Ch.1104I Saw You

# Stealing Fangs.

Space itself was torn apart and devoured by Invidius’s power as he crushed an airship. Before the falling vessel could even crash into the tsunami of dark mana, he immediately demonstrated his next ability.

– Kugugugugung…!

A deep resonating sound echoed like thunder through the darkness that covered the sky.

As Invidius raised his long, slender left arm, the darkness overflowing above his head wrapped around the extended limb and swirled violently.

# Call of Yearning.

The next moment, Invidius’s left arm vanished in the vortex of dark mana as if severed and dissolved.

– Guuuung!

Immediately after, it suddenly appeared behind another airship that had been desperately trying to distance itself, extending eight claw-like fingers.

“B-Behind us! Enemy approaching! Evasive maneuvers impossible!”

“Mana barrier!! Activate it now!”

The crew panicked at the sight of the massive shadowy hand reaching for them and frantically activated the mana barrier.

– Wuuuung!

Blue mana light burst from the bridge, forming a translucent sphere of light that enveloped the entire ship.

This wide-area defensive formula was installed to compensate for the airship’s main weakness—its tendency to fall helplessly when hit.

Invidius’s grasping hand was stopped by the mana barrier with a thunderous sound.

– Kwajijijijijik!!

Black and blue lightning wildly danced where his fingertips met the barrier.

And then.

“M-Mana core output abnormal! We can’t maintain the barrier!!”

With a crew member’s scream-like report, the mana barrier in contact with the evil god’s fingers began to turn black and crumble.

“What in the—what’s happening?!”

“The mana core’s energy is being absorbed…! No, converted…? He’s—he’s turning mana into dark mana!”

“What?! Then…!”

As the captain widened his eyes in shock at the report, all the remaining mana in the airship was corrupted into dark mana and leaked beyond the mana core.

This meant their death.

“Mana core completely silent! Altitude maintenance impossible! The mana barrier too…!”

An airship with a disabled mana core was nothing more than a massive piece of scrap metal, incapable of flight or self-defense.

Even if left alone, they would crash and all perish. Invidius kindly minimized the time they would suffer in the fear of death.

– Kwajijik!

The Empire’s second airship was crushed in the evil god’s grasp.

Fragments burst from the pressure and rained down like hail, quietly sinking beneath the tsunami of dark mana. Just like the first airship that was already falling.

Two of the Empire’s proud defensive weapons, the airships, sank like garbage without serving any purpose.

All this happened before Haschal could even swing down the sword he had raised above his head.

======[ Haschal ]======

…This is truly fucked up.

I gritted my teeth as I watched the falling airships.

A disaster that unfolded in an instant. Each airship, comparable to the power of a hero-class fighter, was destroyed so quickly, so meaninglessly.

I had only hesitated for a moment to assess the enemy’s condition, but in that brief time, we suffered this much damage.

It was a terrifying and overwhelming display worthy of the title “Evil God.”

The way he blocked the flames of Heaven’s Wall by covering the sky with darkness despite emerging from beneath it was so absurd I almost burst into laughter.

Truly, “fucked up” was the only way to describe this situation.

# There҈̲̬͇̣̥͋̇̾̀͜͝ you are.

Invidius, who had just crushed two airships like swatting flies, addressed me.

His voice resonated directly in my mind like he was speaking inside my head. It was filled with emotions so deep and viscous they seemed bottomless.

Is this what they mean by the guilty party getting angry first? Despite being the one who did terrible things and got his arm cut off and was banished, he seemed to harbor an enormous grudge against me for it.

Living up to his title as an Evil God, he was displaying truly villainous qualities. His mindset was despicable and his actions deserving of death.

# The chain҉̡̙͖̈́̽̒́̕ that obtained҈̨̩̲̳̰̾̂̄͝ a star. It will be different҉̡͓͎͓̙҇̎̿̓́̈́ from then.

“So what? I’m different from back then too.”

Enduring the pressure bearing down on me, I extended the power within me throughout the entire world.

To unleash a slash that would control time, violate space, and cleave the world.

The soul of the star unfolds. The world created by my soul for myself begins to erode and cover the present world. For a world of silence where everything stops.

# Defy—

# I have seen҈̩̩͖̠̤̥̰̩̂̒͌͆̉̈́͊̇ͅ you҉̰̣̗̣̰̠̲̉̆̍͐͋̇͋̉̽̓̊̈́̒̇͋̚.

And then, in the next moment, everything shattered. Like a bubble that had been forcibly pressed and popped.

The power that was about to burst forth was trapped inside me, unable to find an exit and faded away.

“This is…!”

I widened my eyes in shock. I immediately tried to manifest Defying Fate again, but this time it was impossible to even attempt.

An ability similar to Garmerlic’s but on a different level.

Ausrine’s power, Tale of Heros, degraded and corrupted beyond recognition. The manifestation of the power itself was sealed.

This meant that Sky Slash, which required extreme time compression as a prerequisite, was naturally sealed as well.

One of the most powerful techniques I had mastered, second only to Leviathan, was now impossible to even attempt.

It was truly shocking.

# Know҈̢̭̙̪͇̥̿̓͝. Worship҈̧̛̖̘̩̝͔́͌́́. The ritual҉̞͔̩̃͆͗͒̍̕͢ͅ.

Of course, there was no time to dwell in shock.

Having sealed Defying Fate, Invidius spread his arms wide as if he could now afford to be distracted, and the eye floating in the center of his halo gleamed.

# Beg҈̢̛̖̫̈̒̒̚. Yearn҉̨͔҇̽̐͑. For the mercy҉̢̭̠͔̀͛͌̎͊͡ of evil.

It was the precursor to a power I remembered.

“Agnes! Mental defense!!”

I turned my head urgently and shouted at the top of my lungs.

“Menes of the Moon and Dreams, save them! Grant them the protection of dreams to wash away this nightmare!”

Agnes, who had been gritting her teeth and glaring at the evil god from behind, prayed to her god for the miracle of mental protection.

The sky was completely covered in darkness with not a single ray of moonlight filtering through, but it was clear that Menes had not ignored her prayer.

– Hwaaaaaaak!

A pillar of silver-white holy light rose above Agnes’s head and spread like scattered dandelion seeds, settling over the battlefield.

“To our god… worship…”

The holy moonlight seeped into the heads of those who were kneeling with vacant eyes, trying to tear out their own hearts.

“Huh…! What was I just…!”

The priests and knights jerked in surprise as if waking from a nightmare, gasping for breath.

Thanks to Agnes’s miracle, the catastrophe of mass suicide was averted, but even that brief moment of soul suppression had left most of them half-dazed.

I told them not to participate. They insisted with gritted teeth that they didn’t mind martyrdom.

If it weren’t for Agnes, this would have been a truly meaningless death.

“Haa, haa…! Yes, truly a god indeed… Quite impressive…!”

Even Persiella seemed to have difficulty resisting his power, as she was half-bent over, sweating and panting.

Perlien, Joshua, Millia, and Adamante were in the same condition.

Except for me, who was completely unaffected, and Agnes, who barely maintained her sanity thanks to Menes’s protection, only one person could escape the effects of his power.

“Haaaap!”

With a flash of pure white light, the wielder of the holy sword appeared behind Invidius, spreading wings of light and bringing down the Wrath of Heaven.

– Kwaooooo!

The Church of Elpinel’s strongest offensive miracle, Wrath of Heaven.

A pillar of pure white light, with instantaneous firepower surpassing even Lacy’s holy fire, burst from the holy sword and extended toward the evil god’s back.

# Unpleasant҈̡̛̥̗͒̾̒̋͆.

Invidius’s pupil rotated to look behind him.

The countless hands that had torn through his back and formed branch-like wings all spread at once, pointing their perforated palms toward Demian.

– Kugwagwagwagwagwagwa!

What followed was a spectacle of black light beams.

Hundreds of dark mana rays, identical to those fired by void-type monsters, clashed head-on with the pillar of pure white light.

With the overwhelming difference in power, Elpinel’s light split and shattered, and the dark mana rays penetrated through the gaps, tearing the white light pillar to pieces.

“Tch…!”

Demian clicked his tongue with a frown, then immediately jumped through space to escape the diagonal line of approaching dark mana masses.

He displayed an amazingly fast and free use of the spatial transfer ability of the hero’s tale “Skywalk.”

He seemed to have trained diligently, as his skills had improved significantly compared to before, but unfortunately, given his opponent, those efforts couldn’t shine.

Or perhaps they did bear fruit since he managed to survive. Not that it was particularly hopeful. Just because you’re good at dodging doesn’t mean the enemy will die on its own.

Sky Slash was completely sealed, and Wrath of Heaven was overwhelmed by pure power difference.

It became clear that to defeat Invidius—no, even to wound him—would require firepower beyond what we had.

…Should I use Leviathan?

The flame of god-slaying that compresses all my power into a single sword.

Since it was a flame that even burned the World Tree to death, this evil god too would likely die if his divine core took a direct hit.

But if I missed or if even that wasn’t enough to kill him, I would be the one to lose my life after exhausting all my power.

Because of that possibility, I couldn’t hastily manifest Leviathan.

It was literally a once-in-a-lifetime gamble, a technique I would only attempt when I was certain I could kill the enemy with that one strike.

And right now, I couldn’t be confident in that “fatal blow.” I hadn’t even properly identified where his divine core was located.

So, there was only one option left.

# I can see҉̨̲̱́̑͐͝ your fear҈̢̫͖̏͂̆͛͂̕.

“…Your eyesight must be poor. Is it because you only have one eye?”

Without my strongest techniques, Sky Slash and Leviathan, the only option was to fight tenaciously and discover this monster’s weakness.

“Why didn’t you ask your mother who abandoned you right after birth to give birth to you properly!”

I gripped Durandal’s hilt until it nearly broke and flew toward him.

The evil god’s roar became a storm that raged around us.