Yuki’s power felt overwhelming! Clyde’s hands trembled, though, from excitement or nervousness, he wasn’t sure. The woman couldn’t just be a maid, right? What the hell kind of Dragon Ball shit was this? He analyzed her, eyes wide. He also noted to himself the absurdness of his ultimate attack.

Tier 1 skill: Omen’s Desolation. [Does almighty, spiritual, and sound damage. Chance to cause hopelessness and despair. Triple super-severe damage against entities, deities, spirits, and darkness-type enemies.]

Isn’t this a bit much for a level thirty-seven noob? He wasn’t complaining, but wow. Only once a day, huh? Yuki’s analysis killed his happiness.

Yuki, Head Maid and Leader of the Ashfall Elite Guard.

Level: 60

Type: demoness.

Work under: Ashfall Family.

Special: Time and Eternity Wave. [Inflicts colossal psychic damage. Chance to cause daze and suffering at 2%]

Weakness: holy, spiritual, fire.

Resistances: Your hostile detection isn’t high enough.

Secret: Your hostile detection, luck, and will isn’t high enough for this.

“She’s strong,” Clyde said softly. “I don’t think my party is ready for this.”

Alice shook her head.

“You and I will face her. The others will handle the elite guard.”

“Let’s talk to her first,” Clyde said.

“It won’t work,” Alice said. “See the look deep within those eyes. Nezerath probably threatened Hell itself if she fails. When a demon grows desperate, they become even harder to fight.”

When she finally was close enough, Yuki spoke in an almost musical voice. Clyde just couldn’t understand why this Nezerath shit-nugget treated her so badly? She seemed to hide kindness. But the young man knew deadly when he saw it and prepared for a very difficult fight.

“Princess Alice, heiress of the Hades family, I greet you,” she said then gracefully curtsied. “Come back with us and we’ll allow your company to leave unharmed.”

“You know I can’t do that,” Alice said.

Clyde decided to speak anyway, regardless of the demoness’s warning.

“Why do you serve someone like that?” Clyde said. The head maid’s eyes fell on the young man. In them was both recognition and sadness.

“It is none of your concern,” Yuki said, but her eyes didn’t leave Clyde.

“Enough talk,” an elite guard from behind said. “Lord Nezerath wants blood and raping material.”

“Fucking disgusting,” Clyde spat. “Guys, follow the plan. Kill the elite. Don’t harm Yuki.”

Yuki’s eyes widened then narrowed.

“You still do not understand your position, human,” she said. “Meet them head on, kill all. I will deal with Alice and…this man.”

Her voice had uncertainty in it.

[Your party has entered a Boss fight!]

[Alice activated Radiance!]

[You are the only one in your party compatible enough to receive Radiance. You are surrounded with Radiance. Unknown stat boosts to both you and your weapons.]

“No holding back, my Clyde,” Alice said, allowing the pink aura to surround her.

Clyde nodded.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” he said as he activated his buffs.

[You invoked Mystic Wrath!]

Yuki gestured them forward with a single hand.

“Come, both of you. And I’ll show you why I’m the leader of the shit ba—my lord’s elite forces. I will not fail.”

Clyde and Alice both rushed forward, swords still sheathed. Hand to hand combat wouldn’t kill the maid. The unarmed maid. She met them blow for blow, defense impenetrable. Clyde couldn’t feel her moods, so he relied mostly on airflow and vibrations to guide his blows, but the level sixty woman took no damage.

“This is all you’ve got?”

Clyde didn’t even see the energy blast come out of her palm—he found himself falling backward, pain beating against his chest.

[Yuki used Guiding Strike Shot.]

Clyde bounced off the ground with one hand, flipped while airborne then roundhouse-kicked the maid backward. She didn’t budge much. Not until Alice unleashed her attack.

[Alice used Rapid Strike Force Wave.]

Yuki tried to evade but was hit by five fireball-like blasts of energy. Alice didn’t stop there. She got a few well-placed kicks in before Yuki recovered.

[Yuki’s HP has dropped to from 275% to 230%]

“Well that’s nice, she’s not a five hundred percent behemoth,” Clyde commented. He inhaled and allowed the mystic wrath aura to intensify. Any idea why, System, he thought. To his surprise, it responded.

[Her natural demonic armor isn’t very strong. The stronger the magical or demonic armor, the higher the extra HP.]

So that was how it worked. Bullshit unfair, but he’d figure out how to magically increase his defenses.

He took aim.

[You activated Mystic energy ball.]

Yuki smacked away the green and white ball of energy.

[Yuki activated Vast lightning wave.]

The attack interrupted the casting Alice prepared. She yelped, but Clyde wasn’t worried about her. She had plenty of health.

[Alice’s HP has dropped to 480%]

Yuki seemed irritated by that, but also more determined. She raised two hands.

[Yuki activated Hollow plains of pain.]

[You activated Spirit shield.]

The energy struck against his defenses furiously. Then the level sixty power broke through.

[Your HP has dropped to 35%]

[You have been inflicted with Stabbing blight.]

Clyde’s mystic wrath dimmed as stabbing pain enveloped him. He felt knives in his legs, arms, nose, head, and even his back. Blood oozed from his mouth.

[Harumi activated skill fusion: Grand Heal + Refresh.]

[Your HP and MP returned to 75% All status alignments, hunger, and thirst, and exhaustion removed.]

He stood, nodding his thanks to the pink-haired young woman. Harumi smiled then reengaged the elite guard.

Yuki gave Clyde a puzzled look.

“I see. So if you die, the team goes with it, as far as motivation.”

[Alice activated Targeted Raid Ender.]

[Yuki activated Raid canceller.]

[Alice activated Raid Crushing beam.]

Yuki barely dodged most of the pink beam of powerful magic. The graze burned a little of her uniform.

[Yuki’s HP has dropped to 220%]

Yuki shrugged then nodded to herself as if confirming something.

“I was attempting to fight without harming you, Highness. My lord would probably want to do it all himself anyway. Anyway, let’s get you out of this fight, shall we?”

[Yuki activated Haze Cage.]

[You activated Mystic lightning.]

The level sixty maid fought against what seemed to be just a minor irritation, unleashing her spell on Alice. Except Alice didn’t stand around and let it happen.

[Alice used Explosion.]

Yuki and Clyde bolted away from the impact zone. Alice smirked.

“You didn’t think I’d be easy pickings, did you?”

Yuki laughed.

“I supposed Lord shi—Nezerath wouldn’t mind seeing some bruises or blood. The time for holding back has ended.”

“Are you shitting me?” Clyde hissed. “That was holding back? Fucking level sixty.”

[Yuki has invoked Full Power!]

Winds picked up out of nowhere as the purple aura around the maid brightened. Clyde muttered a string of curses at his Mystic lightning cooldown. What a fucking annoyance. Yuki flash stepped in front of Alice, placed a hand on her chest and unleashed the blast.

“Not even you can go unharmed from this.”

[Yuki used Lightning Pinnacle of Odin.]

The blast ricocheted Alice at least twenty yards away. She hit the ground hard and didn’t get back up.

[Alice’s HP has dropped to 248%]

[Alice is inflicted with paralysis.]

Yuki turned back to Clyde, smile of death on her face.

“She can get as arrogant as the rest of them. All of them forgot that I trained under the god of suffering himself. Now, let’s dispose of the rest.”

Clyde noticed just a brief nervous glance at Alice no doubt making sure she was alive.

“We really don’t have to do this,” Clyde said. “Let us help you.”

“Help me, how? Pity? Charity?” Yuki shook her head. “You have no idea, so it cannot be helped.”

“I do,” Clyde said. “I saw you in a vision. You were reaching out for help—from a brutally abusive blond man. Nezerath.”

Yuki aimed a hand at the young man.

“As soon as I bring her back, I’ll be granted retirement. So die, please.”

[Yuki activated Destruction wave.]

Clyde dodged the enormous black beam that evaporated part of a building fifty meters away. He looked at everyone else, intently fighting off the elite guard. With Alice down, he was in this alone. A level thirty-seven verses a level sixty beast. A powerhouse that actually damaged Alice. An unmoving Alice…frail. And with a guard moving toward her, menacing look in his eyes.

He thought about summoning a mist but couldn’t image demons like these relying too much on vision. Yuki’s weaknesses were in his ball game, but she’d dodge and kill him.

“Come on, make a move while I’m giving you the chance,” Yuki said. “Unless you’ve finally given up. I’ll make it quick and painless.”

The idea hit him like a truck. Only one teeny tiny problem remained.

“Of all the times to run low on MP,” Clyde said softly. He made a run for it. Yuki was so surprised that she didn’t give chase until Clyde was halfway to the guard.

Chika and Toru took control of the fight again, removing the threat from Alice.

[Yuki used Slashing Fire.]

Clyde dodged then retaliated with martial arts. Too bad his unarmed attacks did no damage.

“You don’t stand a chance,” Yuki said. “Maybe in the next life, you should try saving yourself before offering a broken hand.”

Clyde walked toward her, deadly calm. The maid looked at him skeptically, taking a fighting stance. She attacked viciously, intending to end the young man. And she could.

Clyde blocked every strike with a single finger. The woman gasped.

[Your real power has forcibly activated.]

[Warning! You do not have access to this system! Warning, desu! Your body cannot hold for long!]

He poked Yuki on the forehead. Her eyes widened when she was launched at what felt like thousands of miles an hour, backward, skidding the ground.

[Yuki’s HP has dropped to 13%]

She coughed out a mouthful of blood.

“You know what your problem is,” Clyde said as he teleported beside her. He sat down while she looked at him in terror. “You see a way out but refuse to accept it. I’ve seen what he does to you. And the others. It’s also a dream of his to do the same to Alice, which is why I’ll be coming for him.”

“You can’t possibly mean—” she quickly sat up.

“Bigger than that, Yuki,” Clyde said. “I plan to destroy the Ashfall family. They’ve been so toxic that even the universe wants them gone. Except for the innocents.” He casually aimed a finger at nothing in particular.

[You’ve activated the Almighty Tier skill: Blood Nexus’s Obliterating Scatter Shot.]

Shimmering void-colored balls of energy jolted from the young man’s finger and eliminated the elite guards one by one. They screamed in utter agony as they dissolved like objects dipped into acid.

“I won’t make you, Yuki,” Clyde continued, “but we do want to help. It can’t be a coincidence about you and the vision—something’s at play.”

“Where…where will I go?” Yuki said, her voice nearly a whisper. Tears fell from her eyes. “I have nothing. I am nothing. He killed my parents, my siblings, and enslaved me. His bond is inside me.”

“Will you allow me to get rid of it?”

Her eyes widened.

“You can do that?”

[Your heart protection skill has been at play. Would you like to shatter Nezerath’s bond?]

Clyde selected yes. Yuki convulsed then fell on top of the young man. Tears poured from the woman’s eyes.

“Do not ever call yourself ‘nothing,’ and now is as good of a time as ever to rebuild your assets,” Clyde said. “You may go wherever you wish.”

“I wish to…may I live with you?”

Clyde’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Until I can find a place of my own,” Yuki added. “Being… a maid is all I’ve done for a long time. I…I don’t know what else to do.”

“Fine,” Clyde said.

[Yuki has lost the will to fight. Because this was a boss fight, you will gain all rewards, except the chest.]

[Your relationship with Yuki has changed sides to Endearment; Friend.]

[An automatic trust bond has formed between you two.]

[Battle completed. Victory! Reward: 880,000 EXP and $100,000.]

[Congratulations, you have reached levels 38, 39, and 40. Stats increased!]

[Warning, your body continues to undergo changes.]

[Your Heart protection has reached level 5.]

Clyde’s mystic wrath flickered out along with his…whatever state he was in, the essence in which the system admitted being his real power. Yuki paled when Alice walked over.

The demoness held up a hand before the maid could protest.

“It’s okay,” Alice said. “We only want to help. My father will attempt to make me life mate to him tomorrow. Imagine the surprise he’ll get when we crash the party.”

“Or when he crashes the party,” Yuki said, pointing at Clyde. “What are you?”

“Just a man stuck in some prophecy,” Clyde said truthfully. Then he became aware that Yuki hugged him again, but in a way that made him too aware of her breasts. He shoved the thoughts to a corner. The woman was on her way to recovery from years of severe abuse. The kind of abuse that broke even demons.

The young man shuddered inside. A composed but deep boiling anger wanted to erupt at Alice’s father. The idea of smashing his face into concrete continued to grow more appealing. He wasn’t a man of violence, but he’d become one.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Clyde said. “We’ve got sleep and more planning to do.”

Ashfall Estates….

Nezerath grinned at the succubus, tied by a few chains, glaring lava-daggers at him. He caressed the prisoner’s face and the gag ball in her mouth. Then he laughed.

“Did you really think you could invade my dreams? Take me out from within?”

He drew back a fist and struck the succubus hard enough to make her shake. He was disappointed when no tears came. Well, one couldn’t expect to get them from a demon, not with pain alone. “You intruded my household, Hades wench.” He ripped off the rest of her clothes. “You are incredibly lucky I don’t keep male staff in my estates, or I’d let them have their way with you, death and devouring included.” He entered her and furiously thrusted, grinning. “You have no idea just how powerful I am, do you, wench. To underestimate ME. The heir to the Ashfall household.” He thrusted even harder and faster. “I am power. And even your household will soon be mine to control.” He grabbed the succubus by the throat, squeezing tight. No reaction, just a look of defiance. “It’s no use. Your kind lives for this.”

Nezerath looked at the clock. “You’re lucky I don’t have any time or I’d you get into the room of No Return.” He released his load inside her, chuckling. “Yuki’s really late. I’ll make sure to have her tied up naked and beaten with a heat-rod for dare making me wait.”

He left the succubus on the table, chained. Time to check on the job progress.