Ch.1111Essence of Jealousy

Perlien and Joshua’s final desperate strike melted and shattered the evil god’s right arm into pieces.

It was a mythical achievement that no one could deny.

Even if that arm had been destroyed once by divine power years ago and was significantly weaker than before.

“Kuhek…!”

However, there were no cheers celebrating this great achievement. The situation didn’t allow for it.

What Perlien and Joshua had crushed was merely Invidius’s right arm.

Even with just that, Joshua collapsed, spitting blood with both arms lost, and Perlien was staggering, exhaling bloody steam through clenched teeth.

Both sides were in no condition to fight further, having depleted their strength and suffered serious injuries. They needed urgent evacuation and treatment, or their lives would be in danger.

But the Holy Corps had no capacity to pull Joshua and Perlien back.

– Kugugugugung…!

While Invidius’s right arm was blocked and destroyed by Perlien and Joshua, unfortunately, the monster had not one arm but two.

“Scatter-! Everyone scatter-! Spread out!!”

While the two were blocking Invidius’s right arm, the remaining left arm struck the Holy Corps, creating a literal storm of blood and flesh.

“Keuik…!”

“Kuaaaak!”

The holy barrier shattered like glass under the descending fist, crushing those beneath like trampled tomatoes, while those hit by the swinging forearm were torn to pieces, scattering like flower petals.

A hellish scene illuminated by broken holy light. A rain of flesh mixed with bone fragments poured down like a downpour.

Screams and wails, desperate prayers calling God’s name, and frantic displays of divine miracles.

The Holy Corps’ losses increased exponentially. This was just from the left arm. Had the right arm joined in, they would not have escaped annihilation.

In fact, even the left arm alone seemed capable of wiping out the entire Holy Corps.

“Stop-!”

Had Demian not descended close to the ground and intercepted with his holy sword, that would surely have happened.

– Kwagagagak!

With each flap of Demian’s wings, feathers of light shot down like rain, embedding in the evil god’s left arm, followed by explosions of holy light.

Amid the dazzling flash and thunderous echoes, Demian charged through the aftershock, his body wrapped in light, and drove the holy sword Caliburn into the evil god’s left arm.

Black blood erupted like a fountain along with pure white lightning, and the thick dark mana swirled as it burned in that light.

【 Grrrr҉̢̖̖̯̐͌͠rrr҈̢͎͎҇̊̾̽̾͐…! 】

With a deep wound carved into its arm, Invidius shifted its target from the Holy Corps back to Demian, allowing the Holy Corps to escape annihilation.

“Now! Regroup during this opening!”

“Each order report casualties!”

“Sun Knights have numerous casualties! We cannot hold any longer!”

“The Silver Moon Knights are in the same situation!”

Of course, they had barely avoided annihilation, but even in that brief moment, the Holy Corps had suffered losses too severe to continue fighting.

‘…They won’t be able to fight anymore.’

Perlien and Joshua, the two strongest forces fighting on the ground, had fallen simultaneously.

With the paladins who had been holding the Holy Corps’ line also suffering severe damage, continuing to fight would only increase casualties.

‘Time to retreat…?’

It was earlier than expected, but perhaps it was time to withdraw the Holy Corps.

If casualties increased further, even Agnes would be in danger. Joshua and Perlien also needed to be secured and evacuated quickly, or their lives would be at risk.

So, in the midst of fighting Invidius, I shouted toward the ground, ordering a retreat.

“Holy Corps! Gather the wounded and retreat! Leave the rest to us!”

“Are you sure about this? You’re reducing our already insufficient forces even further?”

Persiella, who was withstanding the evil god’s fierce attacks with ice armor and shield, expressed concern about whether this was really acceptable.

“There will only be more corpses! Pointless deaths!”

I answered briefly, having no time for lengthy explanations.

With Perlien at his limit, the “Domain of Crimson Flame” would soon dissipate.

The paladins had been able to endure and fight thanks to the protection of that domain, but once it disappeared, they wouldn’t be able to hold out any longer.

They would die one after another without inflicting a single proper wound on Invidius.

Deaths with no reason to accept, no meaning, no value. I couldn’t order them to sacrifice their lives just to inflict a scratch on the evil god.

“Didn’t you hear me! Retreat!”

So I shouted the retreat order once more. The Holy Corps, who had hesitated even after hearing my command, finally began to withdraw hastily.

【 I҉̢̬͎͒͗̀͠ͅ do not҉̧̝͇̾̅̓̕ permit this. At҈̢̘̱͆̑͑̄̏͠ least, the insects҈̧̝̭̃̀̃͌͋͠ who҉̱̱͇̙̯̓̍͢͠ took҈̢͓̪̤͕͔͒̓͑̚͠ my҈͕̞̳̖҇̑͐̂͢ arm҈̨̖̟́͆͒̕ͅ…! 】

Of course, the evil god wouldn’t allow this.

Invidius pushed Demian far away with a storm of shockwaves following space consumption, then raised its left arm high to crush the fleeing Holy Corps.

“How dare you ignore me!”

“Stop that nonsense!”

【 Do not҈̢̳̖͚̦̾͂̓͋͑͝ interfere҉̯͚̥̉͆͜͠…! 】

Though we tried to stop it, we were blocked by meteor-like black fireballs and lightning bolts spreading like a net between them.

“Kuk…!”

“Damn it…!”

In that moment of our hesitation, Invidius’s raised left arm began to fall toward the ground like a collapsing mountain.

A strike too fast and powerful for the clerics on the ground to block. Even Millia and Kudsedra, who hastily shot arrows and breath, were too late.

“God almighty…!”

It couldn’t be blocked. It was already too late to block it. Everyone gathered here was certain the Holy Corps would be annihilated. Even the paladins themselves.

…However, it seemed the goddess of heaven who protects humanity was still watching over them.

– Kwaooooo!

From the eastern sky, beyond the horizon, a streak of pure white light flew like lightning.

“That’s…!”

The moment Persiella and I turned our heads eastward upon seeing that light, the streak had already approached before our eyes.

Unbelievable speed, massive enough to fill our entire field of vision.

A pillar of light similar to Demian’s main technique “Celestial Fury,” but dozens of times more powerful in every aspect, pierced through Invidius’s left arm like a spear.

– Kwaaaaaaaaaang!

What followed was a flash bright enough to turn the entire battlefield into daylight, and a deafening explosion that threatened to blow out eardrums.

Invidius’s forearm, directly hit by that light, vanished as if erased, leaving only a thin layer of skin.

The arm skin, unable to support its own weight, stretched and tore. Invidius’s left hand fell off at the wrist, plunging into the sea of dark mana.

【 El҉̨͇̟͉̳͛͗́̅͡…pine҈̟̲҇͌̍͜el…!҉͇̭͚̩̤҇͗̊͜ 】

The evil god of jealousy, having lost its left arm as well, glared at the eastern horizon with hatred.

That wasn’t Elpinel’s doing, though.

No, wait. Since it was done by Elpinel’s saint, broadly speaking, it could be considered Elpinel’s work?

“Hmm, so that’s the ‘secret weapon’?”

Persiella, who had frozen and extinguished all the black fireballs, clicked her tongue and commented.

“A pity it didn’t hit the head. With that kind of power, it could have completely vaporized the monster’s head.”

While honestly admiring the power of the light pillar, she expressed disappointment that it had only destroyed one arm rather than the head.

“Just hitting it is impressive enough. Do you realize how far it is from the Holy City to here?”

In my view, even landing that hit was remarkable. The light bombardment that just arrived was fired directly from the Holy City of Alhebron.

That pillar of light was the reason Lacy hadn’t participated in this battle, and the secret weapon of the Holy State she had told us about in advance.

The ultra-long-range holy bombardment ritual installed beneath the cathedral in the Holy City of Alhebron.

That ritual absorbs all the holy power that keeps Alhebron a spotlessly white city 24 hours a day, unleashing a massive and destructive stream of light.

With enough power to erase an entire city in one strike and a range extending beyond national borders, it was comparable to modern strategic weapons in both power and distance.

It did have the drawback of an excruciatingly slow charging speed, requiring a very long time between firings.

…Anyway, thanks to it, we managed to blow off both of the evil god’s arms and buy time for the Holy Corps to retreat.

What remained was Invidius, who had replaced its lost arms with masses of dark mana, and three empty positions among our hero-class or higher forces.

It wasn’t exactly a hopeful situation, but there was some progress. We had confirmed that the Alhebron ultra-long-range holy bombardment ritual was effective against Invidius.

‘Good. If we can keep it pinned down here as long as possible, and gradually wear it down with holy bombardments…’

Eventually this monster would reveal a fatal opening. That would be the perfect opportunity to end this grueling battle.

That was my assessment, and based on it, I was about to order the remaining companions to hold out while preserving themselves as much as possible.

At that moment.

【 I҉͇̯̗̫̂̎̋͗̄͜͞ understand҈̧̭̤́͋̃͠ͅ. The inefficiency҈̝͈̭̋͋͂͢͞ of҉̡͉̩̪̖҇̉́̐̓́ this body҈̲̦̝͓̥͂̂͢͠. 】

Invidius lowered its massive wings and hunched its body as it spoke.

【 What҈̧͔̫͎͔҇̐̄ͅ I must҈̢͇̤̓̿̋̕̚ sacrifice and҉̢̛̣͔̟̘͑̌̀ desire to҉̢̗̗̮̥̬̊̈̎̈̔͞ catch҉̰͖̣̅͆́̒͢͝ these insects҈̢̗̘̯҇̋̑̃̅̀…҉̧͎̞̜̄̊̕ 】

The next moment, the vast sea of dark mana that had spread out gathered under the monster’s waist, then erupted upward like a volcanic explosion.

“What is it doing now…?!”

“I don’t know what it is, but take this!”

I hesitated at this unfamiliar pattern and reflexively took a defensive stance, while Persiella cast a space-collapsing technique toward the pillar of dark mana.

Falling Star Sword, Star Cleaver.

As the strike following space freezing was about to shatter and disperse the black fountain engulfing Invidius,

【 The analysis҉̨͕̥̰̙̝̃̒̽͛̕ is complete҈͎͈̦͉̏́́͢͝. Now҉̢̥̤҇́͌͊ witness҈̨̱̮͉҇͒̽̔̉. The rebirth҉͉̬̟̱̒̀̕͢. 】

With Invidius’s voice from within—

– Kwajijijik!

A massive strike reaching to the heavens sliced through space itself, shattering Persiella’s ultimate technique head-on.

“Wait, this, this strike is…!”

Persiella flew backward with her shattered sword, trying to withstand it despite her shock.

None of us managed to catch her. We were all too stunned by the same realization to even think of moving.

A space-severing strike unleashed from the ground, reaching to the sky.

It was a scene all too familiar to us, a technique we had seen countless times.

“…Sky Cutter?”

As Demian muttered the name of the technique in place of me who had lost words.

“—Is that what it’s called? A fitting name.”

From the center of the black pillar that was fading like an illusion, a voice unfamiliar yet all too familiar quietly echoed.

“Ha, what is this now…?”

I let out a hollow laugh, gritted my teeth, and glared at the source of the voice.

In the center of the ruins where the evil god’s massive form had vanished without a trace, a woman with a familiar face was walking toward us, resting the longsword she had swung on her shoulder.

Fur armor overlaid with scales mixed with an aurora-like dress, a longsword gripped in her right hand and a sharp gauntlet covering her left.

A very familiar appearance.

Light brown skin showing in places. A black cross star burning in the center of her chest. A circular halo made of intertwined tongues.

Her loose hair was light gray rather than black, and her eyes had red irises with black sclera… but those were the only differences.

Except for these minor color differences, every other aspect perfectly matched someone who had set foot on this battlefield.

“Haschal…?”

Yes, it was none other than me.

I was standing before my own eyes.

Like a duplicate character in a fighting game, wrapped in completely different colors from me.

“Truly an excellent body, truly excellent power… Sufficient for me to covet and imitate without deficiency.”

Invidius, having created a new body, raised the black Durandal made of dark mana.

With a fierce and ominous smile, as if looking into a mirror.