Defense specialization and shield.

Pain, Sally, and Kasumi charge toward Velvet along the street ahead.

Amidst the increasingly fierce downpour of lightning, which shatters nearby buildings, the three plunge into the storm.

They know the danger. Only by doing this can Velvet be defeated.

"【Gathering Holy Sword】!"

Lightning erupts from the outstretched fist. It strikes the faces of the 【Gathering Holy Sword】 behind the three who charged forward.

"Not a chance! Necro, 【Phantom Armor (Armored)】!"

Crom stands without fear, stepping directly into the lightning’s path, his large shield intercepting and neutralizing the attack.

"Support from behind—leave the lightning to me. I’ll hold it!"

"Got it!"

They regain composure. Each resumes casting magic while reinitiating reconnaissance.

"...No enemy response around us!"

"Okay. Then focus ahead!"

Crom repositions his shield, eyes fixed on Velvet and Hinata. If they hold firm, others will arrive. Given Velvet and Hinata’s strength in one-on-many combat, victory will not come easily, but the advantage of position lies with them.

"Can’t catch up to those three!"

Ahead, three figures sprint through Velvet’s rain of lightning.

"【Eight-Blade: Gale】!"

"【Guardian Holy Sword】!"

Kasumi accelerates, sacrificing 【STR】 and 【INT】. Pain counters with strong damage reduction, shield defense, and a multitude of passive skills boosting her stats. Sally cuts through the merciless storm with pure evasion.

"Nice one! … Hinata!"

"……【Star Chain】!"

"【Exorcist Holy Sword】!"

The chains rising from the ground restrain Pain, who entered the range at maximum speed with almost no evasion. Yet the holy sword swung immediately afterward severs the chains, instantly nullifying the effect.

In that instant, Velvet manages to reestablish distance.

“That’s right. You can’t ignore this. Is that not so?”

“Yes… exactly.”

Targeted restraint is a powerful counter for Sally. Hinata understands this.

Yet Sally maintains her position just at the edge of range, as if perfectly aware of its limits. The pressure from the other two remains significant enough that Hinata cannot afford to save her skills.

“Pain!”

“Ah!”

Kasumi calls to Pain, and the two approach simultaneously. Each skill must be stripped away one by one, so Sally may enter the fight properly.

Then I’ll join too! [Electric Acceleration] [Charge]!

Following Kasumi’s dash, Velvet releases Hinata from her body and retreats behind her, accelerating forward with her skill.

[Clairvoyance]!

Kasumi locates the exact spot where the lightning will strike, and closes the distance in a single, efficient motion.

[Frail Ice Statue] [Grinding Gravity]!

A skill that lowers defense descends from Hinata, but Kasumi ignores it and lunges at Velvet.

[Six-Blade Sword: Flame]!

[Parry] [Full-force Strike]!

That’s nothing!

Velvet’s right straight. Kasumi evades by shifting her body away from the trajectory, already foreseen by [Clairvoyance], raises her blade from its downward arc, and cuts at Velvet before her.

— You’re serious about this!

Pain approaches Velvet, who scatters damage effects. She regains her footing, turns forward.

Now!

Crom’s voice from behind. Magic surges in response.

— [Ice Wall] [Ice Spikes]!

Hinata’s instinctive defense. The magic is halted, but Pain does not stop.

— Lay, [Luminous Torrent]!

— [Aurora]!

Velvet feels the surge of light in Pain’s holy sword. She calls a violent thunderstorm around her body. White lightning shoots skyward from the glowing ground like pillars, rejecting Pain’s approach.

— I care not!

— Huh!?

— [Holy Dragon’s Light Sword]!

Burning in the downpour of lightning, taking further damage, Pain swings the holy sword. A torrent of light, equal to Velvet’s, cleaves through the lightning column and rushes toward her.

— [Super Acceleration]! [Electromagnetic Leap]!

Still. Velvet shifted to the offensive. She accelerated forward, sidestepping Pain’s strike, then closed the distance in an instant.

“[Hydro Cannon]!”

“—Sally!”

At the moment her awareness fully detached. Sally had been waiting.

Velvet’s forward lunge was disrupted by a burst of water. She lost her balance. The rain of lightning remained, but was ineffective against Pain and Sally.

““[Super Acceleration]!””

Pain and Sally accelerated to keep pace with Velvet.

Now even. Velvet lacked time to create distance or recover.

Thus, Sally and Pain implied an unspoken intent.

Now. Use it.

“[Cocytus]!”

White mist spreads. Intense cold freezes everything around. Pain and Sally immediately step back. Velvet, regaining balance, exhales sharply.

They have created distance. Yet Hinata’s face sours, bitter at the outcome.

“Fine, Hinata. We’re saved!”

Velvet smiles, still composed.

The air stirs. Many footsteps echo. The situation shifts.

They have fought too openly. Players nearby now notice. They come.

“Overwhelm them!”

“Ah!”

“Yes!”

Crom moves forward, adjusting position, joining Pain and the incoming players.

With enemies increasing, no room remains to ignore the front line and focus on the rear.

“I’ll cover. Hit hard!”

One by one, pressing forward steadily. Even if there are losses, it matters not—so long as these two are defeated. That is the will of all who have gathered here.

"Surrounded, aren't we..."

"Haha, that's right! But I've been waiting for this!"

Velvet declares it, grinning, then readies herself once more.

"【Overcharge】!"

A violent thunderclap. Sparks leap across the ground, repelling the approaching players.

Velvet calls to Hinata, suspended floating back-to-back through gravity control.

"Back is yours!"

"I've got it."

"【Thunderclap】!"

With Velvet's command, the reinforced lightning column spreads, incinerating players and houses alike.

Pain and the others avoid it, but the intensifying rain of lightning increases pressure, repelling all players from approaching.

【Gravity Reinforcement】【Gravity Cage】!

Hinata spreads a wider, stronger area of slowed movement, and Velvet rushes forward toward Pain and the others in response.

【Activation】【Guard Aura】! Necro, 【Weight of Death】!

【Chain Lightning Strike】!

Crom steps forward, raising his shield while reducing Velvet’s movement speed.

Not even now could Velvet be allowed near Sally.

Velvet strikes the shield head-on. A violent spark erupts. The relentless lightning strikes burn Crom without mercy.

Gh—! Is it Hinata’s doing?

Damage beyond expectation. The cold air thickening around them applies a debuff so severe it undermines even Crom’s defense.

Crom-san!

Sally yanks on the thread connected to Crom, instantly raising an ice column to block Velvet’s assault.

"Saved, Sally!"

"Crom, where’s the 【Unyielding Guardian】?"

"Only slightly worn. That’s acceptable!"

"Let’s abandon the building. That skill must have a time limit."

"Yeah, if we could use it freely, we’d have used it from the start. Probably similar to Frederica’s 【Sea of Mana】."

Once 【Overcharge】 ends, we can attack again.

"We won’t let her escape!"

Velvet leaps over the ice column, ignoring gravity. To reach Pain and the others. At the moment her form comes into view.

"Now!"

"【Flame Cannon】!"

"【Ultimate Shot】!"

"Damn it!"

"Velvet-san, for now—!"

A long-range attack aimed at Velvet. Even as Velvet turns toward Pain and the others, she cannot. The battlefield’s location. The attacks from surrounding players. They force Velvet to reconfirm her surroundings.

“Even so… this is tough!”

Velvet scatters the downpour of lightning around her, cutting down players one by one.

Yet the numerical advantage remains unchanged. With the invincibility skill gone, the players fall one by one, and the damage is not as severe as expected. Velvet senses this. She calls out to Hinata on her back.

“Hinata… a favor.”

“…Understood.”

Velvet stops killing the encircling players. She turns and runs toward the outer wall. Retreat. Those who sense it do not allow her to escape. They close in, chasing her.

“Won’t let you get away.”

“Yes.”

"Turning toward the outer wall as well!"

"Ah! No charge toward the throne at a time like this!"

Fortune favors Velvet. She stands out clearly. She cannot be lost. Anticipating her movements is simple.

"【Ice Castle】!"

Even so, an icy wall rises to block the advancing tide.

Yet it erodes and crumbles swiftly under relentless assault. Velvet does not mind.

"Here it comes!"

A single moment seized.

Above her raised hand, a blinding lightning flash splits the sky. The thunderclap echoes, foretelling what follows. The 【Thunder God's Mallet (Thor Hammer)】 hovers, waiting to fall—before any shot can be fired.

"Strike before the shot lands!"

"Not today...! 【Melting Wings】! 【Frozen Ground】!"

Pain and the others are forcibly slammed to the ground, their feet sewn shut, buying just a moment more. Closing the distance opened by 【Ice Castle】 takes a little time.

Yet before lightning can bridge sky and earth, an explosion echoes from before the royal palace.

A sound familiar to Sally and the others. The figure emerging, wrapped in blazing fire, extending angelic wings from its back—was Maple herself.

An unexpected reinforcement.

Velvet and the others notice immediately.

"Maple-san..."

"Been waiting."

Finally, she has come.

Velvet speaks, her voice strained with fatigue, yet still whispering those words.

Above the sky.

Wilbert and Lily, cloaked in a black shroud that hinders detection by skill, remain still upon their flying machine, waiting.

"Wilbert. Don’t let go."

"Yes. Not for one in ten thousand."

Wilbert draws the bowstring taut. He cannot fire Thunder God’s Mallet at Velvet now. That was a bluff.

“Here she comes. She always did. That was her kind of player.”

She would fly when allies were in danger. Even in brief time together, Lilie had sensed that Maple would not abandon her allies on her own judgment.

She is coming. Strike her down.

Everything had been planned from the start—to drag Maple from that castle.

“That machine’s arm makes holding a shield difficult, doesn’t it?”

Maple burns bright against the night sky. Wilbert draws the bowstring taut, releases the arrow the moment it enters range.

“Long Range. Annihilation Arrow.”

A high-speed arrow in flight. The Unyielding Guardian is not there. Maple lacks the foresight to perceive it in time.

No shield is raised now. Not even now.

A crimson flash looms. By the time Maple recognizes its nature, her reaction cannot catch up.

“Wah…!”

Maple shuts her eyes, overwhelmed by helplessness.

A metallic sound rings out.

“Not allowed.”

“…Sally!”

The blue scarf drifting before her is unmistakable.

Sally grabs Maple and pulls her into cover. To prevent pursuit.

“Lily!”

“Ah, I’ll retrieve the two of them!”

“What…?”

Wilbert watches it all.

The moment Maple leaps into the sky. Only Sally ran toward her.

Not a reaction to the arrow. Not a prediction.

It was resolve. A decision. Something like that.

Yes. There, just one. Maple’s shield was there.