TWEM Vol. 8 Chapter 7 Part 1
by nellstewartChapter 7 – [Time Heaven] Eleonora II
Eleonora was the first to move.
She pulled out her staff from the void and struck the ground with the tip of it.
“—Disintegration Sphere.”
Several black spheres the size of fists appeared around Eleonora.
Eleonora struck the ground with her staff again, which was the signal for the spheres to attack Finne and the others who were on guard.
“Dodge!”
Finne had a bad feeling and yelled, and everyone dodged the attack.
The speed of the approaching sphere wasn’t that fast, so it was easy to dodge.
By dodging, the sphere hit the ground directly, vanishing a space one meter in diameter.
Curiously, it was a similar magic to the dark sphere used by the first Demon Lord Alogis, but this one was faster and more troublesome.
The ground was neatly hollowed out, and Finne and the others broke out into a cold sweat thinking about what would have happened if they had been hit directly.
“That was just the beginning, you know? —Disintegration Sphere.”
Eleonora struck the ground with her staff again, and countless spheres appeared.
And just as she was about to slam her staff into the ground to release the spheres, a high-pitched clang rang out.
“I won’t let you!”
“Huh…”
Eleonora couldn’t help but let out a cry when she saw the cause of the sound – Tendo slamming his holy sword against the staff.
Tendo put all his strength into trying to knock the staff away, but it was easily blocked.
Then, the staff and the holy sword clashed, but to his surprise, Tendo was pushed back.
“You may seem like a hero, but you can’t defeat me.”
“Damn!”
Tendo knew that much too.
He thought that at his level, there was no way he could defeat Eleonora, who was an apostle.
“Besides, do you think I can’t attack without this staff?”
Tendo turned around as Eleonora spoke with a smile, and countless disintegration balls were approaching.
Even if he tried to avoid them now, it didn’t look like his opponent would let him get away.
Eleonora was about to activate her next spell.
“I won’t let you get away, okay?”
A magic circle appeared at Tendo’s feet.
“Damn it!”
“I won’t let you! —Ice Lance!”
“–! How troublesome.”
At that moment, Eleonora distanced herself from Tendo.
An ice spear pierced the spot where Eleonora had been standing.
Just as Tendo left the spot, a sphere hit the spot where he had been, obliterating the area.
Tendo was relieved that he had been saved, and turned his head in the direction the ice lance had come from.
There, he saw Finne, pointing the tip of her sword towards where Eleonora had been.
“Thanks, Finne!”
“No. This is also to defeat the apostles, so don’t worry about it.”
Eleonora, who had distanced herself from Tendo and the others, glared at Finne in disgust, then turned around and swung her staff.
Then, once again, a high-pitched clang rang out.
There was Iris, wielding the magic sword Tortonis and the magic sword Tempest, and clad in lightning.
Iris didn’t engage in a sword fight, but quickly retreated with lightning speed and approached again to attack.
She repeated this many times, and Eleonora was on the defensive.
“I’m not good at close combat…”
Even as she said this, Eleonora was calmly fending off Iris’ attacks.
“Don’t think I’m the only one!”
At the same time Iris said this, Eleonora looked behind her.
There was Kuzel approaching, Camellia Flower Sword in her hand.
“Haaaaah!”
Kuzel got in range and started slashing.
Eleonora avoided the blow by taking half a step back.
“Not yet!”
Kuzel took another step and slashed from above.
As expected, Eleonora couldn’t avoid it, so she quickly chanted a spell.
“—Accelerate!”
At the same time, Eleonora disappeared from Kuzel’s sight.
“Kuzel, behind you!”
Finne called out.
“Too slow.”
“–Gghh?!”
Kuzel managed to block the swinging staff just in time, but due to the level difference, she was easily blown away.
Finne ran over to her as she rolled on the ground.
“Kuzel, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine.”
Eleonora pointed the tip of her staff at Kuzel and Finne, who stood up with their swords propped up.
They had a premonition that some kind of spell would be unleashed from the converging magic powers on the staff, but there was nothing the two of them could do to block them.
Then she heard a voice.
“–Bloom, Yamabuki!”
Charlotte’s attacks hit Eleonora.
“You’re just getting more and more annoying!”
The staff that had been aimed at the two of them was now aimed at Charlotte, and magic power was released. Eleonora and Charlotte’s attacks collide and explode.
The dust generated by the blast cleared, and Eleonora was impressed.
“You blocked it well.”
“I could block that much on my own.”
“I see, I see.”
Eleonora laughed as she looked at Tendo, Finne, Iris, Kuzel, and Charlotte, all readying their weapons.
“Why are you laughing?”
Eleonora answered Tendo’s question.
“No. I think I can enjoy this a little.”
“Enjoy this, you say…?”
The moment Tendo frowned, Eleonora’s magic power rose explosively.
In fact, Eleonora had the most magic power of the Four Heavens.
“Yes. So – fight in the face of despair and entertain me.”
Eleonora smiled as she said this, gently tapping the ground with her staff and spinning the name of the spell.
“—The World of Time.”
Immediately afterwards, a barrier covered an area with a radius of 500 meters.
Inside this barrier, all time was at Eleonora’s mercy.
To Eleonora, it was the strongest technique she could use.
“—Ice Lance!”
Sensing something strange, Finne fired ice magic at Eleonora.
Just as the ice spear came flying straight at her and about to skewer her–
Eleonora turned her hand, Finne’s magic, which had been approaching her, froze in place.
“–What!?”
She shouted in surprise.
“—Return time.”
As Eleonora said this, the magic Finne had fired disappeared.
It wasn’t destroyed, it literally vanished.
“What on earth is happening…”
“Could it be that the magic Finne cast disappeared because time went back…?”
When Tendo guessed in response to Finne’s muttering, Eleonora smiled with satisfaction.
“You’re right. You are truly a hero. I can accelerate or rewind the magic used in this space at will. Of course, I can also control the time of the magic I cast. Now, shall we continue the battle?”
Then a fierce battle ensued.
The magic cast by Finne and the others was erased, while the magic cast by Eleonora was accelerated.
They managed to avoid it, but since their magic was nullified, they had no choice but to use close-range attacks. However, Eleonora’s incredible abilities meant that Finne and the others were on the defensive.
Eventually, Tendo was blown away by Eleonora’s attack.
“Shit —Ah!?”
“Tendo!”
“Ugh, guh…don’t worry about me!”
Finne believed Tendo’s words and launched an attack on Eleonora.
A little while had passed since they had begun to fight.
Everyone there sensed an incredible presence and magic power from a distance.
“This is…Lucifer. If he’s getting that serious, he must be fighting someone of some calibre. For Lord Chronos’ sake, it seems best to settle this quickly.”
Eleonora said, putting the staff she was holding into the void and taking out another weapon.
What was taken out was a white sword.
Everyone instinctively distanced themselves from the extraordinary power felt by it.
Tendo, the only one here with the ability to appraise, checked the details of the weapon.
|
Name: |
Time Sword Tempus |
|
Rarity: |
Divine |
|
Notes: |
The hands of a clock that is said to have been there when the world was created. |
Eleonora smiled without seeming to care about Tendo’s shocked state.
“Then I, Eleonora of [Time Heaven], will teach you what despair is.”
Eleonora’s presence swelled more than ever.
She wanted to get this over with quickly and go to support Lucifer.
As the two glared at each other, Tendo and the others were the first to move.
Tendo decided to use his “Limit Break” skill, which strengthened his physical abilities and magic power beyond their limits.
He was hesitant to use it because he would be unable to move after activating it due to the recoil, but he sensed that if he didn’t use it now, he might die and his comrades would suffer enormous damage.
As a hero, he had to stop that.
“Limit Break!”
“…Wow.”
Seeing Tendo’s magic powers rose explosively, Eleonora let out an impressed voice.
Finne and the others looked surprised at Tendo’s changed mood and presence.
Tendo told them with a firm voice.
“I’ll take charge of the front line somehow.”
“I’ll go to the front line too.”
With that, Kuzel stood next to Tendo and activated both her unique skill “Trance” and the skill “Berserk” at the same time.
These skills made it easier for the user to lose their sense of reason, but in exchange, they greatly increased physical ability.
“Ugh, ugh!”
But Kuzel gritted her teeth and held on to her sense of self that was about to disappear. Thanks to her training with Haruto, she had become able to maintain consciousness.
A reddish-black aura was overflowing from Kuzel’s entire body, drifting back and forth like a heat haze.