It took less than a minute to find the source of the disturbance. Not only was it easy for Pyrrha's group to know what direction to move in, it soon became apparent that the source of the disturbance was moving towards them. And when they encountered it, Pyrrha and the others slowed to a stop out of bewilderment.
Pyrrha had seen many things, both during her training as a huntress and during her time in this world. But the figure before her now was something incomprehensible.
It was roughly the shape and size of a human being, but the similarities ended there. Its body consisted of a strange blue-grey substance that looked halfway between stone and metal. The surface of said body was highly irregular, being covered in small feathered wings and swirling patterns. The figure's eyes showed no irises or pupils, consisting of nothing more than a fearsome red glow. And held in the figure's hands was… was a weapon that could best be described as a club consisting of wings with a ring at the end, all composed of the same blue-grey substance as its wielder.
And this mysterious figure had definitely not come in peace. The surrounding forest had been devastated, with shrubs and entire trees felled, and the bodies of elves and fairies littered the ground. At this very moment, the figure was being restrained by Frederica and pelted with spells by Promestein and Chrome. But despite the zombie being so much bigger than her opponent, she seemed to be losing this contest of strength.
"This feeling—it's like holy energy, but twisted into something foul!" Ilias exclaimed. "And that weapon—it can't be—"
"MORE… ANGELSSSS!"
Letting out this barely coherent roar, the mysterious figure threw off Frederica entirely. It charged at Pyrrha's group and swung its strange weapon in a chaotic arc.
"I'll stop you!" Sylph shouted.
Thrusting out her hands, the Spirit of Wind conjured up a powerful gale that struck the mysterious figure head-on. This gale was powerful enough to blow away several logs and small boulders that were lying on the ground, yet the mysterious figure simply pressed onwards, barely even slowed down.
In the next instant, the mysterious figure was struck by a barrage of spells and bullets. Pyrrha contributed to this barrage, having switched Miló to rifle form. This was enough to blast off small chunks of the figure's body, though no blood came from theses wounds and it continued pressing onwards.
It's like a berserker straight from the legends! Pyrrha thought.
There was a momentary lull in the barrage, a couple of seconds in which multiple spellcasters had to regain their breath and multiple shooters had to reload. That gave the berserker the opportunity to charge forwards, swinging its strange weapon towards Ilias.
Pyrrha tried using her Semblance on the berserker but there was no effect: whatever this strange being was made out of, it wasn't susceptible to magnetism. She then stepped in front of Ilias and tried to parry the berserker's weapon using her own sword. It was like trying to redirect a fully laden truck with a wooden stick. Pyrrha was forced backwards and crashed into Ilias, but she nevertheless managed to knock away the berserker's weapon just enough to stop it striking her body.
Next, Hild closed in on the berserker with her two arm-blades deployed. She moved so quickly that she was practically a blur to Pyrrha's eyes—but the berserker was able to keep up with her and struck her with a single powerful slash. Hild faltered, both of her arms cut off.
That filled Pyrrha with a burning rage. Even if Hild was made out of metal and created rather than birthed, that didn't mean the gynoid was just an expendable doll.
Pyrrha threw Akoúo̱ at the berserker and then used her Semblance on the shield, making it pin down one of the berserker's feet. This caused the berserker to stumble in the middle of an attack. Pyrrha thus had the opportunity to thrust Miló into the berserker's throat, and she managed to pierce roughly two inches deep.
Pyrrha quickly jumped away to avoid a retaliatory slash, but while she was able to avoid the berserker's strange weapon, she wasn't able to avoid the wave of crimson flame that accompanied the slash. She felt a ferocious heat and impact, even through her Aura, and was sent flying backwards into a tree.
"That's the flames of a hero!?" Sonya cried out. "How is that even possible!?"
There was no time for anyone to answer. Luka charged at the berserker, his sword alight with his own crimson flame, only to be sent flying backwards just as Pyrrha had. But unlike Pyrrha, this also left a large gash on his chest that spurted blood.
"DEATH TO ANGELS!" the berserker roared.
Sonya swung her heavy staff down towards the berserker's head, only for her staff to be sliced in two and her to receive a similar injury to Luka.
Several different healing spells were cast, filling the air with their soothing light. These healed the wounds of Luka and Sonya, and when Hild bent down to touch her severed arms, even these were healed.
Of course, the berserker wasn't going to just stay still while all this was happening. To keep it distracted, Pyrrha used her Semblance on Akoúo̱ again, causing the shield to lift up and strike the berserker in the head. Letting out an enraged roar, the berserker grabbed Akoúo̱ and threw it far away.
Then the berserker was struck by several spells. One of them, a jet of orange flame from Alice, even hit its head. But it was Ilias that it focused on, and it charged towards the shrunken goddess again.
Suddenly, the berserker stumbled and its feet sank into the ground. A small patch of ground had now been turned into soft mud, courtesy of a flask of strange liquid that Promestein had thrown down earlier.
Pyrrha took advantage of this opportunity. She ran forward and slashed at the berserker's neck, while taking care not to step in the mud herself. When the berserker retaliated with a wide sweeping slash, Pyrrha ducked low to avoid it completely. She followed up with a stab at one ankle, then leaped to the side to avoid the berserker's next attack.
I can't tell if I'm doing any real damage, Pyrrha thought. But it is losing parts of its body with each attack. We must keep up this assault!
From that point on, Pyrrha's group settled into an uneasy rhythm. The berserker was vastly stronger and faster than any of them, but it fought alone and with no apparent intelligence behind its reckless attacks. Whenever it focused on one person—usually Luka, Ilias or Promestein—it opened itself up to attacks from everyone else. This ensured it never had the opportunity to fatally injure any of them, and what injuries they did sustain were soon healed. The berserker had no one to heal it and neither could it regenerate at any noticeable speed, so more and more of its body was shaved away.
However, this strategy wouldn't be nearly as successful as it was unless its participants could work together. Just a few weeks ago, it would have been unthinkable for Alice and Ilias to work together in anything more than a grudging fashion. Now, Alice provided distracting fire whenever Ilias was targeted by the berserker, and Ilias healed Alice and cast protective spells over her, both of them doing so without any hesitation. The rest of the group were also working together effectively, even Hild… it seemed that the gynoid's programming included instructions on fighting as a group. That was something to discuss later.
At one point, the berserker surrounded its weapon with a fearsome aura of deep purple—it was preparing an attack infused with dark energy, which would be extremely damaging to the angels in Pyrrha's group. Fortunately, Nuruko managed to hit the berserker's arms with several explosive bullets, slightly diverting its aim. A wave of darkness then erupted from the berserker's weapon, missing its intended targets and instead annihilating half a dozen trees.
"Hey!" Sylph shouted. "The trees never did anything to you! I'll make you pay for that!"
Sylph threw a powerful whirlwind at the berserker, powerful enough to briefly lift the mysterious figure up a few feet and make it an easy target for ranged attacks. But the berserker simply roared and the whirlwind was dispersed into mere breezes.
"Wh-What!?" Sylph cried out. "How is that even possible!?"
"More importantly, it can use dark energy despite having a holy aura," Ilias said, while firing a holy laser that struck the berserker in the shoulder. "That should be even less possible, yet it's the reality before our eyes!"
The berserker received more and more wounds, to the point that there was barely any part of its body that hadn't been wounded at some point. But even with most of its face covered in scratches and gouges, including its eyes, the berserker had no trouble sensing its opponents.
Is it sensing us through the energy we emit? Pyrrha wondered.
But as time went on, the balance began shifting back towards the berserker's favour. No matter how many wounds it sustained and no matter how many powerful attacks it used, the berserker never slowed down. The same couldn't be said for Pyrrha's group, who were gradually running out of stamina, mana and ammunition. They gulped down stamina- and mana-replenishing drinks whenever they had the chance, but they would soon run out of those as well, and there was no way to replenish the ammunition.
Promestein was the first to break the rhythm. She stumbled against a tree while panting heavily, unable to fight any longer. Pyrrha quickly attacked the berserker to keep it occupied, but this time she was unable to avoid the counterattack.
A mighty swing struck Pyrrha in the abdomen, sending her flying through one tree after another. When she finally came to a stop, she was surrounded by flickering red light—her Aura had broken.
Ugh… but, the others…
Pyrrha was now more than a hundred feet away from the rest of the fight. But that didn't stop her from hearing the shouts and screams as more of her allies, her friends, were brought down.
I must… get up… I must not… fail anyone again!
Pyrrha stabbed Miló into a tree trunk and used it as a support to pull herself up. She'd continued fighting Cinder after her Aura's depletion, and she'd been alone then. She could hardly give up when she now had friends by her side. She had to—
Suddenly, Pyrrha felt a familiar refreshing sensation, that of her Aura being replenished by healing magic. Not fully replenished, but she had enough to fight properly again. She looked around, but couldn't see anyone who could have cast a healing spell on her: the berserker was keeping her friends occupied, and there were no elves or fairies around who were conscious. That left only one possibility.
The Goddess' Protection… Pyrrha thought, recalling one of Micaela's lessons. A hero ability to rapidly recover from wounds and return to the fight! In my case, it's worked to replenish my Aura!
Pyrrha had received some training to use this ability—this training involved being beaten until her Aura was broken and she had physical injuries, then trying it to will herself back to health—but she'd never succeeded until now. The stress of battle had given her the impetus to finally succeed.
I've received a second chance, but there won't be any third chance… this is an ability that can only be used once a day. Then I must end this with one strike!
Pyrrha began running. As she ran, she used her Semblance on Miló, Akoúo̱ and her armour, accelerating herself. She reached an incredible speed, a speed so great that the slightest misstep would cause her to hit an obstacle.
-ooo-
Micaela was the first of the Seraphs created by Ilias, was once the leader of Heaven's armies, and now she was unable to do anything more than take cover behind a tree and cast the occasional healing spell. And now, one by one, her allies were falling.
After Pyrrha had been knocked away, Hild had tried to keep the berserker occupied, only to be struck by a blow that broke multiple limbs. Then Nuruko tried to shoot a missile at the berserker, only for this missile to be parried, sending it towards Chrome and Frederica instead. Lime split in two and tried to restrain the berserker, only for both of her bodies to be torn off and then thrown away, one body hitting Sylph and knocking her out of the air. Then the berserker headed for Ilias, only for Alice to jump in the way and blast its legs with a fire spell. In response, the berserker brought down its weapon in a mighty cleave, knocking down Alice and Ilias and sending them tumbling across the ground.
Micaela quickly cast a healing spell on Alice and Ilias, the most injured out of the group. The Monster Lord and goddess' wounds healed, but not completely, and neither was able to get up.
If I had my full power, I'd have restored them to perfect condition, Micaela thought grimly. If I had my full power, then I could win this battle by myself, and none of the others would be hurt!
At the same time, Nuruko was struck down, as was Sonya when she tried to protect the little scylla. That left Luka as the only one who could still fight.
Luka… the nephew that Micaela had never properly taken care of, the son of a sister who Micaela had never said goodbye to.
No… I won't let more family die!
Gathering all of the holy energy she could spare, Micaela shot an arrow of light from her right hand to the head of the berserker. This knocked the berserker slightly off-balance and meant that, rather than cutting Luka in half, it merely left another gash on the half-angel's chest. But even that wound was enough to bring Luka down… and now Micaela herself had drawn attention from the berserker.
So this is it, then…
Ever since she'd learned about the threat facing this world, Micaela had been prepared for her own death. She had nearly died to that Seraph of a parallel world, Zion, and it was only the help of others that allowed her to survive. But now even that was insufficient… and she was about to die to someone she recognised.
I'm sorry, Heinrich… Micaela thought, as she watched the berserker approach. I don't know how you ended up in this state, but… if I'd objected to Ilias' treatment of you, then you wouldn't have become—
For a moment, Micaela saw a blur of movement in the distance. Then the blade of a sword sprouted from the berserker's chest. Furthermore, particles of light erupted from the wound like blood.
In that moment, Pyrrha Nikos had inflicted a wound greater than anything else the berserker had experienced in this battle.
But the berserker struggled against the sword impaling it. "MUST… DESTROY… ALL… ANGELS…!"
Then Luka stood up, the gash on his chest healed thanks to the regenerative capabilities of his angel half. He raised his sword and ignited it with the crimson flame of a blessed hero. Then his eyes shone with orange light, a single wing of golden light appeared from his back, and an aura of holy energy was added to his sword.
"ANGEL…! ANGEL…!" the berserker shouted, raising its own weapon in an attempt to attack Luka.
But Pyrrha yanked on her sword, pulling the berserker off-balance.
"That's enough!" Luka declared. "Whoever you are, you won't hurt anyone ever again!"
Luka charged at the berserker and slashed at its neck. His sword only cut a third of the way through at first, but he tugged on his sword as though it were a saw. After a few seconds of cutting, the berserker's head fell to the ground. Then Pyrrha withdrew her sword, causing the rest of the berserker's body to collapse.
Micaela slumped against the trunk of a nearby tree, and both Luka and Pyrrha fell to their knees. There could theoretically have been more dangers nearby, but none of them were in any state to—
Suddenly, a young man teleported into the area. Micaela cursed and prepared to use up her remaining life in a desperate attack, but then she saw the man's appearance and froze. This man was dressed in a more outlandish way than anyone else Micaela had seen in her long life: a long red-and-black coat with tattered hem, matching pants and boots, a golden chain coiled around his torso and left arm. He also held a massive scythe in one hand, a scythe brimming with potent enchantments.
"N-Nero?" Luka said, looking at the strange man.
Now Micaela realised who this stranger was, he was the one that Luka had met shortly before leaving Iliasville. But neither Luka nor any of his companions could have prepared her for the for the genuine article.
"I sensed a great disturbance here, and I came to help!" Nero said. "But it seems that you have dealt with that yourself?"
The remains of the berserker were now dissolving into particles of light. From looking at the stump of its neck, Micaela saw that the berserker's body wasn't internally homogeneous: there were lines indicating the skin, muscles, blood vessels and spine, all of similar shapes to those of a human. This explained how Pyrrha and then Luka had managed to inflict fatal wounds at the end: the outermost layer of the berserker must have been the most durable, and after that had been scoured away, the weaker internals had been exposed.
"In any case, you are clearly in need of healing," Nero said. "Please, allow me."
Nero raised his hand, which glowed with white light. In the next few seconds, the wounds of everyone in the area were restored, even those of the unconscious fairies and elves in the distance… though not all of the latter were healed. Some remained bloody and still, proof that they had lost their lives and thus could no longer be affected by healing magic.
They died because multiple angels entered their forest, and this… this berserk form of Heinrich followed us, Micaela thought grimly. Even after all of the war I've experienced, this feels deeply unpleasant.
Micaela looked back at the fading remains of what had once been a hero of legend.
Heinrich… is your hatred of angels so strong that it twisted you into this?
Then she looked at Luka. Her nephew was looking down on his sword, which shook slightly in his hand. Even it was out of obvious self-defence, he'd killed someone for the first time. That was an event that few people could go through without being changed. Micaela would need to speak with him afterwards…
At that moment, Nero finished his healing. He looked around at the others and said, "There's more of you than before… but hold on, isn't one missing? That girl in the red hooded cloak, Ruby?"
These words caused everyone in the group to look uncomfortable, with the exception of the new arrivals of Hild, Chrome and Frederica.
Micaela decided to answer, as it was her fault for being unable to protect Ruby. "She was taken by Granberia, the Heavenly Knight of Fire, to Alipheese the Fifteenth. It seems that the one who currently sits on the Monster Lord's throne wishes to know more about the world that she comes from."
Nero was taken aback by this. "I… I never thought that they'd take such overt actions…"
"On what basis?" Micaela asked, curious about what this strange man knew. "Why do you think that the Monster Lord wouldn't want to know more about visitors from another world?"
"You might say that I'm familiar with the true history," Nero said evasively, "and such an event never occurred in it."
Then Pyrrha joined the conversation. "This is our first time meeting in person, but… is there anything you could do?" she pleaded. "Do you know of any way to get to Hellgondo, or…"
"I do have some ideas, but it would be difficult rescuing someone from the hold of the Monster Lord," Nero said. "That said, it would also be a bad idea to leave her where the Lilith Sisters have access to her… Alright. First, I must ask you to tell me anything you know about the situation, anything that could be relevant."
Over the next few minutes, Nero was told various facts about the abduction itself, about Ruby and about her current captors. Alice in particular had some choice words.
"It's hard to believe that my mother is behind all of this," Alice said. "But Granberia was no imposter, and I doubt she'd be fooled into thinking an imposter was my mother, nor would she follow orders she considered totally unreasonable. My guess is, my mother has some kind of plan… what that plan is, I'm not sure…"
Eventually, Nero nodded. "I'll need to consult with my allies first, but I believe it may be possible to bring back Ruby. However, I'm afraid I can't give any promises on when that might occur…"
"Still, thank you," Pyrrha said, her eyes moist with tears. "I… I could never return to Remnant without bringing her back as well… If there's anything you need us to do…"
"I'll contact you if that occurs," Nero said. "Now, until our next encounter…"
Nero teleported away. At the same time, the last remnants of the berserker disappeared into light.
-ooo-
Ruby stopped outside the door and took a deep breath.
Come on, Ruby, you can do this, Ruby thought. This is… well, it's not exactly like going into a cafeteria for the first time, but it is sort of like that.
The only real difference is that you can't leave this castle at all, and some of the people in this room might want to eat me or… do other things. Or eat me and do those other things.
Ruby shivered. She'd recently read several books that had been sent to her room as entertainment, and the contents of those books were disturbing to say the least.
But Ruby couldn't just stand outside this door forever. She pushed open the door and stepped inside.
Inside was a dining room large enough to fit several houses, yet it was packed to the brim with all kinds of monsters, plus a very small number of humans. The furniture in here varied greatly in shape and size, ranging from small enough to fit fairies to large enough that it could be used as a house for average-sized monsters. The food and drink here was similarly varied: Ruby saw hunks of raw meat, bowls of seafood soup, dishes with many kinds of vegetables, plates with nothing but mushrooms heaped up on them, cups of fruit juice, mugs of milk, glasses of what looked an awful lot like blood.
For previous meals, Ruby had eaten in her room. But today, she decided that she had to try eating here in order to gather information.
Upon entering the room, Ruby felt hundreds of gazes on her. Most of the diners then looked away, but a few of them continued looking at the strange guest/prisoner in their midst.
Ruby walked stiffly through the dining room, trying her best to ignore the curious gazes. She arrived at one end of the room where there was a window leading into an adjacent kitchen.
Here there was an arachne wearing an apron and a chef's hat. The spider monster was using her many limbs to chop up ingredients, fry fish in a pan, ladle soup into bowls and do various other tasks.
"I've got two meals here that are for humans," the arachne chef said, apparently too busy to care who Ruby was. "Chicken soup with bread, or a fish roll with cheese. Pick one."
"I-I'll have the chicken soup, please," Ruby answered. "And the bread."
Ruby received her food and then looked around for a place to sit. It was like trying to find a gemstone just lying around in the street, but eventually she found a space on a bench that was just large enough for her to sit. So she went there, sat down, and began eating while keeping her eyes on the food.
Eventually, someone spoke up. "Umm… you're the one they brought here five days ago, right?"
Ruby looked up to see a young man on the opposite side of the table. with pale skin, short and slightly messy red hair, and brown eyes. He was the first other human that Ruby had seen up close in this castle.
"I am," Ruby said. "Do you have any… any questions for me?"
"I… well, I…" the young man said. He was acting a little like Jaune, even if the two looked nothing alike. "I guess I do have some questions…"
"Come on, Ryan, you're the one who spoke up first!" said one of the monsters, a slime, next to the young man. "You need to be more confident!"
The other monsters at the table—and there were about a dozen of them—added comments of their own. Judging from the familiar way they acted, Ruby deduced that Ryan and the monsters were… "together-together", as Nora would put it.
"S-So, just how exactly did you get here?" Ryan asked. "There's lots of rumours going around, but we'd like to hear it from you. None of us was in the meeting hall when you came—um, were brought here…"
Ruby decided that there wasn't any harm in sharing this information. On the contrary, sharing this information would make her lunchmates more willing to share their own information. She spent the next quarter of an hour explaining who she was, how she'd come to this world and how she'd come to this castle. She deliberately omitted some details for that last part; she didn't want to offend any of the people listening to this conversation.
"Wow, you've been through so much," Ryan said. "None of us have ever been outside of Hellgondo… I wish I had a life as exciting as yours."
"It's been dangerous as well as exciting, though," Ruby said. "Say, can I ask you a question?" She paused and thought about how to express her question tactfully. "There's not a lot of humans here—counting you and me, there's maybe seven or eight in this entire room. Is there any reason for that?"
Ruby tensed for a moment, but she didn't sense any hostility from the surroundings.
"Well, there is a reason for that," Ryan said. "So, first of all, Hellgondo is a pretty rough place to live in. You haven't really seen the outdoors yet, but it's cold and dry and there's not many plants around. It's not a place that most humans would want to live in."
"Or most monsters," added Racer, a harpy who sat two places to Ruby's left. "You won't find any tropical beaches around here, that's for sure."
"And the thing about us monsters that do live on Hellgondo is that there's a lot of traditionalists here," said Val, a succubus sitting near the end of the table. "And the monster traditions place a lot of importance on being strong, whether that's in body, magic or both."
"Being able to live in this harsh environment is a sign of your own strength," said Lyanna, a lamia who was actually sitting right next to Ruby. "Also, you get to spar with other people to improve your own strength and display it to others."
"And as for why guys like me are here…" Ryan said. "Monsters obviously need human men to have children, and, well…"
Ryan trailed off while blushing, and his lovers laughed and shot lewd glances at him. Ruby quickly stuffed a spoonful of soup into her mouth, hoping to stay out of this.
"A-Anyway, that's how things work here," Ryan said. "Though things have… changed recently, when those Lilith Sisters came here."
The mood at the table darkened. Ruby realised that she was now going to get important information, but she remained silent for now.
"That's putting it mildly," said Serena, another slime. "Those sisters don't show up here often, but when they do, they talk about the world they came from. It's a world where monsters are in charge, and… they keep dropping hints about how this world should go in the same direction.
"I still have trouble believing that they are from another world," muttered Ironheart, a dragonkin. "But the Monster Lord seems to believe them … not sure why, but that's the general feeling I get."
"Just what exactly is that world like?" Ruby asked, deciding that this question was innocent enough.
"I've heard that the Six Ancestors are alive and well there," said Helen, another harpy. "They're each in charge of a particular city. If I remember right, it was Minagi for San Ilia, Tamamo-no-Mae for Yamatai, Hiruko for Sabasa, Kanade for Grand Noah, Kanon for Grangold and Saja for… was it Iliasburg?"
"No, Saja is the one who doesn't rule any city," Ryan corrected. "She's apparently the one who stays at the Dark Goddess' side."
Ruby recalled that these were respectively the ancestors of succubi and vampires, of kitsunes and other beasts, of scyllas and other sea-dwellers, of slimes, of plant monsters, and of lamias, dragons and harpies.
"As for what life is like there…" Ryan continued. "Well…"
Ryan looked down at his lunch. Similarly, his lovers all looked around shiftily or tried—not very well—to appear normal.
"The Lilith Sisters often talk about how good life is for monsters there," said Mio, a quiet-looking scylla who hadn't said anything up until now. "They talk about how monsters get their fill of men whenever they want."
That was all Ruby heard on that topic. At the same time, the information she heard—and what she didn't hear—was valuable.
If monsters in that world are allowed to do that… then what does that mean for how humans live?
-ooo-
After they were all finished with lunch, Ryan's group offered to show Ruby around the castle, an offer which she accepted. It would be useful for her to know more about this enormous and labyrinthine castle.
The first place they came to was unmistakeably an arena. It was a cavernous room with a smooth stone floor in the centre, where several pairs of monsters were currently fighting, and rows upon rows of seats around the outside, where several dozen monsters and a couple of humans were watching the fights.
"This is the place that people come to when they want to fight," Ryan said. "Well, other people I mean… I don't exactly get involved in the fighting…"
"That's okay, you have plenty of other good points!" Racer said, wrapping a feathery wing around her lover.
There was another round of blushing, laughter and lewd glances, so Ruby tried to distract herself again. She looked down at the arena.
Come to think of it, I haven't fought or even touched a weapon for a while. It might just be five days, but that's a really long time by my standards.
Even now, the thought that other people might be touching Crescent Rose sent a shiver down Ruby's spine. But there was nothing she could do but accept this. It wasn't like her captors were going to just let her have her weapon back.
Suddenly, there was a commotion in the arena… and Ruby saw the face of someone she'd never be able to forget.
Granberia walked out onto the arena. The dragonkin swordswoman elicited awed reactions from fighters and spectators alike.
Several of the fighters left the arena, presumably thinking they stood no chance against Granberia. On the other hand, an even larger number entered the arena. By the end of it all, there were roughly fifteen fighters in addition to Granberia.
When things had settled down, Granberia drew her massive greatsword with one hand and used her other hand to give a beckoning gesture.
The fight began. Fifteen against one, and the Heavenly Knight of Fire was at a clear advantage. None of her opponents could so much as graze her, whereas they were sent flying backwards by Granberia's fierce attacks. A few of the losers would have hit the seats if it wasn't for a magical barrier that flickered into existence as they left the arena's boundaries.
The spectators cheered, Ryan and his lovers among them. Ruby had mixed feelings about it all: while Granberia's skills were certainly impressive, it was her fault that Ruby was here in the first place, separated from her friends and with no prospects of returning to Remnant.
The fight ended in less than twenty seconds. Afterwards, Granberia began walking amongst the losers and giving them advice, such as "You must improve your footwork!" or "You have to learn how to fight cautiously, rather than charging in at the slightest opportunity!"
At one point, Granberia's eyes met Ruby's. The eye contact lasted for only a moment, but Ruby was certain that the Heavenly Knight had noticed her. After that moment, Granberia never looked anywhere in Ruby's direction again.
AN: At several points, I went back and rewrote the Armoured Berserker battle until I was satisfied. I actually planned to have Pyrrha's group lose at first, but then I decided that a victory was sorely needed after recent chapters.
While it might seem weird that Hild can be healed the same way as everyone else, that part is canon, at least in terms of gameplay.
I've been looking for an opportunity to have a Micaela perspective for a while. Let me know what you think of this, or any other part of the chapter.