Chapter 85 – Final Form

Lireina looked like a divine presence descending upon the mortal world. Ten enormous white wings unfurled from her back, their pristine feathers shimmering beneath the light that spilled through the throne room's shattered windows. A powerful gust swept across the chamber as the wings spread to their full extent, sending loose debris, torn curtains, and fragments of stone swirling through the air. 

For a brief moment, the room seemed to grow brighter, almost as if the sun itself had descended upon the royal palace. Then, all ten wings flapped at once, releasing a deafening rush of wind. Millions of white feathers gathered around Lireina, each one transforming into a bird-shaped projectile before shooting toward Adzeel and Alaric. The feather bullets filled the air like a massive flock of birds, their sharp edges gleaming as they descended upon the two men in an endless storm.

Adzeel immediately swung his purple flaming buster sword, sweeping its enormous blade across the air to create a towering barrier of violet fire. The flames roared as they rose before him, their intense heat washing over his armor and illuminating the throne room in an eerie purple glow. The incoming feather bullets disintegrated upon contact with the barrier, leaving behind brief flashes of white light and wisps of smoke. 

Beside him, Alaric planted his feet firmly against the marble floor and raised his golden sword, channeling his energy into a radiant shield. A translucent golden barrier materialized around him, its surface rippling whenever a feather bullet struck it. Each impact produced a sharp metallic ringing that echoed throughout the chamber, forcing the prince to grit his teeth as he struggled to maintain his defenses.

However, the barrage showed no signs of stopping. Millions of feather bullets continued to rain down from above, one wave following another so quickly that there was barely any time to breathe between impacts. The purple flames protecting Adzeel gradually weakened beneath the relentless bombardment, while Alaric's golden shield trembled with every successive strike. Even when the two men attempted to shift their positions, the feather bullets followed them, covering every possible escape route. 

There was simply no room to dodge, and defending against such an overwhelming attack was becoming increasingly impossible. The constant impacts battered their Halochassis armor, stripping away layer after layer of their protective plating. Warning lights flashed across their internal displays as their remaining energy dwindled, and the sound of cracking metal grew louder with every passing second. Little by little, the Hybrid Armor percentages of both Halochassis dropped toward zero, leaving the two men on the verge of complete defeat.

"Damn it! We can't stay like this!" Adzeel roared, his voice barely audible over the thunderous barrage. He tightened his grip around his buster sword as another wave of feather bullets slammed into his purple flame barrier, sending burning fragments scattering across the floor. 

His Apollyon armor was slowly being chipped away, with pieces of its outer plating breaking off and clattering against the marble beneath his feet. The heat radiating from his weapon was beginning to feel insufficient, and even the familiar weight of his armor seemed to offer him little comfort. If he continued defending himself, he would eventually run out of energy and be left completely vulnerable. He needed to find a way to end the attack before that happened, even if doing so meant gambling everything on a desperate counterattack.

"I will have to take a risk to counterattack, then!" Alaric declared. The prince lowered his golden shield and brought his sword into a ready position, his expression hardening as he prepared to gamble his remaining energy on a single offensive maneuver. Golden light gathered around the blade, illuminating his gauntlets and reflecting off the cracked surface of his helmet. Then, the golden radiance gradually shifted into a brilliant silver glow, and a thin, ringing hum filled the air as the energy surrounding the sword intensified. 

Alaric bent his knees, tightened his fingers around the hilt, and fixed his gaze on Lireina through the endless rain of feathers. He knew that a direct attack would be pointless if he could not reach her, so he decided to use his most powerful technique to slip past her defenses and strike before she could react. "Moonlight Waltz!" he shouted.

Darkness suddenly swallowed the throne room. The light from Lireina's wings, Adzeel's flames, and Alaric's sword vanished beneath an unnatural black veil, leaving the chamber almost completely obscured. Then, several silver streaks flashed through the darkness, moving so rapidly that they resembled ribbons of moonlight dancing across the room. Each streak marked another movement of Alaric's sword as he traversed the battlefield, his footsteps too swift to distinguish from the sharp whistle of his blade. 

For a few precious moments, the feather bullets seemed to lose their target as the prince maneuvered through the darkness. When the black veil finally faded, Alaric stood behind Lireina with his sword extended, his chest rising and falling as he caught his breath. He had successfully reached her blind spot, and for an instant, he believed that his attack had connected.

However, the figure before him crumbled into a shower of white feathers. There was no blood, no damaged armor, and no sign that his blade had struck anything solid. Alaric's eyes widened as the realization struck him, and he immediately turned his head to search for his opponent. The feathers drifted past his face, brushing against his armor before scattering across the marble floor. A cold sensation crept down his spine as he realized that Lireina had anticipated his attack and left behind nothing but a decoy. 

"What the hell! Where is she!?" Alaric cried, frantically scanning the throne room. His voice echoed against the towering walls, but before he could locate her, a sudden rush of air swept across his helmet.

Lireina appeared above him, her body spinning upside down as she launched a devastating tornado handstand kick. Her white wings spread behind her like a radiant halo, their powerful movements keeping her suspended in the air as her legs descended upon the prince. The first kick struck the side of Alaric's helmet with a deafening metallic clang, snapping his head to the side. Before he could recover, another kick smashed into the same area, followed by several more that landed in rapid succession. Each impact sent painful vibrations through his armor, making his vision flicker as his head was jolted from one side to the other. 

Cracks spread across the helmet's surface until nearly half of it shattered, sending jagged fragments spinning through the air. Alaric barely had time to raise his arms before Lireina delivered a final kick that sent him flying across the throne room. His armored body crashed into the wall with enough force to shake the surrounding pillars, and the impact sent dust and small chunks of masonry raining down around him. 

"Gah!" the prince cried, his breath escaping his lungs as he slumped against the damaged wall.

Adzeel immediately seized the opportunity to attack while Lireina was still near the center of the chamber. He planted his feet, raised his buster sword with both hands, and poured the remainder of his energy into its enormous blade. Purple flames erupted from the weapon, spreading outward until they formed a gigantic pillar of fire that roared toward the ceiling. The heat was so intense that the air shimmered around him, and the marble beneath his feet began to darken from the scorching temperature. Adzeel's armor trembled as its remaining energy was transferred into the attack, but he ignored the warning signals flashing across his display. His expression twisted with desperation and fury, and he swung the flaming sword downward with all the strength he could muster. 

"Diiiiie!" Adzeel roared, his voice cracking as the massive pillar of purple fire surged toward Lireina. The attack was powerful enough to engulf her entire body, and the shock wave sent loose stones tumbling across the floor.

Yet Lireina did not even attempt to dodge. She remained perfectly composed as the gigantic pillar of flames approached, her green eyes fixed on Adzeel with an almost unsettling calmness. At the last possible moment, she raised one leg and swept it sideways through the incoming inferno. Her movement was so swift that Adzeel barely registered it, seeing only a flash of white before his attack split apart. The enormous pillar of purple fire was cleaved into two halves, which roared past Lireina and dispersed against the walls. But that was not the end of it. The same kick continued through the attack and struck Adzeel's buster sword, slicing through the massive weapon as though it were nothing more than a thin piece of glass. A sharp crack rang throughout the throne room, followed by the clatter of the severed blade pieces hitting the floor. Adzeel stared at his ruined weapon in disbelief, his fingers still wrapped around the remaining fragment of its hilt. 

"Impossible!" he cried, unable to comprehend how Lireina had effortlessly destroyed both his strongest attack and the weapon that had unleashed it.

Lireina gave him no time to recover from his shock. She closed the distance between them in an instant and unleashed a relentless barrage of kicks, each strike landing with enough force to tear through the armor protecting his body. Her legs moved like flashes of white lightning, striking his shoulders, chest, abdomen, and limbs before he could even raise his arms to defend himself. 

Metal plating buckled beneath her blows, and broken pieces of Apollyon's armor scattered across the throne room like fragments of shattered machinery. Adzeel tried to retreat, but every attempt to create distance was met with another devastating kick. His remaining defenses crumbled one after another until his armor was completely stripped away, leaving him exposed and helpless against her overwhelming strength. Lireina then drove a final kick into his stomach. The impact folded Adzeel's body around the blow before launching him backward across the chamber. He crashed directly into the royal throne, smashing its ornate frame into countless pieces of wood and stone. The throne collapsed beneath his weight, sending debris skidding across the floor as a cloud of dust rose around his battered body.

"Moonlight Slash!" Alaric shouted as he forced himself away from the damaged wall. Despite the pain radiating through his body and the fragments missing from his helmet, the prince refused to surrender. He rushed toward Lireina with his remaining strength, raising his golden sword above his head as silver energy gathered along its edge. The blade hummed sharply as he brought it down, releasing a crescent-shaped slash that swept through the dust-filled air. The attack reflected against Lireina's white wings, casting a brief silver glow across the ruined throne room. However, instead of retreating from the incoming strike, Lireina simply lifted her leg and met the descending sword with a powerful kick. The collision produced an explosive metallic clang that reverberated through the chamber, and a shock wave rippled outward from the point of impact. 

For a fraction of a second, Alaric's sword resisted the force of the blow, its golden surface glowing intensely as it struggled to withstand the pressure. Then, cracks spread across the blade before it shattered into countless fragments. The broken pieces scattered through the air, glittering briefly before falling around the prince. Lireina's kick continued through the shattered weapon and struck Alaric hard enough to knock him off balance, sending him crashing onto the marble floor. He landed heavily on his back, and the impact forced a painful grunt from his throat as dust puffed around his armor.

"Fuck! Why are you so powerful?" Alaric cried, staring at Lireina with a mixture of rage, disbelief, and desperation. His shattered sword lay scattered beside him, its broken fragments reflecting the light of her ten magnificent wings. He clenched his empty hand, his gauntlet scraping against the floor as he struggled to push himself upright. The prince had spent so long believing that his strength, his authority, and his Halochassis would allow him to overcome any opponent that he could barely accept what was happening before his eyes. 

Lireina had dismantled his defenses, destroyed his weapon, and overwhelmed him without displaying any visible signs of exhaustion. Yet the worst part was that she had done so while remaining composed, as though defeating him had required little more than a fraction of her actual power. Alaric's expression twisted into a furious grimace, and his voice grew louder as years of hatred poured out of him. 

"All I ever wanted was to kill you... to kill all the Celestial Wardens!"

“Why do you seek the destruction of the Celestial Wardens, the saviors of this world?” Lireina asked, her divine voice echoing throughout the ruined throne room. Even with the sounds of crumbling stone and settling debris surrounding them, her words carried a strange clarity, reaching every corner of the chamber without the slightest effort. Her ten white wings remained spread behind her, their feathers glowing faintly as they stirred the dusty air. With her blindfold covering her eyes, she stood before the defeated First Prince, her expression hidden from view, yet her posture conveyed neither anger nor fear. She genuinely wanted to understand why a member of the royal family, someone who should have been grateful for the Celestial Wardens' victory against the Demon King, would harbor such intense hatred toward them.

“It is because all of you are cursed!” Alaric shouted. He struggled to push himself away from the shattered remains of the throne, his damaged royal armor scraping against the marble floor. His breathing was ragged, and the remaining fragments of his helmet barely concealed the fury twisting his face. “During the battle against the Demon King, that bastard unleashed a curse to corrupt your hearts! You just didn't know it!” His voice grew louder with every word, as though shouting could somehow compensate for his defeat. To him, the explanation was obvious. 

She tried to recall the final battle against the Demon King, searching her memories for any indication that something had gone wrong. The battle had been brutal, and even now, remembering it brought back the sensation of countless wounds, the overwhelming pressure of the Demon King's presence, and the exhaustion that had threatened to consume her body. Among the Celestial Wardens, Lireina possessed the highest offensive capabilities, making her their most effective weapon against the Demon King's numerous layers of immortality. She had poured nearly everything she possessed into breaking through those defenses, striking repeatedly until even the Demon King could no longer recover from her attacks as easily as before. Every successful strike had brought them closer to victory, but it had also drained her reserves of nature energy. Eventually, the Demon King recognized her as the greatest threat on the battlefield and focused his attacks on her. Lireina remembered the terrible moment when her strength finally gave out, her body becoming too heavy to move as her connection to nature weakened. She was the first among the Celestial Wardens to fall, and without the ability to continue fighting, she could do little except wait for someone to rescue her. Fortunately, Saint Elwyn reached her before the Demon King could finish her off, carrying her away from the battlefield and delivering her to the sidelines.

Lireina remembered little of what happened afterward. Her consciousness had faded in and out as she struggled to recover her depleted energy, and the distant sounds of the battle had gradually become nothing more than indistinct noise. She only regained full awareness when the Demon King's life was already approaching its end. By then, the battle had nearly been decided, and the Celestial Wardens were on the verge of accomplishing what countless others had failed to achieve. Yet despite revisiting those memories, Lireina could not recall any evidence that her mind had been corrupted. More importantly, the curse Alaric described seemed incompatible with the blessings she continued to possess. Her power came from her connection to the spirits of nature, and those spirits would not permit her to transform into her various forms if her soul had been corrupted by such an influence. Their continued support was proof that her connection to them remained intact. Although she could not claim to understand every mystery surrounding the Demon King's final attack, she had no reason to believe that the prince's accusation was true.

“You are mistaken, First Prince. I am not cursed,” Lireina replied calmly. Her wings shifted behind her, sending a gentle current of air across the debris-strewn floor. There was no hesitation in her voice, nor did she sound offended by the accusation. She had examined her memories and considered his explanation, but she would not accept an allegation simply because he insisted that it was true. Whatever Alaric believed had happened during the final battle, it did not change the fact that she remained the same person who had fought to save the world. She had no intention of allowing an unfounded accusation to define her identity or invalidate everything the Celestial Wardens had sacrificed.

“It doesn't matter!” Alaric snapped, his expression twisting into a hateful grin. “You are a threat to Empyrea. You and Alexander. That is why you should disappear!” He no longer seemed interested in convincing Lireina that she was cursed. Whether his accusation was true or false had become irrelevant to him, because he had already decided that the Celestial Wardens were enemies of the kingdom. His hatred had blinded him to any possibility of reconciliation, leaving only his determination to eliminate those he considered dangerous. As he spoke, he reached for the control mechanism of his Halochassis and deactivated its power. The golden armor surrounding his body dissolved into particles of light, leaving him dressed in his royal clothes. The sudden absence of his armor made him look almost ordinary compared with the towering, winged figure standing before him, but the malicious glint in his eyes remained unchanged. “Slumber, Lucifer,” he muttered, dismissing the last traces of his Halochassis.

Alaric then reached into his royal clothing and produced a pistol. The metallic click of the weapon's mechanism sounded unusually loud amid the silence that followed his declaration. Rather than pointing it at Lireina, however, he raised the pistol toward Croft, who remained bound to the chandelier high above the throne room floor. The detective struggled against the rope holding her in place, but her movements only caused the chandelier to sway slightly. Far below, broken pieces of the royal throne lay scattered across the marble, and the sight of Alaric aiming at her made her blood run cold. She had witnessed the prince's defeat and understood that he no longer possessed the strength to overcome Lireina in direct combat. Instead of accepting his loss, he had decided to use a hostage to hurt the person he hated. 

“If I can't kill you, then I shall hurt you really badly!” Alaric declared, his lips curling into an evil grin. He steadied the pistol with both hands and fixed his gaze on Croft's head. “You shall live the rest of your life in despair!”

Without giving Lireina any warning, Alaric pulled the trigger seven times. The gunshots thundered through the throne room, their sharp reports echoing against the stone walls as seven bullets streaked toward Croft. The detective's eyes widened, and she instinctively tried to twist away, but the rope prevented her from moving far enough to escape. For a terrifying instant, the bullets seemed destined to strike their target. However, Lireina reacted before the first projectile could reach Croft. Her ten wings flapped, releasing a burst of wind that swept through the chamber, and several white feathers transformed into bird-shaped bullets that shot toward the incoming rounds. One after another, the feather projectiles intercepted Alaric's bullets in midair, producing a series of sharp metallic pings as the collisions diverted them away from Croft. Tiny fragments scattered across the chamber, while the remaining projectiles lost their momentum and fell harmlessly to the floor. All seven bullets had been stopped before they could touch the hostage.

“H-How...?” Alaric muttered, his pistol still raised as he stared at the empty space between Croft and Lireina. His fingers trembled around the weapon, and his expression shifted from murderous satisfaction to disbelief. He had deliberately chosen a target that would force Lireina to react, believing that even her extraordinary speed would not be enough to intercept seven bullets aimed at someone's head. Yet she had stopped every single shot without appearing to struggle. The prince's mouth opened as he attempted to find an explanation, but no words came. He had already witnessed Lireina dismantle his Halochassis and defeat him in direct combat, but this latest display revealed that even his attempt to exploit a hostage had been completely futile.

“Do you know why I'm wearing a blindfold in this form, Your Majesty?” Lireina asked. She gently raised one hand and touched the fabric covering her eyes, her fingers brushing against the smooth material. Her voice remained calm, almost conversational, despite Alaric's attempt to murder Croft in front of her. “It is so that my eyes can remain innocent. I do not need to keep them open all the time, because I was blessed with a second blessing from the Goddess: Autonomous Aim.” 

“Hahahaha!” Alaric suddenly burst into manic laughter. His shoulders shook as he clutched the pistol, the sound of his laughter bouncing through the devastated chamber. There was something deeply unsettling about the way he reacted to his impending defeat. Rather than showing fear or regret, he seemed almost delighted by the revelation. “A Celestial Warden with two Goddess Blessings... You're an even greater threat to the Chosen One himself!” His laughter grew louder, bordering on hysteria, as he struggled to reconcile the power he had witnessed with the future he had imagined for Empyrea. 

He had devoted himself to eliminating the Celestial Wardens, believing that their existence threatened the kingdom's future. Now, he had discovered that Lireina possessed an additional blessing that made her even more formidable than he had expected. To Alaric, that revelation only reinforced his conviction that she needed to die.

“I am not,” Lireina replied. Her voice was quiet, but the certainty behind those words silenced the prince's laughter for a moment. She lowered her hand from her blindfold and extended it toward him, her palm facing his battered body. The feathers surrounding her gradually settled, and the air in the throne room grew still. “You are.” 

A brilliant beam of light materialized in Lireina's outstretched hand. The glow intensified rapidly, bathing her fingers and the surrounding feathers in a radiant white brilliance. Alaric's eyes widened as he recognized that she was preparing another attack, but without his Halochassis or a functioning sword, he had no means of defending himself. He attempted to move, yet his battered body could barely respond, and his pistol offered no protection against the power gathering before him. Lireina released the beam without hesitation. 

The concentrated light shot across the throne room and pierced Alaric's body, illuminating the dust swirling around him in a blinding flash. His breath caught in his throat, and blood spilled from his mouth as his body jerked from the impact. The pistol slipped from his fingers and clattered onto the marble floor. For a brief moment, he remained standing, his expression frozen in disbelief, before his strength finally abandoned him. Alaric collapsed, his life coming to an end amid the ruins of the throne room.

The sudden silence that followed felt almost unreal. The distant sounds of falling debris gradually faded, leaving only the faint rustling of Lireina's feathers and the soft movement of air through the broken windows. Croft stared down at the fallen prince, struggling to process what had just happened. Then, as the realization that she was safe finally reached her, all the fear and tension she had been holding back came pouring out. 

“Lena!” she cried, her voice breaking with relief. She had spent the battle helplessly suspended above the floor, forced to watch as the prince attempted to kill her and Lireina fought against overwhelming odds. Now that the danger had passed, she could no longer contain her emotions.

Lireina immediately turned toward Croft and began to dismiss her transformations. Her ten white wings dissolved into streams of light, and the divine radiance surrounding her gradually faded until she returned to her ordinary form. The sudden change left her looking much smaller and more vulnerable than she had moments earlier, but she did not waste any time worrying about her own condition. She drew her pistol, raised it toward the rope suspending Croft from the chandelier, and carefully aligned the barrel with the strands holding the detective in place. The weapon gave a sharp report as she fired, and the bullet severed the rope cleanly. 

Croft immediately began to fall, her body dropping toward the hard marble floor as the broken rope whipped through the air above her. Before she could hit the ground, Lireina extended her hand and activated her wind magic. A cushion of compressed air formed beneath Croft like an invisible trampoline, catching her fall and gently redirecting her momentum. The magic absorbed the impact, allowing Croft to descend the remaining distance without suffering an injury.

The moment Croft's feet finally touched the ground, she rushed toward Lireina and wrapped both arms around her. She held her tightly, burying her face against Lireina's shoulder as the last remnants of her fear gave way to overwhelming relief. 

“Lena! Thank you for saving me!” Croft cried, her voice muffled against the fabric of Lireina's clothes. Her hands trembled as she clung to her friend, unwilling to let go after coming so close to death. 

Lireina smiled softly and returned the embrace, comforted by the knowledge that Croft was safe. However, the smile barely had time to form before the exhaustion she had been suppressing finally caught up with her. The power required to defeat Alaric, intercept the bullets, and maintain her divine transformation had drained her remaining strength. Her knees weakened, and the room seemed to tilt beneath her feet. Before she could steady herself, her body went limp, and she collapsed against Croft. 

“Lena?” Croft whispered, her smile vanishing as she felt Lireina's weight suddenly fall into her arms. She tightened her embrace and struggled to keep her friend upright, her expression filling with fresh concern as she realized that, although the battle was over, Lireina might have pushed herself beyond her limits.