episode_0246

For Family

Krischa, who had been fighting Yuria, became complacent due to her continuous display of arrogance, and ultimately failed to understand Yuria’s hidden intentions. She finally acknowledged that she was trapped in the Ice Castle, letting out a deep breath as she looked at Yuria and spoke.

“The Ice Castle… I was certainly surprised, Snow Maiden. I truly had no idea you were capable of creating such a trap.”

“Originally, I intended to use it against Aria… but your damn followers suddenly appeared and stabbed weapons into my back, so I couldn’t. Phew… Of course, Aria would have quickly grasped my intentions and countered them, but you were too arrogant, Saint Krischa.”

“Ha…! This is truly absurd, Snow Maiden… But shouldn’t you remember this? You inflicted a great wound on me… huh?”

When Yuria acted as if she had won, citing Krischa’s arrogance, Krischa let out a dumbfounded scoff and tried to mention the severe wounds she had inflicted on Yuria. However, when she saw that all the penetrating wounds on Yuria’s body had vanished, Krischa was greatly perplexed. Yuria touched an ice sculpture beside her and spoke.

“I don’t know why everyone keeps forgetting that I am the Snow Maiden. Surely you don’t think that the cold air emanating from the sculptures I summon wouldn’t allow me to recover, do you?”

“What…?!”

“You incited our berserk state to instill fear in this world, didn’t you? Thanks to that, we gained the power to resist you… I can recover even with the cold air from the sculptures I create. Especially since this castle emits a vast amount of cold air… I suppose you could say I’m quite strong here?”

When Yuria said she could recover her strength even with the cold air from her own sculptures, Krischa realized that in this place, which was like coldness itself, Yuria was overwhelmingly at an advantage, just as she had said, and became greatly flustered. Yuria then saw Krischa’s perplexed face and let out a chuckle, speaking.

“Heh… I wish Aria could have seen that face… Aria would have been so happy if she saw you that flustered!!”

“Hahaha… It seems you truly enjoy seeing me flustered, don’t you? But… if I overpower you even here, won’t that leisure disappear?”

“Then you’d best try, Saint Krischa. And you’d best try with all your might, to a truly desperate degree, wouldn’t you? Because this castle… it is me!!”

“…!!”

As Krischa relaxed, thinking she might still win, Yuria, as if intending to completely shatter Krischa’s composure, created massive ice chunks on either side of her, then extended her hands towards Krischa and launched the two ice chunks. Krischa struck the ice chunks Yuria hurled at her with her staff, destroying them, then immediately began to chant a prayer.

“Omnipotent One in the Heavens. Grant me the power to punish the rude…”

“You’re still chanting prayers, Krischa!! That’s your weakness!! Icicle Strike!!!”

The moment Krischa chanted her prayer to use a skill, Yuria recalled Dio V Runner’s previous taunt to Aria about her prayer being too long. She formed icicles around her and launched them directly at Krischa. However, Krischa smiled, having apparently finished her prayer, and immediately unleashed a powerful flash from her staff, obstructing Yuria’s vision.

“Aaaargh!!!”

“Don’t you know it doesn’t matter if my prayer is long, Snow Maiden? You clearly don’t understand that I only chant such prayers because I already have that much leeway!”

“Aaaah… I… I can’t… see… I can’t see…!!”

“Hehe. No matter how much your strength has recovered, blocking your vision like this renders it useless. So, are you ready to ascend to heaven now…”

“You thought I’d say that, didn’t you?”

“…?!”

Krischa, who had been rushing towards the blinded Yuria, was greatly startled to see a massive icicle suddenly erupt from the ground before her eyes. Yuria then slowly rose from her spot with her eyes closed, spreading her arms and even showing a relaxed smile to Krischa as she explained.

“Unfortunately, this Ice Castle *is* me. So, I can sense where you are and what you’re doing through the cold air. Don’t you still realize that you’re trapped in my castle, where every direction is an eye and a hand?”

“But if you keep trapping me like this, your strength will eventually run out… You’re not hoping that those outside will defeat Goddess Camilla and nullify my power, are you?”

“Half right. The people outside will definitely defeat Camilla. But listen… I didn’t create this castle to imprison you; I created it to defeat you!! Haaahp!!”

“…!!”

As Yuria declared that she had created the Ice Castle to defeat Krischa and gathered power in her hands, massive icicles began to continuously erupt from beneath the ground around Krischa, rising upwards. Krischa hastily began to dodge the icicles, but was soon flung towards a wall by an icicle that emerged from the ground.

“Cough…! Th-This is certainly… a power of tremendous might… But… though I cannot use the Radiance of the Holy Ring, I too possess this much power…?! Uh… ugh…?”

“It seems the time has finally come. You lost the moment you couldn’t finish me off, Krischa.”

“Haa… Haaagh…! Th-This is strange… M-My breath… Why…?”

The moment Krischa tried to chant a prayer, her breath suddenly grew ragged, and she slumped to the ground, her breathing becoming difficult, leaving her perplexed. Then, seeing the white, misty coldness spread around her, Krischa instinctively realized something and was startled. Yuria, her white cloak rippling on her back, spoke to Krischa.

“This place has been filled with cold air from the beginning. The cold here slowly freezes the people within it, little by little. Frozen Heart. You lost the moment you failed to notice this coldness, Saint Krischa.”

“Haaagh… I… I’m defeated so meaninglessly… so meaninglessly…!!!”

“Did you think your divine power would help you endure even the extreme cold? That’s why the Fairy Saintess we met before also froze solid. But don’t worry, Krischa. I won’t kill you. I’ll keep you alive so you can pay for your sins to the people here…!!”

“Hwaaaagh… Aaaargh…”

Krischa, who had begun to freeze from the inside, eventually lost consciousness and collapsed. Yuria’s Ice Castle then slowly began to disappear, and Yuria plopped down on the spot, sighing in relief and muttering.

“Hwaaaah… What a relief… Although my strength was recovered by the Ice Castle’s cold, it was only a temporary recovery, and my power was continuously running out… By the way, I wonder why these guys think they only need to withstand heat from the outside…”

Yuria, having barely managed to defeat Krischa, took deep breaths, greatly relieved. Meanwhile, Gid, who was confronting Rikarin, continuously pressured her with two swords. However, because Rikarin kept swinging her hammer to threaten him whenever an opening appeared, Gid found it difficult to land effective blows.

“Phew… This is driving me crazy… How on earth does she swing that hammer so quickly…”

“Hahaha…!! Is that all?! Anyway, these heretics really tire out quickly and ruin the fun!!”

“Is that why someone like you got so badly beaten by Zeke, even getting those burns? Hahaha!!”

When Rikarin tried to boast about how quickly she tired out, Gid let out a chuckle and counter-provoked her by mentioning her burn marks. Rikarin then became enraged and began to swing her hammer even more fiercely. Gid, thinking he had provoked her unnecessarily with Rikarin’s furious onslaught, hastily retreated, putting distance between himself and Rikarin.

“Woah… She seems really angry… If she was going to get this heated, why did I even provoke her…”

“Uwaaaah…! That damned heretic…! These wounds inflicted by that vile, magic-wielding heretic…! I cannot tolerate this…! To think of the damage our holy orders suffered because of such heretics!!”

“Damage? If you’re talking about the damage your holy order suffered… are you perhaps referring to people returning to normal and leaving the holy order in droves? Even if not… you’ve done nothing but cause us immense trouble!!!”

As Rikarin raged about the damage to her holy order, Gid, dumbfounded to the point of shock, declared that they were the ones who had suffered the most damage because of the holy order. He gripped his two swords tightly and charged directly at Rikarin. Rikarin then swung her hammer again to threaten Gid, but Gid dodged the hammer by twisting his body and then swung one sword at Rikarin.

“You don’t think you can stop me with a sword like that, do you?!”

“Sorry, but it’s not like I haven’t thought about that enough… But with two swords, I can attack you freely…!!”

When Rikarin blocked the sword in Gid’s left hand with her hammer, Gid scoffed at Rikarin’s words and then swung the sword in his right hand, attempting to attack Rikarin. However, even that was an obvious attack to Rikarin, who let out a chuckle and began to chant a prayer.

“It’s useless, you damned heretic…!! Omnipotent One in the Heavens!! Grant me the power to repel those who bring harm!!”

“…?! Ugh!!!”

The moment Rikarin chanted her prayer, a powerful shockwave erupted from her body, flinging Gid backward. Rikarin then immediately re-gripped her hammer with both hands and rushed at Gid, swinging the hammer directly towards Gid’s leg. Gid hastily twisted his body to try and dodge Rikarin’s attack, but as the hammer grazed his leg, he felt pain and retreated, clutching his leg.

“Ugh… M-My leg… such pain from just a graze…”

“How dare you think you understand that I’ve been swinging this hammer for ten years just to master it? I don’t know what trickery you used to defeat the Children of Light, but we too are followers armed with blind faith in Goddess Camilla. You are not opponents you can easily defeat…!!”

“Phew… So you’re saying you spent years in perseverance…”

Gid, who had been pounding his leg with his fist to alleviate the pain, took a deep breath as the pain subsided. He gripped his two swords tightly. As Rikarin spoke of her efforts for Camilla, he recalled his past conversation with Kols on Kols’s ship.

“Another country, you say. Why there all of a sudden? Traveling to a foreign land beyond the continent is quite a difficult task…”

“I thought you, Uncle-nim, could provide a ship that could go that far. I need some technology from that foreign land… so I think I have to go there.”

“Technology from another country, you say… Our continent’s technology is considered the best among all of Krentid World’s technology… Is it something that even our continent’s technology can’t solve, Gid?”

“Ah… it has to be technology that isn’t from this continent. It needs to be technology not found on this continent for the people here to be surprised… I’ll just tell you that it’s for a reason like that.”

“…So the rest is classified, and you won’t tell me, Gid. But won’t you tell me just this one thing? What do you need that technology for?”

When Kols, who had been listening to his story while tidying shelves, asked not *why* he needed foreign technology but *what for*, Gid let out a chuckle, drank all the tea on the table, and rose from his seat. He then looked out at the Krentid World continent visible outside and spoke to Kols.

“It’s something I need for my family. For my family, I wouldn’t hesitate to visit even that dangerous other continent.”

“…I see… But you… won’t you please call me either ‘Hyung-nim’ or ‘Uncle-nim’? Besides, aren’t we supposed to be called ‘older brother’ or ‘younger brother’…?”

“Hahaha!! What can I do when it’s just stuck in my mouth!”

Gid responded to Kols’s look of disgust with laughter. And as Gid recalled that day’s conversation, he also remembered himself training to learn the foreign fighting style he had acquired for his family, then spoke to Rikarin.

“Just as you swung your hammer for Camilla, I too abandoned my original swordsmanship and learned a foreign swordsmanship for my family. In that sense, we could be considered similar… but the value of your convictions and mine differ too greatly.”

“The value of convictions?”

“Yes. Unlike me, who swung a sword to protect precious people, you swung your hammer for truly sickening deeds!!!”

“Stop spouting nonsense, you damned heretic!! Everything I did was for the holy order and for Her!! How dare you belittle our great work…!! I’ll kill you with this hammer before you inflict further disgrace!!!”

As Rikarin, thoroughly angered by his words, released powerful divine energy from her hammer, displaying a genuine intent to kill him, Gid began to take a deep breath. At that moment, Rikarin, having gathered enough divine energy in her hammer, quickly charged at Gid, shouting.

“The divine power emanating from this hammer represents our holy order’s proud faith…!! Darkness that obscures the light!! Be consumed by this light…?!”

“Ah… I see… So the light from your hammer represents faith? Then I, on the other hand…”

Rikarin, who was about to attack Gid with her hammer, which was emitting divine energy, was greatly perplexed when Gid blocked her hammer with his two swords, which were emitting a blue aura. To be precise, she wasn’t surprised that Gid blocked her hammer, but rather perplexed by the aura emanating from Gid’s swords.

“W-What is this blue aura…?!”

“Then I, on the other hand… the power emanating from these two swords represents my devotion to my family!! And it represents my heart for the people of the world!! Haaahp!!!”

“…..!?”

Simultaneously with Gid’s battle cry, the aura emanating from his two swords began to surge even more fiercely, directly repelling Rikarin. Gid then looked at the blue aura he had learned in the foreign land and let out a chuckle, explaining to Rikarin.

“This is a power called Sword Ki in that foreign land, Saint Rikarin. Surprised? It’s a power you people wouldn’t know.”

“What is this…?! What on earth is the identity of that aura…? Without divine power… without magic, something like that can’t be possible…!!”

“Everyone has their own unique aura, don’t they? If you train it to its limit, you can use it as life force like this. Well… it would get complicated if I explained more, so to put it simply… in that foreign land, you can use life force with your *own* power, not someone else’s, you Camilla divine power addicts!!!”

“…..!!!”

As Gid charged at her, emitting blue Sword Ki, Rikarin picked up her dropped hammer beside her and quickly poured divine energy into it. Then, as Gid swung the sword in his left hand towards her, Rikarin tried to block Gid’s sword with her hammer. However…

“This is my current maximum power!!! Haaahp!!!”

“Huh…?!”

Gid swung the sword in his left hand, deflecting Rikarin’s hammer. Rikarin was greatly flustered as the hammer flew from her grasp, and Gid, seizing the moment of her confusion, immediately swung the sword in his right hand, this time precisely cutting Rikarin’s abdomen. Rikarin then screamed in great pain as she was flung backward.

“Aaaargh!!!”

“Phew… Is this it… Now, the rest… I’ll have to leave it to those three people… Ugh… this damned foreign power…”

As Rikarin fell, Gid also collapsed on the spot, perhaps having no strength left to stand, or perhaps completely drained due to the foreign power, Sword Ki. Thus, even the Saints guarding Camilla’s side had been defeated by Gid and Yuria, and now the remaining three people were continuously running towards Camilla to end this battle.