384

Marquette

Watching so many of her subordinates die in the explosion, Queen Ash's expression darkened.

Her long, fiery hair stood on end as her body trembled slightly. "Asgardian... I won't let you off easily!"

Behind Forseti, holy light fluttered as he flew from the gate towards Queen Ash. Simultaneously, he used the Hand of Reckoning again, drawing away some of the enemies besieging Eitri.

At that moment, Eitriwas finally able to handle the attackers, who numbered five or six. His battle armor's durability allowed him to withstand their relentless assaults.

Forseti and Queen Ash engaged in battle once more, taking brief moments to dispatch other enemies. Soon, only Queen Ash and a green-horned Musbel remained.

This green-horned Musbel was second only to Queen Ash in strength. Despite taking a beating from Eitri's armor, he managed to retaliate while keeping an eye on Queen Ash, who was faltering in her battle.

Seeing Queen Ash's disadvantage, he couldn't help but shout urgently, "Flame Praetorian Guards, protect Her Majesty!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, Eitri swung his warhammer hard, landing a solid blow to the Musbel's abdomen.

"Ah!" The Musbel screamed in pain, falling from the sky.

"Marquette!" Queen Ash cried out, attempting to break away and give chase.

Meanwhile, Forseti intensified his assault. His Ice Pole Blade and Demon Slayer Sword moved with precision, preventing Queen Ash from retreating.

Despite appearing to dominate the battle, Forseti felt a sense of unease. His flame powers were nearly depleted from earlier attempts to breach the gate of Jinlunga, and subsequent battles had drained much of his divine mana. Although he currently held the upper hand against Queen Ash, he lacked the stamina for prolonged combat.

Just then, Queen Ash's Flame Guards arrived, numbering as many as two hundred, all of them third-level or higher.

The Flame Guards swiftly rescued the fallen Marquette, then charged towards Forseti and Eitri like two hundred pillars of fire.

Seeing the overwhelming force approaching, Forseti smiled grimly.

"Perfect timing. These Musbels in the Flame Guard will replenish my holy mana," he said to Eitri. "Leave them to me."

Forseti dashed into the midst of the enemy, wielding his Demon Slayer Sword to swiftly dispatch the sinners among the Flame Guards.

With each fallen figure cloaked in blood-red, the Demon Slayer Sword continued to replenish Forseti's energy, swiftly restoring his mana reserves.

Recovered and refocused, Forseti now faced Queen Ash and the Flame Guards alone.

Meanwhile, Eitri observed his surroundings. He quickly identified a compass-shaped mechanism near the gate.

As the foremost craftsman of the Nine Realms, Eitri deduced that this mechanism controlled the door from within. However, it wasn't a simple latch; it likely required specific steps to operate.

With Forseti engaging the enemy, Eitri hurried to manipulate the compass, attempting to open the gate...

Forseti wielded his twin blades expertly, engaging multiple enemies without faltering. His holy wings allowed him to dart between adversaries like refracted light.

Just before his holy wings dissipated, he unleashed a final vengeful surge, once again using the Flame Guards' sins to recharge his mana.

Buoyed by his increasing confidence, Forseti pushed his advantage against Queen Ash, whose flames flickered with growing panic.

Though she appeared to falter, her attacks remained fierce. In an attempt to counter, Forseti unleashed the Ice Pole Blade in his left hand.

Sanctions!

A dazzling burst of golden-blue light erupted as holy light and ice converged, severing Queen Ash's left arm.

She screamed in agony, retreating hastily. Flames surged from her severed arm, swiftly regenerating a new one.

While the new limb formed rapidly, the strain was evident from multiple injuries and rapid regeneration.

Forseti's Eye of Reckoning noted a decrease in Queen Ash's power, her seven-layered aura trembling briefly before settling at six layers.

Realizing her predicament, Queen Ash hesitated, then gritted her teeth and raised her hands. "My servants, Flame Praetorian Guards, now offer yourselves as sacrifices to your queen. Six hundred years hence, at the twilight of the gods, you shall rise again from the original dais!"

Before she finished speaking, the bodies of the Flame Guard soldiers began disintegrating, transforming into flames and ash.

Some embraced their fate with piety, while others struggled in despair and pain, their ashes mingling with Queen Ash's.

Absorbing the fallen Flame Guards restored Queen Ash's aura to seven layers, her power surging.

However, with increased strength came heightened sins. Her once-bright blood-red flames darkened ominously.

Observing this, Forseti frowned before resuming his assault.

"Boom!"

Forseti's Demon Slayer Sword and Ice Pole Blade moved with precision, exploiting the Queen's weakened state.

"What...!" She paled, unable to mount a defense.

"The sovereign should not sacrifice her own warriors, Your Majesty," Forseti declared, unleashing another surge of divine punishment.

Struggling to regain her strength by absorbing her subordinates, Queen Ash found herself further weakened by the Holy Light's relentless assault.

At that critical juncture, with his mana reserves almost replenished, Forseti forced Queen Ash into a one-sided struggle.

"Boom..."

Simultaneously, Eitri successfully manipulated the compass, causing the gate to rumble open.

With the gate breached, Eitri swiftly joined the fray. "I'm with you, Forseti!"

Facing the combined assault of Forseti and Eitri, Queen Ash finally capitulated. With a scream, she transformed into a ball of flames and fled at breakneck speed.

Forseti's vengeful wrath had reached its limit, unable to pursue further. He closed his hands, conjuring a large amount of holy light that coalesced into a small Holy Spirit Horse.

"Go!"

The Holy Spirit Horse galloped forth, accelerating rapidly and gradually closing the gap with Queen Ash.

"Boom!"

With a resounding bang, Queen Ash, the ruler of Jinlunga and daughter of Surtur, vanished amidst dazzling light.

Witnessing the explosion of the horse once again, Eitri couldn't help but pat Forseti on the shoulder and remark, "Forseti, I didn't expect your horse to have such explosive power."

"...," Forseti hesitated momentarily upon hearing Eitri's words, sensing something amiss but unable to pinpoint it.

Shaking off these thoughts, he descended to the ground, surveying the area and collecting several fiery red orbs scattered on the ground.

During the recent battle, Forseti discovered that pure flame creatures capable of transforming into fire possessed such orbs within their bodies—likely their hearts. He hadn't had the chance to gather them during the fight, but now he intended to collect some. He suspected these fiery hearts could serve as substitutes for the fiery core.

His suspicions proved correct upon identification; these fiery orbs showed a substitution rate of over 70%, which, though not reaching 90%, was still acceptable as a fiery core.

As he gathered the fiery cores, the severely injured Marquette stumbled upon the Scarborough Iron Mountain, clutching his stomach.

After some time, he reached a hall atop the mountain and upon entering, declared, "Prepare for sacrifice, detonate the original high platform..."

"What?" The priest in the hall was dumbfounded, thinking he had misheard.

"I said, detonate the original high platform!" Marquette gasped.

"Are you mad? This will destroy Jinlunga and alter the fate of the Nine Realms—" the priest exclaimed in disbelief, but his words were cut short as Marquette thrust a sharp blade into his throat.

"With Her Majesty the Queen gone, this world holds no meaning! We and the intruders shall be entombed with Her Majesty!" Marquette shouted hysterically, leaving the blade in the priest's body to fall to the ground beside the sacrificed priest.

He then staggered toward the center of the hall, arriving at a stone platform and gazing down.

"Ah, the original high platform, the nexus of the Nine Realms..." Marquette caressed the stone platform, his blood dripping from his fingertips.

The original high platform appeared unremarkable, etched with numerous mysterious runes and patterns, as though recounting ancient prophecies and legends. In the midst of the many runes and patterns on the stone platform was a depiction of a twisted giant tree with nine branches...

A fiery soul heart with peculiar lines caught Forseti's attention as he leaned down to retrieve it, immediately identifying it in the palm of his hand.

[137% substitution for Fiery Core]

This fiery core was likely Queen Ash's heart. Seeing such a high substitution rate, Forseti felt justified in his journey.

"Boom..."

A tremor shook Jinlunga, the ground heating suddenly like a furnace without warning.

While the heat generated by the Scarborough Iron was flame-like, it had not been too intense for Forseti and Eitri. Now, however, the temperature rose sharply, the heat seeping through the soles of Forseti's feet.

"What's happening?" Eitri, preoccupied with digging into the Scarborough Iron once more, felt the increasingly violent tremors and rising temperatures and couldn't help asking.

"I'm not sure, but we need to evacuate immediately!" Forseti said gravely, already airborne.

"So much Scarborough Iron!" Eitri lamented, surveying the abundance of Scarborough Iron on the mountain, but a sense of impending catastrophic destruction gripped him, his heart skipping a beat as he hastily took flight.

Seeing Eitri lagging behind, Forseti hurried over, grabbing him and lifting him into the air. His magical floating cloak billowed wildly as flames surged beneath his feet, flying at full speed toward the celestial gate of Jinlunga in the sky.

"Boom-boom--"

Thunderous explosions resounded like cannon fire, the ground of Jinlunga cracking as the Scarborough Mountain glowed red, its form melting away.

As the forging material for the Twilight Sword, Scarborough Iron was exceptionally resistant to melting. According to Eitri, Scarborough Iron's ability to withstand high temperatures rivaled that of the finest Uru.

However, now the mountain range formed by this flame metal was slowly liquefying into molten iron... Forseti found it difficult to fathom the incredible energy unleashed from the depths of Jinlunga.

"Boom!!"

The sky tore open, and as the Scarborough Mountain melted, Jinlunga itself split apart!

From the vast chasm in the earth, iridescent rays of light surged forth like a violent fountain, shooting straight into the sky.

Though these five or six hues of light resembled beautiful rainbows, they harbored terrifying destructive power. Any substance in their path disappeared almost instantaneously.

Even the mountain range forged from Scarborough Iron melted into molten iron in the face of such terrifying power, tearing through the land of Jinlunga.

Forseti, racing toward the celestial gate, glanced back and witnessed much of Jinlunga engulfed in the shimmering light, as if an ocean had submerged the land.

In the dazzling radiance, mountains, rivers, and valleys were reduced to ashes, leaving only molten Scarborough Iron splashing and erupting within the streamers of molten iron.

"Rainbow Bridge..." Forseti muttered, his mouth twitching.

The catastrophic energy erupting from Jinlunga was familiar to every Asgardian—the power of the World Tree, akin to that of the Rainbow Bridge.

Forseti harbored no doubt that he and Eitri could endure only moments under this power.

"Someone close the gate!" Eitri exclaimed in shock.

Forseti turned and saw that the gate Eitri had opened was now shut, with Marquette, the green-horned Musbeier, standing nearby, declaring, "Hahaha, you and I shall be buried alongside Her Majesty the Queen!"

The gate loomed before them, the rainbow light fast approaching from behind.

Eitri's face paled. "It's over. I never appointed an heir for Nidavi..."

"It's not over," Forseti said, summoning the sanctified deed in his heart and casting the holy shield technique upon himself and Eitri, clutching Eitri's battle armor firmly with both hands.

"Boom--!!"

In the next instant, the rainbow light engulfed the sky.

Like leaves in a stormy sea, they were swept away by the blast, hurtling toward the direction of the explosive light and effortlessly penetrating Jinlunga's stout gate.

Yet, shielded by the Divine Shield, Forseti and Eitri emerged unscathed, racing out of Jinlunga amidst the rainbow light.

In his final moments before being consumed by the annihilating brilliance, Marquette looked upon the two unharmed figures with profound shock and disbelief in his eyes.