CASE 361: THE BATTLE WITH DEMON KING.

The demon king stands amidst his castle's rubble.

His form, unlike his predecessors, can be considered 'sophisticated.' Unlike those grotesque monsters that inspire nothing but fear, his shape deeply resembles a human, yet with seemingly no physical consistency. Just a mesh of dark, slightly mud-like body tinted with the star's purple gleamers.

Something like long hair flutters in the wind, releasing corrosive vapor.

Something like a long cape drags across the ground, tainting everything the star's color.

Something like a tall, sharp male human torso, with eyes perpetually shining as though galaxies.

Succinctly, he can be called a 'demonic mannequin'—an unbearably potent one at that.

The demon king sweeps the vast battlefield with his gaze, uttering no words, stirring no emotions. As the closest being to the star, his body is made of the very essence that makes up the star's chaos. 

He is chaos.

Yet, his 'mind' cannot be calmer. 

Some distance away, Sariel perches on the ground, her form gradually turning humanoid, followed by the other four. Eyes fall onto the demon king at once, and in that moment, they can't help but remember Lunaris's words,

'Everything is a spectrum, even this threat we're facing. When the chaos gets too... well, chaotic, it turns completely around and becomes stillness.'

It doesn't make much sense.

The demon king, who is supposed to represent disorder and death, is unbelievably composed. But... it doesn't change that they have to face him regardless.

Brandishing their weapons, the Saint party members get into their fighting stances.

Anastasia and Christina's domains first envelop the five, and from then on, the three damage dealers' fierce energy rides on that momentum, exploding into a realm of divinity.

For the moment, everything is dyed a milky golden color.

In such a setting, the demon king sticks out like a sore thumb. Feeling his skin, his flesh being invaded, feeling the imminent danger, his power finally starts to swell up.

''Let's go, girls.''

In perfect sync, all five women shoot themselves forward, each approaching the target at a different angle. The muddy air churns as their weapons tear through it, ramming toward the demon king's head.

The first to arrive is Emilia's longsword, one daring to rip through his head. When the more-or-less predictable strike is dodged, the next flurry of attacks rains in. Raeliana's scythe draws an elegant arc, clamping a wide crescent from top to bottom, yet the blade gets caught mid-air.

With a slight twist of his body, the demon king narrowly evades Christina's spear thrust, and his other hand promptly blocks Anastasia's fist.

''Opening.''

After making such difficult moves, the demon king's body is wide open, allowing Sariel to deliver a roundhouse kick toward his back, the immense force hurling the tall body away. Crumbling to gravity and friction, the demon king, now a ragdoll flying in the air at an impressive speed, slowly loses momentum and drags across the ground.

Not even waiting for him to get up, the five jump in again.

Even without looking at one another, they have been through countless hours of training together. From the first moment, even more than personal strength, what they honed the most was teamwork. After all, hindering their companions spells absolute disaster.

Carrying that determination throughout, the team's fighting style has become highly optimized, its strength formidable. Each strike is precisely controlled, perfectly complementing and taking advantage of others. It creates a flow of relentless attacks, constant but ferocious, like a tide gushing endlessly.  

With their divinity, they take in their teammates' positions at all times across the battlefield, and with the same divinity, they make signals to communicate moves in short intervals. Against one enemy, the five are as if one entity—one deadly fighter.

''Hup!''

Once again, a slash connects, prying the struggling demon king's skin open, melting dark blood oozing from the wound.

Once again, a punch connects, sending massive shockwaves and fragments of divinity into his body, stirring chaos.

Continuously, his slender body accumulates small wounds, ones unable to be healed quickly enough. Facing five semi-goddesses at their best conditions, inside their domains, and with the 'poisonous' divinity searing through his existence every waking moment, the demon king's resilience is rather unmatched.

If it were any previous demon king, he would have perished in less than half the time.

Yet... he is the star's fable.

From within his body, the flowing purple galaxies swirling within his being, a low, bellowing grumble resonates. For as long as the star is still rampant, he is practically invincible.

''...Sturdy bastard.''

Chuckling deprecatingly, Raeliana narrows her eyes.

Surely enough, with a more-or-less perfect fighting harmony, her team barely loses any stamina. Yet, if this goes on, they can only dream of stalling and hoping that Eva can defeat the corrupt goddess.

As it stands, there is a sore flaw in this lineup—it lacks a high-output damage dealer. Sariel is one candidate for that role, but she already serves as an all-rounder who helps centralize the whole team.

That role... belongs to Sylvia.

In game terms, she can be called a 'glass cannon'—someone who has practically zero defense but powerful offense. A glass cannon is primarily not a requirement in every team, yet, in this specific fight, such a person's existence is much appreciated.

Simply put, they currently lack a person who can rapidly deplete the demon king's health—rapidly enough to disrupt the star's flow altogether and erase his existence.

In the immediate reality, it is indeed better to have Sylvia by their side and finish off the demon king normally. However, such operations will tire her out, and the confrontation with Eve afterward will bring uncertainties.

So, after observing the fight, an instruction is passed down from HQ,

[Rotate the formation. Sariel will be the center and the core moving forward.]

Lunaris's voice rings crisply inside the five's ears. Almost instantly, the dragoness takes a step back, divine armor fading from the coating of her scales. This drastically reduces her defensive capabilities while allowing her to ramp up her firepower.

In short, she is replacing Sylvia's role.

''Bless me, my goddess.''

Bearing a gentle smile, Sariel reaches into her space inventory and pulls out a pristine white rifle—a copy of her and Sylvia's railgun, or its twin sister. With several magazines, ones containing highly concentrated divine bullets, already in stock, she doesn't hesitate to bring out its best.

Unlike her lover, Sariel's sharpshooting skills haven't quite reached a level where she can aim and shoot with the rifle not in her hands just yet. As such, she'd befriend the trusty iron sight for now.

Within a few seconds, everything is ready.

''...Careful. I sense an anomaly.'' Christina communicates.

Perhaps sensing the imminent killing intent or the signature divinity contained in the rifle's bullets, the demon king's power begins to swell. Bit by bit, the substance in him leaks into the surroundings, tainting the fabric of reality with a putrid color.

Everyone instinctively feels it—their divinity trembling. 

Phase two.