Chapter 404

It was hell.

Pandemonium itself.

A raging inferno of death.

The black smoke billowing from those flames obscured even the immediate surroundings.

But one could tell.

That the majestic army that had filled the main thoroughfare had been reduced to ashes in an instant.

*Wooooooooo.*

Only a muffled, suffocating cry echoed; hearing was not functioning properly.

The eardrums had burst from the tremendous roar at the moment of the massive explosion.

“K-Kuuuugh!”

Even in that state, Hound let out a scream.

It was because of the excruciating pain he felt in his lower body.

His two legs, mangled and destroyed.

Yes, destruction.

Caught in the explosion, his two legs had burst into a gruesome mess.

Yet, Hound crawled forward frantically using his two arms.

It was instinct.

The instinct for survival.

That desperate struggle brought results.

He barely managed to escape the flames.

However.

Hound, raising his head, saw it.

The angel of death, standing right in front of him, looking down.

“U-Uwaaaaaaaah!”

Hound’s scream.

*Slice!*

A blade cleanly severed Hound’s neck in a single stroke.

Max Celtrine, who had severed Hound’s neck, turned away without a second thought.

“It’s not over yet.”

Max’s eyes were looking towards what came next.

* * *

Hiresia also heard the sound of the massive explosion that shook the Holy City.

But she didn’t even blink.

Because it was a crucial moment.

*Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!*

A multi-shot from zero distance rained down on the staggering Elden.

An unavoidable attack.

*Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!*

“Kraaaaaaaargh!”

Elden’s pain-filled scream.

That was his last scream.

*Thud!*

Elden, riddled with arrows like a honeycomb, collapsed backwards, his breath cut short.

This was the end.

The southern enemies would no longer be able to head towards the academy.

And.

Hiresia’s gaze finally turned west.

Flames that raged ferociously, as if to swallow everything.

She could immediately tell that Max had used his trump card.

If so.

There was no way the enemy was unharmed.

It meant that side was also taken care of.

What remained was.

*Tap!*

Hiresia’s figure headed towards the academy.

The combined forces, who had been staring blankly at the west, devastated by the massive explosion, finally came to their senses and followed her.

* * *

“Aaaah, rocks are flying!”

Amy’s scream.

Though she very modestly described them as rocks, they absolutely could not be called rocks.

Boulders.

Because they were boulders the size of houses.

Just as the boulder thrown by the giant was about to directly hit where Amy and Diana were.

A powerful ice wall magic surrounded them before the boulder could collide.

*CRRRRAAAAAASH!*

The boulder was blocked.

Amy and Diana barely escaped the perilous moment.

“Are you alright?”

Elaine, who had saved them, asked.

“Hoo-ooh, thanks to you, I’m alive, really.”

Amy let out a sigh of relief, her face pale with fright.

“As expected of Master Junior.”

Diana winked.

“That’s a relief. Then I…”

Elaine hurriedly moved to another place again.

Because the enemy’s attacks were relentless, she, a strong combatant, was busy without a moment to catch her breath.

Amy, who was watching her, suddenly grabbed Diana urgently.

“W-We should go further back! Okay?”

Amy’s specialty was healing.

It wouldn’t be a big problem to go further back, as her duty was to take care of the injured in the rear.

“If you’re going, go alone, Amy. I can’t do that.”

Diana, surprisingly, shook her head firmly.

“Ah, why? We almost died just now!”

Amy clung to her even more strongly.

But Diana remained firm.

“I’m a reporter. I have a duty to leave a record of all this. Even if I die here.”

Words filled with burning determination.

A camera was in Diana’s hand.

She had been continuously filming, without looking away, even in the most dangerous moments, even at the most gruesome scenes.

That was the duty of a reporter, and the sense of mission she had carried until now.

There was no way she would back down in a moment when the fate of the world hung in the balance.

“U-D-Die… Don’t say such unlucky things!”

“That’s how determined I am.”

“A-Alright! Let’s definitely survive together until the end! Definitely!”

A smile appeared on Diana’s face at her close friend’s words.

“Of course.”

* * *

“Hmph, is this all they’ve got?”

Slain snorted.

He had quite high expectations for a powerful enemy that would shake the world.

That they could bring him excitement to the point of making his blood boil.

But it was disappointing.

This was considerably lacking to meet his expectations.

At least the one giant wasn’t bad.

However.

“These damn skeletons.”

*Crunch!*

Slain’s chain scythe shattered several skeleton soldiers at once.

A nonchalant demeanor, just like his snort.

It certainly seemed that no matter how numerous the skeleton soldiers were, they couldn’t inflict any harm on him.

“Don’t let your guard down. Don’t you know that them getting this far means the city wall defenses were breached?”

Lucia, the half-elf and his close friend, who was always troubled by Slain’s impulsive actions, casually remarked.

There was nothing wrong with Lucia’s words.

The strength of Red Rain, which had breached the city wall defenses in three places – east, west, and south – was by no means a level at which one could afford to be careless.

However.

It was because Max and the combined forces had completely crushed the enemy forces in two of those places that such a smooth defense was possible now.

Because their strength had been reduced by two-thirds.

Moreover, eliminating the executives who possessed the extremely dangerous abilities of poison and mental manipulation was decisive.

In the end, Max’s actions had created the current situation.

“Heh heh, careless or not, I can hold off attacks like that for a million years.”

It was thanks to that that Slain could be so confident.

It wasn’t just Slain.

Most of the students and staff were also confident that they could repel the enemy.

Clear confidence was radiating outwards.

“We can do it!”

“Yeah, it’s no big deal! Let’s put in more effort!”

“Let’s show them the power of the top academy!”

“Hoorah! We’ll win!”

The morale on the academy’s side was clearly high.

* * *

“Damn it, what the hell happened?”

The messenger’s expression was not good.

The messenger’s face was contorted.

He seemed quite displeased with the current situation.

It was understandable.

Because the expected reinforcements from other directions had still not appeared.

“Do you think they could have survived that explosion?”

Natasha opened her mouth, her eyes narrowed.

“Tsk, that…”

That massive explosion.

If one had eyes, it was impossible not to see it.

An explosion that seemed to have blown away almost one side of the city.

Yet, the messenger had pictured a scenario where his allies were not caught in it.

Because even imagining a negative assumption was unpleasant.

But now, he couldn’t deny it any longer.

That their western allies had been swept away by that explosion.

‘…This is atrocious.’

The messenger shivered.

To install such an explosive device in their own city.

It wasn’t the Saint’s way.

The Saint would never use such a method.

Most humans were the same.

A normal human wouldn’t even think of blowing up their own homes.

This was a method possible only for an inhuman human.

And that was…

The face of one person flickered in the messenger’s mind.

The being he hated and wanted to kill the most.

It was Max Celtrine.

‘That bastard.’

*Grit.*

The messenger, clenching his teeth so hard they might break, spoke again.

“…Even so, the other directions don’t matter, do they?”

A valid point.

Even if the western forces were wiped out, the forces from the other directions should still be intact.

It was time they should have appeared long ago.

But the calculation didn’t add up.

“Isn’t it obvious? Problems must have arisen in other places as well.”

But Natasha unhesitatingly gave a cold answer.

“What? Do you think that makes sense?”

The messenger reacted as if he couldn’t accept such a negative assumption at all.

The probability of a large army that had even breached the city walls going wrong midway was extremely low, so it wasn’t a strange reaction.

“Then what should we do? Just wait here indefinitely?”

“Umm, that’s…”

“Call the Heavenly Lord.”

Natasha’s eyes sharpened.

“What are you saying! It’s not yet time for the Heavenly Lord to reveal his esteemed self…”

The messenger strongly objected.

However, Natasha did not back down silently.

“The Heavenly Lord would know, wouldn’t he? How messed up the situation has become. I think now is precisely the time when the Heavenly Lord’s power is needed.”

“But the Heavenly Lord still has fragments…!”

-Enough.

A voice heard from somewhere.

But it was a very strange voice.

It was impossible to tell if it was far or near, or if it was a male or female voice.

However, the messenger who heard that voice was greatly alarmed.

“H-Heavenly Lord!”

“As expected, you were nearby.”

Natasha’s gaze was directed at empty space.

Yet, an answer was heard.

-It seems the day of judgment is not going smoothly.

“As you can see.”

Natasha shrugged.

-I am not a god. I am merely God’s agent and judge. Therefore, my calculations cannot be perfect. Not then, not now.

The Heavenly Lord spoke as if he himself were not human.

As he said, he was not human.

The personality of the Great Sage, already assimilated with the Calamity Crystal, that had become only a part of his body.

The current him was the being humans called the Dark God, and God’s judge.

“I’m not blaming you. I’m asking for an answer.”

“Such disrespectful words…!”

The messenger interjected with a stern face, but the Heavenly Lord’s words stopped him.

-No, it certainly seems that now is the time for me to provide an answer.

The messenger’s expression was filled with bewilderment.

“B-But if the Heavenly Lord uses his power now, a perfect resurrection…”

Perfect resurrection.

That was the Heavenly Lord’s ultimate goal.

Another Calamity Crystal sealed in the Saint’s body.

And if he could absorb the remaining two fragments that Max had stolen, he would surely be able to achieve a perfect resurrection.

However, if he used his power before becoming so perfect…

The story changes.

Because it takes a long time to recover spent power.

There is no more time.

Today is the day of judgment.

In the end, it meant he had no choice but to be resurrected in an incomplete state.

That was why the messenger was trying so desperately to dissuade him.

However.

-There is no choice. If the best outcome is impossible, it is natural to choose the next best. I will give up on a perfect resurrection.

The Heavenly Lord’s decision seemed firm.

“H-Heavenly Lord…”

-I will create them.

Them.

Humans knew of their existence.

Because the Dark God did not come alone to destroy the world.

Ten demons accompanied the Dark God.

That was the decisive reason why demons became beings feared by humans for countless ages.

However.

Those ten demons all died back then.

The Saint, and all the other humans who were there, saw it clearly.

Because they had eliminated them after a desperate struggle.

But they didn’t know.

Even the Saint didn’t know.

That those demons were not summoned from hell, but were products directly created by the Dark God.

A thousand years had passed, and now the Heavenly Lord was saying he would create those very demons.

-Hell will descend upon the human world.

*Grooooooar!*

A chilling, ominous black aura surged everywhere, as if wailing.