(Erica POV)

...what?

"Oh no." Arthur muttered.

He...he was right there. I had him. I was holding him. I was gripped onto him. He slapped my hand. He fell. Why? Why?

No no no no, this can't be it. No, this isn't true. This isn't right. No, that doesn't make sense. Ken will come back. I know it. Any second now.

Any second now another rift will open and he will come back out. I know it. Come on Ken, don't keep me waiting.

Ken. Ken. This isn't funny. Come back. You can take on that Demon King. Come on. Come on. Come back to me. This isn't funny.

Please. Come back. I need you. I need you. I can't...I can't live without you. Don't let that dream be true. Ken! Ken! Come back!

COME BACK!

Ken!

No...please...

I felt myself sink to my knees as tears ran down my cheeks. Why? Why would he do this? I've heard him say he isn't the self-sacrificial type when we play Fairy Knights together and one of them sacrifices themselves.

So why? Why did he do it? He lied. Of course he did, he always has been like that. He's amazing, but he's also a trickster. It's his nature. It's why he's bonded to Loki.

Ken. Ken. Ken. Ken. Ken. Ken. Come back. Ken, I swear to god. Ken. Ken. Come back. Please. I can't. Ken. Ken. God. Ken. Ken. I can't live. Ken. Ken. Ken. No. No. Ken. Ken. Come back. Ken. I need you. No. Ken. I need you. Ken. Please. Ken. I'll do anything. Come back.

No matter how much I pleaded, nothing happened. A deafening silence was left behind where the rift once was.

He wasn't coming back.

...

WHY?!

Why, damn it?! That should have been me! Not him! I would have done it! I would have pushed that damn demon in there myself if it would have saved Ken! Why?!

Why?!

...why?!

...why?

...why.

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Erica..." Arthur muttered sadly. "Please...get up."

I shakily stood to my feet, my hands clenched hard. I just now noticed that they were dug into my skin, painting my hands red with their blood.

I looked behind me to the others. They weren't doing well either. Principal and Emi were looking in horror at where Ken once was.

Irene was deathly quiet, staring at where Ken had disappeared.

Aoi's face was blank, but her shaking and clenched hands said everything her face didn't.

Tears streamed down Lily's eyes as she collapsed to her knees like I did.

Iris had a hand over her mouth, gaping in horror as she sobbed.

Amber's eyes were wide open, her gauntlet-clad hands clenched into fists.

Yui stared at where Ken once was, twitching. She couldn't believe it. Yet, she had to.

Bianca stared at the ground, her face as blank as ever. No one knew what she was thinking.

In the distance the Dragon roared, spraying fire down onto countless innocents. That dragon...because of that Demon King.

I started to walk towards the Dragon. I was going to kill it. For Ken. And then I'll tear through the universe itself if I have to in order to get back to Ken.

"Erica...where are you going?" Principal asked, looking over to me. Her eyes were red as tears streamed down her face.

"I'm killing that fucking Dragon." I spat out. "Even if it's the last damn thing I do."

Principal seemed to cry even more. "Please...Erica, don't...I already failed Ken...I can't lose another one...that's an S Rank..."

Irene walked over, patting Principal on the shoulder. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them with the fiercest stare I'd ever seen. It wasn't directed at any of us, however.

It was directed at him, even though Ken had tackled him back into the void. He wasn't in our sight, but I knew Irene held a burning hatred for him.

"She won't be alone." Irene stated. "She has us. We're going to take that Dragon down, and then go into the void and drag Ken back here."

"But...the seal..." The Principal continued to break down. I had never seen her like this before.

"Doesn't matter. Nothing. And I mean nothing, will separate Ken from me." Irene stated. "He'll never escape me."

"Clingy." Emi noted.

"Besides, I've gotten the troops ready. They're currently helping innocents to safe houses, but they can come help us at the drop of a hat if needed." Irene informed.

"What...troops...?" Principal asked, keeping in a sob.

"The Cult Of Loki. You do know that I'm their leader, right...?" Irene stated.

"How...never mind...of course you are..." Principal sadly chuckled.

She wiped the tears out of her eyes. She took a deep breath, calming herself down. She glanced once more at where Ken once was, before steeling herself.

"Fine. We'll kill that Dragon. But there's one more person who will want to join in. Give me a moment." Principal stated.

She took another deep breath. "I'm not ready for this."

She took out her phone, dialing a number. She placed the phone up to her ear. "Where are you?"

"...Okay. See the giant raging Dragon?" She asked.

"...Meet us there. We're taking it down, and I have something I need to tell you." Principal stated.

"...It'd...be better if I said it in person." Principal sighed. "Meet you there."

She hung up the phone, placing it back into her pocket.

"Who was that?" Emi asked.

"Shadow. Ken's Mother." Principal grimaced.

"Oohhhh..." Emi realized. "You're dead."

"...and I deserve it." Principal whispered. "Now come on. Are you all ready?"

She turned to the other girls. Each and one of them now stood to attention, determined with the rage of a thousand suns.

"That Demon King is going to pay." Growled Iris.

"We'll kill his pet first. Then we'll go for him. Oh, it will be great to hear his screams." Yui grinned a crazy smile. "No one gets to hurt Ken except for me."

Lily elbowed her. "Don't be abusive. But we're definitely going to give Ken hell for this. WHEN we drag him back."

"Mhm." Bianca nodded.

"I...want to strangle him..." Aoi growled. I wasn't sure if she was talking about Ken or the Demon King. Either way, I understood.

"I'm going to punch that Dragon's face in." Amber stated, her voice deadly calm.

"Definitely ready." Sweatdropped Principal. "Alright, come on."

We headed through the city to where the Dragon was terrorizing. It wasn't hard, not with the screams and the fact that the Dragon towered over multiple buildings.

As we turned into the street which the Dragon was squeezed in, everything was charred. The buildings, the floor, and even the bodies of numerous innocents.

While seeing dead bodies have been bothering me less and less recently, I still felt sorry for the innocents that died. Unless they were Children of Lupercio.

Then I hope they suffer. They can fuck themselves in hell where they belong.

The Dragon looked towards us, snorting fire from its nostrils. It roared, fire spewing out of it's mouth.

Bianca extended her arm. The fire approached us, before the fire was completely frozen by her ice. It was a scale of power I hadn't ever seen from her before.

She looked at the Dragon with her blank face. But if you looked into her eyes, you could see the undying hate.

She reared her foot back, slamming it into the frozen ice structure. It jerked upwards, hitting the Dragon and shattering against his head like glass.

She's way stronger than last time...

Lily jumped from building to building, climbing upwards. She jumped onto the unaware Dragon's back. She ran upwards, before jumping onto the head and slamming her knife into the Dragon's eye.

The Dragon roared in pain as blood splurged from its eye. It shook violently, Lily being thrown from the top.

However, she started to twist in the air as she landed back onto the ground like a cat, all four limbs on the ground and completely unharmed despite the humongous size of the Dragon.

She learned after the incident with the Megalodon where Ken had to catch her.

Principal extended her hands, multiple blasts shooting out and creating small holes into the Dragon's chest, each probably an inch deep. It roared in a mixture of pain and anger as it stumbled.

Emi cut off one of the Dragon's toes, distracting the Dragon. It breathed fire down upon her, but Iris quickly moved at the quickest speeds that I had seen. Her arms and legs sparked with electricity as she brought her shield up, blocking the fire from reaching them.

The Dragon slammed it's tail into her shield, sending the two crashing into the ground but relatively unharmed.

Before it could breath fire upon us, multiple pink objects slammed into it from somewhere, multiple pink explosions scattering across it's scales. It staggered backwards, unharmed but buying us time to get prepared again.

Where did those come from? I looked around, but couldn't see. We're those arrows?

Despite its numerous damages, the Dragon went on as if it was unaffected. It snarled down at us, ready to burn us all. We needed a fatal blow. But how? I read about Dragons and how they don't have many weaknesses.

But with a strong enough attack, If you can injure the neck you can deal serious damage to the Dragon. The problem are the scales.

But maybe...my Holy Strike can do something.

As the Dragon roared at us, another stream of fire blasted out. However, before the stream of fire could hit any of us, another powerful stream of fire clashed against it.

Standing in front of us was a new person. Dressed in a simple hoodie with sweatpants, the hoodie was pulled up and a dark mask completely covered the face.

This was Shadow. The S Rank who nobody knew the real name of. At least, except for us.

The Dragon's fire stopped as it looked down at us angrily. Shadow turned towards us. "Do they know?"

Principal nodded.

Shadow took off the mask and pulled the hood down, showing a beautiful woman with long sea-green hair like Ken's. Her eyes looked just like his.

It was his mother. If only our meeting could have been better.

"I got here as fast as I could." She stated. "I took the plane."

"Couldn't you have done your flying flame thing?" Principal asked.

"I could, but it would have drained a lot of energy to get here. And with what you said and how you sounded, it seemed I would need that energy." She explained.

She looked around. "And I definitely needed that energy. By the way, where's Ken?"

Principal sighed. The others continued to annoy the Dragon in the background while Principal looked at Ken's Mother, tears welling in her eyes.

"He pushed the Demon King into void." Principal whispered.

"What-" Ken's Mother started to say before her eyes widened. "No, you don't mean-?!"

"He was pulled in after." Principal's hands clenched.

Ken's Mother stood there, shocked. Her eyes were unfocused as she stared at the ground. "You...you're kidding...?"

"I'm not." Principal choked.

Ken's Mother started to shake. Her eyes became dilated as her hands clenched into deadly fists.

"Ken's Mother." I stated.

She looked towards me, confused. "Huh?"

"My name is Erica Arthurson, Ken's Girlfriend". I stated.

"Wait what, but Irene-?" Principal whispered confused.

"We're going to kill this Dragon and then drag Ken back here whether he likes it or not." I stated. "But I need help. I need to get up close to the Dragon's neck."

She looked at me. "I see... if only we could have met in better circumstances...alright."

She suddenly grabbed me.

"Huh?"

And then she chucked me towards the Dragon. I flew through the air, adjusting myself as I traveled closer to the Dragon.

Not what I expected, but it works.

I glared at the Dragon, getting Excalibur ready. I pulled him backwards, charging my sword with the most powerful Holy Strike ever.

Arthur. Put everything into this attack.

"Alright." Arthur stated. "Make it pay."

I felt power flow through the sword as I sailed towards the Dragon. It's eyes connected with mine as it's mouth opened, ready to burn me to a crisp.

"DIE, FUCKER!!!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I swung my sword as hard as I could. A brilliant slash of light shot out from the blade, growing to incredible sizes as it flew towards the Dragon.

It's eyes widened, but it was too late. The strike slashed through the Dragon's neck, penetrating through the scales and exiting out the other side.

The Dragon's head slid off, falling down to the ground as the Dragon collapsed, taking a building with it.

But I was exhausted. I didn't even have the strength to move. I fell down towards the ground. Irene caught me, holding me in her arms before I could crash and die.

Irene lightly smiled. "Good job."

"...thanks." I coughed.

Principal and Ken's Mother walked over as Emi trialed behind them, looking scared for some reason. Principal stared at me with widened eyes. For some reason there was also a slap mark on her face.

"Holy shit, Erica." She gasped.

"Good job." Ken's Mother smiled, before jerking her head to the side and staring wide-eyed at where we had originally come from.

"Do you feel that...?" She muttered.

"I do." Principal winced.

What's going on?

"A rift is opening. A large one." Ken's Mother stated. "And it's back where you fought the Demon King, isn't it?"

"It is." Principal confirmed, grimacing. "We need to go, now."

We quickly ran back to where we once where. Where Ken...I don't even want to think about it.

Once we arrived, my worst fears became true. The rift was opening back up. The Demon King's head popped through.

But only the head. It rolled against the ground, decapitated from the rest of the body. The Demon King was dead.

And staggering through the rift was Ken. Bruised, bloody, and holding two souls in his hands.

He looked towards us, a small smile forming on his face. "I'm back."