"The bastard isn't here yet," Lilih said, having reached out with her senses, magical or otherwise.
That portal she picked up earlier seemed too small for an angel. Not that she was calm enough to sense the subtle details. She even forgot she suggested the Silver Mage take Stella to fight.
Anything to throw a wrench into the already established timeline.
Every little thing helped Konrad win.
But now that she knew how messed up everything was, she couldn't calm down.
"Did you fight?" she gritted out, lips trembling. "Lu, I mean."
At least Gabrielle was a mess, too.
It was always nice to see angels suffer, but now wasn't the time. She needed her answers.
Gabby shook her head, tears welling up, drawing lines into the dirt on her face.
"I-I couldn't. I carried Michael back to the heavens."
Useless.
"He would end up there anyway," Lilith noted, eyes rolling. "How long until he's back on his feet? You bought him like a week—but the culprit's gone."
"B-but he's my brother," the angel yelled, face ugly from crying.
"Both of 'em are, idiot," she pointed out. "And now we won't find that asshole Lucifer."
Although it was Lilith who corrupted him—what a pain.
If not for Konrad, she'd celebrate, but now? Her efforts came back to bite her in the ass.
"He won't steal my lover again," she claimed, trying to look as determined as possible. As a freckled, petite ginger girl, she wasn't exactly made for that. What could she even do now?
Rushing to beat up Meow Midori wasn't an option. The bastard would banish her right away.
With her past self and Stella, Konrad should have had the upper hand anyway.
But if Lu showed up?
"We must find that brat to teach him a lesson," she concluded, grabbing Gabby's shoulder. "And you'll fight him, too, understood?"
She got a weak nod. Not too convincing.
But with the world's barrier gone, she could teleport in and out with no problem. This crying mess of an angel only had to delay her brother in case he showed up.
While she didn't trust her, she could trust her past self fighting along Konrad's side.
"Okay, this is what we'll do," she explained her plans to Gabrielle.
"Y-you sure?" the angel muttered, wiping her tears.
Or rather, smudging dirt all over her face.
"Not at all," Lilith scoffed, puffing her non-existent chest. "But I can't sit around doing nothing."
Gabby didn't seem as determined, but at least she wasn't crying anymore.
"I'll try to delay him," she promised. "And, and to keep your vessel safe."
That was all Lilith could hope for.
"Keep me posted on how their fight goes," she added, but didn't wait for an answer.
She let her body go limp and fall into the angel's arms.
It was time she recovered her original from the heavens and found some butts to kick with it.
***
Meanwhile, her past self, Maple, faced a spell she had never seen before. Not even close.
The swirling colors and shapes were only the beginning.
The winds changed, static electricity crackling in the Halaima Pass.
It was something big, and it was coming—while the Green Mage remained untouchable.
"Parallel casting is cheating," she moaned, her fire breath evaporating without doing anything.
"My spell should break him soon," Konrad claimed, but it didn't seem like he'd done anything.
Whatever the Demon Lord was working on, it kept growing, making him sweat buckets.
Or was he sweating from something else? Either way, he'd spend a minute shaping circles and runes, ignoring everything else. By the time a purple bolt formed, Maple knew only one thing.
She didn't want to get hit by that.
"Konrad?" she pleaded, her voice pitching way too high for her draconic form.
"He's tougher than he looks," the duke of Halaima gritted out. Not the response she was hoping for. "Stella, can you try to syphon his life forces again, or something?!"
The blonde Church girl was shaking her head, her voice distant.
"His staff is already empty, but it stops me from getting through to him," she muttered. "It's a terrifying artifact. If I let go of my shield, it'll drain all three of us into dry bones."
By the spirits, Maple hated necromancers.
It was odd to rely on one, but she still felt the phantom pain of the earlier wounds the girl had healed. The same shallow wounds she couldn't deal with, even with her expert healing magic.
What was that about?
She could withstand physical strikes and block the mana flow, but life essence?
That was way beyond her.
And that thing, that purple bolt taking shape and getting larger, must have been much worse.
It had to be a space-time anomaly in the making.
Only a hunch—but she could almost feel the gravitational pull. The spell looked way more sophisticated than the one that had sealed her away a hundred years ago.
And that was already too much. Without Konrad, she'd still be stuck inside it.
For a moment, she considered fleeing again, but forced herself to stay.
"Come on," Konrad gritted out, "work already."
Whatever he was trying to do, it was not. And that bolt? It aimed right at his chest.
"Hit him with lightning or something," Maple yelled after another failed strafing run. He should have been able to do it. He was glowing with mana, and with the static electricity buzzing—
Nope. It was too late.
With a scream so painful as if he ripped his own heart out, the Demon Lord attacked.
It wasn't as sudden as a lightning strike or even a fireball, but it seemed unstoppable.
It buzzed past Maple as she was about to finish her strafing cycle.
Stella and Konrad seemed to have rooted into the ground, and it was flying straight at them.
The dragoness didn't want to get hit by that, but she didn't want her savior to take it, either.
Rather than fleeing or breathing fire at that thing, she sped up, trying to overtake it.
What a stupid fucking idea. But if anything, her monstrous body should've stopped it.
Not that she was feeling heroic or anything. Lilith was alive—even if she couldn't reach out to her—so she would survive anything she went through. At least in theory. Right? Right?!
As if to try and prove it, she finally caught up with the bolt and flew right into it.
When she touched it, it felt like nothing. No chains to entangle her. It didn't hurt, either, nor did she end up trapped in a strange bubble as expected.
Konrad's yell was distant. He ran as if he could save her, which was foolish.
Since she saw it all from the outside of her own body, it was already too late—but the purple bolt didn't disappear. Embedded into her chest, strands connected it to the Demon Lord's body.
What even was that thing? Did Konrad see it?
He charged at the Green Mage with sword drawn, and Maple couldn't yell at him to stop.
She no longer had a voice.
If only she could warn him about the purple strands he was about to entangle himself in.
Did she sacrifice herself in vain? Was she even dead?
It didn't feel like it. But the world around her started to fade away.
And then, everything became so bright it was almost unbearable.