Chapter 206

CHAPTER 38 Rightfully Yours What…?! Did Elulu just…?! Copious amounts of blood trickle down Mash’s neck as he collapses. Crack. Crack. Elulu, covered in blood, moves away from him, then begins to move her arm and leg joints back in place. She stands. “Wh-what is going on?! That woman just came out of nowhere!” “Cerceus?! You can see her, too?!” Elulu slowly licks her bloodstained lips with her long tongue, then turns her gaze at Mash as if she were looking at garbage. “He was nothing more than a fake hero, after all. And yet, I am still shocked by the difference in power…” She redirects her piercing gaze at Seiya. “Your attack surprised me in his subconsciousness. I suppose I shouldn’t have expected any less from the true Hero. I can see why Lady Mersais considers you a threat.” “…?! H-how do you know Mersais?!” An ominous aura hidden inside Elulu’s body erupts. She opens her mouth, split from ear to ear, and cackles. It’s a shrill, eerie laugh. “Space-time has been distorted, Goddess Ristarte. I was sent around a decade back in time to Gaeabrande when the Goddess of Atrocity destroyed the spirit world. Why? To reinforce the distortion of the S-ranked world, which is essential for all warped worlds, and to kill you all when you finally made it here.” “Just who are you?!” “I am the Devil of Enchantment, Marionelda.” Th-the Devil of Enchantment?! So Mash wasn’t the only cause of Gaeabrande’s distortion?! H-hold on…! “If you’re not the real Elulu, then where is she?!” “She fell into the Abyss and transformed into Igzasion. That’s when I switched places with her. I pretended to be suffering as Elulu, forcing Mash to kill while emotionally scarring him as well. I did it all to control his spirit.” “I-it was you all along…?!” “So she’s the real last boss?!” Cerceus uncharacteristically unsheathes his sword with a serious expression. The devil reacts and faces him. “I have the Blessing of Atrocity, which transcends the laws of physics, along with my own powers of Enchantment. The Hero, Goddess of Healing, and God of Swords are nothing to fear.” A sinister aura explodes from Elulu’s body, and her body rapidly begins to decompose, unable to withstand its own evil aura. Her flesh rots off while dropping to the ground, and centipede-like insects start to crawl out of her eye sockets. Countless maggots emerge from the rotting flesh and fall to the ground. “Eeeeeek!” Cerceus throws his sword to the ground and swiftly hides behind me, startling me. “…?! Tch! You really are nothing to fear!” I turn my gaze from the undependable God of Swords to the dependable Hero, but looking at him only brings me despair. I didn’t notice this during his fight against Mash, but sweat is running down his forehead! And he looks discouraged! He’s breathing heavily, and he looks like he’s in pain! “S-Seiya!!” In addition to being in Berserk Mode for a long period of time, he has continued to use Mimic, which requires a massive amount of mana! Seiya used as much mana and stamina as he could to save Mash’s soul! Seiya sometimes pretends to be weakened or tired to deceive the enemy, but my gut is telling me that this time is different! This isn’t part of any strategy! Seiya is legitimately exhausted! “Seiya’s in trouble, Cerceus! We have to do something!” “You’re right! Let’s start off by turning invisible!” “…?! Are you always thinking about ways to run away?!” “O-of course not…?” Cerceus stutters while already halfway invisible. Seiya, out of breath, then exclaims: “You two…don’t need to do…a thing…” “B-but…!” “I already know that Mimic exhausts a large amount of mana…and I have already overcome that weakness.” “Huh…?” It suddenly gets dark, so I look up…and jump. Countless firebirds are gathered over Seiya’s head like clouds, completely covering the entire sky. Seiya raises a hand into the air, and the firebirds immediately return to him as if they’re being absorbed into his body! “I am reducing these Automatic Phoenixes to aura in order to replenish my exhausted mana. Through absorbing them, I have already replenished around seventy percent of my mana. This is the true power of Automatic Phoenix Infinity.” “You’re replenishing your MP through absorbing them?! I had no idea that was even possible!” “…Heh-heh.” I suddenly hear a muffled laugh. Although lying on the ground with a severe injury, Mash is looking up at us. “He’s been preparing for this moment…ever since the day we met… This idiot isn’t normal…” After absorbing enough mana, Seiya calmly cracks his knuckles, then turns to the devil with a fixed gaze. “While this may be a warped world, you are going to pay for torturing my bag carrier.” And yet, even after knowing that Seiya is healed, the Devil Marionelda eerily curls her lips into a smile. I scream to Seiya: “Seiya! Holy magic’s effective against devils!” Mash and the Great Mother were holy-type, so Seiya’s dark skills were effective against them, but devils are the complete opposite. Dark spells would hardly do any damage. Instead, their opposite type, which is holy, would be their weakness. “Rista! Can Seiya even use holy magic?” Seiya can use Dimension Blade, which is a holy sword skill. He even learned Shining Arrow from Mitis in the past. However, he wasn’t able to learn how to seal curses during the battle against Celemonic. In other words, he isn’t bad at it, but he wasn’t able to master all the high-level holy spells, unlike fire magic, which is Seiya’s specialty. “Don’t worry! I’ll back you up!” I rush out in front of Seiya. Yes! Now’s my time to use the curse-sealing ability I learned from the Goddess of Wealth, Baldr…after paying her a hefty fee! It should be extremely effective against devils! “Yeahhhhhh! Ye-yeahhh! Let’s do this! Yea—” “Shut up.” “Bfff?!” Seiya kicks me on the butt, sending me rolling on the field with my underpants clearly exposed. “What the hell’s your problem?!” “I don’t need your help, since I already mastered dark magic in the underworld.” “But you won’t be able to hurt devils with—” “Conversion.” The instant Seiya snaps his fingers, a holy aura suddenly radiates from his body! O-oh yeah! If he reverses his magic type, it’ll be just like he mastered holy magic! Damn! How convenient! “H-hold on! Are you sure that’s a good idea?! I thought using Type: Opposite in the human realm would make you lose control!” Seiya’s holy aura is immense, but with that great power comes instability. His aura is all over the place like an electric discharge. “Yes, and that’s precisely what’s happening. That damage would have been enormous if this were fire or dark magic, but holy magic isn’t much of a problem…unless you are a devil, that is.” A ray of light shoots out from the aura and grazes the devil’s side. But even after looking at her smoldering arm, Marionelda laughs shrilly once more.