Ch.518The End

Our forces were significantly weakened.

Even if we could heal physical wounds, they wouldn’t be completely cured instantly, and the mental strain from pain and fatigue, along with depleted strength, wouldn’t return.

Additionally, Agnes alone couldn’t perfectly replace Lacy’s absence, and Ceylon was barely holding on through faith and determination, having exhausted his power to the point where he couldn’t manifest “Judgment Day” again.

I was in the same condition.

Lena’s miracle healed wounds, Agnes’s blessing purified the dark mana that had seeped in, and Durandal’s power supplied vitality to my tired body… but my shattered armor and consumed karma wouldn’t return.

Nevertheless, we continued fighting. Wounded and exhausted, yet refusing to retreat.

—-

【 Gr҈̨͖̜̃͐͡ow҈̢̛͍̜͓͛l҈̨͇̄͗͒͞in҈̨̘̲̾̕g!҈̙̙̋͂̈́͜͝ 】

With a deep wound carved into its neck and having lost even its black lake, the demon thrashed more ferociously than ever before.

Not just its arms and beams, but truly wielding its entire body as a weapon.

– Whoooosh!

Its massive neck flew at us like a dragon’s tail. A neck incomparably thicker and stronger than its arms. It was like a mountain-sized giant swinging a train.

After I jumped inward to avoid the neck sweeping across the ground, the demon’s ribcage, which had split open like a Venus flytrap, approached us, blocking the sky.

“Dodge!”

– Crack!

The ribs collided with the ground, scooping up the earth like a spatula and pushing it into the hole attached to its chest. Massive boulders disappeared into the void.

I cut off one of its ribs with Durandal’s blade, then was struck by its massive intestines whipping around, coughing up blood as I was knocked away.

“Lord Haschal!”

Ceylon swung his longsword, cutting the intestinal whip halfway through. The golden holy light on his blade seared the cut surface, causing it to smoke.

Following this came the Master’s spear. The spiraling tip of Nigel’s spear pierced through and burst the remaining half.

One of the demon’s intestinal stems was torn off, spilling foul liquid. However, it had already shot out three or four more whips.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Despite blood streaming from my mouth, I jumped up, cutting one intestinal stem with Durandal and grabbing another with my left arm to hold it back. Leaving the other two strands to my allies.

“This much is nothing…!”

Nigel avoided the intestinal tentacle and jumped high. Spinning in mid-air, she kicked her throwing spear. The spearhead, carrying her leg power, shot like a wedge, pinning the demon’s intestine to the ground.

“Astraea, please grant me strength to endure just a little longer…!”

Ceylon stood beside Agnes protectively, manifesting a barrier of holy light to block the intestinal whip.

Agnes also wielded a moonlight blade with her right hand, sending out slashes, while her left hand spread a holy light barrier to help defend.

– Crash!

The double-layered barrier shattered upon collision with the whip, and the intestine struck by Agnes’s blade split open, spewing bodily fluids.

Yet the intestinal whip didn’t stop. Ceylon pushed Agnes far away and swung his golden sword at the intestinal stem approaching right before his eyes.

– Thud!

The golden holy light that had held for about two seconds was overwhelmed and knocked away.

“Kuhak…!”

Ceylon was thrown back about ten meters, rolling across the ruins and leaving a long trail of blood.

“Sir Ceylon…! Menes, grant us the protection of the new moon!”

Agnes, who had escaped the attack range thanks to Ceylon’s protection, shielded him with a veil of the new moon and healed his wounds with the miracle of twilight.

Meanwhile, Nigel, who had leaped into the air, was caught by another intestinal tentacle and being swung headfirst toward the ground.

At a speed that would burst her skull and upper body upon impact.

“Nigel!”

I stomped on the intestinal stem I was holding, bursting it as I jumped, cut off the intestinal stem wrapped around Nigel, and landed while holding her.

“Ugh…! I’m sorry, Lord Haschal…!”

Nigel’s face was contorted with pain and self-reproach. Her left arm was broken, bent in the opposite direction, and judging by her severely distorted breastplate, her ribs were likely damaged too.

“You’re alive, that’s what matters!”

After a brief reply, I launched myself again.

There was no time for lengthy conversation. The demon, accumulating injuries just like us, was now rampaging in complete madness.

—-

【 Ȩ̷̖͆͑͝ḽ̵͈̆͢͠f̶̡̰͋̏͠ǐ̴̱̖̿͢͞n̸̡̮͑͠ͅe̴̳̮͑͢͞l̶̨̤̂̓͝l̷̡͙̾̀͞! Ą̵̣̫̇͑̃͠s̶̛͖̈́̌͢ț̴̨̚͝r҈̡̝͖҇̄͐̚a̶̢̰҇̇̆é̴͈͜͞ȃ̸͎͙͢͡!̸̨̠́̆͋͝! M̴̨͎̗͛̂̕ē҉̢̦̐̋͆͠n҉̧͔̳̳҇̆͑̓ë̸̢̟̝̬͡s̶̡̟̘̠̀̋͠ŝ̷̛͇̖̑͢-!҉̳̞̂̈͢͞!҉̧̱҇̎ 】

The demon howled in an incomprehensible voice.

Every time its densely packed eyeballs flashed, black holes formed throughout the air, spewing arrows of dark mana.

It was a bombardment mimicking Ceylon’s miracle, the Light of Judgment.

Agnes’s moonlight blade slashed through the demon’s eyes, and Ceylon somehow counteracted with his significantly weakened Light of Judgment, but they were overwhelmed.

“Scr҈̦̤͕҇̽͢eam҈̨̛͖̟̏ing҉̡͓̘̾̃̕!҈̡̫͖͗̈͠ͅ!”

Additionally, the two heads attached to the demon’s neck spewed screams in human voices. Whether some power resided in those screams, my mind grew dizzy and my consciousness wavered each time I heard them.

In those moments of hesitation, the demon’s concentrated attacks would immediately come flying.

Each time, I had to manifest Defying Fate to dodge and counterattack, while Ceylon and Agnes had to deploy barriers to block the attacks while accepting damage.

The demon’s power wasn’t infinite either, as its attacks were noticeably weaker than during our initial engagement… but they were dangerous nonetheless. Even though Leonore, who had evacuated Lacy, had rejoined us, there was no significant change in the battle situation.

We fought on, adding more wounds to our already battered bodies.

“Not yet, I can’t fall yet…!”

“Kugh…! Astraea, I offer my body to you…!”

Ceylon began burning his life force to draw forth holy light, while Nigel and Leonore forced their trembling limbs to move through gritted teeth.

Dodging the demon’s attacks again and again, somehow penetrating inside to cut off the tentacles forming its lower body.

After a desperate struggle… until the end finally came.

【 The End҈̡͔̯͔̱̞̭̦͍͔̩ͅ 】

The demon, its entire body in tatters, spun and leaped into the air.

For a moment, we couldn’t respond. Who could have imagined that such a massive body could jump?

Then, the intestinal tentacles forming the demon’s lower body burst open and swirled. Revealing a black opal-like jewel hidden inside.

A storm of intestines wrapped in dark mana swept over all of us.

—-

Silence fell over the battlefield.

The silence announcing the end. No one remained standing.

Ceylon, who had deployed a golden barrier by burning his immense life force, was embedded in a collapsed wall with cracks all over his skin. Leonore had lost her right arm, and Nigel had lost both legs, buried in the city’s debris.

Agnes, protected by the three, was also unconscious with fragments of shattered armor embedded throughout her body. I was the only one still conscious.

“Kuhak…! Kweeeek!”

On my knees and bent over, I vomited several bowlfuls of blood. Pieces of torn intestines were mixed in the pool of blood I looked down at.

My vision was half blackened. Bloody tears flowed from my burst eye socket. My left shoulder burned like fire, and I had no sensation below it.

“Damn it…”

With a trembling head, I painfully looked up at the demon with my one remaining eye. My vision alternated between blurry and clear.

【 Gr҈̨̮͉́̊͡ow҉̗͊̀̿͢͠l҈̭̰̉́͋͢͠in҈̛̘̍̅͢g….̴̨̬̊̏͡ͅ 】

The monster floated with its intestinal tentacles spread wide. A ring of strange characters rose and rotated around the diamond-shaped black jewel.

I could instinctively tell that was something like the creature’s heart, but I had no strength left to target it now.

“Kuhuk…!”

Another gush of blood poured out.

Fatal wounds added to a body already at its limit. Cold, dizzy, and burning hot. Even my consciousness seemed about to fade.

Hersella was shouting something in my mind, but I could no longer hear her.

Defeat.

Those two letters, so short yet so heavy, weighed me down.

Yes. From the beginning, it was a battle with low odds of success. The enemy was stronger than us, and our chances of winning weren’t high. So, this situation was merely the inevitable outcome.

We had inflicted many wounds on it after fighting beyond our normal capabilities… but that was it.

We were defeated.

A cruel but undeniable truth.

That’s why I deny it.

“Kugh…!”

Gritting my teeth, blood streaming from all over my body, I grasp the golden longsword with my one remaining arm and rise.

I cannot accept it.

I won’t accept it.

Sense of duty, determination, stubbornness, and desperation lift me up.

If we fail here, if we flee from here, that monster will kill everyone in this city. No, it won’t stop there but will go on to kill everyone in this country.

It might eventually be subjugated, but how many lives will be lost until then? The future was too horrific to even imagine.

Moreover, even if the subjugation succeeds that way, what then?

This demon is just the beginning, not the end. The world will become increasingly dangerous and cruel. That’s the kind of world this was.

Meanwhile, human forces will grow weaker with each massive sacrifice. Time is the only way to fill the void left by the dead, but time won’t be on our side.

Eventually, we’ll face catastrophe, unable to handle the enemy. A blasphemous catastrophe that will engulf us all.

So I had to protect them.

In a world where I’ve lost all allies, there would be no meaning in me enduring alone.

I fight because I want to protect, I fight because I must protect.

Both are more than enough reason to face disaster with a dying body.

—-

“Yes… That’s why…”

Standing firmly on trembling legs, I raised Durandal held in my right hand high.

“Because I want everyone to live…”

I glared at the demon looking back at me with its one remaining eye. The distance was too great. Approaching was impossible. I felt I would collapse the moment I lifted my feet from the ground.

My consciousness blurred and thoughts began to break. I forgot what I was doing.

…It doesn’t matter. Even if I stop thinking and forget my purpose, the spike driven into my soul won’t disappear.

“So… I…”

The belief embedded in the core of my heart guides my broken body.

The golden light of the blade intensifies.

My vision darkens.

In the blackness where nothing can be seen, I swing my sword toward the earth.

A slash that compresses time. A technique that cuts space. The memory engraved in my soul is carried on the blade’s tip.

The sword of oath burns with golden light-

“…must protect.”

I cut the sky.