Chapter 224 : Ribenia Anti-Demon War (5)
Chapter 224: Ribenia Anti-Demon War (5)
Boom! Booooom!
As the battle dragged on, Mastema's confusion only continued to grow.
“……”
What...
What is this?
I can't break through?
No...
I'm actually being pushed back?
I, Mastema of Hatred—the King of Beasts, the strongest among the supreme Beasts...
Am being held back by a mere three humans?
“Don't make me laugh!”
Booooooom!
Explosions erupted in every direction as Mastema charged at Francia once more.
He caught her sword with his left hand while attacking simultaneously with his right hand and tail, all while unleashing Spear Magic into her blind spot.
Facing him, Francia blocked his right claw with Barrier Sword before instead concentrating her mana into her own blade.
Karen, standing beside her, intercepted the tail with her halberd, while Rubia received the incoming Spear Magic with Barrier Magic.
The mana gathered within the crimson blade soon took the shape of a slash and shot toward Mastema's neck.
“…Tch!”
If it had merely been an incomplete Aura Blade, he could have dispersed it without difficulty.
However, thanks to the Divine Sword Soldera, she could now maintain an Aura Blade permanently.
That made even deflecting it difficult.
Even against ordinary human magic, Aura Blade still maintained its natural advantage.
A Beast's powerful body would never collapse from one or two ordinary attacks.
But when it came to Red Aura...
That was a different story.
Among the seven existing Aura types, Red Aura was an abnormal power that devoted every last bit of mana solely to cutting power.
Even for him...
Facing it head-on was impossible.
As a result, Mastema had no choice but to halt his offensive and retreat several steps.
“……”
To the Beast side...
It was a humiliating sight.
To the Allied Forces...
It was an astonishing achievement.
Representing everyone present, the three women each added a remark.
“A moment ago, you acted like you could tear us apart so easily.”
“You're looking pretty pathetic now, Mastema.”
“Seriously.”
“For someone calling himself the King of Beasts...”
“You seem to be struggling quite a bit.”
“Overconfidence.”
“Arrogance.”
“They're both the shortest paths to defeat.”
“…Insolent wretches.”
He knew perfectly well that it was nothing more than an obvious provocation.
He wasn't enraged over something so trivial.
One God Alu.
Two Gods Abrel.
After the Age of Creation ended and the world's creations began to flourish in earnest...
The influence of the two Creator Gods steadily diminished with each passing day.
God Alu sought to guide humanity, which had fallen into corruption, by making the Beasts the executors of His will.
God Abrel praised humanity's free will and granted them the power to resist the Beasts.
The two powers that allowed humanity to remain truly human—
Faith.
And the Will to Protect.
To those noble individuals whose names had become immortalized throughout history...
Abrel bestowed Divine Names.
The Guardian Faith, which proclaimed that history itself preserved humanity...
The faith of Paladion had begun from there.
However...
Because He had transferred away most of His own divinity during that process...
God Abrel could no longer intervene in the mortal world and gradually declined.
Nor could any new Guardian Gods be born.
Naturally...
Faith gradually weakened.
The Will to Protect also faded.
As the influence of the Beasts diminished...
Humanity began fighting among itself instead.
Nearly one thousand years had passed since then.
It had been an unimaginably long wait.
And now...
The appointed time had finally arrived.
There had to be a reason Alu had chosen this exact era.
Surely He had concluded that no better opportunity would ever come...
And so He had dispatched Mastema.
Yet...
What was this?
Among the dozens of nations in existence...
The humans of the Ribenia Empire—the nation said to possess the weakest faith in Paladion—
Were displaying this level of strength?
Against him?
'...Surely...'
'Could it be that He made a mistake?'
No.
Impossible.
Perhaps He might fail to fully understand humanity, whose hearts had become unreadable after millennia of neglect...
But there was no possibility that He would misunderstand Abrel, His own other half.
Yet...
If that wasn't the case...
Then who had created this variable?
“……”
He did not ponder for long.
“…Eugene Carter.”
There was no one else.
The one who had actively intervened with those three successors, bringing about their transformation.
The one who had shattered the Beast faction's plans from the very beginning.
The one who had cooperated with the Regressor Edel Ribenia to accelerate the Empire's reforms...
And driven the Platinum Dawn Society—his host Charlotte Platina's organization—into making desperate decisions.
Most importantly...
It had not even been two months since that man had begun seriously involving himself in the Empire.
The latest command Mastema had received from Alu had been nearly a year ago.
Among every significant variable that had emerged during that time...
There was only one.
“…So You would have even this body wager its life, O God.”
The regular army was drawing near.
Even the tens of thousands of Gate Beasts pouring from the Gates would soon lose their numerical advantage.
Humanity's destruction had already been decided.
His role was merely to contribute toward that future.
As long as he could witness that day alongside his brethren...
That alone would be enough.
“Even so...”
“I never intended to die.”
For high-ranking Beasts of S-Rank and above...
Death lasted only a moment.
To them...
Death was little more than returning to their origin.
The reason they had been born.
The purpose they were meant to fulfill.
Everything existed according to His will.
Some SS-Rank Beasts possessed egos powerful enough to defy His commands and prioritize their own desires.
But even that resistance never lasted long.
By their very nature...
Beasts existed to kill humans.
Suppressing that instinct was impossible.
The time was near.
Whether this operation succeeded or failed...
The prophecy itself would not change.
Still...
If possible...
Then as the King of Beasts who had tormented humanity for over a thousand years...
His duty was to inflict catastrophic damage upon the enemy before falling.
Thus...
Spreading both arms wide, Mastema proclaimed to every A-Rank Beast and above—
His loyal servants.
His very nourishment.
“Become my strength...”
“My brethren.”
At that moment—
One hundred fourteen A-Rank Beasts.
Twenty-five A+-Rank Beasts.
Ten S-Rank Beasts.
Every one of them, scattered throughout the battlefield and engaged in desperate combat...
Collapsed into ashes simultaneously.
The arrival of over twenty thousand regular soldiers was enough to completely restore the Allied Forces' morale.
“Reinforcements! Reinforcements are here!”
“We have to hold the formation here! Just a little longer!”
“Don't lower your guard until the very end, Special Task Force!”
“We'll take care of the wounded over here!”
“You there, Imperial Guard! Please help us! This position's about to collapse!”
“…I'm on my way!”
The overwhelming tide of regular soldiers pouring toward the southern gate—the Imperial Palace's main entrance—
Instantly shattered the morale of the Beast army, which had previously enjoyed overwhelming numerical superiority.
Even amid the chaos of continuous battle...
The major combatants quickly realized that the tide had suddenly turned in their favor.
Following the orders issued by the leaders of each organization...
The front lines gradually shifted as well.
Centered around the Imperial Palace's main gate...
The broad, arcing battle line that concentrated troops nearer the entrance slowly straightened into a single line.
As the Beast front on the left began collapsing after clashing with the regular army...
The eleven fiercest battlefields that had previously overwhelmed the Allied Forces all returned to a stalemate.
Watching the enemy retreat...
The mages and professors in the rear quietly murmured,
“Can we actually... win this war?”
Then...
As though rejecting those very words—
It suddenly set foot upon the earth.
Rumble...
“W-What... is that now?!”
“…Nothing ever comes easy to the very end.”
Mastema had never been particularly large for an SS-Rank Beast.
But...
No one could say that anymore.
After absorbing the mana of roughly one hundred fifty high-ranking Beasts...
His body expanded in an instant until it nearly reached the towering walls of the Imperial Palace.
Facing the horrified humans...
Mastema raised both enormous arms high overhead.
Then brought them crashing down.
BOOOOOOOM!!
More than a dozen soldiers struck directly by the seven-meter-wide spiked fist died instantly.
“Gaaaaaah!”
“M-Monster!”
Most of those standing nearby barely survived before desperately stumbling backward.
As Mastema lifted one foot to stomp down once again—
The Five Heroines attacked simultaneously.
“Amplify Field!”
“Storm Nova!”
Propelled over twenty meters into the air by Michel's and Edel's combined magic...
The three women immediately assumed their respective positions to brace for the impact.
Francia deployed a Red Barrier by combining Barrier Sword with Red Aura.
Rubia simultaneously cast three Divine Magic spells while erecting an enormous Barrier Magic.
Karen wrapped both of them in crimson mist while releasing Chains of Screams from behind, binding part of Mastema's foot.
BOOOOOM!
“Kh!”
“Ugh...!”
An overwhelming impact smashed through the barrier and struck all three women.
Even after layering countless spells to reduce the attack's power...
They couldn't completely negate its sheer physical force.
“Everyone, fall back!”
The remaining two Executors immediately activated two Secret Magic spells.
Countless massive wooden pillars erupted from the ground.
A white protective barrier enveloped them.
The barrier swallowed Francia, Rubia, and Karen inside...
Blocking Mastema's attack.
BOOOOOOOOM!!
Even so...
The attack's power remained immense.
A violent shockwave swept dust across the battlefield.
Karen caught the two women as they were thrown away, desperately slowing them before letting out a pained groan.
“Ugh...”
“Sister Karen!”
“Are you all right?!”
“…Yes.”
“I'm fine... Hurry... help those two...”
She had barely answered Betty and Luke—
When another shout rang out.
“The enemy!”
“It's coming again!”
Mastema's spiked fist—
Now more than twice as large as before—
Was already hurtling toward the barrier once more.
.
.
.
BOOOOOOOM!!
BOOOOOOOOM!!
It was not the roar created by countless Beasts.
It was the thunderous sound produced by a single Beast.
Standing nearly twenty-five meters tall...
Its mere movements shook the entire battlefield.
A monstrous variant born after absorbing every high-ranking Beast among the enemy's main forces.
To oppose it...
The Allied Forces' strongest combatants scattered throughout the battlefield all began converging toward one location.
But even during that brief interval...
Everything within a hundred-meter radius would suffer catastrophic destruction.
Without taking his eyes off the Five Heroines...
The two Executors...
The elites of Karbenna...
Maret...
And the Imperial Guards desperately holding the line...
Eugene Carter ran across the collapsed fortress wall.
The scene stretching into the distance was utterly horrifying.
Buildings had been reduced to ruins beneath the tide of Beasts.
The fires born from the battle had consumed the plaza whole.
Even the bridges and stairways connecting sections of the fortress walls had been shattered under the enemy's relentless attacks.
Silently crossing the destruction...
Eugene briefly glanced at the short message that appeared on the right side of his vision.
※ You are a Divine Entity. [Savior at the End of Ruin]
※ You are the chosen representative of the Creator God Abrel.
※ Congratulations! You have fulfilled the conditions. Your skill has evolved!
: Mana Devour EX → Mana Devour 改 EX
At the same time...
He put away Lukeaxe.
Then he equipped the two Artifacts he had previously received from Lea Bronte.
Speaking inward, he quietly muttered,
“…Clina.”
“We'll have to change the plan.”
“…Looks like I'll have to risk my life as well.”