“Hello, Terdan.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Alaysia greeted him with a smile.
✦ ✦ ✦
Terdan grumbled as he saw her wave while being pinned beneath Vera.
✦ ✦ ✦
[You’ve finally crossed the line—!]
✦ ✦ ✦
The giant clenched his fist.
✦ ✦ ✦
He pulled it back and then thrust it forward.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Are you going to kill everyone else too?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Flinch—
✦ ✦ ✦
Terdan’s fist stopped before it could even hit the ground.
✦ ✦ ✦
Rumble—!
✦ ✦ ✦
However, just that air pressure alone turned the palace into a mess.
✦ ✦ ✦
Fortunately, no one was injured, but a sense of dread settled in the hearts of those present.
✦ ✦ ✦
Alaysia’s smile deepened.
✦ ✦ ✦
Terdan glared at her resentfully before speaking.
✦ ✦ ✦
[Did you think I came alone? Me?]
✦ ✦ ✦
“I don’t think so. Mm, I can feel them.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Alaysia spoke as she swept the back of Vera’s head, still in that position.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Let’s see...”
✦ ✦ ✦
Her moving eyes turned to a corner of the hall.
✦ ✦ ✦
Where the darkness had fallen, someone was walking out from the shadows.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Nar.”
✦ ✦ ✦
[Oh my, looks like the braindead whore couldn’t hold back and has caused trouble again.]
✦ ✦ ✦
It was a glamorous blonde woman with a crimson dress and twelve arms.
✦ ✦ ✦
She had a dark hole in the middle of her face.
✦ ✦ ✦
[This is why uneducated girls are no good. It’d be more beneficial for the world to just rip off your lower half.]
✦ ✦ ✦
Her twelve arms stretched in various directions, her hands forming mudras.
✦ ✦ ✦
Right after that…
✦ ✦ ✦
Ddududuk—
✦ ✦ ✦
Alaysia’s body twisted.
✦ ✦ ✦
From head to toe, her entire body began to curl like a rope.
✦ ✦ ✦
Ddududuk—
✦ ✦ ✦
Blood and flesh spurted out like a fountain as her body twisted, throwing Vera away.
✦ ✦ ✦
[How is it? I’m thinking of tearing off your lower half to give to the children as a toy.]
✦ ✦ ✦
The answer came from somewhere else.
✦ ✦ ✦
[Queen, stop.]
✦ ✦ ✦
Whiiiiiiiii—
✦ ✦ ✦
A wind blew.
✦ ✦ ✦
Then, a chilling air enveloped the beings surrounding the place.
✦ ✦ ✦
Nartania looked up at the ceiling.
✦ ✦ ✦
[Are you on her side, Lizard?]
✦ ✦ ✦
A dragon covered in ice was roaming the sky above.
✦ ✦ ✦
Locrion, the First Dragon, spoke.
✦ ✦ ✦
[Her head is mine.]
✦ ✦ ✦
A chilly energy began to fill the space, followed by rising glaciers.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kwaaang—!
✦ ✦ ✦
A glacier shot out at an untraceable speed, piercing through Alaysia’s head like a skewer.
✦ ✦ ✦
[Don’t be greedy.]
✦ ✦ ✦
[Oh, how utterly you lack in dignity.]
✦ ✦ ✦
Nartania scoffed.
✦ ✦ ✦
Locrion withdrew his gaze from her and looked at the entrance to the hall.
✦ ✦ ✦
[King of the Dead, what do you think? What will you take, excluding the head?]
✦ ✦ ✦
Nartania let out a laugh.
✦ ✦ ✦
[Are you here, too?]
✦ ✦ ✦
Bang—
✦ ✦ ✦
The doors to the throne room opened, an ominous black mist flowing out from it.
✦ ✦ ✦
Thud—
✦ ✦ ✦
Something tapped the ground.
✦ ✦ ✦
Then, within the mist, a blue ghostly flame glowed.
✦ ✦ ✦
[...The soul.]
✦ ✦ ✦
A gloomy, sticky, yet unbearably hot rage embroidered the space.
✦ ✦ ✦
[I will take her soul.]
✦ ✦ ✦
The corpse had muscle fibers clinging precariously to its bone.
✦ ✦ ✦
His whole body was adorned with all sorts of brilliant ornaments, and a black mist continuously rose up to envelop him.
✦ ✦ ✦
[I will cast it into the deepest abyss of all my hells.]
✦ ✦ ✦
Sizzle—!
✦ ✦ ✦
Darkness swallowed him up.
✦ ✦ ✦
The black swamp that was constantly burning took the form of a human, reaching out its arm and grabbing Alaysia.
✦ ✦ ✦
Crunch—!
✦ ✦ ✦
Something broke from within his fist, blood oozing out.
✦ ✦ ✦
However, everyone present knew one thing.
✦ ✦ ✦
The vile witch wouldn’t die so easily.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Wow. It’s been a long time, everyone.”
✦ ✦ ✦
A laugh was heard from within Maleus’s hand.
✦ ✦ ✦
Just then, his hand was forcibly opened, and a blood-soaked Alaysia crawled out.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Let’s see...”
✦ ✦ ✦
Alaysia’s eyes surveyed her surroundings.
✦ ✦ ✦
She looked up at Terdan and Locrion, who were observing her from the torn ceiling of the room, and to Nartania and Maleus, who were hidden in the darkness below.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Aedrin couldn’t make it, and Orgus does as he pleases, so...”
✦ ✦ ✦
Her gaze finally stopped at Renee.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Have you summoned everyone you can?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’ve left one out.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Renee exhaled heavily as she unleashed her divinity.
✦ ✦ ✦
“You thought I wouldn’t know?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Full of ridicule, she raised her arm.
✦ ✦ ✦
The strange constraint that had enveloped the entire space and constricted her body was familiar to Renee.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Don’t steal someone else’s puppy like that, you rotten bitch.”
✦ ✦ ✦
She reached out her hand and clenched it into a fist.
✦ ✦ ✦
Boom—!
✦ ✦ ✦
A white current screamed from the tips of Renee’s fingers.
✦ ✦ ✦
It spread around and tore the darkness apart.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Oh...”
✦ ✦ ✦
Just as an exclamation escaped from Alaysia’s mouth, a large figure sprang up from the ground and crushed her.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kwang—!
✦ ✦ ✦
What crushed her was a dark beast’s front paws.
✦ ✦ ✦
The golden eyes of the beast followed, growling menacingly.
✦ ✦ ✦
A white arm around the beast’s neck moved.
✦ ✦ ✦
[How dare you…!]
✦ ✦ ✦
It was Gorgan, who had arrived here first and fallen into the trap.
✦ ✦ ✦
He escaped from the trap through the gap Renee had created.
✦ ✦ ✦
Nartania chuckled and spoke to the emerging Gorgan.
✦ ✦ ✦
[Ah, so you’ve been knocked out all this time?]
✦ ✦ ✦
The pure white arm swung and a wave of energy materialized from thin air, aimed at Nartania.
✦ ✦ ✦
Eight of Nartania’s arms formed a mudra.
✦ ✦ ✦
Screech—!
✦ ✦ ✦
With a strange noise, the wave of energy disintegrated.
✦ ✦ ✦
[Why? Are you embarrassed?]
✦ ✦ ✦
[Shut up.]
✦ ✦ ✦
The tension between the two transcendent beings made the space vibrate.
✦ ✦ ✦
Renee clutched her cane tightly, gasping for breath under the intense pressure.
✦ ✦ ✦
‘...I’m regaining control of my body.’
✦ ✦ ✦
She felt it while using her authority, but it seemed that the force that had bound them was indeed Gorgan’s.
✦ ✦ ✦
Although she couldn’t see, she could sense that the other Apostles and the Heroes were also regaining their control.
✦ ✦ ✦
‘Now we have the upper hand.’
✦ ✦ ✦
Seeing them argue among themselves did make her feel a bit uneasy, but it wasn’t too bad.
✦ ✦ ✦
They all shared a common goal in the form of Alaysia, providing a temporary truce.
✦ ✦ ✦
Renee checked the remaining amount of divinity within her.
✦ ✦ ✦
‘I still have some leeway.’
✦ ✦ ✦
I can use it a few more times.
✦ ✦ ✦
Enough to last until we end Alaysia’s life.
✦ ✦ ✦
Renee clenched her teeth and weaved a spell.
✦ ✦ ✦
As expected, Marie and Miller, having regained control, assisted her.