"THEN WE FIGHT UNTIL YOU CAN!" Seraphelle replied, already channeling healing magic toward Gattychan’s punctured lung—he’d die in minutes without treatment.

Seraphina recovered from Rindelle’s arrow, her demon lord durability allowing her to shake off damage that would have killed lesser beings.

She looked at the Four Heroes—all wounded, all struggling, Seraphelle desperately trying to heal Gattychan’s critical wounds while defending against attacks, Mikazelle’s magic still weak, Rindelle fighting one-armed.

And she felt satisfaction despite her rage.

"Yes. Struggle. Fight desperately. Feel the same fear my specialists felt when you hunted them."

—-----------------------

The Battle Escalates

The fight became a chaotic melee of supernatural powers clashing across the scorched battlefield.

Seraphina attacked the four heroes simultaneously even while suppressed to one-tenth power by Gattychan’s Villain’s Bane.

Her corruption blades struck with lethal precision, each attack aimed at vital points—throats, hearts, major arteries.

The heroes defended desperately:

Gattychan fought unarmed—his blessed sword destroyed, his left arm still half-healed and barely functional. He used his Villain’s Bane aura as his primary weapon, keeping it active constantly to suppress Seraphina’s power. But maintaining the aura drained his divine energy rapidly, and he was already exhausted from the Pattern Seven explosion.

He dodged and blocked with his functional right arm, trying to keep Seraphina’s attention focused on him to give his companions time to support.

Every few seconds, Seraphina’s corruption blades would slip through his defense—cutting his arm, slashing his leg, opening wounds across his torso. Divine healing sealed the cuts slowly, but he was accumulating damage faster than he could regenerate.

Seraphelle split her attention between healing and fighting—an impossible balance that was slowly failing. She’d channel healing magic toward Gattychan’s most critical wounds (the punctured lung was priority), then switch to Divine Smite to blast Seraphina back when the demon lord got too close to finishing him.

But she couldn’t do both simultaneously. Every second spent healing was a second not defending. Every second attacking was a second Gattychan’s wounds worsened.

And Seraphina had identified this weakness.

The demon lord deliberately targeted Gattychan, forcing Seraphelle to choose: heal him or fight back. Each time Seraphelle chose healing, Seraphina would attack her instead, forcing her to abandon healing to defend herself.

It was tactical brilliance—denying the heroes their healing support by making the healer choose between her own survival and her allies’ recovery.

Mikazelle used her partially-restored spatial magic to teleport heroes away from fatal attacks. When Seraphina’s blade was about to decapitate Gattychan, Mikazelle would shift him five feet left and the blade missed. When Seraphelle was about to be impaled, Mikazelle would teleport her ten feet backward.

But each short-range teleport drained her magical reserves, and she was already exhausted from the Pattern Seven explosion. She’d managed maybe twenty teleports so far—she had perhaps ten more before her spatial magic failed completely.

And Seraphina knew this too. The demon lord was deliberately forcing wasteful teleports, making Mikazelle spend magic on non-critical evasions, burning through her reserves.

Rindelle fired arrows with her one functional arm, each shot amplified one-thousand-fold. The explosions forced Seraphina to dodge or defend, buying the other heroes crucial seconds.

But drawing a bow one-handed was nearly impossible. Each shot took enormous effort, the accuracy was terrible, and Rindelle’s broken left arm screamed with pain every time she moved.

She’d fired eight amplified arrows. She had maybe twelve more before exhaustion and pain made further shooting impossible.

The Four Heroes were fighting brilliantly—coordinating despite injuries, supporting each other, using their abilities efficiently.

But they were losing.

Seraphina was too experienced, too powerful even at one-tenth strength, too consumed by rage to be deterred by pain or tactical setbacks.

Few Minutes Into the Battle:

Gattychan had accumulated seventeen wounds—none individually fatal but collectively catastrophic. Blood soaked his torn clothing. His divine healing was struggling to keep up.

His half-healed broken arm had been re-broken when Seraphina grabbed it and twisted deliberately. The bone snapped again, white fracture visible through torn flesh.

He screamed and fell to one knee.

Seraphina’s corruption blade came for his throat—

Mikazelle teleported him away. Twenty-first teleport. Nine remaining before spatial magic failed.

Seraphelle tried to reach Gattychan to heal the re-broken arm—

Seraphina attacked her instead, both corruption blades striking simultaneously.

Seraphelle raised Divine Sanctuary—the holy barriers manifested, blocked the first blade, cracked under the second blade.

The demon lord’s third strike—a kick enhanced with supernatural strength even at one-tenth power—shattered the barriers and caught Seraphelle in the ribs.

Three ribs broke. Seraphelle flew backward, crashed into rubble, gasping for breath.

Rindelle fired another amplified arrow—ninth shot—forcing Seraphina to dodge away from the fallen healer.

"WE CAN’T SUSTAIN THIS!" Mikazelle shouted, her spatial perception tracking the tactical situation even through exhaustion. "Gattychan has seventeen wounds and a re-broken arm! Seraphelle has broken ribs! Rindelle’s left arm is useless! I have recovered little amount of mana! We need to retreat NOW!"

Seraphina heard all of this and laughed—a sound combining grief, rage, and dark satisfaction.

"Yes! You’re realizing you’re going to die here! Good! I want you to feel that terror! I want you to understand what my specialists felt!"

She charged Gattychan again, both corruption blades ready—

Seraphina had been fighting the heros, and in that time she’d analyzed the heroes’ tactics completely.

Their coordination pattern was predictable:

Gattychan draws attention with Villain’s Bane suppressionSeraphelle heals Gattychan’s critical wounds or attacks when he’s safeMikazelle teleports anyone about to dieRindelle provides covering fire with amplified arrows

The weakness in this pattern: Seraphelle.

If Seraphelle couldn’t heal, Gattychan would die from accumulated damage. If Seraphelle couldn’t attack, the heroes lost offensive capability. She was the lynchpin holding their defense together.

So Seraphina stopped dividing her attention.

She focused entirely on Seraphelle.

The demon lord charged past Gattychan—ignoring him completely despite his Villain’s Bane suppression—and targeted the healer with absolute commitment.

"SERAPHELLE!" Gattychan shouted warning.

Too late.

Seraphina’s corruption blades struck at the healer from two angles simultaneously—both aimed to kill.

Seraphelle raised Divine Sanctuary desperately

The first blade shattered the holy barrier.