“Who the hell are— Gaaaah!” he groaned, sailing into the ceiling above in a beautiful arc. The sheer force of my uppercut had even caused my own feet to leave the ground, making me feel like a fighting game character.
The battle had ended so quickly. Once I’d finished letting my rage take over, however, I quickly realized that Magiluka hadn’t been the only one in the room. Sweat poured down my face as I gingerly turned back, only to be met with Safina and Sita praising me to bits, each of their eyes practically sparkling as they chanted “Argent Holy Woman” and whatnot over and over again. Do they not wonder how I was able to send Nike into orbit? Does the nickname Argent Holy Woman just allow me to get away with everything? I wasn’t really sure, but neither lady seemed to find my strength odd.
Well, all’s well that ends well. Or is it? Assuming the best could always come back around to bite you, ultimately...
By the way, Orthoaguina proudly claimed that he knew how powerful I really was all along, like it was some kind of major accomplishment, and that was that.
In any case, my battle against Nike ended without issue. Well, all I really did was flex the power I got from God over his mere mortal efforts. That said, judging by the looks of it, it seems like he really did rely wholly on tools and hardly had any physical prowess to speak of.
If a genius in magus smithing who also had peerless worldly knowledge and spent all their time on research also had godly fighting skills, I felt I wouldn’t hold a candle to them. I couldn’t thank God enough for bestowing me with at least one thing that I greatly excelled in.
As far as Nike’s survival went, he’d merely been knocked out by my punch. I guessed that he would’ve broken a bone or two, but my strike certainly wouldn’t have been fatal. No doubt he had his tools to thank for his resilience—in fact, as though to lend credence to my theory, the rings on his fingers began to crack and crumble away as though they sacrificed themselves for him. Just to be sure, I crushed all the remaining rings he had too.
Just then, an explosion in the depths of the temple reverberated throughout the area—someone must’ve cast a spell. It was either Noa or the Argent Armor, but I’d never seen Noa use magic, so I quickly deemed that the armor had launched some sort of attack.
I immediately received my answer on who the attacker was once I hastily rushed to the scene of battle. “Noa!” I shouted. Her clothes were in tatters, and a burning stench hit my nose. Countless wounds covered her body, and she lay limply on the ground.
“B-Big sister...” she eked out. I was relieved to see that she was still conscious and could recognize me.
“Fire Ball,” a voice echoed. A fiery sphere flew right at Noa—it was a direct hit.
“Noaaaa!” I screamed.
I hastily tried to put out the fire that covered her body, but it looked to me like Noa herself wasn’t offering any resistance. In fact, she seemed to have been taking on multiple attacks like these without trying to defend herself.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“This is my punishment...” Noa gasped feebly. “Because I’m...just a poor copy...”
Through her faltering breaths, she condemned her very existence. I was all but certain she’d regained her memories.
“You’re not some copy,” I said firmly. “How you were born doesn’t matter—who you are now is Noa, my adorable little sister.” I didn’t know if I was saying what she wanted to hear, but they were my honest feelings. I recalled what I’d seen about her life earlier as I said it.
“Aha ha ha ha ha ha!” An ominous laughter filled the room. “You’ve gotta be kidding me! What a cliché line! What else can I do but laugh?!”
The voice coming from atop a pedestal, reacting to my attempt to console Noa before even Noa herself could, belonged to the very person who’d launched Noa down the grand hall before me. The speaker had been behind a veil in a chamber at the end of the corridor, but her flame magic had dislodged the veil, allowing light to pour into the dark recess.
My eyes widened with shock. Lying before me was a massive device with tons of individual components that appeared to be connected to the entire temple. I wasn’t sure what it was for, but one strikingly obvious feature was the two massive tubes embedded at its front. Some kind of fluid flowed through the tubes, and the contraption expelled steam with a loud hiss, implying that it was still working.
This must be the machine that created Noa... The entire contrivance was so massive that it took me aback—but, truth be told, none of this was what had really shaken me to my core.
In front of this enormous device was a large, stately chair decorated with some delicate ornaments. It almost looked like a throne, and a full suit of armor sat there. It was a grotesque sight, with its joints protruding with fleshy chunks of meat that leaked from between the plates...and upon closer inspection, I saw that this armor had a massive hole in the chestpiece, from which yet more globs of flesh dribbled out. This armor didn’t dazzle a brilliant white like the suits of Argent Armor that I’d seen until now—not a shred of that light remained. Rather, the armor looked muted and reflected a dull luster.
But above all, the most striking aspect was the head peeking out of the askew helmet. It held a human skull grinning back at me.