The Valkyrie’s Pride
In the skies, beams of all colors clashed against the silver blasts of the
apostles. It looked like a scene right out of a sci-fi space battle.
The dragonmen's breath attacks were going against the apostles'
disintegration magic, creating a truly legendary scene. And eventually, a scarlet
dragon much larger than the others let out a thunderous roar.
"Focus on the apostles banding together and combining their mana! We need
to lessen the strain on the Canopy as much as possible!"
That was the dragonmen's main goal. They were trying to reduce the burden
on the Canopy, as well as make sure few attacks and apostles made it to the fort
every time it broke. After all, the harder the dragonmen fought, the more the
apostles would have to shift their focus from breaking through to fighting the
enemies in front of them.
"Adul Klarus! To think you survived the destruction of your nation!" one of
the apostles that had fought Adul in the past exclaimed. Back then, they'd been
given the order to eradicate everyone, so the fact that they'd failed galled them.
In an attempt to make up for their previous failure, the apostle launched a
disintegration blast at Adul.
"Of course I did. I ignored the plight of my country and lived on, accepting
the shame that came with it...all for the chance to destroy here and now!"
Adul leaned back and breathed in deeply, his chest expanding. He then let out
a deafening bellow, and his red-hot dragonbreath collided with the apostle's
disintegration beam.
Five hundred years ago, his breath would have been swallowed up by the
apostle's beam, and he would have died. But not today. As the two beams
collided, shock waves rippled out. The two attacks looked to be equal in force,
but then a second later, Adul's breath swallowed the apostle's beam.
"So you've grown this strong?"
"That I have...and it's all thanks to the Demon Lord's gifts!"
Adul's body was covered with far more than just his scales, for every last
inch of him was clad in artifacts designed for him in his transformed state. Most
of the artifacts had the same abilities as the ones the soldiers had equipped down
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below. There were also a few imbued with evolution magic that upgraded the
power of the dragonmen's breath attacks, though. And of course, all of the
dragonmen also had Last Seeles on them, granting them Limit Break.
Right now, every dragonman's breath was ten times as strong as normal. In
Adul's case, that meant he could melt an entire mountain with his. He'd been the
strongest dragonman when he'd become the previous Dragon King, and now he
was ten times stronger than that. An apostle would need to charge for almost a
minute to gather enough power to disintegrate a breath attack that powerful. But
of course, no one was going to give any of the apostles that much time.
"You would do well to tell your little god that the time has finally come for
him to be dragged off his throne!"
There was no response, which made sense, considering Adul's breath had
burned the apostle to cinders.
"Chief!"
Another apostle tried to shoot down Adul while he was exposed from having
just used a breath attack, but then the young indigo-colored ice dragon, Ristas,
came in and erected an ice barrier.
Ristas had been prepared to die when he'd jumped in to save Adul, but the
disintegration beam did little more than destroy his barrier and erode some of his
scales. The armor Hajime had given him was quite durable.
"Thank you, Ristas," Adul said as he launched a breath attack at the apostle,
incinerating her.
"Don't thank me. I barely did anything. If it wasn't for that youngster's
armor, I would have died..." Ristas said in a somewhat begrudging tone. He
didn't want to admit Hajime had saved his life, but one look at the battlefield
made it obvious that without Hajime, the dragonmen wouldn't be faring nearly
as well.
The gravity magic artifacts he'd given all of them increased their flight
capabilities significantly, allowing them to zoom through the air as fast as the
apostles. Moreover, the spatial-magic claw and tail artifacts Hajime had given
everyone allowed them to pierce the apostles' flesh with ease. Weakened though
the apostles were, it was only thanks to those artifacts that Adul and the
dragonmen were able to take on a detachment of apostles twice as large as their
own forces without suffering heavy casualties.
"He he... I see you still haven't given up on Tio despite seeing how smitten
she is with our Demon Lord. How admirable of you."
"I-It's not like—"
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Adul could easily tell Ristas's reluctance to praise Hajime came from
jealousy. Honestly, he respected Ristas for still wanting to pursue Tio even after
seeing what crazy fetishes she had awoken to.
"Th-This has nothing to do with the princess! I just dislike that arrogant
youngster!" Ristas shouted as he flew off. He then chased after a nearby apostle
and fired a barrage of breath attacks in an attempt to vent his frustration.
"Adul-sama, you can gossip later! Please focus on the fight right now!" a
blue dragon said as she flew over. It was Tio's old wet nurse, Venri.
"Oh, come now, a little talk never hurt anyone."
In truth, Adul hadn't let his focus slip for even a second while he'd been
talking. He'd just been replenishing his strength because he'd noticed the
Canopy was about to break again.
Suddenly, a ring of flame appeared above Adul. It pulsed ominously, gaining
in strength and glowing brighter with each pulse. Sensing danger, a group of
apostles rushed at Adul, but Venri blocked them all to buy him some time.
A few seconds later, the Canopy shattered.
"Spin, O burning wheel of destruction. Crimson Eradicator!"
This was a special spell that Adul had created from his own breath. By
turning his breath into a rotating ring, he increased its destructive power and the
amount of area it could cover. It was a feat only someone as powerful as the
Dragon King could accomplish.
At Adul's command, the ring shot forward, slicing through every apostle in
its path. The apostles that managed to avoid instant death still caught fire and
were burned away a few seconds later.
"It seems I wasn't able to stop all of them," Adul said as he looked down.
"It's not your fault. There were just too many of them. Have faith that those
fighting down below will be able to handle things," Venri replied.
"I know, I know."
Adul had managed to stop most of the disintegration beams and apostles from
reaching the ground, but a decent number had still made it through. There was
just too big a gap in numbers between the dragonmen and the apostles. They
couldn't take care of everything.
Meanwhile, on the ground, where mortals outnumbered apostles by a good
deal, they were faring surprisingly well. Still, Adul was frustrated that he
couldn't do his job properly.
Seeing his expression, Venri smiled and said, "Don't worry, Adul-sama.
They still have her."
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She then looked off into the distance, where a veritable incarnation of grace
and beauty was tearing through apostles like wet tissue paper.
Some distance away from where the dragonmen were fighting, a lone black
streak shot through the army of glowing silver apostles. It moved erratically,
creating sharp angles where it turned, making it impossible to track.
"She's too fast..." one of the apostles muttered, her core split in two before
she'd even realized it. Another seven apostles had been taken out in the same
instant. They all went limp and fell to the ground.
Wherever the black streak went, death followed. All of the apostles in its path
were ripped apart without being able to do a single thing.
"That's far enough!" three apostles shouted in unison, stacking together to try
to stop the black streak. Two of them were cut in half, but the third was able to
stop their assailant for a brief moment.
Crossing her twin claymores in a cross shape to block the incoming attack,
the apostle exclaimed, "How dare you, Kaori Shirasaki!"
Kaori was wearing black clothes, and had black hair and wings. She looked
like the quintessential fallen angel thanks to Hajime's makeover.
Naturally, she was also the black comet that was keeping a thousand apostles
at bay all by herself. She danced gracefully across the sky, overwhelming the
apostles with ease.
"That makes one hundred!"
"Gah!" the apostle yelped. Not even three of them together could slow Kaori
down. Though the apostle had managed to block a single one of Kaori's blows,
she'd been immediately overpowered. Kaori cut off both the apostle's arms, then
sliced through her core.
The apostle hadn't even been able to see how it had happened. Lowered
though their stats were, the apostles were still unbelievably strong physically.
And yet, this apostle hadn't even been able to see Kaori's attacks, much less
defend against them.
The apostles were being killed before they even saw what hit them. Kaori
thrust her claymore forward and swung it in a circle, blowing away another
group of helpless apostles. She then swung the blood off her blade and once
again started to accelerate.
"Sto—!"
"Godspeed."
With that one word, she entered the world of speed, leaving everything else
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behind. The apostle had probably been trying to say stop her to her comrades,
but she didn't even get to finish. Of course, the fact that she'd reflexively tried to
say it aloud, even though she could instantly share her thoughts with all the other
apostles showed just how desperate they were getting.
Either way, none of the apostles were able to do a single thing to Kaori. The
ones that had moved forward to try to physically block her path were ripped to
shreds. And this was all thanks to the newest restoration magic spell Kaori had
devised, Godspeed. It was one of the trump cards she'd prepared for the
upcoming battle.
The true nature of restoration magic involved interfering with the concept of
time, and Godspeed made it so that the time every single one of Kaori's actions
took was reduced to a fraction of its normal use. That included everything from
the time it took Kaori's attacks to reach her enemies to the time it took for her to
move from place to place.
Of course, the apostles had realized this was what Kaori was doing.
"She's far surpassed the level of mere mortals."
"She's using Limit Break as well as her own evolution magic. Without both
of those, she wouldn't be able to use that Godspeed spell in actual combat."
"It must be costing her a massive amount of mana to use all of that magic
together. How many more times can she stand to use that spell?"
The apostles quickly exchanged information among themselves.
All of their conjectures were correct. They were also adapting to Kaori's
fighting style pretty fast, so they quickly realized that since Kaori was physically
moving from place to place rather than teleporting through space, all they had to
do was carpet-bomb everything along her path.
All one thousand of the apostles fired their disintegration beams in random
directions. They also created numerous magic circles with their feathers, firing
off lightning and fire spells all over the place. And of course, they made sure not
to hit each other.
Thanks to their ability to share information, they could coordinate with each
other regardless of how chaotic or fast the fighting got.
"Kaori Shirasaki. You will die here."
The apostles had to stop Kaori here. If they didn't, she would easily destroy
the apostles fighting down below. On the flip side, if the apostles that had made
it to the fortress were able to take out the priests, the ones here would be able to
defeat Kaori.
"What a coincidence. I was thinking the same thing about you guys. I won't
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let a single one of you past me."
For her part, Kaori wanted to get in the way of as many apostles as she could.
The armies down below were just barely managing to beat back the apostles
already on the ground, so if the thousand here went down, humanity would be
overwhelmed in an instant. She cut down one, then ten, then fifty, then a
hundred. The apostles' blood rained down to the ground below, followed by
their corpses.
Meanwhile, the sky was filled with silver, red, and yellow as disintegration
beams, thunderbolts, and fire covered every inch of the aerial battlefield. Some
apostles rushed recklessly at Kaori, hoping to get a single blow in before they
were killed.
"Yaaaaaah!"
"Haaaaaaaaah!"
They let out fierce cries as they rushed forward.
For the apostles, this was a true nightmare. They were fighting with all of
their strength yet were still getting steamrolled.
Thus far, people had needed to band together and fight as groups to resist
even a single apostle. But now, they were the ones that had to work together to
try to defeat just one of Ehit's enemies. Their pride as his apostles had been
severely shaken.
No, that's not strictly true. In the past, there was one other who was able to
effortlessly defeat us. But she—
Seeing Kaori's determined eyes, the apostles thought back to the only other
time that they'd encountered someone who was far superior to them. In most
ways, Kaori was nothing like that girl, but her ironclad resolve was just like hers.
"Have you finally reached your limit?" the apostle said as Kaori stopped
moving. There were numerous gashes on her arms and legs, and her face had
been severely burned. The concentrated attacks were slowly beginning to wear
Kaori down. Moreover, her mana stores looked to be depleted. Regular
restoration magic was already quite mana-intensive, and restoration magic that
directly interfered with time was even worse.
No matter how much mana Kaori possessed, she would eventually run out.
On the other hand, the apostles were receiving an unlimited supply from the
Sanctuary.
"You fought well, all things considered," the apostle said, looking coldly
down on Kaori as her arms drooped and she panted heavily to catch her breath.
Indeed, Kaori had managed to kill three hundred apostles in a very short time
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span.
"But this is as far as you go. Give up and accept your fate."
Tragedy and despair were Ehit's favorite things to see, and it was his
apostles' job to present them to him.
"A human's Limit Break cannot last indefinitely. Aiko Hatayama appears to
be reinforcing everyone's souls, but even then, normal human souls cannot
withstand the strain of Limit Break for long."
Even if the apostles weren't able to take down the choir, the mortal armies
would soon run out of steam.
The apostle expected Kaori to despair after she pointed out the cruel reality to
her, but to her surprise, Kaori simply grinned fearlessly.
"Heh... I can tell you really want to make us lose hope. Too bad for you, but I
don't even know how to give up."
"Have you gone blind? Look at what's happening down below. More and
more of your precious comrades are dying by the second...and most of them are
getting horribly injured. Regular mortals can barely keep fighting after losing a
limb. You may be strong, but the rest of your army isn't. Besides, you're also
running out of strength. Do you really think you can turn this situation around on
your own?"
If so, then you're sorely mistaken.
In response, Kaori sucked in a deep breath and said, "There are three things
you're wrong about."
"Is that so?"
The apostle gave Kaori a curious look, but a second later, her eyes went wide
in surprise.
"Reap the bounty of your everlasting harvest—Anima Ernte!"
A huge amount of mana surged from Kaori, and one of her black claymores
began to glow. It looked as though her mana was surging into her sword.
Noticing something strange about that mana one of the apostles shouted,
"Impossible! You appropriated our mana?!"
"You didn't think it was strange that I was using different swords this time
around? Not realizing that was your first mistake."
The apostle's guess was right on the money. Anima Ernte was the new
healing spell that Kaori had imbued her Sword of Demonic Reclamation with.
The spell itself allowed Kaori to transfer her mana to a different target, and the
various evolution, gravity, spirit, and metamorphosis magic spells her sword was
enchanted with also allowed her to transfer the mana of whomever she cut over
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to her.
"Your second mistake was assuming that I've spent all my strength—
Hallowed Stigmata, activate!"
Though it didn't seem like Kaori had cast magic, she started healing as fast as
Yue did with her natural regeneration. Confused, the apostles stared intently at
Kaori. And after a few seconds, they noticed there was a silvery-black magic
circle on her chest.
"Is that...?"
"My restoration magic. As long as I have enough mana, my body and
equipment will keep being repaired."
It was obvious where Kaori had gotten that idea for this from. Now that she
understood the true nature of restoration magic, making herself quasi-immortal
was nothing exceptional, especially not when she'd had her number one rival,
the one person she'd spent more time around than even Hajime, to learn from.
"Why did you wait until now to activate that spell? Had you used it from the
start, you would never have taken any damage."
The more apostles Kaori killed, the more mana she'd stockpile, allowing her
to once again use Godspeed and Hallowed Stigmata, creating a vicious cycle the
apostles wouldn't be able to break.
Of course, they weren't expecting Kaori to give them a straight answer. Still,
they'd asked to try and buy time to find that answer on their own. Though their
expressions remained emotionless, the slight tightening of their lips made it clear
that they were feeling pressured.
Grinning, Kaori replied, "Because I figured you'd stop for a bit once you
thought I was cornered."
"What do you—?"
"That's your third mistake. Thinking we're the ones on a time limit. So what
if people are dying? So what if Limit Break doesn't last forever? Who do you
think you're up against here?"
Kaori reversed her grip on her second sword, her white one, and pointed it
straight at the ground. It began to glow just as the Canopy was destroyed yet
again.
"Arise once more and be protected—Lexion Bell!"
A single silvery-black drop fell from the tip of her sword. When it was only a
few meters above the ground, it stopped and exploded in a burst of light. Waves
of silver-black rippled across the battlefield, swallowing up the soldiers.
A second later, all of the injured men stood back up, their wounds completely
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healed, their missing limbs regenerated, and their armor fully repaired. Not only
that, but even the soldiers who had been killed started getting back onto their
feet.
"You're...reviving an entire army...?"
The apostles' shock was showing on their faces now. The soldiers who'd
been dead until just a few seconds ago patted themselves down, surprised to find
themselves fully healed. When they saw their friends and comrades crying tears
of happiness as they ran over to them, the previously deceased soldiers finally
realized what had happened to them. The entire army let out a thunderous cheer,
louder even than the one they'd let loose when the battle had begun.
"I may have swapped out my body and started fighting on the front lines, but
I always have and always will be the healer of the Demon Lord's party. No
matter what happens, Kaori Shirasaki's job will remain Priestess."
Kaori fixed her grip on the white sword and pointed it straight at the apostles.
This sword—the Sword of Divine Blessings—greatly enhanced Kaori's
restoration and spirit magic, allowing her to cast wide-area magic that only
affected her allies. With this sword, even powerful revival spells like Lexion
Bell weren't beyond Kaori's means. Granted, not even Lexion Bell could revive
corpses that had been mostly disintegrated. Still, aside from that, it could take
care of everything, including the Limit Break time limit. Though that also
required some help from Aiko.
Kaori had one black demonic sword for stealing her enemies' mana and one
white divine sword for healing her allies. The pair was a perfect fit for a healer
like her.
"Even so...you still cannot win. Our lord's will is absolute. His word is law."
It was hard to tell if the apostle truly believed that, or if she was trying to
convince herself it was true. Either way, Kaori adjusted her stance and flapped
her silvery-black wings, her gaze piercing straight through the apostles.
"Humanity won't fall...and this world won't either. Just like how one boy
with barely any strength managed to crawl his way out of the abyss, people will
always find a way to survive any crisis. We're just too stubborn to die. As long
as there's at least one person left who's still struggling to protect others, still
struggling to stay alive, they'll be able to overcome any obstacle, no matter how
'absolute' it is."
The apostle at the head of the group glared back at Kaori. As the two of them
stared each other down, it felt as though the clamor of the battle down below
faded away and they were the only two people left in the world.
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"Siebente."
"Huh?"
"It means 'seventh.' That is my identification number. Moreover, I am the
sole single-digit apostle on this battlefield."
"So...what?"
Kaori had no idea why the apostle had bothered to name herself, and
honestly, neither did Siebente. Siebente just knew that she'd had to. Though she
didn't realize it, her pride as one of Ehit's chosen valkyries had compelled her
to.
"Remember it, for it is the name of the apostle who will prove to you that
Lord Ehit's will is absolute!" Siebente roared as she brandished her twin
claymores, her wings glowing brilliantly.
Sensing Siebente's determination, Kaori let her own mana surge out and
shouted, "Then I'll prove to you that nothing is absolute!"
If Siebente was Ehit's valkyrie, then Kaori was the Demon Lord's, so she had
her own pride to uphold.
Kaori and the apostles led by Siebente clashed once again, and the valkyries
danced a dance of death high up in the sky.
Siebente and the others had decided to stay on the defensive and look for an
opening to strike back against Kaori.
Meanwhile, Kaori was cutting down apostle after apostle, using their mana to
keep her large-scale recovery spell going.
Their battle raged for so long that Kaori lost all track of time. Because the
sky was covered in a red veil, it was impossible to tell the time from the sun's
position either.
Though the soldiers fighting down below were still holding out, the Canopy
was taking longer and longer to regenerate with each cycle. There were still
enough spare parts left to keep repairing it, but the synergists actually doing the
repairing were starting to grow exhausted. Furthermore, many of the soldiers had
expended all of their bullets, and many of the larger cannons on the walls were
also silent. Worst of all, the death toll was growing as more and more soldiers
were mangled so badly they couldn't be revived. The situation was still even
enough that it could go either way, however, and the soldiers were fighting with
everything they had. They still believed that Hajime and the others would be
able to put an end to this battle once and for all.
It was at this critical moment that something appeared to decisively tip the
scales in one side's favor.
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The first person to notice was Liliana.
"Huh? Wh-What is that? Wait..."
The large screen in the command room projected the entire battlefield onto
the wall, and Liliana was looking at the disturbance happening at the base of the
destroyed Sacred Mountain.
Is that black stuff mist...? No, it looks more like gel.
Indeed, some sort of black substance was oozing out of the rubble that had
once been a mountain.
A second later, a bloodcurdling noise echoed across the battlefield.
"Woooooooooooooooooooooooo!"
Chills ran down the soldiers' spines, and they looked over at the Sacred
Mountain. The black sludge exploded upward and coalesced into a single
creature in midair.
Kaori knew that creature all too well.
"No way... Is that a Devourer?"
Indeed, the large jellyfish-like creature looked just like the ancient monster
that had given Hajime and the others so much trouble after they got out of the
Sunken Ruins of Melusine.
Kaori was so surprised that she stopped where she was. Even Siebente let a
little emotion show on her face when she looked over at the Devourer.
"I suspected it might have survived. It took longer than expected to
regenerate, but...this is perfect timing. As part of Lord Ehit's collection, do your
duty and clean up this rabble."
That was the moment Siebente had been waiting for. As Kaori turned back to
face her, the black Devourer shot its countless tentacles out in all directions. It
then started to pulse, sending something through its tentacles into the corpses of
the monsters buried below the mountain's rubble.
"That is known as the Mother of Sin. It is an ancient creature that can put
other beings under its control by feeding parts of its body to them...and it matters
not whether those beings are alive or dead."
"No way!"
If the Devourer was a creature that grew by consuming other beings, the
Mother of Sin was one that grew by letting itself be consumed. Of course,
because it sent its own cells into other creatures, there was a physical limit to
how many things it could control at once. However, supplying it with mana
allowed it to regenerate the parts of its body it had sent out. Moreover, the things
it mind controlled retained their original forms and abilities; they were just
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utterly loyal to the Mother of Sin. It could even bring back corpses by using its
cells to supplement any damaged or destroyed body parts.
The revived monsters burst through the rubble and let out a series of howls as
they charged toward the combined armies of Tortus.
"Seriously, they've got reinforcements? Normally, I'd say bring it on,
but...this might be a bit too much for us," Gahard said, looking worriedly at the
charging army. He was covered in blood from head to toe, half of it belonging to
his enemies and the other half himself.
There was more bad news too. The Canopy was destroyed again for the
umpteenth time, but this time, the synergists were too spent to repair it. The
scales were beginning to tip in the apostles' favor.
"All armies, send whatever units you can spare to the north! If the monsters
manage to join the melee, we'll be overrun! We have to stop them here!" Liliana
shouted through her telepathy artifact.
Gahard immediately started doling out orders, and Heiligh and Ankaji's
armies began to mobilize as well.
Unfortunately, there were still apostles left in the middle of those
armies...and turning your back on an apostle was a fatal mistake. Unsurprisingly,
the apostles were able to wreak far more havoc now that a chunk of troops was
distracted.
"Oh no!" Kaori shouted, looking down.
"Feel free to leave, but know that we will destroy the choir if you do!"
Siebente shouted, preventing Kaori from rushing down to kill the monsters.
Gritting her teeth, Kaori turned back to Siebente. She couldn't afford to leave
the apostles here alone. Even if she used Godspeed, by the time she'd culled the
monsters' numbers, Siebente and the others would have slaughtered the priests.
There were already five hundred or so apostles heading straight for the fortress
rooftop now that the Canopy was gone.
Of course, Kaori could bring them back if they were killed, but she doubted
Siebente and the other apostles would give her the chance to. After all, once the
choir was stopped, the apostles would immediately return to their full strength.
The ground rumbled as the swarm of monsters descended upon the allied
armies, kicking up massive dust clouds in their wake. There were more than ten
thousand of them, and their roars alone were enough to demoralize the soldiers.
Worst of all, until the Mother of Sin was defeated, those monsters would keep
reviving indefinitely. In fact, the Mother of Sin was working on bringing more
of the monsters under the rubble back with each passing second.
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Kaori didn't know how many monsters the Mother of Sin could bring back
with its size, but she did know that there were tens of millions buried under that
mountain. Humanity's greatest advantage, their numbers, would be overturned
before long if this kept up. And once that happened, Tortus was doomed.
"I-I'll do something about them!" Aiko shouted through her communicator.
She then sent one of her Hyperions over to the monsters. The other six were all
out of solar energy, but Aiko had kept one in reserve just in case it was needed to
deal with an emergency. It only had enough energy for one shot, but hopefully,
that would be enough to kill the Mother of Sin, even if Aiko couldn't wipe out
the monsters. Though of course, that would require getting in range first.
"Too slow!" one of the apostles shouted, firing a disintegration beam at it.
The Hyperions were never meant to be mobile weapons. They were designed to
work as defensive artillery, so they were quite slow.
"I told you time and time again, Lord Ehit's will is absolute!"
"We haven't been beaten yet! I just have to beat that monster while taking
care of all of you at the same time!"
"As if you can do that!"
Kaori once again activated Godspeed, rushing at the mass of apostles.
Unfortunately for her, Siebente and the others were focusing purely on defense
and evasion to make it harder for Kaori to keep replenishing her mana by
defeating them.
Whenever she managed to find an opening, Kaori shot a disintegration beam
at the Mother of Sin. Sadly, it was too far away. At full power, Kaori's beam
would still be able to reach and destroy it, but that would require some charging
time, which the apostles were determined to make sure she didn't get.
It's just barely not enough! If we just had just one more trump card on our
side, we'd be able to take care of that monster!
Kaori wracked her brain for potential solutions, but she couldn't think of
anything.
The monsters were about one kilometer away from Tortus's exhausted armies
now. As soon as they arrived, the armies would be ripped apart and the mortal
races would lose.
I'm begging you guys, please hold out somehow!
All Kaori could do was pray And miraculously, her prayers were answered.
"Asura."
The ground vanished, along with all the monsters on it. Or at least, it seemed
that way to Kaori until she looked closer and realized a perfectly square-shaped
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section of earth had just been pushed very far down. There was now a huge hole
that was a full square kilometer in size to the north of the battlefield...and all of
the monsters occupying that square had been completely flattened.
"Gravity magic?" Kaori muttered. She'd seen Yue use it plenty of times
before, but there was no way Yue was present.
Who is it? Who else has that much power and can use gravity magic?
Naturally, the soldiers, including the usually unflappable Gahard, were also
stunned.
Unexpectedly, it was Siebente who answered everyone's unspoken question.
In a voice dripping with hatred and fear, she shouted, "Miledi Reiseeeeeen!"
Upon hearing that, Kaori finally remembered that Hajime had indeed
mentioned that someone called Miledi would be coming as reinforcements at
some point.
Sparks started shooting out of the air between the giant hole and where
Tortus's armies were. The air started to twist and warp, forming a portal from
which an army of four hundred golems sprang forth. Once they were all out, a
massive golem king that stood at around twenty meters came out behind them.
Finally, a small golem with a smiley-face mask came out, an extravagant robe
draped around her shoulders.
"Always there to save the day when people need her—super beautiful genius
mage Miledi-chaaaaaan takes the stage!"
Miledi turned back to the armies of Tortus, raised one leg into the air, put one
hand on her hip, made a peace sign with her other hand, and winked at the
soldiers with her tongue sticking out in a cutesy fashion.
Miledi Reisen, the creator of the Reisen Gorge and the leader of the
Liberators who had once challenged god and failed, had finally returned to the
surface. She had spent countless years believing that someone capable of
defeating god would eventually appear, and at long last, her wish had been
fulfilled.
Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, including the apostles. But while the
soldiers were mostly just confused, the apostles looked equal parts afraid and
furious.
"Man, what a surprise. I don't think I've ever had timing this perfect before! I
guess I'm just that good! Oh, but don't go falling for me now, guys!" Miledi's
annoying voice carried easily across the battlefield.
Though no one said anything aloud, in their hearts all of the soldiers were
thinking, Holy shit, she's so annoying!
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For the first time since deciding they would fight against god, all the mortal
races were united in heart and soul.
Miledi ordered her golem knights to take care of the second wave of
monsters the Mother of Sin had revived and flew over to Kaori.
Annoying as Miledi was, Kaori was still grateful for the reinforcements, so
she smiled at her.
"Miledi-san! My name's Kaori! You need to—"
"Man, it's so weird seeing someone who looks like an apostle acting like a
normal person with normal emotions! This is the biggest shock ever!"
"Thanks, but we don't have time to chat! Miledi-san, you need to—"
"Come on, we're all friends here. Call me Miledi-tan, not Miledi-san!"
Kaori gave up on trying to have a serious conversation with Miledi.
"Shea was right. You really are annoying," she said as she shot Miledi a
withering look.
"When you put it like that, it kinda hurts..." Miledi replied, her smiley face
mask drooping a little.
"Miledi Reisen! Why is a specter of the past like you here?!"
The apostles fired disintegration beams at Miledi from all directions.
Kaori quickly moved to defend her, but that proved unnecessary.
"Heavensfall."
Numerous gravity spheres appeared around Kaori and Miledi. They rotated
around the two of them, absorbing the disintegration beams and redirecting them
back at the apostles.
"Hmph, who said you guys could butt in?! I'll punish you all later, so be
good little girls and wait for your turn. Heavencrush."
Miledi's tone was joking up until the moment she said the name of her spell,
at which point it became stone-cold. Her sky-blue mana surged and a second
later, a massive black sphere appeared above the Mother of Sin. The air around it
then began to swirl and electric sparks crackled across the sphere's surface.
Even a legendary ancient monster like the Mother of Sin could do nothing in
the face of such destructively powerful gravity magic. The surrounding rubble
was swallowed up, along with all of the monsters in the area, including, of
course, the Mother of Sin.
"All right, that takes care of that! All that's left is about...three thousand of
them? My golems will hold the front lines for you, so do your best to take care
of the apostles left in your ranks, members of the alliance army," Miledi said,
using her own communicator to address everyone.
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"Sh-She's the reinforcements that the Goddess's Sword called over for us!
Onward to victory, everyone!" Liliana shouted, snapping the soldiers out of their
stupor. They'd been subconsciously annoyed by Miledi, as everyone who saw
her for the first time was, but upon hearing that she was their reinforcements,
they all let out triumphant cheers. If she was one of the Goddess's Sword's
friends, it made sense to them that she could take out tens of thousands of
monsters and the Mother of Sin in one shot.
Meanwhile, Miledi's golems started tearing into the revived monsters that
had been far enough away from the Heavencrush to avoid getting sucked in.
Their power was overwhelming, to the point that the soldiers were able to take a
short breather and gather their bearings.
Despite Miledi's impressive display of force, however, they weren't out of
the woods just yet.
"I'm sorry, Kaori-chan," Miledi said quietly via telepathy as she continued
deflecting the apostles' disintegration beams.
"Huh?"
Kaori turned to her and was surprised to see Miledi looking sincerely
apologetic.
"I won't be able to fight for long. That's why I was conserving my strength
until it was absolutely necessary. I saw how much you guys were struggling
before, but...I'm sorry I couldn't come right away."
Miledi clearly didn't want to let any of the apostles hear this. Kaori didn't
know how strong Miledi was in the past, but it was obvious to her that the
apostles were wary of Miledi. In fact, they were as guarded around Miledi as
they were around Kaori. They seemed to believe that if they let their guard down
for even an instant, they'd be obliterated.
Kaori pressed her back against Miledi's, smiled, and replied, "That's fine.
You've already done more than enough. Thank you so much for coming, Miledisan."
"You mean Miledi-tan."
Well, that sure ruined the moment.
Kaori's expression turned serious and she charged at the apostles without
bothering to reply. Thanks to Miledi's support, she had a much easier time
cutting through the apostles. Kaori was taking them down about as quickly as
when she'd first taken to the battlefield, like before they'd changed tactics to
counter her.
As she watched Kaori fight, Miledi muttered, "Meru-nee, the girl who
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inherited your magic is way stronger than we were."
She honestly sounded happy to be outdone.
Thanks to Miledi's appearance, the scales had started tipping in the other
direction. At this point, it was the forces of Tortus that had the edge.
The apostles couldn't do a thing to stop Miledi, and they were just barely
unable to reach the choir, as Yuka and the others were putting up fierce
resistance. Moreover, Kousuke seemed to grow continually stronger with every
passing moment now that he'd awoken to his shadow-clone powers.
Of the five thousand apostles who had made up Ehit's initial army, a
thousand of them had already been killed. There were only a hundred or so
apostles left to oppose Kaori, and Siebente had lost an arm and a leg. And to
make matters worse, the apostles received extremely troubling news from the
Sanctuary.
"Shea Haulia and Tio Klarus..." Siebente muttered, stopping suddenly. Upon
hearing that, Kaori stopped as well and watched her intently.
"To think not even Hearst and the others could stand up to them."
Indeed, it was at that very moment that Shea defeated the five platinum
apostles, and Tio killed Freid and destroyed his monster army.
"Shea and Tio won!" Kaori shouted excitedly.
"Hearst? I remember that name. So she finally kicked the bucket, huh?! Nice
going, bunny girl hero! Hey, apostles, how does it feel to get owned?" Miledi
asked in her trademark annoying voice.
Unfortunately, they didn't get to rejoice for very long.
"It is no longer possible to annihilate the mortal races of Tortus with the
forces we were given. Rejoice, Kaori Shirasaki. You have indeed shattered the
pride of us apostles."
Siebente's voice was quiet, but filled with emotion. Kaori's instincts were
telling her that something bad was coming, as Siebente's expression was cold,
but not in the usual emotionless apostle way.
"What are you going to do, then?" Kaori asked.
"Request a boon from Lord Ehit."
They had been created by Ehit to fulfill a specific purpose, but now that was
no longer possible, so they would turn to him for help. For the apostles, it was a
bitter decision, akin to abandoning their raison d'être, but they had no other
choice.
"Oh no! Kaori-chan, we have to stop them!"
Sadly, Miledi's warning came too late. The crack in the sky—the gate
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leading to the Sanctuary—emitted a burst of silver light, and another five
thousand apostles poured out of it. Fighting on even terms with the first five
thousand apostles had been hard enough, but now they had double the number to
deal with. Originally, these extra five thousand apostles had been meant to be
kept in reserve so they could serve as the vanguard when Ehit invaded earth, but
now they couldn't afford that luxury.
The new army of apostles formed together in a spindle formation much
denser than the one the first wave of apostles had used, then started charging
their disintegration magic. They looked like a divine spear that had suddenly
appeared high in the sky.
Chills ran down Kaori's spine and her face went pale. If they took that attack,
the soldiers would be toast.
"I won't let you!" Kaori shouted, shooting upward.
"All units, focus fire on the reinforcements above us! We cannot let them
unleash their attack!" Liliana said, her orders echoing across the battlefield.
Siebente and the others tried to stop Kaori, but Miledi easily pinned them in
place. Meanwhile, the soldiers below fired every single antiair weapon they had
up at the divine spear that was forming.
Adul and the other dragonmen fired their breath attacks at it as well, even
though it exposed them to attacks from the apostles they were fighting.
Unfortunately, the apostles had already spent a decent amount of time charging
before they'd even stepped through the gate, so their shimmering silver spear
was ready all too soon.
"You won't get past me—Ultimate Hallowed Ground!"
Kaori stepped in front of the path of the spear and crossed her claymores in
front of her, generating the most powerful barrier she could muster. The spatial
magic her gauntlets were enchanted with enhanced the barrier, making it even
stronger.
I hope this is enough, Miledi thought, firing a Heavencrush at the spear even
as she kept Siebente and the others at bay. It ate a significant chunk out of the
spear's side, and also swallowed up the apostles still coming out of the gate. But
unfortunately, that wasn't enough to stop the spear's momentum.
The spear crashed into Kaori's barrier, then started eating through it. Kaori,
of course, used restoration magic to keep repairing the destroyed sections, but
that wasn't enough.
"I...can't stop it... Everyone, run!"
Soon enough, the barrier shattered and the shock wave sent Kaori flying.
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That thankfully prevented her from taking a direct hit, but as the spear passed
her by, it still ripped off her right arm.
The Divine Spear fell, crashing into the barrier protecting the pope's choir.
After a few seconds, it blasted through that barrier as well and the silver spear
plowed into the fortress.
Half of the fort was destroyed immediately and half of the powerless priests
were vaporized in an instant. Kaori had managed to just barely move the spear
off course, and Yuka and the others had acted quickly to evacuate everyone,
which was the only reason why the remaining half of the choir survived. Still,
the damage was catastrophic. And worst of all, this forced the priests to stop
singing. The main spell keeping the apostles weakened was gone, so they would
be able to brandish their full power once more.
Pillars of silver light shot up all over the battlefield, and a second later, blood
sprayed everywhere as the apostles started slaughtering the soldiers. In seconds,
there were mountains of corpses all over. The soldiers who had been shouting
war cries until now all started screaming in terror.
"This will at least buy us some time—Field Reversal!" Miledi shouted,
squeezing out the last of her strength to reverse the gravity acting on all the
apostles. The spell itself was a simple one, but using it on all the apostles at once
was exceedingly difficult. It was clear Miledi was pushing herself past her limits,
as her mask started to crack. Still, it worked and the majority of the apostles
were sent hurtling into the air. They'd been pushed up a good six hundred meters
before they were able to regain control of their mobility.
Siebente and the apostles that had been fighting Adul and the other
dragonmen joined up with the four thousand-odd apostles that had suddenly
been thrown skyward.
"It's time we put an end to this," Siebente stated, brandishing her claymores.
All of the apostles followed suit, then started charging their disintegration magic.
There was no Canopy to defend the soldiers down below anymore, and the
apostles were at full strength. Thus, this concentrated barrage would easily
annihilate the allied army.
The dragonmen were firing their breath and the soldiers were using all of
their antiair weapons to try to cull the apostles' numbers, but now that they were
back to full strength, their defenses were far too tough.
They wouldn't be able to stop the apostles at this rate. All they could do was
watch helplessly as the silver lights up above grew brighter and brighter.
I was hoping to save this, but...I might have to use it here... Miledi thought to
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herself, preparing her final trump card. Before she could use it, however, Kaori
took action.
"Not so fast!" she shouted, placing herself between the apostles and the allied
army. She'd finished restoring her missing arm, so she spread both arms wide.
"Ultimate Hallowed Ground!"
A pale violet barrier spread out to cover the entire army. It was the color of
Kaori's own mana, not the silver mana of the apostle body she was inhabiting or
the silvery-black mana she'd had after using metamorphosis magic on herself to
look like a fallen angel.
The color of one's mana was a reflection of their soul. In other words, this
was a barrier Kaori had bet her very soul on.
"Perish," Siebente said simply. Then, the four thousand apostles unleashed
their fully powered disintegration beams at Kaori.
There was a thunderous boom and a violent explosion of light as the beams
collided with Kaori's barrier.
"Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngh!" Kaori let out a pained scream. It felt like she
was trying to stop a meteor shower with her bare hands. Her silvery-black wings
began to flicker, and she was slowly but surely being pushed back toward the
ground.
"Tetragrammaton! Godspeed! Limiter Removal!"
Kaori used Godspeed to allow her to regenerate her barrier instantaneously
whenever it was broken and also used the ultimate evolution magic spell to push
her abilities even further. Using three ancient magic spells at once, with one of
them using the principles of that magic's true nature, took an unbelievably
ridiculous amount of mana. Kaori gritted her teeth so hard they cracked and tears
of blood spilled from her eyes.
"Brave warriors, deploy your barriers. Do everything you can to support
her!" Adul shouted. All of the dragonmen overlapped their barriers with Kaori's,
trying their hardest to ease her burden even a little.
"I have the utmost respect for your resolve—Spatial Severance!" Miledi
exclaimed, expending the last of her remaining power to create a gravity field to
absorb as many of the disintegration beams as possible.
The soldiers on the ground were also doing everything they could.
"Sing! Sing, dammit! If you've got breath in your lungs, then sing!" Simon
shouted. He'd been lucky enough to be part of the group that had survived. He
and the dozen or so priests that remained were bleeding all over, but they sang at
the top of their lungs to try to weaken the apostles even a little.
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"I beseech you in the name of the fertility goddess. Grant our valkyrie your
strength!"
Aiko used spirit magic to transfer as much of the soldiers' and the other
students' mana as she dared over to Kaori. Had any of them resisted, it would
have been difficult for Aiko to maintain that spell, but of course every single one
of them was willing.
Meanwhile, the beastmen who possessed no mana became literal meat
shields to physically protect Aiko from the few apostles still on the ground.
It was hard to tell how much time passed. It might have been a few seconds
or a few minutes. To Kaori, at least, it felt like an eternity. But eventually, the
beams died down.
"Haaah... Haaah, we did it..." Kaori muttered, panting heavily as her paleviolet barrier began to fade. Her wings kept fading in and out of existence, and
she started falling to the ground. Miledi hurriedly flew over to support her.
"Nice going, Kaori-chan! You really are one amazing girl!"
"Miledi-san..." Kaori mumbled. She was utterly spent, to the point where
even her soul was in an exhausted state. The same was true for the dragonmen,
the soldiers, and Aiko and the other students. Everyone had squeezed out every
last ounce of strength they'd had just to endure that attack.
After a brief pause, the apostles started charging again. This time they
grouped up into sets of ten, creating silver lights so bright they looked like minisuns.
"As I have said time and time again, Lord Ehit's will is absolute," Siebente
stated, her voice reaching everyone on the battlefield.
Kaori and the others wouldn't be able to restore their mana in time. This next
attack really would kill everyone. There was no avoiding it.
At long last, the soldiers started to give in to despair. But not Kaori, no. Still
panting, she once again raised both arms. She wouldn't give up no matter what
happened.
Upon seeing her, the soldiers held their breath. Her gallant figure was so
inspiring that they couldn't help but be moved. Pushing aside their despair, the
people down below resolved to give her their very souls if that was what it took.
"Hold out for as long as you can, even if it's just for a second longer!"
Kaori wasn't saying that out of desperation, but rather faith.
In that extra second they held out, her beloved Hajime might be able to put an
end to Ehit. No, he definitely would. Of that she was certain, which was why she
would keep struggling until the very moment of her death.
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Once again, the sky was filled with silver lights. The barrier Kaori had
erected this time was as brittle as a pane of glass. However, it did last for a
second, and indeed that second was enough to win them their future.
"He he, see? What did I tell you?!" Kaori exclaimed proudly, smiling.
The silver lights dissipated, leaving Kaori and all the soldiers down below
still intact.
"Impossible... Lord Ehit is struggling so much that he cannot even supply us
with mana?" Siebente muttered in shock as she looked up at the gate. She then
looked down at Kaori. And as their eyes met, she pursed her lips...before her
body went limp and she started falling. The same thing happened to the other
apostles, and they all hit the ground like lifeless rag dolls.
The apostles on the ground weren't faring much better. In the command
room, half the ceiling and two whole walls had been destroyed. Liliana was
backed into a corner with only her maid Helina left to protect her. Helina
desperately held her dagger out in front of her, facing off against an apostle. That
apostle had her claymore raised high to deal the finishing blow, but it was at that
moment that she froze.
Bleeding from a deep gash in her chest and panting heavily, Helina warily
stepped forward and stabbed the apostle. And somehow, her weak thrust was
enough to cause the apostle to collapse.
"Princess..."
Helina turned back to Liliana and flashed her a wide smile. Feeling hope
swell in her chest, Liliana activated the cameras that were still working and
projected the situation outside onto one of the remaining walls.
The apostles the soldiers were fighting had all stopped as well. Realizing
immediately what had happened, Liliana took a deep breath and activated her
communicator pearl.
"Central command to all units."
The apostles in the air had all fallen, while the ones on the ground were
frozen in place. The horde of monsters Miledi's golems had been fighting started
scattering in all directions as well. Everyone was severely injured and utterly
exhausted, but they all looked up at the fort as Liliana spoke.
"We've—"
They could tell she was about to announce that the races of Tortus had won,
and they waited with bated breath for the proclamation. But just before Liliana
could finish her statement, Adul interrupted her.
"Wait, what's that...? Don't tell me the Sanctuary is..."
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Adul was looking up at the crack that served as the gate into the Sanctuary.
The sky all around it was twisting and warping.
Cracks started to appear in the sky, and from those cracks, Adul caught
glimpses of fantastical other worlds. The air began to creak and groan as if the
very world was on the verge of falling apart.
"Hajime-kun, Yue, guys..." Kaori muttered worriedly, looking up at the gate.
Something strange was clearly happening in the Sanctuary. It looked like it was
on the verge of collapsing, even.
Kaori was so exhausted that it was a struggle just to stay conscious, but once
she realized Hajime and the others might be in danger, the fire returned to her
eyes and she weakly flapped her wings, trying to head to the gate.
"Don't worry!"
"Miledi-san?"
However, Miledi gently patted Kaori's head with her metal hand and stopped
her from going toward it.
"Thank you, Kaori-chan. Because you worked so hard, I was able to save my
final trump card."
"What's that?"
Miledi didn't bother to explain and instead simply winked at Kaori.
"Leave those guys to me. Everyone's favorite idol, Miledi-chan, will get
them all out safe and sound for you."
Miledi then flew up into the gate, and Kaori didn't even try to stop her. The
sheer sense of resolve in Miledi's words had overwhelmed her. More than
anything though, she'd felt an immense amount of love coming from Miledi at
that moment.
The strength drained from Kaori's limbs, and she muttered, "I'm counting on
you, Miledi-san."
As she'd promised Hajime the night before the final battle, she would trust in
them and wait. And honestly, all of the other people on the battlefield felt the
same way as they gazed up at the collapsing sky. They fervently prayed for
Hajime's victory.