Chapter 566 |
Defensive Battle of All Worlds ⑫ Each’s Defensive Battle Ninth
The personification of fiendish rakshasa prowling in the search of battlefield――aka, Omnibus’s director Patrick Dime was radiating vapor-like aura (fighting spirit) from his whole body while,
「Fumu」
Muttering so as he glared at the surrounding. Astonishingly it seemed he was teleported to the top of Eiffel Tower. It was the spot that was called the third observation deck.
「Directo~or! Are you listening!?」
There was Claudia and an angel right nearby.
Claudia had wings of light spread out behind her. She was hovering outside that observation deck. Her purely white sister uniform truly looked good on her.
Her hands weren’t carrying her usual sacred treasure, the huge cross, but a sacred treasure that could be mistaken as a cross spear from its shape.
Holy Cross Staff. It was the sacred treasure that was given to Claudia before she became the wielder of the Holy Cross. It was her second sacred treasure that had been upgraded by Hajime.
It was a special weapon that operated a type of concept magic which exterminated demon with no question asked, even if the target was high class demon.
As expected even Hajime couldn’t toy around with the concept part, but he could improve the range and repurpose the effect so it could apply powerful debuff even to other being than demon. It seemed the cross was using that function right now.
「I see. So this is the true worth of mimicry ability. It’s powerful.」
「I-ignored? I’m ignored in this situation……?」
The director narrowed his eyes seeing the tragic state of Paris’s streets.
What caught his attention first was the countless angels flying around at the sky――”Angel’s Army”. And then the Arc de triomphe de l’Étoile and then the spot near a skyscraper building that was the highest even in Paris.
It was a monster that perhaps ought to be described as a sea lily with fat torso. It had barrel shaped body and pentagram head. Tentacles that were like branch, legs shaped like plant bulb, and then five membranous wings. Its body length must be more than twenty meters. There were two such huge grotesque beings rampaging.
Multiple angels were surrounding the battlefield with their hands raised. That action was forming a spherical barrier that must be for preventing any damage to the surrounding.
And then, it seemed angels who seemed to be particularly strong were each dealing with the monsters inside the barrier, but it seemed that they were having a hard time.
The blow from the tentacles that were like branch had terrific strength behind them. The tips were definitely striking with speed that was several times the speed of sound. They were too flexible and fast that they left behind afterimages, making it looked like there were far more tentacles swinging around than there actually were.
In addition, it seemed those monsters also fired beam that erased the target it touched.
In fact, around dozens of floors had gotten gouged out completely from the rooftop of the skyscraper. The beam’s strength was so great that even the angels’ barrier would get pierced through if the beam struck for several seconds. Judging from the damage, perhaps the beam had a property that was similar to “disintegration bombardment”.
Multiple angels worked to make layered barrier and they also immediately repaired any damage so currently they were succeeding in sealing in the monsters, but without that the city of Paris right now would surely……
In addition these sea lily monsters also had high defense. The angels’ attacks dealt damage but none was deadly, so they were fighting in the way to gradually whittle down the monsters.
What made it a nightmare was that these two monsters were only subordinate beings that got summoned. The true identity of these beings was the mimicry of the assembly of “amorphous monster” that was the origin of that Sathla.
Yes, they who were members of a servile race were copying their lord, the summoner. In other words, there was the real thing that was more powerful with better ability than these.
There were four of them at the same time. They were equivalent to class 1.
Naturally the lord was facing them. He somehow succeeded in luring them to green tract of land that was far away from the city and fought them there, but there wasn’t even need to look to feel the fierceness of that battlefield. After all from the wind he could feel the sensation that made his skin got goosebumps.
「But as expected the problem is……Seine river, no, it’s the whole sewer system huh?」
「Please move aside Raphael-sama! I can’t hit the director with you on the way!!」
It felt like at the corner of his sight there was Claudia lifting up her staff and the angel standing on her way and trying to soothe her down, but the director paid no attention to that and turned his gaze toward the battlefield above Paris’ streets.
Many night ogres that numbered in the hundreds were appearing there too where they were currently clashing with the angel’s army. It looked like there were a lot of specimens with ability equivalent to class 3 there too.
But, it was another monster that was pushing Paris into true danger.
Things were appearing one after another from underground, mainly from Seine River. They certainly could be called as amorphous. But, they were different from the “amorphous monster” that Sathla originated from. To speak frankly, these were more “sludge monsters”.
Seine River bubbled and got dyed grey happened not long ago. The sludge lumps were continuously getting produced from there without end had varied shapes. Some were shaped like human, but some also had shape like four-legged animals, or perhaps they had blasphemous shape that was half-baked combination of the two.
Their number was about three thousand. That number continued to increase even now.
「Certainly it’s understandable that some civilians cannot escape with the situation like this.」
There were shining domes formed all over the city. At open spot, big buildings like museum and the like, and naturally at the base of this Eiffel Tower too.
They were Claudia’s barriers. She was also using one of the Holy Cross’s abilities, wide range “Telepathy” to guide the civilian to safety while the angels and her fellow exorcists were fighting.
He could see the figures of people desperately trying to escape the horrors of war even now.
Fortunately it seemed the fighting strength of the sludge monsters wasn’t that high. They were closer to zombie in horror game. The bounced with jogging speed and swallowed their target……they had such movement. He also couldn’t feel any intelligence from them.
It seemed piercing attack like from gun wasn’t too effective against them, but even civilian could defeat them by using club to strike them senseless. They ought to be judged as equivalent to class 5.
But, there was no end to them. That was the most troublesome aspect.
「They can’t keep up huh……」
The exorcists like Anna and Wynn and the angels were fighting at various places. They were protecting the civilians running toward the barriers or the streets.
The annihilation power of the exorcists was quiet something, while it needn’t even to be said for the angels.
For example Anna. Her movement was light like fluttering leaf that couldn’t be predicted. But the speed of her step was terrific.
There was no way the like of the sludge monsters could grasp the her movement that thoroughly practiced hit & away. She easily took their back and aimed at their opening like a black vulture. Even night ogre got toyed by her movement till they exposed an opening, where they would then be shot down by the dark red flying slash that came out from her tonfa.
Her movement and combat style had clearly changed from half a year ago. Her combat strength had also increased.
Wynn was also the same. His hands were holding long swords. One was enveloped in magic power, while the other was covered with flame. He let flew shining slash and closed the distance with a fluid movement, but the next moment he bisected the enemies one after another with a stirring swordsmanship that was different from before.
The way he constantly covered the civilians behind him as he fought greatly resembled a knight rather than an exorcist.
The other exorcists too were as expected. They were giving an impression of being far stronger than half a year ago with their upgraded battle tactic and sacred treasure.
But, they couldn’t keep up with the enemy’s quantity even then. Paris’s water that had been turned into the source of filthiness was producing monsters with speed that surpassed their effort.
There was extensive sewer system underneath Paris. At the start, the “void god” that could be observed at Seine River and seemed to be the main body ran away into there. Even now the lord was giving chase but……the fact that it managed to shake off the lord once was a sufficient demonstration of its threat level.
If the lord didn’t find the main body and defeat it, most likely the sludge monsters would continue to be produced.
「As I thought it’s best to be right at the scene. You can’t understand the battlefield’s atmosphere if you just stay cooped up inside the room. The most accurate direction can only be given after reading the atmosphere.」
「Reading the atmosphere? You director?」
Claudia-san looked like she had just heard something impossible. Director Dime ignored her, no, he finally turned his eyes at her.
「Raphael-sama correct? Can you use telepathy? So you can. Very good.」
「Your manner of speaking, that’s disrespectful director!」
Actually the angel staying beside Claudia to protect her was one of the highest ranked angels who were also purported as the three great archangels (or the four great archangels in some case).
To a clergyman this was a being that they would immediately kneel and pray while crying emotionally, but the director fell into thought while sending the angel a gaze that glinted fiercely just like usual, as though to say 「I’ll……kill you dead-」.
Raphael-sama who was glared at with such eyes twitched for an instant. Was it just their imagination…….
Of course, the director who often got shouted at by the cardinal as 「This infidel」 wasn’t concerned at all.
「Let’s be efficient. Notifying all exorcists――」
The director start giving instructions to the exorcists one after another through his communicator. He was also giving instructions to the angel army through Raphael. The movement of his allies in the battlefield was clearly changing.
The battle situation that was free-for-all in a sense changed to movement that felt tactical. Rather than protecting, their movement turned offensive in order to annihilate the enemies.
「Claudia」
「Director, please take care of yourself! If you collapse then everyone on the field will――」
「It’s fine. I can keep going for thirty more minutes. And I can endure twice longer than that with Raphael-sama’s healing.」
「That’s unexpectedly long!?」
You ignored doctor’s order and trained in secret didn’t you!? Claudia accused with her eyes spontaneously turned glaring.
However, the director instead stared fixedly back at her. Claudia reflexively twitched.
「I have told you this many times but……you’re too kind. That’s a virtue, however, this place is a battlefield. You allocated too much resource for saving people which allowed the enemies to gain momentum. That can only be called as a poor decision here.」
「To save is the mission of exorcist……or rather any clergyman will……」
「First you kill.」
A strange voice 「Offu」 came out from Claudia’s mouth. What a brazen statement. Even though the statement was fully loaded with targets for tsukkomi, the brazenness made it sounded like a perfect logic without the slightest opening for argument.
「There are lives that can be saved by that. I should have taught you many times before, it’s overwhelming violence that is the true way that lead to salvation.」
「Didn’t Maya shot you each time you taught me that?」
Raphael-sama looked like he really wanted to say something.
He really had taken a liking to Claudia when she visited and greeted them at the fairy world. He thought that she was a wonderful child overflowing with kindness and wisdom befitting a saintess.
And yet, this priest, what in the world is he saying despite being a priest――ah, no, it’s nothing at all you know? It’s nothing okay, yes. That’s why, don’t turn those eyes over here!!
Rapahel-sama quickly diverted his gaze.
The meaning of his name was “God has healed”. He was literally the angel who governed healing. He was wielding his power in order to protect his heavenly army comrades and the exorcists, and in order to heal the people who were dragged and wounded by the battle’s after-effect.
Yes, he was busy right now. That was why, by no means he was abandoning the saintess who was receiving a lecture about the wonderfulness of violence. Yep.
「I’ll hold back any harm to the allies. Concentrate on offense!! Overturn the battle situation. That’s the role of “the exorcist’s strongest”!!」
「Aah geez, I understand already!!」
The director said whatever he wanted to say and leaped from the Eiffel Tower.
But he had a point. No, she didn’t regret focusing mainly on saving the people but, looking at the battle situation right now there was no doubt that it would only get worse as long as no reinforcement was coming and they only focused on defense. Certainly they needed offensive movement to change the flow of battle.
Claudia herself had been feeling that even before Director Dime told her so.
The director who crushed the roof *Bekyaa-* of the car beneath him like it was a cushion for landing. Furthermore he threw that car to the “void god” on his path and sent it flying.
He didn’t feel like human anymore. The people who were taking refugee inside the barrier at the base of the tower were screaming.
The scream got even louder when he looked up over his shoulder and grinned.
「Sho your spirit, Claudia! Young Hinata and young Zhu are showing their impressive might as practitioner. At this rate it will be those two who get relied on by that guy――」
「That’s none of your business! Stupid directooooor-」
The director chuckled as he rushed through the large street. While making the “void god” on his way slalomed and squashing it with the “Book of Holy Destruction”-chan.
Had you ever watched a scene in movie where a helicopter fell and its rotating rotor hit everything on its way and turning people into minced meat?
This was exactly like that. The director was rushing toward a class 3 while blowing away the sludge monsters on his way into minced meat……
Light of magic power was scattering from the “Book of Holy Destruction”-chan and became like sparkling particles but……they looked like tears.
……op……st, op……ple……ase……
It felt like she was getting an auditory hallucination.
Do your best “Book of Holy Destruction”-chan! You haven’t been read even once ever since this battle began, and you might be getting a severe doubt about your own identity but, don’t lose! “Book of Holy Destruction”-chan!
「Good grief, he is just so wild no matter how much time passed……」
A sigh.
「But, yes, it’s just as he said. For now, I shall discard my softness of wishing to offer a helping hand. As someone who is entrusted with the title of the exorcist’s strongest, I shall accomplish what I ought to do.」
Claudia’s expression changed. Cold composure resided in those eyes.
It’s not softness but kindness you know? That’s your virtue you know? She was feeling Raphael-sama’s gaze that wanted to say that, even so Claudia leaned the Holy Cross Staff on her body so it wouldn’t fall off while clasping her hands in front of her chest and closing her eyes.
「I don’t know how far I can go but……」
Her offensive power was poor outside fighting against demon. It was fine to even call her untalented.
That was Claudia’s self-evaluation. That evaluation became even stronger from the “dragon incident”.
Of course, without Claudia’s protection it would be impossible to do land battle in the sea of trees. There was no doubt many people would be knocked down just from the wave of the battle between the dragon’s shadow and the abyss lord.
But, she was unable to simply accept that and move on.
Because, opposite sexes with magnificent talent kept gathering one after another beside that person she loved.
Even while thinking that she should be ashamed of that as a woman of the church, she couldn’t abandon that selfishness by any means.
「Let’s have faith. On the Lord, and on myself.」
Just like Rana and Hinata did, Claudia was also retraining herself. She took another look on what she was able to do.
One of the results was now put into practice.
「O Lord, please listen to the voice of your devout believer. I am the one who walks on the straight and narrow, carry out righteousness, and speak of the truth from my heart. I shall stand before the wicked and be a shield for those who believe.」
The Holy Cross above shined even brighter. The light was clear like the moonlight. That light quietly extended like an angel’s ladder and illuminated Claudia from above.
The hem of Claudia’s unsullied habit and her wavy golden hair fluttered lightly.
That prayer was just too solemn. It was just too natural, and because of that it was beautiful. Her figure praying with her whole heart looked like a painting.
She could feel Raphael-sama’s gaze from the side. It felt really gentle.
「Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For Thou art with me.」
That prayer reached. Not to the actual god of the bible, but simply to a being of the fairy world.
To the great being where the feeling of the people gathered. And then, toward the son of god living in an apartment and even formed friendship there.
Those determination and resolve, that oath was answered. Tremendous divine protection descended on Claudia through the Holy Cross.
Claudia’s magic power that was meager compared to the returnees swelled up tremendously. Like it was her vessel itself that was widening. The magic power saturating her became radiance that flooded the surrounding.
That radiance caused the refugees on the ground, and not only them, even the sludge monsters that were approaching from the surrounding all looked up in fascination.
「O Lord, have mercy. Please illuminate this land filled with hatred, deceit, and cruelty with Your heavenly light! Please show the holy path to those who are lost!!」
Her left hand that was as though holding back the overflowing power extended, as though to push it out now instead.
The tip of the Holy Cross Staff was gently pointed out, toward the sea lily-thing at the Arc de triomphe de l’Étoile.
A beat passed.
「――”God’s Might”」
Yes, that was “God’s Might”. The strongest light element high class magic at Tortus.
It bombarded with lasers that were as thick as pillars. It was like clear moonlight condensed and fired out. The lasers dazzlingly illuminated the surrounding even though it was noon. It had beauty that was burned into the hearts of those who witnessed it.
Somehow Claudia’s “God’s Might” passed through the barrier of the angels that was forming a restricted battlefield like an arena. The attack magnificently hit the sea lily-thing.
The sea lily-thing tried to escape the moonlight bombardment. But, the firing line moved when Claudia simply tilted her staff slight. The attack wouldn’t let go of the target.
It lasted for perhaps ten seconds.
Before long, Claudia’s “God’s Might” quietly vanished as though melting into thin air.
And then,
「U-unharmed……?」
Someone muttered. Perhaps it was another exorcist, or perhaps a refugee who was in a position where the public square was visible.
Either way, that word was correct.
The sea lily-thing was alive and well. Its body volume had shrunken considerably compared to at first, but it was the work of the angels fighting it. Not even the slightest damage could be seen from the bombardment just now.
Perhaps the sea lily-thing was also feeling anticlimax. It somewhat looked like it was bewildered.
An angle approached at that timing with a long sword.
The sea lily-thing immediately tried to dodge,
――!!?
It was clearly assaulted by agitation. Its body that was flying in the sky fell as though it suddenly remembered about gravity.
It couldn’t dodge in that state. It crashed on the ground and rolled ungainly. The long sword slashed multiple times as it happened.
――＊＊＃＃＃＃！！？
It made a grating shriek that sounded like a flute that was blown too strongly. The flesh that boasted an endurance so great was carved apart so easily. It was diced up into pieces.
Not only that it became unable to maintain its mimcry and returned to its original “amorphous monster” shape.
It swung its tentacles before the mimicry was dispelled completely, but its speed was just a shadow of its former shell. On top that the beam that was like disintegration bombardment also didn’t come out.
Another angel lifted his hand at that moment as though he had been waiting just for that. Fierce flame surged out and incinerated the monster.
As expected it seemed the “amorphous monster” had also lost its resistance against that and was helpless.
This was precisely the power of Claudia’s “God’s Might”.
「Thank God……it seems to be effective.」
Claudia let out a relieved sigh even while her shoulders were heaving with exertion.
It couldn’t be helped that she was anxious. After all her “God’s Might” had zero physical destructiveness for some reason. It was a fatal defect.
To be frank, it was almost purely a magic power bombardment with only the appearance and formula base of “God’s Might”.
However, that was exactly why it had a terrifying trait.
In exchange of not having any physical destructiveness, the magic power contained inside Claudia’s magic attack would soak into the enemy surprisingly easily. It was to the level that it ignored the enemy’s magic resistance, struggle, and immunity altogether.
In short, she forcefully mixed her own magic power into the energy inside the opponent’s body.
Something like that wasn’t their own magic power anymore. That was why it became strikingly difficult to use.
Their magic power had already gotten blown away and decreased considerably, and yet even the remaining magic power had also gotten polluted with Claudia’s magic power. It wasn’t something really usable for them anymore.
「It’s a defective magic that can only neutralize at best but……fufu, Kaori-sensei too might be delighted if I prove that it’s usable.」
She smiled wryly and exhaled out her breath.
Kaori-sensei. Yes, Claudia asked for teaching not at Yue but Kaori.
It was Yue’s recommendation. Kaori was praised as “saintess” at Tortus. That was why she thought that Kaori would be fitting for Claudia who was earth’s “saintess”. But that wasn’t the only reason. It was because the two’s characteristic closely resembled each other.
――You have natural talent in light element. Moreover……your talent is especially prominent in “sharing” and “accepting”.
Those were Yue’s words.
Then, Kaori who accepted the teaching role with quite a bit of excitement from getting called 「Kaori-sensei」 became immediately surprised.
It went without saying that it didn’t matter if it was healing, barrier, and also support type magic, if it was light element then Claudia had the talent to learn it with speed that wasn’t at all inferior compared to Kaori in the past.
But there was more. In addition, “if the chanting was replaced with scripture, for some reason the magic’s effect would be greater than when she invoked the magic using Tortus-style chanting”.
Surely, her experience from accumulated training with sweat and blood ever since she was small had come into effect.
However, for some reason.
The magic wouldn’t work well the moment it came to attack type magic.
Even if she managed to activate it somehow, the effect was completely different from how it should be. Everything became “forcefully dyed with her magic power into pure magic power attack……attack?”.
It went without saying Kaori-sensei became 「What’s thiiiis?」 while holding her head at her wits’ end. At the end she even went 「Surely this is just because I can’t teach well. I’m sorry, I’m not a good teacher like Yue-sensei……sorry, I’m sorry……」 and went to hug her knees at the corner of the room.
『This is precisely your virtue. The wonderful disposition that we recognize as “saintess”.』
「Raphael-sama……thank you very much.」
The kind affirmation and praise from the archangel melted Claudia’s expression into a broad smile.
Surely, this was her intrinsic quality. No matter that Claudia Barenberg was the strongest against devil, no matter how many of them she had subjugated.
She was a saintess.
She was a saintess not because she was the strongest, or because she could use the Holy Cross. Her essence, the core of her self was “for the sake of someone”.
Just like when she smiled and suppressed her desire for revenge that had kept burning for twelve years, saying that leaving it to Yue would be the sure thing to do to protect earth.
When it was really needed, she surely wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice herself.
The act of sharing.
The act of accepting.
That characteristic was so striking that if she didn’t use her sacred treasure’s function, Claudia’s own power would be unusable to harm other people.
Rather than calling it talent in light element, this saintess’s innate talent was in transferring and absorbing magic power.
That was Claudia Barenberg’s characteristic quality.
The true essence of her talent was transferring magic power, therefore if she had some time she could convert her magic power to the target’s magic power. In short, it might even turn into assistance for her enemy. In that point it was a really saintly quality of her.
In short, her attack magic was――”I won’t allow you to say no! I’ll have you acecpt my power even if I have to force you!”, which was a kind of “the ultimate meddling magic”.
「I’m moving to the next one. Raphael-sama, please notify our allies.」
『Feel free.』
Claudia took a deep breath.
Even though she had just fired “God’s Might” so powerful it drained her magic power empty and she ran out of breath, her breathing had already stabilized. Not only that, magic power flowed out abundantly once more from that body.
That was her trait as “an accepting person”.
Whether it was the natural magic power or magic power transferred from other person, the speed and efficiency of the power’s conversion into her own magic power were absurd. It was at the level that made Kaori said 「You might be better than us when it come to “high speed magic power recovery”」.
That was especially so when her magic power output was drastically increased due to the divine protection of the son of god and the others, and the infinite supply of natural magic power from Yue.
With that power, she activated it right now.
Claudia’s original magic that she grasped along when a certain demon god went overboard(romance) toward the exorcists.
It only became usable after the “Holy Cross” and “Holy Cross Staff” had been improved, the composite magic that combined the strongest sacred treasure’s miracle and artifact given ability.
「La～♪」
A song flowed. The serene voice was astonishingly clear, and transmitted until unbelievably far away.
It was a hymn.
At the same time, it was a chant.
It sounded out of place in the battlefield. It made anyone who heard it to feel gentle affection, that enveloped all beings on earth with endless kindness.
It was also the voice that the people of Paris had been hearing the whole time as they evacuated. It was beyond counting just how many people had their heart saved by this voice.
To say nothing of the people who saw her figure above Eiffel Tower with wings of light spread out on her back, as she made a huge cross floating in the sky and radiating beautiful light……
It went without saying that those people believed that Claudia was none other than the leader of the angels.
That girl was singing. Like she was wishing for peace. Like she was wishing for tranquility for the people’s hearts. She was spreading out her hands and spread out her songs far and wide while a pillar of light rose to heaven around her.
Naturally people being moved to tears appeared one after another. Even though before this people were already aware that they were being protected by Claudia. Now they even fell on their knees to offer prayer.
That sacred sight was truly like a page of mythology. Those people surely couldn’t stop themselves anymore from shedding tears emotionally.
「As I thought……that person is definitely the leader of the angels――Michael-sama」
Such muttering was spreading. Then the next moment.
「「「「「…………eh?」」」」」
Eyes shrunk into dots. It couldn’t be helped.
Further above the sky of Eiffel Tower, the magic power rising from Claudia created light spheres like full moons one after another. They all had diameters around three meter. Those spheres rained down on Paris.
Seen from the side, it looked exactly like Meteor Impact.
The bringer of salvation suddenly turned into the bringer of calamity.
It couldn’t be helped even if such misunderstanding was created based on the appearance and scale of the attack.
The ground was in uproar. It’s the end of the worlddddd, people screaming and crying that appeared everywhere. Pandemonium was spreading.
Of course, the appeared looked like the end of the world, but seeing as the attack originated from Claudia, there was zero lethality.
――Claudia original magic Meteor Shower of Mercy
That was a super wide-range “magic power soaking bombing magic” chanted with hymn.
The magic power clusters that rained down from the sky impacted the ground or burst midair. Then they immediately unleashed surge of high density magic power to all directions. Each sphere at best could radiate a range of ten-odd meter, but their number was beyond counting.
And then, those who got hit by that magic power surge naturally ended taking in Claudia’s magic power forcefully.
Then, the result went without saying.
The night ogres who got swallowed in the bombing fell one after another. Some of the angels who had been informed and instructed to retreat beforehand also got swallowed a little and fell.
It was the same with the sludge monsters too. What held their body together and made them moved around was obviously the energy that came from the “void god”. Now that energy couldn’t circulate well.
It resulted in them crumbling, or their movement became extremely sluggish. Incidentally the exorcists who failed to retreat in time fell into a state of magic power saturation. They became unsteady on their feet like they were drunk.
The bombing on Seine River might also have some effect. The production speed of the monsters looked to be slowing down.
The sea lily-thing on the skyscraper’s rooftop was also clearly weakening.
「Haa haa……the positions of enemy and ally became clearly divided thanks to the director’s command, so it looks like the damage to ally isn’t that much.」
『Putting aside his principle, he’s a capable believer……belie, ver……isn’t he?』
Raphael-sama faltered a bit. But, the evaluation he gave was genuine.
Due to Director Dime’s command, the “void gods” were guided to group up together in various spots by the movement of the exorcists and angels. Even the allies who got swallowed in Claudia’s bombardment could be keep in minimum.
And then, even those allies who got dragged in could recover faster than the enemies thanks to Raphael-sama’s authority.
It was a magic that had various stringent requirements but, it looked like it went well this time.
Looking at the battlefield from on high, the extermination speed against the enemies went up drastically due to this good opportunity.
Claudia made a small guts pose seeing the positive result she brought about. She then spoke words of thanks with a small voice.
「Protecting, healing, and purifying the enemy’s threat as much as possible……I have my own role to fulfill. Kaori-sama, thank you very much. It looks like I’ll be able to make my wish come true.」
She was completely far behind in term of combat ability, but she wanted to shoulder the role in Kousuke’s party like the one that Kaori originally had in Hajime’s party. That was Claudia’s wish.
Her cheeks naturally relaxed into a broad smile seeing her progress.
And then, she sang once more. Even though the speed had dropped the monsters were still being produced even now. She worked in order to neutralize them as much as she could.
The people who were looking up at such saintess were……
「S-she’s smiling. She seems to enjoy dropping meteors all over the city……」
「Sain, tess?」
「She isn’t……Michael-sama?」
「No, wait……Michael-sama is the leader of heaven’s army. It’s written in the text of his fierce battle. In that case, that smile is also natural……」
「Terrifying……as expected, that is a being that surpassed human’s understanding……」
Shuddering. For them who didn’t know what effect the magic had, their reaction was only natural in a sense.
Also, Michael-sama was dispatched to USA together with Gabriel and Uriel, so he wasn’t here. Surely he had never even dreamed that he would be thought as an unhinged angel who brought down meteors on a metropolis while laughing.
It was a terrible reputational damage.
「La～♪」
「It’s coming again!」
「Oh good! Please grant us salvation!」
「Please give down Your remonstration on Michael-sama!!」
The city of Paris was turning into pandemonium once more in various senses.
The cardinal at the headquarters who was watching that situation pressed his stomach that was starting to ache sharply while racking his brain for the time being of how to apologize to Michael-sama later.
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The city with the biggest population in Britain, London.
There was a river that split the city into north and south――Thames River. It was in the same state like Paris’s Seine River right now. The river surface was muddy grey and bubbling. Just looking at it made nausea welled up inside.
But, it was avoiding the situation like in Paris where sludge monsters flooded the city.
The national army was deployed in a line with fixed distance between units. They were swiftly eliminating the sludge monsters each time they were produced.
It went without saying what was the cause of the difference in reaction speed between both cities. It was due to the skill of security bureau’s director Sharon Magdanese.
Since that day when she got involved with Hajime and co, she had gotten into arguments, compromises, or perhaps reining in the experienced politicians of the country. She used every means to make preparation in case of emergency. This was the result of all her efforts.
It could be said that the faction who didn’t think well of Director Magdanese must had painful blow dealt on them with this real demonstration in a sense.
But, just because of that it didn’t mean that there wasn’t any problem at all with the situation.
「Shit, what the hell is that!!」
「How many times it has to be shot before it die!?」
「What!? What do you mean!? Teleport!? What’re you saying!?」
The army, the police, and then the special forces of both parties. The units deployed to London were in the height of confusion.
「Is this alien invasion!? Are we having nightmare right now!?」
They were members of special forces who had gone through many harsh trainings so they could deal with all kind of situations. They somehow avoided going insane thanks to their tenacious mental strength, even so, the situation was completely abnormal. One of the soldiers reflexively shouted.
His words were on the point. Certainly this situation was really similar with a certain famous movie that depicted battle against outer space creatures.
The enemies in a glance looked somewhat like a large cat that was as big as a medium sized dog.
They had four legs, and body with streamlined shape. Pointy ears and long tail……
However, they were covered with countless thin tentacles in the place of fur. Perhaps because they were constantly writhing, their whole body’s coloring seemed to be constantly changing with mysterious patterns. Furthermore the unusual cat-thing had multiple bumps on their flanks that looked like gems.
The patterns also looked like some kind of artwork that their gazes unconsciously got drawn in. But, looking too long would give one a feeling like their sight was going out of order. It was abnormal.
And most of all,
「These things……are they laughing?」
They could feel malice from the things. They wanted to toy with their target, sip on the target’s fear, and push them into despair before devouring them. The soldiers were able to feel such repulsive will from the things even without any words.
Such cat-things were crawling on the ground and crawled closer in group. Some climbed over a discarded car with rubbing movement, and some were advancing while clinging on building’s wall.
It looked exactly like fiendish space creatures that clung on spaceship’s corridor’s wall and ceiling while advancing in group.
The soldiers crushed the fear that was crawling up their spine and told themselves to just pull the trigger for now.
They were ordered to, but that wasn’t all. The civilian evacuation had progressed quite well due to emergency broadcast through all kind of medias and fast initial response of the police, even so naturally not all the people had been evacuated.
To protect the people around them and behind them……
There was no way they could turn their back on the enemies and ran away.
They fought against the unrealistic enemies desperately with all their hearts.
But, the enemies were really unrealistic.
「It……vanished……?」
Fast moving speed. Three-dimensional movement. There was also trajectory that simply looked like the monster was kicking on thin air. Even if the special force troops landed their bullets with outstanding skill, the enemies didn’t die from just one or two bullets.
But, even so troops at the level of special force could somehow offer a good fight against the enemies. And yet,
As expected they couldn’t completely deal with phenomenon that was like magic from fairytale. Because they had never gone through training that anticipated such combat situation. They never even imagined that such situation would arrive.
Yes, the warning that they were given from the headquarters just now――”Teleportation”.
Even after getting explanation, and even though they understood what the word meant, it was a bit too much to expect anyone could immediately comprehend after being dropped into a battle where such supernatural phenomenon happened for real.
The cat-thing vanished like ghost while laughing quietly.
The soldier was dumbfounded and didn’t notice the monster quietly forming from empty air behind them.
And yet, the thing intentionally didn’t launch sneak attack. It specially closed the distance before making a disgusting wheedling voice. In that respect these things were definitely full of malice.
The soldier gasped and turned around. What entered their eyes was the cat-thing raising it sharp claws right before their eyes.
Despair filled the soldier’s face. As though to say such look was exactly what it wanted to see, the cat-thing’s mouth split into the shape of grin――
「Sto――」
*Tan-* There was gunshot sound. Even though there were many gunshot sounds all over the city, that gunshot alone sounded extremely clearly. Why was that?
As expected, perhaps it was because at the same time the head of the hideous cat-thing before his eyes was blown away.
「Wha-」
The man who was the platoon commander of this special force fell on his butt while turning his gaze.
What appeared from the back alley was an armed group equipped with unfamiliar assault rifles and similar goggles.
「Don’t break formation!! Cover all directions! There’s time lag with the teleportation! Don’t miss it–!!」
The person who seemed to be the captain of the group gave directions with loud yell. His troops responded to his commands without any hesitation and finished off the enemies like they had predicted the movements of the cat-things.
The assault rifles themselves must be not normal. Their effectiveness was absurd.
But as expected, it was the group’s movement that drawn even more attention.
How to say it, it was like……they were used to it.
They were not faltering even when facing supernatural phenomenon. They were moving after taking that factor into consideration.
It even felt like the group was considering a threat like teleportation as fatal opening to be taken advantage of.
「If you’re fine then stand! Don’t just stare!」
The man who seemed to be the captain ran toward them. He pulled up the special force commander who just narrowly escaped death..
「Security bureau huh……」
The commander looked at the badge embroidered on the man’s shoulder and muttered. The man nodded while casually shooting down a cat-thing that leaped at them.
「I’m Barnard Pace. Our weapons are highly effective against these things. Distract them for us. Limit their path and make the chance for us to finish them!」
「Kh, roger that!」
The man gave instruction knowing that he was a platoon commander. Originally he had many mixed feelings toward the security bureau. It was because of the world situation recently. No matter how much information control there was, he still heard the rumors how these guys were close to the center of it.
Like how they were supplied with the newest equipment, or how they were sent into important mission that concerned the national defense, or how they even got dispatched until overseas where they played a role with forming friendship between nations or perhaps organizations.
Or how they were building a relationship of trust with the hero who saved the motherland……
What the hell is that, that’s so unfair thoughhhh!?
There was no reason why they had to accept order from such people onsite. In the first place their chain of commands differed from each other so there was no need to obey what they said.
Like that, usually he would scoff and said at least a cutting remark.
But, right now there was no leeway to say any complain. Several of his subordinates had already fallen……
If they could get even the slightest advantage in this situation then he would wag his tail even at the death god. Like that even while cursing inside his heart the commander followed Barnard’s instruction and moved his subordinates.
It seemed it was worthwhile doing so. After they continued the tense offense and defense for a while,
「Their momentum……slowed?」
「Fuh, we did it huh.」
Somehow they came to see signs of the aggression of the cat-things getting repulsed. Barnard laughed.
Of course, if someone like him who was reputed as a first class architect of death flag said something like that, there was no way death god-san who loved him wouldn’t happily come to collect the flag.
「A call from the headquarters! Enemy signatures increasing!」
「What? The number? Well, we won’t have any problems even if some more of them come here……」
That’s why please stop, Captain Barnard. The opposite will come true if you say something like that seriously. All troops of assault division thought that, and right after, it came true just as expected. The opposite thing.
Dread filled them. The cat-thing monsters quietly formed out around them with teleportation.
It didn’t stop. The teleportation didn’t stop.
Ten became almost two hundred in the blink of eye. Even so it didn’t stop and their number kept increasing.
『This is team B! We’re surrounded!』
『Reinforcement request from team C! The number is overwhelming! They’ll be overran at this rate!』
Calls also came in from the other assault division teams.
Just how many of these cat-thing monsters actually were.
In any case, it seemed they planned to stop attacking civilians randomly, or attacking polices and soldiers sporadically to toy with them, and intended to come at them with serious intent to kill.
Air of terror and despair started to drift from seeing the number that completely filled their line of sight.
「Don’t panic! Defensive formation! Do it like in the training! You’ll definitely go home alive if you do so!!」
Ah, this look hopeless……the troops of the assault division thought. The troops of the special force around them went 「Hm? O-ou」 while feeling like they had heard the line from somewhere before.
Barnard himself was also feeling that the situation was bad. He readied his assault rifle with one hand while putting his other hand over his chest.
「Barnardddd! Stooppp! It’s bad luck to touch a locket pendant in the middle of battle!!」
「Please just stop muttering your wife and daughter’s names-, absolutely don’t!!」
「That’s not funny at all in this situation! Do you want to die!? Idiot!!」
No way we gonna let you set up more flags! All the troops of the assault division yelled.
In respond, Barnard said 「Certainly it’s not something to do while still in the midst of battle」 and reflected in slightly off-point way. Then,
「Who are you guys calling idiot. There’s no way I’ll die here. My family has also increased. I gotta earn more.」
「「「「「Dammit-, he said it!!」」」」」
At this point even all the special force members also noticed. Ah, this is the death sign ain’t it. Those are the cliched lines often said by the guys who got killed in movie or drama……
By the way, he referred to a pet cat when he mentioned about family. A cat of an acquaintance just gave birth, but he didn’t have the heart to separate siblings from each other so he adopted five of them.
By the more way, the cat-thing monsters harbored fierce enmity toward earth’s cat. To the degree that they would obliterate a cat the moment they found one. Naturally, they also couldn’t tolerate someone who treasured such cat.
Perhaps they noticed the signs. The cat-thing monsters were fundamentally radiating mocking aura, and yet the troops couldn’t help but feel that it felt like the monsters were directing different kind of emotion toward Captain Barnard, something more threatening.
Don’t tell me death god-san, you directed this guy to adopt cats in anticipation of this……they thought.
I can’t take it anymore! One of the cat thing teleported as though to say that.
The target was apparently Barnard just as expected. It boldly teleported right behind him,
「Captain! Behind you!!」
It was unknown whether the thing had the intelligence for it, or it was just a coincidence. It teleported to a perfect spot where Barnard might also got hit if the others shot at the monster, so their respond was delayed.
Barnard threw himself forward reflexively without even looking first, but the claws swung faster. He would be carved up……exactly at that moment.
The ground below the cat-thing burst up. It was the manhole.
The abyss lord was also fighting in the sewer just like in Paris. Perhaps, the burst was from the shockwave of the battle. Manholes were popping up here and there.
Thanks to that Captain Barnard narrowly escaped death.
But, as expected the enmity of the cat-things toward Barnard seemed to surpass their intrinsic spite.
Another cat-thing leaped at where Barnard threw himself.
A metal thick pillar hit its neck like guillotine. A street light that was apparently damaged from the fierce shoot-out fell down at this moment.
Of course, the monster wasn’t so soft it would die from just that, but it was right in front of Barnard. Where he had just fixed his posture with his gun raised just right. *Bang* A shot.
At that time three more cat-things were already leaping at him from three directions but,
「Bullshit……」
The one who muttered was the commander of the special force.
It couldn’t be helped. Because, the popped out manholes fell and flattened those three monsters *splat*.
「Kuh, that was dangerous. It looks like luck is unusually at my side this time……」
「「「「「It’s always like this everytime」」」」」
A man who seemed to be loved by the death god and the goddess of luck in equal measure――Barnard Pace.
Perhaps it was already rumored. The special force troops were whispering things like 「That rumor, it’s actually true……」「I can’t believe I’m seeing that……」 with trembling voices.
It seemed that rather than direct and easy to understand terror like the cat-thing, they found their incomprehensible fellow human who was right nearby to be even scarier. What the hell is this guy……they were looking at him with such gazes.
「Everyone don’t lose hope! Reinforcement is definitely coming!! We’ll buy time!!」
Barnard stood up and returned to the formation while psyching up his allies. Based on how he was acting, it seemed that he was still unaware of his own special trait just like usual.
Barnard put on a fearless grin while addressing the commander.
「You, your name」
「Ah? A, aa, err」
「No, let’s hear it later. After we survive this, let’s go drink some good beers together with our teams. Tell me your name then.」
「Is that on purpose!? You’re actually doing that knowing what it means right!?」
Don’t drag us into your mystery world! The commander yelled. The people around him were fiercely agreeing.
The cat-things also didn’t attack all at once even though they had them surrounded, perhaps because they were also wary against Barnard’s mystery world.
In any case, thanks to that delay the reinforcement made it in time.
Further outside the encirclement, at the first floor of the big building at the other side of the road. The glass walls were all blown up.
Barnard and others along with the cat-things all turned their gazes over there in wonder of what happened.
At the first floor of the building that now had better ventilation, the color of darkness was dying the wall inside. It must be making use of the shadow indoor because it was noon at Britain right now.
The reinforcement rushed out from there.
What blew up the glass walls and appeared there was――
「Pay close attention! I am none other than the one who ill be Heiligh Kingdom’s next king! Randell S B Heiligh!!」
A child. He was wearing full metal armor and helm, but he was certainly a child.
Everyone’s mouth hanged open. Naturally.
「Mu? The reaction is weak. My speech should be translated by the artifact though……」
The blonde haired and blue eyed boy looked bewildered and took off his helm before his fingertips fiddled with his earring.
Fumu? The boy hummed and tilted his head. Then he cleared his throat. Take 2.
「Pay close attention! I am none other――」
「Your highnessssss!!」
This time it was a woman who also had a good look, dressed exactly like a female knight dashing out fiercely from the darkness wall with the look of demon.
And then,
「Ah, Kuzeri!? What are you――」
「Sooi!!」
She grabbed his neck and threw him to the back with all her strength.
「Aaa~~~~~~~~~!!? This is disrespectfulll~~~~」
The boy vented out his dissatisfaction and indignation while vanishing into the wall.
The female knight let out a sigh Fuuh, and then she noticed that she was gathering attention and straightened her posture. Her expression instantly turned sharp,
「All troops, forward!!」
She let out her voice that was filled with commanding aura and carried through clearly.
Right after that, a group wrapped in knight armors appeared from the darkness wall. Boots stomped on the ground with perfect coordination, creating a stomping sound that was wonderfully harmonized.
The female knight walked out to the street. The knights followed behind her in orderly lines.
「Draw sword!!」
*Shaann* The knight swords were unsheathed with matching sounds. The swords glinted from the sunlight.
「I’m the commander of Heiligh Kingdom’s knight order, Kuzeri Rail. Accompanied by, the first knight order. We are here as reinforcement!!」
It was gallantness like a scene of a movie.
But, sadly.
「Kuzeri!! Damn you, this is unforgivablee~~」
It would be perfect if only such voice wasn’t audible from the other side of the darkness wall.
Commander Kuzeri’s slightly embarrassed look was needlessly taking out the tension from the atmosphere.
.
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AN: Thank you very much for reading this every time.
Thank you very much too for the thoughts, opinions, and reports about misspelling and omitted words.
※Meme introduction
– Claudia’s magic
Claudia-style God’s Might: One of the magic in [Elden Ring], “Comet Azur”. The meteor shower of mercy: One of the magic in [Elden Ring], Meteorite of Astel. In the end only the appearances are similar.
– Anna and Wynn’s new combat styles
Anna: [Elden Ring] Black Knife Assassin. Wynn: Twin Moon Knight Rellana
– Monster’s image model
The bubbling gray river: Cthulhu’s Abhoth. Sea lily-thing: Elder Thing. Cat-thing: Cat from Saturn.
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