Up in the sky, the other four were now near the enemy, but it was never that easy. The devils below threw flaming tridents at them, forcing the three to swerve their flying carpets midair. Yukino became terrified, hugging Kenkō tighter. As more and more tridents came at them, they began to set their rides ablaze. “We can’t do this all day, guys! Find a way to block their assault!” Kakunō exclaimed, moving around the air.

“Don’t worry, there is!” Haruto looked at his daughter from afar. “Do it, Yukino! Cast a shield around us!”

“But I can’t do it when I’m scared, Papa!” she looked back, appearing distressed.

“That’s okay!” he shouted louder. “You don’t have to be brave right now. You can even do it out of fear! It will save all of us!”

Hearing his words of encouragement, Yukino took a deep breath and raised her hands high. The devils now stood confused. Their attacks could not pierce the runic sphere flying above. They all roared out in frustration, breathing fire.

The sphere eventually disappeared, so Yukino was praised by her family. Kenkō hugged her, calling her by her nickname. Yukino herself giggled with eyes closed, but when she opened them, her smile went away, “Big Sis! Look out!” she pointed in front.

Similar to what happened to Tokino before, a massive fireball flew straight at them. Kenkō instinctively shielded her little sister, but inevitably, the said fireball blasted them away from their carpet and fell many meters down.

“Yukino!” Haruto cried out while looking below. Suddenly, he fell victim to another fireball right at his face. Kakunō tried flying down to save them but realized he was back where the devils were. Still angry that they could not hit the family before, the devils threw double the flaming tridents at Kakunō. Eventually, he fell from his carpet, as well.

Yukino managed to cast another runic shield during their fall. They landed on the ground safely. However, she saw Kenkō lying around with eyes closed and not moving. “Big Sis! Big Sis!” she shook her. The demonic flames charred Kenkō beyond belief; skin even peeled off. Now incredibly desperate, Yukino cast runes around her. “Please don’t die. Please don’t die, Big Sis! We all—need you….” she hyperventilated as tears rolled down. Fortunately, she heard a cough.

Kenkō opened her eyes slowly and called her nickname in a faint tone. Yukino burst into tears and hugged her big sister tightly. Kenkō hugged her back with eyes closed. “I’m so sorry for worrying you, Yukichi… I don’t know how I could repay—” Their heartwarming moment was cut short by the footsteps of their opponent.

Lupa Natura, twenty-two years old, stood by with a smirk, “Hmmm… First, I thought you were just gonna be fodder, kid…” she walked closer, “…But it looks like your blood will be very filling as well!” She grinned at Yukino, who huddled behind her big sister.

Back with Haruto’s predicament, he stood back up and noticed flames cladding his torso. He tried to put it out with his hands but to no avail. To his left, he heard a voice saying, “Those fires heal you, man. You can’t put them out unless I command it. Like this…” the healing flames snuffed out by a finger-snap. Auris slowly walked toward Haruto, “You know… I can already tell you’re way stronger than your wife. But I firmly believe there’s no shame in being weak. As long as I can hold you off—that’s all that matters.” His eyelids narrowed full of sternness.

Meanwhile, devils stood by and saw Kakunō not moving on the ground. They charged right at them, but suddenly, they fell to their eyes in anguish. Kakunō exerted his magical pressure on them. The devils felt like they constantly committed seppuku for three straight weeks.

When Kakunō slowly got back up, the devils moved further back—now wary that he was not an opponent they could easily defeat. He did some stretches and yawns—fully prepared to attack them all in one fell swoop. “Oh, how I missed you guys… I got some new toys to test out….” he grinned and chuckled, using Runic Art to pull out a big sledgehammer-like weapon with a long metal shaft.

Kakunō jumped in front of one devil and swung it toward their head. However, the weapon had a strange mechanic. The shaft bent in half backward to a forty-five-degree angle. Due to their enhanced senses, the devil could see it all more slowly, being very confused by it. Then, faster than the devil could react, the shaft bent forward; it smashed down its entire upper half into lumps of flesh splattering around the area.

The other devils backed away more in fear—but did not run away. With fire combusting out their eyes and mouths, they charged at him again, only to be dealt quickly by more of Kakunō’s toys; he pulled up a gold revolver. More than one bullet came out of the barrel and homed in on the targets. Each bullet did not hit the devils only once. They kept coming back to pierce their body in multiple areas—turning them into Swiss cheese.

Next, Kakunō pulled out a katana showing the thunder god Raijin through its scabbard. He swung at blinding speeds on the devils’ torsos. However, they realized his attacks gave them no semblance of a scratch. Behind the devils, Kakunō slowly walked and sheathed his sword. They roared in anger—but before they knew it—bright blue, lethal jolts of electricity penetrated their bodies. The spasms continued even after death.

Now, only half of the devils were left. Even then, they carried on. As they charged at Kakunō yet again, he pulled out a halberd. He displayed a large, toothy grin.

Walking inside the palace’s throne room, even a man like Hokori became unnerved by its horrific state. Orange, pulsating vein-like growth covered the walls and floor. It resembled slime mold, only far more numerous. He saw the woman in the fire cage at a corner, still silent. In front, he saw the boy in the green fluid tank. “Bruh… Da fuck is all dis?” he looked at Meretrix, raising an eyebrow.

“For this one, I do not know,” she pointed at the tank. “For the ones on the walls, however… they’ve been a plague on the lower districts of Naraka. But somehow—they’re not contagious here…” as she explained, the mentioned viral growth kept spreading around the palace.

Hokori learned that skin contact transmitted its effects. Curiously, there was no epidemic in the densely populated commercial areas.

“I realized this disease was a lot more alive than I thought. They shrink and move away when exposed to fire,” Meretix caressed her hand on a wall and turned to Hokori. “Thanks for healing me, by the way. We couldn’t have found a way to do it. And now that most of the devils I created are gone, I feel my power coming back to me.” She walked closer. “You want us arrested, right? Then I have a favor to ask. Will you help us in the future?”

“Nah…” Hokori shook his head. “I ain’t here to play hero, but I can ask my fam back home to do it for you. Anyways, wanna fight?” he cracked his knuckles.

Meretrix sighed with eyes closed. “Your attitude’s been bothering me for years. Why are you so obsessed with combat?”

Hokori grinned. “Hahahahahahaha! C’mon now, bruh. Do I need to write a thesis? When something sounds and feels fun—I’ll act on it. But in all seriousness—don’t ask why I fight. Imagine it like breathing.” He further reassured Meretrix that he would not destroy the palace. Two years ago, he discovered weaker but more conventional ways to increase his strength.

She chuckled with her eyes closed. “Always as selfish as ever… I like it….” Just before the two fought, the girl in the fire cage tried to speak, but Meretrix interrupted her, “Don’t listen to that woman. We found her tinkering with the fluid tank—and it didn’t look like she was trying to open it.”

With all that, their battle finally began.

Meretrix manipulated the air around her, creating wind inside the throne room. Small fire tornadoes manifested all around, enough to make Hokori go off-balance and burn his skin quickly.

Getting back up, he now made his moves against Meretrix. She realized his fists were not even enough to bruise her. “Well, this is strange. It’s like I’m not fighting the same person— Ugh!” a straight punch to the chest threw Meretrix a few meters away, which destroyed a wall.

Hokori walked and chuckled. “Surprising, ain’t it? I pumped my body enough adrenaline to kill thirty grown men. It’s one of the gifts of being a Child of Zeus. My body is the father of all WMDs—and even way, way beyond that!” he grinned, noticing Meretrix coming out of the rubble.

Far away outside the palace, Auris’ famed techniques dwindled against Haruto. The attacks used on his wife before were now utterly ineffective, as Haruto’s pace became faster and faster. Throwing giant musical notes at him did not do much because his durability improved.

Haruto flash-stepped in front of Auris and dealt him an upward slash. “Agh!” The latter stood back, holding his belly as he panted. “This is far from over, man!” Auris had one more trick up his sleeve, creating a massive wall of flame, “You better prepare yourself. Now’s my chance to be a big shot!” Said flames manifested into a dark grid room with orange lines that entrapped Haruto within.

He noticed he could not see the outside world. He also noticed Auris creating an orange down arrow accompanied by characters below saying: 2.5 MB/s.

Haruto did not understand what went on, so he continued the fight. Suddenly, however, his pace became too fast for him and made him bump into the grid wall. Getting back up, he realized the numbers now said: 6.8 MB/s. “Would you care for an explanation?” Auris smirked.

Haruto stood up and sighed. “Just make it quick….”

“Alright,” Auris shrugged with eyes closed. He pointed upward. “Those numbers you’re seeing indicate download speed. Now let’s talk about sound quality, shall we?

“Let’s say you’re normally 328kbps. Very fine-tuned. On my command, I can lower that to 128 and so forth. It speeds up the download—but worsens the overall quality. In your case—you become faster but weaker!” he pointed.

Haruto sighed again. “Understood… But I don’t know how speeding me up can help you!” It took him one step to already run past Auris. “Huh…? Urgh!” he bumped into another wall.

Auris turned around and smiled. “Hahahahaha! You don’t get it, do you? You may be faster now, but your body ain’t used to that kind of speed!”

Even when hearing the enemy’s insults, Haruto kept going, even if it felt like sliding across the ice. After some time, it dawned on him; his endurance could not keep up. With Haruto now breathless, demon general Auris took every advantage he could. An onslaught of fire-enhanced punches was dealt on him as he lay on the ground.

However, Haruto swung his right-hand sword at tremendous speed, which gave Auris a small forehead cut. He stood back from afar again, seeing the archmage get up. “So… you said that I wasn’t used to this speed, right…? Sorry to disappoint you, but this is a bad matchup for you.” Haruto declared.

“How so…? Do you have an ace up your sleeve, too?” Auris raised an eyebrow, walking closer.

Haruto pointed his right-hand sword toward him. “Battle Escalation means the longer I fight—the stronger and tougher I become. I never got weaker—because my innate ability works even within the realms of others. My senses gradually sharpen, too. It’s just the last priority…” he drew his left-hand sword.

Auris’ pupils narrowed as sweat rolled down his face upon the realization. He quickly used his technique on himself and made a run for it. At 96kbps, he now equaled Haruto’s speed. At that point, it looked more like a game of tag.

After being chased for three minutes, Auris wanted to stop so badly, panting heavily. No matter what, Haruto did not falter. Two minutes in, Auris became lethargic and fell on his back. The grid room disappeared.

As Haruto walked closer, Auris raised his arms in defense. “No, wait, please! Please have mercy! I’ll do anything. I’ll do— Aaagh!” he received a powerful punch to the gut, which fissured the ground beneath him. He spewed out a red fountain.

“There’s your mercy. It’s for nearly killing my wife…” he glared at the unconscious Auris; his eyes turned white.

Haruto stood victorious, sheathing his weapons.