Wait...what?

I have a daughter? Since when?

What?

"I knew I recognized your presence." She crazily grinned, an insane look of relief on her face. "You made me so worried, you know?"

What is she talking about?

"You have a daughter?" Kurebai asked, raising his eyebrow at me. "But she's like your age? Did you do it at one? Damn."

"Oh shit..." Loki muttered.

The girl's eyes trailed down from my own, seeing my currently bleeding stomach which was currently staining the floor crimson.

"Hey." She said, her voice sharp as knives. Her eyes directed to Kurebai. "What did you do to father?"

"Put him in his place." Kurebai shrugged.

The oppressive aura around her seemed to darken. The Arachius scooted back, whimpering in fear.

Kurebai narrowed his eyes at this. "Okay, who are you and what do you want?"

"I want you to leave. This is my domain, intruder." The girl snarled. "You already hurt father. You're lucky I'm letting you go."

"Oh? You really think I'll be intimidated that easily?" Replied Kurebai. "I'm the right hand man of THE Demon King Lupercio. We're not someone you want to make enemies with."

"I don't give a flying fuck about Lupersimp or whatever his name is." She scoffed. "Besides, your little sugar daddy isn't here to bail you out right now."

"What the fuck did you just say?" Kurebai's eyes became cold as he stared down the girl. "You're strong. I'll enjoy using your soul for my king's return."

While they argued I got to my knees, crawling over to Brandon while blood leaked from my stomach. That single punch had completely destroyed my insides.

I need to get Avalon...quick...

However, Brandon was just as weak as I was. While his complexion was getting better, he still was weak from being drained.

Kurobei's eyes latched onto my moving figure. "Where the hell do you think you are going?"

He took a step towards me before a ragged dagger soared straight past his face, almost cutting him.

He turned back to the girl, who's arm was outstretched. He clicked his tongue, facing her.

"Fine. I guess you can be the first victim." He growled.

"Try me." She grinned.

He waved his arm. "Arachius! Attack!"

Despite their reluctance, they moved towards the girl in an attempt to take her down, forced by Kurobei's words.

Out of the original fifty, there were about half left, with more coming through the tunnels. However, in an instant multiple died from black knives precisely in the head.

She knew exactly where their weak point was, and was strong enough to throw it through their skull. This girl was crazy strong.

Was she even stronger than the S Ranks...? Just who is she?

"You're father's friends, right?" She asked, glancing back towards the others. "You take out the rest. I'll deal with the pest."

"...Alright. I'll leave it to you." Irene nodded, focusing her attention back on bashing in the heads of the Arachius with her hammer.

With more of them streaming in every second, we had to take down Kurobei.

My vision started to get dizzy, and I realized what I had to do. It was going to hurt, but I'm desperate.

"Wait, Ken-!" Loki protested.

I lit my hand on fire before bringing it to my stomach. I gasped as a searing pain assaulted my already pained stomach. It hurt even worse when Kurobei punched me.

I let out a strangled scream, causing the girl to look at me as her eyes slightly widened.

I had cauterized the wound, stopping my loss of blood.

"What the hell-?" Kurobei muttered before suddenly ducking as the girl appeared above him, swinging a knife.

He jumped back, sending a purple blast from his free hand. She easily sidestepped it, menacingly walking towards him.

"Oh ho, so you're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're coming straight towards me?" He grinned.

She stared at him, her cold, hypnotizing red eyes seemingly staring into my soul even though she wasn't even looking at me.

"Die." Was all she said.

Kurobei gasped as suddenly a black spike jutted out from his stomach. Looking down, the spike had came from his own shadow.

The spike retracted as he collapsed to the ground, a pool of blood forming around him.

Was it already over? Holy shit...

The girl looked back towards me, walking in my direction. Her eyes had softened as she looked upon me with a light smile.

"Still an undying cockroach, I see." She stated.

Despite how the words sounded like an insult, her tone was warm and friendly.

"Haha...hahaha..." a voice chuckled.

The girl turned around only for a purple beam to slam into her, sending her flying into a wall.

"HAHAHAHA!!!!" Kurobei maniacally laughed as he stood up, despite having a giant, bleeding hole straight through his stomach.

I could literally see through him.

"For a girl with such a sharp tongue, you're surprisingly weak." He stated. In his hand manifested some sort of purple potion. He uncapped it, bringing it to his lips,

And in an instant his stomach regenerated.

Shit.

He wiped his lips, throwing away the bottle.

I stumbled to my feet, getting my hands ready to fight, even though I knew I'd didn't have the strength to keep going.

"Ken, this is suicide!" Loki worriedly yelled.

I have to do something. If I don't, we all are going to die. And I refuse to die.

"Still want to go? I have to say, I do admire your endurance. Any normal adventurer would have been dead minutes ago." He commented.

"Luckily for you, I have priorities." He stated, appearing in front of me.

I blocked his punch, but it still had enough power to send me tumbling to the ground.

Kurobei walked over to the weak Brandon, gripping him by his hair and pulling him upwards to look at him.

Brandon winced, staring at Kurebai with hate.

"The machine lets me separate you from your arcana." Kurobei stated. "You'd live, but I'd kill you later. An arcana not bonded to a soul would be much stronger than one bonded to a soul."

"But since someone destroyed my machine, this will have to do." He maniacally grinned.

He made his book float, now pointing his hand at Brandon's head. It started to glow purple as Brandon started to convulse.

Bianca looked over while she was fighting, eyes widening. "Brandon!" She worriedly screamed.

Get up Ken! Get up!

I dragged my body towards them, my fingers digging into the ground. Get up!

A glowing, transparent blue and white orb came from Brandon's mouth. Grasping it in his hand, Kurobei released Brandon, causing him to collapse to the ground.

Brandon's body stared at me with blank eyes.

I failed.

Multiple black knives came flying towards Kurobei, causing him to acrobatically dodge them, flaunting his prowess.

"Sorry my king, but I'll have to borrow this for a moment." He talked to himself. He pushed the soul into his chest. And in his hand manifested a blue, icy spear.

Brandon's arcana.

"No..." Bianca gasped.

Eri looked at the scene, a singular tear rolling down her eye.

"Annoying." The girl's voice stated.

Looking over, I saw that her whole right arm was completely gone. That blast was so powerful it almost blew half of her off.

The right and started to regenerate by itself, however it would take a couple of minutes.

Her eyes glanced towards Brandon's body. She didn't seem to care about it.

"Aw, and just as I was about to do that to your father too." Smirked Kurebai.

My blood ran cold.

"As if I'll let you, you cowardly rip-off of Medea." She growled. "I'm not letting you get the jump on me again."

"So you know what my arcana is." Mused Kurebai. "No matter. With this new one, I'm sure I'll take you down in a single hit."

He stared at the spear, before aiming it at her. "Let's have you taste the power of Ymir."

The spear started to let out a deadly cold, being covered with black ice. Unlike the invisible kind that makes you slip, this ice was actually colored black.

He burst forwards in an incredible feat of speed, swinging the spear through the air. A huge structure of blackened ice crystal jutted out from the ground, heading straight towards her.

Until she melted into the ground.

"What the?" He gasped before turning around, blocking a knife which had been thrown from who knows where.

She popped back up from the ground with another knife, bringing it down on Kurobei. He blocked it with the spear, the two glaring at each other.

They connected in a clash of blows which neither could get the upper hand on the other. Despite the girl's weakness of having one arm, she was match to match in the physical combat with Kurobei.

While they fought I crawled myself over to Brandon, my finger digging into the ground, the skin breaking as they started to bleed.

I dragged my broken body over to his, my guilt weighing over me. I wasn't able to save Brandon, unlike how Erica did in the anime.

I messed up.

Reaching Brandon, I got onto my knees, looking over him with a somber look. His body was limp, eyes were empty.

But I still checked his pulse anyway.

Wait-

It's beating?!

What?! But then why was he-?

And it hit me. A comatose-like state. Without his soul, he was just an empty shell.

Not dead, but not able to do anything either. I needed to get his soul back.

I didn't want to see Bianca cry.

The girl kicked Kurobei backwards, separating them. Both of them lightly sweated from the intense fight.

They were both on another level.

Kurobei quickly summoned a syringe, stabbing it into his arm before she could do anything to stop it.

He threw the syringe away, chuckling madly.

"Before I take your soul, let me at least know your name?" He asked, cocking his head maniacally.

"Hel. Daughter of Loki." She stated. "Now die, you worthless piece of shit."