Wielding both powers that consume humanity: sanctification and bestial transformation.
Combining the two most powerful weapons in the world into one, fully drawing out their abilities.
As if possessed by divine will, taking steps filled with determination and striking with blows imbued with resolve.
Lucas fought truly like the protagonist chosen by the world.
As Ash had boasted earlier, Lucas, having awakened his potential beyond its limits, was undoubtedly the strongest knight.
However-
"…"
The 'Sleepless Lake Princess', reborn as the master of nightmares, was invincible.
She was the embodiment of all nightmares in the world, the personification of destruction.
From the beginning, she was not an entity that could be fought or pushed back against.
Against such an opponent, Lucas had managed to hold out for dozens of exchanges. It was an unbelievable feat for a mere human.
Each time Lucas's sword of light blocked the sword of darkness wielded by the 'Sleepless Lake Princess', the Outer Gods' eyes widened in shock.
But miracles are ultimately temporary.
The difference in absolute power was too great. He couldn't hold out forever.
This final delaying action was nearing its end.
"…Haah…"
White breath once again escaped from Lucas's blood-covered lips.
Currently, Lucas was leaning against the dented gate of Crossroad.
He had just received a blow from the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' and was thrown back, crashing into the gate like a cannonball.
In Lucas's hand, the great sword of light [Ad Astra] was still firmly gripped.
But all his other equipment was horribly damaged.
Gauntlets, boots, breastplate, pauldrons, backplate — every part of the armor [Black Scales] was in tatters, and blood poured profusely from the flesh beneath the broken armor.
'Just one more time.'
Blood dripped from the ends of his disheveled blonde hair. An excruciating pain he had never felt before coursed through his body, cut by the sword of darkness.
But his sapphire eyes still emitted a sharp light like a blade's edge, and his will remained unscathed.
'Block it just one more time.'
Lucas himself knew well. That he couldn't hold off the master of nightmares forever.
So — just one more time.
Just one more time. Just one more time. Just one more time. Continuously…
Whoosh-!
The next moment, the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' charged forward. The sword of darkness in her hand swirled fiercely.
Even in the midst of this fierce battle, Lucas was comprehending the principles of swordsmanship.
He continued to internalize how to face that overwhelming sword of darkness to hold out even a little longer…
As the two swords of light and darkness entangled, he was able to withstand the enemy commander's attack once again.
Crash!
Lucas endured, but the gate he was leaning against exploded.
Along with the fallen gate, Lucas was thrown inside the fortress. He quickly tried to regain his balance by stabbing his sword into the ground, but he was still pushed back for quite a distance.
"Kuh…!"
Lucas gritted his teeth.
The enemy commander had finally entered inside the fortress walls.
Through the fortress entrance where dust rose from the fallen gate, the sound of footsteps echoed: step, step.
The next moment, as the dust cleared with a gust of wind, the figure of the enemy commander — the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' — was revealed.
The enemy commander's light footsteps touched the inside of the fortress. Lucas clenched his teeth and gripped his sword.
Once again.
If once isn't enough, then twice. If twice isn't enough, then thrice-
It's a matter of trying again and again without giving up.
So, once more…
"…?!"
However, immediately after, Lucas belatedly realized that both his knees had touched the ground.
His spirit was still enduring, but his body had reached its limit first.
'Stand up!'
Lucas gritted his teeth as he struck his disobedient legs that had collapsed on their own.
'Move, damn legs!'
But before his trembling legs could struggle to stand again, the enemy commander was approaching once more.
Just as Lucas was about to swing his sword even from his fallen posture-
Tap!
Someone rushed in front of him.
Shimmering platinum blonde hair, dazzling white armor, and a shield and lance.
It was Evangeline.
"Together!"
Before Lucas could say anything, Evangeline spoke boldly.
"Don't bear it alone. I'll endure with you, so…"
Evangeline turned back with a radiant smile.
"Let's overcome this together…!"
To the left and right of Evangeline, who stood at the very front with her shield raised.
All the shield warriors belonging to Crossroad, and soldiers with shields, rushed in…
In just a few seconds, they gathered their shields together, forming a perfect shield wall.
While Lucas and the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' were engaged in fierce combat, the rest of the monsters had withdrawn from the battlefield. To avoid getting caught up in their master's fight.
But the people of the monster front line had devised a plan to help Lucas fight, and they jumped in.
"…!"
Lucas suddenly realized the current situation as he saw the 'shield' that had formed in front of him.
He slowly reached out and carefully placed his hand on Evangeline's shoulder.
Whoosh…!
The golden aura enveloping his body spread to Evangeline.
As if she had been waiting for this, Evangeline firmly planted her shield on the ground and exerted her last bit of magic power to unleash her ultimate skill.
[Final Fortress].
A shield of golden magical power formed in front of all the people standing in the shield formation, and eventually merged into one.
The sword strike of the 'Sleepless Lake Princess', who had rushed in, crashed down onto the completed giant golden shield.
Boom-!
The sword of darkness made no sound, but the shield that took the direct hit screamed as it was destroyed.
Evangeline's shield, which took the attack head-on at the forefront, shattered into pieces. Not just the shield, but Evangeline's entire left arm was torn apart, splattering blood everywhere.
It wasn't just Evangeline's shield. The shields of all those who stood together were simultaneously destroyed.
But — that was all.
Originally, it was a strike of darkness so intense that merely facing it should have vaporized souls and brought certain death.
However, the courage of humans who defied death brought about a fitting miracle.
Numerous people resonated with a single thought to complete one shield, and that shield was imbued with light to oppose the darkness.
Thus, while the shield was destroyed, the people endured.
No, it didn't end with just enduring.
"In my city…"
[Final Fortress] is a defensive technique that absorbs the enemy's attack and then returns it.
The enemy commander's attack, received by everyone together, was fully stored in the shields of all those gathered here.
"To my people…!"
Like the tide changing from flood to ebb, once again from the rear to the front, gathering and pouring out-
"Don't you dare touch them carelessly, sister-!"
It burst forth from the tip of Evangeline's lance.
The largest [Damage Save] that had never existed before and would never exist again-
And,
[Damage Payback]!
Whoosh!
Evangeline's right arm was torn apart as her lance shattered into pieces. The power of darkness swirling at the tip of that lance was shot directly towards the 'Sleepless Lake Princess'.
It was a power that Evangeline alone couldn't have blocked, stored, or returned. But it was an unbelievable counterattack made possible because everyone gathered here resonated and united their wills.
"…!"N/nêw n0vel chap/ers are published o/n n0v/e/(lb)i(n.)co/m
The 'Sleepless Lake Princess', who received her own attack back in full, was pushed back.
As powerful as her own attack had been, the fully returned counterattack was equally mighty. She had to retreat dozens of steps, more than ever before.
When she came to her senses, she was once again outside the fortress.
As if it had been a lie that she had invaded inside the fortress, she had to retreat quite a distance.
"…"
The Outer Gods were shocked at this unbelievable reality, and while their puppet, the 'Sleepless Lake Princess', was staggering to regain her posture.
"Torkel-!"
As she fell backward, Evangeline shouted with her remaining strength.
"Go-!"
"…!"
As the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' urgently raised her head, a large heavy armored knight was falling from the sky.
It was Torkel, the strongest tank of the monster front line, who had been waiting in the sky with a griffin rider and jumped down at the precise moment.
The 'Sleepless Lake Princess' sharply extended her hand. Dark power wrapped around like a whip, lashing Torkel's entire body.
Not only the shield Torkel was holding, but all the armor on his entire body was completely shattered.
But Torkel had already activated his ultimate skill [Man is not Made for Defeat].
He feels the pain, but takes no damage.
And Torkel was not a man who could be stopped by pain alone.
Grab!
The warrior's strong hand grasped the enemy commander's body. Torkel clung to the 'Sleepless Lake Princess'.
He knows.
Both the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' and Torkel himself, everyone here knows. That Torkel's strength alone cannot stop the enemy commander.
Knowing this, Torkel volunteered for this role.
If he could create even a slight opening for the enemy commander during the mere 10 minutes he could endure.
If he could expose even a dust-sized weakness in the invincible monster.
If it could be of even the slightest help to his comrades' counterattack that would follow!
It's worth trying.
As Torkel dropped and clung to the enemy commander, Junior, who had been waiting on top of the wall, raised her staff forward.
Zing-!
A halo appeared in the sky, and the surrounding space shattered like a mosaic.
[Elemental Disassembly].
It was [Elemental Disassembly] condensed into a single spell by overlapping dozens of incantations.
Until now, Junior had forcibly achieved effects by layering multiple spells when [Elemental Disassembly] didn't work on an enemy.
But this time, she changed her approach.
She decided to delve into a single [Elemental Disassembly] to the extreme.
To a realm never reached before, scraping away Yin, surpassing Void, and even transcending the realm of Emptiness-
To the realm of Nothingness.
And now she succeeded in proving the formula that had only been theoretical.
Instead of insufficient human magic power, she forcibly overclocked the magic core of her staff to complete the spell.
In the end, the staff [Rod of Crimson], having exceeded its critical point, couldn't withstand and exploded. But even that was within her calculations.
"…"
Junior sensed it.
That this would be the ultimate magic casting of her life as a magician.
But for some reason, rather than feeling regretful…
She felt relieved.
"Heavens, behold!"
As she completed her ultimate, Junior smiled brightly.
"We are here-!"
Crack-crack-crack!
The halo, grown to an unbelievable size, covered the sky above, and the space below it completely shattered.
Junior collapsed, violently coughing up blood. But her ultimate magic undoubtedly had an effect.
"…?!"
The veil of invulnerability that made the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' invincible was lifted.
At this very moment when the connection between the spirit realm and the human world weakened, making magic power scarce.
As the curse, nightmare, and darkness that formed the essence of the 'Sleepless Lake Princess' were also powers from another world, i.e., created by magic power. Her existence was clearly shaken…
And Junior's ultimate magic struck perfectly in that gap.
"…"
Supported and healed simultaneously by the two priests, Rosetta and Zenis, Lucas stood up straight.
Looking around, he saw that his golden aura was already spreading to all the people in this fortress one by one.
It was another miracle born because they all shared the same will and followed the same flag.
"Once more."
Lucas muttered softly, and
"Once more-!"
The people rushed out.
To stop the enemy commander once again.
To protect the world, even if just one more time.