I grit my teeth, screwing up my face so my eyes were shut tight in concentration and pain. I kept my hands on both of their foreheads, trying my hardest to keep the demon blood from awakening. Sweat began to form in uncomfortable places, shining on my face and dripping down my cheeks and the back of my neck. I felt someone come up behind me, but I couldn't look. I was the only thing keeping these girls from transforming into the monsters, I assume, that were sprouting up around down. Bursts of dark magical energy consistently popped up, surging around town as screams and loud roars began to echo around the city- no matter where you looked or listened. I only knew it was King when I hear him speak.

"What's wrong with them?" He asked, and I felt his presence on my left. I panted, having not realized that I was holding my breath.

"They're... part of the New Generation..." I spoke, my voice strained. "The demon blood... is being awakened... and I can't... stop it... fuck!"

I was launched off to the side, toppling over Guila and taking King with me. I opened my eyes to find Jericho, her muscles and skin tearing open and enclosing her lower half, all the way up to her chest. It opened itself up and grew continuously, forming a large creature. It a large mouth and no identifiable eyes, and it's arms and legs were disproportionate in the most disgusting ways possible. The skin was a deep pink- like that of a burn wound- and it's head and hands were a deep purple. The pink of its torso faded down to black at the feet.

I turned my gaze fearfully toward Guila, over which Zeal was kneeling. He was staring up at what Jericho had transformed into, eyes wide and scared. I whirled back toward King.

"Protect Guila and the kid," was all I said to King before darting forward. Diane has stumbled up, her and the monster holding their hands against one another and pushing as hard as they could. I jumped up, spinning and kicking my foot out. It made direct contact with its face, sending it stumbling momentarily. It head-butted me right back, sending me crashing to the ground. I growled, pushing myself out of the crater and going back into battle.

"Diane! (Y/N)!" King shrieked, as I floated midair, extending both hands forward and a large stream of fire came hurtling out of them and at the creature, which roared in agony. I took extra care not to it my giantess comrade.

"King we've got this!" I shouted, gritting my teeth. The skin of the creature had been burned, it letting out a shriek as its body began to rebuild itself. The large chunk of its arm and upper torso that I had burned away reappeared in seconds. I cursed quietly to myself, then shouted, "Go help everyone else!"

"But Diane can hardly move and you-!"

"I'm fine!" Diane retorted angrily, but the monster was gaining some ground against her, pushing her backward instead of them both standing in the same place. "Bu... but what's going with Guila and the others!"

"It's the demon blood the New Generations drank!" I shouted, jumping on Diane's arm and running until I was on the monster's. Once I was at its elbow, I swung down using its skin, then kicked upward at the joint. It screeched in pain as it's arm bent at an unnatural angle. Diane pushed forward with that hand, bending and breaking the limb further. "It's being awakened!"

Diane breathed a small thanks to me, then asked, "Do you mean someone's behind all this?!"

"Don't you think it's weird how they all freaked out at the same time?" Meli asked, joining the conversation. As the creature's arms began to heal, I lit the limb with purple flames, running my hand down its skin and igniting the flesh. It cried out as I reached its shoulder, then punched downward. The bones cracked and it screamed, "The only way that this could make sense is if someone made them all go berserk."

"A very astute observation," A loud voice boomed over us, distracting us from our current tasks. Diane fell backward as the beast took advantage of her hesitation; I turned away from the figure approaching us, kicking the large monster into three nearby buildings, making them crumple over it. "The New Generation Knights were Holy Knight Apprentices who couldn't become fully-fledged Knights- in other words, they were failures. Inferiority complexes toward their Holy Knight superiors and rage at their powerlessness interacted with the demon blood, giving birth to their power." I ran up to Diane, grasping her hand and jumping upward to pull her up. She gave a small thanks, but her voice quavered as she stared at the man speaking. I turned my attention back to him and my eyes widened, now fully able to see what he looked like. "However, that power can be manipulated with an ancient incantation, making the blood 'go berserk,' as you said. Then, they are swallowed up by their weakness and negative emotions, their bodies taken over by the thick torrent of darkness in which the demon blood was allowed to fester."

"I knew you wouldn't die so easy," growled Meli, stepping protectively in front of Ellie. King sputtered incoherently, and Gowther stared, emotionless, his hand pressed against Guila's forehead, trying to help her. Diane and I exchanged a wary gaze as I stood stop her shoulder, staring at the man. The second Holy Knight Grandmaster and the one who decided to resurrect the Demon Race.

"Hendrickson..." I growled, furrowing my eyebrows and staring at him. His hair was longer- like it was when he was much younger and we first met him and Dreyfus. One of his eyes was the deep purple that almost all demons had when using their powers, the other still his usual, striking blue. A small, condescending smile graced his lips as he stared at all of us one by one. I flipped him off when he looked toward me.

The Holy Knights amongst the group- Hauser and Gilthunder- looked astonished, and both of them seemed to be extremely ready to take the man on. The Princesses seemed extremely uncomfortable and scared, both of them having experienced the true version of him.

"This is a wonderful gift," Hendrickson grinned, a manic expression on his features. "True unification with the demon blood grants tremendously increased power and enhances the physical body. My research yielded great results... and, though it pains me to say it, I have those failures to thank for that." He began walking forward, stepping over the rubble until he was a few feet in front of Meli and Ellie. "Hand over Elizabeth. If you do so, I will allow you to live. Think of it as a form of mercy to one of my own kind."

My face scrunched up in anger, and I was ready to use a variety of explicits (fuck-knuckle, blood whore, cunt licker, etc.), but Meli spoke before I could. "Don't lump me in with you- and don't you dare do it to (y/n). You're neither man nor demon."

"You're just an idiotic asshole!" I shouted from Diane's shoulder. She covered her mouth, giggling quietly. I heard a low growl from behind us, and my eyes widened as I saw it, onto barely able to catch Hendrickson's glare in my direction and his comment.

"I expected as much," he hummed as I jumped off Diane's shoulder and charged toward the creature Jericho had turned into. I reared my fist backward, it crashing through the monster's hand, which it outstretched to try and stop me. Diane gasped from behind me, watching as it wrapped its hands around my body. I cried out as the scene disappeared, replaced by a dark magenta color, and it's hands squeezed around me, nearly crushing my body. I growled, yelling as purple flames exploded around me and ripped through its hands with it.

It let out a loud cry, retreating away from me as it clutched at its hands, which wouldn't heal. I landed on the floor, beginning to walk toward it with growing annoyance. Deep purple markings had appeared, wrapping around my cheek and framing my right eye. I stared at the creature, fed up with its insistence on interrupting mine and Diane's ability to help the others. Once I was close enough, I extended a hand toward the creature, watching as it weighed, trying uselessly to put out the flames engulfing it arm's. Jericho screamed from it its chest, and as I was about to kill it, Diane stopped me.

"Wait, (y/n)! That's still Jericho!" Diane said, and I clenched my fist in response, not taking my eyes off the monster.

"I'm putting her out of her misery," I replied, "You heard Hendrickson- while she's this demon thing, she's suffering. She's drowning in her weaknesses and regrets and self-doubt. Allowing her to stay like this would be inhumane- and besides, she's interfering with our goal."

I opened my hand to attack again, but Diane spork, stopping me once more. "But it's still her! We can reverse the spell! I dunno how, but we'll do it!"

I growled, shoving my had downward and deactivating my demonic abilities. The purple flames, which had now engulfed and destroyed the entirety of the monster's arm and half of its chest- dangerously close to Jericho. The monster- and her- had been screaming their heads off, but stopped once the flames ceased, its arms replacing itself and it growling in my direction. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine," I mumbled, "But if it gets too out of hand, she's gone."

Diane hesitated, but agreed nonetheless. She returned to her original pose, pushing her palms against the monster's. I continued to attack in various places, trying to find weak spots, but it didn't seem to have any. Both Diane and I nearly stopped dead as we looked over our shoulders to make sure everyone was okay.

Hendrickson had Ellie in his life arm, and had a dark wing extending off of his right. Meli and Gilthunder were both laying on the ground, injured and unable to move, and King was fighting what looked to be a fairy- a boy in a green suit snd large wings, wearing a simple metal helmet on his head. He was sobbing hysterically as he stared at him, as were Margaret and Vivian (who was here now, I guess?), except they were around Gil's unconscious body.

"(Y/N)! Get Hendrickson!" Shouted Diane, "I've got Jericho!"

I nodded, shutting off of the monster and diving toward Hendrickson. He smirked at me, and I outstretched my hand toward the princess. He launched himself off the ground just as my fingertips brushed the skin of her arm, making my eyes widen in shock- the realization that I failed to get her hitting me almost as hard as my fall.

I tumbled forward, crashing into the ground and rolling across the pavement. I scraped my arms, legs, face, and stomach, unable to stop myself from continuing to crash forward. I found that I couldn't move.

I lost Elizabeth. I lost Ban.

Why couldn't I hold onto anyone? Why couldn't I save anyone?

I let out a loud cough as my body suddenly stopped, nearly choking, as my cloak had been yanked on. I breathed heavily, turning to glare at who or whatever had healed my cloak, but widened my eyes in shock upon seeing who it was. It almost made me mad how he wasn't even looking at me as he spoke, even more so when I found it wasn't me he was addressing.

"Hey cap'n. I found ya."