“Skill—‘Earth Bound Shackle’ is activating.”
The ground of the magic training hall splits wide open.
What emerges from the cracks are solid shackles of earth.
An earth-attribute spell that mercilessly drags away the training doll, buries it underground, and seals it there.
“Skill—‘Immortal Flame’ is activating.”
Next is the 6th Circle fire-attribute magic, Immortal Flame.
A bird of flame, symbolizing immortality, turns the entire room into a sea of fire.
To enemies, it brings the agony of dreadful flames.
To the caster, a fire that bestows immortal vitality.
After it dies down, a shield of the firmament unfurls.
“Skill—‘Celestial Shield’ is activating.”
A shield engraved in the sky.
The shield of the firmament.
Despite having the highest-tier skill “Heavenly,” the reason he learned Celestial Shield was because it specialized in magical defense.
“Heavenly” was a skill specialized in defending against all physical attacks and purifying sinister energy, so long as Hio’s stamina allowed it.
Before the decisive battle with Kreutzwald, he felt he needed something capable of blocking the minor magical attacks the man would toss out, and so he had learned it.
After all, the spells Kreutzwald casually threw around for restraint were at least 6th Circle or 7th Circle in power.
—I am ready.
Purnell spoke with a solemn expression, and Hio nodded.
“Then take off!”
—Understood!
He stretched his staff toward Purnell, who flew forward at high speed.
“Skill—‘Manipulation’ is activating.”
Then an hourglass appeared, along with the gaunt hand of a ghost.
Purnell’s movements slowed drastically, and Hio’s mana drained away visibly.
—Thii…… iis…… theee maaaax…….
“Skill—‘Manipulation—Acceleration’ is activating.”
The ghostly hand twisted the clock in reverse, and Purnell’s time accelerated sharply.
—Fssht!
As always, Purnell rammed his head into the wall and bounced back.
“How is it? You can’t control it at all?”
—Urgh…… No. I think there is no need to continue this experiment.
“I see. You’re a ghost anyway, so it’s fine, isn’t it?”
—Even if it does not hurt, it feels strange! Being bounced off a wall is unpleasant, I say.
“Got it. Then next……”
Next was chronomancy, which froze the time around a target.
An even more enormous amount of mana drained away by the second than with Manipulation.
But it was also a spell worth that much and more.
“Skill—‘Temporal Rift’ is activating.”
The time around Purnell began to stop.
Since everything stopped, it was impossible to attack him, but the same applied to the opponent as well.
In other words, it could completely remove and isolate them from battle.
“I don’t know whether this will work on Kreutzwald or not, though.”
“Skill—‘Temporal Rift’ has been canceled.”
When the skill was canceled, the bound time was released again, and Purnell began to move.
“How is it? Do you feel like you could break out on your own?”
—Impossible. At least within the bounds of common sense as I know it, it cannot be undone. Even mana stops, and there is nothing that can move.
“It’d be nice if I could bind Kreutzwald with this.”
—However, even if one is excluded from battle, perception and vision remain intact, so you must be careful of that.
“……Got it.”
After practice ended, he returned to research.
The book he opened was the [Book of the Firmament].
It was for the sake of learning 7th Circle magic.
“I understand it, but the engraving process isn’t easy.”
Thanks to Drisella’s authority, he had no difficulty understanding it.
But the work of engraving the pattern was another matter entirely.
“Urgh…… This is seriously filthy complicated.”
The 7th Circle magic of the [Book of the Firmament].
The spell described as the Judgment of the Stars, commonly known as “Meteor,” was being prepared step by step like that.
* * *
Ailights’s scarlet eyes, resembling glittering rubies, swept through the air.
“Remaining Divinity Points: 11,755,094 Pt”
In truth, several days ago, she had already gathered enough Divinity Points to obtain most authorities.
The only thing she was troubled over was which one to choose among Venus’s many, many authorities.
“Authority—Venus’s Radiant Confession: 7,777,777 Pt”
“Authority—Venus’s Heart Scale: 8,800,000 Pt”
“Authority—Venus’s Seal of Desire: 9,000,000 Pt”
……
Venus had many authorities.
She had searched for the names of other gods and compared them, and Venus undoubtedly possessed an overwhelming number of authorities.
Even at a rough count, there seemed to be around twenty.
That meant she was that ancient, and that powerful a god.
……
“Authority—Venus’s Ecstatic Bewitchment: 6,400,000 Pt”
“Authority—Venus’s Powerless Love: 8,000,000 Pt”
“Authority—Venus’s Emotion Editing: 9,800,000 Pt”
“Authority—Venus’s Banquet of Chaos: 9,500,000 Pt”
The amount of points consumed was not small either.
It likely meant that each and every one of them was a powerful authority.
That made the decision all the more difficult, but in truth, she had more or less narrowed down which authority she would choose.
If she was going to do it, then she would choose the best.
The most expensive one, and the one that could produce the most certain performance.
That was how Ailights thought, and it was her nature.
“Hmm……”
Her white, slender finger continued scrolling down the authority window.
Searching for the best and most expensive authority.
“Authority—Venus’s Severance of Relations: 8,600,000 Pt”
“Authority—Venus’s Resonance Vibration: 9,750,000 Pt”
“Authority—Venus’s Swamp of Obsession: 9,999,000 Pt”
“Authority—Venus’s Thorn Contract: 10,000,000 Pt”
……
She had agonized over this part quite a bit as well.
They were not the most expensive, but they were expensive enough, and the abilities she could infer from the names of the authorities also seemed rather good.
What she had to prioritize choosing right now was a decisive power to use in the final battle against Kreutzwald.
An authority with that kind of ability.
So in the end, the core of the matter was the last two.
First, the highest-priced authority.
“Authority—Venus’s Mirror World: 12,000,000 Pt”
And the second was……
“Didn’t you say you’d gathered all the points? You still haven’t bought it?”
“Ah, Hio.”
Had she been lost in thought for too long?
Hio had come up beside Ailights, who had been staring at the authority window all day.
Ailights rose to her feet with her usual pretty eye-smile.
“I was just looking a little more.”
“Looks like there’s something bothering you.”
“Mm…… I wouldn’t say there isn’t.”
As expected of Hio.
How had he noticed that she was troubled by something and even asked her about it?
He was a person she simply couldn’t help but like.
“What’s bothering you? Is there some weird word in the authority name?”
A weird word.
There was one.
But that was not what was truly bothering her.
“No, it’s not that. There are just too many authorities, so I was thinking it over a bit more.”
What truly bothered her was a memory.
The memory of Venus she had seen in the Door of Memory.
—When the time comes, do not hesitate. Everything you do is love.
Words she had spoken to her under the pretext of a conversation with Ripue.
—It may be anger, and it may be joy. Obsession, anxiety, or perhaps……
Advice given with some future in mind.
—It may be sacrifice.
That was why she was troubled.
That was why she had delayed and delayed the decision, lingering in hesitation.
“Well, you’d know better than me, but still, if you’re really struggling, tell me. Let’s think it through together.”
“……Okay. I’ll think just a little longer.”
At the very bottom of the authority window.
The final authority placed side by side with “Venus’s Mirror World.”
“Authority—Venus’s Flower of Sacrifice: 11,500,000 Pt”
After glancing one last time at the authority window, Ailights soon closed it.
* * *
After the swift conquest of the 72nd floor, no particular incidents occurred.
Only that the 73rd floor opened a little faster than average.
Barely a month or so.
Even so, it was enough time to achieve meaningful results.
After all, he had learned two 7th Circle spells, including the firmament magic “Meteor.”
“What about you? You still haven’t decided on an authority?”
If there was a small variable, it was that Ailights still had not chosen an authority.
They were not going to fight Kreutzwald immediately, so it was better to choose carefully, but she was being far too careful.
Unlike the usual Ailights.
“I’ll clear this floor, come back, and decide right away.”
“Sure. Well, you know Venus best, after all.”
He said that and let it pass.
She seemed to be thinking seriously, and she did not look particularly inclined to talk about it, so he figured he could just check which authority she chose after returning from clearing the 73rd floor.
That was what he thought.
“Let’s move.”
Perhaps because it was an Abyss Gate that had opened after only a month.
This time, there was even less to prepare than on the previous floor.
Even so, they did not let their guard down, since they never knew what variables might arise, but it was true that the tension had lessened because they had become far too strong compared to the difficulty of the conquest.
“You have come.”
In front of the gate stood a group that had now become familiar.
Vitalianus, Freya, and Regarda.
With Hio and Ailights joining them as well, the expedition party was complete.
“Then let us enter immediately.”
Without any particular conversation, they headed straight toward the Abyss Gate of the 73rd floor.
“Abyss—You have successfully cleared the 73rd floor.”
“Abyss—The 73rd floor sinks into an unfathomably deep abyss.”
“Returning to the original space.”
The 73rd floor, too, was successfully cleared quickly without any particular variables.
If there was a variable, it came after the conquest had ended.
It occurred at the spot where everyone, including Hio, had gathered in front of the gate.
* * *
“You look like you have a great deal on your mind.”
The one who spoke first was Vitalianus.
Surprisingly, he had addressed not Hio, but Ailights.
It was not as if the two were on bad terms, but they were not close enough to have private chats either. Yet unusually, Vitalianus spoke to her first.
“……”
Ailights did not answer.
Whether she ignored him as she usually would, or whether she simply could not find anything to say,
she merely stood still, her gaze fixed on the sky without even looking at Vitalianus.
Vitalianus had spoken quietly in his own way, but perhaps because they had just finished the conquest and come out, his voice rang clearly in everyone’s ears.
“If I may offer one piece of advice, do not think too hard. There is no need to be swayed by another’s words either. Do as your heart leads you.”
“……Who are you to say that?”
“A meddlesome old man. One who is also somewhat skilled with a sword.”
From the conversation, it seemed there really was something there.
Ailights was troubled, and Vitalianus knew the answer.
At least, that was how it appeared in Hio’s eyes.
“Walk the path you believe to be right.”
“What do you know, acting like you understand everything?”
“Well…… just intuition, my dear. Intuition.”
Even in the face of Ailights’s sharp response, Vitalianus merely laughed it off.
Hio could not understand what the two were talking about.
So he was about to ask.
But.
“If that conversation is over, I have something to say as well.”
As soon as the words ended, Regarda stepped forward as if he had been waiting.
And at the words that followed, the previous conversation was pushed far into the back of Hio’s mind.
“I found the passage.”
Hio’s eyes flashed.
The passage Regarda spoke of was the door for their counterattack.
“……At last.”
The path to the abyss had opened.