“I aimed for the moment you had your hands full, and I got it in just one try! Genius plan, right? I’m amazing!” Vade exclaimed.
“A rather crude plan, I’d have to say,” I replied.
The wind settled, our surroundings clearing up. Vade’s attack had wounded me, but I still held the door open with Ygg Neas.
“Not bad! You’re pretty cool for withstanding Itzelt Jischend without letting go!”
“What happened to the Four Principles?” I said.
He grinned smugly and made a throat-slitting gesture with his thumb. “I culled them. That’s what they get for defying me.”
I could see Misha’s crestfallen look from the corner of my eye.
So the Four Principles have perished, huh?
The magic link to Wenzel was cut in the earlier battle, but the aurora temple Eleonore was at was fine. If the Four Principles had perished, their divine domains in Da Qu Kadarte would have been instantly destroyed, but there was no sign of that. Was it as I suspected?
“Let go of that gate, mister. You don’t even have legs. How are you going to fight me? The next strike will kill you.”
“Something like that is impossible for a puppy like you,” I said.
Vade glared at me with his Magic Eyes, a tremendous amount of magic power radiating from his body.
“You’re the one who’s going to die, stupid,” Sasha snapped.
Her Magic Eyes of Destruction shattered the anti-magic around Vade. At the same time, Misha’s Magic Eyes of Creation glowed. The imitation Demon Castle Delsgade she had created floated overhead.
“Ice crystal.”
With his wards sealed, Vade’s body was gradually recreated into ice, starting from his hand. Misha and Sasha leaped up from the temple to close in on Vade while increasing the strength in their Eyes.
But Vade’s face, though his right arm was now frozen up to his elbow, was still fixed in an arrogant smirk.
“How irritating! No way this’ll work on me!” he spat.
A raging wind blew around his damaged arm.
“I’ll cull you weaklings!”
Itzelt Jischend blew right into Sasha and Misha, tearing apart both their anti-magic wards and bodies.
“Anos... Send us—!” Sasha yelled as she was blown back.
The two of them smashed into the wall of the pyramid-shaped temple.
“Where are you looking?” I asked.
Vade’s eyes widened when he saw me right in front of him. I used the Jio Graze I had sent flying just now to cast Aviasten Ziara in place of legs.
“That won’t work either!” Vade said.
Vade easily stopped the kick of glittering black flames with his left hand. His palm immediately started to burn, but it stubbornly refused to be reduced to ashes.
He instantly restored his right hand using Ei Chael, then gathered an enormous amount of magic in an instant.
“I’ll show you the true power of the purist of order! Fear the great Vade!”
A tempest swirled around his extended right arm, then dispersed to reveal vile, deformed claws. His swollen hand had become thick and stiff, with five blade-sharp claws extending from the end of each finger.
“Dugara.”
The claws glinted with a flash as he aimed a swipe at the left side of my chest. I quickly moved my left arm to layer Beno Ievun, Aviasten Ziara, and Jirasd at the same time. I couldn’t stop the Dugara directly, so I grabbed his hardened arm to redirect his swipe instead.
“Scared ya, didn’t I? You won’t be able to save the earth like this!”
Vade laughed gleefully. The gate had closed when I used my left hand to stop his Dugara, so he probably thought there was no way to stop the Solar Eclipse of the End any longer.
“Did you think by letting go I had no options left?” I asked.
I thrust my Vebzud-covered right hand at Vade’s heart, but he avoided the strike by backing up.
“Jio Graze.”
I drew a magic circle and wildly fired a barrage of black suns. They struck Vade one after another, whittling down his magic wards.
“Tch!”
A tornado raged around his body, deflecting the Jio Graze away from him. He quickly glanced behind himself while staying wary of me—and immediately frowned. He had finally noticed that Sasha and Misha had gone missing.
“Where did you hide them, mister?” he asked.
“Shouldn’t it be obvious?” I replied. “In the gate, of course.”
Vade whirled around. “Open!”
The gate opened, revealing Sasha and Misha within. They each had a hand touching Delsgade and Everastanzetta respectively.
“Anos! Give me—!”
“Of course. I return your divine body to you.”
An enormous magic circle covering the two castles was drawn around them.
“Dino Jixes.”
Light swallowed the two castles and two sisters. Their outlines blurred and melted into the castles. The spell was what Ivis Necron of the Seven Demon Elders had fused with the Scythe of the Timekeeper. Although the two of them had been reincarnated into new bodies, they were originally the same existence. That connection hadn’t vanished completely, so fusing back together should give their original strength back to them. In other words, they should be able to control the Sun of Destruction and the Moon of Creation once they returned to their divine body.
“I’ll stop you!” Vade shouted. “If you try anything sneaky, I’ll—”
Vade tried to fly for the gate, but I pierced him from behind with my right hand.
“Looking away twice in a row? Who do you think stands before you?”
“Guh— Gaaah! I’ll...cull you...!”
I dug my fingers deeper into his body, causing him to spew blood.
“The ‘culling’ you speak of is just the classic law of the jungle, isn’t it? How outdated. In this era of peace, what rules is survival of the fittest.”
“Y-You...”
“In other words—”
I cast Aviasten Ziara on top of Vebzud, burning Vade from the inside.
“In this world, the first to fall are the fools who fail to adapt to me.”