After the witch disappeared, a moment later, Sylvia's cry echoed from a distance.
"Scarlet Yaaahhhh!!!"
"Sylvia! Over here!!!"
I set my arm ablaze and waved it, and seeing this, Sylvia, who was riding something like a constellation, approached me at high speed.
Is that a spell for high-speed movement?
I remember in the original story, she only learned this much later, yet somehow she can do it now.
As I marveled at her competence, the approaching Sylvia grabbed me and shouted.
"Did something happen?! Are you okay?! I saw the flames suddenly and rushed over!"
"I'm fine! But there's something cocoon-like in the middle surrounded by those people! If we destroy it, we might be able to stop the people being controlled, but I can't break through it alone!"
At my shout, Sylvia looked at the cocoon woven by the controlled people.
"There's a way to stop the controlled people... Then, we need to separate these people first."
As Sylvia muttered this and closed her eyes, a brilliant light flowed from her body.
As the light enveloped the people, the strength in their bodies, which had been holding each other, seemed to drain away.
As their strength left them, the people who had been huddled together began to fall apart one by one.
After separating all the people, who had been holding each other so tightly that their bodies were covered in bruises, a shiny cocoon hidden inside became visible.
"If I break this..."
This terrible situation could finally be stopped.
My flame-encircled fist plunged into the cocoon.
The cocoon shattered and burned in a disappointingly simple manner.
"Now... Is it over?"
Sylvia asked.
And I muttered, feeling a sense of unease from the sensation in my hand.
"Something's wrong..."
Even though I had shattered the cocoon, there was no sensation in my hand.
When I first saw it, the cocoon was definitely pulsating.
It was impossible for it to be empty.
But the cocoon I shattered now seemed to be a mere shell, easily pierced and broken.
What did the witch say?
Clearly,
Inside it...
The hair on my body stood on end.
Quickly checking the flower bed where the cocoon had been, I saw a hole as if something had escaped.
"Damn! It got away!"
"What... What got away?"
"The demon! There was a demon inside the cocoon! We need to find it quickly!"
As I shouted and examined the hole to find where the demon had escaped, Sylvia's cry echoed.
"Scarlet! Over there!"
Turning my gaze to where Sylvia was pointing, I saw a large, beetle-like demon flapping its wings and flying away in the sky.
Checking its altitude, it was slightly lower than the flames I had shot earlier.
I immediately manipulated my prosthetic arm to gather flames and shouted.
"We need to shoot it down!"
"Got it!"
While Sylvia chanted the spell and I gathered the flames, I watched the demon's movements intently.
It would have been difficult to hit if it had flown erratically, but the demon was flying straight.
But, could we hit a target so high up?
- Alf Ad Astra!!
"I'm ready!"
While I was worried, Sylvia, who had finished chanting the spell, shouted.
Checking my prosthetic arm, I saw the gem in the center of my palm glowing red.
I extended my prosthetic arm toward the demon.
My arm was trembling.
It was strange that a metal arm would tremble, but then I realized my whole body was shaking.
My breathing quickened with the tension of not missing.
At that moment, Sylvia, standing to my right, gently leaned her shoulder against mine and whispered.
"I'll definitely hit it, so you can relax."
"...Showing off, huh."
Although I said that, I didn't think Sylvia would miss.
After all, she's the main heroine in the original story.
I probably trusted her more than she trusted herself.
And she looked at me and said,
"You can definitely hit it. I believe in you as much as I believe in myself."
With those words, I felt the trembling stop as if by magic.
"...Thanks."
As I muttered that,
"You're welcome now."
Sylvia replied.
For some reason, I laughed even in this critical moment.
The demon flying in the sky was visible.
I raised my left hand, and Sylvia raised her right hand toward the demon.
Through the shoulder touching hers, I could sense the timing to shoot without needing to say it.
Counting in my head.
One,
Two,
And three.
"Hit it!!!"
With our shouts in unison, flames and starlight shot into the sky, interlocking.
Straight toward the demon, in a straight line.
The flames and starlight shot out,
each tearing off the demon's left wing and half of its body.
"We did it!!!!"
"We did it!!"
Seeing this, we shouted in joy.
"...Huh?"
And it took no more than a second for our cheers to fade.
The demon was still flying.
Despite being hit and losing its left wing and half its body, it continued as if nothing had happened.
I soon realized how it was possible.
The demon, which had been in the form of a beetle, seemed to tremble for a moment before dispersing and transforming into a hazy cloud.
The cloud was made up of countless small demons.
"From the beginning, it wasn't just one..."
They had been flying in a cluster to appear like a beetle, a deception or perhaps a mockery.
Even after tearing off half of them, the number was still overwhelming.
Countless demons were flying in the sky.
Higher, even higher.
Now, they were out of reach of Sylvia and me.
Screams could be heard from beyond.
Even though half of the demons had disappeared in the attack, the screams continued, incessantly.
Suddenly, I understood why there were so many demons.
If the demons inside people's minds were paired with these demons...
It also meant that there were still that many controlled people left in the city.
At that moment, the demons gathered in the sky and slowly began to disperse across the city, as if daring us to catch them.
I sat down in a daze and looked up at the sky where the demons were dispersing.
How many more victims would there be before we could catch these demons?
Would the city be able to function properly until then?
The future was already playing out in my mind.
That future was as dark as the sky filled with dark clouds.
Raindrops hit my face.
Along with the rain, despair overflowed from my eyes.
Feeling like giving up, I lowered my head.
Then,
"Getting too much rain is bad for your health."
Someone's voice rang out, and the feeling of the rain hitting my body disappeared.
Looking up slowly, I saw Yun Siwoo blocking the rain with the protective barrier of the Holy Sword of Protection.
"Sorry, it took some time to come back after going far to save people."
"...If only you had come a little faster."
Even if it was Yun Siwoo, there was no way to catch the demons scattered in the sky.
I muttered to him in a defeated tone.
Yun Siwoo looked at me, then turned and gazed at the sky for a moment.
Finally, he spoke without looking away from the sky.
"Your expression is bad. It's all because of those things, right?"
Yun Siwoo, who could see the scattered demons from this distance, said this.
Though his back looked calm, his voice was filled with anger.
"...Yeah. But there's no way now."
I answered his question weakly.
Then, Yun Siwoo silently drew a sword from the air.
A two-handed sword glowing with a faint golden light.
The Holy Sword of Radiance, which protected the wielder from illusions and enchantments.
Holding the sword with both hands, Yun Siwoo gazed at the sky.
...It's impossible.
I thought as I looked at him.
No matter how much of a genius Yun Siwoo was, and even if he had made a new contract with Lucy faster than in the original story, it was impossible in terms of time,
Just as I thought this,
Yun Siwoo muttered softly.
"A beam of light that can illuminate even the deepest darkness."
I held my breath at the familiar words he spoke.
There were many famous and magical swords in the world, but there were only a few swords called Holy Swords.
Holy Swords were called such because they possessed power so immense that they couldn't be called mere swords.
Therefore, only those with the skill and ability to withstand that power could be recognized by a Holy Sword and use its true power.
Even the original Yun Siwoo could only use it in the later part of the story after immense effort and profound enlightenment.
But what Yun Siwoo was saying now was a kind of ritual to use that true power.
"Holy Sword—"
The Holy Sword of Radiance in Yun Siwoo's hand flashed once,
"Unleash."
In the next moment, a bright light filled the surroundings.
The sword, which had been glowing with a faint golden light, disappeared,
and now only the light that illuminated the world remained,
revealing its true form in Yun Siwoo's hand, shining brilliantly.
I took in that light.
Some would call it a blessing,
and others would call it a miracle.
And now, to us, that light was hope.
Yun Siwoo's hand, holding hope, slowly swung toward the sky.
Light, which usually comes from the sky and illuminates the earth,
defied this law and shot up from the ground toward the sky.
The light from the ground illuminated everything in the sky equally.