My Mistress's Breasts Make Me OP!-Chapter 44: Finally reunited

With painstaking slowness, after making sure the noises beyond the heavy basement door have finally died down, Kimberly pushes it slightly open—just enough to create a narrow gap toward the atrium, ready to slam it shut at the first sign of danger.

Fortunately, there's no trace of those winged demons; their attention must have been drawn elsewhere. Kimberly steps out first and immediately motions for me to follow.

Now, the large debris from the collapsed ceiling filling the atrium—obstacles during our desperate run toward the basement—have become our salvation, allowing us to use them as cover to advance toward the mess hall unseen.

From the upper floors echo cries of fervor and pain, both human and demonic, a sign that the battle between the familiars and those creatures is raging at full force. As gruesome as those screams are, they reassure us—they mean many familiars are still alive. Our fear had been stepping out only to find ourselves surrounded by absolute silence.

Passing by the window overlooking the outside, we see that the perimeter walls, though still standing, are scarred with deep cracks—some wide enough to give us glimpses of what's happening beyond, but not enough to provide a clear picture of the ongoing battle between the endless horde of monstrous creatures and the handful of Scarlet Army soldiers.

We move cautiously, reaching the spot where we had previously jumped down—the chasm left by the collapse of the entire staircase. The pile of bodies stacked one over another is still there in all its grotesque form—a mound of blood, bones, and flesh. Following the original plan, we climb that cadaverous mountain with nausea and disgust, about two meters high, just enough to grab onto the floor of the upper level—the mess hall.

Straining my arms—my back still aching like hell—I pull myself up, with Kimberly pushing from below, just enough for me to see what's happening inside the hall.

Benches, chairs, lockers—every piece of furniture has been used to build a makeshift barricade. Scattered across the floor lie thousands of corpses from both sides—the demons' bodies, thankfully, far more numerous—submerged in a puddle of crimson blood and greenish slime. The barricade rises almost to the ceiling, with a small gap left open to let the familiars move in and out freely.

Outside the barricade, those who are clearly the strongest familiars—or at least the ones still able to fight, some ranked higher than Kimberly—are battling fiercely against the demons, while the weaker or badly injured ones are likely safe behind that improvised fortress.

«Aron...» Kimberly murmurs as she reaches the upper floor, her eyes shining with emotion and joy.

Among the familiars engaged in combat, I finally notice him—though he's in far from good condition. A deep wound on his right shoulder forces him to fight with only his left arm, and other injuries torment him from head to toe.

«Aron, fall back now! You're in no shape to fight!» yells a voice from the small passage in the barricade, but the boy completely ignores it, continuing to fight without hesitation.

He's barely standing—his Vis energy reduced to a faint spark, ready to go out at any moment. And that's exactly why one of those damned creatures manages to catch him off guard: a small demon behind him lunges forward with his spear, ready to pierce through his back.

A sudden gust of wind hits me from behind. I glance sideways—where Kimberly had been a second ago—but she's gone. I turn my gaze back toward Aron, only to realize that the demon who was about to attack him has vanished too.

In its place stands Kimberly, her fist thrust forward, her body completely covered in greenish slime from head to toe, wrapped in an intense Vis aura almost comparable to Dorje's, Sasha's familiar.

At the sight of the girl, Aron's energy fades completely. His legs give out beneath him, but she catches him just before he hits the ground.

Meanwhile, having finished climbing up from the pit, I push my way through the demons and reach Aron and Kimberly.

«S-sorry, big brother... sorry I didn't find you sooner,» Kimberly murmurs, her voice trembling with relief—this time from happiness—as she holds Aron tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks, falling onto his face.

«I promise I'll take care of you. I'll protect you no matter what! But for now, please, go back inside...» she begs him.

A plea Aron can't bring himself to refuse.

«To think that I used to be the one protecting you... Since we came to this world, things have completely turned around,» he mutters with a weak, pained smile as a thin trail of blood trickles from his mouth.

His gaze, now colder and more threatening, shifts toward me.

«Did that bastard do anything to you while you were alone?» he asks, his voice filled with anger and concern.

It's the second time Aron's implied I might've forced Kimberly into something inappropriate—the first was when he came to my room for a Vis control training session. But seriously, who the hell does he think I am? A pervert? 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

From what Sasha told me, I've apparently earned a reputation as the "perverted familiar," since, to awaken my Visaguis energy, I have to think about dirty things involving my master—but come on, that's no reason to think I'd ever touch his precious sister. What the hell did I do to deserve such a disgusting reputation?!

Or maybe... there's something more to it?

Kimberly shakes her head, visibly annoyed. «Don't worry, Lyon's a good guy, really. He even saved my life. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here with you right now,» she says with a radiant smile.

At her words, Aron's eyes—still locked on me as if searching for a suspicious reaction—soften slightly, or rather, turn a little less hostile.

«Thanks for saving her,» he says coldly.

«Don't mention it,» I reply with the same chill in my tone.

Unfortunately, the dislike I feel for this guy hasn't faded in the slightest, not even after Kimberly's words of praise for him.

«Is Gerard okay?» I ask, unable to hide my concern.

«If by 'okay' you mean still alive, then yes. He's back there,» Aron answers, nodding toward the pile of benches and furniture.

Right now, I'm in no condition to fight. I have no choice but to take temporary shelter behind the barricade, followed by Kimberly and Aron.

However, my welcome is anything but warm—or filled with the same hopeful words they reserve for my traveling companion. Judging by their looks, it's clear that some of them would rather not have me here at all.

In an instant, several familiars rush to Aron's aid, cleaning his wounds with water, bandaging them with strips torn from tablecloths, and finally laying him gently on the ground.

Not far from him lies Gerard's body—wounded far more severely than Aron, but thankfully still alive.

«Why aren't you out there fighting?!» one of the familiars snaps at me. «Or maybe... you only like using your precious vampire magic against us?!»

That baseless, venomous remark is immediately followed by others just as cruel, if not worse—but Kimberly cuts them off sharply.

«I told you to stop with this nonsense!» she thunders, silencing everyone instantly. «Lyon is a familiar—a human being—just like us! At a time like this, we should stand together, yet even surrounded by death, you cling to these ridiculous prejudices!»

«Then why doesn't he use his magic against those monsters?!» another familiar shouts back.

«What do you think he's been doing until now?!» Kimberly fires back, her voice fueled by anger.

I appreciate her trying to defend me, but my detractors aren't wrong. Out there, familiars far more exhausted and wounded than I am are still fighting tooth and nail, while I've already retreated because of a simple blow to the back—pathetic. My control over Vis energy, though mediocre, should still be enough to bring down a few of those demons.

I move toward the small opening leading outside the barricade, but Kimberly's words stop me in my tracks.

«Don't you dare step out of there!» Kimberly warns sharply. «Because of that hit to your back, a single wrong move could cause severe damage—or worse, paralyze you for good!»

Then she turns toward the other familiars. «Sending someone to their death when they're not even able to fight is an act so vile that even a vampire wouldn't commit it! You talk so much about Lyon—about how he's more like them than a human—but thinking like that makes you the real monsters, not him!»

At those words, silence falls. The faces around us grow uncertain and thoughtful, while beyond the barricade, the battle rages on with growing ferocity.