"Yes, I am very serious." I, however, being the mature one here has to ignore the nonsense and focus on the topic, and so I say, "If this works, which I will tell you right now is not guaranteed to work, but if it does, Aknin Vielos is going to regret ever coming to face off against us."

I am confident in this idea and it looks like that confidence got through to them as they nod. Well, I might have failed to mention something important about it though.

"Actually, this is something that will take me a little while to explain and … we probably won't have that much time while running like this." It is not possible for me to explain everything like this.

As they hear that, they understand my point but neither of them can think of any way for us to lose that Demoness. How will we get that time, is the million-dollar question here.

"Can it still work if one of us just blindly follows your commands?"

Unexpectedly, Danny asks so, which can mean something quite cliché yet commendable. Nah! It's Danny. He won't do something like that. And so, I can just plainly answer him,

"It can." Yes, there's no reason to worry about that possibility.

"Fine then." He says as he stops running and turns around. "I'll stay. You two should go. I'll buy you the time you need."

He says with a face like that of a when Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist actually gets serious. Well, if he decided he'd do the job then that's fine. I'll respect his decision.

As I look at Roswaisa, I find her nodding showing that she has the same thoughts as me. Well, let's start running then.

"I know, I know. You'd want to argue that I'm more important to the team and should go, but that is not the case. In this team, every member is equal." He continues to say as he looks at the approaching Demoness.

Being that he has given such a n.o.ble sacrifice just now, I should probably not tell him that we didn't even think twice about leaving him behind. Yes, I'll respect his bravery as well. This is one of the few times he has shown any after all.

*****

"Okay, so what is it?" Roswaisa says in a voice that shows her panic and anxiety over Danny. When I really think about it, this Angel does have a lot of angelic qualities. If only she wasn't so beautiful that she would attract attention from every man around us, I wouldn't really have much problem accepting her as my future wife.

"Calm down, Roswaisa!" I say plainly to which, she retorts angrily,

"How can I calm down? We just left Danny out there alone to face off against that Demoness. Even I couldn't stand up against her for more than a few moments, how can …"

"Danny won't be killed. He's not one of the two people that the Demoness is here to kill, and so she won't kill him." I state calmly and a bit coldly so to make Roswaisa remember it.

"I-I know. But still, what if he isn't capable of fighting anymore by the time we are done." Now you are just grasping at straws. I know that you have understood enough to know that would not affect the plan. "Wouldn't that cause a problem for the plan?"

Yet, you ask that.

"Danny is not part of the plan." I tell her. "He never was."

As she hears my words, her eyes grow wide in shock; the shock of realizing that what she was thinking earlier is true.

"Does … does that mean you meant for Danny to stay back and buy us time from the start?" she asks, probably only because she wants to hear a 'no'.

"Yes." I say in a cold voice. "I didn't expect he'd volunteer himself but since he did, that sped things up."

For a moment, she doesn't react. Because we both know that we can't waste much time on things that aren't a.s.sociated with the details of the plan, she takes a long breath, finally calming herself down, and asks,

"What is the plan?"In a voice cold enough to give me cancer, heart cancer.

*****

"How much do you want to die to have stayed behind and try to fight me like that?" the Demoness says as she looks at me as if I'm some kind of insect.

"Believe me Demoness-san, I have no interest in dying. I just want to help a friend and his future wife, get to safety." I say with a smile on my face.

"What!?" she does not understand what I meant and only furrows her brows in response.

"I know Irium. His plan from the start probably had manipulating me into staying behind." I know him enough to tell that. "He just didn't act like that because he could see how an Angel wouldn't approve of the tactic of running away by the sacrifice of a human."

"You mean to tell me that his plan is to escape with that Angel while leaving you behind!?" She asks with an astonished expression.

"Yes, he's probably hoping for the possibility that you don't kill me since I'm not really your target." Even as I spell such words, I do not lose the smile on my face.

"I see! Such a selfish human your friend is!" She says in a dismayed look (that I don't understand the reason for) and raises her hand enough for her palm to face me and, "I'll give you an easy death. A human like you definitely deserves that much at least."

As she says that, dark crystals form everywhere around us, and all of them point their sharp edges at me.

"I know it doesn't look like it, but believe me they will split your head in a millisecond. You won't feel much pain." For some reason, I feel like she has stopped looking down on me, or at least stopped looking at me like I'm a c.o.c.kroach anymore.

And then, those crystals start their march towards my head.

"Sorry." I say as I chuckle a bit. "Buying time means that I keep you here as long as possible."

I stand up and raise my hand enough for my palm to face her just like she has done towards me and say,

"So there's no way I'm going out easy."

*****