“Here goes!”
Eleonore sent even more magic to Ennessone, causing her large wings to flap, loosening stork feathers—faintly flowing artificial sources in each one—to flutter down. Through Aske their hearts were converted to magic, allowing Eleonore to send more magic power to Ennessone.
The magic power turned into artificial feathers, which then created more hearts. This cycle repeated over and over again, increasing Eleonore’s magic infinitely.
“Eliore.”
The runes surrounding Eleonore wrapped around her body like spread wings. From the runes poured holy water, taking the shape of a sphere over and over, until there were a thousand bubbles of water. These bubbles were the magic she had once used to create the source clones for Zeshia.
The stork feathers floated into the bubbles, transforming the bubbles into the shape of a person. The shape refined into the figure of young girls with medium-long hair, overall looking quite similar to Zeshia, with asymmetrical wings on their back.
“This is our special move, Jinalena!” Eleonore declared. “We came up with it just now!”
Their new move had the power to create a thousand magic dolls made of holy water. Each holy water bubble used one hundred artificial sources to create a simple doll that performed commands. Jinalena could only be done after converting one hundred thousand artificial sources to magic power for Aske and in truth, was a power that even surpassed order. To do such a feat took a big toll on Eleonore’s body, so she now wouldn’t be able to fight a prolonged battle.
“All troops, march on! Our divine art of war is undefeatable.”
At Pelpedro’s command, the army of gods rushed at them. Dolzork unleashed a magic bombardment, creating explosions everywhere.
“We’re going to charge too. Take them out, Jinalena!” Eleonore shouted.
Against the formation of order deployed by the army of gods, Eleonore’s Jinalena attacked everything chaotically, turning the situation into a confused flurry of battle.
Swords of holy water drove away the divine swords and easily slashed apart Garmrgund. The Jinalena puppets had no life, but they were each made of one hundred artificial sources—each puppet was the equivalent of thirty-three sources. Their chaotic charge was relentless, slaying gods one after another, leaving the divine army with no choice but to focus on defense.
“Impossible...” Pelpedro muttered. “We are the superior existence... We will not fall to fake puppets of order!”
“How about I, on behalf of the Demon King, teach you a new art of war?” Eleonore suggested, holding up an index finger as the Jinalena continued their charge. “First tip: Good kids will always win over bad kids!”
“In other words...Zeshia and Enne...are undefeated heroes!” Zeshia added, rushing in alongside the puppets. “Jinas and Lenas... Follow your big sister Zeshia!”
For the God of War’s order that emphasized quantity over quality, the Jinalena were the perfect enemy; a thousand of them was equal to three times the ten thousand-strong army of gods.
“Engage them!” Pelpedro ordered. “Surround each puppet—one of them is thirty-three of us! Now is the time to show the world the might of our army, our art of war!”
The army of gods challenged the Jinalena with their flawless coordination, perfect formation, and overwhelming numbers. But coordinating a thirty-four or more squad of soldiers to attack one individual was an incredibly difficult feat. In no time at all, the Jinalena mowed them all down.
About ten minutes passed like this. Then the battle seemed almost decided, until—
“Eleonore, the army has decreased in number. They might be hiding somewhere,” Ennessone said.
“Pelpedro...is gone,” Zeshia added.
Nearly half the soldiers had been defeated by the time the barrage of magic spells settled. But when the flames died down, the God of War that had just been barking commands on the front line had vanished.
“That was all a mere distraction,” a voice said from the back of the temple. “Our descent to earth has already begun.”
Pelpedro reappeared by the door of god. He must have realized instantly that his army would lose against the Jinalena and planned ahead of time to use his army as a diversion while sending a separate platoon through the door.
“No wonder it was so easy...” Eleonore muttered.
The Jinalena slashed at the remaining army. The divine soldiers crumbled easily—the only one left standing was Pelpedro.
“Only gods may pass through the door of god,” Pelpedro said. “You will not be able to inform the earth of their imminent danger.”
“Isn’t it shameful for a God of War to turn tail and run?” Eleonore taunted Pelpedro.
“The army of gods never retreats. Every move is an advance! You have lost this war.”
Eleonore fired a Teo Triath, but Pelpedro entered the door before it could hit him.
“Before order, all your struggles are worthless. Soon you will never have a home to return to again,” the God of War said just before he vanished.
Eleonore and the others immediately ran up to the huge door of god.
“It’s so white... I can’t see...” Zeshia muttered.
“Hmm. Like Pelpedro said, only gods can pass through... What do we do?” Eleonore wondered out loud.
Just then, Ennessone stepped forward, wings on her head flapping.
“Ennessone can see, though?” she said.
“Really? What do you see, Enne? Can you tell where they went?” Eleonore asked.
Ennessone strained her eyes at the door of god. “I’ll send it through our magic link.”
“Zeshia wants to see too...”
Eleonore drew a magic circle to display the image Ennessone was sending her for Zeshia to be able to see. The magic circle was displaying a view of the earth. At night, apparently, as the shown area was dark. Specifically, it was Gairadite in Azesion, and the people of Azesion were currently looking up at the sky in shock. Little by little, the world brightened, as though night was turning into day.
“Wait, isn’t that—?!” Eleonore swallowed her breath with a gasp.
“Enne, can you look at the sky?”
The image in the magic circle panned up to the sky. Floating there was the shadow of an ominous sun releasing black particles—Abernyu’s Sun of Destruction, Sarjieldenav.