No… Don’t!
Despair and terror flickered in Alice’s eyes. How could this be? Why was this happening…
But—she couldn’t die yet. Her promise to Keti still hadn’t… been fulfilled. She couldn’t just die here like this.
No, no, I don’t want to die!
That’s right, just hold on, just hold on—
“Hahaha~ I know what you’re thinking, Miss Alice. There’s an array in this base that senses magical surges and triggers an automatic alarm.”
“Your teammates must have gotten the warning by now, right? You think if you just hang on, someone will come save you soon…”
Jiaxia’s lips curled into a smug smile, a sight that made Alice’s body tremble uncontrollably.
Why does this person know about that? I never told anyone, and yet…
She—she knew all this, so why does she still look so confident… this…
“Tsk tsk tsk, it seems that desperate will to live from just now has faded from our dear Heroine. What’s the matter? Not feeling confident? Don’t you trust those two teammates of yours?”
“Pfft… they should be on their way to rescue you, shouldn’t they? Of course I know about all that. And… using that elf’s Transmission Magic Array, they should zip right over to the base.”
Jiaxia waved her hand, then sneered, “But, what a pity. If they could arrive that quickly, they’d be here already. But since they’re not, isn’t that strange~ Puhahahaha! That’s right—because, just before I entered this room, I already broke the Transmission Magic Array that elf set up in the base!”
“Ah… You… You—!”
“Hahahaha, that’s right! Those two can’t use Transmission Magic to return, and you can’t set up Transmission Magic Arrays too close together.”
“So if they want to rush back, it’ll take them some time~! And before they arrive, I’ll end your life right now! By the time they get here, all they’ll find is the corpse of Miss Alice, drained of magic~!”
“Hahaha, how does it feel? You look so pained, so indignant! That look of hatred—! Don’t blame me, blame yourself!”
“After all, I’m Jiaxia-kun~ I’m the new teammate you brought in. From the start, I approached you on purpose, disguised myself to look like that Keti just to get close!”
“And not only did you never suspect a thing, you even angered her in front of everyone, making it easy for me to slip in. You invited the wolf into your home, Miss Heroine! But you never even considered I could be a demon!”
“I came here for that so-called hero’s blood of yours. Once I drain that power from you… I’ll use it to kill those two bossy women, and that Keti as well! With the power I get from you! Ahahahahaha—”
Staring at the maniacally laughing, pink-haired succubus, Alice bit her lip in frustration, tasting the bitter, metallic blood.
The twin-tailed blonde loli’s eyes grew dim, as she realized she had fallen into utter despair, unable to even keep her eyes open—only endless regret remained.
Why—why did I trust this person? Why… did I drive Keti away? If, from the very start… if only I’d been more honest, would everything have…
“Puh puh puh, looks like the little Heroine awaiting slaughter doesn’t even have the strength to speak. Well, that’s fine—explaining to a corpse is a waste of time. I’d better hurry, in case anything unexpected happens. Well then… it’s time to meet your end. No one will come save you—!”
Bang—!
Suddenly, the twang of a bow echoed as the Demon Fork in the pink-haired succubus’s hand was blasted away.
With that, Jiaxia’s eyes widened in disbelief, and at the same moment, a figure burst forward, rushing right in front of her.
“Burning Potion—Chaos Evil Fire!”
A purple-red potion was instantly hurled, splashing all over Jiaxia’s body. At once, searing magical flames ignited, engulfing the succubus completely!
“Ah—!”
Jiaxia snapped open her wings, flailing in panic around the room.
***
Meanwhile, the silver-haired beauty who had thrown the potion let out a cold laugh, leapt high, and slammed her magically-empowered flaming fist down on Jiaxia, smashing her hard into the ground!
“Filthy fly, quit buzzing around. If you burn down Alice’s room, I’ll have to clean up after you. And you… Hmph, just as I thought, you really were Jiaxia-kun. Heh… I should have known.”
“You… You… How did you…”
Battered and scorched by the magical flames, Jiaxia lay face-down in the dirt, teeth clenched, glaring at Keti. No… this isn’t possible. She shouldn’t be the one to show up here.
She clearly said she wouldn’t return to this base. And unlike the elf, she shouldn’t be able to use high-level Transmission Magic, so how… how is this possible…
“Hmm… Why haven’t Layla and Sylvia arrived yet? Looks like that guy Lynn is pretty fast… Well, doesn’t matter. I was looking for you anyway, Miss Succubus. I did say it before…”
The silver-haired beauty cocked her head, showing a rare ferocious expression. Cough, cough… After all, killing demons isn’t illegal, and it’s a chance to improve my own magical talent!
So… this time, Keti is dead serious!
“If you dare lay a hand on any of them, I’ll cut you down myself!”
“Heh, do you really think you can pull it off? I was just a bit careless today, caught off guard by your sneak attack. My last wound hasn’t even healed yet. Just you wait!”
With that, Jiaxia suddenly beat her wings, trying to escape by air.
But in the next instant, a flurry of cold arrows whistled from the distance, energy crackling along their shafts, and in a blink, they tore bloody grooves across the succubus’s back!
“Aaaaahhhhh—!”
Jiaxia crashed to the ground, screaming in agony. Keti’s mouth twitched in irritation. Seriously, that rival of hers—hiding over there just to steal the kill!
Well, whatever. Keti let out a cold chuckle, strode forward, drew a dagger with grim determination, and plunged it into the violently trembling Jiaxia’s throat!
Whether this would actually work, she didn’t know. She didn’t have a power-absorbing skill like Jiaxia did. That rival of hers said this might be the way, so…
Keti pressed the dagger deeper! Blood gushed forth, and then… the light faded from Jiaxia’s eyes, her body gradually dissolving into countless tiny, pale violet energy particles.
Oh man, she’s dead