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Time rewinds a few minutes, as Anna was left to fight against Albert.
?
Albert Miller was the current head of the Miller Family of Knights, a family with a long history that was founded more than one hundred years ago within the duchy of Sapphira.
Father of Percy Miller, the closest knight-servant of the Duke of Sapphira, Frank Aquaria, Albert has always been a stoic and religious man and had always been close to the church of Bestellen and its extremist faction.
Against the Duke's will, he ended up telling the church of the Kingdom about the half-demon boy who he believed could even be the next Demon King, and due to his strong fanaticism and his position, even the Holy Empire of Bestellen, the largest country within the continent of Anir's Hands decided to act, sending an army of templars, battle popes, and even one of the five constellations, Graham Gold.
Since he set into this journey that he was decided in slaying this half-demon and all of his group of monsters and creatures, however, against all expectations, Graham Gold, a respected and incredibly strong human was defeated by the half-demon, atop the skies, and seen by everyone.
At that very moment is when he lost most hope for survival…
However, as if hearing he pleads, Graham Gold descended from the skies by the divine power of Bestellen, reborn as a Familiar Spirit, whose body was shining brightly, it was as if he had become the personification of heavenly light.
From this very moment, the fragmented hope of Albert and the templars, knights, priests, and battle popes around him raised once more, blossoming in their hearts as their leader had defied death itself and was now walking with the living once more, reborn as a divine being!
As Albert was filled with conviction, he fought against Veronica, the strange Living Armor that had decided to fight against him.
However, he was just getting beaten easily…
Even then, he tried his best, and somehow due to his light and life magic, the undead seemed wary of him and was not being too aggressive. Using this as his only advantage, Albert managed to win some time.
However, against these expectations, the Living Armor jumped off the battle to aid the half-demon boy, leaving him with another warrior.
With a beautiful, muscular, glossy, chocolate-skinned body, a revealing black armor, and a confident grin, the physically strongest squirrel-kin of the entire Igni kingdom had come to defeat Albert, wielding her trusty cursed weapon, Axe-chan, which had received several upgrades and was now completely in another level than before.
"How about you stop looking at my curves and fight me for once? Are you surprised to see that squirrel-kin are not fragile women?" asked Anna with a bold tone, rushing towards the Paladin with Axe-chan in her hands, releasing sparks of black lightning that surprised even Albert.
"Impossible… such pressure…! Is that really a Squirrel-kin?! How can they grow so fast if these lowly tribes do not possess the gift of our gods, the Job Changing Crystals?!" wondered Albert, unaware that the Job-Changing Crystal that belonged to the village where Ervas lived that had disappeared was now an important treasure within the Igni Kingdom that helped their people grow stronger through Job Changing.
"Black Thunder Slash!" roared Anna, appearing right behind Albert with thundering speed, and unleashing a powerful and explosive slash charged with black thunder!
Albert gnashed his teeth, as he raised his shield to defend himself, unleashing a powerful shield and armor technique over his body, which covered him in a golden light.
"Heavenly Shield, Sacred Armor!"
CLASH!
The immense prowess within Anna's hit made the entire body of Albert tremble, as he began to slowly seep into the ground, enormous cracks emerged below his foot, as he infused his Mana and produced more through the several accessories below his armor to use as a fuel to defend himself and survive!
"Nnnghh…! Sacred Shield Bash!"
Albert pushed his shield with a herculean strength upwards, hitting Anna's axe as she had to step back due to the force and shockwaves produced by the shield coated in light and life.
Boom!
"Interesting, you humans may pack more than one punch!" said Anna, rushing right back towards Albert with her axe and thundering speed.
Anna was what could be considered close combat berserk, she wasn't the best at defense, but excelled at a fast offense that could easily overpower her enemies, she didn't give any time for Albert to rest or assess his situation, showering him with axe attacks from all directions continuously!
Clash! Clash! Clash! Clash!
"Magic Release!" said Albert, releasing a wave of light into all directions, hitting Anna directly as she was thrown away several meters!
Boom!
"Aahh…! That magic attack…!" thought Anna, seeing as Albert had released a strong wave of magic to fend her off him immediately.
However, she quickly noticed how tired the old paladin was, despite his enormous strength, he was spending a lot of Mana to continuously fight, at some point, his soul would grow mildly exhausted.
"Don't sleep on me, will you?" asked Anna with a smile, rushing towards Albert right after she was thrown away, the burns in her skin by the powerful light were slowly regenerating due to her natural regeneration ability, but if she continued taking hits like this, she would eventually die.
Ervas was too busy fighting Graham, so the amount of healing that he could do for others was reduced, and most of the Healing Aura was concentrated around the Plant Ghost Alraune, who was rather far away from Anna currently.
"Axe-chan, let's use our double techniques!" said Anna.
"Sure thing!" said Axe-chan, startling Albert as he realized that the powerful, almost Legendary-class weapon that the Squirrel-kin woman held was in fact a cursed item!
"This is… a Cursed Weapon this strong?! How is it possible for you to tame an Undead monster?!" asked Albert, raising his blade and unleashing a barrage of slashes of light.
"If you wanted an answer why are you attacking me?" asked Anna mildly annoyed, as she unleashed several techniques of her own alongside the ones combined from Axe-chan.
Because Axe-chan had her own status as a Cursed Weapon, she was able to learn Skills and even level up and evolve, she had naturally learned Axe Technique by simply fighting with Anna, and had polished such techniques to the point of reaching a high level.
Combining her own techniques alongside Anna made for even more devastating attacks, combined with the Electrify Skill that Axe-chan had because she was upgraded by Veronica's new metallic materials that possessed electric attributes, she held an enormous power, which was even more amplified by her excellent coordination with Anna.
"Such power…! This beast-woman strength is even comparable to an A-Rank Adventurer! And if the axe is counted… it could even exceed that!" thought Albert, as fear began to take over his valiant heart, while despair started to blossom on his mind…
"What's the deal? Too afraid of girls?" laughed Anna, teasingly attacking Albert with a constant barrage of slashing and thundering attacks, Albert tried his best to defend himself with all of his techniques which he had polished through his entire life, but he was slowly being driven into a corner!
"No… I am a Paladin, the proud head of the Miller Family… I cannot lose, I cannot falter! I must fight for my beliefs, for my family and my people!" said Albert, his shout of bravery inspired those around him, making Anna glance at him with an annoyed expression.
"And what do you think we are trying to do?!" asked Anna, clashing against Albert's shield as he used a shield bash, throwing her a few meters away.
"We are doing the same… You Humans and us Beast-kin and Demons are no different! We also fight for our people, for our families, for our children! We are just trying to live our lives, to thrive! Your beliefs are rotten, you want to destroy us merely because our appearances and cultures do not fit with your wicked criteria!" roared Anna, as her shout also inspired those near her to fight even harder against the powerful templars and battle popes.
"Do not dare to compare us to you, beast-woman! You are vastly different! You do not have hearts of honor, of bravery, of love! You are nothing but monsters shaped as people! Do not dare compare us to you!" roared Albert, annoyed by Anna's remark, which was incredibly true.
Albert could not help but feel an ache on his chest, as what Anna had said really did hit him deeply on his consciousness…
Perhaps she was not that wrong.
Perhaps… she was truly fighting for the same purposes as him?!
No…
He glanced around him, the corpses of his men, the smell of blood…
It was far too late to understand his enemy, it was far too late to amend things and talk.
He had to fight, he had gone too far, and now he had to continue through this path he had chosen, there was no other way.
"If you cannot even empathize with someone who speaks the same language as you, with someone that shows his emotions clearly on her tone of voice and on her face, then perhaps you're also not worthy of my mercy! Die, and join back with your wicked God!" roared Anna, as her entire body was shrouded in black lightning, like a demonic fiend that materialized thunder, she rushed against Albert, destroying his light attacks, intercepting his shield bashes and sword slashes, and raising her axe above his head!
"Bestellen-sama has given us everything! He had protected humanity from you wicked monsters and your ridiculous powers! Humanity had always been weaker than you fiends, this is why he desired to eradicate you and guarantee our safety! You cannot possibly empathize with us, beast-woman!" roared Albert.
Albert raised his shield, as he charged all the Mana within his soul and accessories, creating an enormous shield of light protecting himself from Anna while he released slashes of light from around the shield, attacking Anna as her body began to burn from the iridescent light!
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
"I don't care anymore what bullshit you spit out of your mouth, human! I will fight for my people… for my family! For Ervas and Veronica!" she cried, as her axe seemed to embody lightning itself, falling towards Albert as he unleashed his defensive techniques.
CLASH!
"Nnnngggooooooohh…! You… beast-woman!!!" roared Albert, his shield suddenly was sliced in half, as Anna's axe fell right above his face!
"What?! My shield… broke?! Impossib- Nnnggyyaaaaahhh…!"
SLASH!
Anna kept pushing down her axe, as it went through Albert's face, down to his neck, chest, stomach, and genitals, slicing him perfectly in two!
Splat!
The two halves fell motionlessly into the ground, as Anna shacked Axe-chan, cleaning the blood of Albert.
"Hmmm~ That was good! I love to slice bastards like him, fufu~!" laughed Axe-chan.
"Don't get carried away, Axe-chan… There is a lot for us to do yet… Let's go!" said Anna, joining the battle as Ervas, Veronica, and Jason still fought against Graham.
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