CHAPTER 4
Apocalypse Cometh
“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!”
The adventurers clutched their heads. The creature’s roar shook every last pebble on the eighteenth floor. Even Alfia gave a slight grimace, while the monster rose into the cavernous space and spread its crooked wings, shedding black motes.
“Wh-what is that?!” cried Neze.
“Some kind of winged serpent… Is that a dragon?!” yelled Alize. “How does something that big manage to fly?!”
“It’s disgusting…” said Kaguya. “I think I’m going to throw up! I’ve never seen a monster so hideous!”
Its head alone was enormous and misshapen, with a ragged jaw resembling that of a demon spawned from the deepest abyss. The creature itself was massive, but its limbs were thin and spindly, like a chimerical amalgamation of a snake and a malnourished human. It was only after much difficulty that Alize correctly identified it as a dragon—a creature that stood at the top of the monster food chain as an apex predator.
“An anomaly born from divine transgression on the thirty-seventh floor. As for a name…how about Delphyne?”
The dark god named the beast on the advent of its ascent.
“Can you see that hole, children? It goes all the way down to hell.”
He spoke with excitement, brandishing his divine might.
“That right there is a gate and symbol of the underworld, my friends. And we’re taking it all the way to the top. Once Babel falls and the Age of Gods is over, only then can a true legend be born.”
“Grh…!”
“Yes…an Age of Chaos.”
As Lyu watched on, Erebus flashed a twisted smile.
“Rejoice. And die. Accept the oblivion I offer you. This new world has no need for the light of justice.”
As if agreeing with his words, the creature from below, Delphyne, let out an ear-shattering roar. The god was calm, but his followers were already panicking.
“L-Lord Erebus!” one of them said. “H-hurry and get to safety!”
“W-we will not be able to keep you safe much longe—”
It only took an instant. The whole world flashed black and crimson, and all that remained of the Evils lieutenant was his arm and the echo of his words.
“E-eeeek!”
The other Evils fell over themselves. Erebus, on the other hand, merely cast a glance over his shoulder.
“A little close for comfort, that one,” he said without a care. “I suppose it is me you’re after, isn’t it?”
Smoke still billowing from its mouth and nostrils, Delphyne glared at the dark god.
“Very well, then. This is your last job, my followers. Get me safely to Alfia’s side, and it’s all over.”
“…!”
“We can’t let the leading man make such an undignified exit so ahead of schedule. Else this show would turn into a comedy.”
Erebus’s followers had given their lives to see him this far, and they were prepared to sacrifice more still. They let out a terrified yell, steeling themselves to pay the ultimate price. Fire rained down from the heavens, but the cultists spared no opportunity to martyr themselves, throwing themselves in front of their god and becoming cinders in his place.
“Hmm. I was not expecting to see a beast so vile,” said Alfia. “Truth be told, I doubted Erebus’s words. But it seems there is no end to the mysteries this Dungeon can bring forth.”
Alfia stood and watched the monster, evaluating it, while the flames bathed her pale skin in a scarlet light. Meanwhile, the adventurers dripped with sweat. With the creature’s arrival, the temperature on the eighteenth floor had spiked, but that wasn’t the only reason. Now that they had seen with their own eyes the undeniable proof of the beast’s ability to smash through floors, they quickly realized that time was running out.
“Blast!” growled Gareth. “That thing doesn’t care what side anyone is on! And its power is unbelievable…not only did it burrow a tunnel between floors, but all of Under Resort will soon crumble at this rate!”
“We have to fight it!” yelled Riveria. “But Alfia’s still a danger as well…”
It was at that moment, while Finn’s two most trusted lieutenants gazed up at the avatar of destruction circling overhead, that it happened.
The pair suddenly heard a wind. They turned to see Aiz, her sword rattling in her hands, her shoulders rising and falling with every heated breath. She looked like she’d lost her mind.
That thing… That thing… That thing…!!
It was like she’d come face-to-face with an archnemesis she’d sworn to get revenge on. There was no light of reason in her eyes, just anger—a burning, seething fury.
The world blinked in and out of focus. Her magical energy spilled forth like a storm. And the beating of her tiny heart rang in her ears and refused to stop.
“Aaaaaaaaaaghhh!!”
Her hair fluttered out behind her like a glittering golden trail as she threw herself at the dragon.
“Aiz?! Wait, come back!!”
The girl couldn’t hear Riveria’s plea. She was the wind. Words had no meaning for her now.
Standing between her and her target were hordes of monsters driven equally mad by the roaring flames and overwhelming fear.
The girl slaughtered all of them. Her golden eyes glimmered in the dark like the flashing steel of her blade.
“Ruuuuuughhh?!”
A violent tempest. Severed limbs. Gouts of flames and showers of blood.
Lyu and the other girls stood slack-jawed with shock, as that magic-infused whirlwind tore through all it touched.
“Out of my way! Out of my WAAAYYY!!”
Nothing could divert the young Aiz. She moved like an arrow in flight. Soon, the wall of monsters blocking her path was gone, and she came upon Erebus fleeing Delphyne alongside his followers.
“Oh. Didn’t expect to see you here,” the dark god said, chuckling. “Come to help your old foe, have you? Much apprec—”
But the young girl ignored even the god’s words. She sailed right past him, slicing an oncoming fireball in half. The sliced projectile scorched the air to the left and right, leaving Erebus startled but unharmed.
“…Are you not even listening to me? You’re a genuine agent of chaos in a little girl’s clothes.”
The dark god’s surprise, however, lasted only for a moment, before his lips formed a smile once more.
“Excellent timing. Your heroic sacrifice will grant me just enough time to reach safety. Time for me to get moving. Let’s see, where around here offers the grandest view?”
Erebus scanned the ruins of the eighteenth floor. His divine eyes picked out a cliff that looked relatively undamaged.
“Ah, my VIP seat,” he said. “Perfect for watching the end run its course.”
Alongside what few of his devout followers remained, Erebus headed straight for it.
“Aiz! Curses, I never expected her to lose her temper like this!”
The roar of the wind joined the bursting fireballs, causing the entire floor to shake even more. It was like an act from a heroic legend, watching the young girl depart to face the monster alone, and Riveria frowned as she envisaged what tragic fate lay at that tale’s end.
“Aiz cannot face that thing alone!” shouted Gareth. “No matter how crazed she is, it’s too powerful!”
“Grh…!”
Riveria was torn. She wanted to go save Aiz, but she couldn’t turn her back on the Level 7 standing before her. To even stand a chance against Alfia required the combined strength of their entire party, and if Riveria left, only a crushing defeat awaited those who remained. But just as she began to struggle under the burden of command…
“Go!!” someone called.
““!!””
Riveria and Gareth went wide-eyed with shock. It was Alize’s clear voice that cut through the battlefield.
“You and old man Gareth go save the Sword Princess!” she said. “We’ll handle Alfia somehow!”
Alize’s decision was quick, but it was reckless. Riveria couldn’t believe what she was hearing at first.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Alize Lovell! How can a group of Level Threes at best hope to take on a Level Seven?!”
“We’ll be okay! I still remember Braver’s plan! No matter how many times she knocks us down, we’ll stand right back up again!”
The girl’s enthusiasm left the high elf speechless. Alize placed her hands on her hips, exuding her trademark smugness.
“Our justice is as unbreakable as we are pure, pretty, and perfect, don’t you know?! Heh-hem!!”
Then she adopted a serious expression.
“So please trust me, okay, Gareth?”
The old dwarf was silent. Without affirming or denying her words, he adjusted his helmet. Then he turned toward the dragon.
“Let’s go, Riveria. I’d wager you won’t be able to focus without Aiz at your side, anyway.”
“Grr! I’m sorry, Astrea Familia!”
Riveria made her decision. Both Gareth and Alize had seen through her facade completely. All she could do was leave those brave girls with one last parting gift.
“Gather, breath of the earth—my name is Alf! Veil Breath!”
Her sacred protection enveloped every member of Astrea Familia in a verdant glow. It was armor that would protect them against magical and physical attacks.
“This shall keep you safe so long as the magic lasts! Please, take care!”
“Alfia is in your hands, lasses! When this is all over, we’ll have a feast, and I’ll treat you to some real dwarven spirits!”
With that the two departed. With staff and greatax in hand, they left to assist Aiz.
“All right, girls! Drinks with old man Gareth confirmed! And Nine Hell gave us this nifty buff as well! Can’t complain about that, can you?”
“Yes we can, you idiot!!” came Lyra’s swift rebuke. She looked like she wanted to strangle the life out of her bigmouthed captain. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, makin’ promises we can’t keep?! We’re gonna die out here, and it’s gonna be all your fault!!”
“Oh, Lyra, you’re so pessimistic! We’re not going to die yet, don’t be silly!”
“You absolute moron…!” cried Lyra, clutching her head in her hands. It was all the other girls could do to keep the smiles on their faces. Meanwhile, Kaguya, who had been examining the aura bestowed by Riveria, stepped forward.
“Under normal circumstances,” she said. “I would agree with the prum here, but just this once I have to side with the captain.”
The smile on her face was sickeningly sweet.
“After all, I have a debt to settle with that woman there,” Kaguya said, glaring at Alfia. “I will have my revenge, even if my decapitated head must bite out her throat!”
Lyu appeared beside the not-so-innocent maiden and said, “If it will ease Lady Riveria’s burden, then I’ll fight as well. Somebody needs to eliminate that witch, so it might as well be us.”
She leveled her own glare at Alfia. Wisps of flames danced around the ashen-haired woman. All of Astrea Familia drew their weapons.
“Are you finished with your little play-pretend?” the witch said.
“Yes, we’re finished,” replied Alize. “And it’s not pretend; our determination is very real.”
“Then perish. I shall choke the life out of you so you never sully this world with your noise again.”
After that final pronouncement, her magic swelled. The air itself groaned, but Alize’s smile was unfaltering.
“Sorry, but being noisy is the one thing we’re good at!”
All eleven of the girls wore brave smiles.
“We’re gonna keep going until you’re ready to give up!”
Delphyne’s roar echoed throughout the floor. Every gout of flames caused the floor to shake, but there was a certain wind in the dragon’s eyes that it couldn’t get rid of.
“Raaaahh! Aaaaaaghhh!”
Aiz’s face twisted in madness and rage. She used Airiel to cloak her body in an armor of wind that granted her unparalleled mobility, allowing her to leap all the way up to the monster’s face. The beast attempted to stop her by swinging its heavy wings and tail, but Aiz repelled every blow with a hurricane of steel. As soon as she touched down, she launched herself at the creature once more.
It was an unprecedented clash of fire and wind. Her ceaseless attacks, like an everlasting tempest, caused the beast to howl in anger.
“Aiz! Come back! …Curses, she’s not listening to me! Her anger is in control!”
“Not even my ax can handle a beast of this size!”
No matter how many times Gareth hurled his weapon, it bounced harmlessly off the creature’s thick scales. Riveria’s magic fared little better, as the dragon’s fiery breath vaporized it utterly before impact. And she couldn’t rely on her more hard-hitting spells for fear of striking the rampaging Aiz by accident. Only the young girl had found any success attacking the beast and keeping it in check.
“Wait, look…!”
The dragon’s skin bubbled as if it were boiling, emitting steam and an ominous purple light. Then Delphyne’s wounds closed before Gareth’s very eyes. Even the shattered scales quickly reformed.
“It’s healing itself…!” Riveria spat.
“As soon as we land a solid hit, this happens!” said Gareth. “Unless we concentrate our attacks, we’ll never cut a path to its magic stone!”
Their opponent was nigh invincible to begin with, but even when they managed to do some damage, the creature’s regeneration rendered it meaningless. Gareth clenched his jaw in frustration. The beast’s vitality seemed bottomless, and half-hearted attacks would not cut it. The only way through was to rely on the strength of numbers, just as Finn’s plan had dictated.
But it didn’t seem possible to pacify Aiz without leaving themselves open to the dragon. Besides, with her tiny body surrounded by gale-speed winds, there was currently no way to even get close to her.
“Aiz is giving it everything she’s got. It’s unfortunate, but right now her anger is the only thing keeping that monster at bay.”
“But it won’t last!” cried Riveria. “She’s using more power than her body can handle!”
True to her reputation as a monster slayer, Aiz’s abilities were specialized in defeating them. Only Riveria and Gareth understood the true depths of her might, which Aiz drew upon with zero regard for the consequences. With every wind-infused slash, the beast was forced to defend instead of attacking, but at the same time, Aiz crept closer and closer to her own destruction.
“We have to stop her!” roared Gareth, raising his ax and dashing after her—when all of a sudden, he stopped.
“What’s the matter, Gareth?!”
When Riveria turned her head, Gareth was looking in the complete opposite direction, toward the eastern end of the floor. There, in the distance, the high elf glimpsed several figures rising from the blasted terrain.
“What the…?!”
“Agallis Arvesynce!”
Alize’s chant summoned a torrent of magical energy that burst forth from her body, followed by the sound of dynamite. Her arm, her legs, and her sword—all were bathed in the same fiery glow, the color of her crimson hair.
“A fire enchantment?” said Alfia, unperturbed. “Is that the best you have?”
“You bet your butt it is! A pure, pretty, and perfect girl like me needs a pure, pretty, and perfect spell to match! What do you think? Now you know why they call me the Scarlett Harnell! Heh-hem!”
Alize’s proud look lasted only a moment before she got down to business.
“Form up, girls! Start operation Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee!”
“““Got it!”””
Responding quickly to their captain’s order, the girls formed a ring around Alize.
“Three in the back, five in the middle, and three in the front. I suppose they have to bolster their defense now that Elgarm’s not with them.”
From his vantage point atop a crystal bluff, Erebus watched the battle unfolding below. Only two of his underlings remained by his side, utterly exhausted.
“They’re not doing so bad holding their own against a Level Seven like Alfia,” he said. “Especially considering one good hit from her will tear any of them in half.”
Astrea Familia’s performance was nothing short of exceptional. They were fighting an opponent four levels higher than themselves.
Any adventurer could tell what a hopeless endeavor it was. Even a single level gap was enough reason to throw in the towel. It was like fighting a foe on another plane of existence. Erebus might as well have been watching eleven bunny rabbits take on a fire-breathing dragon.
“But their teamwork is extraordinary,” he went on, “and that’s an adventurer’s greatest asset. That’s the one thing that gives them a chance to go up against unwinnable odds and come out on top.”
Watching that teamwork somehow plug the gap between their levels, Erebus couldn’t help but smile. When Alize lunged forward, the mages quickly covered her assault. When Lyra and the other support crew in the center of the formation launched their projectiles, Lyu and Kaguya were there with perfect timing to press the advantage. Healing spells and buffs from the rear constantly kept the party fighting fit.
This was what adventurers were truly capable of. Having the courage and the faith to put their lives in their allies’ hands, even when one slip could spell doom for all of them.
Preparations like Perseus’s accessories and Riveria’s magic were the distillation of a thousand battles’ worth of accumulated experience.
This fight was essentially a Dungeon raid; a party of adventurers combining their strength to take down a formidable boss.
“They’re doing well, even accounting for Alfia’s little handicap.” Erebus grinned. “Now, where will things go from here, I wonder?”
But the witch’s answer to that, as for all things, was the same single word.
“Gospel.”
That word produced an invisible, yet deafening wall of sound.
“Grh?!”
Although Lyu managed to take only a glancing blow, she was still tossed through the air. Alize wasted no time in giving her command.
“Maryu! Healing!”
“Leave it to me! Rea Vindemia!”
The eldest member of the familia cast her spell without delay, and the curative light enveloped not only Lyu, but also Asta and Noin, who had sustained wounds of their own on the front lines.
“Don’t forget all the potions and elixirs Braver gave us! Just stay alive and I’ll heal you right back up!” yelled Neze from the middle rank. Along with Noin and Iska, she was spending the battle using curative after curative on her allies. There were even magic potions in her arsenal, so the mages on the back rank didn’t have to worry about suffering from Mind Down.
This focus on magical resistance must be the prum’s doing, thought Alfia. My sound is not getting through. Especially with that high elf’s protection in the way.
Silently, she observed the actions of her opponents.
Their ceaseless attacks are testing my nerves. Plus, they are cautious. They neither stray too far, nor come too close. Instead, they constantly force a response, whittling down my patience.
She could come to only one conclusion.
“They are trying to tire me out,” she said.
At that moment, a sneak attack came from behind her. Alfia moved effortlessly to the side, dodging the attacker’s blade without a second thought.
“She’s a monster!” spat Kaguya in frustration, after her blade failed to so much as nick a single strand of ashen hair on the witch’s head. “How many of my attacks has she avoided so far?!”
Astrea Familia had been forced to fight defensively ever since parting with their Loki Familia allies. However, that hadn’t stopped Kaguya and the other front liners from making bold attempts on their foe’s life. Yet the unflappable Level 7 did not show so much as a single bead of sweat on her brow.
A wave of sound gouged the earth, and although Kaguya’s evasion was immediate, she was still tossed backward. Thrown clear of the battlefield, she struggled to her feet and used her sword to cut down a flame-wreathed monster that leaped toward her. Afterward, she raised her blood- and sweat-stained face and cut a path through the smoke and cinders to rejoin her allies.
Kaguya was keenly aware that one direct hit would be the end of her. “We can’t take this much longer, but that witch hasn’t even paused to catch her breath!” she muttered. “If she doesn’t wear out soon, this will all be for—!”
“Oh, I see you’ve already started without me. My fault for arriving late, I suppose.”
“!”
She spun toward the direction of the new voice.
“However, it seems the feast is far from over. I can’t wait to join in.”
It was a man sporting hair the color of boiling blood—the Evils lieutenant known as Vito. He arrived on the eighteenth floor with a contingent of eight troops.
“It’s you!” growled Kaguya, recognizing the man as the one she had fought in this very place not two weeks past. “Why are you here?! Did you come via Babel?!”
“Oh, it hardly matters, right? The fact is, I am here, and eager for our second dance.” He opened one eye a sliver and flashed a fearless smile. “Aren’t you?”
“Ah, Vito. You made it.”
The keen eyes of Erebus’s follower quickly picked out his master, watching from on high.
“It is good to see you safe, my lord,” he said, in spite of the vast and uncrossable distance between them. “Pray do not do anything too reckless. You are liable to get scorched to ash sitting out in the open like that. That would mean the loss of my blessing, and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my feast like that very much, would I?”
Vito turned his focus back to the girl standing before him, and his lips curled up in a grin. Kaguya did not even bother to hide her displeasure.
“Back again, you disgusting cretin? I suppose the only reason you were down here that day was to scout things out?”
“Quite right,” replied Vito. “Sending a god into the Dungeon is risky business, as I’m sure you’re aware. Everything had to be planned out perfectly to avoid any little mishaps.”
He showed little reluctance in addressing her query, almost as though it didn’t matter.
“However, meeting you girls back then was a strange twist of fate,” he went on. “Perhaps our paths are destined to cross?”
“I sincerely hope not,” replied Kaguya. “Having to see you once is bad enough. Get out of my sight before I throw up.”
She grimaced at the man through the billowing smoke and heat. Just then, she heard Lyra’s voice.
“Kaguya, what are you doin’?! —Hey, what?! More enemies?! Argh, that’s the last thing we need!”
Lyra spotted new trouble and was about to come over to assist, when…
“Get back, Lyra! And don’t tell the others!”
Kaguya’s furious rebuke caused the prum girl to stop in her tracks.
“If we let them split our focus, we’ll be overwhelmed! Besides, I am more than a match for this group of powerless fools!”
“Y-you’re unhinged! You can’t take ’em all by your—”
“Make up for my absence, prum! Now go!”
“You what?! How am I meant to fight for two people at once?!”
“Now!!”
“…Argh, fine!” said Lyra, caving to Kaguya’s stern glare. “But you owe me a drink back topside!”
The priority was the Level 7. Lyra knew that, and she also knew there wasn’t any room for error. Thus, she disappeared back through the curtain of steam and rejoined the battle.
“Heh-heh-heh. I do hope you weren’t including me when you said ‘powerless fools,’” taunted Vito. “Even a man like me has a sense of pride, you know.”
“Shut it, scum. Be grateful I even give you the time of day. I would like nothing more than to tear that woman’s head from her shoulders.”
Then a dauntless smile appeared on Kaguya’s lips.
“But don’t think I forgot how you made fools of us all back then. I’ll cut you into ribbons, so I never have to see that smug grin of yours ever again!”
“Ha-ha-ha! What a foulmouthed young lady you are! Then let us dance, as you wish.”
On his cue, Vito’s subordinates rushed into battle, and the dance began in earnest. Evil on one side, and the cold steel of a Far Eastern blade on the other.
Three cultists came rushing forward, two from either side and one from the front, brandishing their poison-tipped swords. Kaguya made short work of them before instantly slicing a fourth enemy who jumped down from above. One of the cultists writhed on the floor, coughing up blood, and reached to detonate his explosive device, but Kaguya slammed her toes in his face, knocking him out.
The hem of her kimono fluttered, offering a glimpse of her fair legs. Then, without even looking behind her, Kaguya spun around and parried a thrust aimed at her back before slicing the assailant in the stomach faster than his eyes could open wide in surprise.
“Hrgh!”
“Gurgh?!”
The name of her sword was Higanbana, and the blood droplets left in its wake aptly looked like fallen petals.
It was a sword forged in Orario for the sole purpose of cutting down villainy. With an expertly crafted edge, it had carried Kaguya through many a battle against evil. Though shattered in the girl’s previous encounter with Alfia, the fragments had been recovered and reforged, resulting in a successor to the weapon’s legacy.
Five Evils servants littered the Dungeon floor. Only four remained, including Vito himself.
Kaguya’s one-woman war raged on in service to her friends fighting the Silent Witch elsewhere.
She surged forward. Vito’s attacks were on another level compared to those of his underlings, yet Kaguya subtly altered their trajectory even while dodging the onslaught of the frustrated Evils. The enemy blades sliced through strands of her beautiful, silken hair, and left cuts in the cloth of her kimono, but the only look on Kaguya’s face was one of scorn and disdain.
Then her sheath sang as she drew her sword. Flashing Blade: a technique of her accursed bloodline, an iai slice that cut through three foes at once.
“Gaaaaaghh!!”
Their bodies hit the floor, and Kaguya wiped the sweat from her brow. Then she directed her gaze forward once more at Vito, who stood completely unharmed.
“Magnificent!” he said, clapping. “What beauty and strength! Look at all these grown men and women who couldn’t keep up with one little girl! Am I the only half-decent dancer around these parts?”
Then a cold, brutal smile returned to Vito’s lips as he watched her struggle for breath.
“You must be getting tired by now, mustn’t you, princess?”
“…You repulse me. Shut your mouth!”
Steel clashed with steel, and the dance went on.
While Kaguya and Vito fought under a curtain of dust, Lyu and the other girls were trapped in a conflict of their own.
““Haah!””
Lyu and Alize came at their foe from opposite angles. Alfia gently brushed aside the former’s wooden sword with her palm, while trapping the latter’s blade between two slender fingers.
“Argh! Why are you so fast? It’s so irritating! And how come you’re not feeling the heat from my sword? Is that your magic-nullifying power as well?!”
“Do not bombard me with questions, child. All it means is that you are weak.” The witch’s face was laden with disappointment. “However,” she said. “Your speed and power have definitely improved, red one. You must possess a rare skill.”
Lyu was also powering herself up with Mind Load, but the increase in Alize’s stats were too drastic to explain any other way.
“Heh.” Alize chuckled, pulling a smug grin. “How observant of you! Yes, my skill, Rubrud Beckia, lets me—”
“Alize! Don’t just blurt out what your skills do to the enemy!”
Lyu silenced her talkative captain before she gave the game away and slashed at Alfia. The witch released Crimson Order and stepped back, avoiding the elf’s blow.
“You are especially noisy,” she said with a deep sigh. “I must be rid of you at once.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you very much!” chirruped Alize, a feisty grin forming on her lips. “After all, being noisy lets me distract you like this!”
Alfia knit her brows dubiously, and a second later, her suspicions were answered when a short figure leaped out from behind her.
“Raaaahhh!!”
“!”
Lyra emerged from her veil of dust and sparks and attacked, but Alfia reacted without a moment’s delay. She spun around, catching the prum’s body blow on her elbow.
“A shield bash? Are you pretending to be a dwarf, prum?”
“Shut it, lady. I’m just doin’ what I was told… But damn, nothin’ fazes ya, does it? I shoulda known, but still…”
After her attack failed, Lyra immediately jumped back to a safe distance, knowing a single counterattack from the witch would be the end of her. She screwed up her face in frustration, looking down at the shield in her hands—the one she had been wearing on her back this entire time.
“At least I finally figured it out, though.”
“Figured out what?” replied Alfia, her closed eyes scrunching together.
“That thing you got that nullifies magic—it ain’t no barrier spell; it’s a passive enchantment.”
“………”
Alfia seemed to tremble ever so slightly in response to Lyra’s declaration. It was the first reaction of hers that could be called genuine surprise.
“What do you mean, Lyra?” asked Alize.
Lyra jerked her chin in the direction of the ashen-haired witch.
“You know how when she activates her barrier, she holds out her hand and chants? Well, it’s all just smoke and mirrors to make it look like she’s casting a spell.”
Alize thought back to when Alfia had been attacked by Riveria and the other mages. At that time, the witch had acted exactly as Lyra said, seeming to cast an ultrafast barrier spell immediately following an offensive one.
“Yeah…and when I attacked her with my fire-enchanted sword, the heat didn’t seem to bother her at all! But now that I think about it, I remember the flames disappeared right where she touched the blade, even though she didn’t cast any kind of barrier that time.”
Lyra nodded. “That’s ’cause it ain’t a barrier spell at all. It’s like your fire enchantment, or the Sword Princess’s wind. Only, hers is invisible, always protectin’ her from any magic.”
The Astrea Familia girls all stood around the battlefield, huffing for breath, listening to Lyra’s explanation. They all wore the same look of surprise, which then turned to understanding.
“I get it,” said Lyu. “So it’s not that she’s really fast at switching between offense and defense; it’s that her defense is always on.”
“This explains why you seem to be able to cast two spells at once!” said Neze.
There was a short pause as Alfia remained silent.
“…What of it?” she said at last. “Simply understanding changes nothing.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” said Lyra. “But we know one more thing, at least. So long as we’re fightin’, you can’t turn that armor off. You gotta keep it up the entire time.”
If Alfia made one mistake fighting the girls of Astrea Familia, she would inevitably be hit by magic. And magic was deadly, no matter the origin. That was why short-term buffs were so valuable in a Dungeon raid.
No matter what Alfia did, there was always that chance—even if only a tiny, tiny chance—that a spell would finally land and result in her defeat. If Alfia wanted to eliminate that chance, there was only one choice: She needed her armor, even if that armor came at a price.
“You ain’t showin’ it, but an enchantment that nullifies magic can’t come cheap, eh? How much you wanna bet it’s tankin’ your Mind as we speak?”
“Lyra, you mean…?”
“Yep. All we gotta do is keep up the assault, and sooner or later, she’s gonna get Mind Down.”
“So it all comes down to who can last longer? Well, that’s nice and simple!” exclaimed Alize. “That’s one more path to victory confirmed!”
The battle had been wearing on for some time now, and it stood to reason that Alfia’s Mind consumption far outclassed that of the girls.
“You hate noise so much, you’re prepared to pay whatever it takes to keep the walls of your silent paradise intact…” muttered Lyu. “That is your weakness!”
Alfia finally parted her lips to speak.
“Correct,” she said. “As painful as it is to admit, that Level Two prum has outwitted me for a second time.”
Alfia had let Lyra slip through her fingers when she’d confronted the witch alongside Kaguya in the streets of Orario. If that had not happened, the prum would not be here to expose the witch’s scheme now. A humiliating turn of events for the all-powerful Level 7 but cause for congratulation as well.
“There is more to you than meets the eye, prum, and there is more to ability than strength, skill, and strategy. I would do well to remember that.”
“Gee, a big, scary Level Seven tryin’ to butter me up? I think I’m gonna wet myself.”
After a lighthearted chuckle, Lyra fixed Alfia with a glare.
“So, whatcha wanna do, queenie? We can keep doin’ this until one of us gives up the ghost, or you can drop your enchantment and finally face that noise you’re so scared of.”
This, too, was strategy. Of course, Lyra wanted to taunt the witch into removing her armor and offering even a sliver of vulnerability, but if Alfia didn’t take the bait, that was fine as well. That would only mean sticking to the original plan of wearing her out, only with the added bonus that now there was light at the end of the tunnel. Revealing the Level 7’s trick had granted the girls of Astrea Familia courage and raised their morale—so much so that it hardly mattered whether the odds had really shifted.
However…
“…You all seem to be misapprehending the situation here.”
In truth, Lyra had not come even one step closer to uncovering the truth behind the witch’s silence.
“What I call noise is not your artless cacophony, wretched though it is… It is the hateful tune of my own gospel.”
“What…?”
“You have correctly uncovered the true nature of my Silentium Eden. While it protects me, all forms of magic are automatically nullified.”
Alfia put a hand to her chest and spoke in an unsettlingly soft tone.
“That includes magic originating from within. Do you understand what that means?”
She raised her head and explained.
“While it cannot nullify it completely, this enchantment drastically reduces the power of my own magic.”
The moment it dawned on them what the witch was saying, Lyra, Alize, Lyu—all the girls of Astrea Familia—paled in shock.
“My silence is no armor,” Alfia declared. “It is a double-edged sword. A seal upon all hateful noise, including my own.”
That was the one point that Lyra had failed to realize. Of course, it was perhaps the most important one of all.
Alize couldn’t speak. Wait, but that means…
Lyra shivered in fear. All those crazy attacks she’s been peltin’ us with…
Lyu felt the despair creep up her limbs like frostbite. That’s her weakened state?! She hasn’t even been using her full power?!
“Listen now, and listen well,” Alfia spoke. “For this is the noise that gives me such grief.”
A sound that was just barely audible rang out, and the invisible shroud covering Alfia’s body flickered, like a mirage. The next moment, tremendous blasts of magic billowed out from her.
“She undid the protection?!” exclaimed Lyu.
“This gale!” Lyra yelled. “It’s all the magical energy that was being kept inside!”
A terrible thought came over Alize, and she instinctively screamed, “Get back, everyone! Get away from her!”
But then the witch spoke in a cruel voice.
“It’s too late,” she said. Breaking her veil of silence, she lifted one arm in the girls’ direction.
“Gospel: Satanas Verion.”
First came her usual ultrashort chant, and the true name of destruction followed. For a moment, the world was robbed of sound, and then came the gospel.
“““!!!”””
It was destructive and deafening. The soft timbre of a ringing bell concealed a magical scream. The followers of justice didn’t even have a chance to raise their voices before a wave of sound engulfed them, dragging them into a vortex of destruction.
“Wha—?!”
Kaguya clapped her hands over her ears and leaped away as a dust-filled gale hit her like a tidal wave. The whole floor shook. For a moment, even Delphyne’s cries couldn’t be heard. A flood of sound waves hit their eardrums, and the ground tremored like an earthquake.
After being tossed repeatedly this way and that, Kaguya finally climbed to her feet and looked up…finding nothing but a fan-shaped zone of death.
“Captain…? Lyra…? Leon…?!”
There was no answer to her frenzied cries save Vito’s laughter.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Is there no limit to their power?! Glutton and Silence both!”
Even as the blast waves washed over him, he laughed like a broken man.
“There can be no future for Orario while those fallen heroes stand with us!”
Soon, the dust cleared, revealing that Alfia was the only one still standing. The followers of justice were strewn across the shattered ground, or lying among fragments of broken crystals, like so many tattered rags.
The witch gazed at what she had wrought with a sorrowful look in her eye.
“All my power can do—all it has ever done—is take.”
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