Chapter 159 – Twilight

None of them anticipated it. Someone had bypassed Serr’s spirits and Delia’s detection magic, infiltrating the rearmost defenses.

The shock disrupted Hermilla. Her breathing hitched, her punch went wide.

Cursing, she aborted the strike, yanking on the plant roots wrapped around her waist. Crack! The roots, anchored deep in the earth, pulled her back just as an invisible blade whistled past her hair.

“How…?” Delia’s voice trembled.

“Focus on the battle!” Serr snapped.

The sounds of tearing air echoed intermittently from the rear. The Masters pressed their relentless attack. Serr’s mind raced, calculating the risks and rewards of every possible action.

“Kh! Delia!” Hermilla cried.

Shwack! An invisible sword aura shot towards Delia. Instantly, she invoked Karma, warping the space where the attack would land. A second aura followed, but Alex’s steel wall rose, shattering it.

Delia’s wand tip sparked, regaining stability. Electricity flowed through the earth, reaching Kalluso’s feet and discharging violently. The momentary paralysis, though brief, was an eternity in this battle. Hermilla seized the opening, her fist aimed at Aran’s nape.

Crack! Spikes erupted from the earth, shielding Aran.

Crunch! The plant roots yanked Hermilla back again. Her eyes locked onto Bamilion, preparing a large-scale holy spell.

“Delia! Mia!”

A single command. They understood. Delia’s wand shot a current into the clouds. Mia’s arrow followed, wreathed in lightning, forming the shape of a Kirin. With a roar, it plunged towards Bamilion.

Aran raised his shield, Indestructibility shimmering around him.

The unstoppable Kirin met the immovable wall.

BOOOOOM!

The earth shook. A grotesque light illuminated the ruins. Sensory perception and magical detection were useless in the ensuing chaos. But Serr’s spirits saw it all. They witnessed Bamilion’s holy magic flowing from her sword tip.

Amidst the devastation, Serr’s voice, carried on the wind, whispered instructions to Yuria and Alex. They didn’t hesitate, trusting Serr implicitly.

Rumble! Lush vegetation erupted, transforming the ruins into a verdant landscape. A steel wall rose beneath it.

Just before they were completely obscured—

Clatter! Golden chains rained from the sky. Bamilion’s Chains of Divinity, a spell that sealed space at the cost of the caster’s life force and flesh. Even Tylant had been bound by it.

Mana flow froze. Oxygen stilled. The Kirin dissipated. Hermilla’s movement, Delia’s lightning, Alex’s steel thorns, Mia’s arrows, Yuria’s plants, Serr’s commanding gestures—all stopped, save for the spirits themselves.

No time for panic. Serr absorbed the spirits’ information. Dividing tasks, reassigning positions. The spirits moved with perfect coordination.

Kalluso and Ghetto vanished. Fenrir’s maw opened, swallowing the earth. Aria, clutching her rosary, unleashed a powerful ritual.

The spirits’ power shook the ground. A violent wind tore through the still air. A wall of fire erupted. But the Masters pressed on.

Fenrir’s jaws closed in. Invisible blades tore through the spirits. Spectral hands, fueled by human grudges, reached out. The Chains of Divinity tightened.

Darkness deepened. Light raged. Wind shrieked. Earth shifted.

Fenrir’s fangs sank into Delia’s ankle. Two swords reached Serr’s neck. Spectral hands grasped Hermilla. The chains descended.

Crack!

Hermilla’s Destructive Force erupted, shattering the chains at the cost of her lifespan. Freed, she vanished, reappearing before Serr. She deflected the swords, grabbed Serr and Delia, and fled.

The spirits’ power ignited. Shadowy remnants of life, reflecting light, wind filling the space, earth pinpointing locations—an overwhelming flood of information surged into Serr’s mind.

Pain tore through her, her body threatening to shatter. But she held on, her mind forging a new miracle. Not magic, but the power of spirits.

Large-scale spatial translocation.

Snap! Rin, the highest-ranking spirit, flicked her fingers.

The space—

Crack!

—shifted.

“Kh… Huff…” Serr gasped.

“You… your body…” Delia rushed to her, wiping the blood from her face.

“No time. We must fight.”

“But—” Delia’s words died as her renewed detection magic revealed their scattered allies.

Crunch!

“Kh!” A cursed hand lashed out, seizing Delia.

“Listen as you fight!” Serr’s voice, edged with desperation, was swift. “I’ve matched you against opponents you have a chance against. Don’t aim to win. Survive. I’ll deal with the thief and rejoin you. Just… survive until then.”

Her plea, carried on the wind, reached the others.

BOOOOM! Violet flames erupted, warping the Indestructible Wall. The battle resumed.

***

“Gah… Aaagh!”

Boom! Uncontrolled gravity tore at the earth, creating a massive chasm.

“Hah… You… won’t… pass…” Heinzel stumbled, but refused to fall. Poisoned daggers riddled his body, numbing his nerves, scrambling his senses, conjuring hallucinations, and inflicting agonizing pain.

But he remained standing. He clawed at his skin, bit his tongue, clinging to consciousness. He knew he couldn’t win, but he couldn’t fall. He had to hold the line.

He forced his numb limbs to move with magic, adapting to the distorted sensations, cutting down the hallucinatory enemies. He endured the burning agony.

“HAAAAH!”

Crunch! Clang! He deflected the daggers, propelling himself forward. He swung his broken halberd like a club. Thud. An assassin’s waist snapped. Mute’s body tore—a hallucination. He felt nothing.

He twisted gravity, shifting his stance. Crack! He deflected another dagger. He heard the sound, but felt nothing. Another illusion.

A swarm of daggers descended. Dangerous. He needed distance. Crunch! Ignoring the embedded blades, he stomped, the ground erupting, creating space between him and Mute.

“Hhk… Ghh…” He ripped a dagger from his thigh. Rip! The jagged blade tore through muscle and vein. He welcomed the pain; it meant he could still feel.

As he regained his footing, chains rained down. A hazy mist erupted from Mute, blanketing the battlefield. The Domain of Deception. He couldn’t see Mute, the daggers, or even the approaching death.

In the silent void—

A longsword pierced his waist. A dagger in his spine. An unseen blade sliced through muscle. Something tore at his right eye. Toes, ankle, knee—gone. Feeling drained from his legs.

The blade crept upwards, towards his heart.

An illusion.

“GUAAAAAGH!!!”

CLANG! A final, desperate roar, a surge of mana, shattered the illusion. The mist cleared. Senses returned. Daggers vanished. Wounds opened, spilling blood.

All that remained was the ravaged earth, his broken body, and—

Mute, grinning. Aria, holding Rubia.

“Wh… what…?”

“…When…?” Heinzel’s voice was ragged. Serr’s, arriving late, trembled with horror.

The outpost had been layered with powerful barriers. Even Serr would have needed thirty minutes to dismantle them, an hour for anyone else. They had infiltrated while the battle raged. No… perhaps they’d been there all along.

“Finally over?” Aria’s voice dripped with mockery. Cursed hands seized Heinzel, twisting his body. Crack! This was real. His body, ravaged by the curse, collapsed. Blood poured from his mouth.

“It was so amusing watching you weaklings struggle.” Aria giggled, her cursed fingers tearing at Rubia’s clothes. “What to do with this troublesome little priestess? Strip her and display her in the capital? Or throw her to the drugged test subjects? We’ll need her priestess blood eventually, so she needs to be… bred.”

They can’t escape. If they did, everything would be lost. Subduing them was impossible. They had to die.

Using that would ruin everything, but it would buy time. I had to trust Hermilla and the others. They would protect Rubia, even if Brunhilde awakened. And Noah would return.

So here, it had to be me.

Closing her eyes, Serr focused on the gateway to the spirit realm, sensing the path, the purpose, the beginning and the end.

And as she opened her mouth—

Slice!

“…Huh?” Aria’s voice, laced with confusion.

And then, a voice, a scraping sound from the depths of the abyss, echoed through the ruins.

“Let. Her. Go.”