Chapter 1402: 160. Divinity

"Cough... cough, cough..."

Blood blossomed across the pitch-black wreckage, outlining an extraordinarily tragic scene.

Ariel braced one hand against a chunk of metal that had only just solidified, struggling to keep herself from losing her balance. The intense heat gnawed at her flesh with a sizzling sound, but she no longer had the strength to react.

Her body felt as though it had been trampled by some prehistoric giant beast. Every bone, every piece of flesh, hurt to the core.

Magical power, completely exhausted.

Battle aura, completely exhausted.

Even her mental strength had been pushed to the brink of collapse by that desperate strike just now, one that had completely exceeded her current realm.

It could be said that she was now utterly spent. Forget launching another attack—even standing on her own was extremely difficult.

"Cough, cough... It's been a long time since I've been pushed this far. Is my realm still too low?"

Ariel gave a bitter smile.

For someone her age, her current realm and strength would be considered monstrous talent no matter where she went.

But ever since she had gotten tangled up with a certain infuriating bastard, for some reason, she was always the one getting battered.

No... that was not quite right either. She had always fought opponents stronger than herself before. It was just that nowadays, the meaning of "stronger than herself" was becoming more and more absurd.

Now even something like a Demon God afterimage had appeared. Who knew what kind of monsters and freaks would come next.

"Next, I need to hurry up and get stronger again. Being stuck at this level all the time really isn't my style."

In the end, she managed not to collapse pathetically and preserved her last shred of dignity. Ariel wiped the blood from her face and raised her head.

Her gaze happened to meet that of the black-robed figure, who was likewise struggling to crawl out from the ruins.

Metal fragments floated throughout the surroundings, forming new islands one after another. Many of them still retained a trace of red that had yet to cool.

Anti-Giant Demonic Beast Armor, Dragon Hunter · Olisis.

Even Ariel had heard of it. A special magical armor painstakingly created by the Magitech School of the Origin Tower, only to be accidentally lost during an incident. Now it had also been almost completely destroyed in that attack.

That alone showed just how much power had erupted from their previous strike.

"I'm doing this for the person I love. But this guy... what is he doing it for?"

The question flashed through her mind.

But now was not the time to think about something like that.

Ariel shifted her gaze away from the black-robed figure and looked toward the... center of everything.

As the violent currents of magical power dispersed, perception and sight could finally make out the final result.

...That familiar figure was still there.

The attack Ariel and the black-robed figure had unleashed with everything they had did not seem to have caused It any actual damage. Judging only by appearance, It seemed not to have lost so much as a single strand of hair.

But... all of the disorderly distortions and mutations surrounding It had disappeared.

The influence originating from the very essence of the "Demon God" had actually been stripped out of this world through the purest possible violence. It stood within an empty void where nothing remained, with a hollow space a hundred meters around It in every direction.

And on Its body, those distorted, flickering black lines had also become extremely weak.

Ariel could finally see clearly the face she had longed for day and night. Only his eyes were still covered by black lines, making him look like one of those criminal suspects in the newspaper whose face had been given a completely useless mosaic censor.

It worked.

After confirming that point, Ariel finally let out a long breath of relief.

It seemed that even though the enemy was the supposedly invincible Demon God of legend, what had appeared before them was ultimately only an afterimage.

And an afterimage born from something as vague and intangible as "fear," at that. In terms of how "real" it was, it might not even compare to the remnant image from the past that she had once seen inside that inverted tower.

"Its immortality" had not fully manifested in this afterimage.

"Do you still need my help?" Peles asked softly.

"No. You've used up a lot too, haven't you, Teacher? This is just the finishing blow. I can handle it myself."

Ariel tightened her grip on the Heavenfire Greatsword once more.

After that brief chance to catch her breath, her formidable recovery ability had restored a little of her mobility. It was not much, but if she gritted her teeth, squeezed out whatever remained, and forced herself a little further, she could still manage one more Heavenfire Unsheathe.

Across from her, the black-robed figure also gripped his long mace again. He apparently had the same idea.

"It's over..."

Flames rose once more, illuminating Ariel like a heroic Valkyrie.

And like a Valkyrie, she truly did swing her final strike down toward that distorted afterimage!

Revive, my love...

"Huh?"

However.

To her complete surprise, an accident still occurred in what should have been an absolutely certain conclusion.

Things did not develop in the direction she had expected.

Her attack was neutralized.

Ariel's eyes widened blankly...

No... it had not been neutralized.

It had been... distorted.

Or rather, mutated.

The mutation that should have disappeared!

The raging flames suddenly became some kind of strange thing. The crimson outer flames drooped like the fur of some animal, no longer giving off any heat. Instead, they even produced a chilling sensation.

The very definition of the flames' properties became chaotic. The sword strike Ariel had sent forward collapsed on its own halfway through. Transparent malformed things began devouring one another from within, making it impossible for the attack to reach its intended destination.

Immediately afterward.

A sharp stab of pain suddenly pierced her consciousness. An indescribably horrifying noise echoed through her mind, and the scene before her flickered, as though a corner of the world's true form had finally been unveiled before her.

Everything in existence was made of writhing flesh-worms.

Metal, ruins, stone, even the sea of stars... worms composed all things. When the wreckage of Olisis fell, what she saw was a mass of worms dropping beside her feet, crawling, twisting, gnawing at one another... before scattering in every direction.

Ariel started and instinctively stepped back twice. Then she suddenly realized that her own hands and feet were beginning to split apart as well. One tiny flesh-worm after another crawled out from within them. Every one of those worms had a different shape, with deformity and distortion being the only things they could barely be said to share...

No. They could not even truly be called "worms."

It was more as though every piece of her flesh, every bodily tissue, even every single cell had suddenly gained an awareness of its own and begun fleeing from her body in terror.

Everything that made up Ariel fled from her, and naturally, she...

"Ariel!"

The roar temporarily shattered the noise. Ariel abruptly came back to herself and realized that she was not some collection of writhing worms, and her bodily tissues certainly did not possess independent consciousness.

But when she lowered her head, she discovered that at some point her entire body had become covered in blood, with clear cracks even appearing across parts of her skin.

This was...

Pollution?

"Focus your consciousness! Resist the mental corrosion!"

Peles's anxious voice rang out inside her mind. "You almost really did collapse directly into a pile of flesh-worms just now, do you understand?"

"I... let my guard down for a moment..."

Having nearly stepped through death's door with half her body, Ariel felt a lingering chill.

She hurriedly secured her mind and resisted the Pollution corroding her on a mental level. Only then did she realize...

At some point, that distorted figure had already come very close to her.

It still looked the same as after the previous attack. Several weakened black lines flickered feebly, while the distortions and mutations surrounding Its body had long since vanished.

But.

It was looking at her.

And that gaze was completely different from before.

If earlier It had merely been a newly awakened existence, looking around in bewilderment and confusion...

Then now, that existence had finally recovered a small part of what belonged to It.

And so, unintentionally, It revealed something that had never appeared before...

【Divinity】

Yes.

Only now had It truly revealed the slightest trace of Divinity.

And that tiny trace of Divinity had nearly polluted and corroded Ariel in an instant.

"Damn it! How is this possible?! It's only an afterimage! And the true Demon God is still completely sealed!"

Even Peles could not understand how this situation had occurred.

Everything before them was completely unreasonable.

But... thinking about it carefully.

It was... that Demon God.

Its very existence was practically synonymous with the words "unreasonable"!

"Ariel, run!"

On the other side, the black-robed figure had already realized something was wrong and was rapidly retreating.

Yet perhaps because Ariel's previous attack—the collision and interweaving of those four Divine Favors—had left too deep an impression on... It, the distorted figure completely ignored the black-robed man and instead walked toward Ariel, one step at a time.

With every step It took, the noise in Ariel's mind intensified. The stabbing pain within her consciousness became clearer and clearer, until that suffering gradually began to penetrate all the way into her soul.

"Ariel! Hurry! I still have enough soul force to reinforce you one more time. I'll protect you! Run!"

Peles was beside herself with anxiety.

Compared to before, the distorted figure was now countless times more terrifying. So terrifying that even she could no longer summon the slightest will to resist. All she could do was urge Ariel to flee as quickly as possible.

But...

"No. There's no need."

For some reason, Ariel remained standing exactly where she was, stubbornly watching the distorted figure approach.

"There's no need to run."

"Have you lost your mind?"

Peles wondered whether her normally brilliant student had gotten her brain damaged by the corrosion just now... What did she mean, there was no need to run?

The Demon God was practically in her face!

The distorted figure came closer and closer, until It truly stood only a single step away from Ariel.

Then...

It slowly raised a hand toward her.

Inside the bronze ring, Peles's heart tightened. She nearly held her breath... if she still had breath to hold.

She had never been this nervous before, to the point that the thought of directly knocking Ariel unconscious and carrying her away had even crossed her mind.

Unfortunately, she was currently inside the ring. As a pure soul body whose soul force was almost completely depleted, she was even more helpless in the face of Pollution, making such an idea impossible to carry out.

She could only watch helplessly as the most important student in her life was approached by the most terrifying existence in this world.

Then that terrifying existence extended the hand that only moments ago had been capable of twisting and mutating all things...

And gently stroked Ariel's head.

See?! This is what happens when you don't run! Now you're getting patted on the head by a Demon God! Absolutely idiotic... Huh?

Wait.

Patted on the head?

Inside the ring, Peles froze.

Only now did she finally realize something.

"I told you, there's no need to run. After all, if the leakage of Its Divinity only amounts to what happened just now, then that can only mean one thing..."

Ariel remained calm.

Only now did she quietly let out a long breath.

She tilted her head upward slightly and joyfully met the single azure-blue eye on that familiar face that had finally broken free of the black lines.

"You... finally woke up."

"Sorry."

The awakened existence gently stroked her head and gave her an apologetic smile.

"I hurt you."

"You don't need to apologize. Nobody could have expected something like this. Besides, that black-robed guy over there is the real culprit."

Feeling that familiar warmth again, Ariel asked softly:

"How much longer until you can completely deal with it? Do you need my help?"

"No. You... and all of you have already done very well."

The azure-blue eye was gradually covered by a deep, dense black.

Muen's smile faded, leaving only chilling coldness behind.

"From here on... this is my battlefield."