“Okay, have you prepared yourself to fall to hell? That’s what you deserve for laying your hands on my cute grandchild. Don’t you dare believe that you’ll be allowed an easy death.”
The one who said that was the previous holder of the Maiden title, Parthenos. She looked down at the ouroboros with anger in her eyes as she held up her weapon, a log that had once been a branch of the Wood ouroboros. As long as she was around, including now, she would continue to cast buffs and support magic on all her allies at absurd speeds, though she would not attack directly. It was thanks to her skill, Zavijava. The more time she was given, the more she would strengthen her allies. Of course, this included the heroic spirits and five ouroboroses as well.
In the past, Parthenos had transferred her power as the guardian to Virgo, withdrawing from the front lines. However, she now had returned to her former glory. If someone were to trace back the lineage of Parthenos’s power, they would reach the Goddess Alovenus, and Alovenus was now on Lufas’s side. It was an easy thing for the power Parthenos had given away to be restored, which was how the first Maiden had been completely revived.
The five ouroboroses all opened their mouths to charge breath attacks. On top of that, the heroic spirits all readied their weapons, or prepared to chant magic or use skills.
“W-Wait! You’re all seriously going to...?! No, if you do that, it won’t matter that they’ve all been turned to gold. The planet itself will...!”
“Ah, no need to worry about that.”
If they were to attack with so much power, Earth itself would not escape destruction. However, Lufas was never worried about that. After all, they had the cheater of all cheaters on their side—the Goddess Alovenus.
“It’s been a long time, Ouroboros of Heaven. So you really were alive,” said Alovuenus.
Sanieve was stunned. “No...way... You...”
“We have only just reunited, so it is too bad that we must already part. However, there is no need to be afraid. You will be tasting more misfortune than you ever have, and that means the birth of more joy down the line. It is because people reach the depths of despair and misfortune that even the smallest of things bring them joy, so I will save you too. Yes, I will never abandon you. Now—fall to despair, Ouroboros of Heaven!”
Alovenus spread her arms showily. At the same time, the world—rather, the entire universe—shook.
Though she was only here through an avatar, with its power carefully controlled, Alovenus was still an absurdly powerful goddess. Therefore, she was able to warp reality as much as she wanted, and she could control logic and reason however she liked. All of creation was nothing more than a set of toys to her, creatures mere dolls, so what she was about to do was put on a one-night puppet show.
“Now come, you dreamer, you blind and dumb deity, to which everything is just a dream that will disappear upon your awakening. AZATHOTH!!!”
Reality flipped on its head. Black became white and vice versa. Fiction and reality switched places. Even the wicked god’s little world was painted over by the Goddess’s selfish rules in an instant. Reality, dreams, the past, the present, and the future all came under her control. Nothing was impossible.
“I can do it.” Such selfishness was allowed and could reach infinity. It could even invent something above infinity, and that was the type of existence the Goddess Alovenus was.
“With this, everything that happened as well as everything that will happen today will just be a dream. What an old trope, right? Just making everything a dream if some event gets out of hand. So don’t worry. No matter what any of you do, everything will just be a dream. Once dawn breaks, it will all be back to normal.”
Even Lufas had to let out a somewhat strained laugh at that. It was a ridiculous solve and utter nonsense. Everything was as Alovenus desired. That was exactly why she’d never realized any mistakes she’d made, and it was also why she had never improved until Lufas had come to punish her.
“By the way, I do have preferences when it comes to stories. I read a lot of romances, and among all that I’ve read, there’s a certain thing that I will never forgive, and that is the breaking of everything after the happy ending. Wouldn’t you think, ‘What the heck?’ if in some sort of extra or sequel the main heroine was suddenly taken by some other man out of nowhere? I’d think so. I would think, ‘You aren’t wanted.’ What need is there for a love rival after everything’s over? Why couldn’t you just leave that perfect happy ending with the protagonist and main heroine being together alone? Do you understand what I’m talking about?” Alovenus paused. “I’m talking about you, Ouroboros of Heaven. You’re just a foolish puppet acting in a minor role who thinks he’s actually the star. Leave the stage.”
Alovenus raised her hand. At the same time, seven magic circles appeared in the air. Each one represented an element: Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth, Sun, and Moon. Each circle, which contained one of Mizgarz’s seven elements, amplified the magic power inside it and combined together to give rise to the strongest spell containing all the elements.
“Here’s a treat for you. I’ll show you a special piece of magic. Seven Stars, gather and enclose to give rise to holy land here and now. Bear witness. This is the creation of the seven skies... Mizgarz!”
From the void burst the strongest spells of each of the seven elements all at once. Fire that could burn away stars. A mass of water that could swallow the sun. Lighting that could pierce through dimensions. Gravity that could compact the entire solar system. A silver arrow that could erase multiple stellar bodies. A meteor shower that swallowed everything in sight. And sunlight that destroyed anything and everything.
All of that rained down, changing the face of the planet below and breaking apart the planet as it terminated everything on its way to the ouroboros. However, that wasn’t all. The destructive power in each of these spells circulated between them, resonating to bring each of them to new heights of power and birthing something in the space between all of them. That something was a planet very familiar to Lufas and the others, Mizgarz. This newly birthed Mizgarz shined and expanded until it eventually reached a climax and exploded.
Birthing a planet and destroying it as a means to attack an enemy was just too absurd, but that was the way of gods. It was the method chosen by Alovenus, who was both Mizgarz’s god of creation and god of destruction.
The Ouroboros of Heaven managed to evade the attack, getting away with just the bare minimum of damage, but even just taking the aftermath of the spell was fatal. The scales on the Metal ouroboros were burned away without exception, and the Water ouroboros’s arm was torn off. Even though this would all be a dream in the end, it was still too much.
However, Alovenus was still holding back at this level. Compared to her true body, the form Alovenus was in right now didn’t possess even a speck of her real power. It was comparatively really weak, and from Alovenus’s perspective, she was holding back extremely hard.
“You went too far, Lady Alovenus,” Dina told her. “Well, thanks to that, things have gotten a lot easier. We need to follow up! Volley fire!”
“We’re going too! Heroic spirits, attack at once!” Pollux ordered.
The five ouroboroses spewed their breaths simultaneously while all the heroic spirits also attacked in unison. Even an ouroboros wouldn’t be able to escape from something of this magnitude unscathed. Their target’s scales were smashed, fangs snapped, and in a flash, the Ouroboros of Heaven became soaked in blood.
“GWAAARRRGGGGHHH!!!” Sanieve screamed, but he still tried to attack in return.
The Water ouroboros’s head unleashed its breath at Dina, but while the breath was on course to hit her, it suddenly veered away into the void.
“You’re far too naive, fool. As long as I’m around, no attack of yours will hit.”
The voice belonged to Aquarius the Water Bearer, whose unique skill, Sadachbia, forced attacks to miss. As long as she was around, nothing but absolute-accuracy attacks would meet their target.
“Let’s go, Pisces,” said Sagittarius.
“Why is it that I have to be teamed up with you at the end...?”
Absolute accuracy was this man’s bread and butter. Sagittarius’s Al Nassr ignored distance to instantly pierce through its target. That alone wasn’t enough attack strength, but Pisces was there to fix that. His unique skill, Alrescha, allowed him to possess and control enemies or possess and strengthen allies.
Pisces looked as if he truly loathed the idea, but he still possessed Sagittarius in order to dwell in his arrow.
“Al Nassr!”
The arrow Sagittarius let fly transformed into a dragon of water to bite into the Metal ouroboros, Sanieve. The Water dragon continued to tear away at the head, finally severing one of the Ouroboros of Heaven’s two. Even so, the ouroboros was still alive...but she would be going last.
“As expected of my followers, who fill me with such pride. Well done! I can’t afford to put on a pathetic show like this.”
Lufas laughed boldly as she spread her black wings. She unsealed her power, which she normally kept under wraps in order to not throw the world into chaos, becoming level 5100 in open defiance of the Goddess’s rules. Because she now possessed so much power, the dimension warped around her, causing the scenery to seem squashed. Though Lufas had returned the power she’d gained that could destroy entire universes in the Endpoint, because it would obviously only get in the way during daily life, she’d completely forgotten about the mana she’d taken from the ouroboroses and remained at level 5100.
As an aside, the ouroboroses needed to source the mana for their revival from another universe, because Lufas had taken their mana. Thanks to that, apparently Mizgarz’s universe had gotten slightly closer to a completely unrelated place.
“I was thinking I could just use one good-looking, tastefully selected skill here, but... Sorry. In the end, I’m the best with this,” Lufas said as she clenched her fist and took off.