Yamza wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but he could feel himself being blown back as a deafening roar shattered his eardrums. Realizing, though, that this was his only chance at taking Alvis down, Yamza raised his Ice Blade and shot off a bolt of magical ice at Alvis's back as his body flew backwards, gouging the ground before finally landing on his feet.
"My…" Jumping out of the shadow at Alvis's feet were nine hobgoblins… or maybe wolves? The distinction wasn't very clear. Each and every one of the hobgoblins seemed to be more akin to wolfy centaurs than anything else.
Each of them felt like a bit of a threat to Yamza, but even all together, he honestly believed that he stood a pretty good chance at beating them.
But the final three wolves? A completely different story.
One was white, with red streaks all over its body. The air around it shimmered in a haze of heat. Despite seeming to be the most relaxed of the bunch, it easily dwarfed most of the others in size, and it radiated an air of power in no way inferior to Yamza's own.
Then, there was the black and white wolf. Slightly bigger than the red and white one, the air around it crackled with electricity. A quick glance at it, and Yamza could feel his heart nearly shatter into pieces. The power it radiated… It reminded Yamza of Clayman's pet, the mystic beast Nine-Head. Even stronger than Clayman himself, debatably.
And the final wolf. Bipedal, around eight feet tall, and rippling with muscles. It felt like a child compared to the two more relaxed wolves beside it, but it carried a wicked-sharp longsword in a backhand, and snarled at Yamza. It was the one that'd released a Coercion that brought all of Yamza's subordinates to their knees, and it was the one that'd knocked Yamza backwards with a Voice Cannon and blocked his Icicle Lance with nothing but the tough fur of its forearm.
"Hmm. Gobta?" Alvis barely recognized the bipedal wolfman as the awkward little hobgoblin, but she'd been sensing them in her shadow for quite some time.
"Yeah. Sorry for not telling ya, but Benimaru's orders, you know? Just in case that guy tried any sneaky, underhanded stuff like that." Gobta explained, his eyes locked on Yamza.
"Oh, I see. Would you like to handle him, then?"
"..." Gobta hesitated for a moment, gauging his chances. Yamza was strong, but he gave himself around a 60, 70% chance of winning in a fight. Still, though. "Nah. You can handle it. I'll just sit on the sidelines, making sure everything stays fair, ya know?" The less work, and risk, the better!
"And let's get rid of the interference, too." Raya took a deep breath, and suddenly there was a gigantic wall of fire, separating Yamza and Alvis from the rest of the world. One of Yamza's servants touched it experimentally, and was instantly reduced to ash in the wind.
"...Damn." Yamza muttered to himself. By now, the only thing keeping him going was the small chance that, if he beat Alvis in battle, they'd let him go out of their misguided sense of honor.
"...Wait, when did you two get here?" Gobta just now realized that Ranga and Raya were with him.
…
"Ha-ha-ha! Simple Lycanthropeer, you may be able to keep up with me, but I've won this battle!" Yamza's battle with Alvis was actually a pretty even match. As far as magic-born go, Yamza was no slouch, and his weapon was a higher quality than Alvis's. Everything he threw out, she matched, blow for blow.
But he had one last ace-in-the-hole. "You can keep up with one of me, but what if there were two?!"
Alvis arched an eyebrow in silence as Yamza unleashed his secret weapon. A bracelet that Clayman had given him as a last resort.
"...A replication?" Ranga cocked his head.
Raya simply watched in silence. 'Trash.' She thought to herself.
She wasn't wrong. It wasn't a good ace-in-the-hole. Yamza had used a Doppelganger Bracelet. It was an incredibly rare piece of jewelry that allowed one to use the powerful Extra Skill, Replication. It even copied their weapons, making it so that two Yamzas stood in front of Alvis, both carrying the same Unique-grade Ice Blade.
An impressive thing in theory. Replication was a powerful skill… utility-wise. But it had a couple of pretty big downsides when used in real battle. Compared to Soei's masterful use of the skill, Yamza was just an idiot with a shiny toy. Using that one bracelet had turned one full-powered Yamza into two Yamzas running on half-power. Easy pickings.
So, Alvis decided to show him a real trump card. Her second Animalization form.
The moment that she activated it, unleashing her real powers, Yamza's Doppelganger literally shattered, as her Extra Skill, Snake Eyes, was instantly supercharged, almost to Unique-caliber. Even the Doppelganger Bracelet on Yamza's own wrist shattered, as he lost all feeling in his legs, falling onto his backside, his ability to move vanishing almost as quickly as his will to fight… No, at this point it was more like resisting the inevitable than anything else. He knew he didn't stand a chance.
"Do you yield?" Alvis asked, leveling her spear at his eye.
"Ye-"
'Do you honestly think I'll allow that, Yamza?' The cold voice cut through Yamza's surrender like a hot knife through butter, sending a shiver of cold fear surging through his spine.
"Uh?!" Instantly, Yamza realized what was happening. Clayman was taking control of his body. When had the demon lord's skill taken hold of Yamza's soul? It didn't matter. Yamza could only watch in horror as Clayman's will controlled his body, pulling an orb that he didn't remember having from his pocket and popping it into his mouth before anyone could move to stop it.
"GRAAAHHGAAGHARRRAAAHHHH!!!"
"Was that?" Raya realized.
"I believe so." Ranga agreed, "Lady Alvis. We need to retreat." He decided on the spot.
'I agree.' Benimaru's voice came through telepathically, 'Get as many to safety as possible. I will handle Charybdis.' He ordered.
"But-!" Alvis looked over at the spot where Yamza had been in horror. Already, Charybdis had absorbed all of Yamza's servants into its body, morphing into a gigantic whale that hovered a few feet off the ground, growing bigger and flying higher by the second. In less than five minutes, it would look exactly like the version of Charybdis that attacked Tempest once. Once it got to that point, it would be nearly impossible to kill, she knew. Even now, it might be too late.
"You're disobeying orders, Alvis. I told you to retreat if you found yourself outmatched." Benimaru reminded her, using Spatial Motion to silently appear beside her.