“Don’t move, it’s coming!!”
“What’s coming, you pervert?! Let go!”
As if answering Prim’s questioning voice, Boom! a massive explosion rang out, accompanied by an unprecedented shockwave.
The next second, the cheers and applause in Prim’s ears turned into screams.
She widened her eyes and looked past Abel’s shoulder toward the sky above the arena.
A majestic figure burning with silver holy flames entered her sight.
“The sky… split open?”
It was not a metaphor—the sky truly split open.
Then an enormous, never-before-seen figure, solemn yet terrifying, descended from the heavens, triggering violent explosions and shockwaves!
In her eyes, countless spectators in the stands turned into crystalline shards in the silver shockwave and scattered with the wind.
Others suddenly twisted and transformed into man-eating monsters!
All of this happened almost instantly, completely beyond Prim’s common sense.
Her mind was full of question marks.
What was happening?!
Finally, Abel’s voice reached her ear.
“Damn it, I still couldn’t stop it. If only I had remembered earlier…”
She felt something warm and wet slide from his body onto her lips, carrying the metallic smell of blood.
Only then did Prim realize that the shockwave from the “monster’s” descent had drastically altered the entire arena’s terrain.
It was like a massive earthquake.
A huge stone pillar had collapsed and was pressing down on Abel’s back.
In other words, if this man had not thrown himself over her earlier, she might have already…
This realization brought her no joy at all.
Prim asked aloud, “…Are… are you okay?”
Abel coughed, and two more drops of blood fell into Prim’s mouth.
“I’m fine. Just a small injury.”
Saying so, he lifted the heavy stone pillar with one hand and climbed off her.
It really seemed like nothing more than a small injury?
For a moment she could not tell who the real monster was.
The earlier shockwave had left Prim dizzy.
She stood up with Abel’s support and looked toward the “silver giant” now standing in the center of the arena, radiating an unprecedented presence.
It burned with silver flames and stood over ten meters tall.
Its appearance was sacred and solemn, yet it somehow filled her with a chilling, terrifying dread.
Because its body had irregular twists and mutations.
Its form was like a demon that had been sanctified, or an angel that had been demonized…
“What the hell is that thing? What’s happening?!”
Prim was completely dazed.
A cultist attack?
This was way too intense!
What kind of cult ritual could turn people into crystalline shards en masse or transform them into frenzied monsters?!
If these cultists could do something like this, why would they need to hide?!
“…It’s Surtr, the ‘Flame Giant’ Surtr.”
She heard Abel’s voice speak slowly.
This name… she seemed to have heard it somewhere.
Prim furrowed her brows slightly, then suddenly realized.
“Wait, Surtr—you mean the giant from the myths who fought against the gods?!”
That was a legendary monster!
A terrifying existence close to the “gods”!
“As a member of the royal family, don’t tell me you’ve never heard of the ‘Divine Pollution’ phenomenon.”
Abel adjusted his breathing.
With Surtr’s descent, Divine Pollution could no longer be hidden.
The Goddess’s Sword Knight Order was the main “cleaning crew” in the game plot that handled such incidents.
Ordinary people had no resistance against Divine Pollution.
The weak would instantly turn into crystalline shards, while the slightly stronger would twist, mutate, and go berserk into monsters!
Only humans with powerful mana could fight against it.
This was the game’s official setting.
To mortals, gods were beings that could not be looked at directly.
Merely glancing at them would cause massive distortion.
Abel looked at Prim and thought, As expected of one of the original heroines?
As royalty and an SSR support character focused on human rights, Princess Prim had indeed not been crystallized by the shockwave.
However—
“Divine Pollution? What is that?”
Prim tilted her head, a giant question mark appearing over her.
“So it wasn’t a monster summoned by cultists.”
This woman…
Forget it. Abel did not want to explain more.
If he kept explaining, the two on the arena floor would die.
Even though Abel did not want any entanglement with these women, standing by while others died would be too much.
Moreover, if he did nothing, the entire royal capital would vanish.
What a rotten goddess.
Abel let out a light sigh.
His gaze seemed to pierce through the blue sky, through the great veil hiding the Sky City, and meet the eyes of a certain ill-tempered goddess seated on her throne in the divine realm.
But this time, he planned to storm the goddess’s nest directly!
He would end all the plot right at the beginning of the story!
His life would absolutely not be toyed with a second time by “you” or “those dog planners”!
“Are we going to defeat that thing? Don’t be fooled by my frail appearance—my buff abilities are super strong! I guarantee I’ll make you hard, fierce, and last a long time!”
Facing the terms Abel threw out, Prim already felt her brain was insufficient, so she immediately threw her brain away.
Daring to cause trouble at a festival hosted by the royal family?
No matter who sent it, first kill this thing!
Everything else could wait!
She had always loved excitement and causing chaos.
She immediately clenched her fists, her eyes sparkling like stars as she looked at Abel, seemingly forgetting all the unpleasantness between them earlier.
Of course, she also forgot an important point: if not for her obstruction, the number of casualties might have been much lower…
“…Of course. I’ll be counting on you.”
Abel did not refuse.
This woman was a human-rights support character.
Although her plot was heaven-defying, her support abilities were top-tier.
He remembered that to pull this woman back then he had gone all-in on her signature weapon and character with massive pity.
If he did not use “her” to the fullest, clearing every dungeon with full attendance and liver-bursting effort—wouldn’t that be a huge loss?
Under Abel’s gaze, Prim inexplicably felt a chill down her back.
She somehow felt her earlier words had been a bit too hasty.
Abel smiled warmly.
“Come, Princess, let us become one!”
“Eh?!”
A perfectly natural reaction of shock.
Prim widened her eyes and covered her mouth in disbelief.
“Don’t misunderstand. I mean use your strongest divine art ‘Divine Body Sword Transformation’ on me. Attach your spiritual body to mine so I can obtain your full (mo) power (li)!”
“How do you know about that?!”
Prim had never used this technique before, nor had she ever spoken of it to anyone.
It was the highest-level “union” divine art in legend!
To “unite” with this man in battle?!
Thinking about the image… it didn’t seem completely unacceptable…
“But when using this divine art, I will be in a state of soul detachment and unable to control my body. If anything happens…”
“It’s fine. Let my brother Julius watch over you. He’s already noticed the commotion and is on his way.”
Abel suggested, “After all, you like my brother a lot, right?”
“Well, of course…”
Though her confidence seemed a bit lacking.
As expected.
Saying so, he lifted Prim’s chin with his fingertip and smirked wickedly.
“If he accidentally does something to you, wouldn’t that be even better? The royal family’s marriage agreement—he won’t be able to deny it!”
However—
“…I refuse!”