In the beastkin's camp, Emilia was observing the situation of the battlefield with a calm smile.
She kept that smile on her face even when Louise, Akilah, Marana, Nana, and Clarice appeared. She did not seem upset by the fact that her dad's women were destroying her men.
Just a pair of minutes after the five girls appeared on the battlefield, the advantage that the beastkin had gotten had been turned around, and the human army had started to press up the bearskin.
Just at that moment, a young female wolfkin approached her.
"Your Majesty, should I intervene?" I promise to kill these insolent girls and regain the advantage of the beastkin.
Emilia looked at the wolfkin girl and smiled. This girl was one of the powerhouses she trained for this war. She had managed to bring this girl to the level of an Irregular.
If her strength was measured by this world's standards, she should be around the eighteenth layer.
With her strength, if the wolfkin girl stepped forward now, she could take care of Louise and the other girls easily.
But–
"It's not the time for you to fight yet, Selena." Emilia chuckled softly. "Don't worry, your turn will reach soon."
"But, at this rate…"
"You don't need to worry." Emilia's face was calm as her blood-red eyes observed the battlefield. "I prepared a few surprises for this kind of situation."
Just then, a beastkin powerhouse suddenly shouted.
"For the Alliance!"
In the next instant, the beastkin rushed towards Louise and the others girls without caring about their attacks.
Then, his body swelled up, and-
*BOOM!!!*
It exploded, creating a second sun in the sky!
"Look. The show has already started." Emilia's face carried a beautiful smile.
But for some reason, the wolfkin girl could not help but feel terrified after seeing her smile like that.
…
The self-detonation of that beastkin powerhouse took the girls by surprise.
Fortunately, all of them reacted quickly, escaping from the range of the explosion safely.
But that was just the start.
In the next second, a second beastkin powerhouse rushed towards them with eyes filled with madness.
"Damn…!" Akilah cursed and tried to kill him before he self-destructed, but she failed.
*BOOM!!!*
"Akilah!" Marana shouted in panic when she saw her sister being swallowed by the explosion. But fortunately, her sister appeared unharmed in the next second.
Louise had managed to create a force barrier around her before the explosion occurred.
"T-Thank you." Akilah thanked her with a pale face.
But then, the faces of the girls became pale.
Because at that moment, around ten beastkin powerhouses were rushing towards them.
"Fu–"
And then, the entire sky was turned white.
The scorching heat of the explosions extended through the battlefield, and the shockwaves were felt by both humans and beastkin. The scene of ten powerhouses self-destructing at the same time was so shocking that both camps stopped battling in shock.
Even a fifteenth-layer powerhouse would have died in that situation.
But when the explosions faded out, the five girls appeared unscathed.
They were behind a force barrier that Louise had created.
However, although the girls had not been injured, Louise was panting heavily and her face was ashen white.
In the next second, she vomited a mouthful of blood.
"Ugh!"
"Louise!"
"Are you alright?"
Nana and Clarice held her body worriedly, and Louise barely managed to nod.
But at that moment, they saw a despair-inducing scene.
They realized that they had been surrounded by beastkin powerhouses.
And every one of them was looking at the girls with bloodshot eyes.
"Get ready to defend!"
Marana shouted, and the five girls prepared their defensive techniques in a hurry.
But they knew it was not enough. None of them was that good at defending, and Louise, the only one that had a chance to protect them, was not in a good state.
In the current situation, it was very likely that they would be gravely injured.
But just when they gritted their teeth to force themselves to endure the explosions, a translucid barrier appeared around them.
"[Sacred Protection]!"
Then–
*BOOMM!!!*
The biggest explosion of the day occurred.
The human soldiers looked at the sky in shock. They could not imagine someone surviving that kind of explosion.
But to their surprise, when the flames disappeared, they saw the five girls completely unhurt!
Moreover, a sixth girl had appeared in the sky. She was the one who had created the barrier.
Clara Nier, the former saintess of the Church of Order and Lightning, and Claus's official fiancée.
Same as Louise and the other four girls, she had not managed to become an Irregular. However, her strength had also increased greatly during the past month.
She was not that good at battles, so Claus was not planning to send her to the battlefield. But when it came to supporting and protecting allies, she was one of the best among Claus's women.
As soon as Claus saw the girls' precarious situation, he told Clara to get ready to interfere.
Thanks to that, none of the girls was injured.
Inside the command center, Claus looked in the direction of Emilia and smiled.
"That won't work anymore, Emilia."
"… I know," Emilia replied with a giggle. "I was expecting that."
Claus's expression changed. In the next instant, he looked in the direction of the girls.
All of sudden, a man had appeared behind them. He was just a fifteenth-layer practitioner, but he had appeared without anyone noticing.
Not even he had noticed. It was due to him using most of his senses to observe Emilia plus Emilia subtly hiding it from him.
When the man appeared, it was already too late for any of the girls to react.
In that instant, the man thrust his sword towards Louise's back.
And blood dripped to the ground.