Chapter 15: Crimson Heaven Slash

Philly raised a gigantic sword formed entirely from crimson flames high above her head.

The firelight dyed the entire forest crimson.

“Miss, watch carefully now~”

Holy crap, what is this?!

Dolores stared in shock at the towering crimson blaze.

The flames were still growing even higher.

The Flame Demon on the opposite side was visibly frightened by the sight.

The pressure emitted by those pink flames made it feel suffocated.

Compared to the overwhelming pink inferno, the black flames in its hands looked pitifully tiny.

“No, this must be some kind of illusion!”

The Flame Demon’s competitive spirit was ignited.

It frantically condensed the black flames in its hands, trying to imitate Philly by forming them into a gigantic shape.

“It’s only ordinary mortal fire!”

“My hellfire cannot possibly lose!”

However, no matter how desperately it pushed the Demon God’s power within its body, the black flames in its hands always remained a full level beneath the pink flames.

Like a tiny spark foolishly attempting to compete with the sun.

“Miss~ stand a little farther back.”

“I’m worried I might accidentally hurt you~”

Philly’s long hair danced amidst the heatwaves.

Blazing crimson light flickered within her amber eyes as a confident smile appeared on her lips.

Dolores obediently retreated over ten steps.

Her foot bumped into a tree root.

Seeing a tree behind her that had somehow survived the black flames, she directly hid behind it.

That sword strike of Philly’s was probably going to blow up the entire canyon.

Should she hide even farther away?

“That should be enough~ Mr. Flame Demon.”

Philly gripped the sword hilt with both hands as the crimson flames on the giant sword violently surged.

“Catch this properly now~”

【Crimson Heaven Slash】

The gigantic crimson pillar of flames descended.

Its flaming trail painted a beautiful afterimage through the sky.

Before the Flame Demon could even finish condensing the black fireball in its hands, the flaming pillar was already right in front of it.

BOOM!!!

An intense pink light illuminated the entire canyon.

The dense forest was instantly split into two halves, leaving behind a massive trench burning with pink flames.

The Flame Demon’s entire body was ignited by the crimson fire.

The black-flame stone monster immediately became a pink-flame stone monster.

It frantically slapped at itself, trying to extinguish the flames covering its body.

But the more it tried, the stronger the fire burned.

“What kind of flames are these?!”

“Why won’t they go out?!”

Panic filled its voice.

It attempted to use black flames to devour the pink fire.

Yet the moment the black flames touched the pink flames, they themselves were swallowed instead.

【Crimson Heaven Slash】 was a combination sword skill that fused fire magic with holy magic.

The beautiful crimson flames were merely an outward appearance.

What truly prevented the Flame Demon from extinguishing the flames was the holy power hidden within.

Holy magic naturally countered the dark magic of demonkind.

Even though the Shadow Demon had transformed into a Flame Demon, its magic source was still fundamentally that of a Shadow Demon.

And Shadow Demons possessed pure dark-element magic.

It was being completely hard-countered.

“No!”

The Flame Demon let out a despairing roar as it helplessly watched the pink flames consume its body.

Philly stood there quietly, watching as the Flame Demon completely turned to ashes.

The crimson flames upon her sword gradually faded, scattering into sparks drifting through the air.

She swung her sword, drawing a beautiful arc before smoothly returning it to its sheath.

Was it over?

Dolores peeked out from behind the tree.

After confirming the Flame Demon had completely disappeared, she walked over to Philly while staring at the trench still scattering glowing embers.

What surprised her most was the fact that Philly could already use 【Crimson Heaven Slash】 at this point.

This was a skill that should only become obtainable during the middle stages of the game.

Its power could be increased through charging, theoretically making it a skill with no upper limit.

Dolores didn’t know Philly’s exact current strength.

Even according to the absolute fastest growth route in the game, Philly should at most have only reached the level of a pseudo-Rank 5 Magic Swordswoman.

Her mastery over sword aura shouldn’t yet be fully refined, and the sword aura she generated should still be unstable.

But now it was obvious—

Philly absolutely already possessed the strength of a true Magic Swordswoman.

Since Philly had reincarnated, it wasn’t strange for her to possess methods of rapidly improving herself and surpassing the game’s original power scaling.

However, 【Crimson Heaven Slash】 was a skill only obtained after reaching Rank 7 Sword Master within the game.

Forcing herself to use such a skill with her current amount of magic power would definitely place a massive burden on her body.

What exactly was Philly thinking?

Since she had already reached the level of a Magic Swordswoman, she could have simply used ordinary sword aura steadily and defeated the Flame Demon without issue.

There was absolutely no need to use such an extravagant, flashy, high-consumption move.

It was complete overkill.

Especially considering Dolores had already exhausted the Shadow Demon for quite some time beforehand.

Even after transforming into a Flame Demon, its remaining magic power was limited.

As long as Philly fought steadily, there was practically no chance she could lose.

Dolores glanced toward Philly.

Sure enough, sweat was already forming around Philly’s temples.

Her breathing had also become heavier.

Looking carefully, even those white silk-covered legs beneath her skirt were trembling slightly, as though she might collapse at any moment.

“Are you alright?”

Dolores asked with concern.

Afraid Philly might suddenly fall over, she instinctively reached out to support her.

“I’m fine~”

“Is Miss worried about me~?”

Yet Philly still maintained that elegant “battle result screen” pose.

“How was my sword strike just now?”

“Wasn’t it cool~?”

This woman!

Dolores instantly lost all desire to worry about her.

Good, good, good.

Now she fully understood.

This woman completely ignored the consequences just to show off in front of her, didn’t she?

Risking her life just to act cool before her—

Only Philly would do something like that.

Thankfully, that slash instantly killed the Flame Demon.

If it had missed, Philly probably would’ve needed another reincarnation.

Dolores increasingly felt that Philly was unreliable.

With such strength, instead of seriously thinking about how to defeat the Demon King in the future, she spent her time showing off and flirting with girls.

No wonder she had reincarnated so many times.

If affection values existed above her head, Dolores would definitely set Philly’s to -99.

Crunch crunch—

The sound of leaves being stepped on echoed nearby.

Someone else was here?

Dolores immediately raised her guard.

A brown-haired girl holding a wand emerged.

It was Delina.

She came too?

“Philly, has it already been resolved?”

Golden light gathered around Delina’s wand.

She had clearly prepared magic power in advance and was ready to cast at any moment.

“Mm, it’s resolved.”

Philly took two steps forward.

Her body swayed slightly, but she immediately steadied herself and prevented herself from collapsing.

“Philly!”

Delina immediately canceled her spell and hurried over to support her.

“I’m fine.”

“I just used a bit too much magic power.”

Philly tilted her head toward Delina.

“But being supported by Delina like this makes it feel like my magic power instantly recovered~”

Dolores was speechless.

???

She had just finished showing off in front of Dolores—

And now she immediately turned around and started flirting with Delina too?

This promiscuous female playgirl really never changes.

Anyone who ended up with her must have accumulated eight lifetimes worth of bad luck.

Dolores suddenly felt that -99 affection wasn’t enough anymore.

Better make it -999 instead.

“Philly is saying strange things again…”

Delina’s face reddened slightly.

Then she noticed Dolores standing nearby.

After seeing the academy uniform on Dolores’s body, she asked curiously:

“Eh? And this classmate is…?”

“This is the beautiful Miss I met in the forest~”

Philly stood up from Delina’s support and gently brushed through her hair with one hand.

“When I arrived, I saw her fighting that Mr. Shadow Demon.”

She tilted her head and winked at Dolores.

“This Miss is really amazing in combat~”

“It’s just a pity that Mr. Shadow Demon was far too cunning and launched a sneak attack from behind while Miss wasn’t paying attention…”

Philly began vividly describing the battle scene with dramatic flair.

Meanwhile, Dolores’s head filled entirely with question marks.

Since when did her fight with the Shadow Demon become this spectacular?