No matter how many times Tingle experienced it, it never failed to amaze her.
The Spirit Rider transformation, the state that granted her full access to Pip's abilities, and, in a sense, Pip herself, was simply incredible.
It didn't hurt that she essentially became a six-foot-tall fighting machine the moment the transformation was complete.
Another boon of becoming a Spirit Rider was the instinctive ability to fight, and fight well.
Every Spirit Rider possessed the intrinsic skill [Battle Born], granting them instinctive mastery over armed and unarmed combat, allowing even complete novices to fight like seasoned veterans the instant they entered their transformed state.
Unfortunately, neither the Automara nor their hosts could access the skill outside of the transformation.
It didn't matter. Not now. Tingle was in her Spirit Rider form, and she would use the intrinsic skill to its fullest.
Her armour was a brilliant cyan from head to toe, broken only by the crimson, moth-shaped visor covering her helmet.
Reflected across that visor was a plume of crackling fire.
[Thinker] identified it immediately as {Nuclear Flame}, and that it would be less than one tenth of a second from now.
Allowing such an attack to detonate would devastate the surrounding area. Even if Tingle herself survived the blast, the destruction alone would be an unnecessary nuisance.
So she spun. Her enlarged chakram left her hand in a blur of cyan light.
The Greater Demon raised its hand, preparing to unleash {Nuclear Flame}, then, without realizing it, it no longer had a hand.
Its severed arm fell away a heartbeat before the pain could even register.
Before the demon could scream, the returning chakram sliced cleanly through the back of its skull, burst out through its goat-like face, and curved gracefully back into Tingle's waiting hand.
The chakram hadn't even settled back into her hand before [Thinker] was already presenting the next series of conclusions.
Three Greater Demons approaching from her left. One was preparing a long-range curse. One favored close combat. The last intended to circle around and attack from behind while the others occupied her attention.
She ducked beneath the incoming claw without consciously deciding to, [Battle Born] moving her body with practiced efficiency while [Thinker] quietly supplied the ideal sequence of actions.
Her elbow drove into the demon's abdomen, and Its posture collapsed, then with a flash of her chakram, Its head rolled across the blackened earth.
The second was already chanting. No. It would begin chanting in another two tenths of a second.
Tingle threw her weapon before the first syllable ever left its mouth.
The spinning blade carved through both forearms before returning once again, only for Tingle to catch it, reverse her grip, and drive the edge beneath the demon's jaw.
The third wisely chose not to engage. Instead it leapt high into the air, intending to descend upon her blind spot.
"... that's too predictable you know? No match for us."
She didn't even look. Instead her wings snapped open.
One powerful beat carried her upward just enough for the demon to pass harmlessly beneath her.
As it did, the edge of one metallic wing swept across its neck.
The body landed several paces away. Its head landed somewhere else entirely.
Only then did Tingle finally have the opportunity to properly observe the battlefield. "...So that's the Gate of Hell."
Calling it a gate was... misleading.
It wasn't a doorway. Nor was it some great stone arch leading into another world.
It looked more like reality itself had been torn apart. The air overlapping with something that clearly did not belong.
Space folded inward upon itself, revealing a jagged wound hanging several meters above the ground.
Beyond that tear existed another world entirely. One drowned beneath endless crimson skies.
Lightning danced through clouds of black miasma while distant mountains seemed to drift upside down.
The Demon Realm and the Cardinal World occupied the same space, refusing to acknowledge that they were supposed to be separate.
From that wound... They poured endlessly. Lesser Demons. Greater Demons. Arch Demons. The tide never seemed to stop.
"So many..." She understood now why Leon had left the Gate alone for centuries. Why he'd never provoked the being capable of starting this flood.
Another cluster of demons rushed toward her.
Around the battlefield, the Spirit Riders and El Dorado's Knight Corps fought side by side, carving through the endless tide as more continued spilling from the breach.
Her gaze drifted backward for only a moment.
ArchMage Lord Kanade stood exactly where she had left him. Hands tucked into his sleeves.
He hadn't yet cast a spell. He simply observed the battlefield with that same relaxed expression, as though he were attending a lecture instead of standing before the entrance to Hell itself.
Tingle smiled beneath her helmet.
Good.
That was exactly how it should be.
If Sir Kanade had to intervene every time something happened, there would hardly be any point in Maple Tree maintaining the Spirit Riders at all.
Protecting him... No. Ensuring he never needed to fight. That was their duty.
Her eyes shifted briefly toward Maureen. "Looks like she understands too."
[xxx]
Maureen had never believed herself to be special. For as long as she could remember, she'd considered herself less than average.
She had always been overlooked, no matter the occasion, and she'd grown so accustomed to it that when something good finally happened to her, she wasn't even surprised that it ended with her drowning after being betrayed by her best friend.
What had she really expected, after all? That the most popular boy in class would ask her out? The boy every girl had a crush on. The same boy who, indirectly, had been the cause of her death.
Maureen had never been special... Until she woke up in this world.
She bent down and scooped up a handful of the corrupted earth before letting it slip slowly through her fingers.
Each grain of blackened sand drifted back to the ground, carried by the miasma-laden wind.
Her Spirit Rider transformation clad her in pitch-black armour from head to toe, broken only by a grey, cloud-shaped visor whose surface constantly shifted like rolling fog.
She was one of only three Black Spirit Riders in the entire Spirit Rider Corps. One of the others was the Corps' second-in-command, Glenda Atlee.
Surrounding her were the rapidly disintegrating remains of dozens of demons she had already slain in the twenty or so seconds since the Archmage, Lord Kanade, had teleported them directly before the Gate of Hell.
[Spatial Arithmetic] was the Unique Skill born from the union of her own [Calculator] and Yurne's intrinsic skill, [Spatial Manipulation].
It was a perfect synthesis of the two, allowing mathematical calculation and spatial authority to function as a single ability.
Another Arch Demon appeared.
Maureen barely had time to blink before it was standing directly behind her.
Fast. Far faster than the Greater Demons she'd been cutting down.
It must have been one of the stronger Arch Demons.
It didn't matter.
Through [Spatial Arithmetic], she was constantly aware of the space surrounding her, as though every inch of it had become an extension of her own senses.
With nothing more than a thought, she divided the space the demon occupied.
The distance between its head and pelvis collapsed to nothing.
Its body collapsed in on itself without warning, skull and hips occupying the same point in space for a single impossible instant before the corpse crumpled to the ground.
Activating [Spatial Detect] and [Mana Sense], Maureen immediately used [Spatial Arithmetic] to multiply the range of both skills.
In an instant, her awareness expanded, and everything in and around El Dorado entered her perception.
The barrier protecting the nation made it difficult to observe what lay within its borders, blurring portions of her senses, but it wasn't enough to stop her entirely.
The nation bearing the name of one of Earth's mythical cities wasn't her concern, however. Instead, all of her attention was drawn elsewhere.
To the yellow, slit-like 'eye' watching her. Maureen didn't know how she knew it was there. She couldn't see it. She couldn't even pinpoint its location.
And yet, she knew that somewhere within the deepest reaches of the miasma, a single yellow eye was fixed directly upon her.
'That has to be the Primordial Yellow.'
Thin crimson lines flickered across the silver visor of her helmet as her calculations accelerated.
Nothing. None of her skills could locate the Primordial. No matter how many times she expanded their range, boosted their precision, or recalculated the surrounding space, Jaune remained beyond her perception.
It was as though she existed everywhere and nowhere at once.
"Jaune is still formless... for now." Leon spoke calmly beside her as he slid his sword back into its scabbard.
Not a wrinkle marked his immaculate clothing. Not a single bead of sweat rested upon his brow.
Maureen glanced over her shoulder. The battlefield had already been cleared.
The tide of demons had been annihilated, leaving only drifting clouds of dissipating miasma where they had once stood.
Even so, the Knight Corps and the Spirit Riders maintained the defensive perimeter they had established, prepared for another wave at a moment's notice.
Standing directly before the Gate of Hell itself were only five people.
Maureen herself, Tingle, the Archmage Lord Kanade, the Demon Lord Leon, and Leon's Black Knight, Claude.
"Think she's scared?" Lord Kanade casually approached Leon, his hands still tucked within his sleeves. "You know... since there are so many of us."
"Unlikely." Leon replied without taking his eyes off the Gate of Hell. "Unlike the demons that were felled by me, those that have died will simply reform in the underworld and return within minutes. Numbers are not her concern."
"The quality, though." Kanade countered.
Beside them, Maureen noticed Leon's eyebrow twitch ever so slightly.
"I have remained in this position for centuries, monitoring Jaune." Leon said flatly. "She does not think so radically. She is capable of reducing El Dorado to ash by throwing nuclear-grade magic about like candy. Such a creature does not know fear."
Kanade chuckled before finally removing his hands from his sleeves. "Hey, Jaune."
Leon's head snapped toward him immediately.
'Ah...' Maureen sighed inwardly. 'Sir Kanade is provoking Lord Leon again.'
"I get why you're hesitant to come out." Kanade spoke toward the sea of miasma as though addressing someone standing just beyond it. "Leon is here, there are a bunch of strong people gathered around, and that's probably making you think twice."
He shrugged. "So let me propose something." A grin spread across his face. "How about a one-on-one fight?"
"Just you and me." Everything stilled. Even the miasma seemed to pause. "If you're worried everyone else will jump in, they won't." Kanade smiled. "I'll even have Leon stand back."
For the first time since Maureen had laid eyes upon the Platinum Saber, genuine emotion crossed the Demon Lord's face.
Surprise. Annoyance. And just a hint of anger.
"You..." Leon slowly turned toward Kanade. "...Do not make promises on my behalf."
"Oh, right." Kanade blinked. "I probably should've asked first." The smile never left his face. "Since this is partially my fault."