episode_0232

“You’re awake, Viola? It’s a great relief you weren’t seriously injured and only lost your energy.”

“…? You’re… Kelly, the village elder of Karizan…?”

Viola, who had lost consciousness after defeating Adoleth, was able to recover with Kelly’s healing. However, even with the green healing waves emanating from Kelly’s hands, Viola’s body didn’t seem to have fully recovered. As Viola tried to sit up, she felt pain all over her body, so she squeezed her eyes shut and asked Kelly.

“Ow, ow, ow… As expected, it seems the sudden awakening put a strain on my body… Kelly… how is the battlefield looking right now? Are we winning…?”

“Your demonstration, along with Protega and a certain human, of being able to defeat the powerful believers awakened by the Radiance of Divine Revival certainly raised everyone’s morale… But unfortunately, their power remains strong, and everyone is struggling… By the way, to stun that believer without killing them… And that blue energy you showed earlier when you burst out of the Temple of Pioneering…”

“It’s my new divine power… But it’s not Camilla’s divine power… It seems to be the divine power of the deceased… Hooow…”

As Kelly expressed curiosity about the blue energy she had seen earlier, Viola emitted blue divine power from her hands, shimmering like flames, and showed it to Kelly. Then, remembering how she had transformed into the Saintess of Bloody Tears and overwhelmed Adoleth earlier, she stopped releasing the divine power and spoke to Kelly.

“When I use this divine power, a strange sadness envelops my heart… And I seem to become calm yet poignant, unlike before. However… even if I show that side, this power seems to have the potential to overwhelm Camilla’s divine power.”

“Potential? Is there something even more amazing than what you showed earlier?”

“It seems so… In fact, I countered Adoleth’s technique with a similar yet more powerful one… And displayed such overwhelming power that Adoleth was terrified and collapsed. But after using this divine power, my body feels completely ravaged.”

“I see… But the reason you only stunned Adoleth… is because of what you mentioned last time, isn’t it? But if Adoleth wakes up now…”

“Hooow…”

Kelly, realizing that Viola’s blue divine power had a side effect of putting a great strain on her body, understood why Viola was lying there in such a battered state, and worried that Adoleth might rise again and attack them. Then Viola unleashed blue divine power from her right hand, shimmering like flames, and extended it towards the collapsed and unconscious Adoleth. At the same time, several blue spears shot up from the ground around Adoleth, their tips intertwining with each other, forming a cage of spears.

“Adoleth certainly won’t be able to escape that easily. Hooow… Anyway, thank you for the healing… I’ll then…”

“…!! You haven’t fully recovered yet…”

“You said the battlefield is still unfavorable to us, right? Then… I must keep fighting… Dio V Runner seems to be waiting for something… And I want to trust that man’s words and help the resistance hold on… Village Elder Kelly, it’s dangerous, so please stay here…!!”

“Wa… Wait, Viola!!!”

Viola summoned a blue spear, then began to walk towards the battlefield, using the spear like a staff to support herself. Then, taking a deep breath, Viola held the spear upright and ran towards the battlefield. Kelly, worried about Viola, tried to stop her. But Viola had already rushed to the battlefield and started fighting another believer, so Kelly watched Dio V Runner fighting Camilla from a distance, hoping this war would end quickly. Meanwhile, Dio V Runner continued to spew flames, countering Camilla’s beam.

*Ugh…! This bastard… Just how many beams can she fire?! Damn it! My Orbs are going to run out first!*

“How dare… how dare you all mock my divine power?! And to defeat two of my precious believers…!! It’s absolutely unforgivable… unforgivable!!! How dare you all kill and defeat my believers?!”

“Ugh?! What the hell is this…?!”

Seeing her children of light fall to the resistance, Camilla became enraged and increased the beam’s output. Dio V Runner was greatly flustered upon seeing his flames being pushed back. Furthermore, the Orbs Dio V Runner used weren’t unlimited; they were condensed flame crystals that were consumed gradually, like drinking water from a bottle. Dio V Runner realized that in his current state, he absolutely couldn’t withstand Camilla’s beam, which had grown even stronger, and he began to feel extremely helpless.

*What is this?! This is different from what I expected?! Why is she… when her believers are dying or falling to the resistance like that… Why does she seem to prioritize those called the children of light?! Does that mean she discriminates against them compared to her other believers?! I was sure she thought of all her believers as expendable!!*

“I will annihilate all of you…!! And!!!”

“…!!”

At the moment Dio V Runner was flustered, having realized that Camilla cherished her believers who were the children of light, Camilla, who had been expressing her fury towards all the resistance members, made the beam emanating from her hands even stronger once more. Then Camilla’s beam pierced through Dio V Runner’s flames, and Dio V Runner was greatly horrified to see the beam, which had broken through his flames, rapidly approaching him.

“Damn it…!!”

“I will leave no bones of yours in this world…!! I will incinerate every trace of you!!! Holy Destruction!!!”

“Aaaaaargh!!!”

Dio V Runner, struck by Camilla’s beam, which had fully unleashed her killing intent on all resistance members, cried out in pain and immediately began to plummet towards the ground. Then Camilla descended after the falling Dio V Runner, gathering divine power in her right hand, and shouted at him.

“Coincidentally, you must avenge the insult on Aria’s behalf… I will thoroughly crush you, outsider…!!”

“Damn it…!! Red Or…!!!”

Dio V Runner, startled by Camilla’s shout, snapped back to reality and, seeing Camilla descending after him, immediately tried to unleash fire from his flamethrower. However, as no fire came out of the flamethrower, apparently because all his Orbs were consumed, Dio V Runner was greatly flustered. Camilla then directly unleashed the gathered beam from her right hand onto Dio V Runner.

“Aaaaaargh!!!”

“I will surely turn you to dust… You utterly irritating outsider who has thoroughly interfered with us!!!”

“Di… Dio V Runner!!!”

Dio V Runner, hit by Camilla’s beam, plummeted and crashed into the ground. He was then enveloped by Camilla’s beam in that state. Yuria, seeing this, was startled and urgently tried to rush to Dio V Runner. However, Aria blocked her midway and threatened Yuria with a staff emitting divine power, forcing her to retreat.

“Where are you going? To try and abandon our fight midway when we haven’t even settled it yet… I want to kill you quickly right now…!!”

“Get out of the way, Aria!!! Dio V Runner might die right now!!! Icicle Shoot!!”

As Aria blocked her path, Yuria, consumed by urgency to help Dio V Runner, created four icicles around herself using frost and then flung them at Aria with outstretched arms. However, Aria swiftly swung her staff, deflecting all four icicles back towards Yuria. Yuria was flustered, feeling Aria had grown stronger than before, as one icicle grazed her cheek.

“Uh… wha… what…? How did you… deflect my ice, which you couldn’t even deflect before…?”

“Did you… no, did you underestimate Goddess Camilla, Yuria? Don’t you know that Goddess Camilla is enraged because she lost her precious believers, the children of light? Thanks to that, Goddess Camilla’s divine power has been amplified… And don’t you know that we, too, can now use stronger power?”

“Wha… what did you say?! Camilla had precious believers too…?!”

Yuria, who, like Dio V Runner, had no idea that Camilla held certain believers dear, was flustered that Camilla was enraged from losing something precious, and that Aria’s power, amplified by Camilla’s, had also grown. And at that moment, as Aria began to rush towards her, Yuria immediately placed both hands on the ground and spoke to Aria.

“Even so, I can’t give up…!! I don’t want Dio V Runner to die!!! Frozen Field!!!”

“How dare you, who let Zeke-nim simply die, say such words…!! And do you think I’ll be caught by the same ability twice?! Haaah!”

“…!!!”

As Yuria froze the surrounding ground, Aria immediately thrust her staff towards the ground. Then the ice sheet created by Yuria shattered into pieces from Aria’s staff, and Yuria was greatly horrified, feeling that Aria had definitely become stronger than before.

*Now she can overwhelm me without even chanting a prayer?! This is serious… I never expected such a variable… To think that there was a reason for Camilla to be enraged among those believers… And that the believers’ power could change according to Camilla’s emotions… This is completely unexpected!!*

“You look troubled, Yuria…!! Where has that confident demeanor gone, where you said you could overpower me earlier?! Hahahahaha!!!”

“…!! F… Frozen Wall!!!”

Yuria, who hadn’t known that the believers’ power could strengthen according to Camilla’s emotions, and that there were, by chance, believers Camilla truly cherished among them, wore a troubled expression. Aria, scoffing at Yuria, swung her staff powerfully. Yuria, realizing Aria’s attack belatedly, urgently created an ice wall to her left, but it shattered into pieces from Aria’s staff before it could fully harden. And Yuria was directly struck in the side by Aria’s staff and sent flying sideways. Aria grinned and said to Yuria.

“Your ice no longer works on me, Yuria. Doesn’t this… remind you of when we first met? Zeke-nim was by my side then…”

“Haa… haaa… Aria… Zeke is… Zeke is alive… Please don’t do anything that would make Zeke sad…”

“Such lies won’t work, Yuria. And… I need to go help Goddess Camilla now. The rest… I’ll leave to you, servants who serve Goddess Camilla.”

“…!?”

Even while spitting blood, Yuria tried to convey the truth to Aria, but Aria, already dominated by Camilla’s divine power, ignored her words and turned her body towards Camilla. Then, as Aria entrusted the cleanup to the believers standing around her, Yuria was startled, belatedly realizing that there were believers surrounding her. She instinctively knew that she couldn’t defeat the surrounding believers in her current physical state, and urgently shouted at Aria.

“Aria!!! Please, I beg you!!! Zeke will surely shed tears if he sees you like this now!!!”

“Zeke-nim, who died because of you all, will surely be happy to see me take revenge on his behalf… Yes…!! He will truly… truly rejoice watching me from up there…!!”

“No…!! Don’t, Aria!! Please…!!!”

“For Goddess Camilla!!!”

“…!!!”

As Aria, lost in her own delusion that Zeke would surely approve of her current self, ignored all of Yuria’s words, Yuria urgently pleaded with Aria. However, one of the believers around her pierced Yuria’s fallen back with a sword, and Yuria cried out in great pain. While Yuria was ultimately defeated by the stronger Aria and suffered a penetrating wound from a believer, Cecilia continued to blast magic orbs, threatening Remie. But Remie, awakened by the Radiance of Divine Revival, lightly deflected Cecilia’s magic orbs with her shield and swiftly rushed towards Cecilia, swinging her sword. Cecilia quickly spread her wings, retreated, and then spoke to Rapien, who was beside her.

“This is bad… It seems my magic isn’t working at all anymore… What should we do?”

“My sword is also being strongly deflected now. Even a joint attack doesn’t seem to work… Should I just transform into a box and charge?”

“No… That Saintess seems to have seen through all our movements. So even if you transform into a box and fly quickly, she’ll surely deflect you…”

“Do you realize now? You can never defeat us, who serve the enraged Goddess Camilla. It seems others are also falling miserably right now.”

“…!!”

Remie grinned, seeing the two anxious figures, and said that the other resistance members also seemed to be falling back. Then Cecilia and Rapien listened intently and were startled and flustered as they truly heard the sounds of other resistance members screaming and falling nearby. And at that moment, Remie swiftly rushed forward and, upon arriving right in front of Cecilia, spoke to her.

“But is now the time to worry about others? To think that what’s right in front of you is someone you can ignore so lightly…”

“…!!!”

“Vanish from this world, hideous race.”

Cecilia was greatly flustered that Remie had rushed at her with such speed, right in front of her. Then Remie swung her sword at her, aiming to cut her waist. However, a glaive suddenly appeared from the side and directly deflected her sword. Remie was startled, retreated while picking up her sword, and then stared in shock at the entity that had deflected her blade.

“…!! The divine power I just felt from that glaive… The wavelength of that power, similar yet alien to ours… And no wings, yet this aura…!! Why is an angel here…!?”

“Haa… haaa… H-haaa… Merzel… you came…”

“It was truly a critical situation, Cecilia… It seems I did well to come.”

Remie, realizing that Merzel, standing before Cecilia, was an angel, was greatly astonished at the appearance of an angel in this place. And Cecilia, saved by Merzel from the brink of death, breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the spot. Merzel thought it was fortunate she had come. Meanwhile, Dio V Runner was in agony, feeling his entire body being incinerated by Camilla’s beam.

“Aaaaaargh!!!”

“This is the end, outsider…!! My divine power is like a flame… To annihilate you…?”

“Then I shall cool it with my breath!!!”

At the moment Camilla further increased the beam’s output, intending to finish off Dio V Runner, Bivi, in her dragon form, attacked Camilla by breathing cold air from her mouth. Then Camilla ceased the beam and began to block the cold air with outstretched hands. While Camilla was blocking the cold air, fire suddenly erupted among the believers surrounding Yuria. The believers were startled and began to panic in disarray. Yuria, seeing that the flames weren’t coming towards her, was bewildered.

“Uh… huh…? Why aren’t the flames coming towards me…? Uh… huh?!”

“…!! Th-this feeling, surely…!!!”

At the moment Yuria was utterly bewildered as to why the flames weren’t reaching her, she saw the person standing in front of her and was greatly astonished. Likewise, Aria felt a familiar presence from behind, was startled, and turned her head back towards Yuria. There… seeing me standing in front of Yuria, Aria was bewildered. And I looked at Aria with eyes full of determination.

“Ze… Zeke-nim…?”

“… Aria…”