that was my only sword, you cocky bastard (she smiled again then remove another sword from a strip on her thighs, it was a short sword)… ALICE, STEP BACK!!" Erica warned Alice, she nods, then created more distance between them… "WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU CRAZY WOMAN!!!" Pyon screamed with panic in his voice, trying his best to move but with one arm there was only so much he could do… "I did tell you, mine will be the last face you will be seeing before you die, did I not?.. (smile)… rot in the flames of the underworld, you bastard… Soul Technique… Grand Burst Inferno" Erica called, pointing her sword at the ground that was getting closer now, an energy flowed through her and out the sword, a light red ball appeared, falling first and closer to Pyon, after the attack and the amount of soul energy Erica used, the short sword completely shattered, then she stood on him and jumped off as they got much more closer to the ground, with her momentum sending Pyon falling faster… "YOU BITCH… I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS (screams as he fell) NOOO!!!" ..… he landed on the red ball and with a huge impact, then an explosion was seen and heard at the spot Pyon landed, the explosion was so huge, it covered almost the entire yard of the castle, even destroying parts of the castle, and everything it touches, Erica landed with a roll and hid behind a pillar, and the others also hid behind pillars as the explosion engulf the entire yard.
As the smoke died down, complete destruction could be seen, the castles' yard was completely unrecognizable, with some other part of the castle too… they slowly made their way out of their hiding place seeing the chaos around them, and right in the middle of the yard was a body, completely unrecognizable, Erica slowly made her way toward it and saw it was the remaining body part of Pyon, and to her surprise he was still alive, but it didn't look like it will be for much longer, she stood and looked down at him, as he was gasping for air and breathing heavily, he locked his one good eye at her, and even if his face was completely damaged, it looked like he was smiling, he then shifted his gaze to the sky, as his breathing started becoming softer, and with his last breathe, he said… "m-my l-lord (gasps for air)… p-p-please… f-forgive… forgive me… t-this is m-my… (gasps for air again)… my punishment f-for, I-ignoring, your warnings… (chuckled)… I-I will be l-leaving, y-you now (heavy breathing)… b-but I will still, still be o-of use to you…. e-even in the f-f-flames of u-underworld... (he turn his gaze to Erica)… y-you haven't w-won yet (coughs)… m-my lord's w-will… and… desire… will always… be… abso-lute" Pyon said as he took his last breathe and he died.
Erica exhaled like she has been holding her breathe all this time, then she turned and made her way towards the others, on getting there she was greeted by Alice who was so relieved she was okay, and the guards all thanking her… "y-y-your highness Erica… thank you so much, you were amazing, so powerful, you saved us… thank you" Rose said with a shy bow… "wow, you were amazing, I will never forget what I just watched, it was awesome, right Lixis?" Spade stated with excitement… "Indeed… you were amazing lady" Ace agreed, with sparkles in his eyes, Erica couldn't stop smiling, then her eyed locked with Clover's, and her smiling turned into hysteria, Clover stared at Erica intensely really deep in thought, trying to remember where they had met, this made Erica really scared and uncomfortable, and everyone around were holding their breathes with the strange behavior of Clover, then after what seemed like days to Erica, she cracked and spoke… "um… eh.. p-princess Clover?… did I offend you?" Erica asked confused and still uncomfortable, but after hearing her voice clearly and up close, it finally clicked for Clover… "I'VE GOT IT… (the others jumped back with the sudden burst of energy from Clover)… you are that princess that was in love with me, but I turned down cause I didn't swing that way" Clover said with a bold tone, everyone around her, eyes and mouths dropped after what they heard, and Erica looked like she was about to cry…. "I WAS NOT IN LOVE WITH YOU… I WAS 12, AND JUST WANTED TO PLAY…. WHY ME!!!" Erica screamed in a lamenting tone, the others laughed, Alice laughed and pet the head of Erica apologetically, while Clover stood wondering why what she said was funny.
Back at shore, Jace was stilling patiently, waiting for update from his troops, then suddenly he felt like a part of him had left his body, he instantly knew, something was wrong, with an heavy sigh he rested on his sit and placed an arm on his face…. "Pyon…. you fool" said Jace has he knew, he had just lost one of his most powerful men, one of his Grand Four General.
"am sorry about… you know… all this" Erica said with a nervous laugh pointing at their yard and some other parts of the castle… "it's fine, you did save our lives, all this are easily replaced, I was thinking about renovating soon, you just made the decision early for me" Clover responded…. "oh and do not worry, no one is around here, they were all evacuated, we were the only ones that stayed" Rose added to ease the mind of Erica… "and wow fire, it was so hot, am not so sure flames get that hot at least at our world" Rose continued, still impressed… "I will tell you all more about that later, but we really have to go now" Erica said… "where is Jericho, I thought he was with you" Alice asked with a little worry in her voice, upon hearing his name Clover froze again turning red but quickly composed herself… "we were on our way here but then we heard another sound coming from the other side of the castle, so we split up to cover everywhere as soon as possible" ..… "Jericho is alright then? (Erica nods yes)… okay let's get going now, I hope father is alright" Said Clover… "am sure he will be, Jericho is there with him right now" Erica replied easing the mind of Clover… then they went on their way.
"well then… I guess you are ready to die" said Demiurge as he sent his undead army in again… "oh, I think that's suppose to be my line" Jericho replied then ran through the undead army, throwing kicks and punches with unbelievable strength and speed for the people watching him and also Demiurge, at this point he had started to worry a little as the pure strength of this masked strange man was incredible.
Jericho made short work of the undead army, without expelling any soul energy to do it, but it was still getting nowhere, as whenever he destroys them, Demiurge with a very high amount of soul energy, was easily bring them back… "{this isn't productive, if I continue like this I won't last much longer, (he looked at king Leohart behind him)… I was trying avoid using my soul energy so it won't affect the others, I have to go after that man or whatever he is, if I want to end this quickly}" Jericho thought as he continued punching and kicking away at the undead army, he burst forward within the blink of an eye and was now face to face with Demiurge, to his surprise, Jericho throw a punch at Demiurge but he manages to dodge it, the swings kept coming and Demiurge was barely dodging everything, behind Jericho, some of the undead army were headed towards the king while the others were coming to help Demiurge, the guards stops the undead that headed their way, and protecting their king and prime minster, while Jericho stomp his foot on the ground then a sliver liquid that looked like tentacles stretched out of the place he stomped, and rapped around the rest of the undead, crushing them, because he was still keeping Demiurge in his sight and busy, he wasn't able to create more undead, at least for that time being.
Demiurge was starting to get over powered by Jericho at this point, and slip ups can be seen in his movements, with this, Jericho was able to land a couple of hits on Demiurge, sending him flying and crashing hard on the floor, creating a dent.
Demiurge now looked very worried, as he realized he can't turn this around against someone as powerful as the masked man, the thought of the masked man being an actual god flashed in his mind, cause it was the only explanation he could think of that he was getting over powered, this person just couldn't be Jericho… "{this can't be Jericho, no it just can't, this is definitely a god… but why would a god be sent to earth, I though it was just lord Jace's brother that was sent… do they view his holiness, master Pluto as that dangerous to the extent of bending an ultimate rule to send an actual god to assist Jericho?… if am right and this man is a god, and a very high level one with what am currently experiencing, and also Jericho as another concern, then this will be more difficult and dangerous than I thought}" he thought to himself as he was getting on his feet, but before he could get on a comfortable stance, Jericho appeared beside him with a kick to his stomach, the impact made him feel like he was suffocating and nothing he could do was letting him breath, he got sent flying again, this time out of the castle walls and into the city, he crashed on a building, and was breathing heavily and coughing hard, Jericho asked the king and the others to wait behind as he went after Demiurge… "Your highness, who was that person, is he really here to help, or is it a ploy to get us to trust him, so he can use us" Konrad asked still very much skeptically of the masked man… "your concerns are valid brother, I think we will cross that huddle when we get there, whether you are right or wrong, it still doesn't change the facts, and that is, we owe him our lives… {and also… there is something about his voice that seems so familiar, I know I have heard it somewhere before}" King Leohart replied, ending it in his thoughts, he then proceeded to make his way towards where Jericho went… "your highness, he said we should wait here, it's too dangerous" Konrad exclaimed when he saw his brother moving towards were the masked man went… "I know that, but while am here I want to see the damage done to my city… {and also, am very much intrigued by that masked man, I have to see how all this goes… he sounds so familiar… just who are you?}" king Leohart responded, they tried to protest again in hopes of stopping him, but it was for not, as he was already in front, they had no choice but to follow him and keep him safe, as they made their way towards where the masked man went, they heard a voice calling out to them… "FATHER"… king Leohart turned and saw Clover and the twins walking towards him, then the twins ran forward hugging Leohart, he couldn't stop beaming… "oh my twins, am so relieved you are alright… and Clover, you are here, (he hugged her)… thank the gods"…. he said with huge relief in his tone… "yes father am alright, (she looked at Konrad)… uncle, am so sorry about your son, it was my fault, I should have left when he asked me to, I didn't take the matter seriously enough, and he got hurt because of me… am truly sorry" Clover stated feeling guilt, Konrad smiled then replied… "oh it's alright your highness, he is the captain of the slingers, getting hurt for the nation is part of the job… he will be fine, and am sure he will be more relieved his effort wasn't for nothing, as you are here right now and unharmed, am also really happy you are alright my princess" he said, easing the mind of Clover… "it was amazing father!!… you should have seen her, she was like whoosh!!, pow!! and boom!!… I've never seen something so cool" Ace excitedly stated, king was so confused by his son's statement, he looked to the others to explain, that's when he finally noticed, Erica standing behind them… "father this is the person that saved us, she is.. um.. hmm.. well she is the princess of Righteous" Clover tried introducing Erica but it wasn't helpful as she struggled to remember her name, Erica gave a heavy sigh then introduced herself… "sorry for the late introduction your majesty… I am the commander of the Holy Knights of Righteous, and also the heir to the kingdom… princess Erica Von Righteous" she bowed after introducing herself… "oh my… you are Erica?… my how you've grown… thank you so much for coming to the aid of my children and nation Princess Erica, am fully in your debt" the king said, with gratitude in his tone… "oh no your majesty, I was at the right place and time, anyone in my shoes would have done it, (Erica looked around)… am sorry if am being presumptuous you majesty, but is my father alright?… and Jericho also told me he was heading your way, did you by chance see him?" Erica asked with concern, still looking around, surprise ran through the faces of the king and the people that were with him…. "um… yes Princess Erica, your father is alright, he is back that the secured strategy room (Erica exhaled with relief)… but as for Jericho… well no, we haven't seen him" Konrad responded with a little confusion… "we were confronted by someone that seemed to be very powerful and high in Jace ranks… but then a masked fellow came in just in time to save us all" King Leohart stated, Erica sighed then gave a nervous smile… "um.. yes, that was Jericho, he was on the mask, he didn't want Jace to recognize him yet… (the surprise continued around their faces)… did you see were he went by any chance?" ….… "uh… um… yes, he kicked the invader a few distance away from here and ran off after him, toward the city (he pointed at the direction)… he was so fast" one of the guards responded… "okay… they are still after you your highness, so please head to were my father is and wait there for us, we can't have you out here now, Alice will head in with you all, I will go assist Jericho" Erica stated, this time the king agreed… "oh and please do you mind if I borrow a few swords… (they handed three to her)… thank you, I will be off now, please Alice, look after them… (Alice nods)… okay am off now, see you soon" Erica said as she ran off towards the direction of Jericho… "so that person was Jericho… what a pleasant surprise" said Konrad with a smile… "{I knew he felt so familiar (smiles)… Jericho is truly alive and well… thank the gods}… oh yes, are you still skeptical of his intentions brother?" King Leohart asked, feeling very happy of finding out and seeing for himself that Jericho is truly okay… "Well, that revelation does chances everything" he responded with a smile, Clove stood with her hands on her chest since she heard Jericho was just here, she was trying hard to contain her excitement, which she does… "your highness?… are you alright?" Rose asked with concern, noticing her strange behavior… "yes… yes I am Rose… let's go" she responded, they all turned and made their way back inside.