The skull in her hand nearly slipped. A familiar pain spread through Jane's arm. Gazing at the gash sliced across her limb, Jane's expression remained unchanged. At that moment, the four severed blood wings rapidly retracted.
Landing the hit, Nanoda leaped back to Himmel's side.
"Why did you hold back?"
Judging by Himmel's impression of Nanoda's skills, she could have easily gone for the throat during that opening.
"I didn't intend to kill her outright. Disabling her is enough. We haven't identified the real villains yet."
Nanoda glanced toward the four adventurers hiding at the stairwell. Himmel understood her implication immediately.
"Come to think of it, we only came here to gather intelligence on the magic potions. How did we end up in a brawl?"
"You'll have to ask those guys."
Seeing the two chatting so casually, Jane grew displeased.
"I am long accustomed to wounds of this magnitude. The book says... failing to defeat an opponent is due to a lack of strength. Therefore, I will..."
The pillar of mana around Jane began to destabilize. The wound on her arm and the severed blood wings healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. The pair of wings grounded previously began to flap as well. All six blood wings unfurled simultaneously, lifting Jane's entire body into the air.
Himmel and Nanoda simultaneously sensed a looming crisis.
Spikes emerged from the six spread blood wings. With a slight flap, countless spikes formed of fresh blood shot out at breakneck speed.
Boom!
The walls of the White Tower's third floor were shattered. Two figures leaped backward through the smoke and dust, landing simultaneously on the ground outside.
Retracting the blood spikes, Jane flapped her wings and flew out through the gaping hole she had created, hovering in the air as she looked down upon her two enemies.
"This is the first time I've seen a Demon with such regenerative power. It's as if she's undying."
Although Nanoda had held back, that strike should have crippled the arm under normal circumstances. Generally, even Great Demons did not possess such recovery abilities.
"I'm getting more and more interested in this child."
As soon as Nanoda finished speaking, countless feathers condensed from fresh blood rained down from the sky, falling like throwing knives at extreme speed.
Himmel prepared to deflect them with his sword, but beside him, Nanoda raised the arm holding her broken horn high. She unleashed the Severance Magic she had been prepping in a single burst. Upon contact with the blood feathers, the invisible slash fragmented into countless imperceptible, tiny slashes that spread outward.
The blood feathers, which had seemed to cover the heavens and earth, vanished as if evaporating into thin air. Not a single drop of blood remained.
This was a new version of Severance Magic, improved by Nanoda when she had unsealed Qual.
Himmel was somewhat surprised. After not seeing her for a year, Nanoda had become even stronger.
However, giving them no time to catch their breath, the incisions on Jane's back expanded continuously, turning her entire back into a bloody mess. Fresh blood gushed out, and the original three pairs of blood wings were replaced by a single pair of massive blood wings, large enough to blot out the sun.
Shrouded in the shadow, the corners of Himmel's mouth curled up.
"Quite spectacular."
The massive wings spanned fully ten meters, sandwiching Jane's petite figure between them. Clutching the skull in one arm, she extended her other pale arm. The two colossal blood wings slashed down like towering blades.
Rumble...
Deep gullies were carved into the earth as it trembled violently. Nanoda and Himmel chose not to block directly, instead leaping and dodging continuously. Every sweep of the blood wings gouged out large swaths of soil and grass, quickly turning the ground into a cratered mess.
Hearing the fierce battle outside, the four adventurers cowering inside the tower looked at each other in dismay.
The thin man, his gaze sinister, addressed the group.
"Let's go to the top floor, grab the remaining potions, and slip away quietly. We don't know if this monster can beat those two—especially that guy who might be the Hero. If he's the real deal, we're finished."
The thin man didn't believe Jane possessed the strength to defeat a true Hero—an existence who had slain the strongest Demon King.
Hearing this, the others nodded in agreement, and the four quietly headed toward the fourth floor.
"What now?"
"We attack together! Push her regeneration to its limit."
Hearing this, Himmel nodded. As a blood wing attacked, he swung his sword. Clang! The sound of metal clashing rang out. Borrowing the force of the collision, Himmel leaped high, landing directly onto the blood wing. Pushing off with his feet, he became a blur, sprinting along the edge of the wing toward Jane, sword in hand.
On the other side, Nanoda cast Levitation Magic while firing a Magic Cannon Blast behind her. Propelled by the recoil, she dodged the oncoming blood wing, gripping her broken horn tightly.
"Eh?"
Two figures flashed past in a cross formation before her eyes. Jane's arms were severed by two gleams of light, and a hideous X-shaped wound was carved across her abdomen and chest.
The human skull she had been holding fell from the sky along with her severed arms. Jane, who had maintained a blank expression until now, felt her pupils contract sharply.
"Father..."
Though her voice remained flat, Jane's actions betrayed intense panic. Her blood wings vibrated with full force as she dove toward the falling skull. Simultaneously, the flesh at her severed stumps squirmed, and two new arms rapidly grew out.
Thud!
Exerting every ounce of strength, Jane caught the skull and hugged it tightly to her chest as she crashed into the ground. The massive blood wings dissipated instantly.
Coughing up a large amount of blood, Jane slowly crawled up. She stroked the blood-stained skull with her gore-slicked palms. The wound on her body, however, did not heal this time; it remained hideous and terrifying.
Himmel flipped twice in the air and landed smoothly. Nanoda also descended slowly using Levitation Magic.
"Father..."
Jane, stroking the skull, revealed a momentary look of confusion.
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the White Tower, the four adventurers carrying backpacks saw that Jane was on the verge of defeat. They retracted the steps they had just been about to take.
"Is this her limit? Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"
Himmel let out a breath. This was likely the most durable Demon he had ever encountered.
"Me too..."
Nanoda felt it was strange. The mana radiating from the Demon girl before them hadn't diminished in the slightest. It remained as potent as when they first met, completely at odds with her current battered appearance.
"...Please say something... Father... I have clearly realized that magic... Why..."
Jane questioned the skull in her arms without expression, yet the only response was silence.
A moment later, a chilling, murderous aura radiated from Jane. Blood began to flow back into her body, and the hideous wounds healed rapidly.
"This is my 'Eternal Life' magic, Father..."
*
Author's Note:
It's me, the newbie author with terrible writing skills.
Recently, I can only update once a day; I want to adjust the plot outline.
To be honest, typing while playing video games is really tiring.
By the way, should I build a fan group? (Forget it, probably no one would join anyway, blather blather.)
Gomen ne.
____
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