Ch.1107If You Can’t Win Alone, Fight Together

Darkness stains the world.

Below the sky, a pitch-black curtain like storm clouds.

Above the ground, a sea of dark mana.

The suffocating acrid stench mixed with falling rain spread widely like a thick fog, scattered by the roars and explosions erupting all around.

And, in the middle of it all, in midair.

– KWAGWAGWAGWAGWANG!

With thunderous lightning that tore through the atmosphere, black and blue flashes spread like spider webs, curved like waves, and swirled like storms.

A collision of catastrophic forces. The aftermath of divine power clashing against divine power carved distinct claw marks as it raked across the world.

【 Acc҉̡̛̝̬̤̱̤̒̔̈̀̚ept, death. 】

The thick dark mana overflowing everywhere served as both the limbs and weapons of the evil god.

The falling rain became thorns pouring down, black chains rose from the sea writhing like snakes, and the thick fog transformed into swords that were wielded in the evil god’s hands.

“Ha, you talk big. Why don’t you practice what you preach first!”

Holding a grudge all this time just because he lost one arm. The audacity to talk about acceptance.

The battle wasn’t even decided yet, but he was already speaking arrogantly as if he’d won. Honestly, it was extremely irritating.

Therefore,

“KYAAAAH!”

I fought desperately, slicing through space with slashes, erecting walls of flame, and dispersing incoming attacks with destructive mana.

A slash imbued with faint golden light cut through the black fog’s greatsword, while flames blazing around me incinerated the chains and thorn rain before they could reach me.

– KWAGWAGWAGWAGWAAAA―!

The black beams I couldn’t avoid in time were blocked by the destructive mana spread before my left hand, scattering like they were being torn to shreds.

– Crunch.

Pressure that crushed bones and tore flesh. With each beam I blocked, blood burst through torn skin, and my left arm cracked and regenerated repeatedly.

“Not yet…!”

My stamina was depleting. But conversely, my fighting spirit rose higher.

The purple aurora that had been spread like a skirt gradually wrapped around my increasingly damaged left arm to reinforce it, while Durandal vibrated with stronger light than ever before.

There wasn’t even a need to use Ausrine’s power; Durandal’s five restrictions had already been completely released long ago.

– Woooong!

The vitality transmitted through the hilt replenished my depleted stamina, and the power of severance naturally spread around the blade, enveloping it in light without requiring any effort.

Thanks to this, I could fight beyond my original capacity.

“KYAAAAAAAH!”

Starlight flashed as it tore through the darkness.

—-

While I was engaged in a desperate struggle at the forefront, spilling blood and gritting my teeth, the others weren’t just standing by watching.

“Though clouds may cover the sun, they cannot steal its grace—”

Perlien drew Hauteclaire and made the sign of the cross while praying.

– Whoosh.

In his left hand, as he cast his newly granted power, vermilion flames resembling the sun formed and flickered.

“Saulite of sun and life, illuminate this world with the warmth of creation!”

Perlien raised his left hand high above his head, praising Saulite, then drove his fist into the ground and shouted.

– WHOOOOOSH!

From his left hand touching the ground, vermilion flames spread out explosively, covering the earth and swirling in a vortex.

『 Domain of Crimson Flame 』

Unlike the “Sun Sword” which manifests a small sun using one’s body as a core, this was the power to deploy a sacred domain by widely spreading the area under Saulite’s protection.

It was a power of both offense and defense, burning enemies touched by the vermilion sacred flames swirling within the domain while continuously healing allies.

Its range covered nearly half the battlefield.

The wounds of the paladins in formation healed, and the black sea that touched the Domain of Crimson Flame boiled violently, spewing steam.

Even Invidius’s right arm, which had been targeting the holy corps across space, began to burn when it touched those flames.

【 Dis҈̨̱͚́͒̅̅͠pleasing. 】

Invidius expressed his displeasure, dipping his right arm into the dark mana tide to extinguish the fire, then swung it to summon a tidal wave of dark mana.

– KWAAAAA!

A tidal wave of dark mana rushed forward, attempting to engulf the entire battlefield. What stood in its way was a blue-haired, masked Dragonborn.

“Freeze-!”

White Mountain, Cold Night.

Massive ice rose before the dark mana tide, blocking the black spray, followed by a freezing mist that forcibly froze the momentarily halted dark mana.

The ice dam thus created blocked and diverted the flow, protecting the Domain of Crimson Flame that Perlien had deployed.

【 A tr҈̗͔̮̝̈̌̌̐͢͞ick. 】

“Even a trick becomes as good as a masterful technique when used properly!”

Persiella dismissed Invidius’s mockery with a laugh, spreading her wings wide and flying up to follow behind me as I struggled against the evil god.

“What, not fighting over there?”

“Well, I simply choose the more perilous place as my battlefield.”

Did she think this side was more dangerous? Well, she wasn’t wrong.

Invidius held a grudge against me alone. He was wary of me alone.

That’s why against the holy corps, he merely swung his arm casually or scattered dark mana halfheartedly.

It was more like the attitude of someone trying to brush away annoying insects with a wave of the hand.

Meanwhile, on my side, relentless attacks came without pause—if I stopped even for a moment, it wouldn’t be strange if my head flew off instantly.

“Anyway, this works out well. I couldn’t get any closer on my own.”

I was somehow managing to block, dodge, and endure, but honestly, going any further alone would have been difficult.

Someone needed to take at least half—no, at least thirty percent—of the attacks focused on me for me to get any closer than this.

“The grand title of demigod seems laughable. How is it that the woman who burned even the World Tree cannot advance a single step?”

“…That tree bastard didn’t move.”

“Ha. Your excuses flow like a mountain stream.”

Persiella fluttered her wings with a smirk as if telling me not to make such pathetic excuses.

Extreme cold that could freeze to the bone spread with the wind stirred by her wingbeats.

—-

“Kudsedra! Can I borrow your back?”

“I’d like to request the same!”

Millia and Adamante fought from atop Kudsedra’s back, having replaced the withdrawn airship.

Millia nocked a pre-compressed arrow to her bowstring and drew it fully, pulling up her Karma power to its limit.

Creak—some of the branches forming the bow wrapped around the arrow like thorny vines.

“Go!”

– TUKWAAAANG!

The arrow shot out like lightning with a sound almost like artillery fire.

【 Rem҉̢̳̜҇͛́̓̏nant of, the World T҉̨͕̲̝̀̈́̂̄̃͝ree? 】

Invidius tried to erase the incoming arrow using his power to devour space.

“I won’t let you!”

I shot Durandal’s slash toward the space where the formless power was gathering, shattering the teeth that were about to devour the space.

– KWAGAGAGAK!

The colliding forces shattered and burst apart, and the arrow passed through the gap, heading straight for Invidius’s solar plexus.

And in the next moment, as Millia’s heroic tale compression was released, it expanded hundredfold into a massive spire-like form.

“…A spire?”

No, it really was a spire…

Surprisingly, the arrow Millia had compressed with her heroic tale was actually a cathedral spire torn right off a building in Alhebron.

Hmm… well, theoretically it was excellent arrow material.

The cathedrals of Alhebron were places where the most devout among the clergy gathered to pray all day long.

Soaked in the sacred light they emitted during prayer, each brick would be deeply imbued with holy energy.

In other words, it was essentially a sacred artifact the size of a spire.

【 Path҉̡̫̫̟́̐͞etic. 】

Perhaps the spire arrow was somewhat burdensome even for Invidius.

He gathered dark mana in both arms and thrust them forward, gripping the empty air as if pulling back a curtain and swinging it sideways.

– GWUUUUNG!

The air distorted with a strange vibration. Space twisted and stretched, and Millia’s spire arrow was caught in it, veering off to the side.

A defense utilizing spatial distortion.

It wasn’t his specialty and was so inefficient that it consumed an absurdly large amount of dark mana—enough to make one laugh—but the effect itself was certain.

Thus, the spire arrow caught in the spatial distortion was about to miss pathetically and pierce only empty air—

“Not a chance!”

Just as it was about to disappear through empty space.

Joshua, suddenly enlarged, grabbed the spire with both arms as if embracing it, then turned his body halfway around to change its direction and thrust it down with all his might.

– KWADUDUDUK!

The cathedral spire shattered as it pierced through Invidius’s back, and tree-like tendrils sprouted between the bricks, burrowing into the wound and spreading roots through Invidius’s flesh.

A forest of trees growing by sucking blood and soul. Perhaps due to the material used for the arrow, clusters of light with a sense of holiness bloomed on the branches in place of leaves.

【 Gr҉̛̭͕̪̮̀̾͢oo҈̰̣̱̬҇̐̽́͢ͅoo҉̡̛̫̳͓̦̀̑̊̐͋ooo҈̡̭̘̀̊͛͋͠o҉̡̙̭͉͂̑͆̇̌͠ͅ!!! 】

Invidius, with a sacred forest growing from his back, let out what might have been his first pain-filled scream since the battle began.

【 How d҈̡͚̙̓͋̋̂͞are-! 】

Then, he swung his intestines that had been wrapped around his body like a whip and struck Joshua.

– KWAAAANG!

“Kuhek…!”

The enlarged Joshua was sent flying with a thunderous sound.

Dragon scale armor shattered and scattered, droplets of blood sprayed everywhere. His body shrank again, perhaps from the shock draining his strength.

Though the blow might not have been fatal, at that height and speed, without the ability to fly, there was no way to survive.

“Demian! Go save him!”

“Right, got it!”

Demian, who had been flying toward me like Persiella, urgently changed direction and flew behind Joshua, catching him and barely stopping his momentum.

He immediately cast a healing miracle to restore Joshua’s injuries.

Whoever raised him did a good job. His response was admirably skillful and swift.