『Recognition Needle (U)』
Transformation + Trigger-type Soul Imprint.
It transformed part of the doppelganger’s body into a sharp blade and accelerated or decelerated the time flow of the single target it stabbed.
The effect varied slightly depending on the opponent’s level and other factors, but when the main body used it, being stabbed usually produced an effect similar to halving the target’s [Agility] stat.
The version used by a clone was far weaker by comparison, yet still threatening.
Flora moved cautiously, staying alert for the Recognition Needle’s activation exactly as Aiden had warned her. Irumokwi aimed at her and began chanting.
<Colorful Rain> <Blaze Spear> <Chain Lightning> <Air Ram>
Quadruple magic chant.
The main body could manage up to sextuple, but this was the limit for a clone. Even so, from any ordinary perspective it was more than enough to qualify as a grand mage.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang!!
A storm of elements and flaming spears rained down across the vast underground cavern. Flora sprinted like a madwoman. She rolled across the ground to evade the shockwave packed with siege-ram-level force, and diverted the lightning magic with equipment that carried lightning-rod properties.
<Shine Blade>
She swung a holy blade as if it were “ki.” Sensing danger, part of Irumokwi’s body turned to slime and twisted grotesquely, slipping past the strike.
She narrowed her eyes.
…That saint has been using only long-range attacks since the start. For someone wielding something as annoying as the Balance of Good and Evil, it’s a strangely half-hearted strategy.
There was only one possible conclusion.
…She must know the details of my Recognition Needle (U).
Irumokwi felt a surge of suspicion.
Even during the height of her fame, she had leaked almost no information about herself, and she had not shown her face on the surface of history for hundreds of years. There was no way a human of this era could know about her soul imprint.
But the world was full of incomprehensible ability users. Having accumulated vast knowledge over a long period, Irumokwi understood that perfectly.
‘Insight-type special ability? Or a soul imprint? Or does the Holy Nation have an outstanding archaeologist?’
While she was still pondering—
The acrid smell of burning flesh brushed past her nose.
—Gwooooooo…
The pseudo-demon colony she had painstakingly created—Terpartizan—was burning at an alarming rate.
“…Huh?”
It was unbelievable. Terpartizan possessed durability capable of withstanding even large-scale holy magic.
There was no time to stand around in shock.
A boy’s figure caught her eye.
Or, more precisely, the weapon in the boy’s hand.
‘That sword is…’
The striking red blade.
The dragon-slaying sword that the Sun Cathedral had recovered long ago and sealed in a place no one could find.
Whooooosh!
Ray’s Balance of Good and Evil (S+) crushed the air as it slammed into the demon’s body. A section of Terpartizan’s pitch-black form scattered like embers and evaporated.
That was only the beginning.
Crackle crackle!
Flames from the sword spread at terrifying speed. The monster rolled madly across the ground trying to extinguish the fire clinging to its body, but unfortunately <Prometheus> was a flame that would never stop until it had completely consumed its target.
Shing!
Aiden drew his thunder sword and Burn Sword as well and charged straight at Terpartizan.
He climbed onto the now fully solid body and stabbed the Burn Sword (A) into a section that had not yet caught fire.
<Boost Burn>
Boom!
—Kieeeeeeeeeeeek!!
Struck directly by the explosion spell, Terpartizan thrashed wildly. Feeling the massive body shake violently, Aiden leaped clear.
<Icicle>
Right afterward, Chesa’s barrage of cold spells pierced the monster’s eyes. Fsssh! Black slime mixed with smoke gushed from the holes created by the ice spears.
The monster roared once more.
・Why you… Ple…ziam is somehow…!!
Aiden frowned slightly. The words were garbled with noise, but it sounded as if Terpartizan—who had only produced grotesque onomatopoeia until now—was speaking in human language.
His thoughts did not last long.
“Over here!!”
Irumokwi, who had transformed her back muscles to resemble those of a winged race, flew toward them.
“I’m surprised! I never expected a celebrity like the dragon-slaying sword to visit such a shabby place. After hearing it was sealed deep underground, I thought I’d never see it again.”
[Hmph… I didn’t expect to see your ugly face in a place like this at a time like this either. Looking at that annoying mug of yours brings back old memories.]
“Heehee, now things make sense. You’re the one who told that woman about my ability, right? I don’t know how you found out, but—!”
[Brainless wench. Think whatever you like.]
“So, is that little kid your current host? When do you plan to corrupt him this time?”
[…What?]
“Recognition Needle.”
Irumokwi smirked and produced a small crystal orb in her hand. It was none other than the core of the pseudo-demon colony that had given Aiden so much trouble. The still-burning body of Terpartizan turned to smoke and was absorbed into the orb.
“Wow… You lost about three-quarters of its mass in that short time? The host’s power still seems immature, but the dragon-slaying sword’s flames really are something else.”
Irumokwi shook her head in disbelief.
Then she spread her wings wide.
Clang! Clang clang!
Yustasio’s scimitar and Estriel’s straight sword clashed repeatedly.
‘Vileshaker’
Kwa-kwa-kwaang!
The Resonance Shatter Art’s secret technique shook Yustasio’s insides violently. The shadow armor of Perkag protecting his body flickered as if it might scatter at any moment.
The imbalance was obvious.
Not only in their personal duel but across the entire battlefield, the Holy Nation held an overwhelming advantage. Nearly all of Praszkeak’s executives were casualties, while almost every member of the Holy Nation’s forces remained unharmed.
Yustasio waved his hand. The great spirit of darkness devoured the shadows of the fallen executives.
“Perkag…!”
The tightly woven shadows shot toward Estriel. But the next instant, the authority of the All-Circulation Tablet (S) activated.
“At the end of the cycle, return to nature….”
Fwoooosh!
The shadows scattered helplessly into the air. They inflicted no damage, but they had bought time. Yustasio took a small step back to regain his stance.
That was his fatal mistake.
“…Ugh?!”
Estriel had scattered strong wire all over the battlefield during the fight. One strand had caught Yustasio’s leg. Losing balance lasted only a split second, but in a duel between powerhouses that single instant was more than enough.
Estriel’s arm blurred.
‘Infecting’
The vibrating ki transmitted through the air tore apart Perkag’s shadow armor and slammed into Yustasio’s chest.
Fssshk! Blood sprayed everywhere.
At the same time, Estriel’s figure vanished. Yustasio struggled to raise his hand in a gesture as if lifting something invisible.
<Protect Wall>
A solid metal barrier rose between them as if drawn by his hand. But to Estriel it was a trivial obstacle. With speed that defied imagination he circled the wall in an instant.
‘Predictable path…!!’
Yustasio easily tracked the afterimage and gathered mana for a check. However, a scimitar flew in at a speed too fast to see and grazed his right arm. Fshk! The severed arm spun through the air, spraying blood.
“Silph…!”
Yustasio gritted his teeth and called the name of the wind spirit. The small spirit appeared, and he poured every last drop of his remaining mana into it.
Fwooooooooosh!!
A terrifying gale swept across the cavern.
“Haa… haa…”
Having blown Estriel—who had been right in front of him—far away, Yustasio finally had a moment to catch his breath amid the storm.
But the situation was dire.
The instant Silph’s wind died down, he was already surrounded by the Holy Nation’s knights. Looking around, he saw that not a single one of his subordinates remained.
Dorothy spoke.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, the demon you trusted has already been destroyed by the Blispiel Clan. It seems we have won.”
“………”
The priests leveled their staves at Yustasio. Any suspicious movement would be met with merciless holy spells.
His eyes burned blood-red.
“…Mork! Are you still not done?!”
“You held out well, Yus!”
Wings folding, Irumokwi landed. At the same moment the Holy Nation priests’ holy spells shot toward the pair, only to be blocked by a barrier that had appeared out of nowhere.
Clang!
“This is…!”
“This is my workshop, you little saint. I keep emergency protection spells memorized in the <Memorize> magic circle for situations like this.”
Irumokwi smirked and turned to Yustasio.
“Sorry. I tried to refine Terpartizan’s power… but it got wrecked by those guys and lost quite a lot of mass.”
“I don’t care about that! Just start already!”
“Always so impatient.”
Irumokwi pulled out a large quantity of pills. They were the sacred medicine she had created by mixing the power of the great blood spirit and Terpartizan—Obsidrol Serum Pills · Modified (A).
Dozens—no, hundreds—of pills began disappearing down Yustasio’s throat as if he were drinking water. The priests naturally recoiled in horror. A single pill could turn a street thug into an elite-knight-level fighter. And he was swallowing them by the handful?
“Damn it, what is he trying to do…!”
“If you have time to talk, keep attacking!”
Zzzzt! Boom! Kwa-kwa-kwaang!
Every kind of holy spell hammered Irumokwi’s barrier. But it was a defensive screen a grand mage had spent months creating. Instant holy spells could not even scratch it.
“Out of the way!!”
Estriel, who had returned to the front line at full speed, shouted. He closed in as close as possible to the barrier to maximize the power of his final secret technique ‘Space Skewer.’ But in that critical moment, an unidentified blade stabbed into Estriel’s body.
“Ugh?!”
Estriel’s eyes widened as he identified the object that had pierced him. It was a thorn-like protrusion extending from Irumokwi’s arm—the terminal of Recognition Needle (U).
Metabolism slowed.
Reaction speed slowed.
Everything slowed.
Even his breathing and the frequency of his ki dropped sharply. It meant the failure of ‘Space Skewer.’
Irumokwi laughed.
“I know the secrets of the Alsigima style quite well. But my ability is its perfect counter. Too bad, Isidoros.”
Yustasio received the Terpartizan core from Irumokwi. Black energy bodies burst from the corpses of the Praszkeak executives and were absorbed into the orb.
He roared,
“You arrogant bastards…! This place will be your grave!”
The demon’s core resonated with Terpartizan’s soul inside Yustasio’s body. The priests and holy knights held their breath as they watched.
<First-Void>
The sphere of void pierced the barrier and neatly erased Yustasio from the shoulder to the elbow.
“G…aaah!”
“Yus?!”
The change was far too sudden.
Aiden, who had approached at some point, shouted,
“Restrain the crown prince immediately!”
“Understood, Master!”
Epio charged through the broken barrier. Sword and hammer rained down mercilessly on Yustasio’s head.
Boom! Kwa-kwa-kwaang!
The crown prince collapsed to his knees without resistance.
“Damn it…!”
Irumokwi gnashed her teeth and shot into the air.
Escape was the only answer. With the contractor who was supposed to wield the demon’s power already captured by the holy knights, there was no way to reverse the battle.
She had lost the foundation she had built over twenty years, but it was not without gains.
‘I found Plebelziam and its host. And that mage girl definitely used the Schnifelt family’s secret arts…!’
She was not the type to forget humiliation. She could crush those insolent brats later once she returned to her main body.
“Where do you think you’re going with that information?”
Aiden watched the fleeing Irumokwi and took out the Lamp of Oath.