Ch.996Descent of the Heavenly Demon

“The final demigod of the fairies who lived for four thousand four hundred years, Varnir Freyus, finally met his death.

By Elpinel’s blindside that he had no way to escape from, and by the demigod of the stars who overcame an obviously disadvantageous situation with maddened fighting spirit.

A momentous event that should be recorded not as history, but as legend.

It was the moment when the final bastion protecting the fairy race collapsed.

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

“Haah, huu, urghhhh…”

Right after burning Varnir to ashes. I tried to get up but failed, staggering and collapsing face-first onto the pile of ashes.

Blood flowed from wounds that hadn’t yet healed. With each labored breath, ash flowed into my mouth, and my ruptured left eye now began to hurt.

…This is tough.

There was no strength left in my body, and my tattered left arm and right leg wouldn’t move at all.

Even the starlight in my chest and the halo above my head faded and disappeared as if they had reached their limit, and my body had returned to its original form.

Of course, only my outward appearance had returned to its former self, while the rank of demigod still resided within.

Unlike Varnir, who was a complete demigod from the beginning, I was an incomplete demigod with divinity contained in an unfinished vessel.

Therefore, there was a limit to the time I could fully manifest my demigod status.

And that limit came in an instant due to numerous injuries and massive physical exhaustion.

Varnir was strong.

I managed to grasp victory after fighting with my life on the line, but at the cost of being unable to even stand up.

By defeating Varnir, the limits of my physical body had grown to the point of touching the constraints of Heaven’s Wall, but that meant nothing right now.

Having your health completely restored the moment you level up only happens in games.

This world was never a game but reality, and therefore, no matter how much stronger I became after killing an enemy, my wounds wouldn’t suddenly disappear.

So I needed to rest first.

I needed to treat my wounds using the miracle of healing and recover my strength through a long rest.

…But I couldn’t do that.

Everyone else except me was still fighting.

According to the plan I proposed. According to the orders I gave.

“Kuh, urghh…!”

So I gritted my teeth until they might break, supporting my body with my trembling right arm, trying with all my might to stand up.

But.

– Thud!

“Kuk…!”

My body fell again, much to my frustration.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t put strength into my arm. Beyond a matter of will, it was as if the function itself had disappeared.

…Well, that’s inevitable.

Whether it was the backlash from forcibly moving a body at its limit to use flames strong enough to kill a demigod, my right arm was severely damaged.

Like a brick that had been baked in fire and then struck with a hammer, my entire forearm was cracked. Ash was even flowing from the crevices.

There was no way I could support my body and stand up with an arm like this.

“Damn it…!”

I bit my lip in frustration, face-planted in the ashes and sand. Even with all my strength, it was difficult to just hold up my head.

‘Move, I said move…!’

I gritted my teeth and gathered my will with all my might to urge my body that had stiffened like a corpse.

To stand up somehow. To move somehow.

It was right after that.

[ What is this… what on earth did you do to end up in this state? ]

The voice in my head, which had been silent since I awakened my divinity, began to be heard again.

[ Did you lose? Looking at your condition, you seem to have been thoroughly defeated. How embarrassing. ]

‘I won…? If I had lost, would we still be alive…?’

That annoying voice was unusually welcome at this moment.

[ You look half-dead… well, if you won, that’s fine. ]

Hersella laughed as if in disbelief, as if impressed, and summoned the power of Karma of Murder to wrap around my body like threads.

The starlight within me fluctuated in resistance to that power, but I suppressed it with my will and submitted to Hersella’s power.

– Creak.

Like a wooden puppet tied with strings dancing awkwardly, my body began to rise, bound by the Karma of Murder.

The appearance was somewhat grotesque, but thanks to her, I could walk again.

– Crack.

“Argh…!”

Though my arm bone, which had been barely attached, broke from the forced movement and bent in the opposite direction.

‘Be gentle…! Are you trying to completely sever my arm?’

[ How shameless. If we’re being technical, it’s my arm. ]

That’s technically correct, but…

Until now I didn’t realize it, but I’ve also lived in this body for over a decade. Isn’t that enough to call it my arm?

—-

I dragged Durandal along the ground as I staggered like a puppet doll. In the opposite direction from the battlefield where Demian’s group was engaged in a bloody battle with the monster.

‘Wait, where are we going? We need to help Demian…!’

[ As if you could in that body. You’d be lucky not to be a burden. ]

Hersella turned my head to look back at the battlefield as she answered.

‘You said Ka’har don’t flee from enemies….’

[ That would be true if you were in a condition to fight. If you were, I would have sent you to the battlefield as you wished… but in this state, it’s out of the question. ]

She said that facing death in battle against a strong enemy and committing suicide by being reckless with a body unable to fight are completely different matters.

[ Don’t you know? You may consider their lives more precious than your own… but I don’t think so. My grace and mercy are only for those who belong to me. ]

And from the beginning, her priority was to protect my life, not Demian’s.

I had words to refute her, but they wouldn’t get through, and I had no strength left to resist, so I was dragged away from the battlefield by her, gradually moving farther away.

Just helplessly watching Demian, Ophelia, and Perne’s struggle.

“KIAAAAAAAAAAAAK!!”

Lightning and icebergs swirled in the midst of an anguished roar.

Perhaps realizing Varnir’s death, the monster created by the World Tree was raging like mad, and Demian and Ophelia were barely able to block it, unable to even attempt a counterattack.

A clear disadvantage.

The monster was also covered in wounds, with two of its six legs blown off and one wing half-severed…

“Kuhek!”

“Demian!”

But it was still not an enemy the three of them could overcome.

“Damn it. I told you it was impossible, but you had to be stubborn…!”

Demian, who had avoided using “Skywalk” spatial transfer, was struck directly by lightning that swept across the entire area and fell, and Perne, who was riding in a half-destroyed mechanical armor, barely caught his body.

– Kwaooooo!

The spatial distortion technique deployed by Ophelia blocked the monster’s breath before dissipating, and the mana barrier she deployed next shattered in succession.

Just as the breath of light that extended struck Ophelia, whose complexion had turned pale, Demian urgently jumped through space to grab her and pull her out of the line of fire.

A counterattack followed.

Perne fired the bow and gun attached to both arms of her mechanical armor, and Ophelia, held in Demian’s hand, drew mana to cover the monster with something like a black curtain.

“KYAAAAAAAAK!!”

However, the monster broke Ophelia’s magic with just one shake of its body, and it simply endured Perne’s gunfire as if it wasn’t worth blocking.

“Kut…!”

Ophelia frowned at the backlash of her magic being broken. The monster created a huge ice hammer on its front paw and swung it down at her and Demian.

– Kwaaaang!

Demian and Ophelia were slammed into the ground along with their divine barrier. Half-melted dirt rose like lava with a whoosh.

‘…They can’t win like that.’

I bit my lip and sighed.

Although the training hadn’t been in vain as Demian and Ophelia were fighting well enough, the odds of victory were still too slim.

This city—well, it’s a desert now, but anyway—the power they had consumed on the way here and the power they had used to conquer this place was considerable.

I sensed their defeat. It was almost like a prophetic certainty. In that state, there was no way the three of them could win no matter what they did.

[ Are you certain of their defeat? Well, it looks that way to me too, but… ]

Hersella, who was dragging me along with threads of Karma of Murder, clicked her tongue and trailed off.

[ …But when has any of your certainties ever come true? ]

‘Is this really the time for such jokes?’

I snapped back, filled with rage that felt like it would burst.

‘You’re really crazy, stop being so tactless and insane, and learn to filter what you say…!’

A flood of criticism that had been held back was about to pour toward Hersella.

If it weren’t for the voice that was heard right after, it surely would have.

“—You all look so pathetic.”

A woman’s voice echoed from high above in the sky toward the ground like an echo.

That arrogant voice, which I remembered hearing before, blocked my criticism.

‘Wait, this, this voice is definitely…!’

Just as I struggled to raise my head toward the sky.

“Falling Star Sword.”

Along with the familiar technique name, on the back of the monster that was swinging an ice greatsword toward Demian with its wings spread wide.

“Blue-Dyed Meteor.”

A blue cold meteor struck down like the wrath of a god.

– Kwadududuk!

Impact wave and explosion. A clear sound of rupture heard through it. A sword wrapped in blue breath cut the monster’s spine vertically.

The monster, with its back shattered, let out a miserable scream and crashed into the ground, and a dust cloud mixed with ice fragments swirled like a storm, sweeping across the area.

And, from within it.

A horned woman with membrane wings and a scaled tail, her face hidden behind a mask, spread her two wings wide and declared in a truly dignified tone:

“Heavenly Demon, descend.”

…I decided to acknowledge her as a Heavenly Demon.

Whatever, let her be a Heavenly Demon.”