The Azesion army fell apart in a matter of minutes, their soldiers wounded at staggeringly fast rates. But as the human soldiers retreated under Emilia’s orders, Eleonore’s magic dolls replaced them on the front line.
The Jinalena instantly overpowered the divine forces, splitting the enemy’s formation in two, which allowed them to circle behind the Dolzork stationed at the edge of the divine army’s formation and destroy the barrier protecting the army of gods.
“Now, Ellen!”
At Eleonore’s signal, the Demon King’s Choir readied their anoss rods.
“Imitation Jio Graaay!”
Sticky Gard Aske suns rained down from above, eradicating the divine soldiers. With their formation fallen apart and the defensive barrier down, the gods had no chance of winning. They seemed to realize this too, as they immediately retreated, moving as one in a receding wave. The soldiers of the Azesion army, having accepted the almost certain likelihood of death, roared at the unexpected victory.
Emilia alone stayed alert, giving orders to check for any remaining enemies still lurking. But it seemed the divine army had executed a total retreat.
“If you could do that from the beginning, you didn’t really need our protection, did you?” she said to Eleonore through Leaks.
But she didn’t receive a reply.
“Eleonore?”
“Eleonore wasn’t supposed to use it!” Ennessone protested. “She’s already at her limit from creating the path of contact. If she uses Jinalena from the Divine Realm, her body won’t be able to withstand the burden!”
Emilia recoiled in horror.
“Hey, that was a secret... If everyone sees how powerful Jinalena is, it’ll increase morale and convince the Hero Assembly...” Eleonore said, pain straining her voice.
She needed to keep one thousand Jinalena in the Divine Realm to maintain their magic link. Casting more Jinalena on the earth meant the number of artificial sources exceeded the limit of one hundred thousand. As Ennessone said, the burden on her was great. But this was not the time for Eleonore to rest.
“I’m sorry...” Ennessone said, wings folding against her head.
“Don’t feel bad. I’m not upset at all.”
With a grim look, Emilia contacted the Hero Assembly through Leaks. “Hero Assembly, this is Emilia speaking. Thanks to reinforcements from the Demon King’s Army, the army of gods has been repelled. We will proceed to make camp here and set up defenses to protect Gairadite. There should be no objections to that, right?”
“Repelled? You actually repelled them? Well done, Headmaster Emilia! If anyone has any objections to her proposal, speak up now,” Lloyd replied. But the other assembly members, now knowing the enemy had successfully been removed, had no objections.
“Then the rest is up to you, Headmaster Emilia.”
“And the holy lake? The Hero Academy?”
“Those matters still require examination... We cannot give a conclusion at this time.”
Just as Lloyd said that, the plains grew a little darker. Everyone present looked up and saw more of the Sun of Destruction had waned—the solar eclipse was getting closer.
“Repelling the enemy has bought us time. We will continue this discussion in Gairadite. That is all,” Lloyd said, cutting the Leaks.
Emilia sighed tiredly. “A bunch of incompetent fools...”
Seemed like she was having a tough time too. But we didn’t have the time to deal with them. What I needed now was to understand the situation below.
“Hmm? Okay! Got it,” Eleonore replied to the Leaks I sent her. It would be faster if I could speak directly to those on earth, but all in all, I had no real complaints.
“Is something the matter?” Emilia asked.
“Anos says he wants to know what the situation is on earth. Do you know anything about Dilhade?”
“Lay and the others would know better than me. I’ve had my hands full dealing with the idiots in Azesion.”
“Whoa! Stressed much, Ms. Emilia?”
“By themselves, they’re good people,” she said with another sigh, eyes blazing with anger. “But humans! The moment they gather, they turn into total imbeciles! All they think about is peace. Do they think they’re immortal? If they insist on being entirely useless during an actual emergency, the least they can do is keep their mouths shut!”
“Ah. There, there. I get it, it sucks,” Eleonore said, soothing her.
“Forget I said anything,” Emilia grumbled awkwardly.
She then turned to send a Leaks elsewhere. “Lay, Misa, please contact me as soon as you have a moment to spare. Demon King Anos is summoning you.”
She proceeded to exchange a few messages with them, explaining the recent changes to the current situation.
“I see, Mr. Eldmed too then. Very well.”
Emilia turned to face the Fan Union girls and Azesion army. “I will return to Gairadite for a short moment. The Demon King’s Choir and Azesion army will hold this point. Report to me as soon as the enemy appears.”
“Understood.”
“Got it!”
Emilia drew a Gatom circle and filled it with her magic power, her vision turning white as she teleported.
“You learned to use Gatom, Ms. Emilia?” Eleonore asked.
“I work with the Hero Assembly, operate the Hero Academy, and eliminate our enemies simultaneously. My body simply can’t handle having to also fly everywhere too. I’m terrible at it, so my destinations are rather limited.”
The next moment, the royal capital of Gairadite and the holy lake could be seen.
“I’m meeting up with Lay and the others here,” she said, walking towards the holy lake.
Floating high above the lake was a giant magic circle drawn with holy water. For the humans of this era, it was an impressive spell. Inside the lake there were probably casters using Asura to send their magic to a single person to make it possible—several people, clad in Hero Academy uniforms, could be seen inside the holy lake. Since the Hero Academy was barred from joining the front lines, all the students must be here.
“Hmm? What are they doing here? It looks like a spell formula we learned in class before...”
“This is the long-distance barrier magic, Leiacanetts,” Emilia said. “Simply put, it’s a spell that sends holy water far away to remotely form a barrier.”
“Oh!” Eleonore made a noise of realization.
From a glance, it looked like Leiacanetts was pointed at the sky.
“The Hero Assembly voted to use Leiacanetts to seal that creepy sun in the sky,” Emilia explained.