Chapter 193: Holding The Line

The moment Reinhard, Emily, and Yuna disappeared up the stairwell, the Baal guards surged toward the landing.

Lily raised Crimson Fang and grinned. "All right, Maki! Let’s see how much trouble we can cause before they realize they should have sent someone stronger."

"Please remember that we’re holding this position, not demolishing the entire tower."

"I can do both!"

"That wasn’t permission!"

Lily charged before Maki could continue arguing. The narrow staircase prevented the guards from surrounding her, forcing the front line to meet her one group at a time. Crimson Fang crashed against a reinforced shield, and Lily followed with a second strike before its bearer could recover. Her spectral swords attacked from either side, forcing the guards behind him to defend themselves instead of supporting their companion.

The front line began giving ground.

Lily tossed a paper bomb behind the retreating guards, then slammed Crimson Fang into the floor. The burst of Mana disrupted their footing just as the bomb detonated, scattering the formation. She rushed through the opening and struck down the nearest guard before turning her blade against another who tried to block her path.

Maki fired past her shoulder. The shot tore a weapon from the hands of an Awakener attempting to flank them, and a seal immediately locked his legs in place.

Lily turned and finished him with Crimson Fang before moving toward the next group.

"You should have stayed with your friends!" she called.

"Stop talking and check the next corridor!" Maki replied.

The first wave fell quickly. D-Ranks and C-Ranks offered little resistance, while the B-Ranks struggled to withstand Lily’s relentless advance and Maki’s precise support. Whenever an enemy tried to regroup, Maki restricted their movements or destroyed their weapons, leaving Lily to finish the fight. The guards who attempted to retreat were pursued before they could raise another alarm.

Their success lasted until the Baal Family changed tactics.

The next group spread into adjoining corridors, with ranged attackers taking positions behind reinforced barriers. Close-combat specialists waited near the corners, ready to intercept Lily if she advanced too far, while the ranged fighters concentrated their attacks on Maki.

Gun God changed shape in Maki’s hands. Its barrel split into several narrow openings, releasing a controlled burst that forced the nearest attackers behind cover. However, the moment she adjusted her aim toward one corridor, another group opened fire from the opposite side.

Lily faced three opponents who refused to leave their defensive position. She tried to force her way forward, but a reinforced strike caught Crimson Fang against the wall. A second attacker hit her from the side, and she stumbled backward as a projectile shattered the stone beside her head.

"Maki!"

"I know!"

Maki’s weapon changed configuration again, but incoming attacks forced her to abandon her aim. Lily sent her spectral swords around the corner, only for the guards to withdraw and draw her toward another crossfire.

For the first time, the two were forced to retreat.

They took cover behind a bend in the staircase. Lily rubbed her shoulder and scowled at the corridor.

"They’re annoying."

"They’re adapting," Maki corrected. "They realized your attacks force them to move, and I use those movements to create openings. Now they’re coordinating their attacks to stop either of us from acting freely."

"So we hit them harder."

"That is not what I said."

"It’s what I heard."

Maki pointed toward the opposite corridor. "We need to disrupt their formation before attacking again. Can you make them move without committing to a direct strike?"

Lily glanced at the weapons secured across her back. She returned Crimson Fang to its back harness and drew Heavenly Principal instead.

"Fine. If they won’t come out, we’ll make them."

She supplied Mana to Heavenly Principal, wrapping its edge in fire before compressing the flames with a twisting current of wind. Rather than releasing the attack immediately, she swept the blade sideways, sending the spiraling fire around the corner and into the ceiling above the defenders.

The explosion showered the corridor with stone fragments. The guards scattered, abandoning their carefully arranged firing positions.

"Now, Maki!"

Gun God lengthened and shifted into a Gatling configuration. Maki fired a controlled burst at the supports holding the protective barriers in place. The impacts forced the defenders to protect their equipment, giving Lily time to advance.

One guard recognized the tactic and shouted an order. The others withdrew behind their barriers while the ranged attackers concentrated their fire on Maki.

Lily changed Heavenly Principal’s element. Ice spread across the floor beneath the defenders, freezing their boots and slowing their retreat. She launched a spectral sword around the corner, forcing the nearest guard to raise his weapon and expose the conduit behind him.

Gun God’s barrel narrowed as Mana gathered along its length, transforming the weapon into a railgun.

A defender saw Maki’s target and moved to shield the conduit with his own body. He planted his feet and raised a reinforced barrier, while the others rearranged themselves to protect him.

"I can’t get a clean shot while he’s covering it," Maki called.

"Then I’ll move him!"

Lily charged with lightning crawling along Heavenly Principal’s edge. Her strike hit the guard’s barrier, and electricity spread across its surface, making the reinforcement flicker. He held his ground, but his attention was now fixed entirely on her.

Maki fired. The projectile damaged the conduit casing, and the barrier network flickered as the energy supporting the formation faltered.

Lily pressed forward with another strike, driving the defender away from the conduit. Her spectral swords attacked from different angles, preventing him from restoring his position.

Maki adjusted her aim and fired again. This time, the railgun pierced the damaged connection.

The protective barriers collapsed in sequence. Lily swept through the opening, cutting down the guards who tried to rally, while Maki’s seals restricted the movement of those attempting to flee. Within moments, the formation had been destroyed.

Lily looked over the defeated defenders. "You know, Maki, I think we’re getting pretty good at this."

"We were getting good at it before you started congratulating yourself."

"Then we’re getting even better!"

A warning sounded from the upper floors. Several heavy doors opened along the staircase, and A-Rank Awakeners emerged.

Their equipment was superior to that of the earlier guards, but the greatest threat appeared when they spread their Mana across the landing.

The atmosphere changed as a dense field expanded through the stairwell and adjoining corridors. Their Mana Domain settled over the battlefield, sharpening their senses and allowing them to manipulate the Mana saturating the area.

One of them smiled at Lily. "Now you understand the difference between fighting ordinary guards and fighting A-Ranks."

A blade of compressed Mana erupted beneath Lily’s feet. She leaped aside, only for another attack to form behind her and strike the space where she was about to land.

Maki fired at the attacker, but a wall of Mana rose between them. Her projectile dispersed against it, and a second attack emerged from the wall’s edge, forcing her behind a pillar.

"They can sense our Mana throughout the Domain!" Maki called. "Hiding won’t stop them from finding us!"

"And their attacks come from anywhere inside it!" Lily replied, dodging another eruption from the floor.

The A-Ranks advanced without rushing. Whenever Lily tried to close the distance, Mana struck her from an unexpected angle. Whenever Maki established a firing position, another attack forced her to move before she could finish aiming. Their Domain had turned the entire landing into a weapon.

Maki switched Gun God into its cannon configuration and fired at the nearest defender. He raised a hand, and the Domain gathered around him to reinforce a barrier. The blast shook the staircase but failed to break through.

A second A-Rank immediately sent a compressed wave of Mana toward Maki. She narrowly avoided it, and the attack shattered the pillar behind her.

Lily tried to reach her, but three attacks erupted around her simultaneously. She deflected one with Heavenly Principal and cut through another with a spectral sword. The third struck her side and hurled her against the wall.

Pain flashed through her body.

She forced herself upright as the A-Ranks continued advancing. Their Domain Sense made surprise attacks difficult, while the Mana saturating the area interfered with her control. Even shaping the elements through Heavenly Principal required more effort.

"Lily!" Maki shouted.

"I’m fine!"

She wasn’t, but she refused to let the enemy see her falter.

Maki studied the Domain while dodging another attack. The A-Ranks were powerful, but their Domain was still an area saturated with their Mana. Unlike an S-Rank, they had not fused their Gnosis with the Domain itself. Their advantage came from controlling the Mana within that territory, not from making their Gnosis an inseparable part of the environment.

That distinction gave her an idea.

"Lily! Keep their attention on you. Don’t try to defeat them yet!"

"That’s easy for you to say!"

"I need you to trust me!"

Lily gritted her teeth and swept Heavenly Principal across the floor, spreading ice beneath the advancing A-Ranks. They forced Mana through the ground and shattered it, but the momentary disruption gave Maki enough time to aim.

Gun God shifted into its railgun configuration. Maki supplied it with Mana and fired at the section where the Domain’s energy was most concentrated. The projectile pierced the field’s flow, creating a brief instability.

One A-Rank immediately recognized the danger.

"Stop her! She’s attacking the Domain!"

He directed his power toward Maki. A crushing wave of Mana swept across the landing, forcing her to brace herself behind Gun God. The pressure nearly drove her to her knees, and the weapon’s barrel began to distort as the force interfered with her control.

The A-Rank smiled, certain he had stopped her.

Then Lily appeared between them.

She struck the ground with Heavenly Principal, sending a burst of wind and fire toward the attacker. Her spectral swords followed, forcing him to defend against multiple angles rather than concentrate his power on Maki.

"Now!"

Maki’s railgun fired again.

The projectile struck the weakened section of the Domain’s Mana flow. The field shuddered, and several A-Ranks lost control of the attacks they had been sustaining. Their Domain remained active, but its pressure weakened around the damaged section.

Maki followed with a second shot. The A-Ranks poured Mana into the unstable area to restore their control, and the pressure surged again, forcing Lily and Maki backward.

One defender raised his hand. A massive blade of compressed Mana formed above the landing.

"Enough," he declared. "You should be proud that you forced us to use this much power. But this is where your advance ends."

The blade descended.

Lily returned Heavenly Principal to its harness and drew the Sword of Chaos with both hands. The movement left no room for hesitation. She could not afford to divide her attention between two weapons against an attack of this magnitude.

The sword began to shine.

Reinhard, Emily, and Yuna had filled it with Mana before the family split up. That stored reserve had remained inside the weapon, waiting for a moment when Lily needed more than her own strength. Now, as the A-Ranks’ Domain pressed down on her, she felt the Mana respond to her grip.

Her smile returned.

"You know," Lily said, lifting the Sword of Chaos, "I’ve been waiting to try this properly."

She drew upon the Mana already stored inside the weapon.

Its radiance intensified as its amplification surged through her body. The A-Ranks sensed the sudden change and reinforced their Domain, pouring more power into the field to suppress her before she could complete the attack.

They were too late.

Lily swung the Sword of Chaos.

A terrifying slash tore across the landing, overwhelming the concentrated Mana before her. The attack struck the Domain like a blade cutting through taut fabric. The A-Ranks’ control shattered, and their Mana Domain collapsed beneath the force of the blow.

The slash continued through the defenders.

Ten A-Ranks stared in shock as the attack bisected them. Their expressions remained frozen in disbelief for the brief moment before their bodies fell, leaving no doubt about the outcome. The remaining Mana dispersed, and the landing fell silent.

Lily lowered the Sword of Chaos, breathing heavily as its radiance faded. The weapon had amplified her attack far beyond what she could have produced alone, but the strain in her arms and the drain on her reserves were unmistakable.

Maki approached, keeping Gun God ready in case another enemy appeared. "You could have warned me before releasing an attack that powerful."

"I was a little busy saving us!"

"You nearly destroyed the landing."

"But I didn’t!"

Maki surveyed the damage. "I’m going to regret teaching you how to use that sword."

"You say that about everything I do."

Lily secured the Sword of Chaos on her back, then drew Crimson Fang again. She charged the surviving defenders, who had lost the protection of their Domain and could no longer coordinate their attacks as before.

Her spectral swords forced one guard to raise his weapon, while Crimson Fang struck him down. Another tried to flank her, but Maki sealed his feet to the floor and fired a concentrated burst from Gun God before he could escape.

Their coordination had changed. Lily deliberately drove enemies toward positions where Maki could attack, while Maki used her seals and changing weapon configurations to create openings for Lily. The guards who continued resisting were cut down, and those who tried to flee were intercepted before they could reach the upper floors.

The surviving defenders withdrew toward the next landing, but the sound of the collapsed Domain had already triggered another response from the tower.

Heavy shutters descended across the staircase. Lines of Mana appeared along the walls, forming a network from floor to ceiling.

Maki recognized the arrangement immediately. The tower was changing its defenses to account for the weapons that had just broken through its previous formation.

[Area defense compromised.]

[Activating close-combat containment system.]

The Mana lines brightened. Reinforced panels shifted inward, narrowing the passage, while the walls began absorbing the energy released by the damaged equipment around them. This formation was designed to limit the space available for broad sword swings and absorb much of the force from explosions and ranged attacks.

Lily rested Crimson Fang against her shoulder and studied the narrowing passage. "They really don’t want us upstairs."

"They’ve recognized what we’re good at," Maki replied. "Your broad attacks will be harder to use here, and the walls may absorb Gun God’s shots before they reach anything important."

Lily tightened her grip on Crimson Fang. "Then we’ll have to find something else that works."

Maki checked Gun God and began forming a seal in her free hand. "Let’s inspect the mechanism before you decide to solve everything by hitting it."

"No promises."

The shutters slammed into place, sealing the next landing behind a narrow opening. Beyond it, the tower’s defenses hummed with gathering Mana.

Lily stepped forward, with Maki beside her.

"Let’s see what they’ve prepared," Lily said.