“How many people know about this operation?”
At Irina’s cautious question, Hio chuckled and waved a hand dismissively.
“Act like you used to. Don’t be so stiff.”
The Irina of now treated Hio far too carefully.
It was only natural. He was the benefactor who had saved her time and again, and now he was her direct superior… or so one ought to call him.
In any case, had they not ended up in a relationship of god and apostle?
Even so, he did not want to appear mysterious and awe-inspiring even in front of Irina.
It was not as if he was desperately short on Divine Points, and more than that, his desire to return to their former relationship was greater.
Not the relationship between a god bearing the heavy burden of the continent’s future and the continent’s sole apostle.
But the relationship between a blustering mage, all lies from head to toe, and a pure girl who knew nothing.
A relationship that had been close without reserve, and precisely because of that, one in which they could smile at ease from the heart.
“Mm…”
At Hio’s words, Irina pondered for a moment whether it was truly all right.
“All right!”
Only then did she return to the bright, cheerful girl Hio remembered.
Irina herself, just a person, having thrown off the masks of saintess and apostle.
Still, if there was one thing that had changed from before…
“In any case, how many people know this important information?”
It was that she no longer merely grinned and laughed without a care.
She was Irina, who wanted to be nothing more than a girl, but she was also a saintess and an apostle.
At her fairly serious question, Hio answered with a similarly serious expression.
“You and me. Airaitz… and I plan to inform everyone in the expedition.”
“Those former possessed ones, too?”
“…I intend to tell Antiphus the plan to some extent. I won’t take him along for the final assault, but he should know.”
“Is that because you don’t trust them?”
“No, the opposite. It means I’ll be placing far too heavy a burden on Antiphus…”
It was an operation Hio, Sylvia, and Airaitz had devised together at the very beginning.
The so-called final assault.
Searching for the passage and forming the allied army—all of it was for this one final moment.
Which meant, if anything, they were entrusting an even heavier burden to those who would be left behind.
“While we carry out the operation, protect the rest of the forces. And…”
If, by chance, we fail, take care of what comes after.
That kind of heavy burden.
It was a request he could make because it was Antiphus.
And because he had watched him for years, he could be certain.
“I understand, but… will it be all right with so few people?”
“It won’t be enough. That’s why I’m going to properly test the effects of Dimensional Transfer and pick as many people as possible within the permitted range.”
This was before they had even tested Dimensional Transfer.
In other words, it was an operation he had already been thinking of and planning from then.
“Then… I’ll select high-ranking priests who are strong in divine arts.”
“I’m counting on you.”
“But if a large number of priests, myself included, are pulled away, the main force…”
He intended to投入 Irina and all the high-ranking priests into the operation.
If that happened, the burden the allied army had to bear would only grow heavier.
“That’s why we have to succeed.”
Irina nodded with a solemn gaze.
“I’ll make sure no one says a word.”
It was an operation that had begun with such resolve.
That was why they had always been mentally prepared.
In fact, they knew it was more likely to happen once night fell.
Even amid the chaos of the battle against the monstrosities, they had continued to pay attention.
To the signal flare that would pierce the dark sky and soar high.
“Stop them!”
“We can’t be pushed back to the passage!”
That was why, even amid the din of the battlefield, several key figures kept glancing up at the sky.
For the signal that would someday appear.
“Protect the priests!”
“If we hold out, victory will be ours in the end!”
They could not tell anyone in the allied army.
The moment even a single word leaked out into the Abyss, there was no knowing what consequences it might bring.
Everything could fall apart.
“They’re coming! Over there—”
And then, at that moment.
Craaaack—
A thunderous roar, as though the sky itself were splitting in two.
A thin violet line shot upward.
“…It’s here.”
It was the signal they had been waiting for.
Irina and the other high-ranking priests.
And those who had awakened skills that amplified power and weakened the opponent.
Their bodies, too, were enveloped in the same violet light as the sky above.
Irina tried to leave one final word behind.
「Transcendent Skill—‘Dimensional Transfer’ is beginning.」
But before she could, her body vanished as though being sucked away.
“…Kreutzwald.”
The moment she seemed to have been moved somewhere else.
Without even checking her surroundings, Irina began pouring all her divine power toward the ground beneath her feet.
* * *
「Target—‘Hio Pavlenko’ and 99 others. Beginning Dimensional Transfer.」
This was the most important moment.
There could not be even the slightest deviation.
And so, just before crossing dimensions.
「Authority—‘Drisella’s Origin Breath’ is activating.」
The first thing to activate was Drisella’s Authority.
Its limit was still barely five minutes.
After that, Hio would be as good as removed from the battle.
Everything had to be finished within five minutes.
Craaaack—
The sky split, and his body and soul were sucked in.
With eyes imbued with violet radiance, he gazed into the rift between dimensions.
The power of mana, situated distantly within it.
He understood all of it, but there was no time to marvel.
Because he had to be the first to make the opening move.
So he watched, without blinking even once, that fleeting instant as they pierced through dimensions.
The skill he unfolded at the exact moment of arrival was a single one.
「Chronomancy—‘Temporal Rift’ is activating.」
A spell of time freezing.
Time beneath his feet froze.
The familiar face of Kreutzwald, looking up at this place.
The ash, dust, time, space, and everything else drifting around him—all of it stopped in a miracle-like spell.
But it was only one second.
Crack, crack—
Despite the word “freezing,” it had only held Kreutzwald in place for a mere second or so.
The thousand-year-old monster had instantly broken even the Chronomancy activated through Drisella’s Authority.
Of course, this was something he had anticipated to some extent.
The one second now was not a second to be let pass easily as always, but a second more precious than a thousand pieces of gold.
「Chronomancy—‘Manipulation’ is activating.」
He struck Kreutzwald, who had escaped from the severance of time, with Manipulation.
Kreutzwald’s movements slowed sharply.
This time it would be undone in less than a second, but it did not matter.
Because in that interval, the final expedition of one hundred people was pouring everything they had down toward the ground beneath their feet.
Irina spread her wings of light wide and poured out an immense divinity.
Not only Irina, but the masters of divine arts she had carefully selected, those who held great divine power, and more.
Thanks to them, struggling as if vomiting out everything they possessed, a bright and sacred light—enough that this could be called not the Abyss but a sanctuary—converged on Kreutzwald.
All manner of interference skills accompanied that divinity.
Wind and grass bound his body.
Skills that covered his eyes and confused his senses ran rampant.
「Skill—‘Earthbound Shackle’ is activating.」
A 7th Circle spell, the Shackles of the Earth, manifested as a skill and restrained Kreutzwald’s body.
And using Drisella’s Origin Breath, Hio seized every bit of mana around Kreutzwald.
As long as the Authority lasted, he would not be able to use mana.
It did not end there.
The instant his movements were sealed, the ones who shot forward like light were Vitalianus and Gale.
Originally, Regarda had been meant to throw himself in, sacrificing his body to take Gale’s place, but because he was in no condition even to move, Gale stood in for him.
Even so, it was enough.
Gale, too, had awakened intent to some degree, even if it was not perfect.
He should be capable of inflicting sufficient damage on Kreutzwald’s body, which was the Abyss itself.
Slash—the sound of cutting rang out loudly.
Vitalianus’s blow cut through Kreutzwald’s neck, and Gale’s following sword severed both arms.
Kwaaaang—!
Claire and Melissa’s skills, imbued with even a small amount of intent, erupted against Kreutzwald’s body, and into that ragged flesh, through the gaps in the wounds, radiant divinity surged without hesitation.
Hissss—black smoke leaked out in place of blood, only to burn away without a trace beneath the tremendous baptism of divinity.
In that state, he invoked his second Authority.
「Authority—‘Patience of Splendor’ is activating.」
All manner of splendor burst forth above Hio’s head as if exploding.
Energy embroidered the sky and settled there like stars.
Its name was splendor.
Splendor he had accumulated without rest ever since leaving the End of the World.
For this very moment, he had activated the Authority whenever he found the chance, storing it up.
Now, every kind of splendor was being released all at once.
A miracle created in a single instant by the accumulation of the energy called splendor.
Such was that Authority.
「Consuming accumulated splendor.」
Compared to Drisella’s Origin Breath, Patience of Splendor, which could be called Hio’s unique Authority, had not had much impact.
But because it was already his, he had known inwardly.
The power it held when one endured and endured, then unleashed it all at once.
Just one time.
An Authority that existed for one final use, just as he had endured and endured until he finally brought his skill into bloom.
A miracle created in reality with that accumulated energy.
「Hoping for the target’s annihilation.」
The miracle Hio wished to create was Kreutzwald’s eternal annihilation.
The bastard had not died.
Because he was not human.
Because he was the Abyss itself.
Even if his head was cut off, even if he lost his limbs, even if his body was torn to shreds.
The damage would be great, but complete annihilation could not be achieved.
Hio was certain of that.
And so the Authority, understanding his will, headed splendidly toward Kreutzwald.
The dark and dreary Abyss.
The bright, yet desperate, divinity.
And between them, an unfitting splendor.
「Proceeding with the complete annihilation of target—‘Kreutzwald.’」
Hio’s intent was imbued into the Authority.
The red calendula that had endured for a lifetime.
The splendid flower that bloomed at the end of patience.
Puh-buh-buhng—!
The accumulated energy became flames and rapidly disappeared.
It was energy he had diligently gathered, but had it been insufficient?
It was vanishing at a visibly rapid pace.
However, just as much, Kreutzwald’s body, unable to move an inch, was gradually fading.
The body of the deep, dark Abyss grew a shade paler.
It became so indistinct that it seemed it might vanish like smoke.
“More… pour out more divinity!”
“Urgh…”
“This is the end!”
Irina and the priests dragged up and poured forth every last bit of divinity remaining at the very bottom of themselves.
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
At last, a scream burst from Kreutzwald’s severed neck.
A scream so terribly unfamiliar and awkward.
His neck and both arms had been cut off, and his body was in tatters, but paradoxically, this could be called the most human Kreutzwald had ever appeared in all the time they had watched him.
“Just a little… just a little more…!”
But still, perhaps there had not been enough time.
「All accumulated splendor has been consumed.」
「Authority—‘Patience of Splendor’ is canceled.」
「Authority—‘Drisella’s Origin Breath’ is canceled.」
The omnipotence dwelling within Hio’s body vanished in an instant.