Ch.272Fable (2)

“You talk too much, you ghostly wench…!”

Isabella trembled with humiliation, her nearly depleted body shaking uncontrollably.

Though she had been dodging and somehow enduring, the very fact that she had been reduced to this state filled her with rage that reached to the tips of her hair.

“It’s the same magic as before! You must be running out of tricks!”

The shadow spear she created by squeezing out dark mana shattered into pieces upon contact with the blue arc.

The cursed twelve swords of Elpinel. The blue-white blades created to destroy magic mercilessly tore through her spells.

“Get buried in the ground!”

A bloodred hatred, terrifying beyond compare, flew fiercely toward Isabella as she floated through the air.

Hundreds of crimson chains intertwined like a net, blocking every direction.

Isabella thrust her body through the gaps in the net, protecting her flesh with dark mana like armor.

However, once again, she couldn’t avoid it completely. Just like before.

The blade of murder Karma sliced across her chest, tearing away another chunk of flesh.

“Kuuugh…!”

Burning pain surged from the severed wound.

Isabella, having lost her immortality, could no longer enjoy pain as pleasure.

‘What on earth did you create, Elpinel…!’

Grinding her teeth against the searing pain, Isabella hurled curses at the monster who must be watching from heaven.

—-

When she was ambushed in the underground waterway, she was a bit surprised, but thought she could win easily.

Transcendent body. Alien Karma. Elpinel’s sword. Mana Resistance.

Though the woman was blessed with all manner of divine gifts, Isabella never imagined she would be driven to this point.

Even if she had stepped into the realm of Heroes, she was still just a human who would eventually tire and collapse.

The remaining two were merely weaklings who didn’t even reach the level of Heroes.

Yes, that should have been the case.

But facing Aishan-Gioro directly… she was an incomprehensible monster.

This wasn’t about strength.

A warrior who had reached the pinnacle of this era. It was astonishing that she could exert such power at an age when she hadn’t even reached her prime…

Up to that point, yes, Isabella could understand.

The Karma accumulated through life-and-death battles with opponents stronger than herself, the woman’s innate genius, plus all those blessings.

In a way, it was natural that the aging Valenstein had fallen.

But this, what was this?

‘Return of the Netherworld’ had shattered so easily. In a way Isabella herself couldn’t have imagined.

It was a method that precisely struck a weakness that even she, the ability’s owner, didn’t know about.

The ‘Embracing Nightmare’ she had unleashed as a surprise attack mixed with a barrage of spells was also broken through.

Even while trapped in the nightmare, screaming and wailing, that monster had come at Isabella with terrifying precision, wielding her body with the strange technique of using Karma with physical form.

She had been shocked then too, but seeing it now, she understood how it worked.

‘Two souls, the one unaffected by my power forcibly moved the body! No wonder she only attacked with murder Karma at that time…!’

Unlike the one wielding the oath sword, this ferocious woman only exuded murder Karma. Though they looked identical like twins, their fighting styles were completely different, making them easy to distinguish.

That woman must have been the one controlling the body at that time.

Isabella still couldn’t understand why the true soul connected to the body and the parasitic ghost soul had the same appearance.

Even if she knew the reason, she couldn’t manifest ‘Embracing Nightmare’ again.

The greater the power, the more restrictions it faced as long as the world’s constraints remained intact. To unleash Embracing Nightmare again would require at least half a day.

That’s why in the three-against-one battle that followed, Isabella had no choice but to bleed considerably.

With both ‘Return’ and ‘Nightmare’ broken, she had to fight a proper battle for the first time in decades with only the power of the ‘Nest’ and her own dark mana.

Unfortunately, she had already released most of the useful insects in the Benes territory, so the power of the ‘Nest’ was quite weakened.

Perhaps it wouldn’t have made much difference even if it hadn’t been weakened.

A mage, a high priest, and a warrior-like monster sweeping the area with tentacles of murder Karma. Each one specialized in fighting multiple opponents.

Even if she summoned an insect army, the average ones would have been swept away like grains of sand.

And the Black Repose she unleashed at the end… well, the result was obvious.

The dream showing the past was broken through too quickly, and inside the mind she tried to secretly examine, a god was bound.

Worse still, an opponent that would be difficult to handle alone had doubled.

Considering that Aishan-Gioro’s combat power exceeded that of a saint candidate and a high-level mage, this actually helped the enemy.

In other words, ‘Black Repose’ had essentially been broken as well.

‘What on earth is this monster…! How, so easily…?’

That was what Isabella found most incomprehensible.

Powers that should have been fatal were collapsing ridiculously easily.

Not because they were overpowered, but because the exact weaknesses of her abilities were being precisely targeted.

It was unfathomable.

Only she herself and Lilith, who had granted the powers, knew exactly about her abilities.

She had never explained these abilities in detail even to Feyrus, yet Aishan-Gioro was responding to them so easily.

As if she had known about Isabella’s powers from the beginning!

‘Foresight? Prophecy? No, that’s impossible…!’

In her confusion, Isabella desperately denied the thought that suddenly occurred to her.

Foresight was beyond human capability. It was an impossible realm even for monsters.

Even Elpinel couldn’t know the future.

But then, what was it?

Isabella ground her molars and trembled.

Something oppressive and gloomy filled her chest, seeming to strangle her heart.

A feeling she had forgotten since obtaining her near-immortal powers.

Yes, it was the emotion called fear.

—-

The two identically-appearing women worked together flawlessly.

Even though they attacked separately without considering coordination, it formed an exquisite combined assault.

“Not yet, still far from over! I’ll cut that flesh of yours to pieces!”

What little remained of her upper body was sliced off again.

“All that boasting, and now you’re just fleeing like a fly!”

Elpinel’s sword tore through the dark mana, leaving a deep wound.

‘These green girls…! Damn it, how much longer must I endure? How much longer…!’

Isabella, now reduced to barely her collarbone, suppressed her impatience and forcibly gathered dark mana.

If she died completely here, her mind would collapse just the same.

At this point, it would be better to dispel Black Repose and fight in reality, but… even she couldn’t withdraw Lilith’s power once it was unleashed.

So she had to endure somehow until the ability’s time limit.

The chase continued.

“Got you…!”

“Be crushed!”

Two unavoidable attacks flew toward Isabella, who was now just a head.

“Ah…!”

In that moment, Isabella sensed death.

There was nowhere to escape, and no dark mana left to block.

– Crack!

Haschal’s nails burst through her nose bridge, crushing into her skull.

Hersella’s fist tore through the back of her head, ripping it to shreds.

Just as the two fists met and Isabella’s consciousness and life were about to be completely extinguished—

Finally, Black Repose came to an end.

======[ Haschal ]======

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

A woman’s scream like a monstrous howl pierced my eardrums.

In the ruined waterway, the battered Isabella clutched her head and screamed.

Somehow, we had returned to the dark underground from the pure white space.

…She doesn’t seem dead. Were we slightly too late?

It was truly regrettable.

In that brief moment, the blink of an eye—if we’d had just one more moment, we could have killed Isabella’s mind completely.

[ Did you escape, you worm of a bitch-! ]

Hersella, who had missed Isabella by a hair’s breadth, raged furiously.

“…Aah…aaaah…huuuuu…!”

Isabella staggered and groaned.

Her vanished body had returned intact, and her depleted dark mana was not much different from before she cast Black Repose, but her spirit was greatly broken.

Even though it happened in the mental world, having almost her entire body torn apart meant that while her body returned, her mind was in tatters.

“…Why is she suddenly acting like that?”

Lacy tilted her head slightly in confusion.

Of course, to her eyes, it must have looked like Isabella was about to cast some terribly evil spell but suddenly screamed and retreated.

“Who cares, she must be reaching her limit!”

Ophelia paid no attention.

The mana she released became lightning and swirled around.

“Aaaah…!”

Isabella’s body convulsed and breathed weakly as the lightning struck her entire body.

The remaining carapaces on her body burned black and fell off. Just like when the power of the ‘Writhing Nest’ was exhausted in the mental world.

Was it her limit, as Ophelia said? Certainly, it wouldn’t be strange considering the damage she had taken…

“Huuuu…Aishan…Gioro…!”

No, it’s different!

Her rolled-back eyes suddenly turned and stared directly at me.

Her purple gaze was still burning with intense hatred.

And then.

In the next moment, dark mana erupted like a pillar.

“Elpinel save us!”

Thinking it was an attack, Lacy hurriedly created a barrier of light.

But that wasn’t an attack. It was exactly the phenomenon I had seen before.

From inside the blackened pillar came a crackling sound of something breaking.

“Useless tricks…!”

The fire arrows and wind blades Ophelia shot scattered upon colliding with the pillar of dark mana.

– Clang!

Even Durandal’s blade was blocked.

I had wondered, but… it seems we can’t attack her in that form.

It was the same in the game.

When she hid her body in that pillar, she didn’t take damage from any attacks.

“What is that…?”

There was no need to answer Lacy’s question.

In less than a few seconds, the black pillar that had been gushing like lava began to dissipate like a mirage.

And in the center.

“…Did you think you had defeated me? No. You’re still far from it, Aishan-Gioro…!”

The witch, now with a completely different appearance, glared at me with terrifying killing intent.

Behind her back, massive moth-like wings fluttered.

【 Metamorphosis 】

Her final power.

The last resort she cast out of desperation after being driven to the edge.

…The end was drawing near.