Then the two of them stared down at the pope and the king standing in their way.
“Why?”
“How have you returned?”
The darkness in Maria’s heart had made her continue to reject others. And as long as she rejected others, Linus’s consciousness would have never returned. Complete, perfect shackles. When those shackles had been broken, the pope and king were confused. Linus smiled confidently and readjusted his bow.
“Immediately after I understand everything, lo and behold, the real culprits are right here in front of me. Can’t say the timing could be better, to happily beat the shit out of you.” Linus reached for his quiver and prepared for his next attack. Facing him, the pope and king once again branched off their spine and multiplied their faces.
“If you refuse our salvation—”
✦ ✦ ✦
“—we will scatter your flesh and blood and let you writhe in agony.” Hundreds of faces spread out, encircling the two of them. A disgusting, gruesome spectacle filled their field of vision. But of course, there was no fear whatsoever on either Linus or Maria’s faces.
“My dear Maria, did you hear what my plan is?”
“Yes. I’m ready, any time.”
“Okay, in that case, let’s tear these guys apart together!” Their hearts were literally connected. Which meant that words were unnecessary—they knew what they had to do next. After Linus nocked his arrow, Maria held her hands over it.
“Judgment…” Linus’s arrow changed shape, into a sword of light, and he pointed it at the enemy.
“Cluster!” The sword that was released shattered in midair, splitting into pieces. Then becoming countless rays of light and drawing arcs in the air, they severed almost all of the necks of the pope and king.
“No matter how much you chop us up—”
“—our body will—” Their freshly severed heads fell like dead leaves blown by the wind. Linus didn’t fail to notice that one of the necks was the starting point for their regeneration. He quickly reloaded for this next shot.
“I see it! The core’s location!” With that, he fired two arrows at the same time. “Eat this!” With the Reversal core attached to his wrist, Linus unleashed a powerful attack at his intended targets, putting all of his being into it, harnessing the power of Reversal. The enemy moved the Origin cores within their body, and as long as the cores remained, their body would continue to regenerate over and over. In addition, because two humans were connected together, there were two cores within their body.
To destroy those cores simultaneously, you would need to cut the enemy’s body into tiny pieces, determine where the regeneration started form, and then pinpoint the location of the cores. Of course, this kind of strategy required dynamic visual acuity that surpassed the speed of regeneration as well as agility on the part of the person pulling off the feat, in order to work. But Linus Radiants had both. Thanks to wind magic, the arrows curved as if they had a mind of their own and pierced the cores.
“How foolish… You choose to refuse mercy?” Suddenly, their regeneration stopped, and the decay of their body began. “You choose the path of suffering, Saint…?!”
The two men continued to spew vile curses at Maria, even now. Linus pulled Maria close to him. “Don’t listen to poor losers unwilling to admit defeat, not for a second.”
When he whispered those words into her ear, a smile appeared on Maria’s face, and she nodded. Then Linus made a declaration of victory, aimed at the two men as they faded away.
“I’m going to make my Maria happy. There’s no other path ahead for us but that.” Neither the pope nor the king had anything left they could say in response.