Faced with the women's varied looks, Leon didn't bat an eye.
So what if the jig was up? What was there to be embarrassed about?
Besides... Lady Demeter had given them clear orders. Their mission was to save people.
So... saving civilians counted. Saving adventurers counted. Why wouldn't saving Kaguya count?
Leon could even say with pride: saving Kaguya alone was worth saving hundreds of ordinary people!
By that math, he'd already blown past the quota his goddess set for him ahead of schedule!
Even setting aside personal feelings, from a pure cost-benefit perspective, this was a massive win.
With Kaguya as a bridge, beyond the two goddesses' personal relationship, this incident would drastically strengthen ties between the two Familias' members. And on top of that... these justice warriors would owe them a serious favor.
An opportunity like this? Leon wasn't an idiot. Of course he'd take it.
Of course... whether this decision was being driven by his big head or his little head was anyone's guess.
Jeanne shot him a look and snapped, "Yeah, yeah, we know you went to save someone. Dial back the sleaze. Right now... get over here and help!"
Leon glanced at the battlefield, which had grown even more chaotic thanks to the walking bombs. He let out a reluctant "oh," shoved Kaguya into Laurier's arms, and hurried to join the front line.
No more soft, warm arms. Leon was a little annoyed.
Spotting an Evilus grunt fanatically waving a blade, chasing down civilians, Leon smirked coldly and leveled his short sword at him.
A faint glow from a small magic circle flickered across the blade's tip.
"Scorch!"
"AAAAAAHHHH!"
A blood-curdling shriek rang out, making everyone nearby jump.
Especially when they saw the Evilus fighter spontaneously burst into flames with zero warning. They assumed it was another suicide bomber who'd botched the detonation and set himself on fire. Everyone, including his own "comrades," instinctively scrambled away from him, terrified of getting caught in a blast and dying for nothing.
Scorch was Leon's magic of choice in large-scale melees like this.
No visible trajectory. Unremarkable visual effects. And most importantly... the damage was slow.
In a straight-up duel or a Dungeon encounter, the spell was nearly useless beyond buffing Fireball.
But right now, that very delay in pain made it the most terrifying tool for tormenting enemies.
Think about it: invisible, searing heat burning you alive, skin charring, flesh splitting open, and you can't even die quickly.
How much would that hurt?
That was exactly why every single person hit by Scorch writhed and rolled on the ground, screaming in agony, begging for death.
Evilus killed, Excelia +23
Evilus killed, Excelia +17
Evilus killed, Excelia +13
...
...
Watching Leon skulk around the edges of the fight again, picking off targets while roaming, Jeanne and Rose exchanged a glance and simultaneously sighed.
"Sometimes I really don't get him," Rose murmured. "Keeps a low profile one minute, goes full hothead the next, and then turns around and fights ruthlessly... all the same guy."
The corner of Jeanne's mouth twitched up almost imperceptibly.
"I think... that's not so bad? At least he's rational. He won't let some impulse throw the whole household into chaos."
Rose kicked an Evilus grunt flying as he rushed in from the side, replying between parries, "True. At least thanks to him, we don't have to live on edge anymore."
Kureha undid the top button at her collar and wiped the fine sweat from her brow. But her eyes never left Leon for a second, tracking his figure as he prowled the battlefield's edge, sniping enemies with Scorch after Scorch. She murmured softly, almost in a daze, "Honestly, with a body that strong..."
Whatever thought crossed her mind made her cheeks flush. She quickly snapped herself out of it and threw herself into fighting the dwindling enemies.
...
Not far from where everyone was battling.
Miss Yamato Rindou, transferred to a safe spot by Laurier, lay there "peacefully."
Only, no one noticed that her slender neck and the base of her ears had long since turned a deep shade of crimson.
I'm going to die of embarrassment!
How... how am I ever going to show my face again?!
Especially...
The thought of dealing with the Demeter Familia in the future, or running into that man again...
Replaying today's events, she couldn't imagine herself not completely short-circuiting.
Ughhhhh...
Kaguya kept her eyes squeezed shut, mortified and furious, playing dead. Her mind was a churning storm of every humiliating thing she'd done... she almost wished she could just stay unconscious forever and never wake up.
Damn it! What happened to me back there? Why did I lose control and do... that?
How could I lose composure like that?! It's absolutely mortifying!
What's wrong with me? Did all that extended high-intensity combat patrol dull my senses...?
No... they got more sensitive!
My body... this unfamiliar pounding, this unbearable tingling, this... this...
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
Her thoughts spiraled into total meltdown.
Kaguya's head might as well have been a boiling kettle, practically steaming with visible heat.
The sheer shame and humiliation had devoured every last shred of her rationality, leaving her completely unable to think.
If she'd opened her eyes, you'd see...
Those once sharp, keen eyes of hers were utterly blank. No light in them at all. Just empty.
...
...
A thunder of rapid footsteps bore down from the main road to the north!
Before long...
The reinforcement army led by Finn finally arrived at the critical moment, just a step behind him, charging onto the scene with killing intent!
Valletta, who'd been fighting Finn, clicked her tongue in irritation when she saw the enemy's main force.
"Goddammit, not earlier, not later, right freaking now!"
But on second thought, the damage this wave had inflicted on Orario's order was already more than sufficient. A vicious grin crept back onto her face.
"Finn, we're done here!"
"Don't bother chasing me, alright? You've got one hell of a mess to clean up!"
"Hahahaha!"
"Retreat!"
Without waiting for the other Evilus grunts to react, Valletta bounded up to the rooftops in a few clean leaps. She threw Finn one last taunting look, then vanished from the Braver's sight in an instant.
"She's gone, huh..."
Finn licked his thumb, planted his spear into the ground, and gazed out over the chaotic plaza for a long, silent moment.
...
...
Elsewhere.
The flood of figures pouring into the plaza included plenty of familiar faces for the adventurers already fighting... colleagues, friends, partners.
The sight of them brought smiles to the faces of warriors who'd been pushed to the brink of exhaustion, both body and mind, from prolonged combat.
This was an entirely different feeling from when Finn had arrived alone to deal with Valletta.
"Reinforcements! The reinforcements are here!"
"Look! It's the Loki Familia's elf squad, and the Freya Familia healers!"
"Thank god! We finally have healers! My buddy's gonna make it!"
"Hahaha! Evilus bastards, it's our turn to wreck your shit!"
"Hey! Buddy, quit standing there grinning! I'm fighting two-on-one over here and about to crack! Can you maybe lend a hand before you celebrate?"
"Oh, sorry, got carried away! Didn't notice!"
The words barely left his mouth before the burly adventurer started heading over.
As the distance closed, his pace quickened, breaking into a jog.
At the same time, he grinned savagely, ran his tongue along the edge of his blade, teeth flashing white in the firelight. He stomped hard off the ground, his massive frame launching skyward, both hands raising his greatsword overhead, bringing it crashing down on one of the black-robed attackers with terrifying force!
"Die!"
Against this thunderous blow, the black-robed figure didn't dodge. Instead, he tore off his mask, revealing an equally crazed, twisted smile, and reached into his robes.
He looked up at the burly adventurer with that same fanatical grin.
"I grant you death and salvation!"
The next second, he lunged straight into the blade and locked both arms around the adventurer's waist.
The adventurer's greatsword cleaved the Evilus zealot clean in two.
Not figuratively. Literally split in half.
But the severed body didn't loosen its grip for even an instant. The upper half clung to the adventurer's midsection like an iron vice. There was no fear on the fanatic's face. Only boiling fanaticism and an almost reverent, twisted smile. Blood gushed from his mouth as he kept laughing.
The adventurer nearly retched as scalding blood mixed with shredded organs splashed across his face. But his horrified eyes were locked on the wildly flashing, about-to-detonate stone in the zealot's hand...
The victory on his face evaporated. Bottomless terror flooded through him like ice water.
"A f... f... fire stone!!!"
"Let go! Let go of me, you son of a bitch!!!"
The adventurer thrashed and clawed and pounded at the mangled corpse in sheer panic.
But none of it mattered. No matter how hard he tried to pry the zealot off, the fanatic's arms, driven by a fervor that transcended death itself, remained locked around him like red-hot iron clamps, unmoving even with only half a body left.
The fire stone's flashing grew faster, brighter, until its blinding light consumed them both.
"Heh... heheheheheh!"
Blood foam bubbled from the fanatic's lips as his shredded vocal cords squeezed out one final, deranged declaration:
"I... grant... you... death... and... salvation!!!"
The adventurer looked down in despair, staring directly into those eyes burning with inhuman fanaticism. Death's shadow seized him, his entire face contorting with absolute terror.
"NOOOOOO!"
The fire stone detonated, and a chain of explosions ripped through the area, one blast cascading into the next until the air itself seemed to split apart.
...
Leon watched the whole nightmare unfold. He sucked in a sharp breath, a shudder running through his entire body. Even from this distance, that unhinged fanaticism left him cold to the bone.
"What the hell... what kind of conviction does that even take?"
He muttered under his breath, a thread of disbelief in his voice.
"To make someone believe in an evil god so completely that they'd turn themselves into a sacrifice just to take someone else with them?"
"There's gotta be... some kind of reason, right?"
"Otherwise it's just pure bullshit."
While he stood there muttering to himself, a haughty snort laced with obvious contempt came from beside him.
"Hmph, what kind of decent reason could there be? It's nothing more than those evil gods making promises they could never keep, deceiving these fools."
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