"Gah! Damn you...!", Tiki jumped back up.

Izuko chuckled. "This is going to be the nigh of our lives...depending on who gets to keep it!"

Ikarisa approached Tiki. "Here.", she healed her wounds.

"For a two against one, it's going to be quite interesting.", Izuko approached them both.

The closer the demon king got to them, the more and more the menacing aura betraying the faint scent of death.

Tiki summersaulted forward, extending her arm forward with her axe in full swing. "Oh, shut up already."

Despite her speed, Tiki's axe pinned itself to the ground, completely missing Izuko in the process. Appearing right behind her, he raised his hand.

"And now you save her...", he whispered.

In an instant, huge spikes emerged besides Tiki, all aiming directly for her chest and head.

"No!", Ikarisa raised her hand, rapidly creating barriers around Tiki.

"Thanks shorty!", Tiki jumped away.

Izuko smiled. "Bingo."

Snapping his fingers, Izuko created a spike right where Ikarisa was standing at. Without warning, the spike made a clean cut in her arm, penetrating right through it, before disappearing and letting the blood flow like a river.

"Ah-ha!", Ikarisa kneeled.

"Shorty!", Tiki worryingly looked at Ikarisa and her arm.

Izuko chuckled. "Should've expected such tactical acumen from me!"

Without a warning, Tiki dashed on Izuko, this time managing to land a solid, powerful punch straight to his face, sending him flying.

"Shut the [REDACTED] up, you piece of shit!", Tiki dashed to Ikarisa. "Shorty! Shorty! Come on, you holding on?!"

Ikarisa wiped her tears. "It...hurts..."

"It's alright. I'll give you time to heal yourself! I'll stall him!", Tiki looked back.

"I can't...", Ikarisa wept.

"Sure you can! Keep it together!"

"No, I mean...I can't...heal myself!", Ikarisa struggled to get up.

"What?!", Tiki said with a surprised look.

"That's the catch. My ‘healing abilities’ only work towards others...but...", she ripped her dress, covering the open wound. "I won't be backing down.", she felt her arm.

"It can still move. Be more careful in this-Gah!", Tiki was smacked away from Izuko's punch.

"Take this!", Izuko flexed his fingers, the tip of his metallic claw gauntlet shinning brightly.

"Haap!"

Ikarisa swiftly morphed her own sword in her hand, parrying the blow from Izuko and leaving him open to a counter attack.

"I've got this!", she took a step back. "Sei!"

She swiftly struck Izuko with a powerful blow from her divine slash, sending him backwards. Not wanting to be blown back, Izuko plucked his hand with his metallic gauntlet to the ground, his body dragging him backwards, but him maintaining his balance.

Izuko chuckled. "You entice me. Show me more of those aces you've got up your sleeve, goddess."

Ikarisa whispered. "Phew...thanks. But it's on me.", she looked at Izuko. "I won't allow you to suffer, Izuko.", she morphed her lance into her hand. "But I won't allow you to hurt the others either."

"The famous Wing Of Aether. Cecilia really wanted you as a successor of that? Doesn't matter...you'd kill me wether with or without it...come on! End it!", Izuko charged forward.

Ikarisa took a deep breath and exhaled. "Sorry."

Ikarisa changed into a fully defensive stance, lifting her lance upwards on her right side and exposing her left side completely to Izuko's charging frenzy. Upon making contact with her injured left arm, before she was subjected to harm, Ikarisa launched her right hand forward, deflecting Izuko's charge and again, opening him to a counter attack. This time, much harsher than the last, Ikarisa pinned her lance to the ground, jumping backwards and creating another material fused lance, hurdling it forwards and breaking through Izuko's skin.

Izuko panted. "Good one..."

Ikarisa dashed forwards to her pinned lance, kicking the tip off the ground, her leg also connecting with the tip of the lance shoved in Izuko's body, further shoving it inside and forcing her own lance off the ground. Grabbing her lance, she followed with a very wide slash, sending Izuko flying backwards, before giving in to the momentum of her lance and allowing it to twist around. Right when her lance was around her side, Ikarisa took advantage of the velocity and jumped high, perfectly lining herself up with Izuko.

"Here's another ace!", Ikarisa screamed. "Yaaa!"

Putting all of her weight into her throw, Ikarisa hurdled her lance at Izuko, dealing devastating damage and completely destroying the ground and the garden around him, creating a huge crater on the ground and shaking the earth itself...

Ikarisa dropped down, summoning her lance in front of her and grabbing it. "I told you...I will protect everyone!"

Silence and dust covered the battlefield around them.

Meanwhile, things were starting to get progressively worse at the front lines.

Yuno sat behind his giant claymore, taking cover from fire. "Left lane not looking too hot!"

Terna started backing up. "Right lane either!"

"Damn! These guys have all sorts of weaponry!", Anya struggled to fend the Shadowers off.

"It's not just that, they're getting progressively harder to take down...what the hell do we do now?!", Dante slayed down a crowd of mobs.

Before they realized it, Tiki suddenly fell on top of a large crowd of Shadowers, taking them all down and struggling to get up...

"Son of a bitch hits harder than I thought...", Tiki got up.

"How the hell did you end up here?", Anya asked Tiki.

"Long story short, I took off at the speed of light, and blasted my way down here.", Tiki shrugged it off.

"Care to help then?! God damn monsters! How are they so well equipped?!", Yuno pushed them back.

"What are you bitching about? It's well known that guns and swords are a common commodity in Corosta.", Tiki prepared.

"You have a law that allows lethal equipment to the public?!", Dante yelled.

"Hey, if someone wants someone else dead, a kitchen knife or bare hands will do the trick.", Tiki said.

"So instead, let's make it easier by giving them access to all this?!", Yuno pointed at the Shadowers equipment.

"What are you, my dad?", Tiki scoffed.

"Wait, why are you not with Risa?!", Dante asked.

"Yeah, what did you expect? But you shouldn't be worried regardless. Shorty handles herself exceptionally well...though a few minor injuries occurred.", Tiki finished preparing.

"Minor injuries?!", Dante yelled.

"Oh shut up, she will be fine. I'm off to support her again. Try not to die, ok meatbag?", Tiki dashed off.

"Minor injuries?!", Dante repeated himself.

"Big guy, I think we should focus a little more here to, you know, not have major injuries and, or, casualties!", Anya pushed every Shadower back.

Dante took a long breath and exhaled before calming himself down. Thinking of a plan on the fly, he slowly lifted his claymore back up and stepped in front of the coming hoard.

"Everyone, pull back. I'll handle all of this. What I want you to do is set a secondary parameter behind me. I'll take them all on, but I don't want the few leaks that'll happen to disturb Risa and Tiki. It's our one chance for regrouping immediately. Go!", Dante ordered everyone.

"I...hope you know what you're doing, big guy.", Anya said.

"I do.", Dante swiftly answered back. "Now go."

Yuno, Terna and Anya all fell back behind Dante, creating a safety net around him and preparing to receive the leaking enemies.

"Huh...so is it finally hero time?", Mellistar echoed.

"I was never a hero in my mind...but I guess you could call it that.", Dante said.

"Whatever...what's the plan?"

"I'm open to suggestions.", Dante shrugged.

"What?!", Mellistar said in surprise, "You just shoved yourself in front of a hoard of monsters without a plan?!"

"Pretty much. So...how about you give me some part of 'me' back?"

"You sly little...", Mellistar scoffed, "Purposely pitting yourself against all this to force my hand. Suicidal...but smart. However, I won't. Earn it."

"I was betting on that.", Dante looked at the coming hoard, relaxing his muscles. "Alright...", he let his right hand off his claymore, holding it only with his left hand, "Full speed ahead!"

Dante surged a powerful slash extending from his far right all the way to the left, leaving behind a huge neon red scar. As the scar faded away, the monsters in front of him were immediately cut clean in half, and so did the castle they surged from.

"Woah! What the hell?!", Dante stuttered.

"The effects wear off more and more every single day...", Mellistar whispered.

Dante completely shifted his stance, facing forward with his right side, extending his arm forwards and extending his left arm holding his claymore to the back.

"Whether or not you give me that fraction of power back, this could be the chance of a lifetime! Full speed ahead!"

Dante dashed forward, bashing mobs with his right shoulder and following with an upward slash from his claymore, sending thin flying. His claymore crushing the ground behind his back as he finished his move, he quickly jumped up and performed a series of of three powerful slashes, cutting the Shadowers to pieces before shifting his stance mid-air, summersaulting and plunging into the ground, shattering the area around him.

Dante brushed off his shoulder, "Hah! Now's the time! Here's an opening!"

Despite the obvious distance between Dante and the mobs, he thrusted his sword forwards as if he tried to pierce someone in front of him. He then savagely pulled the sword back, while a series of red neon lines appeared around the tip of his claymore, most of them connecting with the bodies of the Shadowers forward. As soon as he pulled his claymore back, the bodies of the many connected Shadowers from the red neon lines violently lodged forward, following its movement. Wasting no time, Dante then placed his claymore on his right shoulder and shifted his stance into that of an immovable mountain. As soon as the monsters were in striking position, Dante let his sword loose, performing another powerful slash with his claymore extending from his right shoulder to his left side, as all of the oncoming monsters where cut into pieces.

"I've still got a lot to learn...but this should suffice for now.", Dante looked back at everyone.

Everyone was simply stunned and gazing at Dante and the sheer spectacle he had performed.

"Our powers can do all that?! What was I doing all this time then, creating toothpicks out of thin air for a kids show?!", Yuno said in surprise.

"Wooo! Yea! That's it big guy! Kick their asses!", Anya made a piece sign with her hand, cheering Dante on.

"C'mon sweetie, this is a group stage! Let's do it together!", Terna proposed.

Dante scoffed and pinned his claymore to the ground, holding the tip of the handle with his left hand and extending his right hand in the form of a claw to everyone else.

"Right! Defense ain't gonna do it now. Everyone, let's switch it up again! It's time to show these guys what we are made of...push them all back!", Lass said.

"Right! Let's go!", Terna, Yuno and Anya said.

Now standing side by side, the group was ready to face the coming threats head on.

"I'll take that proof...you got it. One piece back. It should be more than enough.", Mellistar echoed.

Dante nodded. "I'm finally starting to get it now...a clear vision of my duty. A reason to live.", he whispered at Mellistar.

"Believe me...this isn't it. I promise you, you've got a lot to look forward to.", Mellistar echoed.

"I'll dwell on that later.", Dante whispered. "Everyone ready?!", he said to everyone else.

"Ready as ever!", Anya said.

"Let's end it already!", Yuno said.

"It's time for a show!", Terna jumped up.

"Then let's go!", Dante lead the charge.

Everyone fiercely jumped in action, taking on the ever growing hoard of weaponized Shadowers without a shred of fear into their eyes. The battles high tide was just about to begin...