The tsundere mistress and her fox-eared servant on a yuri journey to defeat demons - Volume 1 Chapter 7.3

“No, but it was to lure you in!” Lisa, who had rolled to avoid the attack and ran towards the debris, thrust her longsword into Balthazar, who had sneaked into the rubble to find her.

“You’re very naive!”

Just before the swords touched, Balthazar’s scythe handle, which had returned to its position, striked towards Karin’s torso.

“……!” She escaped the attack by falling backward and quickly got back up. The scythe blade struck relentlessly, leaving no room for the next attack.

“…Uh, gh….” Karin caught the scythe blade with her sword and assumed a defensive stance, then began to slowly retreat as if she were defeated.

The debris collapsed noisily, and Karin’s legs sank into them, causing the old castle to crumble even more.

“What happened to all that boasting you were doing a moment ago?” Khuzan, from inside the Balthazar that had approached, taunted Lisa’s Karin as if wanting to show off his power.

“I’m sure it’s you who can’t defend yourself now.”

“What…!?”

Karin, with her hand on the magical shotgun while defending against the scythe, unleashed a barrage of shots against him. The Balthazar was hit by the close-range shotgun, and while startled by it, Karin’s longsword pierced his torso.

“Haaaaaaa!” Lisa continued her attack, tipping the scales in her favor. Balthazar, who had been completely drawn to Karin, jumped back in the air as if it could no longer endure the violent slash.

“It’s hard to say how powerful he is. But it’s certainly easier to say that he’s mortal.” With a sarcastic smile, she loaded the magical shotgun and aimed at Balthazar, who was escaping through the air.

“It seems you have a bit of wit about you. But how about this?” Countless fire arrows materialized around Balthazar, aiming at Karin.

“……!” Lisa returned the magical shotgun to her hip, causing Karin to leap to the back of the only remaining wall. The fire arrows converged on the spot where Karin had been moments ago, and the old castle, set ablaze, immediately became engulfed in flames.

“What’s the matter, is there nowhere to run?” Khuzan, who had Karin cornered, embedded a fire arrow in the castle wall to demonstrate his superiority. “Because that’s what it looks like to me!”

Khuzan kicked the flaming castle wall and ran over the debris.

It shot fire arrows one after another as if playing with Karin, who had appeared.

“……” As soon as she stopped, she fell prey to the fiery arrows. Lisa, who kept a certain distance from Balthazar while letting Karin sprint, carefully monitored Balthazar’s movements and the fire arrows through the video feed.

Ah…

The size of the fire arrows was different. Although they were fast, she saw that several of them hit the debris and scattered instead of igniting them. From their appearance, it was evident that their attack power had weakened compared to the ones he launched initially.

“Hey, Khuzan! The power of your flames is weakening. I wonder if it’s safe for you to keep shooting them?”

“Worry about your own life first. I’ll show you my power!” Khuzan, with countless magic circles floating around his armor, made the wings of Balthazar flutter violently. The Gehenna, amplified in tandem with the flapping of the wings, transformed into a fire lance, aiming the sharp tip of the blazing flame towards Karin, his target.

“This time I won’t fail!” Khuzan shouted, releasing the fire lance.

“That’s my line!” Karin, with her magical shotgun ready, intercepted them with ice crystal bullets.

“What… an idiot!”

Balthazar’s flame lance was nullified by the cold air from the ice shot, stopped in mid-air, and fell to the ground in pieces.

“And now, how about this?” Karin maneuvered her left knee to deliver a powerful blow to Balthazar.

“It won’t work!”

Just as Khuzan was about to repel it with his scythe.

“I knew you would do that.” A cartridge from the magical shotgun pierced through his screen and exploded in a bright flash of blinding light.

“My eyes!” Khuzan, who was directly hit by the flash, shouted and made Balthazar retreat.

Lisa seized this opportunity to close the distance between Balthazar and her longsword.

“You sneaky, that’s playing dirty!” Khuzan, having regained his sight, quickly adopted a defensive stance. But before Karin could land a powerful blow, his bio-armor flew through the air and rolled over the debris.

“I don’t hold back against demons.”

“I won’t let you!” Balthazar escaped Lisa’s subsequent slash wielding his scythe and assumed a stance. Karin’s longsword and the scythe’s blade clashed, their powers equalizing as violent sparks flew.

“G-guh…”

Gradually, Balthazar began pushing Karin back as it roared.

“Stay still… can’t you see I’m going to kill you!”

Lisa pounded her hands on the crystal ball with all her strength. Karin, in sync with Lisa’s thoughts, concentrated all her ether into her arms.

“Gaahhh!!!”

The scythe’s blade, unable to bear the strain, eventually broke and flew off. With a roar of anger, Balthazar coated the broken scythe with Gehenna-infused blade and swung it wildly. Lisa, who jumped back and took a pause, enveloped her longsword in foxfire.

“Just die already!”

Karin deflected Balthazar’s downward strike with a leap.

“Do you think you can defeat me with an improvised sword?!”

A small explosion occurred, and the wind blade created by Balthazar easily dissipated.

“That a human has cornered me to this point… I can’t believe it, I refuse to believe it…” Khuzan’s anger was transmitted directly through Balthazar.

Grasping the scythe’s handle with his trembling arm, Balthazar materialized a fire lance, but it was repelled by the magical shotgun before it could activate.

“You’re getting nowhere. It’s time for you to surrender.” Lisa threw the magical shotgun aside and prepared her longsword. The foxfire surrounding the blade was burning with purple flames and was about to reach its maximum firepower.

“Damn it… if this happens, you wretch…”

“This is the end!”

Lisa placed both hands on the crystal ball and poured all her strength into it. With great force, Karin swung her foxfire-covered longsword, cutting Balthazar in half along with the scythe he used as a shield to protect himself.