A Bitter Battle and Resolve

Deep, dense woods surrounded the dilapidated church. The eerie place, which should have been silent, was now filled with the sounds of fierce clashes.

Erza swung her sword again and again, parrying the thorny roots and man-eating flower clones attacking her. Her expression was grave.

Qliphoth hovered high in the air, sneering down at Erza as she struggled to fend off the attacks.

The "minions" she had cut down had all regenerated by now. Some had even done so more than once or twice.

Ever since Qliphoth had nearly been killed because of carelessness, Erza could no longer provoke the demon so easily.

No matter how badly Qliphoth wanted to kill her, the demon stayed in front of the core to guard it personally, directing the thorny roots and man-eating flower clones to attack in turns.

In fact, this was Qliphoth's true fighting style. Had the demon not been careless before, Erza would never have had a chance.

As for Erza...

At first, she had handled the attacks fairly easily, occasionally seizing an opening to cut down Qliphoth's minions and press forward to attack the core.

But as time wore on, even she gradually began to struggle.

Qliphoth had repeatedly thwarted her attacks by trading injury for injury. After all, the thorny roots and man-eating flower clones were nothing more than expendable assets that could be used again and again, regenerating through magic power. Erza, on the other hand, was only flesh and blood. Even with her armor protecting her, she could not avoid injury.

With no opening in her opponent's defenses presenting itself, the fight had effectively become a contest of magic reserves.

Confident as Erza was, she did not believe she could outlast Qliphoth.

For one thing, she had only recently begun practicing magic and had yet to reach the peak of her strength. For another, her opponent had an additional source of magic power outside the church to draw on.

Just looking at the enormous nest occupying the church was enough to give some idea of how vast the demon's magic reserves were.

Only if Yuri could clear out every thorny branch in the sewers and completely cut off Qliphoth's supply would she have a sliver of a chance.

But how could that be possible? He was probably surrounded by countless thorny branches right now, struggling to hold on as he waited for her to kill Qliphoth.

He could barely protect himself, let alone help her out of this predicament.

Bang!

A sharp impact rang out as two man-eating flowers struck a scarlet figure together, sending her flying.

Erza knelt on one knee, panting heavily. Clearly, she had little magic power or physical strength left.

Much of her armor had long since been damaged. Now she could only use her sword to prop herself up in place of her trembling legs, but she stumbled and nearly fell. Fortunately, a pair of hands caught her in time, and a familiar voice reached her ears. "Miss Erza, are you... all right?"

Erza forced a faint smile onto her dry lips, her disheveled scarlet hair revealing just how battered she was.

She had intended to say she was fine, as she had before, but swallowed the words when she saw the concern in Sonia's eyes.

"I'm sorry. I underestimated Qliphoth," Erza said, blaming herself.

Before coming here, she had already learned about Qliphoth and knew the demon's strengths lay in a tenacious vitality that was hard to deal with and an enormous supply of magic power. Yet she had still slipped up at a critical moment. If she had been a little faster, a little more careful, perhaps things would not have come to this.

"No, Miss Erza, this isn't your fault." As considerate as ever, Sonia comforted her. "Even Cain couldn't do it back then, yet you were dragged into this turmoil because of me. If I just stood by and watched, I still wouldn't be able to forgive myself, even if Qliphoth were destroyed..."

Determination showed in Sonia's eyes as she spoke slowly. "Let me help you create an opening."

"But you..." Erza began.

It was not that she wanted to discourage Sonia, but Sonia had practically no real fighting ability.

Aside from being a little stronger and recovering a little faster than an ordinary person, there was nothing special about her. If she forced her way into the fight, she would only throw her life away for nothing.

Sonia seemed to see what Erza was thinking and interrupted her. "Do you remember? I told you before that Qliphoth would hunt down the blessed because of their blood, so I'm sure I can be of use."

Her words suddenly reminded Erza of how the thorny roots had abruptly turned away from her to chase Sonia earlier.

She looked at the demon Qliphoth, whose limbs flailed menacingly in the distance, then at Sonia, the ordinary girl standing before her with a determined expression. After a brief silence, she asked, "Can you do it?"

"There's no other way, is there?" Sonia suddenly smiled.

The remark was so unlike Sonia's usual ladylike manner that Erza stared for a moment, then found herself smiling.

Yes, there was no other way.

In that case, what was there to hesitate about?

"I'm counting on you, then." Erza rallied herself and stood.

Sonia stepped in front of her with a small knife, slashed open her previously bandaged wrist once more, and immediately charged toward Qliphoth.

Sure enough, the thorny roots and man-eating flowers that had been targeting Erza all turned to pursue Sonia when they caught the scent of her blood.

Even Qliphoth, who had been sitting comfortably on the sidelines, could not help being tempted.

If the main consciousness was [Qliphoth]'s brain, representing the vast majority of [Qliphoth]'s will, then the man-eating flower clones and thorny roots were its hands and feet.

Most of the time, Qliphoth, as the main consciousness, could direct these "limbs," but that did not mean they had no will of their own.

Qliphoth was, after all, a demon that had evolved from a plant and was not very intelligent, so instinct could easily take over under certain special circumstances.

That was precisely what was happening now. Although the "brain" had issued a command, the "hands and feet" refused to obey.

With no other choice, Qliphoth... or rather, the main consciousness could only guard the core alone and defend against Erza.