[Tekoa Town]

After making a tactical retreat, the demon then went to the area where a huge number of living humans are gathered together in order to strengthen itself by devouring their souls. As long as the demon manage to devour their souls, he would then become stronger to the point that dealing with Zaheer would be a piece of cake itself.

With that the moment the demon arrived at the area which is protected by Sato and his classmates, the whole atmosphere itself suddenly turned grim as the air thickens and the mana became a mess. The moment this happens all manner of instincts got suddenly proc as Sato eyes convulge into shock as he turned towards the direction where the demon was standing.

Not only him but even Takahashi realized the tension in the air, as he quickly outs his guard up as faced the demon.

Upon seeing that the people inside Ban's barrier didn't notice the arrival of the demon, Sato somewhat confirmed that the barrier itself has a unique properties which protects them from this heavy atmosphere that he is currently feeling. From there he somehow felt glad and afraid at the same time since the people inside doesn't realize just how much in danger they were.

Luckily despite the heavy atmosphere, Takahashi managed to break the ice, causing everyone to turn attention and realize the dire situation.

"What the hell is that?"

"Ban!!! Increase the fold of the barrier!!!! Right now!!!"

Hearing Sato's panicked voice, Ban then quicklyincrease the protective barrier guarding them as she somehow felt dread when she looked at the demon.

At that time all of them realized one thing, the demon itself must be the same towering monster that attacked the town. After all just by sensing the aura surrounding the demon itself, it's aura is quite similar to the monster that Asagi and the rest tried to deal with.

However as far as they know the demon itself spawned at the very center of the town and everyone aside from them headed towards the center of the town to confront the demon. Realizing this only made them turn grim, as the only reason why the demon arrived at this place is all because the people that went to subjugate it were all dead.

If Asagi and the rest were dead, then this only complicates thing for them. What's more as if that realization wasn't enough, the moment the light of the moon illuminated the face of the demon, they all stared wide and shock as the demon resembles Ester.

The moment they saw this, various emotions and thoughts ran through their mind as they can't comprehend how the demon have Ester's face. Was it a mimic? A doppelganger? Or something else resembling it? But the only person who realized the true answer to these mystery is none other than Ban.

As a saintess she is quite sensitive to the movement of mana in the surroundings, what's more she can even recognize the mana itself and its corresponding owner of it by just a single glance. So from her view the demon's aura is mixed with multiple aura from all the souls it had consumed to become stronger, however there are two auras that stands above the aforementioned aura. That is a human core aura and a demon core aura.

While the demon core aura felt foreign for her, Ban is quite familiar to the human core aura itself and the person who owns such an aura is none other than Ester himself. Realizing this only turned for the worst as she realized what happened to Ester. If the demon looks like Ester and have the human aura of Ester then the only plausible explanation for this is Demonification.

Ester himself turned into a demon. Realizing this only made it harder for her to swallow much more towards Talia who saw the demon.

"Papa?"

Hearing Talia's cry out towards the demon, Ban then grits her teeth as she shared her conclusion.

"Heads up everyone! What were dealing here is a demon, basically Ester who had turned into a demon"

Hearing Ban's words another form of emotion rose up from within Sato as he learned of the circumstances. In this moment he is currently feeling various amount of emotions which is unbecoming of a hero. Anger, regret, sadness, pity, and even self blame. For him being a hero means having the strength powerful enough to disintegrate sadness and bad situation. He was destined for such fate, he truly believes that ever since the incident in the first town they visited, he had somewhat grown.

After all the voice of the world did spoke to him.

Unfortunately even with the boost in power, he was still weak to prevent this tragedy, because of his powerlessness, Talia would have to bare witness of this scene, because of his powerlessness the majority of all the people inside the town are dead. As a hero he failed on saving the innocents.

From this thoughts alone, Sato's mana begun to rampage as he was conflicted by various emotions. Upon seeing this Takahashi begun to worry as he tried to make Sato calm down.

"Sato calm down! Don't act rashly! Acting rashly won't help us in this situation"

The moment Takahashi tried to talk put Sato to calm down, the demon then  suddenly appeared behind him, causing everyone to freeze in shock as Sato's eyes contracted in shock as he saw the demon attack Takahashi and blasted him across the street and crash unto the walls on the side.

In just one attack Takahashi was left incapacitated, as his arms looked twisted from him trying to defend from the attack itself. Unfortunately the demon's strength was beyond of what he can handle which resulted in his arms being twisted and him being blown away by the attack itself.

With that Takahashi lost his consciousness as his head limp and his breathing slowed down.

Seeing this all of them mistaken this scene as Takahashi dying right in front of them. Due to that Ban begun to tear up, as anger begun to boil up inside Sato as he mistaken the situation that he had lost a comrade in real life.

Never did he expect that he would lose one of his classmates and especially his companion in this otherworld where they are isolated. He had promised to everyone that he would do anything in his power to return them back to their original world, but with this situation he just lost one of his classmates.

Shouting in anger, Sato who is currently filled with rage charged towards the demon and tried to take it down with a single slash from his sword which sent out a powerful sword wave which decimated a whole row of houses. However the demon simply dodged that attack by stepping to the side and countered back with a punch, which was squarely blocked by Sato. But due to the difference in strength, he was blown back by the force of the attack and was forced to use his sword to anchor himself to the ground.

Thankfully with his hero status, he was quite durable than the rest of his classmates. Because of that he didn't end up like Takahashi and manage to tank an attack from the demon itself.

But the moment he stopped himself on his tracks, the demon then appeared behind him as it delivered a hammering blow, only for Sato to dodge the attack by lowering his body with a spin, before connecting with a slash from an impossible position.

However even with this, the demon simply blocked his attack, as it grabbed Sato by the head and slammed it into the ground.

Enduring the pain on the back of his head, Sato swung his sword towards the demon, only for it to miss its target once more, as the demon countered back by striking his face and planting him down to the ground.

In that moment Sato activated his unique skill and used it to further amped up his power to match the demon.

"Limit Break!!!"

With a burst of mana exploding from within him, the mana itself pushed back the demon, as it empowered Sato beyond his current capabilities. But since this skill wasn't permanent and would cease to activate the moment his body can't take the burden anymore, he has no choice but to deal with the demon before his body breaks down from overusing such skill.

With new profound power, Sato then charged forward as he swung his sword which is powerful enough to cause  destruction with his every attack. In response to this, the demon simply released his pent up mana once more as the demonic energy contradicts the amount of divine energy that Sato was exuding.

Based on the amount of mana they exude, they were almost equal in a sense. Because of that Sato just lost his one advantage agsisnt the demon which slowly pushed him back with every clash.

As the demon swung its claws, Sato was then forced to block the attack, which gave an opening for the demon to exploit, as it blinked to his side and squarely strikes him from the side, which launched him flying through the walls.

As Sato was currently down from that attack, the demon then stretched out his finger, pointing towards him, as he gathered demonic mana at the tip of its finger, before it launches a laser like attack towards Sato.

With that Sato blocked the attack using the side of his sword, as he quickly redirected the attack up into the air,  before sending a sword wave towards the demon itself.

Due to that a huge explosion reverberated across the town, as smoke rose up fromthe air and the demon walking out of the smoke with barely only a graze from Sato's attack.

In that moment using a smoke as a cover, Sato rushed towards the demon's blindside, before he charged up the tip of his sword and thrusted out a laser like attack towards the demon.

With that the demon was sent flying due to the attack, as Sato quickly entered into a stance and sent multiple sword wave towards the demon, causing multiple explosion to erupt.

From there, just as Sato was about to charge forward once more, the demon suddenly blinked behind him and slashed down its claws, only for him to barely block the attack with his own sword. But just as he blocked the attack, the demon suddenly grabbed him by the throat, as it lifted him up into the air and throwing him towards a couple of carts at the distance away.

Opening its mouth as it released another laser type attack, Sato then slashed out a sword wave towards the demon's attack causing a massive explosion to appear.

Using the explosion, Sato charged towards the demon once more, only for him to get punched down to the ground by the demon, before he got kicked to the face, got his hair pulled and getting slammed by the demon on the ground.

As if that wasn't enough, the demon then proceeded to stomped his stomach, before punching his face, and getting smashed by its hands.

For a moment Sato's arms and hands twitched with every impact, as his face was bloodied from the attack and him barely keeping his eyes up in order to not lose consciousness.

Upon seeing Sato's will to never give up, the demon then opened up its mouth once more as it fired a huge laser like attack towards Sato in point blank range, causing quakes and shockwaves to occur.

As long as Sato was still alive, the demon would have no chance of getting close to the barrier and massacre all of the living humans inside.

Just like that as if something worse had happened, the demon soon walked out from the smoke, as it left Sato behind after that attack which can even disintegrate weaker enemy.

Walking towards Ban, she then realized that the only thing getting in between her and the demon is the barrier itself. No matter what she must not let the barrier break or they will all die.

***ReadAtWebnovel***