The sword hit James with everything that woman had, sending him flying several yards backward.
His body crossed the hall until he slammed back-first into one of the enormous stone columns.
That impact would have been enough to shatter a normal person’s bones before they even hit the ground.
However, to James’s surprise, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of pain.
’...Huh?’ he said, still with his eyes half-closed by instinct. "Did nothing actually happen to me?"
Meanwhile, from across the hall, the blonde woman watched him with a furrowed brow.
It was clear she hadn’t expected James to still be in one piece after that either.
"Impossible..." she said, breathing heavily. "That blow should have split you in two."
He got to his feet slowly, leaning against the cracked column, still not quite believing what was happening.
She clenched her teeth and launched herself at him again.
And even though he saw her coming this time, it wasn’t like he could do much about it.
She simply moved too fast for him to react.
The sword came down toward his shoulder, and James, not knowing what else to do, simply closed his eyes and braced himself.
Clang.
The sword hit the shoulder plate and bounced off without leaving a mark.
But that didn’t stop her, she kept attacking over and over without pause.
She threw cuts at his side, his neck, his legs, chaining one sword strike after another.
Each impact echoed through the entire hall with a metallic sound, and every single one of them bounced off his armor without doing him the slightest damage.
James, meanwhile, backed away with his arms raised in front of him, trying to cover himself even though it wasn’t really necessary.
’Either this woman is completely weak, or I’m absurdly strong,’ he thought, clumsily dodging the woman’s attacks. ’Though if I had to bet... I’d say it’s the latter.’
"Why the hell won’t you fall?!" the woman shouted, growing more and more frustrated. "What kind of monster are you?!"
"Hey, that’s very rude!" he protested indignantly. "And for the record, I’m not a demon!"
She simply ignored him and jumped back to create some distance.
Then she raised her sword above her head with both hands and suddenly the entire blade began to glow with an intense golden light.
"It’s over, Demon Lord!" she screamed with everything she had. "Divine Restrictions Lifted, Sacred Judgment!"
James saw her charging the attack, and for the first time since the ’fight’ had started, he decided he was fed up with just standing there taking hits.
’Alright... she didn’t leave me any other choice,’ he thought before launching himself at full speed toward her.
And in just a blink, almost as if he had teleported, he was only a few inches from the blonde woman.
"Damn!" she said, caught off guard.
James threw a light punch at the woman’s chest, convinced it would barely move her.
But the moment his fist made contact, he noticed something he hadn’t expected.
The sensation was strangely soft, like hitting a pillow.
’So that’s what it feels like to punch a woman...’ he thought, somewhat amused.
She, unable to react in time, took the punch squarely and was sent flying until she slammed into the far wall.
The impact shook the entire hall and made the floor tremble.
Her body sank into the wall, a shower of dust and stones rained down on her, and her sword bounced across the floor until it came to rest several yards away.
James froze, his hand still extended in the air.
"...What?" he said, completely incredulous.
A shower of dust and stones was just beginning to fall when James sprinted toward her, his stomach in knots, fearing the worst.
The woman was lying against the base of the wall, half-buried in the rubble, with her armor dented and her breathing ragged.
Alive? Yes, but barely.
She coughed sharply as a little blood came from her mouth and raised her head with great effort to look at him.
Her red eyes, before so full of hatred and determination, now looked at him helplessly.
"Do it... finish this," she said between gasps, her breathing heavy. "You’ve won... I don’t have the strength left... to keep fighting."
James stopped a couple of steps from her and raised both hands instantly.
"No, no, no, wait! I’m not finishing anything!" he said, with the softest voice he could manage. "I don’t want to fight you and this whole thing started as a misunderstanding."
She didn’t say a single word. She simply lowered her head.
James took that silence as a good sign and slowly moved toward her to try to help her.
A fatal mistake.
The instant he was within her reach, she grabbed onto James with all the strength she had left.
"Got you!" she said as a crazed smile spread across her face.
But right at that instant, without warning, the translucent screen suddenly appeared in front of James again.
[Detecting sacred energy spike of unknown origin...]
[Analyzing threat...]
[ERROR.]
[ERROR.]
[Sacred energy is interfering with the User’s core.]
[Critical corruption detected in attribute module.]
[Attempting to stabilize...]
[Failure.]
[FORCING EMERGENCY RESTART TO PROTECT USER INTEGRITY.]
[Strength: SSS → ▓▓▓ → F]
[Endurance: SSS → ░░░ → F]
[Speed: SSS → ███ → F]
[Agility: SSS → F]
[Magic Power: SSS → F]
[Magic Defense: SSS → F]
[Vitality: SSS → F]
[Perception: SSS → F]
[Luck: SSS → F]
[$#@!%&]
"Huh?!"
And then the woman’s body began to glow.
A golden light rose from her chest and spread at full speed across her entire body, growing more and more intense with every passing second.
While the halo above her head began spinning faster and faster.
James felt the heat increasing against his chest and, for the first time since he had arrived in this world, felt genuine terror.
"Hey, hey, hey, what the hell are you doing?!" he said, trying to pull away from her. "Let go of me!"
But she didn’t loosen her grip, on the contrary, she held him even tighter.
"I’m sorry that my death has to be alongside someone as despicable as you," she confessed, in a calm, resigned voice. "Of all the ways I imagined dying... this is without a doubt the worst."
"What the hell are you talking about?! Let go of me right now!" James desperately tried to peel her off his body. "I told you to let go!"
"But if this is what it takes to finish you off," she continued, ignoring him completely, "if my life can put an end to this war... and save the world from monsters like you... then I’m at peace with it."
The light became so bright James could barely keep his eyes open.
"No, no, no, wait! This isn’t necessary! We can talk about it! I swear we can talk about it!"
"Goodbye, Demon Lord."
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, CRAZY BITCH?!"
KBOOOOM!