Just by looking at them, you could tell that the two figures were dangerous. The large one gave off a monstrously strong presence, and the slender one gave the impression of a deadly flower. She (or what seemed to be a female) looked fragile, but she was definitely not any less potent as the figure next to her.

Elsa charged at them nonetheless, a wicked smile on her face. Astoundingly, they didn't react at all.

They just stood there as a crazy woman sped towards them with two wicked swords in her hands.

It wasn't until Elsa was a moment away from slicing both of their stomachs open that they took action. The slender one sidestepped her, and the large one took one of his huge blades and decapitated Elsa before she could reach him. 

At that moment, you slipped your sheaths on and faced one of the most basic human dilemmas - fight or flight. These two people were obviously powerful, so would a successful escape be better than suffering potential casualtie-

You didn't even get to finish that thought, as it was chosen for you. The slender figure suddenly appeared next to you, and you had to activate Akra and jump away as fast as you could.

Beatrice came to Subaru's side and cast Murak, a spell that reduces the effects of gravity. With that, she pushed the two of them away from the deadly figure.

Patrasche swerved and tried to hit the Witch Cultist with the carriage as everybody jumped out of it, but her attack was evaded as the intended recipient jumped over it. 

"Everybody!" you yelled. "We can't run away, so let's come up with a game plan. Who's fighting who?"

"Me and Beako will do what we can, but our firepower is kinda limited, so I'll just try to keep out of the way!" Subaru replied.

"I got th' big 'un!" Garfiel said with conviction.

"I-I can't help! If Elsa-nee sama was no challenge for them, then I... I'm useless!" Meili started to run away from the immediate area, scared of this deadly situation.

The slender figure turned towards the fleeing child, but any attempt to chase Meili was stopped by a flash of black and purple. This was Elsa, whose head had regenerated. 

"Ah~ This is making my heart pound! This one is mine!" She swung her twin blades at the mysterious person, who blocked both of them with astounding precision. Elsa was fighting a master of the sword, but she did not want any help. This was the fight that she had been waiting for.

That left only one opponent for you. 

The large figure had slowly been walking toward your position, and you prepared yourself to fight this embodiment of strength. 

As the hulking Witch Cultist walked towards you, Garfiel stretched his arm out. "(Y/N), I know that you an' Captain have been trainin' an' stuff, but I wanna fight this 'un on my own. I need ta prove that I'm th' strongest."

You didn't like the idea of Garfiel fighting this monstrous opponent on his own, but you backed down for now. He was fighting not only a physical battle, but a mental one. 

'Are you sure that this is the place for the demi human to fight his insecurities? He may perish if you do not interfere.'

'I'll step in when things get bad. I'll let Garfiel test his strength out, but I won't let his stubbornness kill him.'

'And what of the Bowel Hunter? Are you allowing her to fight the other opponent alone?'

'If you're going to question everything, then do you have any better ideas?'

'...No. In all honesty, you are placed in a very disadvantageous situation, and this - with the exception of your exclusion to the battle with the blonde one - may be the optimum solution for the current dilemma. I suggest that you wait and then use one of your stronger magical attacks when one of the opponents are vulnerable. It is best to kill them when you are presented the chance. Additionally, I believe that you should do your best not to engage in close combat, as you will be placed in a very disadvantageous spot if you do so.'

As Echidna gave her analysis of the best course of action, the large robed figure finally approached Garfiel. 

Garfiel had brandished his twin shields as he evacuated the dragon carriage, and now he banged them together. "Come at me, ya big-"

He was forced to cross his arms together as one of the huge blades came slashing at him. 

His arms shook from the impact, and he twisted into the air as a second one came from the side.

'(Y/N), make sure that those blades do not make contact with anybody in this group, with the exception of the one who regenerates. Those are Demon Cleavers, and they are designed to crush the enemy. Any successful strike from those will cripple you.'

'Thanks, Echidna, but I wasn't planning on getting hit anyway.'

This information didn't make you any less worried about Garfiel, but you stayed in your spot for now. It would destroy Garfiel's concentration if you suddenly entered the battle right now, so waiting for an opportunity was the best decision. Unless Garfiel was gaining an upper hand, this was definitely a situation in which you should ignore his request as soon as the battle went bad.

As Garfiel reached the ground after blocking one attack and dodging another, he had to immediately reposition his arms in order to block another strike. This time, the second attack came from the other side, and he jumped backwards in order to avoid death.

With his feet firmly planted on the ground, Garfiel powerfully jumped toward his foe, trying to launch an offensive attack.

This proved useless, as the momentum of his entire body was stopped by one of the giant fists of the Witch Cutist. The figure had opted to use his fist to block Garfiel's attack instead of his Demon Cleavers, but the result was still devastating.

Garfiel used his arms to break his violent impact with the suddenly oncoming ground, and he felt them strain under the immense pressure that they suddenly felt. 

His body tumbled away, gradually slowing down. You pulled one of your swords out from the sheath on your back, but Garfiel had other ideas. "Didn't ya hear what I said?! I got this!"

As soon as Garfiel said this, a dark purple crystal flew at the Witch Cultist. "Minya!" Beatrice shouted while holding on to Subaru's hand. 

The figure stepped to the side and easily evaded the yang attack.

"What was tha' f'r?! I said that I-"

"Shut up!" Subaru exclaimed. "This isn't the time to be acting all tough. Sure, as a man, it's hard to do it, but sometimes you have to admit that you're weak and you need help! I know, because that's all that I ever do! So just accept our help and take this guy down!"

Garfiel looked conflicted, but you took this cue. First, you envisioned a light cover Garfiel, and exclaimed, "Akra!" which buffed him. 

The demi human looked to you with new conviction coming from his new strength, and he nodded his head. Unsheathing the blade that you received from Julius, you used one of your long-range attacks. "Crescent Moon!" Mana collected in your sword and bursted outwards in the shape of a crescent moon. 

The robed figure held out its Demon Cleavers and deflected the magical attack, something that shouldn't have been possible. However, the attack had a wide range, so parts of the robe around the shoulder area had been cut.

You weren't ready to see what was underneath the robe.

One of the cuts near the collarbone area revealed a knuckle. 

A knuckle. At the collarbone.

Your eyes widened, as did Subaru's and Garfiel's when the robe was shredded as the Witch Cultist finally revealed its true form.

He had blue skin, but this wasn't even the scariest part. 

He had six more arms and two more Demon Cleavers.

"Now way..." Garfiel muttered in shock. "He's supposed ta be dead."

"Who?!" You asked with worry.

Gafiel gulped and adopted a scared grin. "This 's Eight-Armed Kurgan. He was th' most powerful warrior 'f the Vollachian Empire 'bout forty years ago 'til he died. We're gonna have 'a interestin' battle."

Elsa

Elsa's battle was completely different than Garfiel's. While he fought a more physical fight, her battle was one of technique.

This fight could be described as a death ballet.

As Elsa maneuvered away from and towards the Witch Cultist, her opponent weaved and parried her attacks with ease. Similarly, Elsa was beginning to take this fight seriously after the first few blows hit her.

For some reason, any wound caused by her opponent's blade would not heal. This would be fatal to anybody except for her.

Elsa continued to chase her skilled opponent and delivered a flurry of blows, all of which were blocked by the opponent's single thin blade.

"Ara~ you thrust really fast and you know all the right spots to hit! How exciting!" Elsa remarked as she swiveled on her feet in order to escape the sword.

"..." Her opponent said nothing, but the persistent attacks told Elsa enough. This was a fight to the death, and that was all that mattered.

As Elsa fought, a pair of frightened eyes watched. Meili was cowering in fear of the two overpowering opponents and in fear of everybody's safety. Most everyone that she cared about was right here, fighting in battles that would only end with death.

There were no mabeasts around, so Meili found herself to be useless. Without mabeasts to order, she had no use in combat.

So when Elsa took another piercing strike through her arm, Meili cried out, "Onee-sama! You have to win! Everybody! You have to win! I don't want anyone to die!"

At this moment, Elsa looked toward Meili and noticed that worried look on her face. Gritting her teeth, Elsa whipped around in the air and managed to twist one of her short swords around the Witch Cultist's blade, and she knocked the black hood back.

As the hood fell, it was confirmed that Elsa's opponent was a woman.

She had fiery red hair and cold, blue eyes. When she saw this, Elsa had a thought - this woman looked remarkably similar to Reinhard van Astrea.

Garfiel

Garfiel was determined to win. He had to prove to everyone - and himself - that he wasn't weak. He was their shield, and he was going to persevere against one of the most powerful people in the world.

There was only one problem: Kurgan had eight arms. Fighting against that was crazy, but he was going to do it.

That is what he thought until he got the crap beat out of him while Kurgan was only using two arms. 

Accepting help... It hurt his pride, but it wasn't dishonorable to win with help if you were against a superior foe. One day, he will become strong enough to win battles like this one on his own, but for now, he will have to get help.

After all, proving yourself meant nothing if you failed and died. That would be worse.

And so Garfiel charged at Kurgan, but he wasn't alone. Behind him but still at a distance away, you stood, mana collecting in your single unsheathed sword.

Garfiel didn't even try to attack this time. He only served as a diversion so that you could have an opening to hit Kurgan with a powerful spell.

Garfiel was attacked with two large arms, which he defended against by deflecting the attacks at an angle with his shields, and then a third arm batted him away. At that instant, when there were only five arms left to defend, you raised your sword, preparing to unleash a devastating attack.

'No! I rescind what I said earlier. Do not use that spell. You will become weak from usage of mana, and there is no guarantee that it will be successful against your opponent.'

You really wanted to use that spell, but in a split-second decision, you listened to Echidna's new instructions.

'Good job, (Y/N). I understand that this is a desperate situation, but I have concluded that you cannot recklessly use most of your mana at this moment. Instead, use something that will not consume a great amount of mana, but will still assist the demi-human in defeating this powerful enemy. You must cast an illusion.'

Illusions were useful only when the people it was applied to didn't know that it was being applied, so you had to somehow tell Garfiel that you were casting an illusion without letting Kurgan know.

'Contrary to that, I believe that you can tell the boy about the illusion. That multi-armed clansman is dead. He is an existence who has been brought back to life and is now controlled, so he should only be acting on instinct and following orders, not thinking for himself.'

'I hope you're right.'

'There is no need to hope. My knowledge is absolute.'

As this was going on telepathically, Garfiel was thrown back and turned to you with a bewildered face. "Why th' h'll didn't ya attack?! I made a' openin' an' you were ready an' evertythin'!"

"Sorry about that," you said as you dissolved the mana that was collected in your sword. "But I had a change of plans. I'm about to cast an illusion instead of attacking, so get ready."

Garfiel smirked. "Ya don't have ta tell me 'gain! Give me th' word an' I'll crush 'im!"

You pictured a new scene, where Garfiel was suddenly doubled down, critically injured. As you imagined this imagery, you released mana and whispered, "Phantasm."

Phantasm was the word that you gave your illusion spell because there wasn't an official Yang spell that created illusions. It means an illusion or apparition (according to Echidna's scouring  of your brain) so it fit well and it sounds pretty cool, so that's what you went with.

You didn't see a change, but you could envision it. "Garfiel, I cast the spell, so go on!" 

Garfiel shook his head, clearing his vision of the false reality that you created between him and Kurgan. He gritted his teeth in a pained smile and bolted towards Kurgan, unlike the Garfiel in the illusion, who was still on the ground.

Garfiel jumped and reared his body back, preparing to land a powerful blow on the eight-armed Witch Cultist's head. His fist closed in, about to deliver a deadly strike, but Kurgan reacted right as the demi human's fist was beginning to touch his blue skin.

Garfiel was caught in surprise, but his instincts kicked in as he brought his shielded arms towards the oncoming Demon Cleaver.

The impact rattled his entire body, and he was sent flying once again.

This time, Garfiel was slow to get back up. The breath was knocked out of him and a few bones were definitely broken. Even with Akra, Garfiel was taking a beating.

"(Y/N)..." he grunted. "I thought tha' you put up a' illusion. It didn't work." As Garfiel was regaining his breath, a soft glow was seen coming from his hands.

This was him casting healing magic on himself. As you had learned through your time with him, Garfiel can use a small amount of healing magic, and he was now using it to presumably heal his broken bones. He didn't have to heal them completely - just enough so that he could keep on fighting at his best strength.

Garfiel stood up as he was finishing up with his healing, but you were beginning to become flustered.

'Echidna, what do I do now?! The illusion didn't work, and like you said, I can't use my stronger attacks!'

'I see. As I said before, this opponent is operating on its instincts, and it seems as if this fighter had a fine-toned battle sense. Even if it cannot see the battle, its performance is not affected. I did not account for this in my calculations.'

 As Echidna diagnosed the problem, Garfiel was being tossed around like a sack of flour. His body moved in directions that it shouldn't have, and his bones groaned dangerously as Kurgan mercilessly pummeled him to the ground.

Of course, Echidna didn't really care.

'In conclusion, you must do something that I am not fond of. You must take a gamble and use that powerful spell. If that does not destroy the reanimated body, I cannot guarantee any chance of victory.'

'Are you sure? Earlier, you told me not to-'

'Just do it.'

And so you acted, just like Echidna (and the Nike slogan) told you to. At this moment, you expelled mana and willed it to collect in your sword.

It did just that, and your sword began to glow once more. At this moment, Garfiel was charging Kurgan again, and the Witch Cultsist used three arms to attack Garfiel, effectively breaking the bones in one of his shielded arms. One more arm came and batted the hurting boy away, but you took this moment to land a powerful, devastating attack.

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

A huge wave of energy lunged from your wave and became larger in every moment that it sped towards Kurgan.

The eight-armed Cultist braced himself against the enormous magic attack, unable to dodge it because of its size. 

Kurgan's body was lit up by the incoming light, and a loud explosion rocked the ground around him as the attack hit him.

"Th' h'll was that?!" Garfiel yelled. He had barely landed away from the attack zone, and he was glad. If it would have hit him, his body would have been disintegrated.

You fell onto one knee as the effects of the massive amount of mana usage began to catch up to you. "This is one of my trump cards. How did you like it?"

Garfiel grinned. "What do ya mean?! That w's awesome!"

Everybody else, except for the red-haired Cultist, also had an impression of awe. Destructive spells of that caliber were not common, but when they were cast, they would always bring devastation along with them.

This momentary lapse in attention gained Elsa a wound through her thigh, which impeded on her ability to dodge and attack.

However, her fight didn't even reach your senses as you anxiously watched the dust caused by Getsuga Tenshou settle down.

If Kurgan survived that hit, then there was no hope. If he died, or did whatever dead people did whenever they 'died', then this whole thing was coming closer to a victory.

Subaru also had his eyes glued to the dust, his hand gripping Beatrice's. If Kurgan wasn't defeated yet, then he would have to intervene by using up the precious mana that Beatrice had collected after using it all against the Great Rabbit.

All of these eyes widened when they saw a silhouette of a body as the dust became clearer.

It was laying on the ground, immobile.

"Victory!" Subaru shouted. "It doesn't matter who we go against! We're the best team out there, and together, we will annihilate the Witch Cult!"

You prepared to raise a fist in celebration, but the optimism had come too early.

Kurgan stood up.

'Do not despair yet, (Y/N). Look at his arms.'

Reading your mind, Echidna stopped you from giving up hope as she pointed out a very important detail.

Kurgan's eight arms was now only one arm, as your attack had decimated the other ones. He had no more demon cleavers, and he was physically spent after surviving Getsuga Tenshou.

"Guys! He only has one arm left, and he's tired! We can do this!" you announced. 

With this realization, Garfiel stood up and cracked his knuckles. "Heh. This fight ain't over yet. We still got some killin' ta do."

He took a deep breath and ran at Kurgan, who redirected the motion of Garfiel's body with his sole arm, keeping the demi human away from him.

After the failed attack, Beatrice raised her hand towards Kurgan and said, "Vita, in fact."

No spells seemed to be cast, but she had actually cast a spell that