"Hehehe~
Come on, Ha~Ji~Me.
Keep up~"
Elysia watched the demon chasing her throughout the mall while keeping multiple honkai beasts off him.
She watched it kept its attention to her crystal and chase for it.
The luster and sheen of the crystal was entrancing enough for the demon and this was good enough for her to sigh in relief.
She couldn't fully relax as the demon's first instinct was to protect her from attacks.
And it taking a blow was something she was desperately trying to avoid.
Well... At least, it isn't using the 3rd Divine Key.
I got that going for me.
She looked at the slingshot that was strapped to her hip as she refused to give that back to the demon.
Its other forms may look powerful but it isn't suited to her taste.
The katana and rifle form of the weapon will leave an impression of her being a murderer.
And She is not having it.
Besides, the katana is Sakura's shtick and she and Sakura are close friends.
She refuses to borrow something from a friend of hers that might tarnish her memory.
Comparing the deadly rifle to the cute slingshot she is carrying right now, it was clear which one looked aesthetically better to her taste.
She isn't going to use it because she has her own pristine weapon which is the Whisper of the Past: Sonnet bow.
And if cute herscherr girls such as herself feels comfortable and using it makes her feel strong and capable, then it should be the perfect 'Divine key' for her, No?
For the Divine key that is currently attached to her hip, she is going to temporarily keep it there as a fashion trend until she returns it to the cute bow lady.
On that note, Raven needs to change her fashion sense because covering her face with a hood isn't helping her case.
And she looks lovely enough as is.
I don't understand why she needs to cover it with a hood.
She pursed her lips in confusion as she looked around to see if there is more Honkai beast and zombies around the area.
To her disappointment, there were.
And one of them was behind 'Hajime' at a certain distance.
She fired an arrow behind it before it got the chance to realize what was happening.
Due to her keeping her eyes on the demon's surroundings, she failed to notice that there were multiple emperor honkai beasts and zombies behind her.
Before she got the chance to aim and fire, the demon quickly defended her from their attacks.
She was surprised that it didn't flinch as taking on more than 5 emperor class honkai mobs would take a lot of endurance.
And 'Hajime' didn't seem to be fazed from them.
Just curious why they were attacking Elysia and it.
Trying their luck again, they charged their attack to fire.
Not wanting to repeat what happened earlier, she took aim.
The demon looked at Ellie and decided to join in as it wanted to help her.
And its speed surprised Ellie to say the least.
Before she got the chance to fire, the demon gripped its claw at one of their heads and ripped it out from their torso as if it was like a ragdoll.
Genuinely surprised at its strength, they immediately backed away from the monstrosity.
Despite how sloppy and ungentlemanly it looked, Elysia was still surprised to see that it didn't take long for 'Hajime' to get past behind them.
She watched with absolute shock as it easily punctured its arm through their torso like it was a piece of cardboard considering how tough their carapaces are.
Even Kosma has a difficult time doing that to certain emperor class honkai beasts.
And he was stronger than Kevin.
What she also failed to realize is that its action is not making 'Hajime' any better from recovering since touching a honkai beast without any resistance would further increase its corruption level.
And she is trying to save him.
She pouted cutely and sighed as she watched it having a standoff with a Deathly Doom Honkai Zombie who was intangible.
She couldn't give the demon a chance to ready its claws as she fired an arrow to the zombie's head as soon as she went solid.
Relieved, She summoned a shinier crystal and waved it in front of the demon.
"Look! Hajime. A shiny crystal. You can't refuse that, right?" The distraction worked as the demon approached the shiny object.
She can see that its corruption level was decreasing but they were still surrounded by another wave of ninja corpses.
Horrified at the possibility of having all of her efforts go to waste, she summoned a giant crystal dome, trapping all of them within it.
She gave the shiny crystal to the demon so it could inspect it a little closely as she stood between it and the mobs.
The zombies were readying their weapons to attack them, causing her to giggle.
"Sorry~ Girls. Hajime is busy right now. I however am available at your leisure." She aimed at the wall with a wink to them.
"Name's Elysia by the way. What's yours?" She let go of the crystal arrow, causing it to ricochet everywhere, hitting different zombies multiple times.
Seeing how one arrow wasn't enough to knock them all out, she fired multiple times,.
She watched the high speed projectiles fired at every direction to every enemy she sees, feeling proud at her own handiwork.
One of the mobs disintegrated sooner than she thought, causing the arrow to miss its target.
Realizing that the arrow was heading straight towards to 'Hajime's' face, she was about to summon a crystal tower to stop its tracks but her best friend acted on a reflex.
To her surprise, the demon barehandedly stopped her arrow few inches away from its face.
To her knowledge, Even Kevin couldn't stop one of them back at the Previous Era.
And they have 'danced' multiple times to test who was a better Flamechaser.
That was so cool of you, Hajime~
She widened her eyes at the demon, genuinely impressed at her best friend.
The demon looked at her with confusion as why she tried to kill 'it'.
"...?"
Elysia immediately understood why it looked at her like that.
" Hehehe~ Oops... Sorry about that, Hajime. I can't control where they possibly go as soon as i fired them in the crystal dome." She sheepishly grinned as the demon inspected the arrow before returning it to her.
She giggled at how cute this demon was.
She fired another arrow to one of the groups of Honkai mobs that was heading straight towards them while the demon looked around.
Not giving it a chance to help her, She summoned another crystal in her hands and waved it in front of it with a smile.
"Look, Hajime. Another shiny crystal~" As she ran away from it while waving it to him.
Still desiring the object that was on Elysia's hands, it chased her with increasing speed.
Seeing how many more honkai enemies were popping up all over the place, She stopped in her tracks and gave the crystal to 'Hajime' to inspect it a little bit closer.
I need to keep him distracted while at the same time clear these out to give Hajime more time to recover.
She tapped her lips after firing an arrow to a flying arch-angel.
I can't call for Kevin or anyone else because they might mistake him as an enemy.
Even if i tell Ice block what is going on, He still couldn't resist emanating his honkai energies towards him.
And Hajime doesnt seem to know how to control it well.
And him having a protective instinct isn't helping too.
I would rather take the hit instead of him.
She sighed but smiled anyways.
No matter, this cute girl can still save Hajime.
She just needs to figure out how.
She sensed her crystal disintegrated due to the amount of honkai corruption level it siphoned from 'Hajime'.
Before she got to say anything, she sensed a knight class that was charging straight towards them.
Realizing this, she held its arm with a smile, hoping that it would mimic her action as she wanted both of them to jump really high.
The demon complied to her delight and evaded the charging knight.
Seeing this window of opportunity, she fired an arrow to the knight's head in mid-air.
Cautious that she might get hurt from the fall, the demon held her in its arm in a bridal carry and landed on its feet.
Elysia blushed hard at this as it gently let her off from its arms.
Hajime's chivalry values is still in there?
Even as a Honkai beast?
Elysia widened her eyes at it with shock.
Sensing Elysia's inner turmoil, it looked at Ellie with its head tilted like a pet dog curious at its master.
Seeing how adorable this demon was, Elysia softly smiled and gave it another crystal for it to inspect.
"You are a full of surprises today, Hajime." As she looked around to see another wave spawning.
"Can't a girl have a fun time with her man alone with no interuptions?" As she joked with the approaching Honkai beasts.
"No? Shame... Here i thought i could have a lovely midnight dance alone with Hajime." She pouted cutely while readying another arrow.
Realizing what she just said, she summoned another crystal in front of him as she finally came up with a good plan.
She let its hand slowly approach the crystal and withdrew it from its reach by jumping high in the sky, causing it to look up.
As soon as she got her sights on her targets, she fired multiple arrows while in the sky.
This caused them to disintegrate quickly as soon as she lands on her feet.
Taunting the crystal to it again, she evaded it from 'Hajime's' reach by doing the same thing earlier.
She giggled as how she was much enjoying her being the acrobatic dancer in the battlefield and how it was watching her dance as an audience.
And seeing how she made it so distracted that it didn't notice the approaching honkai beasts, she will take it as a compliment.
She even attached her crystal to her chest to nail it in.
After that, the honkai mobs were easy for her to pick them off one by one while she was high up in the sky, giving Hajime a crystal after every performance.
To her, The best part is that she kept smiling as she danced around.
Why wouldn't she be?
She was having fun, showing her best self to her best friend.
Cute girls like her has got to earn a few points of cuteness and charms, no?
To her, It wouldn't be cute to just flaunt it.
Cute girls like her needs to own it.
The dreamland with no light had its weather changed.
From silent but clear sky to rumbling thunder.
The lightning rain was striking every area of the battlefield.
But the strikes were not random as its main targets were the demon and the weak honkai beast that the giant humanoid serpent was facing.
It held the sceptre in the air to initiate the lightning strikes again with the same intensity.
The opponent had no intention to make it easy for them.
The 'guardian' has lost all but one weak honkai beast during the battle and the serpent was testing its patience.
Seeing how the demon lost its weaklings, the serpent laughed at its failure.
"What's wrong, Hajime? I thought you were their defender. You should have protected all of them from the start." As it directed the lightning to the small honkai beast.
Not intending to lose another, The demon took the hit directly by shielding the lightning with its arms.
'Hajime' screamed in pain and the 'examiner' laughed at its misery.
"Like i told you, Humanity doesn't need another hero.
It needs a soldier that is capable of fighting back against Honkai."
The demon doesn't seemed to be fazed from what it said as it finally stopped screaming and held its ground.
It only kept taking the hits as if it was defending the weak and scared beast.
Annoyed at its stubbornness, The Giant serpent increased the intensity of its lightning thus making it more painful for 'Hajime'.
"Tell you what... Legacy bearer.
I will deem you worthy of wielding our power if you just let go of that stupid 'guardian' complex of yours.
Just let the weak die so you could live.
After all, the strong must fight back against Honkai."
The demon still didnt faze from its attack.
The humanoid serpent clicked its tongue and summoned a mini lightning silhouttes via the same tar that drowned its test subject.
Due to the increasing number of the silhouttes, its lightning attacks were at its peak, making it impossible to defend.
To it, the test subject shouldn't have the common sense to protect the weak and evade its attack.
Right?
...
And yet somehow,
'Hajime' was still protecting it from the lightnings the serpent have casted.
The 'examiner' has stripped its humanity by
giving it more power,
restricting its mind from its memories and
tempting and provoking it to its primal rage and anger.
It should not be defending the weak.
It should be saving itself.
It should be fighting back.
Not helping others.
"WHY...
ARE...
YOU...
STILL...
HELPING THEM?!"
The demon did not have any mental faculties to speak.
But its action says otherwise.
The 'examiner's' attack increased in rage, causing a thunderbolt to strike the legacy bearer.
The serpent have ceased attacking due to exhausting all of its power.
But it resulted a loud explosion and smoke in the battlefield.
To it, 'Hajime' should have not survived that, let alone the beast that was hiding behind it.
Yet to its surprise, the demon was still standing, successfully defended the honkai beast from the serpent.
Its arms doesnt seemed to be destroyed as it was emitting the same aura of electricity that the serpent used.
To its horror, the demon readied its claws, revealing a huge bits of green lightning to every sharp nail.
The one who overseeing 'Hajime's' trial has realized that it has given it a huge advantage.
It directed it sceptre to cast another lightning attack but nothing came out from it.
This gave the demon a chance to fight back.
It decided for another defensive tactic by summoning pairs of orbiting green lightning spheres.
If the legacy bearer physically touches one of them while attacking, It will feel the same electrical pain as it felt earlier when it was defending.
It isn't the same as casting a lightning bolt on the demon but this will buy enough time for it to recover.
It sinister smiled as many pair of orbs touched 'Hajime' but slowly morphed into horror as 'Hajime' didn't feel excruciating pain when physically touching the spheres.
The legacy bearer used its claws to rip the orbs into smaller pieces, thus dispersing it.
It realized that 'Hajime' wasn't lucky for doing so as it kept doing to the same orbs it kept summoning around the serpent.
And every attempt was successful.
Seeing how powerful it turned its test subject, the 'examiner' was at a huge disadvantage.
It charged to the humanoid serpent and slashed at every part of serpent's body.
Due to its large size, it was having a difficult time evading 'Hajime's attacks.
Adding its ferocity and speed was not helping its case as it knew its way around the battelfield.
The 'demon' has learned its movement.
'Hajime' was still learning despite it has lost its reasoning.
And it is an unspoken rule to never let your enemy learn what you are capable of.
And the serpent is horrified to learn that conclusion.
After evading the downward slash by slithering backwards, it failed to realize that the demon was targetting its sceptre.
Not only the serpent has lost its weapon, it also lost its silhouettes and way of attacking 'Hajime'.
After that, it charged right through as it was trying to dig to its torso.
The examiner did nothing but crossed its arm, hoping that it was enough.
It was not.
The giant serpent fell to the ground as 'Hajime' burst through the torso, carrying something in its arms.
Elysia finally cleared the wave with a huge smile and she can see Hajime a lot clearer within the demon.
She was delighted as it was at Hajime's original height.
She can feel Hajime's hand instead of the manifesting flames throughout his body as she dragged it around the mall much like what they did earlier.
This was one of her ways to remind 'Hajime' about their good times earlier.
To her heartbreak, The demon did not understand why they were expending their energy for something so trivial.
It only patted Elysia's head as it thought she wanted a headpat.
Elysia cutely pouted as this felt demeaning to her.
"As much i admire you treating me cutely this way, I am not a pet, Hajime."
Sensing her pouty attitude, it withdrew its hand and tilted its head as it was more confused on what she wanted from it.
"...?"
She sighed and yet smiled at the demon to show that she was enjoying its company.
To her suprise, It responded with a same cheery 'noise'.
"...~"
She giggled at its sense of humor as she was glad that it was still Hajime underneath all of that.
Looking at Hajime's state still made her feel uncomfortable.
It kept looking at her with pure curiosity and confusion, causing her to frown.
"...?"
She sadly sighed and looked at the original body.
"Hajime? Please wake up." She didnt want to plea but this has been dragging on for long enough.
And she doesn't have all night.
She was worried that Kevin might mistake it for a dangerous honkai beast.
And it would be impossible for her to convince the ice block to not kill it by encasing it forever in a solid block of ice.
She might be stronger than Kevin and she knows that Hajime has the potential to rival Kevin in terms of strength based on what she witnessed earlier.
She isn't just taking any chances on this one especially how Kevin would always deliver his promises on making the hardest of choices.
Seeing how he initiated Project Stigma, she would assume that he might do the same to Hajime.
And remembering what he did to HIMEKO, she would not let that happen again.
She remembered Hua telling her, before she used the FengHuang Down on herself, that HIMEKO genuinely smiled at her in her last moments back at the Previous Era despite being the Herscherr of Flames.
She was this close having another herscherr to befriend with and to rely on protecting the Humanity.
She won't let that incident happen again.
Especially not to her best friend.
And she didn't want Hajime to die in Kevin's arms.
Hajime did promise her, after all.
And she isn't type of cute girl who get enamored by guys who doesn't like to keep their promises to themselves, let alone to cute girls like her.
"Come on, Ha~Ji~Me.
You promised that you wouldn't leave me behind.
We still haven't done everything here.
I don't want to experience them alone.
I want my best friend back." She laid her head on the demon's chest, prompting it to rub her back.
She sadly sighed and let out a sniffle as she began to feel the gentle heat emanating from the demon.
She liked how it rubbed her back to comfort her but she loved it more if Hajime's doing it himself.
Come on, Elysia...
What does it take to save him?
The crystals i kept giving him aren't enough.
It needs to be stronger and powerful enough to siphon every honkai corruption that Hajime has in him.
I don't have time nor energy to create another crystal flower i gave him earlier...
Remembering their time together, she widened her eyes as she remembered something.
Wait...
That's it!
I can use that.
Before she tries to say something to the demon who was still looking at her with confusion,
She heard something that horrified her to the core.
CRACK!
She looked at the source and saw the ice wall that Kevin built was chipping away.
He would assumed that the fight was already over due to the lack of noise and flashing lights that occured inside of the mall.
Oh no...
Please...
Not now!
She was lucky that the two were out of sight as she heard Kevin entered the mall.
"ELLIE? WHERE ARE YOU?" Her suspicion was right.
"ELYSIA?"
"ELLIE?"
"ARE YOU OKAY, MISS?"
"MISS ELYSIA? PLEASE RESPOND. WE ARE HERE TO HELP!"
She can hear voices and it is not helping her chances.
She needs Hajime to fully recover from all of this.
And if the rest of the girls came along with him, she is getting nowhere with his recovery, assuming that they are emitting the huge amount of honkai energy to at least prepare for another wave.
She quickly dragged the demon away and headed for the one thing that symbolizes their deep friendship.
The red crystal flower.
"...?" She heard him growled at her. She giggled how cute 'Hajime' was, despite in this state.
"Oh? I wanna show you something. Okay?" Trusting Elysia, It nodded and ran along with her.
"So, What do you think, ******?" Ms. Guide turned to one of the lightning silhouettes.
"Not bad. Here i thought i would be left disappointed because of him. But based on his performance earlier, It is satisfactory for me to be involved for his trial later."
"Not only that, he still has the desire and instinct to protect. So I would also like to be involved in this as well."
Ms. Guide nodded with a smile and typed on her holographic keyboard.
A few moments later, two doors appeared for the both of them.
"Before you go, I recommend to bring another with you. It would make the trial interesting, no?" She heard one of them chuckled.
"Would you like to go next after this one, ******?" The male silhouette laughed as if she made a joke.
"I want to make him feel that i am the toughest opponent that he will face. So make her go second for all i care."
"You sound excited." Ms. Guide smiled at his enthusiasm.
"Why wouldn't i be? He made battling with her looked like a cakewalk comparing what we did. So watching him fight made my blood boil with excitement."
"Do you want him to be stripped of his own mind as well?" The male silhouette thought about it for a while and responded with a dark laugh.
"No... I want to experience fighting him with everything he got. I don't want to fight a wild animal.
I want to know what he is like on the battlefield as a man." Ms. Guide nodded as she watched him go along with a female partner through the door.
"Looks like you are next after her, ******." The female lightning silhouette nodded.
"Do you think Hajime will keep his promise to her?" Ms. Guide softly smiled to her.
"Despite the turn of events that has happened so far, it looked like he hasn't strayed from his own word. And he doesn't look like he intends to do that anytime soon." Ms. Guide watched her nodded her head.
"But still, it will be for best to examine him up close to see if he is the man of his own word, ******."
"Understood." Sensing her hesitation, Ms. Guide smiled.
"He will do just fine in your trial, ******." The female softly sighed.
"Okay. Thank you, ****."
"But I still need to test him and I need to know where does he stand in all of this. So there will be changes in his memories for him to proceed, if you don't mind."
"Of course, ******. I will be right on it after he is done with this trial." Ms. Guide accepted her request with a soft smile as she watched her walked through the door with her partner.
Ms. Guide turned her attention to the holoscreen.
The demon inspected the examiner as she woke up from the attack.
To 'Hajime', the examiner was a she in the form of a little girl.
It can't see her face but it can tell based on the physical structure of the silhouette.
The 'examiner' realized she was left unharmed and has returned to her smaller silhouette before all of this has started.
The giant serpent body she was in has disintegrated and she has no more stamina to attack her test subject.
"Why didn't you finish me off, lab rat? Need my permission for you to end me?" She spoke with venom in her words.
It was also surprised to see that she had a repulsive nature.
But it didn't affected 'Hajime' as it only let the Honkai beast cowering behind it approached her slowly.
It patted the beast and step aside for it to have a casual conversation with her master.
She was genuinely surprised with the outcome.
She didn't expect the lab rat to protect one of her 'guinea pigs' just so it could return her pets to her.
Most of the time, she sacrifices them for her own gains.
She petted the beast and it purred with delight, earning a satisfied sigh from the 'demon'.
Curious, she killed her own pet in front of 'Hajime'.
She wanted to see how the lab rat would react to the loss.
'Hajime' growled in anger as she slowly and weakly stood up.
Seeing how soft 'Hajime' is, She decided to use this as an opportunity to attack it again.
As she tried to cast another lightning attack after being slightly recovered, her target was out of sight.
Sensing that the demon was behind her, she turned but only to get slammed to the floor.
Satisfied as she finally hit 'Hajime' to its breaking point, she sinisterly grinned as she awaited for it to attack.
She waited for a long time and yet nothing came.
"What are you waiting for, Lab rat? Finish..."
"ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE." She was interrupted by the demon's voice.
It shouldn't have talked to her like that.
It should not have any mental faculties to speak.
It should have not possess any amount of intelligence.
And yet, it spoke to her as if she has no right to speak to 'Hajime' like that.
She was genuinely horrified by her own test subject because THAT never came from the metamorphosis.
What it can only do is to emphasize his 'best' and his 'worst' as a human.
This never came from something else because 'Hajime' had it in him for a very long time.
And what terrifies her more is that the demon has gained a few intelligence in the battle.
She couldn't move her limbs as this has shaken her from the core.
She has bitten off more than she could chew.
How strong his mind really is?
That was the only question she kept to herself.
"WOULD YOU KINDLY TURN ME BACK?" She complied with fear as she turned it back to its human form.
Hajime was finally turned back to his human form but collapsed on the floor face down due to sheer exhaustion.
She walked towards Hajime to see if he was still dangerous as a lab rat.
She tried to flip him around to get a better look on his face but she was stopped by his quick but firm grip on her wrist.
"DON'T EVEN. TRY IT." She slowly withdrew her hand and watched Hajime stood on his face while cracking his neck slowly.
"How do you even have the capacity to speak earlier? I stripped your reasoning away!"
"By making my head feel like it has been ran over by steamroller while watching everything in static? Sure and it was hell too." She watched him slowly eased his eye sight by blinking rapidly.
"Don't get me wrong. What you did to me was absurdly painful and it gave me one hell of a headache." He rubbed his eyelids as if he was having a difficult time seeing things.
"Ugh... It felt like i had a sensory overload." He kept rubbing his eyelids and finally eased into it.
"You never answered my question, Lab rat."
"Hmmm? Oh? You mean how was i able to come back from that? I honestly don't know...
All i know is that I wanted defend something or someone from danger.
And despite my fuzzy memory from earlier, i remember that you were trying to get yourself killed by making me trying to kill you.
Realizing that, i tried to shake that off. I guess?" He saw her looking at him with shock.
"What? Never seen someone actually trying something after whatever the hell you just did to me?" He stretched his shoulders.
"I applaud your commitment but i am afraid that i have to disappoint you. If i ever come back to my girls as a mindless killer, sooner or later, they might have to make choice of ending me themselves." She chuckled.
"Afraid of getting killed by your own girls?"
"More of scared of them regretting that choice while leaving them behind." He shrugged.
"Like i said before, I want my girls to have a life just beyond being a valkyrie and forever regretting the choice of killing a friend is not right way to live.
And seeing Kiana went through so much just because of that...
It would be for the best that i should not follow that example."
"You should be mad at her for killing what's left of your family."
"Hmmm...Yeah, That ain't happening, sister... Besides, I honestly want more to be that girl's friend, guardian and family even if she doesn't see it that way.
After all, Himeko was her only mother figure in her life, something she never had before." She scoffed in annoyance.
"You got unbearably sassier." He laughed and gave her a comedic head pat.
"I am still mad at you for making me go through that. Of course i am sassy, you shortcake."
"Knock that out!" As she tried to swat his hands away but he relented.
"Then you should have thought of provoking me through."
"I will end you..."
"I distinctly remember that you were terrified of me earlier. So unless you want to see that again, i rather both not have that stupid headache again and make you go throught that kind of humiliation.
And also... Looking at the result of the battlefield, I 'survived' by defeating you.
Thankfully, i didn't have to kill you so there is that going for me." He shrugged.
"This trial was not intended for both of us to live." He heard her growl as if she wanted to kill him again.
"I am afraid that i have to correct you there, ******.
You lost. He survived by defeating you.
To your logic, he passed the trial.
Besides, based on what happened earlier, He has exceeded your every expectation.
There is no point of keeping that from him."
The 'examiner' sighed in defeat and bestowed him some sort of gift.
It oddly looked like a large green and black scale that came from Giant Serpent that 'Hajime' fought earlier.
As soon as Hajime touched and absorbed it, He felt his body was slowly getting better from the fight.
"So what was that about?" He looked at her with curiosity.
"You acquired my legacy and it gives you basic control on how to focus your converted but absorbed honkai energies into self-repairing that your body has gone through."
"Oh... That's cool. In other words, i get to choose to fully heal my body with abundant honkai energies in the area. Do i still undergo self-repair in case of emergency or i got knocked out cold?" She nodded.
"The categories you heard me telling you earlier were either in case of emergency or in case of your body has detected a high corruption overdose." He nodded.
He heard a noise and turned to see that the door appeared at a distance.
Seeing this, He carried the short girl on his shoulder and headed straight to the door.
"PUT ME DOWN, YOU BRUTE!" As the 'examiner' tried to pry her off from his grasp.
"No can do, shortie. If i put you down, you'll escape from my grasp. And i want to carry your sorry butt to the lounge so Miss Guide can have a blast laughing at you." She glared at him.
"Oh. Don't act like you know me." Hajime scoffed.
"You think you are the first? Please, i've dealt much worse people than you. So you boring holes at me with your glare while threatening me isn't new.
If anything, i am just dealing with a spicy child. Shame that you killed your own pet though. That would have made dealing with you a whole lot easier." Ms. Guide couldn't resist chuckling at how Hajime is dealing his examiner like a little child.
"And besides, you were relentless on making me mad earlier." He gave her another comedic headpat to her dismay.
"Wanna see how i am when i am mad? You get to deal with this sassy prick." He grinned at her.
"Then why not end my misery if you are going to torture me like this?"
"Oh... I am not letting you get that off easy. I still have questions to ask you. I just want us to have a change of scenery."
"Is there a particular reason why not doing it here? This place looks perfect for interrogation."
"Are you kidding? It's dark in here and i can barely see a thing... No... I am going to drag you to the lounge whether you like it or not. And besides, Ms. Guide's place looks infinitely better than this hellhole."
"Hey! I designed this place."
"That explains why you have a repulsive attitude. You need sunlight. or Dream light... Either way, i am getting us out of here and that's final, shortcake."
The 'examiner' was starting to regret the monstrosity she has created in Hajime.
Because to her, he has become more unbearable.
The two left the lightless land with a sound of laughing Ms. Guide at the background as she watched everything with a proud smile.
Both Elysia and the demon have finally arrived in the men's bathroom where Elysia found him earlier.
The two didn't encounter any valkyries or Flamechasers to her relief.
Elysia was in a hurry finding the red flower crystal by removing every bit of rubble and debris.
The demon helped her along by the removing the heavier ones.
Elysia cutely smiled as she looked around for the crystal.
After a few minutes, She finally found her gift to Hajime and gave it to the demon.
"ELYSIA! ARE YOU HERE?"
Elysia could only hope that the red flower crystal was enough to siphon every honkai energies that the demon have.
The demon was beginning to lose every bits of flames it had and slowly revealing Hajime to Elysia.
It looked at Elysia with a confusion.
Seeing this, Elysia smiled and waved to the disintegrating demon.
"Thank you for helping me and keeping everybody including Hajime safe.
I appreciate it, really.
But i want my Hajime back." Elysia gave the demon a hug as it gave her a final head pat.
As soon as the demon disappeared, Hajime fell to her arms causing her to exhale in relief.
"Oh... Thank goodness... You are finally okay." She turned to his face but realized that Hajime is still asleep.
"Hajime? Please wake up. It's me, Ellie." She held his face with one of her hands while his hand with the other with a expectant smile.
It didn't wake him up but she kept trying anyways.
The sleeping man could only respond with a firm grip on her hand.
It wasn't much for Elysia but it is something.
She sighed and placed her forehead on his.
As soon as she felt his temperature, She was horrified and carried Hajime to Kevin and the others.
"Have you seen Elysia or Hajime yet?" Theresa asked the valkyrie and leader of the world Serpent.
"No clue yet, Overseer." Durandal responded.
"Fu Hua? Are you sure Elysia is on our side?"
"Absolutely. She will never do anything to hurt us nor will to Hajime." Theresa nodded with a smile.
"CAPTAIN HAJIME!"
"ELYSIA!"
"CAPTAIN!
"ELLIE!"
"MASTER HAJIME! MISS ELYSIA! PLEASE RESPOND."
"HAJIME! ELLIE! PLEASE ANSWER!"
"Hua! I am right here." Fu Hua turned her head to the source and smiled to see that Elysia was carrying an unconscious but recognizable man on her shoulder.
Both Theresa and Fu Hua ran towards her while the rest ran towards to the pink haired.
The moment Durandal saw Hajime's state of health, she took a deep sigh of relief where she almost collapsed on her knees if it weren't for Kiana and Rita.
"So He's..."
"Yeah...Like i said, It's better to keep him this way because he's more handsome and charming like this. Isn't that right, Bianka?" Durandal just chuckled.
"Thank you for stopping me, Ellie. I truly appreciated it. I didn't want to make that choice for myself." Ellie giggled and nodded to acknowledge Bianka's deep gratitudes.
Something still bothers the cute and innocent girl though.
"Ellie? Is something wrong?" Elysia sighed as she looked at them sadly.
Both Kevin And Fu Hua saw her troubled look.
"Please help Hajime." All of them widened their eyes at how she immediately lost her sweetness in her voice.
Both Fu Hua and Kevin were even shocked to see that Elysia was tearing up.
"I can't seem to wake him up and he's having a terrible fever."
Theresa decided to see Hajime's temperature by holding his forehead with her right hand.
She immediately withdrew and turned to her comms.
"HYPERION. THIS IS THE OVERSEER. PREPARE A GURNEY FOR THE CAPTAIN. HE IS IN A BAD SHAPE AND IN NEED OF MEDICAL AID. OVER."
"Big problem overseer. We are swamped here, preventing a lot of civilians from zombifying. There is no place for us to immediately treat the captain. Over."
"Damn!" Theresa clicked her tongue as she turned it off.
"Another good medical site is at St. Freya but i don't think we have enough time to save him if he has this kind of fever."
"Theresa is right. Bronya's simulated thermometer detects his body temperature to be at 39.5 C and increasing. If this keeps up, Captain will die within minutes."
"I can carry him there to St. Freya fast."
"Not gonna work, Kiana. Even if you use your herscherr of void or your herscherr of flames, he still needs immediate medical care and we don't have that time." Kiana sighed sadly to Mei's realism.
Seeing how panicking Elysia was for the man, Kevin sighed and took Hajime from her hands, slowly cooling him down as he carried him on his shoulder.
"Kevin?"
"I will carry him to St. Freya. After all, all of this started because of my ignorance. I would like to make amends for my mistake." Elysia was the only one who gave the silver haired hero a soft smile.
"Thank you, Kevin." He nodded as he let the current Herscherr of reason scanned for Hajime's body temperature.
"It is slowly decreasing. Captain still has the fever but it is not that dangerous anymore. Kevin didn't stop it but he gave the captain a fighting chance."
Theresa nodded.
"Now we need to get him to St. Freya.
Everyone! Move out!" As the Overseer ordered to all of the valkyries.
"RIGHT!" As both Kevin and Elysia followed the valkyries to St. Freya.
As Kevin carried him along, He saw a glimpse of Ellie intertwining her hand with the captain's at his peripheral vision.