Hikari watched from a distance as she strived to make her way to Regrit, guns blazing through the hoard of beasts.

"REGRITT!!"

​​

However, before she could reach him… She witnessed as he struck his sword into his own wound, and how quickly he fell soon after...

"Well, that was unexpected… Perhaps you cast some spell so I don't turn you against your friends… Quite admirable indeed. Still, after all that talk, you were nothing but a disappointment…" The shalker smiled from the distance, it was truly an amusing sight to see after many years of isolation.

However, that was when suddenly, he felt a cold shiver run down his spine, and a raging killing intent unmatched. His senses were consumed, and his eyes slowly peered over towards the source… A source he could not believe, the tiny girl… And he gazed with wide eyes to see a literal grim reaper of death rage towards him through his summons almost as though they were nothing.

Hikari could not believe her eyes as they shrunk in horror. Her hurting, heavily beating heart lurched down to her deepest depths, and she felt an empty pain eating away at her stomach.

She felt almost as though she had witnessed a part of herself cruelly severed, and the pain lingered back towards her. She knew not what overcame her nor what kind of anguish was inflicted upon her. All she knew was that she had to make haste and reach him no matter the cost.

Her aura of light erupted, and it was now mixed with hints of ever-feint dark that slowly became thicker. Her eyes turned primal, and her vision was laser-focused as though nothing in the world mattered until now.

And with but a single shot from her pistol, she shot a light that parted the sea of monsters, incinerating them into dust and turning their ethereal ashes into a clear walkway for her to pass.

And with a single step, she dashed all the way towards Regrit and looked down on his clearly dead corpse.

Being in front of him, her previous emotions subsided, and she was now overwhelmed with something else.

Water fell down from her vision, and an uncontrollable blurriness flooded her eyes. Her legs began to lose strength, and her raging aura faded away into the cold wind as she dropped on the icy grounds, her hands gently over Regrit's armour.

The shalker watching the display of grief ahead of him felt a sense of relief unrivalled by nearly any other. As that girl approached him, he felt certain doom was upon him, and he witnessed his life flash before his eyes. Seeing her stop and break down in front of him was something he was more than grateful for. The demonic amalgamation of death he so feared to face was now nothing but a little girl crying over the corpse of her friend.

"You fucking dummy… Why… You liar... I thought you were strong… I thought your determination was peerless and you would do anything to follow your dreams… I was so jealous of your strength… That was the strength I lacked... You're the only reason I was so convinced to turn into a demon… So why… WHY WOULD YOU KILL YOURSELF SO COWARDLY YOU IDIOT!!"

"..."

"..."

She broke down crying on his armour. But… That's when she noticed steam coming from her teardrops, and her eyes grew wide. She was lying on the unforgiving snow she nearly died from prior, yet she oddly felt no cold… The armour that Regrit wore that she presumed to be icy cold from the environment was so warm to the touch and filled her with a gentle comfort.

The wound from the two swords stabbed through his own chest did not bleed, no not at all when she expected to find a pool of blood beneath her feet. Instead, she witnessed the snow melting around her in a circle.

She shook her head and cleared her hazy eyes, and when she did so she witnessed odd particles of red flow enveloping her, dancing before lighting up into sparse flickers.

Those red particles' numbers slowly increased, and their mass became almost solid as they swirled all around her like a beautiful light show. Confusion overcame her, and when she looked down, she noticed that these particles were slowly escaping from Regrit's corpse.

"B-blood?"

The armour she slept on slowly began to rumble and shake uncontrollably and a sudden aura of bright rose gradually submerged his body. Only then did he stand up, and Hikari backed off as she witnessed his previously lifeless corpse pulling two katanas out of his chest, taking a casual stance.

"R-regrit?" She looked up in awe as though she had witnessed a miracle. Tears stopped flowing down from her eyes, and her saddening display of anguish was instead replaced with bewilderment. It was too surreal for what had happened right now to be true.

It was like a new being rose above her. His spirit mode once again shined, yet it bore a different aura and appearance from before. There

The two blades in his hands burned with a ferocity she had never seen, droplets of his own blood still on them, burning with it to form a vigorous yet calming bright rose.

"Hikari! Who're you calling idiot! You're the idiot! Of course, I'm not giving up! Of course, I didn't kill myself! I would never do that shit! I just figured out what my demon powers are… And I've now been reborn in blood… You should have more faith in me and stop being so reckless! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!" He announced proudly, and the new rosy armour of blood and flames shined brightly, and the swirling circles of bloody fire surrounding him spun more vigorously.

And with a smile on his face, he slashed both his blades in the shape of a cross, and a powerful gust of flaming air hurled towards his four opponents at speeds they could barely react to, damaging them and scorching their zombie flesh as he peered over at his stiff opponent who could not believe his eyes.

"Hikari, stand up. I'm gonna need your help on this… They're really strong… I may have gotten stronger, but this form won't last forever and I don't think I'd be able to finish them in time."

"G-got it!" She shook her head and wiped her reddened face, pulling out her two pistols once more, standing up ready for battle. "I'll support you from behind! Show me this new power of yours then bloody paladin!"

"Y-You... No! Both of you… That's no mere display of demon energy… Y-you! YOU'RE BOTH FULL-FLEDGED DEMONS!! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!? ONLY THE GREAT DEMON LORD AVILIA GRAYMORE HAD THE ABILITY TO TURN MORTALS INTO DEMONS!!"

"That's because of the person who turned us into demons will be the one to succeed her… Or at least that's what he told me." Regrit chuckled.

"Who is it!? Who could it be!? WHO IS THIS PERSON YOU SPEAK OF!?" The shalker roared once more, gripping his black halberd so tightly to the point it nearly began to form cracks.

And as though his question was heard by the heavens, a sudden eruption was abruptly heard from behind them, followed by immense clashes that made the very ground beneath them cry in pain.

Their attentions were pulled to their backs at the heart of the castle, and towards the residual collisions, blasts and clanking metal coming from up above tearing up the sky. There they witnessed two small winged figures shrouded into two flame-like auras. One of deep purple and another ashen black. The weather turned violent reacting to their fight, and the clouds turned darker.

Their thick auras made them hard to see, and their unbelievably quick movements as they whisked through the air made it even harder. It was a true clash of titans of the likes they had never before seen.

"That guy..."