TWEM Vol. 8 Chapter 3 Part 2
A few seconds later, the light subsided.
“I see, so you are able to deal with it. I heard Alogis created this magic.”
“I blocked Alogis from using it once, so there’s no way it’ll work… So? Is that how you fight seriously?”
“You’re kidding. I’m not even serious yet. You are the most dangerous being in this battle. And dangerous beings must be eliminated quickly. So I’ll get a little more serious.”
With those words, magic power erupted from Lucifer’s body, spiraling up into the sky.
The magic power that erupted soon enveloped Lucifer, who was at the center.
It was like a jet-black cocoon.
For a moment, I considered attacking, but quickly gave up.
If he was made of such dense magic power, ordinary attacks would be ineffective. It would be foolish to waste power here.
Soon after, the jet-black cocoon burst open, and Lucifer emerged.
While his clothes and weapon had changed, there were no other major changes…
But my instincts were telling me that I would die the moment I let my guard down.
《Lucifer’s magic power has increased drastically. A simple calculation would make it five times that of Master.》
Oh my, well…So, Ellis. Do you think we can win?
《The chances of winning are low at 20%, but if everything goes according to my calculations, we can win.》
Very reassuring words.
To be able to win despite the difference in magic power was truly what you’d expect from my partner.
What kind of plan was that?
《Yes. Leave it to me. First――》
I smiled when I heard Ellis’s plan.
As expected of Ellis, this looked like we could win.
Then, Lucifer, looking down at us from the sky, spoke.
“What’s wrong? Did you get scared seeing me?”
“No way. On the contrary. I’m motivated now.”
“I see. But this is the end —Black Sun.”
A black sun – no, a fireball so large it could be mistaken for the sun – appeared in the sky above Lucifer.
The enormous magic power was incomparable to anything I had seen before.
Even if I tried to defend myself with the Aegis barrier, the damage to the surroundings would be enormous.
So I decided to defend in a different way than before.
“Aegis barrier.”
A barrier surrounded the black sun, which was about to fall.
“What!?”
I could hear Lucifer’s confusion. As I closed the barrier, an explosion occurred.
However, the explosion was not powerful enough to destroy the barrier, and subsided after a while.
“You seem surprised. What’s wrong? Did you think I couldn’t do something like this?”
“Ugh… It’s fine. Then I’ll judge you with my own hands.”
With that, Lucifer raised the long sword he was holding into the sky.
He must be planning to do something.
The long sword had a much more powerful presence than the one that cut the meteorite earlier.
Just from that presence, I could tell that it was a Divine-grade.
It must have the ability to cut through space.
I activated my appraisal.
.
|
Name: |
Morning Star Venus |
|
Rarity: |
Divine |
|
Notes: |
A magic sword born from a morning star. |
.
Yup. Just like when I appraised Alogis’ sword, I didn’t understand anything about its effects…
But I could understand this much.
It possessed the power and abilities commensurate with the rarity of a Divine.
An immense amount of magic power was poured into the magic sword that Lucifer wielded.
My intuition told me that that particular attack could not be blocked by my Aegis barrier.
Normally, I should run away, but I couldn’t afford that.
Was there anything I could do? The moment I thought of this, an idea came to me.
I should clash with a fellow Divine-grade weapon, in other words, my beloved sword.
I sheathed my sword, pouring magic power into it.
I didn’t care about what happened afterwards.
If I didn’t defeat him now, he would just become an obstacle when it comes to defeating the Evil God, Chronos.
That’s why I had to win against such a formidable opponent as Lucifer, no matter what.
I closed my eyes and took deeper breaths, increasing the concentration of magic power pouring into my sword.
Not yet. It still wasn’t strong enough to withstand the power of the attack Lucifer was about to unleash.
Meanwhile, Lucifer spoke in a cold, merciless voice.
“Then die —Cruel Punishment.”
Lucifer swung his sword down, and a slash came straight for me.
It would be easy to avoid. But there were many comrades fighting behind me.
I absolutely could not abandon them!
“—Cherry Blossom Flash – Absolute Truth!”
As I drew my sword, a crimson sword flash ran through the space, colliding with Lucifer’s blow.
This technique was an improved version of “Cherry Blossom Flash – Extreme” but if there was one difference, it was that after using the technique, there was a period of stiffness, making it impossible to smoothly transition to another attack. Instead, the power of the blow had increased by an order of magnitude.
The space screamed, and a shock wave blew away the surrounding enemies.
“Damn, are you going to try and match up with my technique?”
“Tch, I didn’t want to match up!”
The match continued, but my best attack was broken, and Lucifer’s slash came closer.
“What!?”
This was bad, I’ll get caught up in this.
Ellis’ voice echoed in my panicked head.
《Deploying five layers of Aegis barrier!》
What would happen to the rear?!
《Aegis barrier has already been deployed to prevent damage to the surrounding area.》
You worked quickly, which is a relief.
But either way, that attack would break the Aegis barrier. I have to defend against it in another way.
Then the oncoming attack collided with the barrier.
The first layer was destroyed immediately, and the second and third held up a little, but soon shattered.
The fourth layer finally held up for a few seconds, but it was also destroyed.
The slash that hit the last piece was less powerful than the previous ones, but still, cracks were gradually appearing in the barrier.
Damn it! This is what I got from five layers… But I’m not going to die here!
I took my beloved sword in my hand and channeled magic power into it.
—Ellis. Please give me the signal when the barrier is about to break.
《Understood. Countdown will begin. Five, four, three…》
Meanwhile, I poured magic power into my sword and closed my eyes in meditation.
I couldn’t put as much magic power into it as I did before, but the power of the other side’s slash had also decreased, so it’s not a problem.
《Two…one…now!》
At that moment, the sound of the barrier being destroyed rang out, and I swung my sword.
My magically imbued sword collided with Lucifer’s attack again.
“Argh!”
I succeeded in eliminating Lucifer’s slash, but the impact sent me flying and I rolled to the ground.
I slowly stood up, feeling pain, when Lucifer landed in front of me and pointed his sword at me.
“Ugh…”
“I commend you for blocking that, but—you lose.”
Lucifer swung his sword at my neck.
And then my head flew off–
“–What!?”
Lucifer cried out in surprise.
The reason was that my head, flying through the air, vanished like mist.
“Are you that surprised?”
I appeared and called out to Lucifer.
“Illusion, huh… when did that happen?”
“The moment I was blown away.”
“Even if it was right after an attack of that power collided, there’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed the activation of magic.”
“Why do you think you didn’t notice?”
The answer was simple.
I told him the answer.
“–Because you were concentrating on killing me.”
“I see. So you were directing my consciousness?”
“That’s right.”
I was blown away so spectacularly, leaving a big gap, so it’s only natural that Lucifer’s consciousness would be focused on finishing me off.
I took advantage of that gap to create an illusion, and my real self used skills like Conceal Presence, Stealth, and Magic Power Concealment to leave the scene.
So concentrating only on defeating me after I was blown away backfired.
“Lucifer, let’s settle this.”
I pointed my beloved sword at Lucifer.