"Brother! I just heard from Yui! She says Ryuga is intercepting the Sahagins that landed on the coast near the settlement!"
"Got it! If he’s the one on duty, we don't have a thing to worry about!"
Responding to his younger brother’s voice from behind, Yugo slammed a clenched left fist into the Sahagin before him. In one fluid motion, he followed up with a driving Elbow Strike to the creature's gut. The Sahagin coughed up blood and spiraled backward, hitting the ground with a thud and never moving again.
"Gyo! Gyo! Gyo!"
"Gyoruaaaaaaan!!"
"Honestly! One after another... I finally won the right to a date with Yugo, and now these pests are ruining it!"
Because Yugo and his group were further inland than Marcos and Ryuga, they had been slightly slower to notice the crisis. By the time they saw the fires and rushed to help, they were drawn into a skirmish with rioting Blue Ever radicals. Just as they were suppressing the activists, they found themselves forced into a series of back-to-back battles with the newly arrived Sahagins.
To complicate matters, this area had the highest concentration of people requiring protection: neutralized Blue Ever radicals, Shandia residents acting as Night Tour Guides, and local monsters under observation. Balancing their safety made the battle grueling for Yugo's team.
"Can you stand? Quick, come this way!"
"Th-thank you, you saved me...!"
To assist Yugo and Melt, Fee darted between the fallen civilians, helping them evacuate. He moved desperately on his small frame, but the Sahagins' predatory claws soon reached for him as well.
"Gyogaaaaaaaaaa!!"
"D-dammit...!"
"Fee! Get back! You fish-bastard, get away from him!!"
Several Sahagins cornered Fee just as he helped a group to their feet. The monsters moved in to cull the small, weak child, viewing him as easy prey. But before they could strike, someone dropped from above and swept across their faces.
"Gyoro!? Gyoga!?"
"Ugyaaaaaaaaaaaa!! Fushaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
"Ukikikikikiiii!!"
"Y-you guys!"
Standing between Fee and the Sahagins to shield him were the Idrima mother and child. The mother monkey swung a thick tree branch like a club, knocking the Sahagins aside. She bared her fangs, fur bristling as she let out a ferocious intimidation display that left the fish-men completely stunned.
As the Sahagins froze before the duo of the mother monkey and the child perched on her shoulder, Magic Power Swords came whistling through the air, piercing the monsters one after another.
"Fee-kun, I'm sorry! Are you hurt!?"
"I'm okay! Thank you, you guys too!"
"Ukyakya! Uki!!"
Having escaped his predicament thanks to the Idrima, Fee expressed his gratitude while responding to Melt, who had delivered the finishing blows. The mother and child shed their terrifying aura and raised their hands toward Fee in a friendly gesture.
It was a return of the favor for Fee helping the child earlier that day. Never forgetting that debt, the monsters had stood their ground against the ferocious Sahagins.
Looking around, Yugo saw that the Idrima weren't alone; other released monsters were helping the Shandia people they lived with, or roughly hauling the Blue Ever members away from danger. Seeing that the civilians had been cleared from the combat zone, Fee nodded deeply and shouted to his brother.
"Brother! Everyone's rescued! It's okay to go all out!!"
"We're finishing this now, right? Then use this too!"
"Thanks, Fee! Melt! In that case, I'll wrap this up in ten seconds... Super Transformation!!"
Taking the situation from Fee and a fresh Magic Power Sword from Melt, Yugo watched the dozen or so remaining Sahagins as he shifted his Blaster Form.
A roar like a jet engine igniting echoed through the air as a Stole Made of Flames erupted from his neck. Clad in his manifest Flame Armor, Yugo glared at the monsters.
"Now, it's our turn. Get ready!"
"Gyo—!?"
The Crimson Radiance emitted by the Magic Crystal on his chest illuminated the dark night, alongside the glowing lines funneling Magic Power into his limbs.
The Blaster's Eyes flashed. In the next instant, Yugo was a blur of motion, swinging his fiery sword and cleaving through the Sahagins at blinding speed. One by one, they fell, their wounds consumed by fire until they crumbled into ash.
"Gyogaaaaa!?"
"Gyaoooooooo!?"
The Sahagins tried to flee after witnessing the slaughter of their kin, but Yugo knew that letting them escape would only lead to more victims. He hardened his heart and cut them down.
"Gyo!? Gyaaaaaaaa!!"
"...It's over, then."
Yugo groaned, watching the final monster vanish into the flames with a heavy heart. He couldn't help but feel that if the Blue Ever activists hadn't incited this riot, these monsters might never have been driven to such a frenzy. It struck him that perhaps the true monsters were the humans, not the Sahagins. Still, he shook the thought away; for now, he had to focus on the task at hand. Just then, a male student scrambled out of the nearby brush.
"Dammit! Where the hell am I!?"
"You're... Woz, right?"
Yugo remembered him because his name matched his favorite hero, and he called out to the boy. Woz looked up, saw the defeated Sahagins and radicals, and hung his head in absolute despair.
"Th-they're all gone...! My Experience Points...!!"
Woz had desperately wanted to secure the Experience Points from the radicals—whom even he could easily defeat—but his legendary lack of direction had led him astray. He was devastated that he had aimed for the coast where Elena was but ended up here instead.
"What's wrong?" Yugo asked. "Are you hurt? Where's your partner? Did you get separated?"
Being shown genuine concern by the "scum" Yugo Clay was a shock in its own right. Woz continued to sulk, miserable that he had achieved nothing on this island, when a voice suddenly echoed from the darkness.
"Hey. Is this the guy you're looking for, by any chance?"
"Eh...?"
The moment Yugo and Woz looked up at the unfamiliar woman's voice, something tumbled across the ground between them, groaning in agony like a discarded rag. It was Torin—or what was left of him.
He was a bloody mess, covered in bruises with clumps of hair missing and limbs bent at impossible angles. Yugo and Woz stood speechless at his critical condition. Then, the person who had discarded him stepped out from the shadows.
"Ah, I thought so. That was the piece of trash you wanted. Here, you can have him back."