The two High Demons, Amelia and Aria, narrowed their eyes at Jason and his two hero companions, Atsuji and Karen, their gazes filled with open hostility.
In return, the heroes looked at them with nothing but disgust and killing intent.
It felt as though both sides were waiting for the other to make the first move.
"Tch, enough with all this analyzing shit."
Jason, the wielder of the silvery holy sword, suddenly dashed forward with inhuman speed, the blade in his hand gleaming with a threatening white aura.
In response, purple flames flickered to life in Amelia's hands before rapidly spreading, engulfing her arms like armor forged from fire as she charged straight at him.
Just a few steps behind her, Aria followed, her hands cloaked in thick, radiant purple flames as she moved to support her sister against the swordsman.
Amelia and Jason clashed without hesitation.
She swung a punch with her flame-covered fist, but Jason effortlessly dodged and countered, his sword now coated in a faint white energy that made Amelia's skin crawl.
Just being near it sent a warning through her instincts, as if even a single touch would be fatal.
Amelia twisted away from his blade and retaliated with an uppercut.
At the same time, Aria closed in from another angle, launching her own attack.
Jason, however, didn't seem concerned in the slightest.
A faint grin crept across his face, as though he already knew how this would end.
Just as the sisters appeared to gain the advantage, something changed.
A sudden presence manifested in front of Jason, and their attacks struck something solid and unyielding.
In the very next instant, an overwhelming force rebounded back at them.
The impact was so abrupt and powerful that neither of them could react.
Both were hurled several feet backward, their bodies dragged harshly across the ground.
"What the hell was that?" Amelia muttered, feeling the broken bones in her arms rapidly knitting back together.
Aria, meanwhile, dropped to her knees, breathing heavily.
Her regeneration lagged behind, far slower than her elder sister's.
It seemed the earlier clash between her and her sister just minutes ago was now taking its toll on them.
Aria, in particular, was suffering far more, as she had always been weaker than Amelia to begin with.
They turned their attention back to Jason and his two companions, trying to understand what had blocked their attacks.
A faint, light-blue dome-like shield surrounded him, pulsing softly.
Behind Jason stood the hero with silver gauntlets, her arm raised and aimed in his direction.
'Hm… so that relic can generate shields,'
Amelia thought, her mind already racing through multiple strategies.
From just that brief exchange, it was obvious to both sisters that the three heroes were experienced in fighting inhuman opponents, and their coordination was flawless.
"Trying to come up with a plan as if it's actually going to work," Jason responded in an arrogant voice.
As Amelia prepared to launch a counterattack, her eyes suddenly widened.
Her instincts screamed a warning.
Without hesitation, she raised her arms to defend against the incoming threat.
In the very next instant, dozens of razor-sharp ice shards shot toward her and Aria at terrifying speed, falling like a deadly rain.
One after another, the shards struck them across their bodies, piercing through flesh at random.
Some tore straight through their flesh, coming out on the other side.
"These bastards…"
Amelia dropped to her knees as she circulated her demonic energy throughout her body, forcefully healing the wounds caused by the ice shards.
"Argh… Aaagghhh…"
Aria, on the other hand, was already on the ground.
Her breathing was heavy, and the holes in her body were barely closing.
A massive ice shard had pierced the right side of her chest.
Blood flowed from her nose, mouth, and open wounds, drenching her in warm red liquid.
Amelia's eyes flickered with fear… fear for her own life, her sister's life, and more than anything else, for the man they both loved.
She turned to look behind her at Zyel.
He stood there, motionless, but for some reason, she couldn't see his face.
Her vision was perfectly clear and fine, but still, for some reason, she couldn't see the handsome, gentle face he always had, as if there was something incomprehensible that distorted his figure... his face.
"Zyel…"
Amelia didn't know why, but she didn't like what she was feeling.
She didn't like what her soul connection with her husband was telling her.
Something was wrong… or perhaps something was very, very right.
Whatever it was, it wasn't normal.
She couldn't place it, but something was on the verge of happening.
'I'm losing my footing. I can only fight for so long, and Aria is already so exhausted that she isn't even healing properly. And Zyel is a newborn lesser demon, barely stronger than an average human… at this rate, we won't survive.'
A deep frown formed on her face, a determined glint flashing in her eyes as she turned to the panting figure beside her.
Aria tightly gripped the ice shard lodged in her chest.
With a sharp push, it shattered into pieces and fell away, leaving behind a bleeding hole.
She immediately circulated her demonic energy, forcing her body to heal.
Within seconds, the wound closed, and her breathing steadied, though exhaustion still lingered on her face.
"Aria, keep the woman with the gauntlet busy. Don't let her use her shield ability. I'll take care of the two men," Amelia said, watching the three heroes approach with confident, arrogant, almost sadistic smiles.
"We should alert Mom… we're spent. We don't have enough experience fighting for survival, let alone against heroes. We can't—" Aria said as she pushed herself up, gritting her teeth.
"I'm working on it, but we're inside a battle space. I need to use a stronger communication circle. It'll take a few seconds… and I'll have to do it while fighting them…"
Amelia's eyes widened before she could finish as another barrage of ice shards shot toward her.
"Tch, that hero's ice creation ability is strong," Aria muttered as both sisters leapt aside, narrowly dodging the attack.
Before they could recover, they sensed danger closing in from multiple directions.
Jason swung his sword, releasing a long arc of white holy energy toward Amelia.
At the same time, Karen raised her gauntlet toward Aria, firing a thick beam of pure energy.
Atsuji lifted his hand, and dozens of massive, arm-sized ice shards formed before launching toward both sisters.
"Damn it," Amelia growled.
In the next instant, the purple flames around her flared violently, bursting outward and engulfing her surroundings.
Aria pushed her flames to their limit, though they were far weaker than her sister's.
She condensed them into her hand and fired a concentrated ray to counter the incoming beam.
Their attacks collided, erupting into a chain of violent explosions.
Both sisters were hurled away by the blast, crashing into the ground and rolling violently, their bodies tearing through the terrain before slamming into a thick wall.
The impact shattered it, burying them beneath rubble and dust.
Amelia struggled to rise.
A deep sword wound stretched from her neck down to her stomach, while several ice shards remained embedded in her flesh.
Blood poured freely, and no matter how much demonic energy she circulated, the wounds refused to heal.
Her vision began to blur.
Aria's condition was even worse.
A portion of her shoulder was completely gone, exposing what lay beneath.
She had lost consciousness, her energy entirely depleted.
Amelia was barely holding on.
The holy energy from that attack coursed through her body, disrupting her system and preventing any healing, while her strength steadily faded.
Only a small trace of demonic energy remained within her reserves.
They had already exhausted much of their energy fighting each other, falling into their usual quarrels, and never once had they anticipated that three rogue heroes would intrude upon their battle space with the intent to kill.
These heroes were far stronger than they were.
They possessed not only superior strength but also greater experience and seamless teamwork.
In contrast, Amelia and Aria lacked both experience and true strength, possessing only the limited power they had naturally developed as high demons for their age.
They couldn't even rely on their [Purple Flames], as generating those flames consumed vast amounts of demonic energy.
And despite being high demons, they had never properly expanded their energy reserves as they should have.
Now, Amelia began to regret how easy her life had been until now.
It wasn't as if they could ask Zyel to fight alongside them.
How could they?
As unhinged and obsessive as she was, she wasn't blind to her own actions.
She knew exactly what kind of person she had become.
She understood the consequences of what she had done.
It was her fault Zyel had been dragged into a world he never chose a world filled with danger at every turn.
And for someone like him, a lesser demon with no real power or ability, that danger was constant, suffocating.
He hadn't even been given the chance to discover his potential, let alone grow stronger.
It had only been a few days since his transformation began, and it wasn't even complete yet.
He barely had time to process what his life had become.
And already, he stood at death's door.
Worse still, they couldn't protect him not when they should have been able to.
Amelia's mind raced, grasping for anything any plan, any escape, any possibility.
But there was nothing.
Nothing she could do against the three heroes.
That much, she understood with painful clarity.
No matter how sharp her mind was, no matter how refined her strategies might be, they were meaningless in the face of such overwhelming power.
In the end, there was only one person she could hope for, someone who could save her, save her sister, and save her beloved husband.
'I… I have to call… Mother…'
Using the last remnants of her strength, she began forming a demonic magic circle to send a message to her mother, Lady Alisha Astaroth.
"Oh, look at her trying to call for help… as if I'd allow that," Jason sneered, slashing through the forming circle and shattering it instantly.
"Hehe, it's not every day we get to kill high demons. We're lucky today. Shame we can't reveal it… it would have looked great on my record," Atsuji said with a sigh.
"Yeah, these two are young and weak. They clearly lack experience fighting people with different abilities," Karen added coldly.
The three heroes stepped forward, stopping just a few paces from Amelia and Aria.
Karen raised her gauntlet, energy gathering in her palm as she aimed at the fallen demons.
Just before she fired, a sudden, dangerous sensation triggered her instincts.
She abruptly redirected her attack toward the lesser demon who had been standing still all this time.
The beam shot toward Zyel, but just before it struck, he tilted his head slightly, and it passed harmlessly by.
"What the hell, Karen? That's just a lesser demon. Finish the high demons first," Jason said with a frown, only to fall silent as he sensed something shift in the air.
All three heroes shifted their focus to Zyel.
The lesser demon remained perfectly still, a strange gleam flickering in his eyes.
His once sapphire-blue irises had deepened into a rich, radiant purple, mirroring the color of Amelia's and Aria's beautiful hair.
A certain power now shimmered within them, one that felt both dangerous and unmistakably demonic.
He fixed his gaze on the three heroes who had dared to harm his women, and what emanated from him now was something far beyond simple demonic intent.