Once belonging to the Sacred Blazer, Aslan Faldreed, it was an accessory that could only be used at less than 10% of your total HP.
It had only one skill, “Like a Flash: Climax.”
Usable only in the most dire of situations, the skill tripled the final number of all the user’s stats, and dropped the MP and SP cost of skills to zero.
It was perhaps the ultimate ability for a risky low HP build like Juliet’s.
And now...
“What...?!”
“I can reach you...!”
...the Fallen Knight was finally on the same level as the Overlord.
Now evenly matched, their battle accelerated. Though Juliet had barely enough HP to survive another hit, with their stats being equal, she could now use her battle prowess to its fullest.
This was the biggest difference between them. Juliet was a natural duelist, standing next to the likes of Figaro and Kashimiya.
Meanwhile, G’s talents didn’t lie in combat. Her fighting abilities were on the same level as that of most players—simply something given to her by high-rank sense skills.
So now that their stats were matched...
“HHAAAAAAAGHHH!”
...G’s system-limited strength was outmatched by Juliet’s system-surpassing skills.
Juliet’s HP stopped decreasing, while G’s HP began falling faster than it regenerated. The tables were turned. If this battle continued like this, Juliet now had a chance of winning.
“Ah ha ha ha! This is amazing! But is it enough to finish me off in time?!” G still thought that she could survive long enough for her ult to complete, winning her the battle.
But she also thought that would be boring.
Winning and losing was secondary—she wanted this to be even more exciting.
This stage was superb and the cast second to none. An anticlimactic finale was simply unacceptable.
“Not yet! It’s not over yet! More! MORE! You still have something, right?!” The Overlord continued to insist that they all could shine even brighter.
“Yeah. We do.”
It was the other knight who responded.
G looked up to see Ray, galloping through the air astride Silver.
“Juliet!” As he called out, Juliet backed away...
“Hellish Miasma!”
...and Ray closed the distance, taking Juliet’s place as he held up his right bracer and released a dark-purple poison mist.
That’s the... Well, it doesn’t matter. It can’t do anything to me now, G thought.
Indeed, this meant nothing to Overlord Invidia. The mist had three debuffs: Poison, Weakness, and Intoxication. She’d already taken on the first two herself, while Intoxication wasn’t worth worrying about.
Hellish Miasma wouldn’t do anything to her.
“Ah! Wait! This is a smoke screen...!”
But the fact that it was a colored mist made it capable of blocking her vision. That made it effective at preventing Harodihg Gnik’s Attraction Anchor.
But what will he even do if he gets close?! My stats are way higher than his! And I made sure not to give him ammo for his special counterattack thing!
G had only hit him once, when Nemesis had put up her Counter Absorption. Doubling that damage would barely scratch her.
Is he playing this like his other battles, then? Looking for an opening to take advantage of...? With that thought, G prepared for whatever trick Ray had in store for her.
However, there was no trickery here. None at all.
If anything, it was the opposite—he was fighting her face-to-face.
“I’m a bit late in saying this, but... Thanks for the buffs, Overlord.”
And with that, Ray broke through the dark-purple curtain, equipped with a gas mask—his Storm Visage.
In his left hand, there was the Flag Halberd...
“Thanks to you, I can use this at least once!”
And in his right, there was the nameless axe, wrapped in curse-cloth, fresh out of his Inventory.
It was Ray’s strongest weapon, and the world’s greatest double-edged sword. When he’d tested it in the arena, simply holding it up was enough to tear his arm to pieces.
He was doing the same now—but although the flesh on his arm cracked and bled, it wasn’t fully destroyed. Reversed by Nemesis’s skill, the seven debuffs of the Depths of Jealousy enabled his body to withstand the price of wielding it.
Continuously bleeding, but healing just enough to keep going, Ray held up the axe...
“EAT THIIIS!”
...and swung it down as hard as he could.
G’s eyes widened. Whether she actually felt the axe’s power or if her sense skills had simply forced her to act was unclear, but she held up her trident to defend herself—only for the axe to cleave straight through it and sink into her right side.
“Ah?!” The axe opened a wound on her right shoulder, slicing through her arm, the right half of her torso, her right leg, and even split the stonework beneath.
Ray gritted his teeth—the price he’d paid to destroy the Overlord’s weapon and flesh was the absolute pulverization of his right arm.
But his eyes were still burning.
He knew what he had to do next—and who to call upon.
“JULIEEET!” “Right!” The unbreakable knight’s call was answered by the knight with ebony wings.
At some point, she’d become surrounded by a vortex of countless black feathers. It was a sign that she was using her ultimate, but something was different this time.
Normally, Juliet’s ult would release these black feathers after they circled her arms. Instead, the feathers now surrounded her as she flew through the air.
“Corpse-Eating Bird—Hræsvelgr...”
It was as though she herself had become the black wind.
“PENETRATOR!”
Putting all her power into the tip of her blade, she became an umbral vortex.
Her target no longer had a weapon to turn Juliet’s sword aside. Faced with the vortex coming to pierce her, the unarmed Overlord...
“AH HA HA HA HA HA! YOU’RE ALL THE BEEEST!”
Even as she threw her left fist toward Juliet, she laughed and laughed.
The wounds—the injury-based debuffs—she’d received empowered Paradigm Shift further, making her fist even stronger than her trident.
This would no doubt be her last stand—the final exchange of the battle. Whoever’s attack landed would shatter the other.
And so, not even a moment later, blade met fist.
It was an immense impact that shook not only the surrounding air, but all the waters of R’lyeh.
A knight and an Overlord. A pre-Superior and a Superior. Two girls shining with a dazzling light.
Only the Black Crow kept on flying beyond the horizon.
The dark vortex shattered the Overlord’s fist and pierced through her torso.
And, after a brief silence, R’lyeh collapsed.