Just a little farther.
If he took only one more step, they could end it.
Call it proof, perhaps.
“Guaaaagh!”
For the first time, a scream had burst from that monstrous bastard who would not die even with his neck severed.
A meticulously planned joint attack.
It was an ambush Kreutzwald would never have suffered had he been wary of them and acknowledged Hio.
At the same time as the dimensional transfer, Hio bound Kreutzwald in place, if only for a moment.
In the meantime, the priests first erased the abyssal energy overflowing throughout the area.
Divine power weakened the abyss and further strengthened the expeditionary force, and so, just as planned, Kreutzwald was rendered powerless, unable to do anything.
Which meant that, with just a little more, they truly could have achieved his complete annihilation.
But.
「All accumulated splendor has been consumed.」
「Authority - ‘Splendor’s Endurance’ has been canceled.」
「Authority - ‘Drisellai Origin Breath’ has been canceled.」
It was not enough.
Even after pouring in everything, they fell one step short.
It was Hio’s first time activating two major Authorities at once, and the drain on his mind was greater than expected. As a result, both Authorities ended at the same time.
“Ugh……”
Hio, his eyes half-rolled back, staggered backward.
His body had endured beyond its limits.
As if his still-unripe flesh was burning from having handled two Authorities simultaneously, streams of pure white smoke were leaking out from his skin and mouth.
It had been an operation in which everything meshed together, but in the end, the core of it was Hio Pavlenko’s power.
“Mage-nim……!”
Irina reacted quickly, changing her divine power into healing divinity and directing it toward Hio.
Because of that, the pressure they had to exert on Kreutzwald loosened, but it was likely no longer meaningful.
The pressure that needed to continue without interruption until complete annihilation had practically vanished along with the Authorities.
—Kihik.
A bizarre sound began to echo across the battlefield.
A strange sound that, no matter how one listened to it, could not belong to a human.
It truly was only an instant.
The instant in which the Authorities vanished and Hio staggered with a groan so faint it could barely be heard.
By the time Airaitsu’s gaze briefly turned to Hio and then returned to Kreutzwald, his form had already disappeared.
The tattered body with its severed neck had vanished without a trace.
What existed in its place was an abyss, settling thickly over the field.
An abyss that descended without the slightest concern, even in a space filled with the divine power of dozens of priests.
Only, it had a form.
It was not some vague abyss, but an abyss existing as an enormous shape large enough to surround the entire divine domain.
Together with two pitch-black eyes.
—Grrr……
It was not difficult to guess what that was.
“……Kreutzwald.”
That must be his true form.
The real form in which he, as the master of the abyss, could draw out the utmost extent of his power.
Still, there was room to hope, because at a glance, his condition did not look good.
All the attacks and pressure up to now had been effective, and thanks to that, he clearly did not seem to be intact.
That was what Airaitsu thought, and the remaining ninety-eight members of the expedition must have reached a similar conclusion.
“He’s on the verge of death! Drive him back!”
All manner of skills poured toward the enormous abyss that soared up to the sky.
Holy divinity pierced through the darkness and reached Kreutzwald.
Freyja’s magic, her Dragon Words.
Gale’s shining aura and countless other forces rushed toward the abyss, but—
“……”
There was only silence.
There was no noise, no impact from the collision of power against power.
If one had to give a reason, there was only one.
Because it was the abyss.
Their power was infinitely insufficient to fill the abyss.
It was swallowed, and swallowed again.
Skills, magic, aura—none possessed enough strength to reach the end of that endlessly deep abyss.
Small and light.
Skills, Dragon Words, aura—on the continent, they were absolute powers. But this was the abyss.
Every force was devoured without leaving a trace.
—Krrr……
The abyss waved a hand.
Whether that was truly a hand or something else, no one could know for certain, but it was clear that something had been swung.
And the result was horrific.
“Guaaaagh!”
“Kraaagh!”
Half of the priests pouring out divine power sprayed blood and plummeted to the ground.
When it did something similar once more, the same number fell again, crashing into the earth with a thunderous roar.
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
Gale charged forward, shouting something that could have been a scream or a cry of despair, only to be crushed by the abyss.
This was what it meant to fight the master of the abyss within the abyss.
『Boundary』
『Bind』
『Seal』
『Barrier』
Freyja hurled Dragon Words without pause, but they were useless all the same.
Even if the language of dragons was absolute, it might have worked on Kreutzwald while he maintained a human form.
But it could neither seize a formless abyss nor fill all of its endless depth.
—Kehek.
The two eyes of the abyss turned toward Freyja.
In an instant, the abyss filled the space around her.
Her wings, seized by the abyss, folded with a crack—and though she twisted her body as if struggling desperately, unleashing all manner of Dragon Words—
Kwaaaaaang!
Entangled with the abyss, she too ended up falling.
So now, there was no choice but to do it.
Regarda could not fight, and Freyja had also been neutralized with ease.
Hio, too, was in no state to regain consciousness for some time, so in the end, wasn’t she the only one left?
Airaitsu turned her head and looked for a moment at the unconscious Hio, then steeled her heart.
Venus’s words—remember that everything you do is love—came vividly to mind.
Then didn’t it feel as though strength she had never had before was rising in her, if only a little?
Kreutzwald had become something beyond a monster.
The reason they could not finish off the one who had been brought to the brink of annihilation was simple.
They were overwhelmingly lacking in power.
Kreutzwald, whose consciousness itself had grown faint, was moving as one with the abyss.
In other words, to lead him to complete annihilation, they needed a force strong enough to strike the entire abyss.
Unfortunately, Airaitsu did not possess such power.
Most of the Authorities she held primarily governed emotions and controlled them, and the powers and skills she possessed were of that sort as well.
With only one exception: “Venus’s Flower of Sacrifice.”
「Will you use Authority - ‘Venus’s Flower of Sacrifice’?」
The system window asked again, just when she had finally made up her mind.
As if asking whether she was truly going to use this.
As if saying that if she did, she really would die.
She had already purchased the Authority.
Because of that, even though she had never used it before, she knew roughly what it could do.
Using it did not mean the caster would necessarily die.
If one were someone on the level of Venus, the former God of Love, the side effects could be resolved by becoming powerless for several years.
But for Airaitsu, who had not built up such a level of existence, death was certain.
And Kreutzwald, who would receive that much power, would also certainly be annihilated.
So there was no reason to hesitate.
A world without Hio, a world in which he was dead and gone, was a world she never wanted to experience again—a world more dreadful than anything.
Her arm rose slowly.
Her index finger, gradually extending, pointed at that mass of abyss that had seized the sky.
Even then, her eyes and head remained fixed on Hio.
「Activating Authority - ‘Venus’s Flower of Sacrifice’…….」
But that will was blocked by an even more intense intent.
“Did I not say so before?”
A golden light flashed.
The stride of a golden lion, brilliantly illuminating the darkness.
“I told you to do as you wished.”
Airaitsu’s head slowly turned.
She saw the lion’s intent, shining brighter than ever before, dazzling enough to blind.
“This…… is what I want to do.”
Just what did Vitalianus know?
“No. What you wished for was to live happily, for a long, long time, with that mage over there, was it not?”
“……”
She was left speechless.
“Then that is what you should do. You are still young, after all.”
“In this situation, what are you even……”
“It is a good time. I had days like that too. They were so hard I thought I might die, yet they were also enjoyable. Well, looking back, I do not think it was quite to the extent of what you have now.”
It was a power she had never seen before.
She knew Vitalianus was strong, but the power she felt from him was on a completely different level.
The golden light, growing stronger by the moment, burned so brightly that even Airaitsu found it difficult to keep her eyes open.
The presence felt in each and every step overwhelmed the area.
How could this be possible?
“So step back. Every power has its proper time. Now is my turn to step forward.”
“……No, it’s certain only if I do it. You’re the one who should step back.”
Even so, she was uneasy.
An incomprehensibly powerful force was emanating from Vitalianus’s entire body, but in the end, was he not human?
She could not be certain it would be as sure as Venus’s Flower of Sacrifice.
“Airaitsu, my friend.”
But despite Airaitsu’s attempt to stop him, Vitalianus did not step back.
“I have spent my entire life running at the very front.”
He had always been a man who stood at the head.
From the very front, he looked the farthest ahead, and he sought to reach the highest place.
“And because of that, I missed far too much.”
Because he ran too far ahead, he could not look beside him, nor could he look around.
He failed to recognize the pain of the friend most precious to him, and that became a lifelong regret, stirring painfully in his heart even now.
“There was a time when I wondered whether that mage over there might follow the same path as I did. But soon, I realized just how useless a worry that was.”
The mage, Hio Pavlenko, was different from him.
“Because the mage has you.”
Because he had someone who cherished him sincerely and loved him more than life itself.
Not people who looked at his power, heard his name, coveted his abilities, and wrapped their hearts in lies.
But a person who loved him purely, without a single speck of darkness.
“So from now on, simply continue loving him like that.”
The golden light, having reached its peak, finally began to consume even Vitalianus’s body.
“……You?”
Only then did Airaitsu realize, if only roughly, the reason behind that incomprehensible power.
He was using his own life, his own flesh, as nourishment to draw out intent to its utmost extreme.
The pinnacle of intent, something even the current Hio could not imitate.
At that, Airaitsu instinctively tried to step forward, but the calm voice that rang out stopped her in place.
“Please do not insult me by moving any farther than that.”
Vitalianus’s words halted Airaitsu.
They left her unable to say anything.
“Have you forgotten what the continent calls me?”
He had been a hero his entire life.
He had been a hero from birth, and he had sought to remain one until the moment of his death.
For such a man, being made to stand by and watch another sacrifice themselves was itself an insult.
“Though, in truth, now I simply wish to see the face of an old friend.”
Vitalianus Mahel walked forward once more.
The hero of the continent.
The great Star of the Sword, respected by all people with a single blade.
On the battlefield he walked through, many stars were falling.
Like shooting stars falling through a black night sky.
Countless stars, blocked by the abyss, plummeted mercilessly to the ground.
Each and every one of them could only be called a hero.
And among them, he sought to become the brightest star of all.
“Think of it as this old man’s final greed, and understand.”
The abyss looked at him.
He, too, looked at the abyss.
“Do you remember the Memory Gate?”
Vitalianus drew his sword.
With that single act, the flow of the air changed.
“When you saw the memories of the past.”
Countless heroes, blocked by the black sky, fell one after another.
They vomited blood, lost their light, and plummeted to the earth.
Within it, the most radiant lion raised his sword toward the sky.
“I alone saw the future.”
And then he shot upward as if exploding.
As the lion became a streak of light and burrowed into the center of the abyss, there was not a shred of hesitation, not the slightest trace of fear in his form.
Just before that—
“There, you were smiling so very happily.”
Vitalianus’s final words must have reached only Airaitsu.
“Please, do not lose that smile.”