Within the war, Titus faced a woman general. "Who have we here?" he asked. The woman general was incredibly fast, seemingly disappearing, but Titus, using his perception, took out his sword and stopped her attack.
"Didn't expect any less of you, otherwise it would have been boring," she said.
"Oh really? But don't worry, I am not expecting much from you anyway," Titus countered. The devil energy in the woman general surged, and she sent ferocious slashes, which Titus calmly blocked, using only one hand.
"You are strong," she admitted. Her devil energy increased, she vanished, and after-images began circling Titus. "Now let's see if you can stop me with these after-images present!"
"Wow, such a good party trick," Titus clapped. The general said "you dare mock me?" All the after-images rushed to slash him, but Titus placed his sword in the one empty area. The after-images slashed him, but none of them inflicted damage. The real slash, aimed at the empty spot where Titus's sword was, was stopped. This all happened in less than a second.
"I can't believe you!" she exclaimed, backing down. "You are strong, too strong, but now I know I can't kill you without using my full power." The area around her vibrated, crimson thunder erupted from the ground instead of the sky, and red tattoos began forming and covered her skin. "Now you die!" Her voice sounded like two voices merging: her own and that of a devil.
"Come on, don't say such negative things after all we are friends here," Titus chided. She charged and sent a sword slash, reaching him in less than a second, but Titus effortlessly moved back, turning his body and avoiding the strike, then slashed her head. She fell dead.
"Like I said, you are not worth the effort but at least you showed me some of the moves I can teach to Astarte," Titus remarked.
In another area, a Guardian holder army's General approached Astarte. "So you are the one I need to kill? You look way more corrupted and weak, anyway let's start." The General charged, using his long sword. Astarte parried the sword to the side, but the general was used to such type of techniques so as soon as Astarte parried the sword to the side he sent a side slash but Astarte was used to such techniques too so she blocked his side slash with ease. Astarte kept stopping his attacks without killing him, needing time to analyze the pattern of a Guardian Holder's strikes for future training with Titus.
As Astarte and the General separated, an explosion was heard from the area where Piers had gone. That is not Master's style of fighting. Something must have gone wrong, Astarte worried.
"Don't you dare look away from me, girl!" the General roared.
"I have no time to play with you now," Astarte said, cutting off his head with a single slash, and then rushed toward Piers. Master, please don't leave me!
In another section, Kage got up, coughing, and then vomited blood, having sustained massive injuries. Bret arrived with Kisa and Lisa.
"Someone looks bad," Bret observed.
Kage looked up. "You!!! You caused that explosion!!!"
"Yeah, I like explosions, don't you, Kisa and Lisa?" Bret grinned.
"And watching you fall from there was good too," Kisa added.
"Look at how you are now," Lisa taunted.
Kage, enraged, used Black Arts and sent a death ghost. "You dare to insult me!"
Bret ran toward the death ghost. "This better work." He used an artifact Ben had given him, pulling the pin. It turned out to be a holy grenade, sending holy magic through the ghost and killing it instantly.
"Impossible!" Kage cried. (Rei, during his studies, had created the blueprint for this grenade using cheap magic ores though he never got to use them.)
In Kage's momentary distraction, Kisa and Lisa sent arrows at him, two piercing his arms, preventing him from using his hands. "Don't think it's over!" Kage used a Black Art called the Death Cry, sending out a deadly sound wave. Bret, having already received another artifact, retreated to Kisa and Lisa and pulled the lever on a shield. The shield had thin rectangular blades which got up as the lever was pulled and the holy magic formations which was covered by these blades created a dome of holy magic that withstood the Death Cry for two minutes before losing its power. (Rei designed this shield during his ore and magic formation studies since it can be use multiple times if the shield is intact and the magic formation is replaced. before turning to Piers, Rei was studying how to introduce multiple magic attributes in it as well)
"These toys are really made for playing intensely," Bret commented.
"Kage, where is he?" Lisa asked.
"Looks like he ran away," Kisa replied.
In Astria, in the town where Daina's team stayed, the lack of news from adventurers meant only one thing: they had been killed by dungeon monsters. Many people were already leaving their homes.
However instead of the dungeon outbreak, Daina, Bart, and Ava were concerned with something else: the strain on their relationship with Eugene. Communication had decreased since their harsh words after the incident with Hanna. Daina, trained by Zen, struggled to apologize. Bart felt awkward since he had spoken the most. Ava worried her apology wouldn't be sincere. The conflict had escalated to the point where Eugene was living in a separate inn.
"We need to apologize! We can't just sit here," Bart insisted.
Daina, hesitant at first—her master Zen had always told her to stay ferocious—stiffened. Ava understood the gravity, equating the situation to Rei leaving after engaging in a fight with Sigil to protect her. "Daina, we need to apologize, or do you want him to leave us?"
Daina stiffened, then with a determined face said, "Yes, I will apologize!"
As they stepped out of the bar, the dungeon outbreak began, with massive and small beasts pouring into the town.
"We need to find Eugene!" Bart said with urgency.
"He is at the Mafel Inn! Come with me!" Daina shouted.
"Don't worry, I will create a shortcut!" Ava used her ice magic to make an inverse parabolic bridge going above the houses and toward Eugene's inn.
As they crossed the bridge, they saw Eugene at the far end. Daina rushed forward. "Eugene, I—" Before she could finish her apology, Eugene was struck by a huge boar. The boar's horns pierced his chest, including his heart, and he was thrown away. The subsequent stampede of boars crushed him.
Daina screamed, "Eugene!!!"