Lucifyra, in Gizelotte’s body, stands on a boulder in a desolate field. The Divine Blade of Light─one of the seven sublime weapons─rests at her side.
What on earth is going on?
She shudders as she stares at the capital walls in the distance.
What…is that thing? A bunch of metallic objects…conjoined together? And they became a…humanoid… Is this some sort of joke?
The beast was successfully developed enough in size and strength to devastate the impermeable capital wall. The plan was to ram down the walls and rampage through the city.
Charlotte and her comrades’ interference was well anticipated, but not to this extent.
Why was Charlotte the one to face the beast and not Shiva?
Lucifyra had surmised that the girl had transferred most of her powers into Shiva to hoodwink the God-Killer.
Charlotte’s powers are, in truth, nothing exceptionally out of the realms of man.
Which was why Lucifyra was so certain that Charlotte would determine Shiva to be the suitable contender for the synthetic beast.
The fact that Charlotte’s firm defense can only be stripped by collecting special cards has been disproven. Her protection would’ve been lowered while Shiva was dealing with the beast.
It would’ve been the perfect opportunity to assault her and put her─and by extension, Shiva─away for good. Everything was supposed to work out.
That wretched humanoid structure… Charlotte and her comrades must be inside it. I just know it! I’d figured Charlotte would be safeguarded inside some sort of magic item during Shiva’s battle, but this is beyond…
Had Charlotte’s only means of defense been an ordinary magic item, there would’ve been ways to get around it. Gizelotte’s weapon, the Divine Blade of Light─which has been passed down since the mythical ages─could’ve worked.
But who would’ve thought that humanoid structure would have offensive capabilities too…
There’s no chance of winning.
Nobody could pull off such a feat except for…
“This must be your doing, Shivaaaaaa!!!”
Lucifyra looks up to the sky with murderous spite. Her eyes fall upon…
“That’s right,” replies Shiva. “And I’m here to settle the score with my own hands. Are you ready to meet your fate, Gizelotte─no, Lucifyra the Devil Lord.”
Snap!
With a snap of his fingers, the scenery goes white.
All white. They’re standing in a blank space.
The only thing that exists are the gridlines beneath their feet. They seem to stretch on for miles on end.
Teleportation magic…? No. This appears to be nothing more than a barrier with color added in. Impressive how he could’ve kept a barrier of this scale hidden all this time.
Lucifyra almost loses her cool, but she’s instantly able to compose herself.
Which means he’s made extensive preparations. He’s not to be taken lightly.
However, that doesn’t mean she’s at a disadvantage.
Shiva says, “Well, we’ll settle things soon enough. You wanted me to remove that collar, didn’t you?”
She can’t see through his black helmet, but she can imagine his expression underneath is a condescending grin.
The prisoner’s collar─the spell that Shiva had ensnared Gizelotte with.
Its purpose is to keep her head connected to her body. Without the collar’s magic, her head would detach from her neck and repel each other.
Victory may as well be Shiva’s. She was entirely under his control.
“Heh, heh heh heh…”
Lucifyra knows that, too. However…
“You thought I didn’t take any countermeasures?” says Lucifyra.
She draws the sword from her hip and tosses its sheath aside.
“You and your imbecilic Ancient Magic!” She presses the platinum blade to the collar on her throat.
Silently, the crude collar splits into two. Clank. A dry sound echoes as the two metal pieces hit the floor.
“Wh-What…?” gasps Shiva.
Lucifyra’s body is still intact.
Now this is the true power of the Divine Blade of Light. There’s no magic spell that my blade cannot break.
The hidden powers of the divine sword that not even the great sage Granfelt─let alone Gizelotte─knew about.
The original wielder of the blade is none other than Lucifyra. At the time, the sword wasn’t referred to as “divine,” but the Devil Lord was familiar with all of its functions and ways to unlock them.
Shiva appears to be dumbstruck, but there’s no need to explain any of that to him.
The Devil Lord says, “You’ve made so many preparations, yet they were all in vain. It must feel like cold water to your face.”
The Black Knight isn’t the only one who came prepared.
I still have a few cards up my sleeve. Quite a few, actually.
The table is set.
One against one. The chance to come out on top is now.
Clang!
The sound of breaking chains is ringing from deep inside Gizelotte’s body.
Cla-Clang, cla-clang!
Breaking one or two links wouldn’t be enough. All of the chain links have just been shattered. Lucifyra only needs Gizelotte’s body to hold out for a few minutes.
“AAAUUUGHHH!!”
The intensity of the mana emanating from Lucifyra distorts her surroundings─mana so dense that an ordinary person would be knocked to their feet if they came close.
During mythical times, legendary mages whose mana levels were in the triple digits would go to war to contend for supremacy. Lucifyra, too, had faced the Three Primordial Gods at some point. Her powers have since declined, but she’s still able to maintain eighty percent of what she was once capable of.
“Very well, let us settle this once and for all!” the entity says in Gizelotte’s voice.
Focusing her mana to gather into her fist, the Devil Lord takes her first swing.
As a declaration of war, she destroys the playing field Shiva conjured.
A sneer spreads across Gizelotte’s face, forming a crack in her cheek. Such an intensive maneuver of mana is too much for a human to handle.
“You’re next,” she says, indicating the crumbled ground.
Without missing a beat, Lucifyra conjures countless magic circles in the air and unleashes magic projectiles from every single one.
They fire at the man in black from all sides. Each attack is destructive enough to blow a hole in the castle wall. Their explosive power multiplies when they collide into each other.
Surely even Shiva won’t stand a chance against a force that could disintegrate a mountain.
Not a spatter of flesh would remain.
Did it work?
The explosions subside, and the wind clears the smoke.
“Im…possible…”
What she saw was just that.
Shiva can wield teleportation magic. The Devil Lord was confident that launching its attacks before Shiva gets a chance to use a spell would ensure victory. The bombardment could only fail if Shiva acts before it. And yet…
She breathes, “After all that… Not even a scratch…?”
The Black Knight hadn’t moved an inch.
He’s still in the same pose in the same spot. Not even a smidge of dirt on his collar, let alone a scratch.
Another one of Shiva’s specialties is his defensive magic, which is a derivative of his teleportation magic─one that could open a “hole” that connects to another dimension and suck the magic attacks into it.
He was using it just now, for sure. But he was only able to block some of the attacks. The majority of the shots were deflected by a different defensive magic.
Lucifyra was able to witness the defensive magic in action from breaks in the smoke.
Was it an illusion that all of his blocks appeared to be a beginner-level defensive spell?
But that’s impossible!
Impossible, indeed. Elementary spells like defensive magic, in theory, have no limit to their durability. However, the higher the defense, the more mana would be needed to maintain it.
Such a feat is truly impossible, even for the Three Primordial Gods.
The Black Knight must be wielding a special kind of defensive magic. If so, penetrating his protective force would be infeasible.
“In that case!” shouts Lucifyra.
There’s no time to let her spirit falter. If one method doesn’t work, on to the next!
The Devil Lord in the queen’s body grips her sword and charges head-on.
No matter what kind of defense the Black Knight wields, no matter what kind of trickery he uses…
As long as it’s within the realms of magic, my sword will slash it!
She darts at the quickest speed her vessel can manage and swings the blade down with all her might.
Whsh…
She feels no impact, but she sees Shiva standing before her, evenly sliced in two from head to toe.
I did it! This time, for sure!
What an underwhelming victory. Shiva was a tough opponent, but she only believed so because of his bizarre appearance and mannerism.
This outcome should’ve been expected after giving her all─no, more like eighty percent─of the Devil Lord’s full strength.
In the end, the man dressed in black was nothing more than…
“Wait, I didn’t feel like I struck anything solid…”
That’s just odd.
If it were a magic circle that she severed, not feeling any physical impact would’ve made sense.
But here Shiva is, split in two without her even tasting the sensation of flesh being cleaved apart. How could that be?
“Mwahahahahaha!”
Lucifyra looks past the halved opponent to where the irksome laughter is coming from. There stands another Shiva─
“It’s an afterimage!” he says.
The two halves of the Black Knight disappear.
“Hmm, now I get it,” he says. “I didn’t quite understand what ‘Magic Circle Severance’ meant, but apparently, it’s something that could even nullify the collar’s effect and sever the gateway to mystery space-time. I gotta say, I wasn’t expecting that. Glad I played it safe and dodged out of the way.”
“H-How do you…know that…?”
“It’s always a good idea to do a little research about your opponent. Especially when you’re up against some Devil Lord.”
Shiva then gives a brief explanation of how he’d snuck into the queen’s room earlier and assessed the divine sword’s magic and functions.
“If I’d switched out your sword for a dupe or tinkered with it, you would’ve noticed something was off. Besides, I’ve always wanted to try the ‘It’s an afterimage!’ stunt, so it all worked out for me.”
Shiva crouches low.
“And now it’s my turn.”
“Wh…” The Devil Lord raises both arms as if to cover her face.
Fwhp, Spurt!
Her skin splices, and bright red fresh blood spatters out of the gash.
This vessel won’t last any longer, the Devil Lord thinks. In my current state, I wouldn’t be able to block any sort of attack at all.
Amidst her despairing defeat…