The Flame Reaver's plan was sound, and his tactics were excellent, but Castorice, Mydei, and Cipher were no pushovers. Facing the Flame Reaver's onslaught, they quickly devised a countermeasure.
Red crystals erupted beneath the Flame Reaver's feet, then exploded without regard for Castorice's presence. Crystal shards splashed up like boiling oil, unleashing a deafening sonic boom that sent ripples through the air. In an instant, Castorice's body was covered in wounds of all sizes.
The Flame Reaver, however, temporarily halted his surprise attack on Castorice. His sword formed a series of afterimages in the air, and the splashing crystal shards were all pulverized into dust by his swordsmanship, falling to the ground. Not a single speck of dust managed to touch his black robe.
Clang!
Although the commotion from the crystal explosion also affected Castorice, it succeeded in obstructing the Flame Reaver. Taking advantage of the time he spent clearing the crystal shards, Castorice swung her scythe upward, blocking it in front of her chest.
After the Flame Reaver dealt with the crystal shards and continued his surprise attack, the sword's tip was precisely blocked by the scythe, producing a crisp sound.
"Useless..." The Flame Reaver clenched his fist, swung his sword horizontally, and black flames erupted from the blade. The sound of it breaking the air roared in their ears, and the violent shock and impact instantly made Castorice grit her silver teeth, desperately trying to hold her ground. Ultimately, she still could not resist and was sent flying backward, tracing an arc in the sky.
Droplets of golden blood fell to the ground as she flew, sparkling brilliantly under the gloomy, blood-colored sky.
"Castorice!" Seeing this, Mydei and Cipher's hearts both jolted.
How had the Flame Reaver's strength increased again?!
Originally, the Flame Reaver could only fight a Demigod to a stalemate. After some time passed, he could suddenly fight all of them to a stalemate.
Then, after another period of time, the group could only struggle to withstand the Flame Reaver's onslaught, retreating step by step on the ground.
Now, even though Castorice had blocked the Flame Reaver's lethal strike with her weapon, she was still sent flying by the powerful impact.
Even if Castorice's individual combat strength was not too high, it shouldn't have resulted in being almost instantly defeated like this, right?
Especially since the Flame Reaver had only been fighting them to a stalemate at the beginning... This kind of growth in strength was simply unheard of!
Could it be... Could it be that he was already very strong, and was now just gradually recovering his power?
Or was he simply stalling for time, playing with them?
But now was no time for such thoughts. Castorice was in an extremely dangerous state and had to be protected.
Otherwise... Otherwise, this line of defense would soon be completely shattered.
"Cough, cough!" Castorice's petite body slammed into the ground, and spiderweb-like cracks exploded outward from her back. Another mouthful of golden blood sprayed from her lips.
The feeling of her internal organs being displaced and her entire body aching made Castorice's face contort in pain. Her already pale complexion now looked so pitiful that one couldn't help but want to pull her into their arms and gently soothe her.
But the Flame Reaver didn't care about any of that. He wasn't Lumina, and he would feel no pity for a beautiful girl's pitiful appearance.
What he was thinking was to take advantage of Castorice's weakness and take her life.
With a leap, the sound of breaking air echoed, leaving a flickering afterimage in his place as he charged toward Castorice once more.
Castorice understood this truth as well. The moment after she hit the ground, without time to assess her own condition, she forced herself to endure the pain spreading through her body, planting her scythe on the ground and trembling as she rose. Gripping the scythe tightly with both hands, she shouted, "Pollux!"
Judging by the previous blow, she wouldn't be able to block this attack.
Even if she could use her scythe to stop his lethal assault, the resulting impact would again severely injure her already heavily wounded body.
If she suffered such a heavy blow again, Castorice would probably lose all fighting strength... and even become a burden.
This was absolutely unacceptable, and Castorice would never allow such a thing to happen.
Since the Flame Reaver's target was her, then even if she died, Castorice would definitely tear a piece of flesh from him, causing him significant damage or even severely wounding him!
The only regret, and the only thing she would be reluctant to leave behind, was that she would never see Sister Lumina again after this.
But even so, a flash of cold light and determination still crossed her eyes.
Feeling the sensation of danger and death spreading through her heart, Castorice discarded her scythe, fully unleashed the power of [Death], and raised her arms, trying to touch the Flame Reaver before she died, to see if she could use this power of [Death] to take him with her.
And behind the Flame Reaver, the Giant Dragon Pollux was also charging forward at an extremely fast speed, its body shattered and emitting a red glow, as if it would completely explode in the next second.
This was Castorice's plan. Since she had already made the worst-case preparations, she would naturally contribute all the power she could offer at this moment before the worst happened.
Pollux's self-destruction and Castorice's touch filled with the power of [Death], even if they couldn't completely kill the Flame Reaver, they should... be able to hurt or even severely wound him, right?
Castorice wasn't sure, but she had no other choices left.
Mydei and Cipher rushed over after noticing this movement, and countless crystals exploded beneath the Flame Reaver's phantom, yet they still couldn't touch any part of his clothes.
The sharp sword blade emitting black flames once again stabbed toward Castorice's chest, not changing at all because of the actions of Castorice and Pollux, nor being affected by them in any way, as if their strategy couldn't cause any effective injury to the Flame Reaver at all.
Seeing that the danger was not diminishing but growing even more intense, Castorice's heart sank completely.
It seemed that the Flame Reaver's strength was far greater than anyone had imagined.
It was that kind of... unimaginable strength, just like Sister Lumina and Big Sister Herta.
No, no, no, he shouldn't be compared to Sister Lumina and Big Sister Herta.
Sister Lumina and Big Sister Herta's strength was definitely far beyond this Flame Reaver's.
If they were here, this Flame Reaver would probably be dealt with very easily and effortlessly, right?
Castorice was not the type of person who liked to rely on others. She was also a strong person, and she would think about relying on her own strength to complete a task alone.
But now... facing this completely unbeatable enemy, Castorice naturally thought of Lumina.
She wanted to rely on Lumina, wanted to lean in her arms, and enjoy the process of her solving all the dangers and helping her get through the difficult situation.
Enjoying Sister Lumina's pampering of her...
Because doing so would make Castorice feel incredibly happy, filled with immense joy.
But from now on, she might never feel this way again.
Castorice's eyes reddened slightly, and she gritted her silver teeth, her pale face filled with determination. She did not stand still and wait for the sword's tip to pierce her chest, but instead took the initiative to attack, closing her eyes and lunging forward to embrace her own death.
In the end, Castorice got her wish and hugged the "Flame Reaver," but the expected pain of the sharp point piercing her chest did not come.
And then... the "Flame Reaver" was a girl?
Castorice's arms wrapped tightly around the "Flame Reaver," feeling the soft touch transmitted through her arms and the comfortable fragrance wafting past her nose, and she couldn't help but feel a wave of surprise in her heart.
This "Flame Reaver" who wore a black robe and a mask like a madman was... actually a girl?!
Not only that, after getting into close contact with her, all the negative emotions in Castorice's heart instantly vanished, as if they had never existed, and in their place was a wave of beauty and satisfaction, making Castorice feel even more confused.
Why, why did this "Flame Reaver" give her such a feeling?
Could it be... could it be that she knew this "Flame Reaver"?
No, that's impossible. How could she possibly know her?
Impossible, absolutely impossible. As soon as this thought surfaced in Castorice's mind, she dismissed it on the spot.
Castorice couldn't possibly know this "Flame Reaver," because the feeling she brought was so wonderful, so intoxicating.
If Castorice knew this "Flame Reaver," she absolutely could not have forgotten her!
How could Castorice possibly forget a feeling so comfortable, so intoxicating, just like snuggling up against Sister Lumina?
If she knew this...
Wait, Sister Lumina!
Castorice finally realized, her eyes snapping open, and what met her gaze was a familiar, warm smile.
"Little Sister Castorice, it seems you've run into some trouble." Arriving at the most critical moment, Lumina saw Castorice hugging her tightly, her face pale and her eyes slightly red, and felt a wave of heartache in her chest.
Although this heartache was only a small fraction of the emotions stirring within her.
The rest was entirely a desire to ruthlessly... bully Castorice.
Her fragile, pitiful appearance made Lumina's heart itch, making her want to take her right then and there... to take her out for a feast, to take her on all the amusement rides, to make her happy, to make her smile, to make her feel as if she were ascending into a magnificent paradise!
Of course, this was merely a thought. Lumina definitely had no way of doing such things to Castorice right now.
After all, they were still on the battlefield, and the situation in Okhema was extremely tense. If she were to abandon everyone else, to abandon all the people within Okhema for the sake of Castorice alone, that would absolutely never do.
With Lumina's personality, she would absolutely never do such a thing, not even harbor the slightest inkling of the idea!
That was just a nice thing to say, though; an inkling would definitely exist. Otherwise, what was all that emotion just now? Sleepwalking?
But the main point was that this danger threatening Okhema hardly counted as a danger to Lumina at all. Lumina could solve this danger with a mere flick of her wrist, by using just a small amount of her power.
Since this was the case, this was naturally not considered a danger in Lumina's eyes, and it was also quite normal for some thoughts to arise in her heart to get along well with Castorice.
But for the sake of the psychological health of Castorice and her companions, such words and such emotions definitely could not be revealed on her face.
Wait until this danger was dealt with before taking Castorice to properly organize her emotions in her heart and then taking her to properly have some fun and joy.
"Little Sister Castorice, let go first. I'll talk about it after I resolve the problem before me," Lumina, feeling Castorice's arms tightly hugging her and her head buried in her embrace, patted her back a bit helplessly and gave a signal.
The Flame Reaver, Mydei, and Cipher were all watching over there. Wouldn't it be a little inappropriate for you to behave like this to me?
How would others look at this? How awkward would this make them?
Hmm... The Flame Reaver and Mydei were indeed like that, but as for Cipher, she should still watch and learn.
After all, when the time comes later, she must also do this!
It wasn't that Lumina was forcing her to do so, but rather that she wanted Cipher to be able to rely on, trust, and cling to her just like Castorice.
"Um... Um, Sister Lumina, I-I'm sorry." Upon hearing this, Castorice's pale face flushed with a blush from who knows where. The contrast between her little expression, now as red as a red apple, and her previous state made the emotions in Lumina's heart grow even stronger.
Especially her posture as she apologized to her, speaking in a low, soft voice, and those soft words tinged with a hint of shyness, almost made Lumina lose control of herself and cause a major disaster!
Fortunately, Lumina's attention was soon drawn to another matter.
After Castorice loosened her arms that had been tightly hugging her, Lumina turned around, her gaze falling on the golden blood that Castorice had vomited on the ground, and she couldn't help but fall into deep thought for a moment.
Since Castorice's body is filled with golden blood, how did this blushing expression appear?
This is a bit, not very consistent with scientific common sense, right?
No, no, no, even if we use the common sense of fantasy, this is still a bit inconsistent.
Golden blood, no matter how you think about it, shouldn't result in a blushing expression, right?
According to normal logic, since it's golden blood, shouldn't she show... a golden face as bright and magnificent as a golden apple?
Uh... forget it, forget it, no matter why Castorice's blood is golden, yet she blushes red instead of turning golden when she's shy, Lumina was no longer prepared to associate or think about it further.
Because she discovered that the scene of her little face turning golden was a bit... too beautiful. Lumina just thought about it for a moment, slightly imagining it, and then she didn't dare to look there again.
The scene was too beautiful for Lumina to dare to look at it.
Since the scene was so beautiful, she should just keep the blushing red face, and definitely not mysteriously turn into a golden face...
Although this wasn't really a problem for Lumina, anyway.
As long as it's a beautiful girl, Lumina can not only overcome difficulties, but even conquer difficulties, and enslave difficulties!