Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 7 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 12===
While Zest flew gracefully in the air and destroyed the enormous heroic spirits one by one, the mayhem in the audience stands was still yet to subside, and there was an individual who did everything that she could to help the audience members who were caught up in the panic. It was a girl of the Moderates faction — Noel.

“Please stay calm everyone! It doesn’t matter which path you take, none of the exits are any quicker than the other to take refuge from!”

After putting up a magical barrier, Noel continued to cry out, but no one in the audience paid any attention. This was natural, as in the face of such an absolute threat, everyone was equally weak, and they all blindly crammed into the nearest exit. Even though Zest was gradually reducing the number of the heroic spirits, there were still more heroic spirits than could be counted on two hands raging endlessly in front of her. The audience members who had packed the passageways to the brim were equivalent to perfect targets. When the ruthless heroic spirits swung their fists or kicked, a countless number of lives where thus turned into bloodstains and strands of flesh strewn across the floor. In this hellish plight, Noel still insisted on staying behind. All of the audience members in the arena were enemies belonging to the Current Demon Lord faction, so Noel had no obligation to risk her life to help them as a maid of the Moderates faction. But — for Noel who grew up in an orphanage, she didn’t want to see any more children end up with the same experience as her. Among the audience members, there were many who had families, family members waiting for them, and children to look after. Even if they were enemies, their children were still innocent, and they shouldn’t have to bear the pain of having their parents being taken away by this absurd situation.

“! —— ?”

As Noel desperately fought on with these thoughts in her mind, the sound of ‘crying’ that suddenly entered her ears caused her entire body to freeze. It wasn’t from an adult who was crying at the horrific scene, but from a child who could truly do nothing else but cry. Noel was not the only one to discover the crying child. From Noel’s point of view, there was a heroic spirit opposite the child.

“Kuh…!”

As soon as she saw the heroic spirit raise its enormous fist — Noel rushed out.

''…I won’t let it happen!''

She didn’t care about the fluttering hem of her skirt; she simply used all of her strength to rush over the broken tiled floor of the arena.

[———]

Just before the heroic spirits fist crushed the child — Noel picked the child up and jumped away.

“—Gah…!”

The heavy impact that she felt on her chest caused Noel to groan. Although she had evaded the heroic spirit’s fist, that fist had dislodged a large piece of rock which had unfortunately hit her. At that time—

''…Ah….''

Noel still continued to hold onto the child, but she realised that she had not considered the next step after escaping from it because there was still another heroic spirit before her eyes — it opened its large mouth in front of them. Although the intense pain had caused her consciousness to fade, Noel wanted to bring the child to a place where they would not be endangered by the heroic spirits. However, such a place did not exist in this arena.

“——!”

While Noel clung on to the child — the heroic spirit with its mouth agape suffered a blow to its face and was sent hurtling backwards. At the same time, there was a person who embraced them in mid-air.

“…Lars…”

Seeing the side profile of his face while in his arms, Noel subconsciously called out the name of her childhood friend. Then — after confirming that it was not an illusion, she fainted.

After Lars caught Noel and the child in mid-air, he smoothly landed at the topmost level of the audience stand. After setting down the unconscious Noel who was still holding the child in her arms—

“How reckless…”

Even though he complained with a slightly annoyed tone, Lars still checked to ensure that her breathing was steady, and then let out a sigh of relief. And then, the large heroic spirit that appeared behind them threw down its enormous fist — but it was solidly blocked by a barrier-like black magic sphere. The child in Noel’s bosom seemed to be surprised at having been rescued, and at some point, it had stopped crying.

“Be good…stay just like that, and don’t run around.”

After smiling as he said that to the child, Lars slowly turned around.

“—Rotten doll, don’t get carried away.”

The instant that Lars spread open his arms and said that whilst full of rage, a countless number of magic spheres shot out. Not only did they blow away the heroic spirit in front of him, almost half of the remaining heroic spirits in the arena were blown away. —Until now, Lars had never let anyone see his true strength. But in his current state, he no longer had any thoughts about holding back, forgiveness or mercy. When the heroic spirits seemed to notice Lars’ counterattack, the entire horde scrambled towards him.

“Let me tell you all…how it feels to be unilaterally destroyed.”

After making such a declaration, Lars slowly moved towards the horde of heroic spirits. Lars and Basara were the same, they both had things that they could never back down on. So, the heroic spirits in front of him only had a dead end awaiting them. It was because they had hurt the person that Lars valued the most.