Moments before Razel and Lambert fought, this was happening aboard the ships.
"Hurry, we have to get out of here!"
"The ships aren't that fast; besides, that thing is heading straight for the capital!"
"What do you mean?!"
"Look!"
The sailors in charge of the ships watched as Xerxes advanced slowly, but with long strides, directly towards the capital.
"At this pace, it will arrive in about two hours!"
"We must stop it!"
"B-But there are only civilians here, and we don't have many weapons."
"That doesn't matter!"
A ship's captain transmitted a message to all ships.
"To all ships and their crew! We are in a dangerous situation!"
"We cannot allow that monster to advance to the capital, which seems to be its target!"
"As citizens of the empire, we must fight bravely for our country! Whether we are knights or not!"
All the noble crew members were alarmed upon hearing that they were being asked to fight.
"Don't joke with me!"
"Who in their right mind who isn't a knight would do that?"
"Let's go home right now; let the sword saints handle it!"
Footsteps resonated in the communication.
Everyone heard as the captain was left speechless and made a sound almost like humming.
It seemed someone grabbed the microphone; a beautiful woman's voice was now speaking to them.
"Hello everyone, I am the daughter of the Duchess Rosenberg. Elize von Rosenberg."
Everyone was astonished to hear that unexpected name.
Many had come to see the ruin of the daughter of a ducal house.
"There is much to say, but I will only say three things."
"First: the sword saints will not save us. I saw with my own eyes how they were defeated."
"Second: communications to notify the capital are not getting through. The magical element in this area is too high, so we cannot warn them to prepare."
"And lastly..."
Elize took a moment before speaking astonishing words.
"What the hell is wrong with you bunch of imbeciles?! Are the important nobles of the empire cowards?! For the first time in your pathetic lives, do something for others!"
Different voices joined to criticize her.
"How dare that brat talk to us like that?"
"I will file a complaint with the palace."
"Her representatives lost earlier, so this sore loser has no right to speak."
No one but the captain and Lily, who were by her side, could see a wicked smile on Elize's beautiful face.
"Oh, I almost forgot. I know the faces and the houses everyone belongs to, so when we arrive, the palace will know who opposed fighting. I'm sure His Highness the Emperor would like to know that he has faithful chickens hiding right under his nose. After all, I am still part of the seven dukes, so you must believe the one with the highest position."
Immediately, everyone shouted with euphoria.
"L-Let's fight for the capital!"
"I don't want to fight, but I'm afraid of the emperor!"
"My house is small; we will undoubtedly be destroyed if I flee!"
All the nobles who wanted to flee stayed to fight.
Since everyone could use magical power, many prepared in boats with rifles and staves.
From their ship, Elize and Lily watched as everyone headed to attack the great creature that had emerged from the earth.
The wind was so strong that the voices of others could hardly be heard.
Both of their hair swayed wildly.
"Lily-san."
Elize called to Lily; she turned to look at her.
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to ask you to get on a boat and escape."
"Huh?" Said Lily.
"Why?"
Elize turned to look at her; tears fell from her eyes.
"Isn't it obvious? We're all going to die."
Lily's face showed fright at those words.
"B-But, didn't you say we were going to fight?"
"Of course. But just look at the size of that thing."
Elize pointed at Xerxes; its body was so large that the ships positioning to attack it looked like ants beside it.
Just to advance three meters, almost ten minutes passed.
Elize's hands and legs trembled.
She quickly hugged Lily.
"Thank you!" Elize shouted to Lily.
"Obviously I said that because, at least, I wanted to ensure that in my final moments, my house would be recognized as an example of nobility!"
"The truth is... I'm scared!"
"That thing is way too huge! I saw how two sword saints were easily defeated by that thing!"
"A long time ago, when my dad wasn't the trash who abandoned us, I heard stories of a legendary adventurer. The only one ever classified as S-rank. They gave it to him because there was no one stronger than him. He was so strong that he rejected titles and prestige just for what he loved."
"It's obviously a story to give us aspirations!"
"Just look at the size of that thing! It will kill us all! It already did with Razel!"
Lily trembled. They both watched Razel get swallowed by the earth, and there was no response from him.
The prince was taken to safety on another ship, but there wasn't even a search for Razel.
Deep down, she believed he was still alive.
More than once he had shown her how strong he was.
That's why she didn't believe he was truly dead.
Elize stepped back; her tears continued to fall.
"You were the only person in the whole world, not counting Razel and Prince Cidfert, who helped me."
"I... it's selfish of me to say this. But I consider you my first and only friend."
Tears ran down her cheeks upon being called a friend.
"For that reason, I don't want anything to happen to you. Lily-san, thank you for everything you've done for me. Truly, I appreciate it."
Elize took a locket from her pocket and handed it to Lily.
"Give this to my mother. Tell her that her little girl, until the end, will honor her house. I am sure that one day the Rosenberg Household will be rebuilt."
At that moment, Elize pushed Lily inside a room.
Lily fell to the floor.
As she was wearing a miniskirt, her white panties were exposed for a few moments.
Then, Elize used magic to lock the door.
"Elize-san, open the door! Elize-san!"
Lily knocked desperately.
A waterfall of tears ran down her white skin until it fell to the floor.
Elize, on the other side.
"Go straight; at the end of the path, there will be a coughing sailor. He'll take you straight home; I already paid him in advance."
She headed to the center of the ship to prepare to fight.
The ships were ready to begin the attack at any moment.
Elize looked at the sky and murmured a name to bring peace to her heart.
"Razel... I'll be with you soon."
◇◇◇
The attack began.
"Fireball!"
"Wind Guillotine!"
"Stone Missile!"
"Energy Beam!"
Different magical attacks were launched against Xerxes.
Slowly, but very surely, it advanced straight towards the capital.
Their attacks were useless.
Large clouds of smoke emanated from that great creature's shell.
But they were only from the effects of the magical strikes.
There wasn't a single scratch, only stains from the attacks.
To make matters worse, the ships were being attacked.
Their enemies were none other than...
"Watch out for the wyverns!"
Low-level monsters from the game. Feathered wyverns.
They were green, and their wings cut like steel.
They had four eyes, giving them a perfect view of their entire surroundings.
"Rozaaa!" They shouted a strange sound that left people almost immobile.
Some fought against Xerxes, others fought against the wyverns.
It was a non-stop battle.
The wyverns were Xerxes's subordinates; they brought it food, which is why it didn't move.
But it called them because it was very annoyed.
On the ship that gave the order to fight, Elize was fighting one.
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
She used a short spear to cut her enemy.
But the wyvern wasn't weak.
It used its beak and wings to repel the spear.
Others were like Elize.
Her hands moved to pierce the creature's chest.
"Rozaa!"
It screamed in pain; Elize was sweating. Blood fell from her forehead.
She was attacked by feathers that cut her.
When the monster fell.
Purple blood gushed out in spurts.
She sat for a moment and breathed as much as she could.
(How many minutes have passed?) She wondered.
(Lily-san should be very far away by now.)
Elize heard screams.
"Nooo, please leave me alone!"
A noble fighting in a corner was grabbed by three, no, now four wyverns.
They took his limbs from each side.
And as if it were a game, each pulled with great force.
"Gyyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"
The noble screamed as his limbs were torn off, and in the end, he fell to the deck, looking like a sack of potatoes.
The wyverns descended to eat him now that he was immobile.
He kept screaming in pain as his stomach was opened and his intestines devoured.
Elize wanted to vomit seeing that.
Instead, she pointed her hand at them and recited a spell.
"... Large-caliber fireball!"
A large fireball came out of a magic circle.
The wyverns noticed too late; they were burned alive and then turned to ash.
Elize's head spun.
She was dizzy from blood loss.
She used the spear to stand up, but she staggered a lot.
In the distance, she watched as Xerxes's mouth opened after turning almost halfway around.
A magic circle formed in its mouth.
It was green with a pentagram in it.
Then, another attack from the game was released.
Roar of Armageddon.
A shockwave was released from that magic circle. Almost a dozen ships that were within its attack range were instantly destroyed.
People flew out at the same time the ships were crushed and then exploded.
The people flying out were also crushed by the pressure.
So large amounts of red stains were left on the ground as they fell.
It looked like a grotesque rain of blood.
Elize burst out laughing.
"... So you had an ace up your sleeve all this time, didn't you? You never used it because you saw us as a pest, but you just used it to show you can turn us into mincemeat whenever you want."
She could see how, in the distance, a part of the capital was visible.
(They won't make it.)
(Xerxes is such a powerful opponent that the only way to defeat it in the game was with paid equipment.)
Elize's spear fell.
Almost everyone near her was devoured.
Corpses of people and blood bathed the deck.
A group of six wyverns approached.
Their gaze looked at the sky, but nothing was reflected in their eyes.
The wyverns descended.
One of them chewed her hair; it knocked her to the ground so they could devour her.
The wyverns were hungry, even with blood and intestines hanging from their golden beaks.
One pulled very weakly at her hand.
Elize... had lost the will to live.
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!"
Until...
"Don't get near her!"
A shout came from somewhere nearby.
A wyvern noticed something approaching.
But it was too late; its throat was pierced.
The others took flight to get out of there.
Then, Elize's hand was taken.
In her lifeless eyes, Lily was reflected.
Before she could utter a word.
Slap.
A strong slap came to her cheek.
Then another, and another, and another, and another much stronger.
Elize reacted and stopped her hand while touching one of her red cheeks.
"What's wrong with you?! And more importantly, what are you doing here?!"
Lily looked at her with tears. She took the locket Elize had given her from her pocket and then slammed it against her large chest.
Because they were so big, the locket sank into the center like jelly. Then it was pushed by that fleshy mass outward and finally fell to the floor.
"You deliver it yourself!"
"Huh?"
Lily shouted.
"If you want to give it to your mother, deliver it yourself!"
"You absolute idiot!"
Elize was hugged.
"Why does it have to be you who suffers?! Why?!"
She didn't understand what she meant.
"Always trying to show your pride as a noble, trying not to show fear, and more, telling me you'd sacrifice yourself!"
"Are you stupid?! Tell me, are you?!"
Elize couldn't take it anymore and also shouted.
"Of course not!"
They both began to cry like little girls.
In fact, if someone saw them, it would seem like two little girls were truly crying while hugging each other.
"I just want what's best for my house; I don't care about anything else! I've been through a lot of pain, as has my mother; I want us to be happy! But as long as we're tied to the palace and have that debt, we will never be free! Even if I have children, my children would suffer in the future! What's wrong with wanting to spare them that future by ending my suffering too?!"
"That's why you're such a huge idiot!"
Lily hugged Elize so tightly that both of their breasts were pressed together.
The pressure of being crushed made them look like a pair of soft, fleshy buns.
"Your life is only yours; it's important that you live above all else! If your house causes you so much trouble, then just run away from it! I'm not from the nobility, but if I had to live like that, it's better to be a commoner!"
For the first time in her life, Elize heard words that didn't tell her to keep going or something to motivate her to stay tied to that house.
She only heard. "Be free and live your life."
The villainess's face began to contort with tears and snot.
"... Even if that's so, what good would it do me if Razel is no longer here."
Hearing her name that boy, Lily finally revealed her secret.
Staring intently into her eyes, she mentioned the words Elize didn't know.
"I... am Razel-kun's girlfriend."
Elize stopped crying upon hearing something unthinkable.
"We've been kissing and holding hands a few times. We haven't done anything else besides that yet. I think it would be a bit hasty considering we've only been dating for days."
"But that's not what I want to say. It's this..."
Lily took a breath, and then with a smile told her.
"Elize-san, let's both be his women. You as the legal wife and me as your concubine. Since you love him too, don't you?"
Elize shyly shook her head.
Lily smiled broadly.
Her red cheeks showed how happy she was.
"I knew you were also attracted to him. That's why I felt a little jealous of you."
"Huh?"
"Well. A boy, who is your childhood friend, came to your rescue. That's very romantic. It seems to me the most wonderful thing that someone who cares about you a lot can do."
Elize also burst out laughing.
"In fact, I imagined that you two had something going on. I didn't imagine it was that, but to be honest, it makes me happy that if he has a mistress, it's you."
"Oh, that's right. Before all this started, he told me he desired me and that he wanted my title and would take care of my house's debts."
"Really!"
"Yes. It made me very happy. So, don't worry. That you are his other woman makes me very happy. I believe he is alive somewhere. If he didn't die in his previous battles, much less from this gigantic thing."
They both laughed so innocently.
No one would imagine that the protagonist and the villainess would become friends.
And even more so, that the villainess who got jealous upon hearing the protagonist's proposal to be the same man's women, had now accepted such a proposal.
Undoubtedly, the game's situation and the present were no longer on the same original path.
The influence of a third party has altered everything.
But even declaring their unimaginable love and friendship did not erase the situation they were in.
"Rozaaaa!"
"Huh?"
Lily was grabbed by the waist up to her chest by the tail of an annoyed wyvern.
The wyvern retreated with Lily, leaving her hand outstretched towards Elize.
She saw how her new friend and concubine was being taken away from her side.
When she saw that she was being separated, Elize shouted.
"Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
Her scream was so loud that she ran straight for the wyvern.
Already off the ship, Elize put all her strength into her legs and from the railing made an Olympic jump.
It seemed impossible to reach her, but Elize stretched as far as she could and landed on Lily's legs.
"Elize!"
Elize hung from Lily's white legs.
She was slipping little by little. Her imminent death lay beneath her feet.
"Eli!"
But she didn't care.
"Now we will be friends and women of the same man! In other words, family!"
She climbed up her legs to reach the feathered tail.
"So... call me Eli! You hear me, Lily-chan?"
Both of their faces could now be seen.
Lily shed tears.
"Yes. Eli-chan."
Their foreheads touched to show the trust they had in each other.
Elize— Eli, used all her strength to free Lily from that trap.
But Lily wanted to ask her the most important thing of all.
Before she could, the wyvern's tail was severed, and after letting out a great cry of pain.
Lily was freed, and they both fell.
"What exactly where you planning to do after freeing me?!"
Lily asked, almost crying, as she saw the forest approaching closer and closer.
Eli held Lily very tightly, so much so that their breasts pressed together with such force, and their legs intertwined so as not to let go.
Their faces were so close that with one more centimeter, they could kiss.
"Don't stop hugging me!"
Eli activated a magic spell she had learned.
"Flight magic!"
Humans couldn't fly, only levitate.
The method for that was a spell that used a lot of mana.
It combined wind magic and gravity magic into one.
It's imperfect, but safe, for a limited time.
Almost upon reaching the ground, Eli and Lily flew almost near the tips of the trees.
Lily was scared, but Eli reassured her by saying...
"When we get home, I want you to live with us! Without waiting for the wedding!"
"Really?"
"Yes! I want us to be closer since soon, we'll be sharing the same bed!"
Eli showed a sweet smile while Lily showed a kind one.
Their happiness ended right there. A group of wyverns headed straight for them.
Their end was certain.
The wyverns blocked the light.
No one could save them.
(I won't allow it!)
Like a wild and unexpected ray of light, their lifeline arrived.
It was...
(Don't you dare touch the master's womeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!)
Schwarz.
It flew at great speed straight for them.
In an elegant and protective manner, it rescued them without them knowing what had happened.
Schwarz was unconscious, but after a while, it regained its senses.
It saw its master fighting someone; it was going to help him.
But it heard the scream of two girls. It had seen them with him several times, so in its mind, it imagined they were his women.
It decided to leave its master to save his girls.
That was the confidence it had in its master. It knew he could win without problems.
That's why it headed straight to rescue them.
(Come and get me, you damn feathered rats!)
(The sky is for Pegasus, not for rats!)
(AaaaAaaaaaaAaaaaaaaaaaah!)
Once again, the image of a winged steed manifested.
Its gallops in the sky made it look very intimidating.
Its hooves struck the bodies and heads of the wyverns.
A kick here. A bite there.
Schwarz would not allow its master's women to be hurt.
(Oooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh!)
(Come and get meeeeeeeee!)
The fight of the wyverns against Schwarz was so intense that the girls had no idea what was actually happening.
They watched a mechanical Pegasus fighting the wyverns and beating them.
They didn't know what to do.
But, before they realized it, the Pegasus won and brought them safely to the deck.
Then it went off to continue fighting them.
The girls were confused, but if they had seen what the wyverns saw.
They would have been amazed to see the gallant figure of a black Pegasus fighting to the end against a horde of monsters all by itself.
◇◇◇
On the other side.
"Wh— What the hell!"
Razel shouted because he saw Schwarz fighting the wyverns.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Why is it moving on its own? What the hell is going on!"
His mind was confused.
"Razel!"
A voice came from one side; as he looked to see who it was.
He saw Cid coming on Bellange's Pegasus.
He grabbed him before he escaped; there wasn't enough time to reach the ships like the others.
Cid was very scared seeing Xerxes.
Once he descended, he saw Lambert injured.
"Hey... Razel... don't tell me you...?"
"No~!"
"This guy just fainted."
"We were both hit by the great wave of earth and ended up like this."
Razel didn't want them to think he was strong. It would be very problematic if someone believed he was stronger than the people who are candidates to become the next sword saint.
Razel's eyes looked like a cat's making excuses.
Cid, in the end, gave up.
"Hey, where were you?" He asked Cid.
"I was about to head to a ship when I saw that the sword saints were defeated. I went to pick them up and leave them in a safe place before anything happened to them."
"I see..."
Both of their eyes fixed on Xerxes, which was far away but its large body was still visible.
"It's heading for the capital. When it gets very close, they'll notice its presence. That's bad because many lives will be lost until they prepare."
Razel grabbed Cid's shoulder and smiled at him in a terrifying way.
"What's up?" Said a scared Cid.
"Isn't it obvious? We'll both defeat it."
"...!"
"You... have you lost your mind?! Haven't you seen its size?! We won't do any damage to it!"
"Of course. But if you know where to attack it and with what, you can do it."
"You..."
"Cid, you and I have good chemistry."
"Huh?"
Cid immediately stepped back. Razel calmed him down.
"Don't think anything weird, idiot. I'm talking about us having good chemistry in our magical attributes."
Razel was lightning and Cid was water.
When he remembered that...
"Don't tell me!"
"That's right."
Razel stretched his body.
"Let's fry that bastard's brain. The two of us, together, will defeat that enormous mass of whatever its shell is made of."
They both looked in the direction of Xerxes.
The final battle to prevent chaos in the capital began with a countdown.