-Pulsreino!
The melted and shattered fragments of golems gathered together, forming a gigantic female figure well over a hundred meters tall.
And the face of that pitch-black giant… was Cronia’s face.
-Your sister! You! All of you! I can’t forgive you!
Uooooooh!
A scream resounded throughout the entire space.
It must be… Cronia.
Transforming into a spirit form, huh.
Is this the effect of ‘Chaos’?
It must be a form where she abandoned her humanity and merged with the golems she was controlling due to ‘Chaos.’
I can’t believe Cronia has changed this much.
Uuooooooh!
Fwahr!
Boom!
Cronia’s massive hand, made of pitch-dark material, came crashing down upon us.
Ignis created a shield of flames to block it.
-Luke. My body…
Zzzt!
Ignis, who was made entirely of pure flames, started to turn black.
The erosion from the energy of ‘Chaos.’
The reason all those powerful spirits vanished after the previous invasion of ‘Chaos.’
Spirits, being pure concepts, have no way to resist the energy of ‘Chaos.’
Even Ignis, who has gained ‘Divine’ status and transformed into the Holy Spirit, cannot resist it.
-Get back, Ignis!
-Sorry, Luke…
Fwahr!
I hurriedly recalled Ignis.
No matter how powerful of an ally Ignis is, she must not be eroded by ‘Chaos.’
If that happens, she would become a being of ‘Chaos.’
“Lu, Luke…”
When Ignis disappeared and the presence that could block the energy of ‘Chaos’ was gone, Dia collapsed, unable to withstand the energy.
-Pulsreinoooooo!
Uuuuuuh!
As Ignis returned, Cronia tried to strike us down again.
Dia had exhausted all her magic earlier while facing golems, and now she was weakened by the energy of ‘Chaos.’
I, too, had all my magic consumed by Ignis.
The enemy we faced looked far too powerful to confront in this ragged state.
But.
Bang!
Gulp!
I opened the lid of the mana recovery potion I had been holding onto and poured it down my throat.
Thanks to Ignis, I’m not facing a golem now, but Cronia herself.
I couldn’t use it on the golems before, but now there’s a way to use it on her!
Zzt!
Just a bit more.
An overwhelming aura of killing intent and malevolence made me want to flee at that moment.
It was the very essence of ‘Chaos’ that any human would naturally fear.
But not yet.
When Cronia’s hand comes down right above me.
I need to use it at the exact moment.
Uuuuuuh!
A little more.
Zzt! Zzt!
Not yet.
Just a bit more.
My whole body screamed to use ‘Zana’s life’ to escape right now.
You can’t win against this.
You’re an existence that can’t possibly be defeated.
No.
After preparing so long, do I truly just want to escape here?
After arrogantly acting like the Son of God and playing the game that is this world, do I want to run away now?
I am the Son of Deus!
The savior who will drive out the ‘Chaos’ of this world!
Right now!
Uuuuh!
-Pe… Pulsreino…
Boom!
Cronia’s massive body collapsed, losing consciousness.
I declared the ‘Domain of the Demon Lord’ I used when I subdued Jevoub’s assassins earlier.
No matter how strong one is, it’s possible to incapacitate them under certain conditions if they haven’t crossed the wall.
Cronia is a very powerful war hero, but she’s just a one-woman army created through Magic Engineering; her true body isn’t that strong.
Moreover, she appears to have lost her basic reason after being eaten away by ‘Chaos.’
I was lucky in many ways.
If the ‘Domain of the Demon Lord’ hadn’t worked, I might have been forced to abandon Dia and flee or die alongside her.
Huff.
I think I can finally take a breather.
As Cronia collapsed and lost consciousness, the energy of ‘Chaos’ that had pervaded this space was sucked back into her.
Dia, who had been eroded by the energy of ‘Chaos,’ also seemed to have regained tranquility.
Of course, it’s still not over.
The ‘Barrier’ that began to collapse from the clash between Ignis and the Golem.
At most, we have a few hours.
Once that time passes, they’ll send us all back to the gym in this state.
I can’t let Cronia, who has been devoured by ‘Chaos,’ return to the Academy.
I must find a way to deal with her before that.
Fortunately, Cronia is unconscious.
Unlike reality, I am the strongest in the subconscious world.
And perhaps there’s a way to get Cronia back.
So, Dia. Just wait a bit longer.
*
Paht!
After a brief flicker, Cronia’s subconscious world unfolded.
A massive chasm.
But it was filled with pitch-black sludge.
What should have been a pristine white space now looked sullied by an evil invader.
My external appearance was just like my own.
It was because I had taken on my original form in the previous subconscious world with Polymorph.
Of course, the power I could use is just like Dia in her prime.
Uuuuuuh!
I focused my mind and spread my senses wide.
I felt Cronia’s presence far away and launched myself into the air.
Upon reaching the feeling of Cronia, I saw a gigantic cross.
Cronia was hanging there, slack and hanging limply.
-I didn’t expect to find you this easily.
Thick sludge began to gather and rise, taking on a human shape.
Even in sludge, it formed the figure of a beautiful woman.
-Luke Pulsreino. The adversary who took Saula from ‘us.’
A familiar voice.
And a presence that shouldn’t be appearing now.
I see now.
I wondered why that innocent Cronia had fallen.
Now I understand.
“Lilith. The God of Evil of ‘Desire.'”
-Hu hu hu hu. Hahaha!
She laughed loudly in a high-pitched voice.
-Do you know me?
Suddenly, her face hardened, and she squinted at me from above.
-Well, since you know of ‘us,’ you must have made Saula that way. I’ve been hearing that name ‘Deus’ quite a lot lately.
!!
This woman.
No way!
-I sent down my loyal commander to find out who made our beloved Saula that way. But at some point, he disappeared.
Is she talking about Achilles Gomez, who took Andre’s body?
It indeed was a fallen being under ‘Lilith’ that inflicted that on Andre.
But similar incidents have happened multiple times in [Deus Ex Machina], and more importantly, Achilles is surely sealed under Wackfa’s control right now.
There’s no reason for ‘Lilith’ to directly intervene to corrupt Cronia.
Why is that?
-Well, no matter how powerful a commander is, a useless existence unable to fulfill its mission wouldn’t care what happened to it… But I’ve been hearing the name ‘Deus.’
Deus…
I see now.
‘Lilith’ knows the name of Deus.
When she sought to take over this continent before, she almost succeeded. If it weren’t for that detestable ‘Deus!’
Deus sacrificed himself during the Great War in the mythological age to fend off the incursion of ‘Chaos.’
As a result, ‘Chaos,’ significantly weakened, retreated and has since returned after gaining power in another world.
-So I learned. Whether it’s the real Deus from back then or one who bears that name, a meddlesome antagonist exists who knows of ‘us’ and seeks to interfere. That’s why I mobilized all I could.
No matter how divine a being may be, they’re not omnipotent.
They cannot freely perceive the continent that corresponds to the middle world, so they can either descend themselves or only understand it through the perspective of contracted beings.
-But I found out there exists a being called ‘Son of Deus.’ Plus, in this academy, there is a human with the same face as him.
I never imagined that the God of Evil of ‘Chaos’ would be watching me.
I hadn’t even thought about this.
The snowball effect of purifying Saula has led to this.
-The academy. A location where my commander was lost. Luke Pulsreino. I couldn’t help but be curious about you. Coincidentally, there are those in this academy who hold a grudge against you.
“…So, you’re saying you corrupted Cronia?”
Exactly.
The Cronia I know would never harm a student, no matter how angry she got.
And she certainly wouldn’t succumb to the powers of ‘Chaos.’
If ‘Lilith’ hadn’t directly intervened, this would never have happened.
-Thanks to that, I could gain this certainty, heh heh. Now I know who was the one to obstruct ‘us.’
Uuuuuuh.
-Hu hu hu. Did you think you would become the messiah to save this world?
Sludge swirled around her.
-But now that’s impossible. I’m going to make you ‘ours,’ Pulsreino!
“No.”
Even though Lilith’s divine form isn’t here, her essence is present in this space.
Thus, the power she can wield is formidable.
But.
In this place, I am powerful too.
Tick.
In an instant, the world froze.
-What! My, my body…! No… It can’t be… The world has… frozen?
Given that I figured out your identity.
And since you dared to touch Cronia and Dia.
You cannot leave this place.
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