Ch.1204Close Combat Is My Domain.

Time freeze, deployed through sheer willpower and tenacity while being engulfed by the light of destruction.

Israfel failed to notice this due to the massive pulsation and aftermath of his own power, unwittingly allowing her approach without any defense.

As a result, Haschal’s sneak attack from behind—executed while concealing her presence to the most precarious limit—cost him three wings.

Though only the wings were destroyed and his divine core remained intact—meaning it wasn’t a fatal wound—it wasn’t damage that could be dismissed as minor either.

Each of his twelve wings served as both a medium and an engraving device that assisted in manifesting divine powers. When destroyed, they presented a serious problem: until restored, various powers would be severely weakened or completely sealed.

Having temporarily lost various powers and allowing an opponent to approach close range—this was the worst possible development for Israfel.

His primary combat method was long-range firepower, overwhelming enemies with various divine powers and overwhelming output, preventing them from even approaching. In other words, close combat wasn’t his specialty.

His opponent, Haschal, on the other hand, was a warrior who had ascended to divinity through the sword.

Though she had demonstrated several powerful abilities at range, such as the Slash of Severance or Karmic Light Beam, she was fundamentally strongest at close quarters.

Allowing her to get within sword range meant he could be overwhelmed and defeated pathetically while being thrown around helplessly.

This was a situation Israfel had wanted to avoid if possible—no, at all costs.

“Haa, haa…! How about it? Is your heart starting to race yet?”

【 Negative. Target’s attack speed decreased. Combat capability severely reduced. 】

“Oh, really? You’re saying you can still fight even though I’m badly injured too? Don’t underestimate me…!”

…Of course, it wasn’t as if Haschal had gained an overwhelming advantage just because her surprise attack had succeeded.

Though the hit lasted only three seconds, the divine power Israfel had cast, even at the cost of formula overload, had inflicted critical wounds on her.

She had managed to protect her head, divine core, and internal organs by curling up and using her limbs as shields, but as a consequence, her arms and legs were practically shattered.

The gauntlet on her right arm and the greaves on both legs had vanished without a trace, and the flesh beneath had lost most of its muscle and tissue, exposing the skeleton.

She had only been able to endure this because she had replaced her entire skeleton with dragon bones; in the past, her bones would have been shattered too, resulting in the loss of all her limbs.

Of course, even though the bones had held, with most of the flesh and muscle gone, there was little practical difference from having lost her limbs entirely.

Given human anatomy, it should have been impossible to even move properly—let alone fight—with just bones and a little flesh attached.

– Crack!

Yet Haschal was still swinging her sword with that battered body, shattering the defensive barrier Israfel had hastily deployed.

【 Query. Target damage at level that should prevent combat continuation. 】

“That might be true for a weakling without grit like you!”

There was no way she could move with such injuries. Israfel responded with clear astonishment to her illogical and irrational answer.

【 Illogical. Incomprehensible. 】

Of course, Israfel couldn’t possibly accept such an answer, so he gave up questioning and tried to determine the cause of this anomaly himself.

【 Precision measurement organs reactivated. Observing damaged areas… Heterogeneous divinity detected? 】

And finally, he realized. The reason why his enemy, Haschal, could continue fighting with limbs that were little more than bone.

The truth that Israfel, who perceived the world through sensing organs rather than eyes, had failed to notice.

Around Haschal’s exposed bone limbs, a dark red mist—or something like smoke—was thickly coiled, undulating like rippling water.

A heterogeneous divinity fundamentally different from her own divine power.

【 Pattern analysis. Memory information comparison… Matching divinity confirmed. Classification – Xanten, Fallen One. Chaos-corrupted divinity. 】

That power matched the divinity recorded in Israfel’s memory—or should it be called records? The information stored in his mind.

Originally a demigod of Xanten who had been baptized in chaos and transformed into a crystallization of malice and murderous intent.

【 Recorded name, Vanirgand. 】

The divinity of Vanirgand, the malevolent star of rage and predation.

“What, you just noticed? I guess those eyes of yours are purely decorative.”

Haschal smirked as she swung her sword. Not with muscles and nerves, but with will and Karma of Murder. Like a puppeteer moving a marionette on strings.

Yes. The dark red current enveloping her limbs was the divinity of a malevolent god, degraded to be usable by a human body. It was the power known as materialized Karma of Murder.

Haschal had deployed this power to the limit of her control, using it to seal her wounds and wrap around her bones to force them to move.

It was a crude and rough temporary measure, but thanks to it, she could somehow manage to swing her sword and fight despite her severely damaged limbs.

Of course, without muscle power supporting her strikes, both power and speed were significantly reduced…

“You’ve gotten quite slow! I guess it’s hard to keep your balance with fewer wings!”

Israfel’s movements had slowed as well.

Both had suffered considerable damage, so their combat abilities were equal—no, Haschal, who specialized in close combat from the beginning, was slightly ahead.

【 חרב אש וגופרית 】

Israfel summoned nine swords of light that seemed forged from bluish brimstone fire to counter her, but in the end, they were merely an imitation of swordsmanship.

“Swordplay isn’t just about strength! You need technique, technique!”

Sword strikes that relied solely on power and speed without skill were meaningless, even if there were twelve swords instead of nine.

The trajectories of his slashes and thrusts were so simple that a swordsman of Haschal’s caliber could easily predict how they would approach and retreat.

– Crash!

The blades of brimstone fire, which had been circling through the air like birds before striking down like lightning, were blocked by a faint golden arc and shattered with a boom.

Though the shattered light reformed into swords again at a distance, it was pointless—the same situation would repeat if they attacked.

Israfel’s swords couldn’t inflict even a single wound on Haschal.

– Slash!

“Tch…! Those wings, I’ll definitely take them next time!”

Meanwhile, Haschal’s sword tip had become a direct threat to the Fallen Angel’s wings and divine core.

– Crack!

She blocked, deflected, and shattered all the brimstone swords with the power of severance.

Immediately kicking off the air to charge toward Israfel’s main body, she executed a great rotating slash that deflected another sword flying in from behind.

Though it sounded like a simple tactic when described, Israfel was helplessly overwhelmed by this simplicity. He had no choice.

【 Αόρατος αργαλειός! 】

“You think that will work at this distance?!”

The distortion field created by folding and overlapping space was useless.

Unlike the Slash of Severance shot from a distance, Durandal, wielded directly by Haschal, forcibly corrected its trajectory, neutralizing the effect of spatial distortion.

【 Κρόνος Γοργό― 】

【 Defying Fate 】

The limited time-fixing power, Chronos Gorgonia, met the same fate.

Haschal, who had been extremely wary of this power, cast her own time stop almost simultaneously, causing both the world and Israfel himself to freeze for an instant, pathetically blocking his attempt.

【 Αστραπέ! 】

“Hagalaz!”

The lightning that extended along his wing bones was neutralized by the rune of collapse.

【 Kvalarhringur! 】

“Kenaz!”

The power that trapped targets in a small barrier and pierced them with thousands of thorns was burned away, barrier and all, by the flames of the rune.

【 Gravitas mutationem! 】

“Ha, such petty tricks…!”

Even the gravity reversal power, deployed in hopes of creating some distance, had no effect as she instantly adapted to the reversed gravity.

【 עונשו של אוריאל 】

The sea of fire that could incinerate an entire city in an instant was simply charged through without even a defensive measure.

【 שאגת היריב! 】

“KYAAAAAAAK!”

When she dispersed the invisible shockwave—his final desperate attack—with just a roar, it became difficult to tell whether she was a god or a monster.

【 Danger. Target threat level readjustment― 】

“Now? That’s far too late!”

Amidst all countermeasures being blocked, a merciless and devastating series of space-severing strikes unfolded.

The wings covering his divine core were slashed one by one, falling away, and clear sword marks appeared on the crystal within, spilling a red liquid like blood.

【 Η Πύλη της Φοίβης 】

Even when he tried to create distance with short-range spatial transfer, the loss of wings had severely reduced the power output—in other words, the transfer distance—allowing him to dodge only a single strike.

Haschal’s charge, accelerated by karmic acceleration, was fast enough to instantly close such distances, and Israfel could only desperately flee, barely avoiding attacks aimed at his divine core.

– Crash!

“Now, six wings left!”

Each time he allowed her to approach, he was cut and torn by Durandal, losing one by one the twelve brilliant wings he had possessed.

【 Combat odds miscalculated. Retreat and regroup necessary― 】

“KYAAAAAAAH!”

Finally, he revealed a huge opening for an instant, and Haschal, not missing the opportunity, threw Durandal like a projectile.

– Thud!

A golden flash pierced and shattered the red crystal.