CHAPTER 11
RETURN OF THE UNDEAD KING
“A Void attack alarm?!”
Riselia and Chatres both looked up. They saw a tear form in the sky and rapidly expand.
“N-no… A crack that big…,” Riselia whispered in disbelief.
“I’m sorry, but it seems our match ends here.” Chatres lowered her Holy Sword, a severe expression on her face. She’d looked just as taken aback as Riselia, but only for a moment. “This is an emergency. You two are hereby under my command. We need to regroup with the units from the other schools participating in the Holy Sword Dance Festival, leave this place, and return to the capital to defend the civilians.”
“Y-yes! Understood!” Riselia responded.
The two climbed out of the pit formed by the Drag Howl shot and returned to the surface.
“You all right, princess?” a voice asked from Chatres’s terminal. “Looks like we’ve got trouble.”
“Colt, I’m joining up with the eighteenth platoon for now. Where are you?”
“The pesky buggers have us surrounded. There’s too many of them.”
“Any chance you can break through?”
“We’re the fearsome princess’s first platoon. So long as we have old Balthus and Mifa on our side, we’ll kick these monsters’ backsides no problem.”
“Good, it’s reassuring to hear that. Then you should all go assist the other units and head for the Area III coupling bridge. We’ll regroup there.”
“Huh… Wait, what about you?”
Chatres ended the call without answering. Voids were gushing out of the crack in the sky overhead.
“Damn Voids…,” the princess spat. Then she turned to Riselia and Regina. “We’ll make for Area III as we return to the capital. Contact your allies while you still can. It won’t be long until communications become unstable.”
The mana lighting in the underground passage turned red, and a shrill siren howled in the distance. Elfiné pulled Shary, who was disguised as Leonis, by the hand, as they made their way back to the surface.
It looks like the situation took a turn for the worse.
Voids must have attacked the capital.
“Can you hear me, Shary?” a voice called telepathically.
“Yes, Lord Blackas,” she replied.
“Those cursed monsters are threatening the kingdom. I am protecting Lord Magnus’s school with the three Champions of Rognas, so destroying the monstrosities in the capital falls to you.”
“Understood!” Shary replied, forming a copy shaped like Leonis from her shadow.
She let her fingers slip away from Elfiné’s grasp and disappeared, swapping places with the decoy.
Let’s begin.
Shary returned to her maid-uniformed appearance, held up her Refisca dagger, and vanished into the dark.
Chatres led the charge, with Riselia and Regina following close after.
“Miss Finé…do you read?!” Riselia had tried calling a few times.
“…Yes…I…hear you…”
The transmission finally got through. Elfiné’s voice came through Riselia’s earring, though it was heavily interspersed with static.
“A gigantic tear in space appeared over the Eighth Assault Garden. Regina and I are under Princess Chatres’s command and are heading for the capital as we speak.”
“Roger. Leo and I will…the surface…administrative bureau…and then regroup…”
“All right. Be careful out there.”
“Yes. You too, Selia.”
After ending the call, Riselia quickened her pace to run alongside Chatres.
“Do you have any thoughts, Riselia Crystalia?” Chatres asked, her eyes fixed on the rupture in the sky.
“It looks like the prelude to a Stampede.”
“I see. You two have experienced a few of those, after all,” Chatres muttered. “So if this is a Stampede, it means a Void Lord is liable to appear.”
“Lady Selia, look…!” Regina exclaimed sharply from a few paces back.
Crack, crack, crack…!
A fresh fracture ran through the air directly ahead, and Voids swiftly emerged from within.
“Do we take a detour?” Riselia asked Chatres.
“No, we power through. Follow me!” the princess declared, racing forward as she held her Holy Sword ready.
“Hyahhhhhh!”
The Ragna Nova grew to a length of fifty meltes, and Chatres swiped it through the swarm.
Whooooooosh!
“Wow!” Riselia could only gawk in amazement. If Chatres had brought that power to bear against her, she wouldn’t have stood a chance.
“I can’t make use of that repeatedly,” Chatres confessed, shaking her head. “The larger I make the blade, the more of my power it consumes. We need to break through quickly. Regina Mercedes, cover me.”
“Huh?” Regina looked shocked by the order.
“What’s wrong?” Chatres questioned.
“Ah, it’s just… You know my name…?”
“I know the names of all the Holy Sword Dance Festival participants. As one should.”
“Ah, r-right…!” Regina nodded hurriedly.
“Dance, my drenched blade—Bloody Petal Spiral!” Riselia swung the Bloody Sword, cutting down the remaining Voids.
Fly-shaped Voids dove from above, only for Regina to accurately pick them out of the air.
“Hyahhhhhhhhhhh!”
Chatres forged ahead, cleaving through every foe in her way. Together, the three managed to reach Area III, and from there, they moved to the Central Garden’s main street.
“Wait. There’s a unit under attack somewhere,” Chatres said sharply as she slew a Void standing in her way.
“…?!”
At the very center of a ruined plaza at the heart of the Central Garden was a tear in space that was expanding by the second. Beneath it stood a group of Holy Swordsman, motionless and surrounded by Voids.
“That garb. Are they from the St. Eluminas Monastery?” Riselia wondered.
“Yes, so it seems. Let’s help them.”
“Okay!”
Chatres raced forward, the Ragna Nova in hand. Riselia kept the pace, deploying a barrier of blood blades… But then she paused. She sensed something amiss.
…?
She had nothing to go on but intuition, yet anxiety gripped her heart. The St. Eluminas Monastery unit surrounded by the Voids…didn’t look like they were under attack. If anything, they appeared to be commanding the monstrous things…
Chatres cleaved through the Voids and reached the group first. She knelt by a frightened girl wearing a cassock.
“Are you all right? Are any of you injured?” Chatres inquired gently.
“W-we’re fine. You saved us, Your Highness…” The girl looked up with terror in her eyes. “You came at just the right time. I just thought I needed more Demon Swords to add to the pyre.”
“…What?”
“Princess Chatres!” Riselia cried.
The girl’s red lips twisted into a grin.
“Wha—?”
Slash!
Something akin to spider legs burst from the girl’s back, one of which pierced Chatres.
“Khhk… Ahhh…!”
Blood spurted from the princess’s body, dyeing her Elysion Academy uniform crimson. Her body was hurled through the air, collapsing hard upon the ground.
“Your Highness!” Riselia shouted in alarm.
A puddle of blood formed beneath Chatres. The girl with the spider legs sprouting from her back looked down on the princess, wearing an ecstatic expression.
“Oh my, my, my! You’re so foolish, Your Highness!” The facade of the girl melted away, revealing pale skin, deep red eyes, and a black dress. “How kind of you to offer yourself up as a sacrifice!”
“Hrahhhhhhh!” Riselia lunged with the Bloody Sword.
She had no idea what had just happened, but protecting Chatres was her primary instinct in this situation.
“Heh… Heh-heh-heh…,” the woman snickered, blocking the incoming blade at the last second. “Very good. Brave girls are the most delectable.”
“…?!”
Clangggg!
The woman arranged the spider legs extending from her back in a pattern reminiscent of a rib cage to shield herself.
“Just who are you?” Riselia demanded.
“Heh. I’m an apostle. A follower of the goddess from the other side of this tear.”
“Apostle?”
“Yes. The ninth apostle, Iris Void Priestess.”
“Void? You mean this fracture…?!”
“That’s right, I opened the gate. Although in truth, I only gave the first push. The real fun is what comes next.”
Riselia didn’t understand a single word this woman was saying. “Regina, take care of Princess Chatres!” she called over her shoulder while pushing her sword against the spider legs.
“But, Lady Selia, what about you?”
“I’ll stall her here. Please hurry. Princess Chatres is a symbol of hope for all the civilians and Holy Swordsmen. We can’t afford to lose her…!”
“…”
Regina hesitated for a moment and then bit her lip. “Understood. Please be careful.” She hoisted Chatres’s limp, bloodied body over her shoulder.
“Oh, I’m not going to let you get away,” Iris said before leaping into the air.
“…?!”
An intense mana glow converged in the woman’s hand.
“Fifth-order spell—Vars Farga!”
Booooom!
The spell produced a powerful explosion, and a giant pillar of fire erupted around Riselia.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha! Don’t tell me that was enough to kill yo—What?!”
Iris Void Priestess’s shrill laughter was cut short. Crimson light—brighter than the flames—emerged. A dress billowed, untouched by the inferno.
“Go, Regina! I’ll take care of her!”
After she’d donned the True Ancestor’s Dress, Riselia’s mana surged furiously.
“You irritating flies. This land will one day be my lord’s territory,” Shary spat coldly as she threw a dagger.
Hopping from one building’s shadow to another’s, she slew the insect-like Voids that appeared from the cracks. Landing on a rooftop, she looked up at the giant tear overhead. Voids spilled from it ceaselessly.
I don’t think I’ll be able to dispose of that many on my own. Shary bit her lip as she cut down more of the approaching monsters. Failure to defend my lord’s domain after he entrusted me with it is inexcusable. Only death would absolve me…
And then there was the matter of Leonis’s minion, Riselia Crystalia. Shary had to make sure nothing befell her, but locating the girl was difficult in this vast city. And with the Voids radiating intense mana, communication terminals were of no use.
Worst of all, Shary had a terrible sense of direction.
“Seriously, where is she and what is she doing…?” the assassin maid wondered aloud as she swept away a swarm of Voids with shadow whips.
Suddenly, the air over the Eighth Assault Garden was rent in two.
“…What?!”
The rip widened, as if it were being turned inside out, and an ominous red sky spread across the world. From beyond the opening, a gigantic hand appeared.
“Wh-wh-what is that…?” Shary shuddered, her dusk-colored eyes wide with shock.
An unimaginably gigantic Void. Judging by the arm’s scale, if a creature of that size fully emerged, it would destroy the First, Seventh, and Eight Assault Gardens completely.
I can’t do anything about that thing! Shary’s assassin instincts told her that much.
And that was only the beginning.
Crack, crack, crack…!
The tear grew even larger. Two more gigantic limbs reached from the hole.
It…can’t be…
Shary’s expression turned to one of utter despair. Each of those arms belonged to different Voids. There were at least three of them now.
Shary stared blankly, hopelessly.
“Shary, Blackas! Answer me, I don’t care which one of you it is!”
“M-my lord?!” Shary raised her face in surprise after hearing his voice in her mind. “My lord, you’ve returned…!” she replied.
“Not quite yet. I can see the capital, but it’ll take me a while longer to return. Shary, inform me of the situation. Things look to be in utter chaos from what I can glean…”
“Yes. A gigantic tear in space appeared over the Eighth Assault Garden, where the Holy Sword Dance Festival was being held,” Shary explained while brandishing her whip to fell more Voids. “Swarms of the monsters called Voids, and at least three gigantic specimens, are attempting to emerge on this side.”
“Hmm. Can you handle them?”
“My apologies, my lord. I cannot do it on my own…”
“I see…” Leonis seemingly took a moment to consider. “Shary, I give you permission to unleash the Everdark Queen.”
“The Everdark Queen?! But she—”
“We have no choice. We are up against monsters, so our only recourse is to meet this challenge with one of our own.”
“But…”
“Do it. Freeing her is dangerous, but I’ll manage.” Leonis’s tone left no room for argument.
“V-very well. I’ll do it at once.” Shary nodded and removed her maid’s headdress.
“Hyahhhhhhh!”
Riselia unleashed the True Ancestor’s Dress’s power. Her argent hair shone, and her ice-blue eyes turned crimson. She surrendered herself to the overflowing mana and shot forward.
“Ahh.” The spider woman’s red lips quirked into a grin, and she snapped her fingers.
The St. Eluminas Monastery Holy Swordsmen turned their blank, emotionless eyes to Riselia and lunged at her together.
She’s controlling them?!
Riselia charged into the group. Using the power of the True Ancestor’s Dress, she converted her vast Vampire Queen mana reserves into brute strength. She caught a large man rushing her with a high kick to the jaw. Pivoting, Riselia landed a roundhouse kick to another student, knocking him to the ground.
Sorry, but I can’t hold back right now!
Riselia brandished the Bloody Sword, producing blades of blood that cut down two more students. She could only hope the wounds weren’t fatal as she sprinted for the spider woman.
“Oh my, my. What does this mean?” Iris Void Priestess cocked her head in confusion. “Why do you have that dress?” The woman’s face lost all expression, but her pupils widened. Vicious malice washed over Riselia, sending chills through her body.
She knows about this dress?!
Did she know Leonis, then? That redheaded girl, Veira, was an old acquaintance of Leonis’s. However, Riselia got the feeling that Veira was a friend. This spider woman—Iris—felt different. She eyed the True Ancestor’s Dress with a sticky, clinging sort of gaze.
“That garment belongs to a great man. Did you lowly humans ransack Necrozoa’s glorious treasure vaults?” Iris scowled and began mumbling to herself. “No, a human couldn’t handle that treasure. You couldn’t possibly be undead, could you? Lord Nefakess said nothing of the sort—”
I don’t understand what she wants, but…!
Riselia moved at lightning speed, swinging the Bloody Sword down.
Clanggggg!
The spider legs deflected her Holy Sword’s blade.
“…?!”
“Oh, well. I’ll just torture you for information on him. If you’re undead, I should be able to hack off your limbs. You won’t die so long as your head’s still attached, right?”
Iris’s arachnid legs came crashing down in succession. Riselia jumped away to evade them, and the sharp limbs crushed the rubble on the ground to bits.
“Bloom wildly, my blades—Bloody Petal Flurry!” Riselia ran in an arc, deploying crimson razors as she moved for Iris.
“Aha!” Iris evaded with surprisingly graceful movements, her spider legs parrying the blood blades. Without the True Ancestor’s Dress boosting her strength, Riselia wouldn’t have been able to keep up.
Riselia kicked off a building and dashed up its wall. Focusing the mana in her legs, she released it all at once, blasting herself toward Iris.
“Hrahhhhhhhhh!”
She focused all her strength into a single attack, empowering her hands with magic power. The cut severed a few spider legs, sending them flying through the air. However, Iris didn’t appear bothered.
“…Were you the one who called the Voids?!” Riselia demanded.
“No, all I did was help open the gate,” Iris replied. “The Void monsters are just the vanguard, drawn to this side by the Holy Swords’ power.”
“What do you mean?” Riselia asked, slashing up to lop off a spider leg plunging for her.
“Just look at that tear in the sky. The world is being overwritten. This world, protected by the Holy Swords, is being overwritten by the great goddess’s world of emptiness…”
“…?!” Knocking away a few spider limbs, Riselia risked a glance at the sky.
The rip in space had greatly expanded, and gigantic Void arms were emerging.
They’re massive… Are they Void Lords?! Riselia’s crimson eyes clouded over with despair.
If they got through, the capital was done for.
“Oh, can you really afford to be distracted?”
Iris opened her mouth and spat sticky threads.
The strands of shining mana bound Riselia’s limbs at once, rendering her motionless and pulling her to the ground.
“…Khh!”
Riselia released magical power, hoping to blow the threads away, yet…
Why…?! My mana, it’s…!
…the strands only tightened, tearing into the young woman’s slender throat.
“Heh-heh-heh. Now, be honest with me, girl. Who gave you that dress?” Iris pressed one of her arachnid legs against Riselia’s cheek.
“I’ll never…tell you…!” Riselia answered through gritted teeth.
“My, that’s a shame… Heh-heh. You bad girl. In that case…” Iris’s red eyes glinted ominously. “I’ll play with you in my nest until you scream and beg for mercy.”
“Lady Selia…,” Regina whispered. She turned back to look. Even from afar, she felt the intermittent explosions in her eardrums.
“That’s…far enough…,” Chatres gasped. “Put me down…here…”
Regina gently lay Chatres’s body at the foot of a crumbled building.
“I’ll go get a first aid kit.” Regina pulled up a map of the area on her terminal, looking for any place with medical supplies.
Fortunately, there was a stand nearby. Regina wasn’t sure if places like that were stocked on the incomplete Eighth Assault Garden, but it was worth the attempt.
By some miracle, she did locate emergency treatment materials and hurried back to Chatres. A puddle of dark red had formed under the princess in Regina’s absence.
“Your Highness, I’ll handle your wounds now. Let me know if it hurts.”
“I am a…knight of House O’ltriese… Such pain is…nothing…”
“Don’t strain yourself…,” Regina said, quickly wrapping a bandage over Chatres’s wrist.
Administering medical aid was one of the first things Excalibur Academy students learned. Since Holy Swords with healing powers were rare, knowing how to treat wounds on the front lines was paramount for a Holy Swordsman.
Regina transmitted an emergency request for assistance, but the Stampede made it unlikely that the message would get through.
“What a…disaster… To think an anti-imperial organization infiltrated the Human Church… Were they disciples of the Apocalyptic Cult? What…were they…?”
“Your Highness, please, relax. You’ll open your wounds,” Regina said, holding the other girl’s shoulders.
“…This is pathetic. And I call myself royalty…? The strongest knight? My Holy Sword is meant to defend the people, yet at times like these, I…”
“Excuse me, Your Highness—,” Regina whispered before gently wrapping her hands around Chatres’s back in an embrace.
The princess’s eyes went wide.
“Princess Chatres. Every Holy Swordsman out there looks up to you. You’ll go on to lead us all someday. Please, don’t say such hopeless things. The entire empire is waiting for your safe return.”
“…You talk like you know what it’s like to be in my position.”
“I apologize if I came across as presumptuous. I’m simply worried for you, Your Highness.” Regina released Chatres, a lonely smile on her face.
How could I not worry about my big sister?
Crack, crack, crack, crack…!
Fissures carved themselves into the space surrounding the two.
“Voids?!” Regina stood immediately to protect Chatres, the Drag Striker clutched in her hands.
“Forget about me, Regina Mercedes. Run for…safety…”
Bang!
Regina fired at one of the Voids.
“I refuse. I’ll protect you to my last, Your Highness.”
Crack, crack, crack, crack…!
The tears continued expanding, with more fly-like Voids spilling out of them.
I might have trouble against so many… Regina felt a cold sweat run down the back of her neck.
She knew it was beyond her to fend off this many alone. The Voids swarmed at her, a loud buzzing overtaking all other sounds.
“…?!”
Just as it seemed hopeless, lightning flashed, and all the Voids rushing toward her fell lifelessly to the ground. Regina saw a familiar white garb flap softly in the corner of her eye.
“I see you need some help, Miss Regina.”
“Sakuya!”
The Everdark Queen, Rakshasa Nightmare, was a devil who reigned over the afterlife, and she was the Undead King’s third minion. Long had she been sealed in the Realm Shadows. She was a match for a Dark Lord when her powers were at their full might. Because she took any chance to rebel against Leonis, he’d locked her away.
So while she was his minion, she was also an uncontrollable element. She was, in a sense, Leonis’s ultimate weapon. Calling upon her was strictly a last resort.
Shary stood surrounded by Voids, having removed her maid’s headdress. The assassin maid closed her eyes and spoke the words that would break the seal.
“First seal released—the lock on the Realm of Shadows has opened.”
A small whirlwind whipped up around her, causing her skirt to billow.
“Second seal released—unleash living death upon this place.”
The shadow at Shary’s feet spread wide, covering the entire rooftop.
“Third seal released—sovereign of the eternal ebon, may your wrath, may your lamentations, fill my hollow vessel.”
The shadows consumed Shary’s body…
…and the third minion appeared. The personality of Shary Shadow Assassin was wiped away, and in its place emerged the Everdark Queen.
Her body was clad in an ominous dress, as black as a lightless night. Her hands gripped the hilt of the Executioner’s Sword, granter of merciful death.
Leonis had given Shary, the guardswoman of the Realm of Shadows, permission to draw the Everdark Queen into her body. That was the only thing keeping this dangerous entity under control. With Shary’s body as her container, the devil’s soul was bound and restrained.
Deathly miasma came off her, covering the area. She floated in midair, opening her eyes soundlessly. Their dusk color gave way to a shade of ominous darkness as she beheld the Voids below.
“Bothersome insects,” she whispered. “Leave my sight at once.”
She gently swung the Executioner’s Sword with a single hand, and the swarm of Voids was silently eradicated.
“Is the despicable Undead King not here? Did he flee in fear of me?” the devil wondered in Shary’s voice.
She looked around, her attention settling on the gigantic Voids emerging from the tear in the sky.
“I suppose that could prove to be entertaining.”
“Ah… Kuh…”
The spider threads dug into Riselia’s limbs and neck. As an undead, Riselia didn’t need to breathe; however, she writhed in agony regardless, for the strands were draining her mana.
This…is…!
She manipulated her blood blades in an attempt to cut her way out, but the mana-empowered web refused to budge.
“Don’t bother. I am a Spider Queen—one of the highest ranks of undead. A lowly undead like you lacks the strength to escape my threads.”
Iris Void Priestess let out a resounding laugh. Riselia’s mana dwindled, and her consciousness flickered.
“…Ahhh. Ahhhhhhhhhh!” Riselia mustered the last of her strength, throwing a blood blade at Iris. Yet before it could reach her mark, the liquid razor lost its shape and splashed upon the ground harmlessly.
“Heh. Looks like your mana has run out already.”
With her magic power depleted, the True Ancestor’s Dress began to fade.
L-Leo…
Although her mind tumbled into the dark, Leonis’s face managed to surface. This woman, this monster, was an enemy of humanity who’d summoned Voids to the city. In all likelihood, she was one of Leonis’s foes as well, much like that priest, Nefakess.
If Riselia were to fall captive now, Iris would reach her memories and discover the truth about Leonis.
Leo’s going to be exposed because of me…!
It was then that Riselia recalled, despite her muddled awareness, how she’d learned to control her mana before the Holy Sword Dance Festival. Shary had trained her to circulate the power while maintaining the True Ancestor’s Dress instead of outputting it. At the time, she hadn’t quite understood what it meant to do so…
Can I suppress the mana she’s trying to steal, instead of just emitting it…?
It couldn’t accomplish more than stall for time, but Riselia focused on her heartbeat, pulling in the magical energy her body emitted.
“Oh?” Iris had evidently recognized some subtle change in Riselia and regarded her curiously. “All out of mana already? That was unexpectedly disappointing.”
Keep the mana inside my body, as hot as a furnace…!
Suddenly, the True Ancestor’s Dress changed—its color turned from bloodred to a shining, pure white.
“What?!” Iris’s eyes widened in alarm.
Riselia was surprised, too. Not just with the garment’s transformation, but with the way the mana circulating through her body seemed to swell and overflow.
Is my mana being amplified?!
Where had this new energy come from?
With this much strength…
Riselia breathed in. “Hyahhh!” She unleashed all the power running through her at once. Bright light spilled from her body, severing all the threads binding her limbs and neck.
“I-impossible… A low-ranking undead…tore up my web…?!”
Riselia landed on the ground, her white dress billowing. The mana she unleashed was being reincorporated back into her body.
Is this the power of the dress Leo gave me…?
Riselia could tell intuitively that this was the second form of the True Ancestor’s Dress—another mode that formed a pair with the crimson one that consumed mana to reinforce her body.
It bolsters the magic power in my body by compressing it. It’s a mode specialized for spell-based combat…
Riselia’s physical abilities had returned to what they were without the dress, but the sorcerous power within her was growing mighty.
So that training was to help me master this mode.
Raising her Holy Sword, Riselia glared at the panicking Spider Queen. This woman had summoned Voids; she had to be taken alive for information.
“I, Riselia Crystalia, in my capacity as captain of the eighteenth platoon, am placing you under arrest!”
“Heh-heh-heh… You think you can talk down to me, you low-grade undead girl?” Iris began a chant: “Rise forth from defiled soil, you wandering cadavers—Create Undead Army!”
Several dozen magic circles formed around her, and skeleton soldiers appeared from within them.
She summoned skeletons just like Leo!
The newly created warriors rattled as they charged Riselia, weapons ready to strike.
“Come forth, Shadow Wolf Summon!” Riselia chanted a spell, holding the Bloody Sword overhead.
The darkness at her feet warped and changed form, becoming eight ferocious beasts.
Wow! I could only manifest two last time!
The Shadow Wolves sprinted silently, lunging at the undead army.
“Great lord of the undead, beckon flames of darkness to my hands—,” Riselia intoned, performing a complicated gesture with one of her hands.
A sphere of black, crackling mana manifested at her fingertips. This was a second-order spell taught to her by the Archmage Nefisgal—the Cursed Flash, Di Farga. It was the most destructive spell in Riselia’s arsenal.
“My, my. You wish to challenge a dark priestess with such weak sorcery?” the Spider Queen sneered. She lifted her spider legs. “Great lord of the undead, grant my enemy death and eternal ruination.”
A large orb appeared over Iris’s head, a sixth-order spell—Vraz Farga. A more advanced version of Di Farga and an offensive spell of the highest caliber.
“Let that great man’s spell blow you to bits, giiiiiirl!”
Riselia had no chance of winning a clash with a spell far superior to hers. Yet she remained undaunted, fixing her eyes upon Iris and continuing to recite spells.
“Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga.”
Riselia produced several dozen mana spheres.
“…What?!”
“Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga, Di Farga.”
Each time Riselia spoke the words, her white True Ancestor’s Dress glowed brightly. She wasn’t capable of magic above second order yet, but with this vast amount of newfound mana, she could launch a bombardment of lesser spells…!
“You low-grade undead braaaaaaaaaat…!” Iris howled.
Just as Riselia loosed her Di Farga volley, Iris completed her spell, hurling the massive sphere of mana.
Booooooooom!
The Vraz Farga’s force was dampened by the many Di Fargas, and it ruptured in the center of the square. The skeleton soldiers and Shadow Wolves were caught in the blast and blown away.
“I’m not finished yet!” Riselia began chanting again.
Each time the magic power circulated through her body, it was compressed, empowering her spells several times beyond their original strength. However, the True Ancestor’s Dress’s sorcery combat mode had a major flaw—cycling that energy put tremendous strain on Riselia’s body. It operated differently from the crimson version, which reinforced physical attributes, making it ill-suited to prolonged fighting.
I can see why she forced me to take basic stamina training.
Riselia pushed her power further, ignoring the pain.
“Very well, then I shall teach you the power of a high-ranking undead…!” Iris Void Priestess tore off her spider legs and threw them into the air. “Take this sacrifice of my flesh, and grant forbidden power unto me…!” The limbs burst into flames and turned into an incandescent fireball. “Eighth-order fire spell—Al Gu Belzelga!”
The burning sphere swelled to a size that dwarfed the Vraz Farga from earlier.
I…can’t block this!
Riselia reflexively hurled the Di Farga spells she cast in rapid succession.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha! Don’t even bother, it’s useless!”
The crimson fireball effortlessly swallowed Riselia’s magic attacks.
“…?!”
“Burst—Farga!”
Booooooooooooooooom!
The explosion didn’t manage to reach Riselia. She felt an odd sense of weightlessness, as though gravity no longer applied to her. When she dared to open her eyes…
…Riselia found herself in his arms. He looked right at her—the boy she’d longed to see.
“I’m sorry I kept you waiting, Miss Selia.”
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