Oh god, there really are Skeletons and demons crawling about
everywhere.
After receiving a call from Sue and Tsubaki explaining the situation, I
got in contact with the emperor of Gardio, and then finally arrived at the
port town through a [Gate] with a group of Brunhild's knights. It wouldn't
have been a good look to send through foreign knights without asking for
permission first, so I ended up a bit delayed. I had already been making
plans with the emperor to storm Papillon's base—we were just waiting until
we had all the intel we deemed necessary first. But unfortunately, it seemed
we had to put that on the back burner for now.
With this many citizens mixed in among the enemies, AoE magic was
definitely out of the question... There was a risk of them getting caught in
the blast radius and causing even more panic. While I was trying to decide
on the best course of action, a Skeleton came bumbling toward me with
sword in hand, its jaw rattling away.
I shot its skull with Brunhild, but it immediately began regenerating.
Guess I have to target it straight at its core.
"[Apport]."
I pulled only the Skeleton's core to my hand. Having lost its life source,
the undead being fell apart right on the spot. I dropped the core to the
ground and crushed it with my shoe. This really was the easiest way to deal
with this type of creature.
Crash!
This time, it was one of the mechanical demons that made its descent in
front of me. Its long arms and legs were built like a Gollem's, while its
body was that of a demon's. They were like those Cydevils from before.
"Whoa, calm down!"
The Cydevil's outstretched hand detached from its wrist and began
flying toward me. I managed to dodge it in the nick of time, but the wires
that attached the body parts pulled the hand back to its arm, setting it into
place. A wire rocket punch, huh?
Brunhild might not have been able to do much to the mechanical parts of
the Cydevil's body, but I shot three of her bullets right into its fleshy torso.
They successfully struck around the chest and stomach, but it didn't look
like it had much effect. There was blue blood flowing from the gunshot
wounds, though, so I had at least injured it, but it was countered by its thick
muscles.
"Can you handle what comes next, though?"
"GREEE?" it let out in what almost sounded like confusion.
The moment the Cydevil took a step toward me, it exploded, its torso
shredded in half.
Hell yeah, I knew an explosion from inside would be too much for it.
The demon appeared to have died after being annihilated by the
[Explosion]-enhanced bullets I had shot at it.
That said, demons were resilient. It was a bad idea to assume one was
dead without confirming first. At the end of the day, demons were basically
just servants of the wicked god. They both preyed on the negative emotions
of humans as their energy source, and they loved a good sacrifice. What
was the difference, really?
According to Moroha, demons were also known as vestiges of the
wicked god, which when you changed your thinking, sort of made the
wicked devout a type of demon.
"The stuff they're pulling off is demonic enough. Basically the same
thing if you ask me," I commented to myself.
I fired shots at two more Cydevils that were nose-diving toward me
from the sky. After a beat, they both exploded into a rain of meat and blue
blood.
Remind me not to shoot them when they're directly above me...
I used [Fly] to get myself onto the roof where Sakura was. Looking out
at the docks, I realized the Kyklops were starting to make it to land. Well,
this certainly wasn't good.
"Target lock: Kyklops."
"Searching... Targets locked."
"Invoke [Gate] beneath their feet."
"Understood. Invoking [Gate]."
The Kyklops that had made it to land began falling into the newly
created holes one after the other. The ones still in the sea were teleported
away together with them to an area a little bit away from the town. It was an
open field with no inhabitants, so a bit of chaos and destruction wouldn't
hurt anyone.
"Sue, Sakura, can I leave those ones to you guys?"
"You sure can!"
"Okay..."
Sue and Sakura instantly disappeared, chasing after the Kyklops with
Sakura's [Teleport]. After some time passed, a large golden Frame Gear
and an accompanying light-red Frame Gear appeared far beyond the town.
"Cannon Knuckle Spiral!"
I heard Sue's shout of her skill through my phone together with the loud
impact of the Kyklops being punched by her mech's fist.
Suddenly, there was a massive explosion followed by a bunch of gold
powder floating into the air. I froze in shock.
Is that divine venom?!
Wait, no, sorry, diluted divine venom. It had basically no effect on those
of us with divinity. Those who were our wards would still experience
negative symptoms, though, even if it didn't kill them. To steal the words of
Sakura, it made them feel like they were "forced onto a roller coaster right
after stuffing themselves full, and then got catapulted right into a pool of
bugs."
It wasn't something they couldn't tolerate, but it still felt bad, both
physically and mentally. And to make matters worse, the output of the
Frame Gears also decreased. Doc Babylon had said that their modifications
would stop that being as much of an issue, but...
"Don't worry. Sakura and Sue definitely have the suits we made on
them. Us too," Elze reassured me. When I jumped back down below, she
activated some app on her smartphone and then aimed it at the sky.
"[Equip]!"
A ball of light shot up into the air before it immediately came back
down and enveloped Elze. When the blinding light settled, she was standing
there with the aforementioned pilot suit on.
What's with the sudden magical girl transformation?!
"It'd be a pain if we had to keep getting changed like normal, right?
That's why we asked Doctor Babylon if she could make a system that lets
us transform."
Elze's face was covered by her helmet the whole time she was
explaining, and the black visor was lowered so I couldn't see her at all.
Compared to the version of the pilot suit I'd seen before, this one had her
gauntlets still equipped. Plus, the gray coloring from before was now red.
"We had its defense upgraded too. It's much tougher than some shoddy
makeshift armor now."
The shoulders, chest, and lower back were covered with something that
looked akin to phrasium armor. With them having personal colors now, it
really did feel like we were forming our own team of Power Rangers.
Two more blinding balls of light were suddenly emitted, and when I
looked toward their source, I noticed that there was now a purple and an
orange ranger. It must have been Yae and Hilde. Both of them had some
kind of attachments around their waists, probably the sheaths for their
swords.
"I really do think these suits are a bit too tight, I do..."
"I agree. I appreciate that they're easy to move in, though."
The girls also had their visors over their faces, so I couldn't see their
expressions, but they were squirming in clear embarrassment. Yae's assets
certainly did make her curves stand out...
"Touya-dono, I would appreciate it if you would stop staring, I would..."
"Oh, crap, sorry..."
Oops!
Even spouses should show the appropriate manners to each other. I
shouldn't look so brazenly like that.
"A-Anyway, is the divine venom having any effect on you? Do you feel
ill at all?" I asked, seeing the gold powder make its way over here.
"No, not even a bit," Hilde confirmed. "I have no issues moving either."
"Indeed. We will have no issues fighting like this, we will not."
Seemed like the Puretree filter was working its magic. It was essentially
a thin barrier surrounding their bodies, so I'd hope it would work.
"Sorry to interrupt your little flirting session, but I would recommend
you not turn your back to the enemy, y'know?!"
I turned around when Karen suddenly spoke up and saw that the wicked
devout on top of the rubble had started to morph into something strange.
Several bones began protruding from the back of the old man with the goat
skull. Those bones, which were long and had several joints, looked very
much like the legs of a spider. I was pretty sure I'd seen something like that
in a movie recently: a superhero gained spider powers and then looked like
that when wearing a special suit from one of his fellow superheroes. This
one had way more legs, though.
The tips of the bones looked as sharp as blades. The goat skull man was
floating in the air held up by those bone legs.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Grand Duke of Brunhild. My
name is Graphite, necromancer and alchemist of the wicked devout."
Hmph, a necromancer, huh? No wonder he's using bones and demons.
"I wish I could've faced you after I had made all of my preparations, but
there's nothing I can do about it now. I will simply entertain you with
everything I have."
Graphite took his metallic black scepter and began waving it in the air.
A pitch-black miasma emanated from its tip, then started crawling along the
ground like the smoke from dry ice.
"Everyone, pull back!"
Elze, Yae, Hilde, Anubis, Bastet, and the three kunoichi all immediately
created distance between themselves and Graphite, out of reach of the
miasma.
Huh? Where'd Karen go?
That woman would always appear and disappear as she willed.
The miasma Graphite released from his scepter surrounded the
Skeletons, their figures disappearing into the black fog. But when that fog
cleared, a whole army of Skeleton Knights encased in pitch-black armor
was standing there, wielding similarly colored swords and shields. It was
the birth of a sinister army from literal hell.
"GRAAAAAAAAAGH!"
That sound came from the mechanized Demon Lord up above us.
They can't give us a break, can they?!
"Touya, we'll hold them off here! You handle the demons!" Hilde
shouted over to me.
"I suppose that would be best," I said, then nodded and jumped into the
air with [Fly]. Given the fact that they were airborne, I would be the best
combatant here. Best we fought where our abilities were most suited.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
A Demon Lord, huh? Hadn't seen this thing since the coup d'état in
Regulus. This one was much bigger than that little shrimp, though. Plus, its
limbs were mechanized. It had been turned into a cyborg just like its kin,
though it got slightly better treatment with its gold hands and feet.
The red eyes of the Demon Lord emitted a strange glow before suddenly
firing red laser beams toward me. It was a move I'd seen before, so it was
easy enough for me to dodge it, but the moment I pulled out Brunhild to
retaliate, the other demons around the Demon Lord fired the exact same eye
lasers.
"You're kidding?! [Prison]!"
Dodging such concentrated fire would've been way too tough, so I
erected a [Prison] barrier around me instead to tank the blast. Damn things
couldn't keep their gazes off of me. It was tough being popular.
"Now it's my turn."
I pulled out a sword from [Storage]. On the surface, it looked like a
regular phrasium broadsword, but...
"Take this!"
With just a press of a button and a swish of my sword, the blade
separated into segments, becoming like a whip as it wrapped around one of
the demons. When I let go of the button, the wires keeping the blade
together pulled back to their original position, making it take its sword form
again. Shredded by the retracted blade, the captured demon fell to the
ground in pieces.
I had taken the idea of Frei's whipsword and fashioned a new weapon
for myself, just made of phrasium instead. Once I got used to it, it would be
pretty efficient for fighting waves of enemies.
I cut down all the demons that came at me. Mechanical limbs were
nothing against phrasium—it was as if my blade were cutting through
paper. Each one I cut up fell down below.
"Stop getting their blood all over us!" I heard Homura shout from the
ground.
Oops, uh... Sorry 'bout that.
"GRUGHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The Demon Lord raised one of its arms and went to punch me, but
naturally, it was blocked by the [Prison].
"GRAGAGAGAAA!"
The Demon Lord kept striking the [Prison] again and again, as if it
would do anything, as if it could—
Crack!
I had been so confident just two seconds ago. And yet, there that sound
was. The sound I didn't believe I would ever hear.
"GWORAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The [Prison] shattered at the same time that I jumped backward.
It broke my [Prison]?! Damn it, that means its limbs have to be made
from mutants!
The mutants who were wards of the wicked god had some of his divinity
within their bodies. And as rotten as that power was, it was still divinity.
[Prison] wasn't enhanced with divinity by nature, so of course they would
break it if that was what they were born from. Usually, when a mutant's
core was broken, though, its body would dissolve into sludge. Had they
found some special way of creating them that prevented that? We made
phrasium from the bodies of Phrase, so could they be doing something
similar with mutants? Were they making a kind of demonic metal?
Demonium, so to speak.
Though they had the power of mutants, if I enhanced a [Prison] with
divinity, that should be enough to block their attacks, but me using any of
my divine power risked breaking the rules...
Damn, sure does suck that the other side is allowed to use divinity, yet
we aren't! Just a little unfair, no?!
Strictly speaking, the rule was that I couldn't use my divine powers in a
way that would greatly influence the world, so for all I knew, it was fine.
But there was no way for me to know how the gods I wasn't acquainted
with would take it. My body was already accepted as being that of a god's.
If I used my divinity, I'd have no more excuses. I didn't have so many
screws loose that I would bet the fate of the world on a feeling that it might
be fine.
"I'm not gonna lose just 'cause I can't use my divinity, though.
Kougyoku, go ahead."
"My liege."
"GYAAUGAAAAAAH!"
In a flash, the Demon Lord was enveloped in the flames of hell. It
writhed in pain within the blaze and plummeted to the ground. I had
secretly summoned Kougyoku and had her attack from behind.
What a cowardly move, you say? As if I cared about such things with
demons.
After falling out of the sky, the Demon Lord rolled about as if trying to
put out the flames burning its body. Everyone had already retreated far
enough away from under me that I could use my next attack without worry;
I pulled out a regular old gigantic rock I had been saving in [Storage].
"[Gravity]!"
I lightly touched the rock, activated [Gravity], and sent it hurling
toward the Demon Lord with thousands of times the weight.
"GYAOOOAAAAAAGH!"
A thud and a splatter that would make one's insides churn resounded
through the area.
Demon extermination complete. Except for the small fry, that is.
"Luli."
"Yes, my liege."
This time, a large Dragon as blue as sapphire appeared beside me. She
flapped her enormous wings, breathing out fire all the while, incinerating
the mechanized limbs of many of the Cydevils.
"Luli, Kougyoku, I'll leave these demons to you."
"Yes, my liege."
"I'll burn every last one to a crisp."
Deciding to leave the aerial enemies to the Heavenly Beasts, I returned
to the ground. The transformed Sango and Kokuyou had begun their attack
on the Skeleton army with the ninja girls, Bastet, and Anubis riding on their
backs. When I'd called out Luli, the other Heavenly Beasts had excitedly
volunteered to come out and assist too, so I'd ended up summoning all of
them. Kohaku was headed to where Elze and the other girls were.
Kokuyou was slashing the Skeletons in half with his water cutter, while
Sango was using her massive feet to squish them. I felt like I was watching
a kaiju movie.
"Luli, Kokuyou, look after them for me."
"Yes, my liege."
"Leave it to us, darling!"
Having put my trust in them, I turned and ran toward where the girls
were. When I made it to the collapsed brothel, I saw Elze, Yae, and Hilde in
their pilot suits along with Kohaku fighting against Graphite's Skeleton
Knights. The Skeletons didn't seem all that strong, but their cores were
completely protected by the armor, and it was clearly making it tough for
them to fight back.
Graphite, on the other hand, was letting off a metallic glimmer that was
the same as the Skeleton Knights and had transformed into something that
resembled a giant spider crab. Instead of pincers, however, he wielded what
looked like a massive scythe. His human upper body, which held his
scepter, was sticking out of the crab body.
Was this a crab version of an arachne? We had an arachne among our
knights; they were a race of demonkin. This crab thing just looked like a
kaiju.
Can't stand around here forever. Time to start the hunt!
"Pierce through, O Light! Sacred Illumination: [Holy Ray]!"
A laser burst forth from my palm straight toward the giant black spider
crab relaxing on the rubble. It wasn't an attack using divinity, so this was
fine, right?
"Take this: [Jet]!"
That spear of light should have been unavoidable, yet with a light
swoosh of Graphite's scepter, a black fog sucked in the laser like a black
hole.
He can do that?!
"Blaze, O Fire! Blazing Penetration: [Burning Lance]!"
This time, I threw a gigantic lance of fire at the old man, but yet again,
he absorbed it whole with the weird black fog.
"It's useless, I tell you, useless. Magic does not work on me," the crab
Graphite laughed.
Magic didn't work on him? If this worked on the same principles as
[Absorb], then...
"This is bad!"
"A little present for you."
From that fog came countless black arrows.
"[Prison]!"
I immediately surrounded everyone with a barrier. The arrows didn't
pierce it, but a lot of them had managed to lodge themselves inside the
walls. There were already cracks starting to form.
That was close! If I had been any slower, we'd have been done for.
Since those arrows could damage [Prison], that had to mean there was
wicked divinity inside of them. These bastards really were a pain! He would
absorb any magic used on him with that fog of his and turn it into his own.
That was why magic was useless against him. In fact, it wasn't just useless,
he'd fire any magic we used back at us in an even stronger form.
Presumably, those metallic black parts of his crab body were a more solid
version of the fog. Was he like a pseudo Phrase? In that case, physical
attacks were the way to go.
"Everyone, get away from him!"
All of them reacted immediately to my voice and jumped away. Once I
had confirmed they were far enough, I opened a massive [Gate] above
Graphite.
"Get crushed!"
A bunch of rubble from the destroyed buildings in the surroundings
went crashing down onto his head. Literal tons of rubble rained down on
Graphite and the surrounding Skeleton army, completely crushing them. By
the time all of it had been released, there was a towering mountain of rubble
left behind.
"Did...we do it?" Yae cautiously asked.
No, Yae! Don't jinx it!
Just as I thought that, the crab Graphite burst out of the mountain of
rubble as if to prove my worries right.
"HA HA HA! Quite the clever strategy there! Now, allow me to repay
you in kind!"
Graphite swung down the scythe he held in two of his crab hands. A
shock wave ran through the ground toward us from the impact. We
managed to avoid it, but it cut straight through a building behind us and
split it in two.
Tch, that's got some real power behind it.
"TAKE THIS, TAKE THIS, TAKE THIS!"
Shock waves rushed toward us again and again. They weren't
impossible to dodge, but it did mean we would struggle to get any closer. If
we even tried, we were immediately blocked by more shock waves. He was
clearly trying to avoid close-quarters combat.
Could we manage to approach it if we forced our way through using
[Shield]? But the other side was using a form of divinity, so it was possible
the [Shield] would get destroyed. No way we could take such a dangerous
gamble.
When it comes to physical attacks from afar...
I pulled out Brunhild from my belt and fired it at Graphite. The bullet hit
without issue, but it was easily repelled. Not that I was surprised, of course.
That thing got crushed by rubble and came out looking as good as new, so
obviously a stupid little bullet wouldn't do anything.
Then how about we charge into him with more than just a stupid little
bullet?
"Sue, you ready?" I confirmed over the phone.
"Ready whenever!"
"Hm? What are you...?"
"[Gate]!"
Graphite was sucked into the earth together with the rubble. The second
that happened, I teleported to where I had sent him: the piece of land where
Sue and Sakura had been fighting the Kyklops. The first thing Graphite
would have seen after being teleported was a gold titan driving a massive
fist into him.
"Cannon Knuckle Spiral!"
"What?!"
The high-speed rotating golden fist of the Ortlinde Overlord charged at
the flabbergasted Graphite. He attempted to dodge, but it was already too
late. Those tenths of a second of hesitation proved fatal, and the black crab
got a face full of fist.
"GHBWUH!"
Together with a muffled cry, the huge crab burst into pieces. It was the
strongest physical attack in our arsenal. No way he could put up a fight.
And yet...
"You...! What a cowardly trick...!"
Graphite rose from the crushed shell using his scepter as a cane.
Even that didn't kill him?
Thanks to the wicked god's divinity, the wicked devout all had
exceptional regenerative abilities. The dude with the big meat cleaver had
his whole arm regenerate in front of me, for example.
Was the sacred treasure really the only way to beat these guys without
directly using divinity?
"What's the plan? Shall I assist?" a small voice piped up from beside
me.
"Hang on a sec..." I quietly responded. "Not yet."
Kuon had actually been here the whole time under the cloak of
[Invisible]. He was right beside me even now. I'd had him hide his
presence before we came just in case the diver helmet guy was here again.
If he was here, the wicked devout could easily escape with teleportation
magic the moment they detected too much of a threat. The plan, if that was
the case, was to have Kuon use the sacred treasure to take him by surprise
and seal his magic. Best case scenario, we'd defeat him too.
If we could just defeat their primary means of escape, we could infiltrate
the Ark without having to worry about it getting away. I really had thought
he'd show up after we'd injured Graphite this much...
Was Graphite not as injured as I thought? Had he not been injured so
badly that the diver helmet guy felt he had to step in? Had they had a
disagreement of some sort? Or perhaps there was a reason the diver guy
couldn't come here?
He hadn't come to help the guys with the meat cleaver and spear either,
even though he had before. To be honest, it had always been questionable
how much they really viewed each other as comrades.
I guess it would be a waste to give up a chance to put an end to one of
them, though.
"Actually, change of plans. Kuon, can I count on you?"
"Of course," he said.
"Whew, guess there's no other choice now, huh?" Silver said. "Now
that's more like it!"
Why do I always end up more nervous whenever that damn sword
speaks...?
I dispelled the invisibility magic, revealing Kuon beside me. In his hand
was the silver crown, Silver, who took the form of a shimmering blade. A
little metallic sphere about the size of a baseball was floating around him
like a satellite. Kuon raised his free right hand into the air.
"Sacred Treasure Equip."
The platinum-colored sphere unraveled into threads and changed shape
as it wove itself into Kuon's hand. It now took the form of a single-edged
sword, but it had a trigger, cylinder, and muzzle on the blade; it was a
gunblade, same as my Brunhild. I had originally planned for it to be a
normal sword, but since Kuon already had Silver, I decided to spice things
up a bit.
What was different about it compared to Brunhild was that it was a
sacred treasure and that it couldn't swap between its gun and blade forms. It
was more like it had a sword as its foundation with a gun form attached to
it. Its size adjusted to fit Kuon, so it was more like the size of an adult's
shortsword.
Kuon held the gunblade in his right hand, and Silver in his left.
Huh? Does he intend to dual-wield?
Yae, Yakumo, and Moroha would probably be able to manage, but
would Kuon...? Well, I would be there to support him if I needed to, so it
would all work out somehow.
"Sue, Sakura, could you bring the Kyklops closer to us?"
"Leave it to us!"
"Okay..."
The Ortlinde Overlord and the Rossweise were currently contending
with the Kyklops. When I looked off in the distance, I could see Gerhilde,
Schwertleite, and Siegrune coming toward us from Brenn. With five of
them here, they'd be more than fine.
"Who is that child? When did he get there? Fine, I will simply use my
trump card."
Graphite took off the large necklace made up of fangs hanging from his
neck as well as a bracelet of similar design, dumped them on the ground,
and then forcefully banged his scepter down. The moment he did, that same
old black fog emitted from the scepter, enveloping the fangs. That fog
began to take shape, eventually forming the head of a Dragon. Naturally, it
was not one made of flesh but of bone, its neck protruding from the fog.
Then, suddenly, another similar Dragon head popped out, and then
another.
"It's a Hydra!" I exclaimed.
"You insolent fool, don't even compare it to such a sham of a serpent.
This is Tiamat, the wicked king of Dragons. Thou shalt revive the corpses
of thy brethren in thy bosom."
"Grrrrr...!"
A five-headed Dragon made of bone appeared from within the fog.
Damn, pretty big, isn't it?
What was this about being the king of Dragons, though? Was that not
Luli?
Luli, you done over there?
My liege? Yes, most of the demons have been incinerated. Is there
something I can assist you with?
It seemed it would be fine to call them over here. I summoned Luli over
to get her thoughts on Tiamat.
"What?! This creature is...!"
Luli immediately had a shocked reaction upon being faced with the
Dragon.
"Do you know them?"
"Yes. This is the Wicked Dragon King Tiamat. Though they are
considered a Fiendrake, they are a Wicked Dragon that was said to reach
even the strength of a Heavenly Beast. How pitiful... To have such a revered
being be revived in this unsightly manner."
So that made them the king of the Fiendrakes? If they reached the
heights of a Heavenly Beast, did that mean they matched Luli in strength?
And now that they were enhanced with the power of the wicked devout, it
could be that they were even more powerful than Luli now...
"Graaaaaaaaaaaagh!"
Suddenly, the five heads of Tiamat spat out breaths of fire all at once.
No, not just fire, but water, wind, light, and dark too. It was aimed not at me
and Kuon, but straight at Luli.
"How insolent!"
Luli spat out her own breath toward it. The five breaths and the single
large one clashed, vying for dominance. A few seconds passed of the two
Dragons battling before Luli's breath started to overpower Tiamat's. Tiamat
could no longer keep its assault up, and Luli's breath managed to strike the
Dragon made of bone directly.
Tiamat staggered a little as they were hit by Luli's breath, smoke coming
from where they were hit.
How were they not instantly burned to the bone? Uh, wait, they're
already bone. How were they not burned to ashes? How much defense does
this thing have?
"I will take this beast on. Allow me to grant it release once more."
"Please."
After leaving Tiamat to Luli, I took out Brunhild and fired it at Graphite.
Using the crab-spider legs he had growing out his back, he scuttled to the
side and avoided my bullets.
"Strike true, O Light! Sparkling Holy Lance: [Shining Javelin]!"
I immediately followed up with [Shining Javelin].
"I already told you that magic won't work!"
Once more, black fog absorbed my magic.
Yeah, I know, dumbass. I fired it at you so you wouldn't move.
"Hey man, it's flattering and all, but I dunno if it's such a good idea to
keep your eyes on me like that."
"What?"
By the time Graphite realized that Kuon had managed to approach him,
it was already too late. He frantically raised the black fog as a shield, but it
vanished like a puff of smoke being blown away.
"Hm?!"
Graphite blocked Kuon's sacred treasure with his scepter. The loud
crack that rang out was audible even from where I stood.
"Impossible! You managed to damage Jet?!"
"Perhaps it was a knockoff," Kuon retorted as he swung Silver in from
the side. Graphite threw off the sacred treasure with his scepter, then
jumped backward. However, Kuon immediately followed up by pulling the
trigger of the sacred treasure, releasing a bullet of light.
"Guh?!"
The bullet shot right through Graphite's foot. Not a single drop of blood
spilled out of the large gouge, but there was no sign of it closing up either;
his regenerative abilities weren't working. That bullet was a whole chunk of
divinity, so of course it wouldn't allow for regenerative abilities gained
from the wicked god to take effect.
"You brat...! Just who are you?!"
"Unfortunately, I was told not to tell my name to strangers, so I'm afraid
I can't answer you."
Kuon's right eye shone a red-gold. It was his Mystic Eye of
Compression.
"Take this! First Seal Release!" Silver called out. When the glowing
Silver touched one of the crab legs, it blew it up into pieces. That must have
been the crown amplifying Kuon's abilities. He was surprisingly useful.
"Curse you! Don't think you've won this!"
Graphite held up his scepter, but unlike before, no black fog was
released. Instead, all that began to surround him was a thin mist.
"Why?! Why can I not use Jet's power?!"
That was the Divine Neutralization ability of the sacred treasure I had
created taking effect. So long as Kuon was nearby, that scepter would be
rendered completely useless.
"Nrgh!"
Graphite threw his crab legs around like swords, sending shock waves
hurtling toward Kuon. The fact that he was managing to use them at all
meant it had to be a magic attack that wasn't using divinity. Those shock
waves were clearly being used to create distance between him and Kuon,
but Kuon was dodging the attacks with ease. His right eye was currently
orange-gold, which meant his Mystic Eye of Precognition was active. He
could predict exactly what was about to happen, and exactly where the
shock waves would come from.
Having avoided all the attacks, Kuon approached Graphite once more.
Graphite's crab legs moved to block the sacred treasure coming in from the
side, but just like a phrasium sword—no, even more so than a phrasium
sword—it was too sharp to be blocked. The sword slashed right through the
legs and straight into Graphite's main body.
"SHYAH!"
"Ah!"
A tornado of flames suddenly enveloped Graphite, forcing Kuon to jump
back. That fire continued to burn Graphite himself. Suicide by selfimmolation? There was no way. I was pretty sure I saw that old man sneer
at me from behind those flames.
"I see. So you were the one who defeated Hazel and Orchid. You had
quite the card up your sleeve. Still, don't think this is the end."
Kuon wasn't actually the one who'd defeated the previous wicked
devout, but there was no need to explain that.
Graphite's body continued to incinerate, and when the meat had been
completely reduced to ashes, a metallic black Skeleton with the skull of a
goat was left standing there.
That bastard. The second he realized he couldn't use the wicked god's
divinity, he immediately swapped to condensing it inside his body instead.
He must have been gradually diverting the divinity into his bones during
the fight, turning himself into a complete undead. That metallic black body
no doubt had tremendous durability thanks to that. Still...
"[Slip]."
"Nwooogh?!"
The scepter that Graphite held slid forward with Kuon's magic. His feet
also slid at the same time, and he fell forward in an unsightly heap after
losing his balance. The scepter clattered as it rolled its way over to Kuon's
feet. Holding it down with his foot, Kuon swung down the sacred treasure.
"What?! No, stop!"
"I refuse."
No matter how sturdy or hard those bones were, there was no need to
take down the main body to defeat a wicked devout. All you had to do was
destroy their wicked vessel, the source of their power.
Kuon swung down his sword and shattered the metallic black scepter
into pieces.
"Guh?! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The goat-headed Skeleton reached out to Kuon as he lost his metallic
black sheen. The bones gradually turned into a dull gray and crumbled into
dust, while his shattered scepter dissolved into a sludgy black liquid.
Did we finally win?
Tiamat, who had been fighting Luli, also clattered to the ground as it fell
apart into a mountain of bones, most likely because Graphite was no longer
around to supply it with energy. It looked like the girls were basically done
dealing with the Kyklops too. The monsters roaming in the town were
pretty much cleaned up by the knights of Gardio and Kohaku's group.
At least we'd confirmed we could use the sacred treasure without worry.
Though, that diver helmet guy hadn't come to help, after all. Given the
same happened with the spear-wielding kid, this guy really must not care
for his companions...
Hm?
Sensing something strange, I took out Brunhild, aimed it at the black
shadow I could see in the sky, and fired. After a bit of time, a small machine
fell down to the ground and burst into pieces.
Is this...a Gollem? A bird Gollem?
It had been watching our fight... No, had it been monitoring us? Since
when? I stuffed the bird's remains into [Storage] so I could ask Doc
Babylon to give it a look later.
I haven't messed up, have I? Have the wicked devout found out about
Kuon and the sacred treasure?
It wasn't that we hadn't come up with contingency plans for exactly that
scenario, but...
"Father? Is something the matter?"
"Nah, it's nothing. Good job."
I patted Kuon on the head, then headed off to help the girls finish off the
Kyklops.