S-Rank Harem: I Became My Character with Extra Control Skill

So, now that Helen was there, offering him her backing amidst the chaos of that hall, Ryan felt the pressure in his chest decrease slightly.

With effort, he slowly stood up.

”Recovery,” Ryan pronounced in a hoarse voice.

A warm green light enveloped his wounded body, repairing his broken ribs and closing the deep cuts in his skin in the blink of an eye.

He wiped the blood from his chin and fixed his cold gaze on the heroine who had her back to him to protect him.

”Did you force that holy knight to bring you here?” Ryan asked, noticing out of the corner of his eye a third and very trembling magical presence a few meters from the hall’s entrance.

”Yes, she left me no other choice,” Helen replied, without taking her eyes off the immense demon king who was shaking off his surprise. ”Although her stupid flight magic is very slow. It took us a damn eternity to get here.”

”I am not slow!” a sharp and familiar female voice grumbled from the other side of the hallway.

Chloe, the holy knight who had been forced to fly to the enemy fortress, took an indignant step toward the threshold of the immense destroyed door. But her sudden bravery lasted exactly one second.

Upon crossing the threshold, Chloe’s eyes widened. The air itself seemed to be poisoned with an overwhelming density. When she looked up and saw the demon king Rigal’s gigantic and monstrous figure a few meters away, all the color drained from her face.

The human survival instinct screamed in the holy knight’s mind. Chloe stumbled backward awkwardly, tripping over her own feet until she hid behind one of the thick stone columns at the entrance, trembling with pure terror at the demon king’s presence.

”She told me something worrying at the villa, that is why I decided to break your orders and came, Ryan,” Helen informed, completely ignoring the church girl’s panic.

Helen lowered her gaze slightly to the floor, observing the useless pieces of destroyed steel that were once her leader’s lethal swords.

”And now that I see with my own eyes that you are completely unarmed in front of this fleabag, it seems what that girl said is true,” Helen added with a much deeper tone.

”Yes,” Ryan confirmed, clenching his fists. ”That demon king is capable of neutralizing our human weapons. It is exactly the security mechanism Chloe mentioned a few days ago in her interrogation, but honestly... I never expected the church to have handed something so valuable over to a demon king.”

”Tsk. Damn it,” Helen said, spitting to the side with pure disgust for the deity’s filthy politics.

The immense gray beast on the other side of the room growled, breaking the brief tactical conversation.

”Enough of this useless chatter. I was already getting bored of hearing your laments,” the demon king Rigal said, raising his huge right claw. His yellow eyes shone with cruelty as they locked onto the two new intruders.

”Killing a couple more insects in this room will make no difference to me.”

When Chloe heard that guttural threat directed at them, she pressed herself much harder against the cold stone column, letting out a sharp, muffled whimper of pure dread, unable to even peek out.

But Helen was not like that cowardly holy knight. She simply tightened her grip on the immense boomerang.

”Helen,” Ryan warned with an extremely cold and calculated tone, readying his magic.

”I know,” she replied instantly.

There was no need to exchange more words. The synchronization and trust between them was perfect.

The demon king charged at her like a missile, shattering the floor with every step. His sharp claws descended, seeking to cut Helen in half.

”Debt Collapse,” Ryan pronounced his restrictive skill, aiming at the beast.

But the immense demon king, fueled by his fury and physical resilience, withstood the sudden stun. Rigal barely blinked, breaking the conceptual paralysis through pure brute force and continuing his lethal attack without losing speed.

”Debt Seal,” Ryan immediately activated his second restriction skill, knowing time was of the essence.

The invisible magical pulse hit Rigal head-on. And only for a brief flash of time, in a fraction of a second almost imperceptible to the human eye, something incredible happened.

The demon king’s dense, dark gray fur lost its oppressive shadow, turning pure white.

Helen dodged the demon king’s brutal swipe, sliding under his massive arm with flawless grace.

And taking advantage of the opening in the monster’s guard, Helen twisted her waist and landed a dry, devastating blow with the boomerang’s heavy edge directly on Rigal’s exposed ribs.

The sound of the impact was like two speeding trains colliding.

To everyone’s absolute surprise, the demon king was sent flying backward several meters by the weapon’s kinetic force. Rigal dragged his feet across the floor, spitting a trickle of blood. They had finally managed to deal him real, physical damage.

At the successful counterattack, Helen smiled with wild exhilaration. She bent her knees, ready to launch into the attack again and crush the disoriented beast’s skull, but she was stopped dead by her leader’s firm call.

”Hold on, do not advance. Come here,” Ryan ordered immediately.

Helen stopped her momentum without hesitation, quickly retreating to Ryan’s side. He reached out his hands and used all his buffing skills, enveloping the heroine’s body in glowing auras that pushed her strength and speed to the limit.

’Something strange happened,’ Ryan thought with a frown, analyzing the scene.

’I know it was very brief, but his dark fur turned white for an instant. And in that exact second, Helen’s physical blow was able to do real damage to him... what the hell is really going on?’

”What is the matter, Ryan? Let me go, we must finish off that damn giant fleabag right now,” Helen said, swinging the boomerang impatiently.

The demon king in the distance also seemed deeply bewildered. Rigal touched his side, looking at his hand as if he had never expected a simple piece of metal without divine magic to pierce his defense.

”Listen carefully, Helen,” Ryan said, drawing all his girl’s attention to him.

Ryan began to reflect at superhuman speed, piecing together the data from his previous combat and that last blow.

’Before, when I attacked him, I could not notice it. But I clearly noticed it now when Helen hit him up close. Being in the rearguard observing gave me the chance to see it with absolute clarity. Actually, that dark gray fur is not physical. It is his element of darkness, he is using it passively as an invisible armor over his skin.’

Ryan brought a hand to his chin, quickly evaluating every lethal detail of the demon king.

’That means that my Debt Seal skill, for a mere fraction of a second, exactly 0.02 seconds, turns off his dark magic and leaves him totally vulnerable to physical attacks. That guy... is an immensely strong monster, yes. But that does not make him an invincible being.’

”Helen, listen to me carefully. I want you to land a critical blow on his body with all your strength exactly every 0.02 seconds,” Ryan ordered with complete seriousness.

Helen looked at him out of the corner of her eye, raising an eyebrow in clear confusion at the order.

”0.02 seconds? And how the hell am I supposed to keep track of that in the middle of a fight, Ryan?”

’It is true, she would not be able to do it consciously,’ Ryan deduced, understanding the limits of Helen’s capabilities.

”Do not worry about that. I will take charge of keeping track,” Ryan explained, adjusting his stance. ”But... I need to synchronize. Right now, launch two attacks in the air with your weapon, as fast as you can move your arms.”

Helen did not doubt him for a single second. Just as her leader ordered, she gripped the boomerang tightly, tensed her back muscles, and launched two consecutive strikes at the empty air in front of her, creating sharp gusts of wind in the hall.

Ryan’s sharp green eyes, enhanced by his stats, calculated the exact timing of each strike. He memorized the tension in her shoulders, the slight twist of her hips, and the heavy boomerang’s travel speed. It was a perfect reading of movement.

”Good, that will be more than enough,” Ryan replied, a cold smile of confidence forming on his face. ”Just focus on hitting. Leave the timing to me.”

”Honestly, I do not really understand your crazy plan, but... I trust you fully, Ryan,” Helen said without a hint of doubt.

She extended her right arm, bringing the boomerang’s immense sharp tip toward his chest.

”But you cannot be unarmed. I will fight with my fists. I am giving you your boomerang back, use it,” Helen offered, willing to risk her life without a weapon.

’Acting tough as always... although, she really is,’ Ryan thought, feeling a slight, genuine smile at his companion’s suicidal loyalty.

Ryan raised his left hand and firmly grabbed the thick tip of the immense boomerang Helen offered him.

”Separation.” Ryan activated the boomerang’s hidden mechanical skill.

With a loud metallic click, the heavy central safety lock released. As the two large symmetrical parts separated, Ryan was left holding half of the weapon, and Helen kept the other half in her own hand.

”Just think of it as a sword,” Ryan said, recovering an aggressive combat stance beside her.

They were both ready. Holding the two halves, the large boomerang looked as though it had become a pair of twin swords, immensely heavy, large, and imbued with a purely demonic aura.

It was a weapon forged by demons; it was not a simple divine item from the church’s system. It was a lethal physical tool over which Rigal and his stupid golden sealing relic could never have any kind of control or influence.