Chapter 216
'A fiercer battle.'
Countless shadows of swords covered Vandello.
Vandello endured some of them with his body, deflected others, and drove his fist into the belly of the human filled with murderous intent who was approaching.
'A more intense battle.'
A gigantic sword, bearing an indomitable will that would never lose and leave no foe behind, plunged toward Vandello.
Vandello caught it with one hand and punched the sword's master.
Thud!
"Urgh!"
"Gah!"
All of this happened in an instant.
Although Vandello had only one body, he fended off and counterattacked Kryphi and Zeritz, who attacked simultaneously.
Just as the Transcended Mind could operate in a different time with countless thoughts, the transcended body allowed Vandello to move in a different time from them.
Fsssh!
Something like steam burst from Vandello's body.
Perhaps because of the tremendous instantaneous acceleration, heat radiated from his body.
"Interesting. But it's not enough. Make this more fun for me!"
Vandello shouted in excitement.
The devilish power emanating from him grew even stronger, and the victory banner lodged in his chest became steadily darker.
Suddenly!
At that moment, Vandello stopped.
No, more precisely, time itself seemed to stop.
Step, step, step.
Within the frozen time, someone was moving.
Willow.
His body glowed with a faint golden light.
'The realm of transcendence.'
Willow, too, had experienced this stopped time indirectly before.
Thus, he was not surprised.
Crack! Crackle!
However, it seemed his body could not endure this space.
Feeling fractures forming in his body, Willow stood before Vandello.
He gripped his sword with both hands.
"Hoo..."
Exhaling, Willow raised his sword high.
His eyes grew distant.
― Pioneer's Sword
Whoosh!
A basic downward strike—the most fundamental technique.
But contained within it was countless realizations.
With that single slash, a blow capable of splitting the continent crashed down.
Thunk!
"!"
Yet Vandello blocked the blow.
At the same time, Willow exited the transcended world.
Rumbleeeee!
The aftereffects of his slash now revealed themselves.
A blow that could split the continent.
Although Vandello absorbed some of it, the ground nonetheless split apart.
The earth split in two, centered on Willow and Vandello, creating a chasm whose depth could not be seen.
Still, perhaps he suffered damage from blocking it; countless cracks appeared on Vandello's arms and body.
Nonetheless, Vandello's face was full of exhilaration.
"... Impressive! Human!"
No—it was a face of unparalleled joy.
"To think I get to face a human with such power again! I'm utterly elated!"
Crack! Crack!
At the same time, his body twisted.
Pop!
His already large body swelled to more than double its size, and four more arms sprouted.
'The released... Devil of Power!'
Luca had seen depictions of this in his memories.
A body blackened,
Six arms,
A face like that of a demon asura.
Vandello's restriction had been released for some unknown reason.
"Amuse me more!"
So shouting, Vandello swung his fist.
Whoosh!
At that moment, Zeritz flew in from somewhere and swung his sword.
Vandello, apparently uninterested, didn't even look—he just swung one arm.
Ssssh!
Heat rose from his body, and he surpassed the realm of transcendence.
Zeritz, whose body had not physically transcended, could not possibly react to that speed.
Vandello's fist met Zeritz's face.
Slip—
"?"
But in that instant, Zeritz twisted his body and narrowly dodged his fist.
Though the shockwave distorted his body slightly, he didn't seem to mind.
–Invincible Sword
Bang!
At last, Zeritz's Invincible Sword struck true.
Vandello's body shook from the impact.
"How...!"
Surprise.
But greater than surprise was joy.
Vandello's eyes gleamed as he looked at Zeritz.
"Ptoo! Disgustingly strong, aren't you."
Zeritz spat bloody saliva.
Even dodging the blow, the sheer pressure gave him internal injuries.
'I finally saw it... the transcended world.'
The kick he endured when fighting Eltima.
The punch he received just earlier.
And the downward slash Willow showed.
Zeritz glimpsed the world reached by a transcended body.
His own body hadn't fully attained that realm, but by force of will he could now interfere to some extent.
Crack.
"... Doing it in succession is too much."
But the backlash was immense.
An excruciating pain, as if all his muscles were twisting.
Zeritz looked bitterly at Willow.
'If I'm in this state, then that guy must be...'
Just then, Vandello shouted.
"Good! Now it's getting fun! I really like this!"
"Oh? Is that so? I'm not particularly pleased, to be honest."
At that instant, Kryphi muttered from Vandello's blind spot.
At the same time, countless sword shadows bloomed anew.
"Begone!"
Kryphi, unable to reach the transcended world.
Apparently uninterested, Vandello entered the transcended world and tried to block his attack.
'This is...?'
But something was odd.
The same shadows as before.
As he struck them down, Vandello sensed something was different.
It was an instinctive feeling, not consciously understood.
He soon discovered the source of his unease.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
"!"
He thought he had blocked all threatening sword shadows.
The ones hitting his body had been decoy shadows.
Yet, among them, there was a sword shadow filled with true intent.
Slash!
"Urgh!"
"As expected."
As the transcended world dissipated, Vandello curled up.
One of the attacks had struck near the place where the feathered spear was lodged, causing heightened pain.
As he retreated, Kryphi gave a thin smile.
"In battle, strength is not everything. You seem to rely only on your power. In that case, you will never see through my techniques."
Kryphi's eyes glowed amber.
Just a single clash had revealed it to his eyes.
Vandello's method of combat.
"So that's the Nightmare of the Swordless One."
Indeed, it was the Nightmare of the Swordless Imitator, the one who killed Zeritz in the original story.
Even Willow felt admiration as he observed Kryphi, who overcame the power gap with pure technique despite his opponent's transcended body.
"Cough! Cough!"
"You alright?"
"I... I'm okay..."
Wylde and Ottbo were a bit further away from them.
But Ottbo seemed to be having a hard time withstanding things.
Although Wylde was shielding him, with entities of a different caliber clashing in raw power, there was no way to be completely free from the aftershocks.
'Not much time left. For that guy—or me.'
Crack.
He could feel his body weakening in real time.
There was no time to spare.
"Kahahahaha! Far beyond expectations! Humans of today!"
Vandello, who had fallen to Kryphi's attack, sprang up and shouted.
His devilish power seemed to grow stronger the more he was attacked.
Spreading all his arms, Vandello bellowed.
"More! Entertain me more!"
Zzzzz.
At the same time, time slowed again.
The transcended world.
There, only Willow and Vandello stood.
"I didn't expect it, but thanks to those two, you seem quite battered now."
Willow spoke indifferently as he adjusted his grip on the sword.
He honestly had not expected it, but the attacks by Kryphi and Zeritz had done significant damage to Vandello.
Cracks appeared across his body, and in some places the devilish power had faded, showing white skin beneath.
"Yes! Thanks to them, I'm having immeasurable fun!"
Vandello shouted as he strode up to Willow.
He stood before him and looked down.
"So give me the greatest joy."
"Tsk."
Clicking his tongue once, Willow took a deep breath.
In that instant, Vandello swung his fist.
Willow leaped to dodge the fist.
At the same time, three more fists came at him from other directions.
Slash!
Those were severed by a sword strike tracing an arc.
Then another fist flew into the opening.
Willow stepped on it, leaping even higher.
He gripped his sword in both hands and raised it overhead.
Vandello, swinging his last fist up from below, attacked.
–Pioneer's Sword
Again, an overhead slash containing the essence of the Pioneer's Sword.
It met Vandello's fist.
Ssssh!
A faint sound was heard.
Simultaneously, Willow landed on the ground.
Crack!
The sword he was holding crumbled to powder and vanished.
Crack! Crunch!
His body collapsed as well.
His arms and legs fell away, until only the head remained attached to the body.
Willow fell to the ground, looking up at Vandello.
"... You're truly magnificent. Human."
Vandello was splitting in two and slowly falling apart.
Pop!
"!"
"Willow!"
At the same time, the transcended world faded.
Everyone was shocked, seeing Vandello splitting in half and falling, and Willow collapsed on the ground.
"Humans."
"?"
At that time, Vandello, now slowly disappearing, called out to them.
"Run away. When I die, the devilish power will explode and destroy this whole area."
"!"
Until now, Luca had used the power of the sky to purify and eliminate devils, so it had not been a problem, but this time it was a pure clash of power, not purified.
Because this was the Devil of Power with the most intense devilish power, even the remaining power would reduce the whole region to ruin.
"Mi—Milia! Help me!"
Ottbo shouted, but Milia did not answer.
"Ottbo... Gress..."
"!"
Then Willow called Ottbo.
Ottbo anxiously looked at him, and Willow spoke indifferently.
"Overdrive your drive magic... and throw it at that guy..."
"W-what are you talking about?"
"With the power of the fragment of divinity... you can neutralize his power..."
It was what the fragment of divinity inside the golden heart had told him.
In this situation, that was the only way to safely protect everyone.
Ottbo shook his head hard.
"N-no! If I do that, you'll..."
"Ottbo."
"!"
Willow spoke his name.
Ottbo widened his eyes at him.
Willow gave a faint smile.
"It's alright."
"..."
Ottbo fell silent.
But soon, he tightly closed his eyes.
Tears welled at the corners of his eyes.
"Alright..."
"Sorry for interrupting such a touching moment, but I can't permit that."
"?"
At that moment, Wylde stepped forward.
Willow looked up at him.
"..."
"I swore an oath. That I would protect Luca, no matter what."
Wylde stood shielding him.
Looking at his back, Willow spoke in his flat tone.
"I'm... not Luca..."
"No. You are Luca Traverse."
Wylde declared, turning his head slightly to look down at him.
And, in his usual indifferent gaze, he said,
"You are Luca Traverse, that's right."
"..."
"And I..."
Shing.
Wylde drew his sword.
His whole body was filled with purpose.
"If it's to protect Luca Traverse, I'll do anything."
* * *
"What, what? Why can't I sense anything?"
"What's wrong, young lady?"
Milia, watching Willow's group from the academy, suddenly panicked when dimensional core detection failed.
"At this rate, I can't extract them if it gets dangerous!"
"... It must be because of the Devil of Power. When the devilish power is strong enough, even the divine energy's interference can weaken at this distance."
At her side, Herote wore a grave expression.
To this, Milia shouted,
"Don't give me analysis—give me a solution! What do I do?!"
"... All we can do is wait."
"Ha. Useless."
Pressing her forehead, Milia once again focused her consciousness into the dimension core.
"Somehow... somehow...!"
Vmmm!
"?"
The ground trembled.
A wave of power was felt from a great distance.
"This is... this direction...?"
Looking at the source of the power wave, Milia's face turned to anxiety, and she poured her strength into the dimension core.
"Please! Just activate already!"
Milia screamed at the dimension core.
Then, as it resonated slightly, a soft light was emitted.
"!"
At the same time, the detection resumed.
Through the sense, Milia checked on Willow's group and froze.
Biting her lip, she activated Perfect Control.
Shoom!
"!"
What appeared was Wylde, covered in blood.
Willow, with only his body remaining, arms and legs lost.
Ottbo, holding him, wearing a downcast expression.
"That... don't tell me..."
No life force could be felt from Willow.
Isella bit her lip.
"That guy... is he dead...?"
Just then, Willow slightly opened his eyes.
"I'm not exactly fine... but don't go killing people needlessly."
"!"
Everyone was shocked, and Willow spoke indifferently.
"That guy would probably like this kind of boring ending."
No one died, and no one was sacrificed.
The Devil of Power was vanquished.