The giant accumulation of ice shards crashed into the man and it exploded everywhere. The surrounding houses and walls were pierced through by the thousands upon thousands of shards. Erina's armor blocked all of the shards that came in her direction.

"[Gluttonous Fissure]."

Erina's right eye glowed and she quickly used Fragile Steps to move to the side a few meters away. A moment later, her previous spot was hit by a large blade of darkness. It lasted only for an instant—it was like Kai's Rend. However, what was left in its wake was nothing. The ground was caved in for at least a hundred meters in one direction. Any houses and structures that were previously there disappeared.

It looked like someone bulldozed through the city and left nothing behind other than some dark matter.

Erina looked at the man and saw his sword being covered by darkness. True and absolute darkness.

It was a darkness that couldn't be compared to the ones used by the Kuroshi Clan. Even Kai barely used darkness of that level, it would be too dangerous for both himself and the people around him. He only used it in situations that really required it, such as with the use of Abyssal Wolf.

Erina bit her lip.

'So this is the power of a pureblood demon...'

The demon stood unfaltering—despite the overwhelming power he just displayed, it looked just like a casual swing of his sword.

Who knew how many innocent lives were taken with just that one attack?

Erina had no obligation to the people here, but at the very least, she didn't want to see innocent people being killed in the crossfire. Like Kai setting up a perimeter around his battle with the Blind Swordsman, she needed to keep the people safe as well.

After making her decision, Erina mouthed words that the demon couldn't understand.

"————!"

All of a sudden, Erina's hair underneath the armor glowed brightly; along with her eyes turning into a shade of bluish-silver.

A ring of ice appeared around them, at first it was just markings on the ground, but then it suddenly grew and turned into a dome that covered the sky above them. It spanned several dozen meters—only enough to not involve any of the civilians in the area.

"...An angel."

The demon frowned.

"I don't know how you managed to get into our borders or how you've managed to make yourself in our likeness, but know this: you will die here today."

"What a warm welcome."

The demon scoffed.

"My name is Mars Camerius, remember the name of the man who slayed you in the afterlife."

Without waiting for a response, Mars raised his claymore and charged at Erina.

"Hoooh..."

Kei took a breath as he finished swinging his sword and burning another few demons to ash. It had been a few minutes since Erina's dome appeared all of a sudden and he was holding his ground nearby. The civilians had already been alerted with the presence of the dome and were evacuating—giving Kei some space to fight freely.

He could just make a break for it, but it wouldn't do for Erina to be surrounded by S-class right after a battle with the SS-class he sensed inside the dome.

"Just like the vampire fight... yeah, good..."

Kei tried to comfort himself but ended up feeling worse. He downed many potions to heal himself and regain his mana during that time, and it ended up with him being unable to drink it for a few days or else he'd throw up.

He had killed around two dozen demons by now, and the rest of the demons didn't look like they wanted to approach him anymore.

"[Flame Dragon's Tempest]!"

Kei raised his sword and a giant dragon made of flames appeared. Then he swung it by his side in a circular motion. The dragon bent itself as if it was alive and swallowed everything around Kei. The ones that tried to defend were unable to do so and after just a little bit of resistance, they disappeared as well.

With that show of his strength, the rest of the demons could only back away—giving Kei some room to breathe. Unfortunately, his rest didn't last for very long.

Soon, the S-class that appeared at the entrance of the city appeared in front of him. There were three of them, and the quality of their mana were all above that of Kei's.

"Given your circumstances, I'd have expected you to turn tail and run. You have my praise for not doing so."

Three women appeared. They came floating from the sky and continued hovering at the ground in front of Kei.

"Lord Mars went ahead and so we were left to deal with the other troublemaker..."

The woman to the left was speaking, she had her face covered by a hood, but Kei could somewhat make out her features.

"We must hurry, I do not want to keep Lord Mars waiting."

This time, it was the woman on the right. She was also the person who talked when they first arrived.

"Patience, Neri. Ene, you need to calm down as well. Lord Mars doesn't like to be disturbed."

Although Neri, the woman on the right, and Ene, the woman on the left, had their complaints, they didn't say anything and just continued to listen to the woman in the middle.

Looking closely, their features were all mostly the same—they could even be called triplets.

"Big Sister Nerio, it appears that he's slaughtered quite a bit of our brethren."

Neri looked around saw the ashes scattered around.

"Then he obviously has to pay with his blood."

Ene raised her hand and darkness manifested to form a sphere. Just looking at it made Kei's soul feel that it was being sucked out of his own body.

Nerio looked around. She looked at the ashes of their people and then at the other demons standing by a ways away.

"No way around it then. Ene, deal with him."

"Yes!"

Nerio and Neri floated towards Erina's dome. Kei wanted to stop them but Ene stopped him by shooting a ball of darkness in front of him that imploded into itself and expanded. If Kei didn't react in time, he would've disappeared from existence—considering that the ground that it had hit vanished as if it was never there.

"There's no way I'm letting you get past me, not while I'm alive!"

Ene laughed and raised her arms. Hundreds of small dark orbs appeared and floated all around the two of them.

Kei raised his hand to his mouth and bit on his thumb hard enough that it bled. Then, he pressed it down on his sword and slid his thumb down the blade.

"Manifest, amplify, protect!"

With Kei's yell, the sword burst into flames and a giant illusory figure of a knight made of flames appeared behind him. It stretched its hands to the side and a barrier of flames appeared around them.

"You think a weapon will be enough protection?!"

Ene lowered her hands and aimed it at Kei. The hundreds of dark orbs that were gathered around them all shot down at once. Each one was faster than the human eye could perceive, and there were hundreds of them. They crashed into the barrier and while it held on for the first few dozen, it started to crack.

No matter how strong a shield is, if a crack appears, more will follow.

The barrier had cracks all over by the time half of the dark orbs had vanished. The illusory figure of the knight was also beginning to fade.

"Kuh... Even though I already used blood, it's still not enough?"

Kai gave him a weapon before they departed. It was one that amplified his magic so he could attack more efficiently. However, it also had a way to save its wielder. A barrier that could only be used once every few hours. The strength of its barrier—given the right catalyst, would prove difficult for even someone like Kai to break.

"Kai told me that just smearing some blood on it would create something an S-class would take a while to break through..."

It was already too late for regrets. He couldn't strengthen the barrier that was threatening to give out.

It resisted the onslaught of attacks but the torrent was only getting fiercer by the moment. By the time only a fourth of the dark orbs were left, the barrier finally shattered.

Kei raised his sword and stabbed it into the ground with all his might. Flames rose from the ground and moved to protect him but the dark orbs were just far too powerful. After only putting up a bit of resistance, the flames dispersed and left Kei out in the open.

"[Detonate]!"

An explosion started from Kei's body and in a circular shape, expanded. It burned the dark orbs that came near and left only a few dozen left. Using his five senses, Kei managed to dodge most of them but a few had managed to evade his grasp. The flesh that was hit by the dark orbs was cut through like a hot knife through butter.

At the end of it, Kei had many wounds all over his body and although they were non-lethal, it wasn't something that he could ignore that easily.

Just when he thought he could catch his breath, however, Ene gave him a big grin. Then, a hundred more of the dark orbs from earlier appeared once more.

Kei could only wryly smile after seeing the attack he had desperately blocked before being used again so nonchalantly. Any other person would've lost their will to fight at this point but rather than showing any signs of giving up, Kei's eyes had a fire in them that looked like they would never go out.

He gripped his sword one more time and his mana soared. He couldn't afford to hold back even the slightest bit anymore, it didn't matter if his disguise wouldn't hold up. This was no longer a fight to win, it was a fight to survive.

"Akh... Ah..."

Erina was gasping for breath. There was blood from a cut on her forehead and caused her eye to be unable to see. It wasn't much of a problem, though. At their level, it was normal not to rely on the five senses alone.

The armor that she wore earlier was all but gone.

But, the most eye-catching of all was her left side. Her arm that should've been there wasn't.

It was the previous attack that had gotten her. She tried dodging another attack like the first one but ended up being unable to escape its range. It was lucky enough that she wasn't killed instantly.

Her demon disguise had long since faded.

"Ahh...!"

Wings sprouted from Erina's back and she used her healing abilities to restore her arm. After that, she channeled Eternal Frost to create a weapon and armor. To top it off, she coated them in Immortal Ki.

There was no point in hiding her cards to the end. If she didn't use them all right now, she would die. That was for certain.

It isn't like before.

Kai wasn't here, and neither did he know everyone's situation. But, she knew that Kai believed in them. That's the only reason he wasn't tearing through the entire continent at the risk of his own life.

"...I'm done being protected."

Erina stood up and pointed her rapier at Mars.

"Hmmm..."

Mars could see the power behind the Eternal Frost, and he could also sense the Immortal Ki coating her weapon.

"You're not just an angel, you're an angel subservient to the Goddess of Frost."

There were many angels—however, not all of them were direct followers of a God, and not all of those followers were serving particularly strong Gods.

To be able to use Eternal Frost, one had to be one of the Goddess of Frost's people.

"It appears that I really can't let you live past today."

Mars took his giant claymore and poured the greatest amount of mana he had poured in by far. He raised the sword over his head with one arm.

"[Oblivion]!"

Erina kicked the ground. Instead of dodging, she headed straight for the attack.

Faced with the power above their own, they had to take risks to win. Even if those risks could cost them their very lives.

"[Absolute Frost]!"