Chapter 408

The explosion was silent.
Silence descends.
The life force that burst forth from Ceniel’s destruction was as colorful as a rainbow.
Waves of power rippled out from the loss of the bowl.
“Ceniel is—!”
Navardoze’s wings have fluttered.
Despair crossed her face.
The rocks that made up Ceniel’s body were crumbling away without a trace.
After a long pause, I looked down at the knife.
“The Aurors are—.”
The sword was still tinged with the glow of the setting sun.
Beautiful as always.
Once again, I aimed for Akasha, but the result was the same.
His form may be bathed in sunset, but it is not colored.
Not dragged to my spacing.
I’d never seen anything like it.
Lin’s nervous voice rang in my ears.
“—Ronan. Something’s wrong.”
“I think so, too.”
My palms were getting wet with sweat.
The sunset faded as the auror was removed.
I was desperately trying to regain my composure.
Akasha, who had been focusing on Ceniel, looked in my direction for the first time.
“——!”
The flames of Navardoze had consumed his mask, and all of the cloth that had been attached to it was gone.
The unadorned mask was a stark white color.
But it wasn’t plain white.
The mirror-like surface reflected everything Akasha looked at.
The dusk is falling, and Ceniel’s lifeblood is stirring like a living thing.
To my own stupid face.
Suddenly, a long, thin crack drew across Akasha’s mask.
“Mouth?
With both tails up, the shape resembled a crescent moon.
He was nervous because he had never seen anything like it before.
『■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ !』
A bizarre tone rang out, a tone I had never heard in my two lives.
“Stars, you fucking—.”
I reflexively cursed.
It was the scream of an infernal machine in action.
Deafening screams erupted from those exiting the headquarters.
“Hmmmm!”
“What, what?! Woof—!”
Some people would just sit there and vomit.
Even the resistance, which had spent decades fighting the bald men, was helpless.
The unearthly sounds were more than just unpleasant, they were mind-boggling.
“They’re laughing at us.”
My hand tightened on the hilt of my sword.
I realized that was Akasha’s laugh.
I could see him smirking behind that mask.
I couldn’t take it anymore because my mind was going crazy.
The skin on his neck and forehead rose.
The soul-crushing clown was ironically the thing that kept me sane.
“You asshole! What’s so funny!”
“Ro, Ronan!”
Navarordze exclaimed.
But my body was already launched toward Akasha.
The roar of the wind pounds on your eardrums.
Senniel’s life force was still hanging in the air.
If the auror doesn’t work, you can just cut yourself.
I closed the distance in a flash and swung my sword.
“Fuck you!”
Akasha was still staring at me.
The mouth-like crack healed and disappeared.
He slowly raised his arm.
My sword was much faster, but that’s nothing to celebrate.
Kagagagagak!
The strafing began to slow down rapidly.
“Kkkkkk—!”
The muscles in your arm are swollen.
A ragged pulse pounds through his chest.
It’s that feeling I had before.
An unseen force held the sword.
No matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t go any further.
The blade stopped in midair, unable to reach Akasha.
“Fuck.”
The mask cracked once more.
Akasha’s petite finger pointed at me.
Pinch and stop.
It’s a knockout punch.
“Not this again—!”
It sucks that you know about it and there’s nothing you can do about it.
I sheathed my sword and took a defensive stance.
Kwahhh-!
A shockwave hit me like a meteorite.
“Crack!”
Your eyes glaze over.
The muscles in your back reflexively clench.
Extremely developed motor skills are not always a good thing.
A classic example is this situation.
Even in the near-fall, I could anticipate future pain.
It was about to crash and roar.
The pain would be bone-crushing.
But that didn’t happen.
billion-!
The impact was like pudding compared to the ground and traveled down my spine.
There was no thunderous boom.
As I quickly turned my head, I saw a muscular deer crouching over me.
“Holy shit, Fantasia!”
“Uhhhh—is that okay?”
Fantasia said hello.
Honestly, it wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good by comparison.
There was nothing where his left arm used to be.
It was a clean cut, like Letancier’s calf.
Akasha’s body was a mangled mess, like a wagon caught in a landslide.
We couldn’t let Fantasion get killed.
I bounced to my feet and reached out.
“Thank you. Here, get up.”
“No—poof, I’m done here—I’ll be judged for my past misdeeds, just like in Rtanshi——. Enough of me, go rescue that demon dragon buried over there—.”
“Stop being an asshole and get up, man. If you can’t move, at least get somewhere safe—”
I hadn’t even finished my sentence.
Suddenly, there was a binge overhead.
Almost simultaneously, I looked up, and Fantasia and I froze.
“What the hell is that?”
“Your health is—.”
Akasha was up to something.
He stretched his long arms skyward, muttering unintelligible words.
『■■■■—■■—■■■■.』
Ceniel’s scattered life force swirled around him.
The sight of hundreds of millions of particles swirling and converging was like watching the birth of a typhoon.
The limb that had been destroyed by Navarrozze had already been repaired.That’s when the particles came together.
Kaaaaaaaah!!!
The life in the sky had turned black.
Night has fallen on a sunset world.
The shape of the vortex has changed.
A huge, pitch-black orb, devoid of any light, hovered above Akasha.
“—ah.”
Fantasia bemoaned.
His eyes, once blazing with determination despite his grievous wounds, turned cold.
The raucous crowd quieted down in no time.
Their eyes were all fixed on the sphere in the sky.
I couldn’t figure out what that was.
But everyone had a hunch.
That it’s never going to have a positive impact on the world.
The darkness from Ceniel’s life force was spinning madly, radiating destructive energy around him.
Akasha’s gaze was directed downward, suggesting that she was probably thinking of dropping it to the ground.
One corner of my mouth lifted of its own accord.
“That’s one wild ride.”
At this point, I’m not surprised.
You’ve already gotten the shock of your life when magic doesn’t cut through and Aurors don’t work.
That lump was probably the same.
It won’t cut well.
It stuck to the sword like bitumen and tried to kill me.
That doesn’t change what you need to do.
“Let’s go. Lean.”
“Yes.”
Grabbed the hilt of the sword.
It didn’t matter if I won or lost.
I must cut that out.
We had to show people, as we’ve always done, that there’s nothing you can’t cut.
I could hear Fantasia’s disapproval from behind me, but I ignored it.
My thighs bulged, ready to leap.
I was just about to hit the pavement and leap.
【Akasha-!】
A gruff voice rang out from the far side of my vision.
I didn’t even have time to turn my head.
A world that was black is now red.
A red dragon, huge enough to block the sky, soared toward Akasha.
“Sister!”
[I won’t tolerate any more bullying!
It was the real Navarro.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it in that form.
Two of the wings are already endless.
The gaping maw was like a tiny sun, burning through the gaping maw.
『——!』
Akasha, who had been raising the sphere, reached out urgently.
Five fingers were extended at once.
Pfft!
The shock that had crushed Ceniel also hit Navarordze.
Red blood gushed from the inside of her gills.
[Kaaaahhh!!!].
But Navarordze wasn’t done.
Eventually, she pushed up a weight class and managed to bite Akasha.
Navarordze flew off with Akasha and was swallowed by the sphere.
Pow!
Crimson flames erupted from every corner of the dark sphere.
“Sister!”
I screamed.
My heart sank.
The tension has been released from my swollen legs.
“Damn it, why did you do that—!”
My hot head went cold.
I couldn’t understand it.
It was like throwing myself into hell.
Inside the Dark Sphere, given the power of Akasha and Sennael, it would never be peaceful.
“There’s got to be a way.
Maybe it’s just me, but when my sister is involved, it’s a different story.
Suddenly, I realized how reckless I had been.
For a moment, I felt like my head was spinning with a sense of mission.
“If I fail, it’s over.
I needed to chill.
If it was a problem that could be solved with grit, it would have been solved already.
Akasha was the worst enemy I’ve ever faced.
We had to do something about it.
I had to find a way around it, or get stronger.
But how?
My overloaded head felt dizzy.
It was like every single brain cell was burning nonstop.
The sphere that had swallowed them both was still churning with darkness and flame.
I was going through all my memories, from the time I babbled to now.
A place in the north flashed through my mind like an island battle.
“Ah!”
“—Ronan?”
I couldn’t help but sigh.
In despair, Fantasia shed a tear of embarrassment.
I didn’t answer and started running.
This is the direction that Fantasia pointed to earlier.
Soon enough, a man buried in a pile of rubble came into view.
In Quarter Dragon, Orse was passed out with his eyes rolled back in his head.
“Orse! Orse!”
“Kwak—kulk, kulk—!”
“Damn it, wake up, asshole!”
I ran out of time.
I drew my sword and unleashed a blast.
Kwaaaaang-!
The pile of rubble holding Orse down exploded into dozens of pieces.
After a few slaps, his pupils regained their position.
“Grrr… What the hell happened to me…”
“I’m stuck here after a one-sided beating from that wizard, and I need your help if I’m not going to die right now.”
“Kool-Aid! Kuluk, help me—?”
“Yes. I need you. Fly to where I say.”
I semi-forced an upswing.
He was coughing up blood every time he coughed, so it seemed like the injury was pretty deep.
It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is.
Every second counts.
I couldn’t imagine what she was fighting in that darkness.
I pointed to the pit where the headquarters had been pulled out.
“I’m going to the Good King of Giants. It’s not far from here.”