—What if those wings block the spell? Would Gravity Abyss just consume one of them and send it to the void?
That would be bad. Even a level 300 sorcerer didn’t have limitless MP.
But Noah’s concern proved to be unfounded. The Magimatic Garment remained still, and the spell hit it directly in the torso — where the Magimatic Sols’ cockpit hatches were.
Noah didn’t know what was inside Cross Reverie’s cockpit. Was it the old Emperor, or maybe just his soul? Maybe just some puppet made of his tentacles? Was the Emperor somewhere else, manipulating everything from afar?
She didn’t know. But either way, the Gravity Abyss spell triggered and began sucking everything around it inside. There was no stopping it anymore.
“You did it!” Alan pumped his fist.
“Oooh...” Maximum uttered in amazement.
†
A hole to the void formed on the Magimatic Garment Cross Reverie’s chestpiece, pulling against everything in the room, including the air itself. The armor twisted and distorted as it was drawn into the hole. Aira felt herself being sucked toward the hole as well.
“Aaah?! Kuh..!”
“We’ve got you!” Maximum reached out his thick arm and braced his feet to catch her just as she was beginning to lurch forward.
“Th-Thank you!”
“Miss Aira, I’ve heard you slew Lieutenant General Kudanis in the citadel city of Kenstone...?”
When the Gelmed Empire first invaded Lyferia, she defeated a general guarding the border. He was a skilled high-level warrior.
“...I had my subordinates, Rikka and Erina, to help me back then. And more importantly, I was using a Magimatic Sol.”
She wouldn’t have beaten him in a one-on-one sword duel. If she weren’t compatible with 《Arjanos of the Silver》, she never would have been placed in charge of an army, let alone participated in the attack on Lyferia. Of course, if she weren’t compatible, the Magimatic Sol’s tentacles would have devoured her...
“I’m sure you had your reasons, but we can discuss it when we all return alive. And we have to give it everything we’ve got if we’re going to survive. I’m sorry, but I won’t always have the time to protect you.”
“I-I came here to help you so I can take revenge on the one who destroyed my homeland. I’d sacrifice my life if it means defeating Emperor Gelmed!”
“That’s the spirit!” Maximum said, then raised his broadsword and cast a spell.
Aira also drew her blade and moved slightly away from Noah and the rest. Maximum prioritized protecting Noah, but he was a kind man. He might have said he wouldn’t focus on defending Aira, but she knew he wouldn’t abandon her if she were to be attacked. So she took her distance so as to not be a burden to him.
Without Arjanos of the Silver, Aira was just a Kobold warrior who didn’t even reach level 100. But she should have been able to at least stall the enemy’s attacks. She glared at Emperor Gelmed — at the Magimatic Garment Cross Reverie. Half of it was already collapsing into the hole in space Noah’s spell created, breaking apart like it was being crushed by a vise. Its head began to crack.
“Wow...”
She’d heard the Demon, Diablo, used the same spell, Gravity Abyss, to destroy Rikka’s 《Viatonos of the White》. And it was working on the Magimatic Garment too.
Are we beating it?! Aira thought to herself, holding her breath in anticipation. She had always been too afraid to oppose the Emperor, but not for a second did she forget the deaths of her family and friends in her homeland, nor did she forget the hardships experienced by the survivors. The days of humiliating slavery she was forced to live through flashed in her mind.
“Aaaah, Emperor Gelmed!” Aira shouted, swinging up her blade and holding it aloft. “Know the pain...of those you’ve trampled!”
Aira unleashed a martial art. Compared to the attacks of the Palace Knights and the Magimatic Sols, its power was meager, but a flash of light intersected and combined with her attack — Alan’s martial art.
“Aaaaaah, get smaaaaashed!” he shouted.
The shining art pushed its way forward, causing the ground beneath it to tremble. It made a direct hit on the partially wrecked Cross Reverie, destroying the remaining half.
Aira swallowed in fear. She’d always waited for this — the moment when Emperor Gelmed would fall.
An explosion enveloped the Magimatic Garment. The air drawn in by the spell was expelled outward with a shock wave that sent Aira tumbling to the floor.
“Ugh!”
The pressure felt like it would crush her altogether, accompanied by a sharp pain in her ears. Once it passed, she heard what sounded like the din of rain. Did the blast ruin her hearing? No, it was still a little hard to hear, but her ears weren’t completely damaged. She heard what sounded like metal clanging against the ground. Aira looked up at the ceiling.
“What’s that?!” she exclaimed in shock.
“Hm?!” Alan looked up as well. It looked like the building was warping, and the distortion was getting bigger and bigger. A hole formed in midair, revealing a vast darkness behind it. Lights sparkled inside, like the twinkling of the stars.
“Is that...” Noah said, her voice strained. “Is that a hole to another world?!”
It was the same phenomenon as the Gravity Abyss, except much larger. As the air pressure in the room rapidly changed, a whirlwind blew Aira away, knocking her into a wall. As gravity pulled her down, she found she was near a large hole in the floor — some kind of drainage pipe. Realizing she was about to fall in, she hurriedly grabbed onto the ledge.
“Ugh...”
As the space above them contorted, the white mechanical unit appeared from within the void — from the gate it had opened.
—Emperor Gelmed came back?!
There wasn’t a single scratch on Cross Reverie. It flapped its wings elegantly, like some kind of white bird soaring through the heavens. The enemy supposedly expelled from this world by the Gravity Abyss spell appeared before them again with ease.
Emperor Gelmed spoke, every syllable shaking the room.
“Blind, foolish weaklings who crawl and writhe underfoot! I am the Emperor of the Gelmed Empire! Ruler of all that exists, a living god! Kneel before me!”
Before Aira realized it, tentacles appeared all over the room. The Apocalypse Abyss and Alan’s martial art should have destroyed the tree’s trunk, but the effect of the dark knight’s Death Curse had worn off, allowing the enemy to regenerate again.
More and more tendrils appeared. As Aira attempted to climb out of the drainage tunnel, a tentacle swiped over her head, forcing her to duck reflexively. At that moment, her hands slipped from the ledge. Even with her sharp Kobold claws, she wouldn’t be able to climb out of the tunnel when she was wet.
“Aaaaaaaaaaah!”
She plummeted down into the dark.
†
Noah didn’t falter. Emperor Gelmed was dangerous enough of a monster to make even the Demon Lord Krebskulm join forces with them against him. His return didn’t come as much of a surprise. In fact, she’d seen so many surprises today she’d become completely desensitized.
“Tch... You come back even after I throw you into another dimension?!” Noah shouted. “Fine, then I’ll destroy you in this world!”
She thrust the staff in her hand forward.
“Let countless explosions reduce you to ash! Infinity Detonation!”
It was a spell the Demon Lord Krebskulm used — a level 260 fire element spell. Flashes of light enveloped the enemy, and a rumbling sound thundered in their ears. It felt like the explosion was powerful enough to reduce anything to ashes. But when the smoke cleared, Cross Reverie stood undisturbed with its arm raised.
“I see... You’ve reached the zenith of what the mortal races are capable of. Very well, I shall handle you myself. Feel the searing blaze of God upon your flesh!”
Noah felt a shiver run down her spine. Emperor Gelmed was finally attacking with the intention of defeating them. She could feel bloodlust prickling against her skin.