(Author: Hello again! It’s been awhile, but I’m back!

First off, thanks for the birthday wishes! I wanted to give my thanks sooner, but real life wouldn’t allow it.

So I tried posting this around the beginning of the week, but as you guys may have noticed, after the update they released, people were having problems with the site and I was one of them. Since it’s back to its original format, I’ll try again so I hope this works. (Though for once it’s not entirely my fault so yay ;) )

Now for this chapter, it was supposed to be longer, but it would have taken me another week or so at least to finish it so I cut it into two parts. I should have the next one ready sometime at the end of next week.

I also realize it might have been better if I had waited to release the last chapter until after this one was finished, but oh well. That was my mistake.

On a side note, I apologize in advance for my bad sound effects.

Anyways, thanks again for checking out my story! Here’s Chapter 28! Hope you enjoy!)

In a daze, Kris was simply staring at Sylvia’s fist that rapidly approached his face until--

“Kris!” (Stryfe)

“Whoa!” (Kris)

Stryfe’s frantic voice brought him back to his senses and he barely avoided her punch as it connected with the space that his head used to occupy.

“Wait Syl--” (Kris)

Dumbfounded by her abrupt action, he attempted speaking to her, but he was cut off as the Drake Princess unleashed a barrage of attacks.

“You! You hurt...! You hurt...!” (Sylvia)

Her face a flurry of emotions, the distraught Sylvia spat out words as her Dragonified fists assaulted Kris who was too stunned to do anything more than dodge.

Unlike her usual strikes that were aimed with precision, her current behavior was akin to an animal attacking with reckless abandon.

What the hell is wrong with her!?

At first, Kris didn’t know how to respond to his comrade attacking him without warning, but that changed as soon as his eyes focused on the abnormality of her tear-filled gaze.

The vertically slit pupils in her eyes had narrowed drastically until they were no more than slivers.

Her eyes...don’t tell me she’s--!

As if understanding something, he tried talking with her once more in the midst of her attacks.

“Sylvia! It’s me Kris! Snap out of it!” (Kris)

“Rrrrooooaaaahhhh!” (Sylvia)

However, Sylvia did not respond to him, instead letting out a ferocious roar as she continued her relentless onslaught.

“Sylvia! What are you doing?!” (Eliza)

“Calm down Eliza!” (Izabella)

He could hear Eliza’s hysterical shouts coming from the entrance, and from the corner of his gaze, he could see her and Gale being restrained by Izabella, Silva and the guards who were bewildered by the sudden melee between the two Saviors.

As a result however, the mages who could offer medical assistance to the seriously wounded Lily were also being kept at bay.

Kris knew that the longer his clash with Sylvia lasted, the less chance Lily had of surviving, and his face turned solemn.

...No choice but to use force then.

Realizing that words alone wouldn’t break through her frenzied state , Kris concluded he’d have to take action himself.

Dematerializing Stryfe’s physical form, Kris began blocking her attacks with both hands as he looked for an opportunity to make his move. Though her movements were wild and purely instinctual, he managed to hold his own thanks to Stryfe’s power enhancing his reflexes.

I noticed this during my fight with the Basilisk Queen, but this power is really something else...

As soon as he thought that, the opening he had been waiting for arrived when she hurled another fierce punch towards his face.

Evading it by a hair’s breath, he reached up and grabbed her enlarged wrist before she could retract the arm.

Sylvia struggled to escape his hold, but his Body Strengthening supplemented by Stryfe’s power had already surpassed her Dragonification technique.

Correctly predicting she would retaliate with her other fist, he repeated the maneuver and held her in place.

While her arms were momentarily constricted, he launched a kick to her left side.

Unable to avoid it in her current position, his augmented leg effortlessly connected with her rib cage, letting out a loud thud.

*WHOMP*

“Ugh! Gahaah!” (Sylvia)

The strength behind the kick was not enough to injure her, but it did cause the air to forcefully exit from her body and she was left out of breath.

Taking the initiative, he released his grip from both of her hands before delivering a set of three powerful but non-lethal jabs into her midriff, with the last one having more pressure applied so that she was knocked away.

She managed to land on her feet, but her body trembled as she fought to stay standing.

“Haa...haa…*cough* *cough*...haa...haa...” (Sylvia)

Due to the acute pain from his blows and her gasping for air, Sylvia crumpled to her knees while coughing and holding her abdomen.

With this, she should be back to normal, right?

Still unsure if she had come back to her senses, he approached her in small steps without lowering his vigilance, but before he could reach her, someone shouted at him from the side.

“Halt!” (-)

When he turned towards the owner of the voice, he was suddenly confronted by the spear tips of half of the guards present.

“Move away from Lady Longhorn, Sir Arondight. Now.” (Guard)

Emphasizing the last word to convey his authority, the apparent leader of the guard troop stepped forward, his spear aimed at Kris’s chest.

“In regards to this suspicious behavior, both of you are under arrest until further notice. Surrender peacefully or we will use force to subdue you.” (Leader)

After witnessing numerous events that went beyond his current understanding, the guard leader decided to follow procedures and take Kris and Sylvia into custody until the situation could be resolved.

There was a commotion behind the guard leader as the Elf mages started attending to Lily, and from the snippets of dialogue he heard, it sounded like she would live which allowed Kris to feel greatly relieved.

“Let me go big sis!” (Eliza)

“No! Whatever’s going on, you’ll only get in the way.” (Izabella)

“But still!” (Eliza)

He noticed that Izabella was still holding back Eliza who was struggling to escape her sister’s grasp and Gale was currently arguing with the remaining guards.

Turning his attention back to the guard leader, he raised his empty hands above his head to show his compliance as he responded.

“I understand, but first I need to check on--” (Kris)

“Kris! A large surge of mana is coming from Sylvia-dono! Threat imminent!” (Stryfe)

At the same time Stryfe’s warning reverberated in his ears, a green light flared up next to him, and by the time Kris looked over, Sylvia’s arm was already enclosed with shimmering raw mana.

Thats--!

Faster than he could react to it, Sylvia lifted her head so that her eyes burning with hatred pierced through Kris before lunging at him.

“Rrrrooooaaaahhhh!” (Sylvia)

Closing the distance in the blink of an eye while releasing a deafening roar, she extended her arm covered in green light towards him.

Her speed exceeded the limits of what the average Human’s eye could perceive, but to Kris, he could accurately see her approach. In the split second before her attack would reach him, his mind raced through ideas on how to counter it.

Unfortunately, with Warp unavailable due to the barrier around the building and his current lack of skill at being able to erect his own protective barrier at a moment’s notice, his actions were severely limited.

He could simply evade it, but there’s a chance it could cause harm to the other people in the room if such an immense quantity of mana was discharged into the chamber’s foundations.

Because of this, Kris could think of only one option available to him.

I’ll just have to take it head on then!

Gritting his teeth, he crossed his arms into an “X” shape in front of him while making a defensive stance.

“Stryfe, divert as much mana as you can into Body Strengthening!” (Kris)

Issuing a last second order, Kris braced himself for Sylvia’s attack.

*KA-SHOOOOOM*

Less than a moment later, Sylvia’s mana-infused punch collided with Kris’s hardened stance, resulting in a terrific explosion that shook the whole room. The guards who had been standing in the immediate area were blown away and everyone else struggled desperately to keep their balance.

Being the direct receiver of the explosive attack, Kris was launched backwards at a tremendous speed. Impacting with the wall behind him, the momentum forced him through the wall and from there, he found himself outside of the building.

Landing on a part of the roof after being in stuck in midair for what seemed like an eternity, he rolled across the surface a few times before coming to a stop on his stomach.

“Agh…that could have gone better.” (Kris)

Shakily getting on all fours, Kris joked to himself as he tried getting his bearings.

“Are you alright?” (Stryfe)

Since he was linked with Kris’s senses, Stryfe knew that the damage to his body was minor, but he asked for verification out of anxiety.

“I’m fine, Stryfe...miraculously.” (Kris)

Managing to stand albeit unsteadily, Kris answered with a tone like he couldn’t believe it himself as he observed the physical shape of his body.

The sleeves on his arms had been completely burned away and the rest of his shirt was tattered in several places. Aside from the slightly scorched skin on his forearms and the aching all around his body, as well as the lingering pain from the stab wound he received earlier, he was relatively unhurt.

The chamber was located on the outskirts of an elevated floor nearly three stories above him, and what he was now standing on was the main roof of the building. The distance he had traveled after exiting the chamber was roughly ten meters.

Considering the condition of his body after going through that ordeal, his surprise was not unfounded.

“By the way, that attack just now…” (Stryfe)

“Yeah, it’s the same one I created and used in the labyrinth.” (Kris)

“Ah yes, the one that makes you look like a chuuni.” (Stryfe)

“...I have no idea what that means, though I can’t help but think it’s not a compliment.” (Kris)

Kris retorted while shaking his head in amazement at his partner’s ability to joke at such a time.

“To think she could copy my attack after only seeing it once...I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised.” (Kris)

Wiping away the tinge of blood that had collected near his mouth, Kris mused on how his original attack that took him almost a year to perfect was duplicated so easily.

However, as he was thinking about returning to his friends while gazing at the hole he had made, there was a flutter of movement and a shadow flew out of the chamber.

*BOOOM*

Accompanied by a loud crashing sound, the figure slammed into the roof halfway between Kris and the chamber, causing a small cloud of dust to form around them.

When the dust cloud settled, Sylvia with her dragon wings outstretched was standing before Kris.

Her clothes were in a similar state as his own, particularly the back of her military-styled coat. Unlike her leather armor that had an opening behind the shoulder blades to accommodate her wings, her coat did not have that luxury and so it had been torn apart by the newly grown appendages.

However, her aggression had not diminished in the slightest as she bared her teeth and snarled at him.

“...It seems I was wrong to think that was enough to bring her back.” (Kris)

Knitting his eyebrows, Kris spoke those words with a grim tone as he faced the frenzied Drake Princess once more.

In his mind, he had hoped that their clash from barely a minute prior had restored her sanity, but he became downhearted to discover that was not the case.

Stryfe then voiced his findings.

“Kris, I cannot detect any magic that could be affecting her like this so I’m afraid that I am unable to discern why she’s--” (Stryfe)

“It’s not an effect of magic...she’s like this because of me.” (Kris)

Kris interrupted Stryfe’s analysis with his own information.

“Eh? What do you mean ‘because of me’?” (Stryfe)

Stryfe did not hide his surprise at Kris’s vague reason for Sylvia’s abnormal status in his query.

“...Sorry, but it would take too long to explain so for now just trust me on this, alright?” (Kris)

“...Understood.” (Stryfe)

Though he reluctantly gave his affirmation, Stryfe knew it was for the best to save his numerous questions for another time.

Once he heard his partner’s agreement, Kris turned his attention back to Sylvia, but then multiple people suddenly appeared all around them.

Needless to say, it was the capital guards who had been mobilized to ascertain the cause of the disturbance.

Having received a general overview of the situation from the guards still in the chamber, these guards formed a ring around the two Saviors with the intention of containing their brawl before it could stretch to the populace.

Yet unlike the previous guards, as per orders to suppress any form of disorder immediately, they felt obligated to perform their duties without question, even if the perpetrators turned out to be Kris and Sylvia.

As such, most of them were already preparing offensive and restraining spells while steadily tightening their formation.

However, with so many people directing their magic at them, Kris was more worried that it would further aggravate Sylvia if they tried interfering carelessly.

So far I’ve been keeping her attention on me, but if they attack, it’ll be disastrous...

Therefore, before they could even issue a warning, he shouted at them in a commanding tone.

“Stay back! If she is attacked now, the lives of everyone here will be in jeopardy! I’m the only one who can contain her! Do not get involved!” (Kris)

Though there was no response, the seriousness in his voice caused the impending guards to hesitate momentarily as they evaluated the situation.

Perhaps sensing the danger that would be unleashed should they incur Sylvia’s wrath, the guards took heed to Kris’s words and canceled their magic incantations, but remained in a defensive circle as a precaution.

Once he was sure there wouldn’t be any obstruction from them, Kris looked back at Sylvia and spoke to her with a stern voice.

“Sylvia. I know you can hear me so listen. I’m asking you once more to end this rampage of yours. As soon as you calm down, I’ll explain everything.” (Kris)

“.....” (Sylvia)

No reply came from the Drake Princess, but Kris didn’t care.

Holding her gaze with his own, he gestured to the guards around them with his hand as he spoke.

“Look around you Sylvia. You’re scaring people...no, we’re scaring people right now. Any more than this, and they’ll be consequences. For both of us.” (Kris)

There was no visible difference in Sylvia’s expression as she continued to stand in front of him with hostility radiating from her person.

As I thought, this doesn’t seem to be working...but still...

Kris considered sealing his powers so that he would appear less threatening, but the possibility that she would attack him when his defenses had weakened was also strong.

In addition, he had no way of knowing if his words would reach her even in his normal state.

Nevertheless, Kris continued speaking.

“Please Sylvia. Stop this now before you end up hurting someone...before I end up hurting you.” (Kris)

The last part of his plea seemed to provoke Sylvia’s fury as an animal-like growl leaked from her gnashed teeth.

With her wings slightly flapping in agitation, Sylvia lowered her body so that her position was akin to a predator about to pounce on their prey.

“...If that’s your choice then so be it.” (Kris)

In response, Kris positioned himself in preparation to intercept her attack--but in the next moment, he was confronted by an unexpected development.

“Stop iiiiit!” (-)

In a blur of silver and blue, the White Wolf swordswoman Eliza jumped into the fray.