“*Cough cough!* What the hell just happened?” Panic had settled in Ebrilyon’s capital. A large explosion started a fire that illuminated a big chunk of the city despite the night sky. The whole neighborhood ran outside their houses in a hurry to get away from the fire.
“O- our barrels were staked at our doorstep! Someone moved the barrels then blew them up!” As the victims tried to escape, they passed by a small group of people on the floor, coughing from the explosion that hit their house.
“They’re demons!?” Some of them wanted to help those caught in the explosion, but one look at their heads caused them to run away even faster.
“Dammit… How did this happen? It wasn’t supposed to be like this…” The demons ignored the cries of the humans and tried everything they could to get things on track. “Get up, guys! We need to spread the damage around! It’s not too late!” They tried to lift themselves off the ground, but it was no use.
“Enemy located!” Then they heard dozens of footsteps coming their way. A group wearing the highest quality armor had just arrived at the scene of the explosion. “Rescue any civilians and capture the assailants! If the demons resist, kill them! Don’t give them an opportunity to harm anyone!”
“The princess’s special force, huh…?” Strength escaped them as they realized they were surrounded. “Hehehe… At least we drew them out here… Just as planned… Goodluck, Armand.”
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From an alley in a different corner of town, a girl looked up to the sky with a raised arm to block out the bright light. “Ahahahahaha! It worked! Take that! That’s what you get for leaving so much explosive shit unattended.”
“Ahhhh… I’m feeling great!” All according to plan. Carol thought. “Ahahaha!” How’s that for being useless, Iroha? Did you see that? I did it! That’s one of their bases gone! If the princess cleans up the stragglers, we might actually get through this without casualties.
“Katja’s gonna be so mad though…” If she finds I sneaked into the armory to steal explosives, I’m never gonna hear the end of it. “I hope Iroha’s not disappointed I went back to the other world. I promised we’d go back together, but this doesn’t count, right? It was just for a bit…” The excitement of her plan working out had Carol’s mind racing with useless stuff.
“It was a genius move, if I do say so myself.” Using their own explosives against them while minimizing the spread of damage. Pure genius. Iroha better be crying rivers of joy right about now. “But it doesn’t stop here. I still have to finish things up on my side.” With one of their bait bases destroyed, the other base is sure to take notice and start spreading chaos. “Meaning it’s up to me to clear this place before they can do anything.” Carol looked at the supposed hideout. This was the location Iroha had found. A warm yellow light seeped through one of the windows, with multiple shadows frantically moving around. They’re panicking.
“That makess thing easier…” Carol smiled, barely able to contain her excitement. “What was I scared of? I can definitely do this. I bet I could even win against Iroha now!” Leave it to me, Iroha… She approached the hideout’s door, taking something from out of her pocket. “Leave it to me to solve all your problems for you.” She held up a flashbang and pulled the pin.
*THHUUD!!* The hideout’s door was forcibly swung open with a powerful kick.
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“ARGH!!” “MY EYES!” The flashbang went off, and Carol heard the demons’ scream from the outside. “It’s so bright!!” “Another explosion?!”
With her enemies blinded, Carol ran into the building with her sword in hand. “Guh!” That’s one down. Four of them in total. Three more to go.
“What was that? He- hey! There’s someone here! We’re under att- Argh!” Carol stabbed a man holding onto a table. The room had a counter and looked sort of like a bar, but it didn’t advertise itself as one from the outside. It was strange, but she put those thoughts aside for now.
“You’re next!” Her third target had tripped on a chair was clinging to it while trying to get up. The only one left was a green-haired demon near a hallway that leads to the rest of the building. Carol pulled her sword out of the body and got ready to finish things off.
“What’s going on here?” Before she could do anything, two demons ran down from a spiraling staircase and another from the hallway. It’s one versus four again, and these ones are armed and ready for battle.
“You bitch… You’re gonna pay for this!” The three new arrivals all had short swords and walked slowly towards Carol. “Just buy me time, you idiots.” The green-haired man ordered from the back. “I’ve almost recovered. I’ll deal with her soon!” Not four, just three. Carol stood still as they approached.
“Fufu… Okay… Let’s do this.” Carol giggled and readied her sword. Catching them by surprise and wiping them easily is no fun. Be it three or four, I don’t care. I’m not losing to anyone today! “Come on!”
Carol lowered her stance and rushed forward. She immediately swung as at the enemy when she got in range, and… “A feint!?” The demon tried to defend only to receive a hit in the shoulder. “She got me! Careful! This bitch is tricky!” The man stepped back to escape from his bad situation.
That didn’t kill him, but he shouldn’t be a threat anymore. “Ahahaha!” More… Show me what you can do! Carol stepped towards her next opponent, who exchanged blows with her. Her opponent had the initiative, but both his skills and his sword were inferior. Carol dodged one of his attacks after a series of parries, which caught him by surprise. Her next attack was blocked but pushed the enemy back until…
“Woah!?” A stool on the floor caused the man to fall. She moved to finish off the fallen enemy, but the last guy stood in her way. “Not so fast!” He swung his sword down at Carol’s position and she jumped back. She dodged a desperate flurry of slashes until her back was up against a table. “I got you now!” With a sword quickly coming towards her, she jumped on top of the table to dodge. “Huh?”
The sword scratched the top of the table, but that was it. Carol moved her foot backwards, placing her weight on the back of the table. With a swift movement, she flipped the table into the air, disarming the guy. “There you go.” Still in midair, she kicked the spinning table towards her opponent. The demon got knocked to the ground, and she landed on a nearby couch.
“Buuuhh!” Seeing his friend and a table sliding across the floor, the man from the stool charged forward for his next attack. “Stop playing with us!” Ahahaha! Playing? That’s a surprising way to put it. She was having fun, but what was happening was the result of her using everything she could to her advantage. Could she really afford to play around?
“Gotta move!” She was about to get attacked, so she got up from the couch and ran towards the charging man. She held her sword for a swing, but that’s not what happened. While focusing on Carol’s sword, the demon loses track of Carol who lowered her stance and swept his legs with a kick. “It’s over!” And stab! She brought her sword down on the fallen man’s chest.
“I’m only getting started.” She can’t stop a smile from forming on her face. The party was never over as the injured guy from before now attacked her from behind. She didn’t have time to pull out her sword, but the enemy’s attack was pretty slow. Must be the injury she gave him earlier. Carol dodges and retaliates with a roundhouse kick to the chest. The man gets pushed back, then hits a wall and bounces back forward. Just in time for Carol to pull out her sword with the spinning momentum and land a deep slash to his chest.
“Fuck! Can’t you idiots last one minute against a single girl?!” The green head in the back rubs his eyes while holding onto a corner for balance. He’s recovering fast. I don’t have time to waste.
The guy hit by the table is the only one left. He just pushed the table to the side, and he’s about to get up. Before he can do anything… “Take this!” She swung, but her attack was blocked in hurry. He stepped back to put some distance between them, but Carol had taken that into consideration. The only thing behind him was a bar counter. The surprise left him defenseless, and Carol finished him with an upward slash, causing him to flip over to the other side. “Ahahaha! Maybe I am playin-”
“You bitch!” *SMASH!* A heavy impact suddenly hit her head. The sound of wood breaking filled the room, and splinters shot out in every direction.
“Arghh…” A chair? The green-haired demon had more or less recovered. When Carol finished off the last guy, he grabbed a chair and smashed it over her head. “Heheh… I can take worse than a chair…” Carol wobbled for a second before staring down her opponent. “I knew I was probably gonna get injured, but I didn’t expect this.” She involuntarily smiled. She wiped her forehead after feeling a liquid slowly run down. “Good.” Her hand was red, but she only smiled more. “The real fight’s about to start.”