Chapter 99

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Life is unpredictable, like the proverbial wheel of fortune.

Just moments ago, Astaroth thought luck was on her side.

Who would have guessed her assessment would be overturned in mere minutes?

‘Murmur, did you predict this would happen and dump all the responsibility on me?’

Of course, if one were to analyze the situation, the fault lay with her for not withdrawing at the right time.

Murmur had already completed everything she needed to do.

After confirming the coordinates were in place, Astaroth should have just left.

By causing such a conspicuous disturbance in the middle of a city, resistance was inevitable. She had underestimated humans and now faced an unpleasant situation.

It was self-inflicted, no matter how one looked at it. Still, with what she had gained, perhaps the fortune and misfortune balanced out. Maybe she was lucky, after all? Or not?

“Aha-ha….”

Astaroth let out a dry laugh.

Despite the fierce battle, her glossy, obsidian-like hair remained pristine, shimmering with luster.

Twisting a strand of her hair around her finger, she spoke.

“How about we call it a draw?”

The response was a crack of thunder. Lightning surged as a rapid thrust barreled toward her.

It was a force too intense for a mere human to wield—a piercing strike like anti-aircraft fire aimed at tactical targets. The sound of an explosion echoed as it streaked forward in a straight line.

Though the strike was lightning-fast, Astaroth deftly deflected it with her parasol.

“Does that mean you’re surrendering?”

“Oh, come on. Of course not.”

Her proposal was to stop fighting, wave goodbye, and part ways amicably.

Let’s resolve this peacefully, okay?

“That’s not even worth considering.”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

Kallad’s curt rejection made Astaroth nod in agreement.

Even she had to admit it was a ridiculous thing to say.

After wreaking havoc, who would take her at her word if she suddenly asked to stop?

She hadn’t expected it to work in the first place.

“Well, I guess there’s no choice. Shall we play a little longer?”

Three captains.

She could handle two. But three? Even she wasn’t confident about that.

Devils were the strongest, but they weren’t invincible.

From here on, there was no room for toying around. She would have to face them with everything she had.

Astaroth grabbed the edge of her red fox mask. Without hesitation, she applied force.

Her fingers dug into the mask, creating cracks that spread like ripples.

In an instant, the cracks expanded from her fingertips, and the mask crumbled like a stale biscuit.

The lower part of her nose, her lips, and the line of her chin were now exposed to the outside world.

A devil’s mask wasn’t just a decorative piece.

It was a tool to conceal their existence and a seal that suppressed their power.

Its primary purpose was to hide devils from the gaze of the gods, but in doing so, it inevitably restrained some of their strength.

“Let’s play.”

The delicate pink lips, hidden until now beneath the red fox mask, curved into a playful smile.

However, the icy chill that lingered in her now-unrevealed blue eyes was far from playful.

◈

The 7th Division Captain.

The position had remained vacant for years after the previous captain perished during the chaos of the Great Cataclysm.

The reason was simple: there was no one capable of filling the role. True greatness wasn’t easily found.

For four years, the position had gathered dust—until a new owner finally took the helm.

Kaen.

The former vice-captain of the 1st Division.

Now the captain of the 7th Division.

A personal disciple of the Commander-in-Chief.

A rising star nurtured directly by the leader of the Celestial Corps.

Though Kaen lacked the experience of the other captains, her skill was more than sufficient.

“Ryaaaaahhh!”

“Ugh, can you be any louder…?”

“Focus! Fighting is all about focus! That’s what my master taught me!”

Astaroth watched as Kaen blocked her parasol’s strikes with her bare fists.

A faint, shimmering light enveloped her hands like gloves, shielding them.

Every collision between parasol and fist was accompanied by resounding booms—boom! boom!

Each blow was heavy.

No, heavy didn’t even begin to describe it.

It was monstrous. She questioned whether this could truly be called a human’s punch.

Kallad’s lightning blade and Isabella’s icy glacier were both incredibly powerful.

But those attacks were singular, concentrated bursts of power. They couldn’t amount to the barrage of attacks like the one currently displayed by Kaen.

Especially that first surprise attack—it had been enough to send shivers down even Astaroth’s spine.

Her torn grip still bled from that strike.

‘Kallad’s skill is better. Even that ice woman’s precision is sharper. But this destructive power—this alone is unmatched. One wrong hit, and I’m done for.’

Kaen’s reckless rush was simple, yet she couldn’t shake her off.

Fist after fist, punch after punch.

Her hands moved so fast they seemed to blur into dozens.

If Kaen had been alone, it wouldn’t have been an issue.

If raw strength wasn’t enough, she could use finesse to outmaneuver her.

With focus, even small openings could be exploited. She could constrict her like a snake and break her.

“Impressive, kid. Have you grown stronger again?”

But unfortunately for Astaroth, Kaen wasn’t alone.

A biting chill enveloped her.

Her legs suddenly froze, locking her in place.

She didn’t need to look to know.

The icy frost crept along the ground, snaring her ankles.

Left unchecked, it would spread to her entire body.

Astaroth instantly broke free with sheer leg strength.

It was a fleeting moment, but for the captains, it was all the opportunity they needed.

Thunder roared, and lightning struck.

A golden spark scattered in all directions, then converged into a single point.

The lightning blade was forged sharper than ever.

Rotating and compressing. 

The principle was the exact same as Eugene’s Sun Sword. The only difference being the way it was utilized. If Eugene used it as a wide-ranged destructive technique, Kallad’s was the exact opposite.

Compressed to the extreme to raise the cutting power tremendously at a single point.

A deadly sword that reliably annihilates only within a narrow range.

Thunder God’s Blade

The Thunder God’s Blade swung in a diagonal slash—from her right shoulder to her left side—aiming to cleave Astaroth in two.

“Load!”

Kaen’s combat style revolved around utilizing compressed energy. By drawing from pre-prepared reserves, she could unleash overwhelming power with remarkable speed. The relentless barrage that had shaken Astaroth earlier had been possible thanks to tapping deeply into her second energy core.

Even this ability to quickly access potent energy was incredibly useful, but it wasn’t the full extent of her power.

Kaen could load an entire energy core as if it were a bullet. Compressing massive energy into a single strike, she would unleash a decisive, one-hit-kill technique.

Her first core had already been expended during her opening ambush. Now, Kaen forced the entirety of her second core into her right fist. Although its potency was slightly diminished after her earlier barrage, it was still nothing short of monstrous.

The immense energy, capable of shaking heaven and earth, was entirely concentrated in one small part of her body—her fist.

“Fire!”

Bracing herself with sturdy legs and adding the torque of her rotating waist, Kaen launched a straightforward punch.

A simple telephone punch—ordinary in form, but packed with overwhelming force.

‘What do I do now?’

In the split-second that followed, Astaroth extended her perception, stretching each fraction of a second into something resembling an eternity. 

Gazing at the twin flashes hurtling toward her, she quickly realized her predicament: dodging one attack was possible, but evading both was not. Attempting to avoid both would only result in her being torn apart diagonally, as well as her body detonating like a broken balloon.

Even for a devil, such an injury was fatal.

She wished she could sigh, but slowing her perception had made her body sluggish.

Her decision came swiftly. She had no time for prolonged contemplation.

Astaroth hurled herself out of harm’s way.

The Thunder God’s Blade carved through the air, leaving behind a trail of superheated distortion.

She managed to evade most of the strike, though not entirely. Suppressing the searing pain, she pulled her parasol close to her chest.

BOOM!

The parasol had taken a dent.

The girl behind the red fox mask was flung like a ricocheting bullet, flying through the air in a straight line.

Almost as if shot from a cannon, Astaroth soared.

“Aha, ahaha! Got you! Idiots! This was my escape route! You’ve lost to me in a battle of wits!”

She had deliberately thrown herself into Kaen’s punch, her organs trembling with the force as blood oozed from her lips.

Still, she had succeeded in creating distance between herself and her foes. It was a cheap price to pay—or so she thought.

Wait, perhaps not. Her ribs felt thoroughly shattered, the jagged bones stabbing into her lungs.

Even so, retreating had been the correct choice.

Facing three captains without a proper weapon had been utter folly.

Her parasol wasn’t a weapon. It was simply a tool for blocking sunlight. Though slightly special, it wasn’t suited for combat.

Her adversaries had given her no chance to draw an actual weapon, leaving her no choice but to fight with the parasol alone.

That ended here. From now on, things would get serious—

“Ni-ō(仁王).”

A sharp clap resounded like a ceremonial gong.

Starting from the ground beneath Isabella’s feet, pillars of ice erupted upward.

No, they weren’t mere pillars. They resembled a head—a face, dignified and grim, though twisted with a certain severity.

Next came the torso, forming into the massive frame of a giant.

The construct, crafted from pristine ice, was an exquisitely sculpted colossus. Its lifelike eyes glared fiercely, as if alive.

As Isabella separated her hands, the giant raised its own, its massive palm slicing through the air toward Astaroth.

“That technique…”

The scene overlapped with a memory. It wasn’t ice last time, but stone, yet the resemblance was uncanny. A technique that had impressed even Astaroth back then. This, however, was far more refined.

So this was the true origin of that technique.

“Vajra Warrior.”

BOOM!

The earth heaved, splitting apart as tremors surged outward. The shockwaves upturned the terrain, uprooting cherry trees, and sent debris soaring into the air. The aftermath left a dense cloud of dust, obscuring everything in sight.

“Watch closely, little one.” Isabella said, grinning at Kaen, who was staring in awe at the spectacle.

“This is how you throw a punch.”

With a sly smile, she crooked her finger.

At her command, the colossus, the Vajra Warrior, straightened its massive shoulders. Drawing back one arm, it unleashed a devastating punch.

BOOM!

The ground quaked once more, fissures spreading like veins across the earth. Repeated strikes followed as if ensuring nothing was left intact. The park’s center became a sprawling crater in seconds, yet the giant did not stop. Its unrelenting assault left no room for survival.

“…Huh?”

Isabella let out a puzzled sound.

The deafening bombardment abruptly ceased.

The Vajra Warrior had stopped its attack.

It wasn’t because of hesitation—it had lost its arms.

Both limbs now dripped water, their icy forms having melted away entirely.

“They melted?”

My ice?

But how?

“Ah… I really didn’t want to use this…”

The answer came swiftly.

Astaroth stood amidst the chaos, her hair plastered to her face with blood. She gently brushed it away, her voice barely a mutter.

Her parasol burned with a vivid, crimson flame.

Her reluctance was plain, her teeth lightly biting her lower lip as if in protest.

With a casual sweep of her parasol, she cleared the mist of steam that lingered in the air. From the bottom of the massive crater, she looked upward at her opponents.

The ground had sunk several meters from the sheer force of the battle.

“Breaking my mask… and forcing me to use my ability… haa, this leaves me with little time left to act.”

She could no longer hide from the gods’ watchful eyes.

Her time was running out.

Escaping this place had been her intention from the start, but now it was even more urgent.

The problem was that the captains glaring down at her weren’t likely to simply let her go.

Astaroth stood in a perilous situation, yet her face showed no trace of fear.

Instead, a faint smile played on her lips.

“Pfft.”

“What’s so funny?”

Kallad frowned at Astaroth’s quiet laugh.

“It’s just… I’ve figured it out.”

What?

“Your fatal weakness.”

A method to turn the tides.

 

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
The next chapter is a IF side story to commemorate the 100th chapter.

The route where Eugene doesn’t arrive on time in chapter 33.

The route where Lucia becomes a slave by Eugene’s wish that was mentioned in the author’s note for chapter 66.

I was thinking of doing one of the two, but the more I thought about it, the less fun it was and the more forced the plot of the latter seemed.

So, I’m wondering what to do…

Like the Regina pet route that branches off in chapter 71… But Regina is a supporting character who doesn’t appear much… Plus, it seems to overlap with the episode 33 branch route…

Should I just mix the two?

Or should I do the route where Lucia’s personality is discovered by Frey that branches off in chapter 58?

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
Yee-yikes, wall of text! Either way, the next chapter will be the 100th one! And as you know, it’s going to be a R-19 one!! Eek! Hide the children, heh.

Anyways, Astaroth’s correction remains a stand-still, bummer!