Ophiel and Bica both went into a battle stance as they remained close to Liohime Kitagami as they faced seven opponents with Melty from the Piglet Squad leading the front line, who closed in on them with caution.

"We're gonna back you up, Lio!"

"What Ophiel said!"

"Thanks guys! You saved my ass!"

"Don't celebrate yet, dummy!" Ophiel responded. "Let's crush these guys together, get what we have to get, and then we jump for joy later!"

"O-Of course!"

Liohime narrowed his trembling eyes and gave off a forced smile as he stared straight at Melty, who led the pack against them with a serious expression.

With Leah drawing Poly's attention to herself and Harvey singling out Koro, they had managed to weaken the main section of the attackers by removing what he believed were the biggest threats for now.

He was grateful, but their efforts would be in vain if he and the duo along with him failed to capitalize.

"Yeah, come on, guys! We can't lose here!" he proclaimed.

At the same time, the other Shinigami Soldiers were all engaged in warfare with the other section of the battalion, with Yariko continuing to advance towards Shihon in order to help as he slipped through the crowd.

"[Come Forward, My Divine Weapon: Killcreation]."

With his incantation complete, his partner emerged and ran alongside him, awaiting orders.

"Liohime's Magical Beast is currently fighting on its own without any guidance. Assist it, and I will be right beside you to give you further instructions."

With something similar to a growl and a roar mixed together, the entity charged towards Shihon's opponent and blasted it back with an explosive dark beam at close range before glancing over at its new teammate.

Shihon, in her beast form, still managed to roll her eyes but silently became more relieved as they both sprang into action.

Meanwhile…

"Let's finish this, shall we?"

With that silent whisper, Harvey narrowed his eyes, signalling the incoming attack from his massive snake-like Magical Beast.

A sudden lunge caused by itself made Koro's eyebrows twitch, and without a second to spare, she dashed away from its fatal iron fangs that slammed and sunk into the ground.

While the beast began to redirect itself, she sped into the close proximity of Harvey, and the young man, who had picked up his weapon and realized that it was pretty much broken, chuckled.

Fistfighting it is.

He swung with a right hook, which was easily avoided, but held up his left arm in order to shield his head from the incoming roundhouse kick. With a perfectly timed block, he punched directly to Koro's chest, to which she caught the strike instantly, but she did not anticipate the powerful tail strike from his Magical Beast that slammed into her body as she toppled and bounced off of the ground.

"Shit, nice one, Conda! Look for the perfect time for long range attacks while I keep her busy in short-range!"

Wasting no time, Harvey kicked off of the ground in order to close the gap. He was definitely not skilled enough to match up to Koro when it came to fighting, but if he had help from afar, he might still have a chance to at least stall enough for Liohime's trio to overwhelm their competition.

I have a chance-

SHK.

As if responding to his delusion instantly, a sharp pain stabbed into his right shoulder as Koro revealed a tea knife from inside her hip and hurled with force, ripping into his skin and muscles as his shoulder bone was impaled on impact.

Screaming out, Harvey could not muster up the strength to pull the blade out while blood profusely began to stain his shirt with a leakage.

His Magical Beast hissed with animosity, and Harvey quickly changed plans.

"Shit, fuck!!! Keep her at bay and take her down!"

His Magical Beast swung its tail at her side from a distance, pummeling her backwards while she also stabbed into it with another tea knife with little damage caused.

Harvey gnashed his teeth and groaned. Experiencing Koro's movement, fighting ability and battle IQ firsthand, he knew that it would only be a matter of time until she slipped past this beast somehow and aimed for him.

How would he be able to fight back when he could not even feel the strength in his right arm now.

His vision slowly became blurry as his thoughts raced while seeing the battle between his Magical Beast and Koro unfold before him.

Think, Harvey! he scolded himself. Think, think, think, dammit!

At the same time, Leah's shield had been completely obliterated under the pressure of Poly's continuous warhammer strikes, and she now trembled while stepping backwards in complete fear.

"As expected, there's no way you could have beaten me," her attacker scornfully said. "Times up. I'll send you to meet the angels."

Death approached Leah, Harvey, and now, it stealthily creeped up to the main trio.

Liohime, Ophiel and Bica were currently in a warzone of bloodshed, as the latter two used the last of their ammo to keep their opponents at bay.

"Got another one, but I'm all out!!"

"How much bullets did you spend in the second layer, Ophiel!?"

"A bit too much, sorry! Shit, look out!!"

With a shocked expression, Ophiel motioned to Melty, who used her compatriot as a meat shield to lessen the damage of bullets against her, and slipped past her group to close in on them.

Before either he or Bica could react, Liohime dashed towards her to meet the attack, and a swift close-combat combo of trading blows ensued as the duo were now surrounded by the rest of the surviving attackers.

S-Shit.

Catching Liohime off guard with a sweep at his legs, she made him stumble, and landed a perfect backhanded fist strike to his temple, causing him to sprawl back as his consciousness drifted.

With no hesitation, Melty-

***

Shihon noticed her Master's bruised body at the worst possible time.

--Liohime Kitagami was going to be beaten to death, and her eyes wavered as a strange feeling flared up within her, something that she had never felt before until now.

...I don't fucking care anymore.

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