Lunella finds herself lying on the ground. The impact with the dirt creating scrapes and cuts all over her body. Ringing fills her ears relentlessly. She can just barely make out the orc chief laughing off in the distance.

Have I lost? No, not yet, but I will lose. Wait, lose? Lunella lets her body lie loose. What does it matter? I already saved them. Why should I go on? This monster is too strong. I can’t possibly beat something like that.

Yeah, that’s right. I just need to lose, just give up. It’ll be simple, right? Just let him . . . kill me. It doesn’t sound pleasant, but who am I kidding? Nothing has been pleasant since I first woke up as a demon.

Except . . . the time I spent with Amara before I was well discovered. Those were the only good days I had in my short life. At least I got to experience a bit of happiness before I die—

“Lunella! Don’t give up; you can beat him,” A familiar voice shouts. It’s Amara’s.

Was I really about to give up? Lunella tightens her fist. I was, wasn’t I? I need to stand up again. I need to make sure he keeps his word; they’re not safe yet.

Battered and bruised, Lunella attempts to lift her body off the ground. It’s heavy, far heavier than she remembers it being. It’s as though her body is suddenly full of bricks. She manages to scrape herself up off the ground and stand up.

Aching pain, blood everywhere; The demon is in no shape to fight, and yet still she stands there on the battlefield. Spitting the blood out of her mouth.

Noticing her stand up, the orc chief laughs heartily, then speaks, “Hooh, you’re the best! Hahaha, you may be weak, but your resolve is rivaled by no one. I can’t wait to eat you; perhaps then I’ll gain that tenacity.”

I can’t let him hit me again; my body is already past the limits. To pull this off, I need a perfect fight. I’m fast, sure, but he has insane strength. Still, his attacks are based on throwing logs at me; I have a chance if I can dodge them.

Her wings are beyond repair; the damage from the shards of wood prevents her from taking flight. Looks like I need to stick to the ground for this one. Her hand chokes the handle of her sword.

The orc chief picks up yet another massive log. Lunella stares at him, carefully observing his movements. He spreads his body out side-long and pulls the log over to the right of his center of mass. He’s going for a spear throw; I need to dodge to the side.

Vreeeeewww! The log flies into the air, and Lunella immediately runs towards the orc at a 45-degree angle. The log smashes down where she once was, sending dust into the air once more. After the orc notices her escape, he picks up another log and throws it sideways at her.

Tightening her grip on her sword, she channels mana into her muscles. As the log comes flying at her, she swipes her sword down in a single smooth motion—Crack. The log hits the sword so forcibly that it splits into two, breaking apart around her.

Feet hit the ground, and she closes in on the massive orc. The orc begins to wield a log as if it were a club, and as she enters his melee range, he swipes it down at her making a whipping sound.

“Not again!” Lunella teethes as she holds her sword with her hand attached to the handle and her other against the blade, forming a defensive stance. The log collides with her sword, and she claws at the handle. Her body is shoved, she slides back, leaving a trail in the dirt.

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Her arms feel like rubber as the impact spreads through her body, but she still holds on and manages to stay upright. With her body moving on its own, she runs back into the orcs melee range and swings her sword at the orc’s leg—blood, blood that’s not hers; she finally lands a blow on the orc lord.

Tuvaki swings the massive log down over his head at the demon girl—but she’s nowhere to be found. As soon as she landed the hit the orc, she darted around the back of him; he could not notice thanks to his curvature.

A sword collides with flesh once more, then again. Two free swings leave the orc chief with an x-shaped wound on his back.

As though he were a child’s spinning top, the orc swings around with log in hand. Finally caught off by an attack, Lunella takes the collision head-on. Her body is sent back. Her vision goes darker. She’s lying on the ground, and her leg feels wrong. she tries to step forward, but a pulsating pain runs straight through her whole body like lightning. Looking down at her leg, she notices that there’s a little too much blood and something... black. A bone, her bone, is sticking out of her leg.

Vreeeeeewwwww—A log flying at her from close range. Time seems to freeze, the log is on a collision course, and she can’t move. Without thought, her body reacts. Her hand stretches out, not her good hand—her wounded hand. The glowing mess from the angelite arrow pulses. Mana fills her arm, not just a little bit of mana, but all of it. Her wings begin to glow, lighting up a deep red.

Booooom. From the demon’s wounded hand, a massive inferno bursts forth, completely enveloping the log. The shockwave blows the log off-course as well as knocking her to the ground. Pain fills her leg—the shockwave hits Tuvaki; he falls backward and is stunned.

I need to finish this now.

Lunella, unable to get up, grabs her sword and crawls forward at the massive orc. I don’t have . . . time . . . He won’t stay down forever. Damnit, body come on . . . just a little more, just have to win this fight.

“I got you,” A voice, Amara’s voice. And close.

Amara props the demon up against her shoulder, helping the wounded girl onto her one good foot. The pair approach the massive orc to finish the battle at hand, hobbling like it’s a three-legged race. Tuvaki is close to getting up off his back; he rolls around, trying to get up, but his shape makes it difficult. Once, the orc sits up and is greeted with a sword held to his neck and a strange human and demon pair.

“S-surrender,” Lunella warns in a rough voice, “or else I’ll kill you.”

The orc chief looks at her with a complex expression. Finally, he reaches up and grips the sword’s blade with his massive hand ripping it away from the girls. The monster takes the sword and throws it backward in a single motion.

We’re going to die; we can’t possibly win now. I can’t even walk, let alone fight. Lunella thought

The orc chief breaks out laughing, then speaks, “Hahaha, that’s got to be the emptiest death threat I’ve ever received. Alright, fine, I concede.”

“Huh,” Lunella’s face goes blank, “what do you mean you concede?”

“I mean, you win,” Tuvaki says with a grin, “I haven’t had a fight like that since I was just a young orc. Back before I became the orc lord you see today. You showed me something great, you know that.”

“I’m not sure I—”

“Come on, look at you! Ever since you got knocked out of the sky, you’ve been in no condition to fight, and yet you still managed to land several blows on me.” Tears begin to fill the massive orcs eyes as his laughter bubbles over. “Then I broke your fucking leg, and what do you do? You blow everything up! Then while I was knocked down, you and that human girl walked up to me and held the sword to my throat, asking me to surrender. You did all of that, and the whole time you had no killing intent. PFFFttt-hahaha”

“Huh, well, thank you, I guess? wait, aren’t you supposed to like uphold honor and fight to the death or something?”

The orc wipes tears of laughter out of his eyes and responds, “I’m the chief. I can do whatever I want. Look, Lunella, you’re a fighter, and you’re different from any demon or monster I’ve ever met. You actually got a human to cooperate with you. If you can do that, who knows what you can do. It’d be a waste to kill you here.”

“I Se...” Lunella trails off as she falls off Amara’s shoulder and plops onto the ground.

“Lunella! Lunella!” Amara’s voice accompanies Lunella into darkness.