Ch.199Towards the End. (1)

Viscous demonic energy splattered.

Aurelia’s eyebrows twitched. Before she could outwardly express her displeasure, Eryas spewed flames and burned away the demonic energy.

She was controlling both Dragon Lords simultaneously. This was much easier for continuing the battle than flying herself.

Not only could she focus her gaze on the dragons, but she could also use them as footholds at times.

SWOOSH!

Just like now.

Kiel leaped off Carthian’s back and unleashed a sword strike. Wings made of demonic energy were shredded to pieces.

However, it didn’t reach the Demon God. The Demon God wrapped itself in thousands of layers of wings, and as soon as Kiel’s sword strike ended, retaliated with a much stronger attack.

Livga began to pray. Her divine power pushed back the demonic energy, healed the party’s wounds, and simultaneously bestowed a blessing that slowed regeneration. She was still wearing armor, but held a rosary instead of a holy spear.

Allowing Kiel and Aurelia to focus entirely on combat. She recognized that was her role.

Hundreds of exchanges in an instant. Livga concentrated her consciousness to observe the dragons’ movements. Unlike their nickname as masters of magic, they didn’t even tend to their own wounds and recklessly tore at the Demon God’s wings.

Livga bit her lip as she looked at Aurelia.

Honestly, it was unsettling. Anyone could see there was no rationality in their eyes.

“Saintess, focus.”

“…What?”

“More people are coming up.”

“What do you mean all of a sudden…?”

Before Livga could finish speaking, a golden gate appeared in midair. It was Melina’s magic. The King of Martial Arts and Esthie walked through the gate. The King of Martial Arts chuckled and tapped Eryas’s scales.

“Hahaha! This is the kind of beast I should have been hunting!”

“Shut up and look at the sky. It’s coming!”

CRASH!

Wings flew in instantly and struck the King of Martial Arts. He barely caught them, but the sharp feathers were digging into his skin. Instead of groaning, he started climbing up the wings.

“UOOOOH!”

Esthie turned her gaze away from the King of Martial Arts. Now that most of the ground demons had been swept away, her role was to support the party. That meant deflecting attacks before they hit and creating footholds to prevent falls.

The falling rain stopped in midair, then turned into long needles.

The feathers flying in from all directions were weapons in themselves. Unless one’s body was as tough as the King of Martial Arts, they would surely be pierced through in an instant.

CLASH!

The feathers and needles collided and exploded.

‘Not enough…!’

There was an absolute difference in quantity. She was manipulating the raindrops to the limit her brain could handle, but the feathers were incomparably more numerous.

CRACK! In an instant, the King of Martial Arts’ entire body became like a porcupine. The feathers that pierced through his body instantly took away his consciousness. But that was only momentary; Livga’s blessing activated immediately, forcibly awakening his mind.

The demonic energy receded, and his damaged body regenerated instantly.

The corner of the King of Martial Arts’ mouth twitched.

“This is good…!”

The sensation of crossing between life and death. He pulled out the feather stuck in his crown and gathered his strength.

It was exactly like climbing a cliff. Except this cliff moved frantically, and deadly attacks flew in without pause.

CRACK.

The King of Martial Arts stretched his arm to its limit. The distance to the Demon God was ridiculously far, but somehow it seemed possible if done right.

The next moment, the King of Martial Arts’ body shot forward like a slingshot. Melina’s magic overlaid and folded space. The distance to the Demon God narrowed to just a few meters in an instant.

Under the completely black sky, the King of Martial Arts revealed his teeth in a smile.

“I’ve wanted to punch your face for a long time!”

BOOM!

The King of Martial Arts’ fist tore through the air with a terrible sound.

The Demon God’s head turned sideways. Instead of blocking the King of Martial Arts’ attack, the Demon God rushed its wings to stab his side. Blood spurted between his clenched teeth as the deeply embedded wing was pulled out.

He was hit. When did that happen?

There’s no time to think about that now. The attack definitely landed. But turning the head was all it accomplished.

SWOOSH!

If anything, the attacks seemed to have become fiercer, as if he had provoked its anger.

Certainly, the Demon God had a stronger presence than any being the King of Martial Arts had ever faced. He felt an eerie sensation at the serene face without even a smile.

“…Hahaha!”

The King of Martial Arts burst into laughter. He never thought he would feel such an emotion.

But that was only momentary; his body was soon dyed with intense excitement.

The King of Martial Arts had always imagined such a battlefield in his mind. If he could choose his death, rather than living a long life, he wanted to die fighting on a battlefield like this.

That would be a fitting end for a warrior.

Hearing the sudden bestial roar, Aurelia made a disgusted face.

“…There’s not a single normal person here.”

Aurelia looked at the distant ground and sent a mental message.

[Aria. If you have time, send up two more people.]

The battle situation was precarious. The reason was that the Demon God’s form was completely different from what Aurelia had experienced before.

‘Back then, I just had to destroy its eyes…’

Now it was much more difficult than before.

[…Hey! I said it’s urgent!]

Aurelia spoke with an urgent voice. But still, no answer came.

“Damn it!”

Aurelia hurriedly formed hand seals. The next moment, her shadow swelled and spat out countless souls.

Livga hesitated at the overwhelming number that couldn’t even be compared to the great demon Belphegor. But there was no impurity in the souls Aurelia summoned.

Aurelia nodded. This number should be enough to buy time.

“I’m going down for a moment.”

“…Yes!”

“I’ll be back soon, so don’t worry too much.”

After muttering that to Livga, Aurelia took a step back.

Immediately after, massive power poured out from her entire body.

BOOM!

A moment later, red blood began to stream down from her eyes.

But Aurelia paid no attention and used her own blood to draw a formation in the air.

“Summon.”

The moment she muttered that.

The sky split open, and something slithered down from beyond the gap.

Nine stems swaying like golden smoke. They were tails.

While distracted by the swaying of nine lush tails, a giant fox had appeared beside Livga. It was so large that she had to look up vertically to see its head.

A being born as a beast, who honed itself to earn qualifications equivalent to ascension.

[Nine-Tailed Fox]

Aurelia stroked the fox’s head and said.

“Stay by her side and protect her.”

At that moment.

The nine-tailed fox raised its head, and four of its tails instantly stretched out in all directions.

CRACK!

The extended tails captured the wings shooting toward Livga, then twisted and broke them.

[Kyaeng.]

As the nine-tailed fox tilted its head, Aurelia jumped down to the ground without hesitation.

Even as she fell with dizzying acceleration, there was not a trace of agitation in her expression.

Rather, she turned her back toward the ground, only fine-tuning the dragons’ movements.

THUD!

She landed lightly on the ground. Aurelia immediately ran toward Aria.

The area around Aria was filled with demon corpses. The smell of burning rotten protein was everywhere.

‘…She really went all out.’

Aurelia frowned deeply and shouted.

“Hey! What were you doing that you couldn’t answer?”

“I needed to have a sincere conversation.”

After hesitating, Aurelia soon realized what Aria meant. She must have been talking with the “Princess.”

The reason the surroundings were in this state was probably because she failed to control her power while focusing on the conversation.

“…Sincere conversation my ass.”

“Huhu. It couldn’t be helped. It was a necessary process to continue the battle.”

“A necessary process…?”

Aurelia’s eyes became strange. What she just heard sounded as if the Princess was indispensable.

“Originally, this soul couldn’t have endured until now. It’s only because she used the trick of sleeping for two cycles that she hasn’t disappeared yet.”

The Emperor chuckled and answered. She wanted to continue until the end… but she realized while defeating the demons just now. In this state, she couldn’t even draw out 10% of her power. She didn’t want to be a blemish on Olivia’s perfect ending.

“You… are dying?”

“Oh my. Not dying. Just transferring consciousness.”

Aurelia narrowed her eyes.

“…What if she tries something?”

“That won’t happen. She’s not that shameless. And… if something does happen, I’ll jump out and stop it.”

Of course, the Emperor knew that wouldn’t happen.

“The plan?”

“I’ll explain it all.”

“Then…”

“Oh my. Enough. You must know we don’t have time for this. You worry too much.”

The Emperor slowly smiled. Aurelia felt somehow bitter.

They weren’t even that close. No, they were close. A friend whose absence would be felt.

“…”

The Emperor slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her eyes had somehow become clearer. How to put it, she looked younger.

It’s natural since they lived different lengths of time?

Aurelia blinked for a moment.

“Did you change?”

“…”

Aria hesitated then nodded.

[Don’t respond to her. Though she looks dull, she’s excellent at teasing others.]

“…!!”

The voice in her head. Since it was the first time experiencing the opposite case, it wasn’t easy to adapt.

[Huhu. First, wake up the Rebel and the Devilhunter.]

There was no need to control her mind. Now, she was the “Princess.”