Chapter: 77
Bennett flew about ten meters, adjusting his stance midair before landing on the ground. Isaac stumbled around with an uninjured body, spewing out a bucket full of blood.
“Keup, uweeek…!”
Her eyes were bloodshot, and blood trickled from her nose and ears. It looked like she had sustained serious injuries, but she wasn’t dead. Isaac looked up at the sky and smiled.
“Heh, haha…”
[I definitely saw you getting slashed, though…!]
“I transcended time and space to evade it and returned. In exchange, I had to endure sheer terror in a dark, chilling void…but thanks to that, I feel closer to Him…”
It seemed that Isaac had pushed herself too hard to dodge Bennett’s attack, clutching her body and trembling in pain. Yet the fanatic light in her eyes grew even more intense.
“More, just a bit more…! My God, you can take everything from me—! Haha, ahahahaha!”
Rip, rip.
Additional cracks formed in space, and two more bubbles squeezed their way out. Now there were five bubbles swirling around Isaac.
They moved in unpredictable directions, starting to grind and erase everything in their vicinity. It looked like a storm wreaking havoc in space, resembling a natural disaster.
“…Have two more appeared, then?”
[I’ll do whatever I can!]
“Niolle…?”
[I’ll draw her attention!]
Flutterrrrr.
The pages of the grimoire in Niolle’s hands began turning on their own. Red light seeped from it, and bizarre phenomena erupted around her.
Eyeballs sprang forth from the air, a grotesque laughter echoed, and a human mouth appeared from the ground, grinding its teeth. Like Isaac, Niolle seemed to be tapping into a great power from an Outer God.
“Niolle, why aren’t you using the Goddess’s Crystals…?”
[Because we can save the world, right?]
Despite the blood trickling from her nose, Niolle smiled faintly. She formed the words slowly with her lips, allowing Bennett to understand her.
[Thanks to Tara, I don’t have to kill many people. I can save them. My heart aches for those who have already died. Still… I think I’ll be able to sleep well once this is all over.]
So…
[Since this is the last time, even for using such disturbing power like this… So, here’s the crystal. Bennett.]
Realizing that Bennett was a Black Wizard and that he sacrificed his own soul to wield magic, it seemed she wanted to give it away.
Niolle silently completed her incantation.
『Swallow.』
Clack.
Clack. Crunch. Crack.
Large mouths appeared in thin air, chomping on Isaac’s bubbles and bursting them. Sometimes the mouths tore apart or exploded from the inside, but new mouths appeared each time, tearing mercilessly like hyenas on a corpse.
As the Outer God’s magic clashed, only one bubble remained around Isaac.
[Please take care of the last one.]
“…Leave it to me.”
Bennett charged in. Infusing his longsword with mana, it shone brilliantly as he stomped down hard on the ground, accelerating with all his strength. Each step let out a resounding Boom.
“Isaac──!”
“DIE, DISRUPTORS──!!”
Isaac shot the last remaining bubble at Bennett.
Bennett laughed. The reason he pretended to be all hyped up, radiating light and yelling, was to draw her attention. After all, they were a team of three.
Bennett locked eyes with Tara. While Isaac was distracted by the clash of magic, Tara maneuvered behind her.
“…!”
When Isaac sensed the presence and turned around, it was already too late.
Tara clenched her fist. Gathering the last bit of Divine Power all at once, she stepped forward, twisted her waist, and thrust her fist out.
“THIS IS FOR ABRAHAM—!!”
Boom—!
A glowing fist slammed into Isaac’s face. With all her strength focused in that punch, Isaac’s body flew to the ground, twitching a few times before going limp.
The ominous power surrounding Isaac, along with the bubble that ripped through space, vanished as if they had never existed.
Tara collapsed right where she stood.
Bennett was busy mopping up the remaining zealots. The duration of the Transmitted Metamorphosis still had a bit of time left, so she should be able to protect him until he finished cleaning up the battlefield.
It’s over.
Now that she had fully exhausted her powers as the Saintess, it was time to prepare for her life as an ordinary young lady, stripped of everything. Although she hadn’t done anything particularly saintly, she had still saved the world. In fact, she might have used her Divine Power more frugally than any other Saintess.
With such thoughts floating through her head…
She envisioned her future as she waited for Bennett.
========================================================================
After the battle was over, Tara drew out the sealed Demonic Sword. She needed a blade to confirm the kill.
Tara had struck with the intent to end Isaac’s life, but she was still clinging to a faint thread of existence. Therefore, Tara aimed the Demonic Sword at Isaac’s neck.
In that moment, Isaac jolted awake.
Bennett gently pulled Tara back while Niolle wiped the blood from her nose and opened the grimoire once again. She might sacrifice herself for a final suicide attack—thinking that, everyone heightened their guard.
Isaac muttered with glazed eyes.
“Dad, Dad, let’s go stargazing together. Together…”
“…?”
“The stars are talking to me, Dad. Isn’t it amazing? Since Dad is busy, I’ll be friends with the stars…”
“…What is this?”
[She seems to have gone mad from excessive magic use.]
This was the final descent of the Saintess who served the Evil God. Watching Isaac babble nonsense, Tara gripped the Demonic Sword tightly.
“I’ll kill her.”
“…Wait.”
“Why?”
Bennett recalled Abraham’s last words, asking him to take good care of his daughter. Sparing Isaac, now twisted by evil, was difficult enough, but perhaps the completely mindless version of Isaac could be saved. He thought letting her live might not be a bad idea.
“That woman is Abraham’s last bloodline. If she disappears, nothing would remain to prove Abraham’s existence in this world.”
“So you’re suggesting we keep her alive? No way, I can’t do that. Move aside, Bennett.”
“Keeping her alive could be more torturous for her. I don’t want to get blood on your hands.”
“…I don’t care, just get out of the way! Hey, let go of my hand. Seriously? Let go! Ugh, why are you so unexpectedly strong…! Are you doing this because my Divine Power is gone?! Niolle, say something too…”
Tara, whose wrist was seized by Bennett, turned her head in an attempt to pull Niolle into the argument. However, Niolle was staring at the sky with a dazed look on her face.
Tara naturally followed suit and looked at the night sky.
“……….”
The night sky still looked bizarre and menacing, twisting further into horrific shapes with each passing moment. We disrupted the ritual, didn’t we? So why is it still like this?
“……Why?! We stopped it already…! Bennett, what in the world happened?!”
“The axes of the Magic Circle were properly destroyed. The ritual definitely failed!”
“Then why is the sky still acting up?!”
Panic-stricken, Tara grabbed Isaac by the collar and shook her vigorously.
“Hey, get a grip! Wake up and explain what’s happening! Explain and then you can die!”
“Dad, oooeugh… Daddyyy…”
[Bennett. Did we possibly overlook something?]
“Something we overlooked…?”
Confusion swirled. Even after they disrupted the ritual, the Evil God was still drawing nearer. Was there a clue that could explain this situation? Bennett’s mind wandered back to Abraham’s research.
“Now that I think about it, why did the Order of the Silver Twilight… try to erase Abraham’s research?”
[Because the Evil Outer God could be repelled using the Alpha value…].
“Conversely, didn’t they mention it could also be used for summoning? They had ample time to burn down the mansion and kill Abraham. Just securing the leftover research materials would have guaranteed they had a usable protocol.”
[Yet they didn’t do that. They just blindly sought to erase it. They had no intention to utilize it…]
Avoiding risks while seeking stability is only applicable if the status quo suffices to achieve your desires. Thus it means…
“Wait… does that imply even without a ritual, the Evil God would descend naturally? Why?”
We also have to consider the phrase written in blood at the location Abraham was sacrificed.
“We were bestowed a flawed female goat; hence we are grateful to present this.”
The meteorite pit selected as the site for the ceremony. Niolle’s earlier reference to the being known as the ‘Black Goat’. That goat was seemingly associated with the Viceroy’s wife.
“It was… the opposite.”
From the very beginning, something that attracted the Evil God had crash-landed on Earth. Even before the Order of the Silver Twilight attempted to summon Him.
It kept summoning the Viceroy roaming the cosmos. Because of this, the Evil God, manifesting as immense bubbling forms, drew ever closer to Earth.
It was the opposite.
What the group should have been targeting was the opposite.
“Instead of obstructing the ritual… we should have focused more on analyzing the Alpha value to send the Evil God back. We needed to be the ones on the attack, not the defense…!”
[………….]
Crack—!
The sky screamed as it tore apart. When they looked up again, it now appeared there were two moons. The starlight illuminated eerily.
All life sensing the shifts in the world cried out in terror. Dogs began barking, birds fluttered their wings in haste and fled. Frogs croaked, and insects burrowed into the ground to hide.
All manner of cosmic monsters tumbled down to Earth, riding the moonlight.
There were far too many to contend with. What was about to happen was perfectly clear. Humanity would have to fight to survive. The urban civilization, laws, and order would lose their meaning in the face of violence, and the void would fill up with pain and hatred.
However, it was already far too late to stop it.
If only they had paid more attention to Abraham’s research…
If only they had protected him from Isaac…
If only they had invested even a little time in investigating the Alpha value…
Would they have been able to resolve this incident before the city crumbled?
The stars mockingly gleamed. Tara trembled in fear, feeling the gaping void where her Divine Power used to reside. Niolle sat down, covering her ears with both hands.
And Bennett muttered, cursing his too-comfortable past.
“Maybe, we have been misplacing the first button all along…”
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