“Really… you push yourself too hard, Lonzder.”
“Shut… up…! You could’ve helped sooner! And don’t use 《ROAR》 in an underground space like this—it’s gonna collapse again!”
“Given all the explosions, it hardly matters now.”
Sighing, Elteel stepped back from Lonzder’s side.
Lonzder staggered to her feet, wincing.
“Damn, that really hurts…”
“Can you still fight?”
“No choice but to.”
Exchanging weary glances, the two turned their attention forward—
Whisper stood, surrounded by flames. Unsteady, but still combat-ready. Though point-blank, his [Viblade] had partially blocked the 《ROAR》. The impact had flung him back, but the damage was mitigated.
“Too damn troublesome. Rotating blades, explosive blood, and his martial arts leave no openings. But even that’d be manageable…”
Lonzder let out a sigh.
“The real problem is his reaction speed. A direct hit from my [First Burst] or your 《ROAR》 would finish him. But that burning bastard dodges or deflects everything at the last second. [Dordinium]’s durability is another issue, but unless we surpass his reflexes, we’re screwed.”
No wonder he was called 《Anti-Unlaw Weapon》.
With reflexes like that, most abilities of [Deviant state] or [Metamorphic State] would be useless.
“You said he’s only got three minutes left. Maybe if we stall, he’ll just drop dead?”
“…………Don’t count on it.”
Lonzder’s face twisted bitterly.
“He’s completely lost it. Pain and wounds mean nothing to him now. We could cut our losses and run, but… honestly, I doubt even death would stop him.”
“………True. At this point, calling which one is 《Unlaw》 feels almost laughable.”
“Don’t say it—I was thinking the same.”
Elteel and Lonzder shared a dry chuckle.
Then, Lonzder glanced at her bleeding arm.
“Anyway, all we need is to outpace his reactions. I’ve got a plan.”
“I was waiting for those words.”
“It’s a hell of a gamble.”
A low growl escaped Elteel’s throat.
Just before teaming up with Lonzder, they’d had that conversation.
Remembering it made her uneasy.
But—
“Well, fine. Let’s do it.”
“You sure? You hate gambling.”
“I do. But I’ve got no better ideas.”
Besides—
“It’s what my partner says.”
“────Hah.”
“Don’t laugh. You started this.”
“Hahaha, true enough. But this is funny.”
“…Woof.”
“Hey, which is it? I’m not Norman—I don’t speak dog.”
Grumbling, Lonzder turned her gaze back to Whisper.
Elteel did the same.
By now, flames wreathed his upper body—how he was still alive and moving defied reason.
Yet he stood firm, [Viblade] in hand.
“Elteel.”
Her partner spoke.
“Don’t overthink it. Charge straight in, hit him with a point-blank 《ROAR》 at full power. Keep it focused—pour everything into it.”
“Focused…? How? Even giving the roar directionality was hard enough.”
“Watch and learn. What matters is the image. And we’ve got the perfect example right here.”
“…………Ah, I see.”
“Then—we do that. We’ll deal with Norman’s scolding together later.”
Lonzder smiled—a gentle expression Elteel had never seen before—as she stroked the hellhound’s head.
The gesture reminded her of Norman, so Elteel accepted it.
“Hey hey! Getting pretty cozy over there!”
The demon brandished his [Viblade], sneering.
“Flame and Diamond, huh? You call that lukewarm, half-assed shit fighting!? Put some spirit into it! I’m burning my life away here—my head’s on fire, damn it!?”
In response, Elteel and Lonzder exchanged glances—
“Hah, you wouldn’t get it.”
“After all, you’re just a relic of the past.”
They laughed.
“Lukewarm’s just fine. This heat’s meant to warm Norman.”
“The justice I wield was given by Norman-sama. It will never shatter.”
And then—
“《Unsullied Gemstone Anvil Maiden》───”
“《Black Demon Dog Bratskdog》───”
They spoke the names of their ordained selves—
“────[Critical Depth]!”
A surge of dual-colored light erupted.
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[Critical Symptom – Depth State].
The precipice before runaway collapse—proof of pushing one’s ability to its absolute limit.
Normally, it couldn’t be activated intentionally. It happened spontaneously in battle.
This was the first time it had been invoked by spoken word.
But in this moment, the gem and the hellhound willingly stepped into [Depth State].
The patterns etched into Lonzder’s limbs spread across her body, glowing crimson.
Golden flames spilled from Elteel’s eyes, engulfing her pitch-black fur in radiant light.
A brilliance that outshone the underground darkness and the surrounding flames.
Beyond [Category III], where Norman Haimish pointed and Jim Adamworth discovered.
“Hyahaha! What’s this, hidden aces up your sleeves!?”
Even before that radiance, the demon laughed.
It didn’t matter that his life was burning away by the second.
He had something he had to do.
An insatiable thirst only he understood—the desire to savor the moment others exploded.
That was why he killed comrades, neighbors, strangers, and now monsters.
Because he couldn’t stop. Because he couldn’t bear not to.
So he’d see it through, even if it burned him to ashes.
────The Fool of Flames, Will-o’-Whisp, who wouldn’t stop until he was cinders.
“Hyah────k!”
“Rroooh…!”
The instant the demon’s mad laughter rang out, the golden hellhound was already upon him.
Gold streaked across the battlefield, crimson the gem on its back.
Enhanced by [Depth State], their physical abilities surpassed even an instant—closing the distance with shockwaves in their wake, its massive jaws opened wide.
“Burst Blood…!”
Yet even at godlike speed, the demon reacted.
A countering slash with his whirling blade. A maximum-output burst of explosive blood.
The flaming chainsaw struck the hellhound—and detonated.
That’s how it happened.
The explosion tore through the air, shaking the floor, pillars, ceiling.
The shockwave battered even the demon, yet he didn’t retreat a step.
“Rroooh…!”
“Ah…!?”
The demon stared. The hellhound endured [Viblade]’s edge and flames—but that wasn’t what shocked him.
Nor was the gem’s absence from its back.
It was the golden hellhound’s fur—now overlaid with crimson patterns.
At first glance, they resembled the markings on the gem’s body.
But he realized the truth instantly.
That glow was—
“Blood…!?”
●
In the explosion’s aftermath, the gem—having kicked off the hound’s back to land behind the demon—smirked.
“《Unsullied Gemstone Anvil Maiden –
Blood-Soaked Coat》, if you will.”
Lonzder’s ability, 《Unsullied Gemstone Anvil Maiden》, manipulated her body’s density and mass.
Not just hardening her skin—but bones, joints, even organs.
Naturally, that included her blood.
“Never tried this before, but your blood’s been a real pain. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth────blood for blood.”
As she mounted Elteel, she’d scattered her own blood from her wounded arm and activated her ability. Even enhanced by [Depth State], it was a gamble whether the hound could withstand it—
“See, Elteel? The moment you win a gamble like this—feels damn good, doesn’t it?”
《Black Demon Dog Bratskdog》, overwritten by 《Unsullied Gemstone Anvil Maiden》.
A collaborative technique neither had ever imagined.
────The truth they’d been shown still shone, even in hell.
“You bastard───!”
“Oh my, do you have the luxury to turn around?”
And then, everything becomes a series of instants.
●
“Ohhh───”
Elteel took a deep breath.
Honestly, her whole body hurt like hell. Even though Lonzder’s blood had protected her, the [Viblade] was still embedded in her shoulder. Some of her fur had been blown away too.
But the hell hound ignored all damage and went to fulfill what she had to do.
A shockwave from her howl wouldn’t be enough in this situation, however.
Due to the nature of air vibrations, it would spread over a wide area, and she could imagine that the [Viblade] at close range would disperse the power.
So the hell hound exercised her ability more strongly, more deeply.
The ability of 《Unlaw》 is all about imagination.
How to use it, what to cause—a solid image generates derivatives of the ability and realizes applications.
The convergence of her howl. Something necessary for that.
What Lonzder had demonstrated was the 《Unlaw》-killing herb currently embedded in her own body.
A convergence mechanism that gave directionality to liquid.
If there was an easy-to-understand example, then all that remained was to imagine it in her own way and reproduce it.
“Grr, ooo, ooo…!”
Elteel’s mouth focused thedeepening golden flames.
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