“RAAAAGH! Canconel! How dare you hurt Nox!”

  Mina ran. She wanted nothing more than to hurl her fury at him.

  But.

  She was caught in an instant.

  Game over.

  “Ha ha ha ha! You stupid girl! A mere human, defying an upper-rank angel!”

  Mina was in tears.

  “Ugh… right, I forgot I’m weak.”

  “Fool! You’re only just realizing that now? Your magic is completely useless. That attack earlier only worked because of your familiar’s support. On your own, you’re nothing to be afraid of!”

  Canconel grabbed Mina by the hair and hoisted her up.

  “You little brat… I think a lesson is in order.”

  “No… stop it!”

  Mina flailed at Canconel with both fists. But he didn’t seem to feel a thing. He bared his teeth in a grin, utterly unfazed.

  “Ha ha ha—was that a mosquito bite?”

  At that moment, enormous boulders came hurtling down from above.

  Canconel leaped sideways in surprise—still gripping Mina’s hair.

  “Ow ow ow! That HURTS!”

  He looked up to find roughly a hundred massive rocks suspended in the air.

  “What the hell are these?!”

  Every time Canconel swung his arm, Mina’s hair was yanked along with it.

  “Are you stupid? Stop pulling my hair! A girl’s hair is her life, you know!”

  Canconel glared at her in irritation.

  “Will you shut up?!”

  Then a flash of silver streaked toward them, approaching like the wind.

  “Mina! Duck!”

  Arc was dropping from the sky, longsword drawn.

  “Arc!”

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  Mina’s face broke into a grin.

  “D-duck how??”

  “Just get your head down!”

  In that instant, a streak of silver light passed over her head.

  “Huh?!”

  Black strands of hair fluttered through the air, scattering in the wind. Mina’s head suddenly felt free—and then her body floated upward, defying gravity.

  “A-Arc…”

  She looked up to find Arc catching her gently in a princess carry. Mina couldn’t help but smile. When she looked down, Canconel was staring up at them, absolutely seething.

  “Damn you! You’ll pay for that!”

  He hurled the fistful of hair to the ground. Mina’s face went blank.

  “That hair…”

  She reached up tentatively. Her long hair was gone. First shortened by the fire, and now cut even shorter. If she evened it out, she’d have no choice but to go for a boyish cut. She was devastated.

  “NOOOOO!”

  When Mina looked up with murder in her eyes, Arc was smiling at her. She pinched his arm without thinking.

  “…Ow!”

  “Don’t you ‘ow’ me, you jerk!”

  “I came to rescue you, and this is the thanks I get?”

  Mina held up a clump of her shortened hair for him to see.

  “My hair! It was more precious to me than my own life!”

  “You can’t be serious!”

  Arc shrugged. Mina clung to him, pleading.

  “Nox is badly hurt! You have to do something!”

  Arc smirked.

  “I already treated her while you and that angel were having your little chat.”

  “Really?!”

  Mina’s face lit up instantly.

  “Just first aid, though. Feel better now?”

  Mina nodded.

  “But Nox can’t fight anymore. We’ll have to take that angel down ourselves—the two of us.”

  Mina looked Arc in the eye and nodded firmly.

  “Fine by me—I’ll give it everything I’ve got!”

  “Good! There’s just one thing I need you to do. Create the hardest Earth Wall you can and use it to cut off his escape routes.”

  “A hard Earth Wall?”

  Arc nodded.

  “Pour your magic in slowly and deliberately, then raise the wall. Can you do it?”

  “Of course I can! It’s not about whether I can—I will!”

  “Now that’s what I like to hear!”

  With that, Arc tossed Mina into the air.

  “Eeek—hey! What was that for?!”

  Mina panicked, thinking she’d fall—but instead she drifted gently to the ground.

  “Phew… that scared me.”

  She looked up at Canconel. The battle between Arc and Canconel had already begun.

  Arc fought with gravity magic.

  He dropped the boulders he’d positioned in the sky, timing each one to rain down on Canconel. Then, whenever an opening appeared, he darted in with his sword.

  Even Canconel was struggling against this.

  “I need to help too!”

  Mina channeled her magic with intense concentration, raising hardened earth walls wherever Canconel tried to retreat.

  “Earth Wall—harden!”

  The walls thundered into existence, one after another.

  “What is this wall?! Get out of my way!”

  Canconel, forced backward by Arc’s assault, swung his arm to slice through the wall with a wind blade—but the blade bounced off.

  “What?!”

  Unable to break through, Canconel slammed into the wall.

  “Gngh!”

  Arc was on him in a flash. Canconel pushed off the wall and tried to dodge, but he was a split second too late. Arc’s blade grazed his right hand, and a spray of crimson scattered in the wind.

  “Curse you, familiar!”

  Canconel tried to leap away and put distance between them. But Mina wouldn’t allow it. She sealed off his escape with another hardened wall.

  “Not this damn wall again!”

  Canconel swore, but with Arc’s sword bearing down, he had no choice but to run. And there, too, Mina raised another wall. Finally, Arc’s blade found its mark—plunging into Canconel’s left thigh.

  “GWAAAGH!”

  Canconel kicked Arc away and launched a wind blade, but Arc flipped through the air to dodge it, then drove a kick straight into Canconel’s stomach. Canconel’s body folded like a shrimp.

  “Guhh…”

  He staggered and tried to flee—but Mina cut off his retreat with yet another hardened wall. At last, Canconel collapsed to the ground.

  Mina’s eyes gleamed as she looked at Arc.

  “We’ve got him! Let’s finish this!”

  A fierce grin spread across her face.