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Tuic gritted his teeth and thrust his lance forward, the tip piercing through a centaur’s chest. These centaurs wore a heavy layer of metal armor, but it wasn’t enough to stop his strike. A thin layer of wind swirled around the surface of the lance, acting like a drill. The demons by his side were tearing through the centaurs with their powers. The two-faced demons four palms acted like unstoppable blades, severing battleaxes and centaurs alike. Tuic wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm, smearing a line of blood on the skin not covered by his helmet. This felt too easy. The small group of angels and demons hadn’t suffered a single casualty, yet the centaurs already lost a quarter of their forces.

Tuic lifted his lance as he charged forward, thrusting towards a nearby centaur. Right before his lance made contact with its armor, the wind circling around the lance dispersed. Tuic’s eyes widened as the lance barely pierced the centaur’s cuirass. The halfling snorted and swung his battleaxe downwards, aiming for Tuic’s head. The angel leapt backwards, pulling his lance with him. He stumbled over a corpse and fell over onto his butt, narrowly avoiding the centaur’s strike. The centaur stood on its hind legs and brought its front hooves downwards, aiming for Tuic’s face. Right before it made contact, a blur crashed into the centaur’s side, knocking it away. It was the bull-headed demon.

“Where the hell have you been?” Tuic asked as he scrambled to his feet. The demon glared at him and snorted before turning around to fight off more centaurs. Tuic saw the centaur with the staff that had the glowing white orb. Wherever it waved its staff, the powers of the angels and demons would dissipate. Tuic shouted, “Regroup on me and push towards their shaman!” He looked around to get the location of his allies. They were spread out, enjoying the slaughter by themselves. He saw Raea deep in enemy lines with the scorpion-tailed female demon.

Raea parried a strike with the shaft of her halberd, knocking the battleaxe out of the enemy centaur’s hands. The halfling’s eyes widened as his arms went numb. The flat of Raea’s halberd flew towards his face and knocked him out before he could react. Raea bit her lip and took a step backwards. She had heard Tuic’s shout. The female demon sank her tail into a nearby centaur before looking at Raea. “You don’t strike to kill?”

“Killing’s not right,” Raea said as she dodged a strike and made her way towards Tuic. “Come, let’s go regroup with them. They’re already starting to push.” A strange expression flickered over the female demon’s face as she followed after Raea towards the group of angels in the distance. She turned her head and saw Palan slaughtering centaurs near her contracted angel. His gaze met hers, and his head nodded slightly.

The female demon licked her lips. “This way,” she shouted towards Raea. Raea knocked another centaur out before turning her head with creased brows.

“But Tuic is…,” Raea began to say but stopped. The female demon’s eyes were glowing with a pink light. Raea’s eyes glazed over as she wobbled and fell onto her side. The demon dashed forward and picked the angel up while fending centaurs off with her tail. She avoided the region of charity controlled by the centaur shaman and retreated to the back. She saw Palan following after her with the bulky, armored angel in his arms. He was using her contractor as a human club, grabbing onto his legs to bash the centaurs to death.

“You didn’t kill him, right?” the female demon asked as Palan dropped her contractor by her feet. She passed Raea to Palan.

“I just hit him over the back of the head,” Palan said. The centaurs that pursued the four redirected their attention towards Tuic’s group who was fighting their way to the shaman. Danger Noodle wrapped its body around Raea. “Wait here,” he said to the female demon before running back into the fray. The scorpion-tailed demon nodded and watched as Palan fought while keeping Raea out of harm’s reach. She glanced at her own unconscious contracted angel and stuffed a sock into his mouth. Her tongue ran over her lips as she began to bind the angel. She could almost taste freedom. She finished tying the last knots and looked towards Palan.

Palan had picked up two battleaxes—one for each hand—from a few corpses on the ground. He had absolutely no technique and just swung as hard as he could. The battleaxes dented and bent, but he discarded them and picked up more after they were broken. He was steadily making his way to Tuic. By now, nearly two-thirds of the centaurs had died. One of the angels had also fallen, and its contracted demon died soon after. The demon had lost its sight and hearing and was quickly dispatched.

The centaur shaman growled as it deflected Tuic’s lance strike with its staff. “Demons! Why are you helping the angels,” it said as it dodged a strike from the two-faced demon. “Are you not their slaves!? Join us in the rebellion. We will eradicate all the angels and reclaim our lands.” As the blows came from all directions, it was beginning to regret not listening to Solra. Its tribe had been too proud to cooperate with other halflings, and now they were about to be killed by a group of twelve people.

Tuic’s lance pierced the centaur shaman’s chest. He lunged forward and grabbed the staff, placing his hand on top of the orb. The light shining out of the orb began to dim. There was a sharp pain in the back of his head and his vision went black. The two-faced demon ignored the shouts coming from the two remaining angels and lifted Tuic’s fallen body. The insect-like demon knocked out the angels and clacked its mandibles. The surrounding centaurs stopped attacking and hesitated. Their leader had died, and it seemed like the demons were rebelling against their angels.

“G-give us the head of that angel and we will let you go,” one of the centaurs said and pointed at Tuic.

The bull-headed demon snorted and stomped his foot, causing flames to engulf a group of centaurs. “Piss off. He’s my prey,” it said. Its nostrils flared, but the fire in its eyes dimmed when it saw Palan. “You free us now.”

Palan smirked as the remaining centaurs dispersed. The insect-like demon was releasing a green gas that caused their bodies to rot on contact. “Don’t forget our contract,” he said. Raea was still held up by Danger Noodle, her eyes glazed over and face flushed.

“Of course,” the two-faced demon said as the demons began to gag and bind the unconscious angels. None of the demons gave a second glance to the dead demon on the side.

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