Ch.1248Demanding Battle

Let me think.

The power contained in Bellona’s scythe is, simply put, stoppage and decomposition.

It neutralizes whatever touches its blade by stopping it, and then likely scatters it by breaking it down to at least the molecular level.

A destructive ability that annihilates everything regardless of whether it’s living or non-living, even pure energy forms like magic or sword aura—a power of destruction that doesn’t discriminate.

Except for the preliminary process of first stopping the target to neutralize it, it was an ability that shared similarities with my Hagalaz rune.

Though in terms of both power and the caliber of the ability itself, that scythe held the advantage.

‘So I need to fight without letting that scythe touch me… that won’t be easy.’

Ranged attacks are out of the question—they’d be easily blocked and disappear into nothing.

To kill him for certain, targeting his arms or body at close range would be best… but judging by the size of that scythe and the speed at which he swings it, that wouldn’t be easy.

Since anything that touches that blade would be annihilated, I couldn’t block or deflect attacks—I’d have to perfectly dodge everything.

No, it’s worse than that. Even when swinging my sword or claws, if he puts that scythe in the path of my attack, I’d have to change direction on my own.

Because when our attacks meet, it wouldn’t become a contest of strength—my weapon would just unilaterally disintegrate upon contact.

However…

‘Would Durandal work? It did somehow withstand the Hagalaz rune…’

The Sword of Endurance, Durandal, was as far as I knew the most durable sword in this world.

It didn’t lose a single tooth to the power of the Hagalaz rune, and even under greater stress, it might scream but would never be damaged—an indestructible holy artifact.

With a sword that sturdy… perhaps it could withstand the power of that scythe without breaking. The possibility wasn’t entirely zero.

[…Abandon any thought of testing that. If you happen to break that sword, you’ll die by my hand before his.]

‘I won’t, I won’t. Do you think I’m crazy? How would I fight if it breaks?’

Of course, betting on that possibility would be sheer madness.

It would be like throwing your entire fortune into a gambling game with odds so low you couldn’t even guess them.

No, it’s more than that. This isn’t just about my fortune—my life and the lives of my companions are at stake.

You might ask if losing Durandal would completely eliminate our chances? Surprisingly, yes, it would. Durandal isn’t just an extremely durable sword—it’s the foundation and pillar of my martial prowess, a unique holy artifact.

Mock me for relying on equipment if you want, but if I lose Durandal, my combat ability would effectively drop by more than half.

Why? Because all of my techniques put tremendous pressure on my weapon.

A normal True Silver sword or dragon-scale weapon is sufficient for space-severing strikes, but it would be impossible to perform Sky Slash or Leviathan with such weapons.

They would shatter or melt before I could even swing them. Even Demian’s holy sword would break. Not that I could wield that weapon anyway.

Even if I sealed away such techniques and fought out of concern for breaking my weapon, the result would be the same. Even before awakening my divinity, I could break True Silver with my full strength.

In other words, if I fought with full power using any sword other than Durandal, the sword itself would soon break, unable to withstand my strength.

Just as I am the only one who can properly wield Durandal, Durandal is the only weapon in the world that can properly channel my power.

So I couldn’t risk losing Durandal. Especially when it was based on a speculation with slim chances.

Wait a minute. “Slim chances” make it risky?

That means, in other words…

– Whoooosh!

“Tch…! Not even time to think!”

Just as something was about to flash through my mind deep in contemplation, the scythe swung like lightning, cutting off my thoughts and rushing toward me in an instant.

【 Defying Fate— 】

– Crackcrackcrack…!

The world that had been turning colorless began to distort and split around the scythe he wielded, shattering into pieces in an instant.

‘Damn, this breaks it too?’

My Tale of Heros, Defying Fate, is a mental technique that overlays actions I perform in a different time axis created by my will onto the real world, implementing acceleration without actual acceleration.

Since it’s a technique that affects the entire world upon activation, it seems that my power was judged to have made contact with his scythe the moment I cast it.

So it broke immediately upon deployment, and the power I put into it evaporated uselessly.

I’m glad I lowered the output to just slightly slow relative time rather than stopping it completely. Thanks to that, the power I wasted wasn’t too great.

Since I had half-expected this would happen, I wasn’t surprised and was able to dodge immediately.

“Kenaz!”

I released the Karma flame compressed in my palm like an exploding volcano. The recoil of the erupting flames pushed my body in the opposite direction.

– Whoooosh…!

The scythe of death passed before my eyes by a hair’s breadth, not too late.

Just as I tried to use that opening to dive inside his attack range, the missed blade suddenly changed its trajectory, rising back up to pursue me.

“Tch…!”

A chase unfolded with the empty air as our backdrop. Flames burning like meteors repeatedly flared and extinguished, devoured by darkness.

Jet-black afterimages carved in the void writhed ominously, wailing like ghosts, and the strands of hair and pieces of clothing that were cut off by the trajectory instantly withered black and scattered.

[Too slow! Both your reactions and your speed! How do you expect to dodge everything like that?]

Hersella scolded me, as if concerned for my life. In a tone suggesting that if I had hesitated for even a moment, either my leg or waist would have been cut off.

‘I know that, but what can I do!’

Normally I would have dodged without even my clothes being cut… but when I draw my divinity to the surface, the output and casting speed of my Karma flames decrease significantly.

Even using nearly twice the normal power, it unfolds slightly later and slightly weaker than usual.

Probably because, although enhanced by the rune’s power, Karma flames are fundamentally based on the power of Murder Karma, which has poor compatibility with my divinity.

Just like how all the other Murder Karma techniques Hersella taught me turn into malfunctioning versions once I release my divinity.

…Well, it was still significantly better than in the past. Before, I couldn’t use Murder Karma at all in a state of divinity release, except for Leviathan.

If the simultaneous use of divinity and Murder Karma were structurally impossible, that would be one thing, but the fact that it’s somewhat possible means it’s ultimately a matter of control and familiarity.

So it will continue to improve. Someday I’ll be able to perfectly handle Murder Karma even in this state.

– Whoooosh!

[Here it comes again! From below!]

“Ugh…!”

Right now, I had to be grateful for even this imperfect power.

Normally, I could either deflect attacks with Durandal or easily dodge most attacks with a minimum output of Defying Fate, but both were impossible now.

To make matters worse, the onslaught wasn’t limited to simple scythe swings.

– Screeeech!

“Ha, what’s that now…”

After the thirteenth slash missed, he seemed to realize that simply standing and swinging his scythe wouldn’t be enough, so he began to pressure me more aggressively.

In other words, he started properly utilizing his powers as a god.

– Screech, scratch, screeeeech…!

With a sound like glass scraping against metal, the black tattoos densely engraved on his arms began to writhe like insects, changing their form and position.

It looked like hundreds of worms squirming inside his skin. A sight so bizarre, disgusting, and also extremely dangerous that I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

And the next moment.

– Crrrack!

Bellona’s index finger extended stiffly and slowly like the final stretch of an eighty-year-old man, pointing at me.

Usually when someone does that, something gets fired from there.

I tilted Durandal’s blade to shield myself, warily eyeing the tip of his finger.

Death beam? It must be a death beam, right?

Could I block it?

If that beam contained the same power as the scythe, it probably wouldn’t work, but if he could manifest the power of death in that way, there would be no need to take the form of a scythe…

And then.

– Boom!

‘From behind!?’

Contrary to my expectation, his attack came from behind me. Not as a black beam, but in the form of a storm of countless bone fragments and flesh pieces.

– Rumble rumble rumble…!

A storm of corpse fragments, torn and gathered from the bodies scattered across the battlefield. It was more disgusting than frightening.

Six streams of such storms. Like a giant gale spreading its fingers, they split into six, flying in from all directions with gaping maws.

The gale carried the chill of the netherworld, an eerily familiar coldness flowing from it even before it came close, and inside, hundreds or thousands of spirits swirled, wailing ghostly cries.

Moreover, its rotation speed was insanely fast, grinding rocks it brushed past into dust like some kind of blender.

To make matters worse, the attack he unleashed wasn’t just that storm of flesh—