When the Creator unleashed a light that would destroy all creation, Zero resolved to become a shield for her companions.
She was certain she had to.
Created by her father, Kuraran, to be the best of the Israelis, she had strived to be that, yet there simply wasn’t enough time to fully develop all her potential. No matter how she stretched, she was still a child, newborn.
This fact was frustrating. She knew it because of the knowledge she had been given.
This world was unstable. It could be destroyed tomorrow. And that fear became a reality. All the more reason Zero was in a hurry. She feared she might not make it in time.
“I’m the one who should be apologizing. I wanted to let you stay a child for longer.”
Kuraran never blamed Zero or the others. His kindness, his compassion, only made Zero rush more, resulting in her efforts often being in vain.
Still, at this last moment, she finally found her role.
To be a shield. To save the warriors who had the potential to reach God, no matter what. For that, she didn’t care what happened to herself. She even felt that way—and yet,
“【End, Severance!!!】”
“Yuri!!?”
The light that was unleashed, capable of destroying everything, did not shatter Zero. For before she could even leap out, Yuri had sprung forward, her sword cleaving through the entire impact.
“…………\*gasp\*”
But of course, it was impossible to cleave through all of such an indiscriminate and wide-ranging attack. Seeing Yuri collapse, Zero let out a scream.
“Why!!”
“Zero! Calm down!”
“Hurry and heal her!”
She couldn’t respond to the voices of her brothers and sisters. Her body wouldn’t cooperate. The anger that filled her, making it difficult to breathe, was directed at everything. The anger at herself for being unable to do anything right threatened to crush her.
“I was supposed to protect you! Why is it the other way around!!”
It was frustrating, so frustrating that she couldn’t do anything right. No matter how much she tried to hold back, tears streamed down her face, falling onto the battered Yuri.
“So noisy, aren’t you… Honestly.”
Yet, Yuri, who was still conscious even in this situation, was truly extraordinary. What’s more, using the sword she conjured as a cane, she walked along the path made of mechanical parts. Countless distorted angels flew and swarmed towards them from the direction she was heading.
“It’s impossible! We…”
What could they do? They lacked the ability to fight directly. They couldn’t even provide support. They knew that if they stepped forward in this situation, they would only be protected again. She understood this. It was so frustrating that she couldn’t even make a sound.
Then, Yuri glanced at her for a moment and gave a small smile at Zero’s pathetic face.
“Be a good girl and step back.”
Saying that, she gently patted Zero’s head and then sprang forward.
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“Be a guardian of the good.”
The King’s entrusted wish, which showed her the purpose of her sword, was both arduous and warm. Protecting the good people, not for the King, nor for the country, was a difficult path. She couldn’t discriminate. She couldn’t show favoritism. It was incredibly difficult to treat loved ones and family differently from those who opposed them.
Even with the talent she possessed from birth, it was difficult. But it was precisely because she had that guiding principle that Yuri became who she was now. And she didn’t hate herself for it. To be able to think that way, possessing such exceptional power, was something she owed to the King.
However, even so, it was still difficult, and filled with hardship. And then,
“Yuri…! You can still go…!?”
It made her a little irritated that there was a friend who carried out that arduous path as if it were breathing.
Yuri snorted at Diz, who stood before her on the path of mechanical parts, sword in hand, protecting them, still standing even when battered.
“…Annoying. You were cuter when you were infatuated with him.”
“That’s so mean all of a sudden!?”
“Be quiet—I can go. Of course.”
And then, the two stood side by side. Distorted angels swarmed endlessly. Giant gods had to be defeated, their figures obscured by the Creator’s presence. Yet, even so, they did not falter.
The King’s words had long since become Yuri’s own wish.
Protect the good people. As their guardian, Yuri gripped her sword—
“—Hm.”
“Rine!”
At that moment, a brilliant magic circle engulfed them.
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At the same moment, that light reached Shizuku and the others.
“…!?”
“Th-this is…!”
Faced with the power brought by Rine at the limit of their desperate battle against the distorted angels, Shizuku was surprised. While it couldn’t compare to the total amount of dragons acquired during the integration of the gods, it was overwhelmingly refined. It filled her battered body and soul.
“I can do it!!”
Meanwhile, Echel, perhaps accustomed to receiving such power, reacted instantly and moved. The crown she wore expanded, embracing her dark robes before unleashing them all at once.
“【Let the twilight consume the moon and sun】”
〈AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA〉
The angels instantly exploded. The moment they touched the darkness Echel unleashed, the angels, imbued with the power of two gods, burst and shattered. They were swallowed by the darkness and disappeared. Even the power that spilled from the Giant God and raged was devoured, as if it were a dragon.
The space filled with her power was utterly consumed by her and vanished.
“—I see.”
Shizuku also understood the phenomenon.
The integration and enhancement of power they had been doing was being carried out by the White King Array. In a more widespread, more powerful, and different form. Rine’s research had finally reached its culmination.
There was no room to doubt her ability.
Even she, who had become a god, had been pushed to her limits by Rine.
“Lady Echel.”
“Yeah!!”
At a signal, the power stolen from the angels spilled from her dark robes and poured into Shizuku. It was fragments of the Moon God’s power. The dangerous shards of power that she alone couldn’t contain once again gathered to her.
However, there was no burden as there had been when she fought as the Moon God. She knew why. The Ash Flame and scarlet threads, still covering and protecting her body like armor, continued to guard her mind and body.
While expressing her gratitude for this, Shizuku unleashed her power.
“【Cataclysm of the End / Silver Void Moon】”
Her capabilities had diminished. The power divided from Echel was not much. She was no longer as versatile as she had been. But strangely, she didn’t feel restricted.
She felt much freer now, and surely, she could do anything.
“【Moonlight, illuminate the falsehoods】”
Moonlight shone and enveloped the entire area.
The equipment of her wounded companions shone, healing their wounds and repairing their damage. Truth becomes falsehood. Of course, what had been healed would immediately be destroyed again, and if it simply repeated, it would be a game of cat and mouse.
“【Salvation Execution / Golden Holy Sun】”
But Shizuku was not flustered.
After the twilight and moonlight, dawn awaited.
“【Sunlight, burn away the truth】”
The sun blazed. And the angels were all burned away.
“Everyone! Are you alright!?”
“Lady Diz.”
Diz, who had also received Rine’s support, arrived, just like Shizuku and the others. As she landed nearby, she smiled at Shizuku’s expression.
“You look a little better. Thank you, Akane, too.”
“《That’s right—!》”
“Thank you for your trouble.”
As Shizuku bowed her head, Diz smiled and hugged her.
“I’m happy we could do this.”
“Yes.”
“I’m glad we’re not killing each other.”
“Yes.”
Exchanging words, the two nodded. The two, who had been desperately trying to kill each other just moments before, now smiled at each other. That was enough.
“Well then, let’s hurry to Ul’s place.”
“But there are still lots of angels…!”
Echel cried out. Yes, no matter how many they killed, the angels would continue to emerge endlessly. It was only natural. If the gods’ power came from prayer and curses, then as long as humanity did not perish, the angels would not cease. Unless they could defeat the main body, the Creator, killing the angels was meaningless.
They could not reach him without overcoming the endless angels.
“Well, I think we’ll manage. After all—”
However, faced with this fact, Diz spoke with a hint of optimism, scratching her cheek with a slightly troubled expression.
“—Yuri got into a bit of trouble.”
“【Sword Transformation】”
The next moment, something streaked across the sky.
Clad in the Ash Flame and the brilliance of the Starry Heavens, it poised in the air. The will and wishes of the successive Heavenly Swords that had fallen from the Creator gathered as blessings to the strongest Heavenly Sword in history.
“【Unsheath / Ash Flame Heavenly Sword】”
A gifted girl whose meager blessings of the Ash Flame could still resist God.
The blessings imbued with the prayers of successive Heavenly Swords converged, and she became a true sword.
She gripped her sword, poised, and unleashed it.
“【Severance, Unparalleled Shore】”
The next moment, the entire space was cleaved.
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“Spectacular…!”
“A-amazing! With this, we can do it!!”
Watching from afar, Zero clenched her fists and cried out. While the dramatic turn of events made her dizzy, the situation had completely changed from the Creator’s unilateral subjugation.
Of course, they didn’t know what would happen if the Creator, who had stopped moving, restarted. But she thought it was too early to give up on everything and despair.
“We should—” “【Finally, we meet】”
She could do it! With that thought, Zero turned around and felt a gentle tap on her shoulder. Her surprise was due to the voice and hand that were not from any of her siblings.
“Eh?”
“【You were using that ridiculously flashy magic, weren’t you…!】”
Zero knew who it was through her knowledge. Rayline, a magician who wielded the White King Array and was an ally of the Ash King. She knew this, but she couldn’t quite recognize her, perhaps because her appearance was so different from her knowledge of her.
“Hia.”
Her body shone white, her white hair moved freely, but above all, her demonic expression was so terrifying that Zero’s mind stopped.
“【That’s a ripoff of the White King Array, you bastard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!】”
“Kyaaaaaaaa!!!”
Zero’s whimpers and screams echoed amidst the slaughter of angels.
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〈…Ah〉
The Creator dreamt of something.
A dream, yet it was questionable whether it could be called that. Perhaps it was a fragment of thought that had leaked from somewhere and regenerated in the body of a god that had converged all forms of magic power.
He didn’t remember the content. His consciousness had briefly ceased while he was rebuilding his control device, which had been shattered by the Star Sword. It was merely an illusion he had glimpsed in the meantime.
It was not an important memory. Thinking so, he regained consciousness.
〈What is this—〉
For the Creator, this situation was not a battle at first.
It had not reached the stage of fighting for life and death. The individuals approaching him were not enemies in any way, nor could they cause harm. To him, this situation was merely a task to renovate the interior of the Ark. It was a task he performed with the same detachedness as spraying disinfectant to exterminate pests.
But now, the situation was different.
The insignificant beings he hadn’t even bothered with were absorbing the power that had leaked from him—or rather, the unfathomable phenomenon of the power itself lending itself to them was occurring. Those who had gained such power were wielding power beyond comparison to earlier and swiftly sweeping away his vanguard, closing in.
On the other hand, his own power was still unstable. He had created a substitute technique for the Star Sword, but the malfunction caused by the sudden forceful removal of the control device could not be easily fixed. It had maintained a precise balance to control such high energy. Its core had been suddenly ripped out; it was impossible for it to stabilize.
〈AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!??〉
The angels, imbued with the power of the Seven Heavens, were falling one after another. Countless lights traversed and destroyed them. Their power was clearly different from before he had rebuilt himself. Dramatically so, one might say.
What happened?
His own malfunction was minor. Losing some power was not an issue. It could be regenerated. But the dramatic change in the opposing Israelis was inexplicable.
It was an unknown phenomenon even to him.
He had no way of knowing. He knew that the transformation of negative emotions was something he understood. He had created the system for the Waste Hole, after all. However, he didn’t know of any phenomena beyond that. The transformation caused by positive emotions was far more subtle than that of negative emotions and rarely manifested. In his lifetime, not even a hint of it had occurred.
〈Hey, Ul. If you leave it be, he’ll rebuild. Hurry and press the attack.〉
“Shut up, I know what I’m doing, so be quiet!!”
〈Nngh…!?〉
The attack from those Old Humanity members was approaching. He couldn’t brush them aside like flies. The Giant God’s body was still unstable. The magic he unleashed in a hurry would startle them, but—
“【Ash Flame】”
—It was endured. This Old Humanity member had also become incomparably stronger than before, as if a completely different individual. And the phenomenon causing this was undoubtedly the magic array filling the space. He could understand it. With the Creator’s knowledge, analyzing it should be easy—except, the moment he tried to decipher it, noise flooded in.
—His—
〈Annoying…〉
The remnants of the dream he had seen earlier repeated, causing a ringing in his ears. But there was no reason for him to have ringing in his ears now. He had lost even his physical armor. Having lost everything, he was still bound by his past memories.
〈Irritating〉
A surge of killing intent and anger erupted, as if taking out his frustration.
He would admit it. This was a struggle. The beings resisting before him were his enemies. He acknowledged them as evils that must be defeated and obstacles to achieving his goals. What then?
Of course, it was decided.
〈【Genesis, Re-deployment Start】〉
He would sweep everything away. To that end, the Giant God spread its wings and reignited the colossal magic array deployed in the sky.
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《The Sky Array has begun re-activation!!》
“That thing from before!”
At the desperate voices from the communication, Ul clicked his tongue and looked up at the sky. The sky array that had, moments before, driven everyone present to the brink of death was now beginning to reactivate, rotating like clockwork. They were strengthened thanks to Rine’s efforts. If it were exactly the same as before, there might be a chance to endure it—but naturally, the situation was not the same.
《So fast…! No way…! Are you going to envelop the entire planet!?》
《Are you going to erase everything, not just the Ark!?》
The screams of Shintani and the others could be heard. It seemed that the crisis of extinction was indeed approaching.
“Well, what should we do… If it’s shot over such a wide area, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Ul, can you do anything with your Ash Flame?”
“I’ll be crushed by the pressure. Can Akane do it?”
“《N-no—!》 Lady Echel, how about you?”
“Nngh—!!!”
“It won’t work, huh.”
“Lady Yuri, how about you?”
“Do you think I can do that!?”
“If the power is the same as before, I might be able to protect myself…”
“You can…”
Yuri stated confidently over the comms, much to Echel’s shock. “But,” she continued.
“My essence is to cut, not to protect. Even if I cleave through the attacks, I’ll be crushed.”
“So if they blast it all away, it’s over, then.”
In the first place, the other party’s condition seemed unstable, but in exchange, they were seriously trying to eliminate them. It was uncertain whether they could endure it as they had before.
“We don’t have time either way! We’ll die if we just sit here!”
“We can’t win a war of attrition, either!”
And even as they spoke, angels began to appear again. The other side seemed to be throwing caution to the wind. The angels would be held off by Sua and the others, but there was no time to spare.
“We have to stop it… Davine! Can you deploy the mechanical armor?!”
《This is the last of the stock! If we include the ones Shizuku fixed, we can pull it off!!》
“Alright, Karkara! We’ll create an opening! At that moment, strike with Uga’s Roar!”
《Will that work!?》
Karkara voiced his doubt. It was understandable. Each blast of raw power from that Giant God already surpassed Uga’s maximum output. The power inflation was too extreme. Simply unleashing Uga’s maximum power would likely be easily deflected. But Ul knew that too. Knowing this, he turned his gaze to Rine, and she nodded.
“Leave it to me. I’ll go back and prepare. I’ve also found a suitable assistant.”
“Are you talking about Zero, whom you’re dragging by the scruff of her neck, Assistant?”
“Pii…!”
Zero looked at them with pleading eyes like a puppy asking for help, on the verge of tears. Ul clasped his hands together apologetically.
“Sorry, hang in there. I don’t think you’ll be killed, though.”
“Pii!”
“Well, leave the rest to us. We’ll assist Lady Rine.”
Rine and Zero aside, the other True Humans were stable. So they left them to handle that.
《Then, I will proceed with preparations for the Roar.》
“Uga’s warriors, provide defense during that time! Jain, Ikaza-san. Victor-san, I’m counting on you!!”
《Don’t die! Ul!》
《Leave it to us, warriors! This is the crucial moment!》
《Yuri! Be careful!》
《【Mechanical Armor Deployment, God-Attacking Form!!】》
As the orders were given, a swarm of mechanical parts that had flown from Uga began constructing structures around the Giant God. Scaffolding and defensive walls to attack the central Giant God were erected in an instant. They were immediately destroyed by the magic unleashed, but as they were crushed, they began to be rebuilt.
“Echel! Lady Sua! Deploy Teleportation Technique! We’ll evade the enemy’s super wide-area attack with teleportation!”
《Understood.》
“Don’t worry!”
As the orders were given, teleportation magic circles and darkness appeared on the constructed defensive array. Of course, if the sky array activated, evasion would be impossible, but it was still appreciated.
〈Hey, hey, Ul. What about me?〉
“Are you going to listen to what I say?”
〈No〉
“Don’t do anything unnecessary to me. Do something unnecessary to the gods.”
〈Good〉
The Demon God disappeared with a cheerful air. It was difficult to trust him as a comrade, but his malice was reliable. He would leave the rest to him. Ul looked at his companions’ faces one last time. Like Ul, they were all battered and bruised. But not a single one had lost the will to live.
If that was the case, then all that was left was to crash that will against them. It was simply a matter of pitting against that God who created the world and was now trying to destroy it, to see who was superior.
“Let’s go!”
