And Leena just shows exactly why she doesn't need a semblance to be awesome. Taking down someone like Dabi is no easy task at all. The guy has crazy amounts of stamina. And yeah, it took a toll on our other eye patch girl but she got the job done and ensured our other queen lives for now. But, now's there's a much bigger problem for everyone to face. The first demon has appeared on the ground and boy, will its presence be known. But, at the same time, who better for it to face off against? A black demon vs a black dragon. My god, that sounds like an over the top anime fight. And i'm sure that's what i'll make it in the end. Now, let's get right back into the action! Enjoy!

-POV: Drake-

After I saved Leena and the woman named Wrath Queen from that Toga girl, our true enemy finally revealed itself to us all. One of the demons has come to the battlefield, and it looks like i'm first up to fight it. I tried to intimidate the demon as best as I could with a roar but it looked more like it enjoyed it than it was afraid of it.

"You are from the world that was opened for me. You possess the ability to turn into one of these creatures known as Grimm. How very..... interesting...." The demon known as Erines said as I charged it.

"Show me the power that an Alpha Grimm contains, boy." Erines said to me as she lifted up her hooked hand and just held it there. I didn't care what she did though. If I could get her into my jaws, i'd tear her to shreds. I approached her and opened my mouth wide to clamp down on her. But, the moment the bottom of my jaw touched her hooked hand, my whole body froze in place. I could not move at all. Just one touch from this monster could stop me. How strong is this thing!?

"Change." Erines said as my body began to shrink back to normal size. And, pretty soon I was back to looking like my normal human self. 

"What the hell did you do to me!?" I asked her as I pulled out my weapon and aimed it at her. 

"That form of yours was a nuisance to me. So I changed you back to your original form. You'll be much easier to deal with now." Erines said to me with a giggle as she then opened her mouth with a creepy smile. Her teeth were dagger-like fangs, black in colour with this grey gooey substance leaking off of them. 

"So what if you changed me back!? I can still take you down even as a human!" I shouted as I shot a bullet right into the head of the demon. I struck it right in between the eyes and its head flopped back when I hit it. But, it quickly brought it back up and pulled the bullet out of its head and then ate it. 

"I'm sorry, was that supposed to hurt?" Erines asked me but I had no words. That literally did fuck all to this thing where one shot would normally blow the head off of a Grimm.

"Alright then..... let's try this!!" I shouted as I morphed my weapon to its sword form. I loaded an ammo cartridge within the blade with explosive Dust shards which made my weapon turn an orange colour. I then ran at the demon and swung my sword at it. But, like before, the demon did not move a muscle. I struck it and my weapon exploded into a huge blast which engulfed Erines. 

"How do you like that, huh!?" I shouted to the demon as a clawed hand suddenly shot out of the smoke and grasped onto my neck. 

"That was a tickling sensation for me. Are you telling me that this is all you can muster without your Grimm abilities?" Erines asked me as she blew away the smoke with the wings on her back.

"I.... I do..... I do...." I tried to say but it was so hard with this Grimm choking the life out of me.

"Somebody help him, please!!!" I heard Leena scream was where she laid behind me.

"Nobody can save you, boy. No matter who we face, us demons can withstand anything. We'll live on forever." Erines said to me as she raised up her hooked hand and brought it to my upper chest. She dug the hook into my body and slowly began to drag it around, ripping up my skin and some of my insides. I wailed in pain as Erines laughed at my sorrow. 

"What's the matter? Does it hurt too much? There is a way for me to stop, you know? If you let me use your body as a host, all this pain will go away. What do you say to that? Hmm?" Erines asked me as I suddenly let out a monstrous roar. She became surprised by it but then shoved her hook deeper inside my chest.

"That's not the answer I was looking for." Erines said to me as she then pushed her hook through the rest of my body, breaking through the back of me. 

"NOOOOOOO!!!!" Leena screamed as I dropped my weapon and started feeling blood seep out of my mouth. 

"The strongest warrior of your world. Now dead at the hands of the mighty Erines. Your head shall make a fine trophy for my collection." Erines said to me as I reached up and grabbed her arm that was impaling me. I gripped it tightly and then dug my fingers into her skin. 

"No....." I growled as Erines tried to remove her arm. But, my grip was too tight for me to let go of her. 

"What now? A last futile attempt to stop me?" Erines questioned as I started to feel my body change. My black scars on my right arm began to expand up to my shoulder, then up my neck to connect with my right eye. Both of my eyes turned a blood red, my teeth turned to fangs, and my right hand grew razor sharp claws.

"YOU'RE NOT KILLING ME, DEMON!!!!" I roared with a monstrous voice as I swung my claws at Erines and sliced off one of the horns on her head. She screamed in pain as she yanked her arm out of me to try and grasp where the pain was. 

"How dare you attack me!!" Erines shouted as I roared in her face as a response. 

"I will withstand any physical pain to protect the people I care about. No matter what horrors, attacks, or atrocities you pull on me, you will never strike me down, demon." I told her as she grew that twisted smile again. 

"That's right. You demons threaten our world and the one you'd opened. As the heroes who were summoned here, it is our job to defend them and stop you. So, prepare yourself, monster!!!" I heard Ren say as he walked up next to me and unsheathed his sword. And, on my left side came the bow hero. He drew an arrow and aimed it at Erines. 

"And the same is said for me. Nice to meet you by the way, big guy. You can call me, Itsuki." The bow hero said to me. 

"My name's Drake. Pleasure to meet you too. Now, let's kill this demon." I said as I cracked my knuckles. Itsuki then fired his arrow at the demon which proceeded to dodge it by leaning its body to the right.

"So, two of this world's heroes have joined the fight, only to realize very soon that there's no hope for them to win. I cannot wait to rip the flesh from your bones." Erines said as she licked her teeth and lips. 

"And you'll find out just how big a mistake it was to challenge us, monster. Prepare to meet your end!" Ren shouted as me and him charged the demon. Itsuki stayed behind to load up another arrow. 

"We shall see..." Erines said as she readied herself to meet our attacks. Ren went first by leaping to her and raising his sword above his his head.

"A single strike shall finish you off!!!" He roared as he swung his blade down at the demon. But, Erines reached up with her clawed hand and caught his weapon mid-swing, stopping all of his momentum in an instant.

"At least put some magic into it next time." Erines said as she threw Ren and his sword away while I came in for my own attack. I lunged for the demon and tackled her to the ground. I then reeled back my right clawed arm and brought it down onto the demon. She countered by headbutting my arm, seeming to match it with equal force and enough to knock me away from her. 

"Up above!!!" Itsuki shouted as I looked up to see he had fired dozens of arrows high into the air that were now falling down to where me and the demon were. I got up to jump out of the way as the demon became skewered by majority of the falling arrows. 

"Yeah!! How does that feel, demon!?" Itsuki roared with pride as the demon suddenly floated up and landed back on its feet. It snapped off all of the arrows that were in its body until none remained. 

"A valiant effort indeed, but to no avail. Now, face my attack." Erines said as she snapped her fingers on her left hand. Dozens of black spears appeared in the air around her and they were all pointed at us. There had to have been over 100 of them.

"DIE!!!" Erines roared as she made every single one of her spears come flying at us. We all went to run away but these weapons came at us fast. While most didn't hit us, they were able to graze us all around our bodies. Ren was the first to take any significant damage as one of the spears impaled his upper left arm.

"Hold on, Ren! I'm coming!" I shouted as I sprinted for him. Meanwhile, Itsuki was able to jump behind a large boulder for safety and start firing back with his arrows to destroy some of the spears. 

"No, Drake! Don't come here!! There's too many of them!!!" Ren pleaded but I didn't care. I came right over to him and picked him up, then turned to run over to where Itsuki was. But, the moment I turned my back, over a dozen spears impaled my body. My back, arms, and my legs were covered in these black spears. But, I did my best to power through the pain and limp my way over to where Itsuki was. We made it and I put Ren down before falling to one knee. 

"You.... you saved me...." Ren said with worry in his voice as I snapped the spear in his arm, sliding it out of him. He screamed from the pain but endured most of it. 

"Just doing..... what anyone.... would do...." I said to him as I then began to yank out all of the spears in my body. Each one hurt more than the last and i'm sure with all these holes in me now, I wouldn't last much longer in this fight. The amount of blood I've already lost is insane.

"Now do you see? We demons are the most powerful beings in this world. No humans such as yourselves can hope to match our incredible powers." Erines said to us as I limped around the boulder to face her again. 

"What the heck are you doing? You saw what she just did to us, right? What she did to you? There's no way we can take an attack like that again." Ren said to me. 

"Never tell me the odds. I never stop until I complete my mission. So, until this demon's six feet under, I'm not giving up." I said to him as Erines made more spears appear around her. 

"Time for round two! This time, you're going to fall before me!!" She roared as the aimed them all at me. 

"Drake, get out of there, NOW!!" Ren shouted to me but I didn't move. Instead, I simply closed my eyes and held my arms out, waiting for the demon to fire at me. 

"Enjoy your trip to hell, boy!!" Erines roared as she launched her spears at me. And, at that moment, I activated my semblance. Despite having my eyes closed, I could see everything around me that was moving. I could sense the auras of everything and now, I could predict where these spears would come from. 

I took a quick sidestep to my right and heard at least two spears penetrate the ground next to me. Then, I ducked down to my hands and knees and felt a few spears fly past my hair and hit the ground. I kept this up for a while, making slow ground against the demon before me. 

"How the heck is he doing that?" Itsuki questioned in absolute awe. 

"That's Drake's power. It's like a radar, and it's telling him where everything is around him and what direction they're coming in. When he's focused, he can't be touched." Ren told him. 

"What is the meaning of this!? How are you able to avoid every single one of my weapons!?" Erines questioned as she was becoming enraged. 

"It's nothing real special, demon. Just a power I've obtained from my world, that's all!" I shouted as i'd finally approached her. With my clawed right arm, I swung it from below and made contact on her chest. I ripped through her body and made it completely through to the other side, just as she did to me earlier with her hook.

"RAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!" Erines roared with pain as she pulled herself off of my arm and held where her wound was. 

"THAT HURT, YOU BASTARD!!!" She screamed at me. 

"That's the point of a fight, you idiot!!" I replied. 

"Itsuki, now!" I heard Ren shout as I looked back to see Itsuki fire an arrow. 

"Meteor Shot!!" He shouted as his arrow engulfed itself in orange and blue sparking flames. I flew right past my face and struck the demon in its right shoulder. The arrow exploded on contact and that gave Ren his chance to come running over. 

"Nice moves back there." He said to me as I thanked him.

"ENOUGH!!! I'M DONE TOYING WITH YOU CRETINS!!! I'LL ANNIHILATE YOU WHERE YOU STAND RIGHT NOW!!!" Erines shouted as she blew away the smoke around her. 

"As source of thy power, I order thee! Decipher the laws of destruction and rain down death upon my enemies!! Pitch Black Tornado!!!" Erines shouted as the clouds above us darkened. They swirled together until a huge tornado appeared, ripping its way through enemies until it made its way over to us. 

"Become swallowed by this raging wind and be ripped to shreds!!!" Erines shouted as I dug my claw into the ground, implanting me there. 

"Ren, get out of here!!" I yelled to him but he stayed put as Itsuki came running up to him. 

"Just like that one time before! Together!" Itsuki said as they both readied their weapons. Itsuki coated one of his arrows in wind and Ren did the same with his sword. 

"As source of thy power, we order thee! Decipher the laws of nature and create a furious wind that can blow down any target!!! Master Cyclone!!" The two of them shouted in unison as they unleashed their attacks, firing huge tornadoes that combined into one massive one. There's collided with the demons and they began to tear each other apart.

"Blow it away!!!" The two of them shouted as their attacks destroyed one another. 

"An impressive attack but now you're both wide open!!" Erines shouted as she rushed both of them. She grasped onto Itsuki's neck with her claw and help him up high but Ren was able to avoid her hook by rolling out of the way. 

"One more step from either of you and I sink my claws into this weak hero's neck!" Erines yelled as Ren slowly backed his way over to me. We could see Itsuki was in a lot of pain as he was struggling to breath now. 

"Ren, give me your sword for a second." I said as Ren handed me his weapon. 

"You've only got one shot with this. Don't you dare miss." Ren said to me, implying he knew what I was about to do.

"Don't worry, i'm like Leena. I DON'T MISS!!!" I roared as I threw his sword at Erines. It spun in the air and came up on her quickly. And, in one quick moment, the sword made contact with her left arm that held Itsuki and sliced it off with ease. Itsuki was dropped and Erines grasped her arm and screamed her head off.

"Drake, send me over there too!" Ren said as he jumped up in front of me. I held my claw out and he landed on it as I pulled him back and threw him with all my strength. I sent him flying over to the demon and he re-positioned himself to prepare for impact.

"Eat this, monster!!" He shouted as he brought his legs together and struck the demon in the face with them. He made her fall over as Ren rolled along the ground right to where his sword was. He then picked it up and readied it to attack again. 

"Thanks for the assist, guys!" Itsuki said to us as we shot him some nods. 

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!! THAT DOES IT!!! I'M FINISHING THIS POINTLESS FEUD, NOW!!! PREPARE TO DIE!!!!" Erines roared with an ominous fury as her body suddenly began to change shape. It was growing in size as well, her body gaining fur, her growing a new arm for it and her legs to turn into paws and claws. She grew the head of a lion, and her black angel wings turned dragonic, and to finish her transformation, she grew a tail that was also a snake. Erines had changed to a manticore.

"Oh for god's sake!" Itsuki said as the manticore pounced on him and Ren. They both unleashed lightning based attacks but they seemed to do nothing to it. It looked as though their attacks just bounced off the creature. The manticore stepped down onto them and pinned their lower bodies to the ground. Ren and Itsuki tried to struggle free but they just couldn't find the strength to do so. 

"No, it's going to kill them! I've got to do something!" I said as someone began to shoot at me from behind. I was filled with dozens of bullets and, when it stopped, I slowly turned my head to see who shot me. 

"Then go do something, team leader." Temair said to me as I now understood why he had shot me. To fuel my anger and pain. Yes, it hurt like nothing i'd felt before, as I felt each bullet strike and penetrate my body. But, it would all be worth it in the end. 

"Thanks..... buddy...." I said to him as I dropped to my hands and knees and began to grow into my full Drake Grimm form. I let out a mighty roar after my completion and then charged the manticore which was attempting to bite down on Itsuki and Ren.

I smashed my giant body into it and forced it off of them. I threw the manticore aside and then stood there to guard Itsuki and Ren with one of my wings. The manticore quickly got back up and roared at me. 

The two of us then charged one another, standing up on our hind legs when we got close enough and smashing out heads and claws against each other. I bit down onto the left shoulder of the manticore and it let out a whimpering roar. But, it countered by bringing its snake tail around and having it bite me in my hinds legs and chest. 

"Not even your Grimm form can overpower me!!! I'll rip off that head of yours with one strike!!" Erines howled as she bit down onto my long neck with her lion head. I let out a painful roar but I had to think quick before she killed me. I could already feel her trying to pull me apart. 

I countered her by aiming my head down and unleashing my fire breath on her. I set her fur ablaze and she let go of me, making her step back and giving me more ground to push her. I forced Erines down onto her back as I stepped onto her and pinned her there. I raised up my spear-like tail and then brought it down, stabbing her chest over and over again. 

"GET OFF OF ME, INSECT!!!" Erines roared as she unleashed her own fire breath, hitting me point blank and blasting me off of her. I landed on my back but I got up to my feet in the matter of seconds. The same time Erines got up to hers too. 

"As source of thy power, I order thee!! Decipher the laws of destruction and imprison my target with chains spawned from hell itself!!! Shackles of Fury!!!" Erines chanted as these giant chains suddenly shot out of the ground and began wrapping themselves around my dragon body. My legs, wings, head, and even my tail were shut down and I couldn't move anymore. 

"NOW, BURN AWAY BEFORE MY MIGHT!!!" Erines shouted as she opened her lion mouth wide and began to charge up another flame breath attack. 

"As source of thy power, we order thee!! Decipher the laws of nature and obliterate our target with a strike from the heavens!!! Asteroid Impacter!!" I heard both Itsuki and Ren shout as they combined their attacks into one again. From their weapons, they unleashed an enormous orange and blue flaming projectile that struck the manticore. It was engulfed in a massive explosion and we could hear the creature roar in pain. 

"YEAH!! WOOHOO!!! HOW DOES THAT FEEL, DEMON!?" Itsuki shouted as the manticore's snake tail shot out of the smoke and tried to bite him. Ren bumped Itsuki out of the way and the two of them just narrowly dodged the attack. I kept on trying to break free of these chains but they were so tight on me that it was way too hard to move.

"YOU TWO HAVE BEEN A THORN IN OUR SIDE SINCE YOU FIRST CAME TO THIS WORLD!!! I'M GOING TO HAVE GREAT PLEASURE IN EATING YOU TWO ALIVE!!!"Erines roared as she came running out of the smoke at them.

"Shit!! RUN!!" Ren shouted as the two of them started running for me, away from the manticore. They ran underneath me as the Manticore approached, bringing its snake tail forward to try and reach below me.

"I've got to break out of here so I can help them!! If they can make me madder, I may be able to break out of this!" I thought as I tried to move one of my legs so I would purposely be bitten by the snake. I let out a painful roar but I kept on interfering with the snake to protect my friends. 

"Drake, stop!!! She's gonna kill you!!!" Ren shouted to me as he used his sword to try and break the chains on me. I let out a roar in response as my claws and spikes on my body began to grow even larger, as did my body.

"What's happening to him now!?" Itsuki questioned as Ren went to run away. 

"Get away from him! He's growing stronger!" Ren shouted as Itsuki followed him. I was now two times larger than before, I had grown more body spikes, my horns on my head had begun to twist, and my flame breath was now blue in colour. With one mighty tug, I snapped the chains off of my body and freed myself.

"WHAT!? IMPOSSIBLE!" Erines roared as I turned and swiped my head at her. I smashed my giant dragon skull against her lion head, knocking her back. I roared in her face and it sounded like thunder crashing against the earth.

Erines then smashed her body into me and started pushing me back, but in response, I planted my hind claws into the ground and sank my front claws into her skin. Then, with all my might, I lifted her off the ground and then slammed her back down.

"I WILL NOT LET YOU KEEP ME DOWN!!!" Erines roared as she lunged her head back up at me and bit my neck. She stood back up as I tried to pry her jaws open. She then dug her front claws into my chest as she knocked me over onto my back. She clamped down even harder onto my neck and I wasn't able to breath anymore. She was tearing my neck open with every move. 

I had to get out of this before she tore through my entire neck. I tried my best to angle my head so it'd face her. When I had everything lined up as best I could, I opened my mouth wide and unleashed a huge flurry of blue flames right into the face of the manticore. I burned away more fur on her and I was started to char her face too. She eventually let go of me with her jaws but she still wasn't done attacking me. She raised up both of her front claws and then smashed then down on my face, forcing my mouth shut and stopping my fire. 

"THAT'S ENOUGH!!! YOU'RE DYING RIGHT NOW!!!" Erines roared as she wrapped her snake tail around my chest and then spread her wings out. She began to flap then and we were slowly rising into the sky. I tried my best to get the snake off of me but she had me in a death grip. She ensured I wasn't escaping from her. And she kept on going until we reached high above the clouds.

"NO MORE TRICKS!! NO MORE FIRE!!! NO MORE ANYTHING!!!! YOU DIE!!!" Erines screamed as she dug her claws into my chest again and began tearing it up. I let out a monstrous roar of pain and agony as I tried to retaliate. I attempted to swing my right front claw at her but, when it got close to her head, she bit down on my arm hard.

"IF I'M GOING DOWN..... THEN..... I'M MAKING SURE I TAKE YOU WITH ME!!!! IF I HAVE TO DIE TO SLAY ONE OF YOU DEMONS, THEN THE SACRIFICE WILL BE WELL WORTH IT!!!" I thought as I lunged forward with my head and bit down as hard as I could on the manticores right wing. It screeched in pain as I yanked my head back, tearing off the wing from its body. Shortly after we began to fall back down to the ground, and the two of us tried slicing and biting each other with our claws. 

Falling past the clouds, we began to heat ourselves up on reentry as we quickly approached the ground. Every second ticking by was used to attack each other, and as we came up on the ground, we both unleashed our flame breath attacks onto one another. I struck the manticores face while it struck my chest. We pushed each other away from one another as we both crashed back into the ground with enough force to cause a small earthquake. 

But, as I crashed, my body gave out on me. I reverted back to my normal human form. And, while changing from my full Grimm form to human completely heals my wounds, I still feel the pain I had before changing back. And the feeling of it all on my body was blazing and overwhelming. It felt like a mix of intense static shock treatment and being cut open on an operating table still alive. I laid in my crater, not able to move at all as a figure appeared by the edge. 

"YOU.....!" Erines shouted as she appeared, also back in her normal demon form, only all her horns were gone and one of her wings was missing. 

"Get away from him, demon!!" Itsuki shouted as he and Ren slid down into the crater to defend me. 

"Away with you two!! My business is with that human!! Shackles of Fury!!" Erines shouted as she used that spell from before. Chains shot up from beneath the ground and wrapped themselves around both Ren and Itsuki, trapping them and enabling them from moving. 

"Now then, we have to finish this. And, I sense your vitals have reached their critical state. You cannot move, can you?" Erines asked me as I gave her a stern nod. 

"Good. That means you can't do anything to resist me. I'm going to enjoy this." She said as she readied her hooked hand. She walked down into the crater and came over to me, stepping down hard onto my chest enough to break a few ribs. She then crouched down near my face and held her hook to my neck. 

"I think i'll start by slitting that throat of yours. Then i'll move down your body as I go, removing all those insides until I feel ready to remove your head. It's as I said at the beginning. You're going to become a fine trophy in my collection." Erines said to me as we heard rubble move near the top of the crater. 

"I wouldn't say that. I happen to know that my team leader is going to survive this. He always does, and so do we." Temair said as he slid down into the crater, having his weapon in its axe mode resting on his left shoulder. 

"I'll deal with you later, child. Right after I kill this boy and the two heroes!!" Erines shouted as Temair used his semblance to leap at her in high speed and kick her. He sent her sliding back along her feet as he landed right next to me. 

"Need some help?" Temair asked me. 

"What does it look like?" I said to him as he let out a small chuckle. 

"I thought you had her near the end there. But, looks like you at least weakened her. She's not in that monster form anymore." Temair said as he hit a special switch at the bottom of his weapons grip. His axe morphed into its third, final, and most powerful form. A 6-foot katana with a loadable ammo slot in the bottom of the grip. 

"Going all out? You couldn't have stepped in and did this earlier?" I asked him as he looked at me with a smile. 

"Like I said, I thought you three had it all covered. Besides, I was helping some other people fight too. Now then...." Temair said as he pulled out a special ammo cartridge and loaded it into the grip of his weapon. This ammo contains vibrating Dust shard. With it, Temair's blade glows silver and vibrates at an extremely high frequency, allowing him to cut through anything.

"Make your move, demon." Temair said as he sheathed his sword and readied himself to strike, keeping his hand on the grip the whole time. 

"Fine! I shall kill you along with the rest of these worms!!! Deathly Black Flame!!!" Erines roared as she created a gigantic ball of flames above her. She then threw it forward, threatening to burn us all alive. 

"Quick Draw Technique: Swift Tiger!!" Temair roared as he unsheathed his sword in the blink of an eye and literally cut through the ball of fire. The two halves went right past us all and exploded, shocking Erines as Temair made a charge for her. 

"You wretched dog!!! You think your puny sword can challenge my power!? I'll show you what a true blade looks like!!" Erines roared as she created a pitch black great sword in her hands, about 10 feet long. She swung it over her head and brought it down onto Temair when he got close. Temair countered by swinging his blade upward and, with one strike, he cut through her sword, chopping it in half as Erines was now wide open to him. 

"Begone...." Temair said as he unleashed a flurry of slashes on the demon. He went on for 20 seconds easy before stopping. And, when he felt he was done, he sheathed his sword again. Erines' body then burst into teeny tiny pieces and a huge explosion of black blood. The chains ensnaring Itsuki and Ren disappeared and we all watched as Erines' body parts turned to dust in the wind. 

"And so ends one of these calamities." Temair said as he put his hands together and bowed to where he cut down Erines. Just like a true warrior. 

"Yeah, i'm with Drake on this one. Couldn't you have done that earlier?" Ren asked Temair as he turned around and walked back over to us all. 

"I only have a few of those ammo cartridges on me, so I have to use them at the right time. and, using one uses up the entire ammo clip. I saw the three of you challenge that creature, and from a distance, it appeared that you all were winning. So, I kept my distance for the time being but still watched to see if I needed to intervene. And, now was a better time than never." Temair explained as they gave him some nods. They then crouched down next to me to help me stand back up. I still didn't have any feeling in my body yet, so for now, I was out of the fight. 

"Thanks, buddy. And the both of you, too. This world should be proud they have heroes like you guys." I said to Itsuki and Ren as they gave me some smiles and took me over to Wendy to be healed. 

We'd just made a much larger step than before in terms of achieving our goal in this world. One of the demons has been slain, and now, only three remain. But, if all of them are as tough as this one, then I fear for whoever faces the next one. They'll have to go past every limit they've ever had to even have a chance. I sure did and it caused me to be unable to move afterward. But, if my victory meant anything in the eyes of these demons, it's that we came to fight, and we came to win. And we're not going home until we do.