Ch.259Sacrifice (4)

“Everyone seems to lack self-awareness.”

Phosphorus muttered.

“Hope and despair are separated by the thinnest margin. All those who couldn’t die in the laboratory will meet their end here. Especially you, Eidel Rheinland—I’ll kill you slowly, burning your entrails while you’re still alive and blackening your flesh.”

With those final words, the incarnate swung its arm, and dozens of fireballs rose into the air. It was the signal for the battle to begin.

“Block it!”

The swordsmen guarding me lowered their swords. The blades collided with the flames. The fire that hit the sword edges slid like flowing water, then crawled back up the blades.

Fire spread to the swordsmen’s arms. The temperature was high enough to melt their heat-resistant suits.

“Aaaaargh!”

“The suits are melting! Don’t block, dodge!”

[— ‘Rezein von Rheinland’ uses <Extinguish>, <Healing>.]

[— Temporarily grants healing effect (+50%) to the injured.]

The swordsmen who had been hit by the fireballs groaned painfully. Their rough breathing gradually stabilized.

“Mother?”

“Son, you haven’t forgotten that your mother worked on the southern front for over 20 years, have you?”

Right, that’s true. I was so distracted by the incarnate that I completely forgot my mother was more familiar with these situations than I was.

The original reason my mother married into our family was because she had a healing constellation, just like my father and Zernya.

That was much more reassuring.

Fire caught on Sonia’s arms and the hem of her skirt. She quickly tore away the fabric from her forearms. I helped her by cutting away the hem of her skirt with the caliper blade.

Sonia sighed.

“The clothes you bought me, young master… I treasured them.”

“If we survive this, I’ll buy you new ones.”

“Since you’ve torn my skirt, I’ll have no choice but to marry you now, young master.”

“Save the jokes for after this is over.”

“I’m being sincere.”

“Here it comes!”

We rolled in opposite directions. A pillar of fire erupted from where we had just been standing. We had nearly been roasted alive.

Phosphorus seemed determined to kill me first, continuously throwing fireballs in my direction. These fireballs were the monster’s cells. Due to the Darwin-type characteristics, complete organisms and flames are identical in their ability to reproduce rapidly.

“Damn, our attacks aren’t working…”

The attack squad had stabbed their swords into Phosphorus’s main body several times, but it was useless. Fire couldn’t be cut by conventional methods.

That’s right. Only by conventional methods.

“Young master.”

Sonia whispered, gripping the caliper tightly. I blocked her path and shook my head.

“Don’t step forward.”

“…I’ll just hit it with one mental collapse and come back.”

“No, we can’t show our cards yet.”

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ nods.]

“It’s not time yet.”

The joker card here isn’t Naiere but Sonia. We need to deal decisive damage to that thing at a critical or desperate moment.

For now, we focused on dodging and blocking.

While Phosphorus was distracted with me, Captain Naiere positioned herself behind the creature.

“…Your back is exposed.”

Blue light flowed from Naiere’s body and sword. Her eyes gleamed with intense killing intent.

The state of instantaneous becoming a constellation.

The star itself is the most effective means to cut through fire, the alpha and omega (Ω) against outer gods.

[— ‘Naiere Clarke’ uses <Song of Water>.]

Slash!

Phosphorus’s head split like pudding from the horizontal sword strike. The creature’s body staggered.

A water jug wrapped in stars appeared. Naiere used her sword like a shovel to scoop the incarnate’s head into the water jug, then swung a series of strikes to shatter it.

Crack!

With the sound of a core breaking, Phosphorus fell backward. A heavy vibration was felt first, followed by Naiere landing lightly on the ground.

“…Did we get it?”

“Don’t say that line! Ah.”

Of course, it wasn’t going to be defeated by a single sword strike.

“That tickles.”

Phosphorus got up calmly as if nothing had happened and set fire to its own head. Its bright red head changed to a light orange.

The expressions of the swordsmen, which had been briefly filled with hope, hardened. Even Naiere was flustered and increased the distance.

“…Could it be a multi-core entity?”

“Yes, it has nine cores! We need to break eight more!”

“Oh ho.”

Phosphorus tilted its head with interest.

“The Queen’s conjecture was correct. To know exactly how many cores I possess, you’re certainly not ordinary humans… Or perhaps you weren’t human to begin with?”

“What? What nonsense are you spouting?”

There’s a reason military manuals warn against conversing with incarnates. I already knew this, and the swordsmen knew it even better. They ignored the incarnate’s words and recharged their swords.

I said:

“The creature gets stronger each time we break a core. Be careful!”

“It gets stronger than before? It’s already plenty strong!”

I was just stating facts the swordsmen needed to know. But I couldn’t afford to lower the army’s morale.

So instead:

“If we take this one down, the war ends!”

The only option was to turn despair back into hope.

***

The battle that began at dawn continued until daybreak.

The higher the temperature, the more flames tend toward blue hues. Phosphorus’s head now showed a distinct blue light. The high temperature meant the incarnate had grown that much stronger.

“I didn’t expect this. To think you would push me this far.”

Seven.

We had destroyed all but two of the nine cores.

The price was that all the EX-class swordsmen had lost consciousness, their fate uncertain, and Naiere could barely hold her sword. Reinforcements had continued to arrive, but they hadn’t meaningfully changed the tide of battle.

“I can finally see the end of this tedious fight. Unlike you primitive beings, I barely understand the concept of fatigue.”

Mother had fainted from Aether depletion. I too was creaking at the joints from acting as bait.

The opponent still had two lives left. Moreover, it had grown stronger than before. Meanwhile, we had lost most of our fighting force.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been pushed this far. When was the last time? When I fought Stern’s forces? Matonica, that woman was truly strong. We nearly killed each other.”

Phosphorus pulled something out from its chest.

“Anyway, I don’t want to have that experience twice. The conditions are right, so I’ll use this.”

Despite my expectations, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Virgo the Virgin.

In Phosphorus’s hand was a crystal containing the ‘Fragment of Sacrifice.’

“You look surprised. Understandable. After all, the constellation that is practically your hope is right here.”

“…So that’s why. That’s how you were able to land on this planet without triggering the military alert system.”

“Yes, that’s right. Just possessing it has the effect of disguising oneself from constellations. What a convenient item, isn’t it? And at crucial moments, I can use it like a limb.”

Phosphorus crushed the crystal into its head. The starlight was devoured by the flames and blazed in pitch-black color.

[— The ‘Fragment of Sacrifice’ screams.]

For a mere incarnate to control a constellation, and one of the 12 houses at that—it should have been impossible.

But Phosphorus was Queen Aurora’s direct subordinate. In terms of pure power, it was closer to an outer god than an incarnate.

Moreover, judging by the crystal’s irregular polyhedron shape, it had clearly undergone special processing.

[— ‘Phosphorus’ weaves <The Maiden’s Loom> through the ‘Fragment of Sacrifice’.]

The Maiden’s Loom.

A skill that uses the surrounding space as a spinning wheel to draw out and fire a thread filled with Aether. It’s one of the most powerful techniques possessed by Virgo. It was also the technique that the previous user, Rasella, reportedly used when she fought an incarnate to mutual destruction.

The reason this technique is so formidable is simple.

Once caught in the thread’s trajectory, you can’t move at all.

Snap!

My solar plexus and Phosphorus’s head were connected.

“Ugh!”

The thread fired at a speed that far transcended human reflexes. The line was embedded in my chest before I could even perceive it.

[— ‘Phosphorus’ prepares <White Phosphorus Incendiary>.]

[— 10 seconds until casting.]

My future sight foretold one fact.

At this rate, I would die burning from my chest throughout my entire body.

“Finally, the end. It’s been long.”

“Rheinland! You dare—!!”

“Yes, I like that expression.”

Naiere, who was on the verge of collapse, contorted her face. She squeezed out her last Aether and delivered a sword strike.

Whoosh!

Phosphorus easily jumped up to avoid it. The main body’s speed was immeasurably fast. It was a completely different entity from when we first encountered it.

[— 5 seconds remaining until casting.]

Death is at the threshold.

The way to overcome this situation is.

“Sonia! Now!”

“I know!”

[— <Mental Destruction>, <Intelligence Weakening>, <Total Cognitive Failure>, <Collapse>]

Whirl!

The caliper flew through the air. It moved at a speed rivaling the operation of <The Maiden’s Loom>.

Before Phosphorus could exhale a full breath, the caliper blade fiercely pierced the incarnate’s head.