Watching the entire square transform from chaos into a battlefield in an instant, Leon's expression didn't shift at all.
He shot Persephone a look, then without another word grabbed Demeter's wrist and forcefully pulled her in the opposite direction of the square.
"Leon, what are you doing?"
"Evilus is raising their blades against the citizens. Aren't you going to join the defense? And where are you taking me? I..."
"Enough, Demeter!"
Leon cut her off, his eyes unusually serious.
"Your safety is what matters most. This isn't just about Persephone and the others. You're the central pillar holding Orario up. If you fall, what happens to the city's food supply? If those Evilus deities take you out, they wouldn't even need to lift another finger. The whole city of Orario would collapse on its own first!"
In wartime, supplies move before the troops do.
Without solid logistics, what war could anyone possibly fight?
Not to mention that Demeter, almost single-handedly, supplied more than seventy percent of Orario's daily food consumption.
It was impossible to imagine the chaos that would engulf Orario if Demeter were sent back to the heavens.
By that point, with stomachs going empty, who would care about achievements, glory, or reputation? Order or chaos? What did any of it matter compared to staying alive?
That was why, even though Demeter's familia wasn't strong in combat, it served as Orario's ballast, a pillar, the indisputable foundation of the city.
Her enormous influence alone made that clear.
For exactly that reason, even with Evilus turning the square into a river of blood right behind them, Leon didn't spare it a second glance.
His top priority was getting Demeter to absolute safety as fast as possible. Everything else was beside the point, both for him and his companions.
Evilus would be dealt with by people whose job that was.
To accommodate Demeter's walking pace, Leon, Jeanne, Rose, and the others moved at a measured speed.
But that slow pace also raised the risk of being intercepted on the way.
They ducked into a side alley, weaving left and right, and the sounds of slaughter from the square quickly faded.
Then a key question Leon had overlooked came rushing back to him.
"Hold on, Demeter. You said the Loki Familia got pinned down at their headquarters and can't spare anyone to help here for now."
"Then... what about the Freya Familia? Where did they all go?"
Demeter, still gasping for breath, answered in fragments.
"Their... most of their main force went deep into the Dungeon. They haven't come back yet!"
Leon's eyebrow twitched, and he traded a startled glance with Jeanne and Rose.
"Those fanatics really do whatever they want."
He spat under his breath, then changed tack and pressed on.
"Even so, the Freya Familia's style being what it is, surely they left some executives behind to hold the base. Who?"
Before the words had fully left his mouth...
At the front, Kureha, who had been on lookout with Persephone as a scout, suddenly shifted her gaze and slammed to a halt.
A clean ringing sound cut the air as her straight blade flashed from its sheath. The silver light of the sword whirled into a seamless shimmer, an impenetrable veil of afterimages.
A volley of incoming throwing knives, shuriken, was deflected with surgical precision by her peerless swordsmanship, scattering across the alley with sharp metallic clatters.
"Who's there?"
"Show yourselves!"
Behind them, Demeter's run slowed to a walk and finally stopped altogether.
Leon stepped sideways, putting himself squarely in front of the goddess to shield her.
Jeanne, Rose, and behind them Laurier and Aura moved in instantly, falling into a tight diamond formation with practiced ease, locking Demeter at the center.
Their reactions to the sudden ambush couldn't be called slow by any measure.
Especially Kureha's perception and her seasoned combat poise the moment things went sideways.
The display lit up Demeter's and Persephone's eyes.
"..."
Leon's mouth twitched at the sight of Demeter's flushed, fascinated expression. He sighed.
"You still haven't told me which executive the Freya Familia left at the base."
Demeter kept her eyes fixed on the black-clad figures who'd appeared without a sound, and answered quietly.
"It's the Black and White Knights."
Hearing that title, a flicker of understanding crossed Leon's eyes.
"Those two, huh. Then it makes sense they didn't answer the Guild's emergency call."
"Not to mention... those two were probably the first targets the Dis sisters of the Alecto Familia locked onto. With their strength, breaking free by force isn't really an option."
After running through that chain of deductions, Leon dismissed the Freya Familia situation from his mind.
He glanced at the assorted weapons scattered on the ground, then at the masked figures in black who had appeared at both ends of the alley to box them in. His eyes took on a wry amusement.
"Shuriken, huh? You don't see those every day."
"So Orario's set is going for the kunai-and-shuriken combat aesthetic now?"
The figures didn't respond to Leon's jab.
Their only answer was cold killing intent.
Without a word of warning, those expressionless figures, kunai in hand, dressed in night-black gear, faces masked, eyes dead and lifeless, lunged at them.
The attack came so cleanly and decisively that Leon dropped the banter.
He took a hard step forward, frost surging across his entire body to form an icy "armor," and barked at Persephone without turning his head.
"Take the goddess and fall back."
"You..."
Persephone started to say something, but seeing the crimson magic circle already unfurling at Leon's raised hand, his whole body locked into combat stance, she bit her lip and managed only "Don't die!" before grabbing Demeter and pulling her decisively toward a safe corner.
The figures hadn't even closed the distance before another burst of air-splitting whistles erupted. A wall of shuriken sprayed out like driving rain, sealing off every possible escape route.
Jeanne and Rose reacted at lightning speed, blades and short daggers turning into streaks of light, knocking the lethal projectiles aside with pinpoint precision.
The first wave of thrown weapons had barely been deflected before the second wave of melee was already on top of them. They weren't being given a single breath to think or set up tactics.
Steel rang against steel in a continuous cascade. Jeanne and Rose, outnumbered, each took on two of the black-clad attackers. Laurier and Aura tied up another between them. As for Kureha, whose swordsmanship was on another tier altogether, her blade flashed so fiercely in her one-on-one duel that her opponent was driven steadily backward.
"Leon, be careful!"
Being pulled along by Persephone, Demeter couldn't help looking back, eyes full of worry as they fixed on the heart of the savage melee.
Leon's gaze sharpened. He drew the short sword from the small of his back in a reverse grip, stepped forward, and parried a thrust aimed at his vital points with surgical timing. Steel ground against steel, sparks flying, as he locked eyes with the emotionless pair staring back at him.
An Agility-type assassin? No... more like a death warrior, he judged in an instant.
Even as he traded blows with his opponent, he called out without turning.
"Don't worry about us!"
Knowing she'd only end up being a liability in this kind of fight, Demeter stopped resisting. Persephone tugged her forward, they rounded the corner ahead, and they vanished from view.
"Aah, gods are so fragile down on the surface. It's got me holding back, terrified that one slip..."
Leon trailed off with a wry tilt of his lips.
"Nova!"
A sharp crack rang out, and frost-white mist bloomed outward with Leon at its center, the magic exploding into the alley the instant his chant ended.
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