They themselves burned away the moisture of their bodies.
The demonic influence did not affect their entire body, but it had reached their blood vessels. They were essentially losing more blood with each pump of their hearts. Plus…
“Micha…surrender. Surely that’s enough.”
Ange got up despite still being woozy.
It did look like the battle was over.
They were no longer even using their flames, but their blood was being drained by their own biological reactions. If they kept fighting, they would only worsen their wounds with their flames and Ange’s attacks would now be fatal to them.
Micha sighed in exasperation and brushed a hand through her hair.
“Dante, that’s enough. You can leave.”
Micha gave a command to the 13 waiting behind her.
They had no emotions, so they simply shut their eyes in response. A moment later, flames engulfed them and they burst just like Rapha had. 13 golden seeds entered the pool.
Ange’s group watched in shock.
Micha had sent her allies away, but she was clearly not going to surrender since she was still here.
“Get ready, Ange. I will go all out, but it wouldn’t be any fun if I killed you instantly.”
She removed the earring visible on the ear revealed when she brushed up her hair.
It was round, small, and shaped like a wing.
“Big Bang.”
“Ah.”
When it transformed into a thin, glowing rapier, Ange subconsciously let go of her own sword. Her innate battle sense told her what was going to happen next.
The thin line of the sword swept through the sky.
Ange’s Prominence was sliced in two. Ange herself jumped back and tackled Lucia and Machina to the floor.
A gust of wind passed by overhead.
“My molecular serialization can’t keep up.”
The energy coming from Micha should have had its molecular data rewritten before it arrived too close, but Machina’s eyes widened.
The floor had become a grassy field, but now it returned to being a plain ship’s deck.
The magic had been dispelled. More accurately, the molecules needed to perform the magic had been blown away by the gust of wind produced by the sweeping sword.
They had avoided the energy itself, but space looked distorted in the night sky back where it had flown. The sword had such a sharp edge and high temperature that it had tugged on space itself and violently moved the molecules in the air.
“Tch. Focus on clearing the way, Ibekusa! And on my fire resistance!”
“Positive.”
Machina’s bunny ears stood upright.
She resumed the Laplace molecular movement measurements and created a hole through which to insert demons into Micha’s body. More than just her stomach, fire burst from all over the woman’s brown skin.
“Hee hee. Excellent. This is definitely a drain on my stamina.”
Micha swung her rapier again while acting like the damage was actually pleasant.
There was nothing that thin sword tip could not cut when fully swung.
So before it could fully emit its power, Ange blocked it with Prominence’s hilt. That just barely prevented them from being sliced through.
“Nova!!”
The sword’s blade was replaced by roaring flames.
“Dahhhhhh!”
And Ange went on the attack.
Micha blocked it with an elegant sway of the rapier’s tip.
“It has been a while since we sparred with swords, hasn’t it?”
“Only because a certain someone insisted she was too old for it anymore.”
“Is that any way to speak to the person who taught you everything you know?”
Micha cleverly shifted her sword to ward off Ange’s rapid strikes.
There should have been an overwhelming weight difference between the large sword and the rapier, yet their power was even. If anything, the weight difference was the only reason Ange was not being overpowered.
Micha naturally had the greater speed, but…
“Sh!”
“Oops.”
When a scythe suddenly grew from the space behind her and aimed for her neck, she caught it on her rapier’s hilt.
“You never relax, do you? I can see why you and that old hag Lilith get along so well.”
“Watch what you say. That’s what makes Lilith so classy.”
Lucia joined in to make it two-against-one.
When they attacked in waves, they could match Micha’s speed.
Machina played a support role by redirecting the fatal flames away from Lucia and by obstructing Micha’s movements by sending steel-strong vines out to grab the woman’s legs or arms.
“Ryahhhhhhhhh!”
“Hee he.”
Their teamwork was not a calculated thing. They were far from in sync.
But Micha could tell while fighting them that they were getting better at it by the moment. She was having trouble keeping up with their speed and, when she tried to catch up, the weight of the rapidly-swung sword nearly pushed her rapier away.
And as expected, Ange had the superior raw talent.
In the moment she was distracted by Lucia’s scythe, a kick hit her in the knee.
She stumbled for a moment and history’s strongest warrior understood all too well what that meant.
As soon as she brought her center of gravity to the foot behind her, the floor sank down below her foot. That would be Machina’s doing. Her center of gravity was thrown off and she could not gather any strength in the hand meant to block the scythe coming for her throat.
She was forced to use both hands to block it, but that left her wide open to Ange.
“Ange.”
“Prominence!”
“I knew bringing you to the surface was a good idea.”
That veteran warrior knew all too well that she had lost.
“You made some good friends there, didn’t you?”
“Shining!!”
That sword was made from two blades pressed together like a pair of scissors and those two blades fell away to leave only the central flames.
The narrow and perfectly straight beam of light pierced through Micha’s gut.
That was the exact spot that had been constantly erupting with flames due to the demonization process.
“Gah!”
All the air burst from her lungs.
It was mixed with blood that sprayed out into the air.
The blue fire – that divine light of judgment – pierced through the core of the strongest angel.
It burned through all of her blood that was being converted into demons. Her brown skin split open and the red of blood and fire scattered everywhere.
“…”
That partner had practically been family to Ange, so she frowned for just a moment upon seeing her body split apart like that.
“!”
But a moment later, all pride vanished from her face.
“But that aside.”
Micha persisted in keeping her rapier raised.
And her other hand reached for her other earring.
“I really, really hate losing.”
“Micha.”
“We’re a lot alike, Ange. That’s the biggest reason I chose to bring you down to the surface with me.”
And…
“Big Bang – Loop!!”
As soon as Micha readied the two rapiers, her brown skin turned to fire and she unraveled.
Her body began to vanish starting from the stomach.
She had gathered every last ounce of strength to continue the game, but her body collapsed first. She blinked in confusion.
“That’s enough, Micha-san. It pains me to see you hurt and I do not want to see Ange or the others hurt either.”
“Oh, dear.”
The young man stood up.
He must have intervened and forcibly returned the fire to her body. She had no choice but to give up now.
She was clearly not happy about it, but that was that. She laughed and winked at stunned Ange.
“My, my. That was fun, Ange. You’re glad you came to the surface now, aren’t you?”
“Micha.”
A moment later, she burst and disappeared like she had never even been there.
Only a speck of light remained and that fell into the pool.
The young man quietly watched it go and then turned an emotionless look toward the other three.