[Miu's POV]
I held my breath, watching the two of them exchange blows.
Alice-san and Vika—a clash between two fighters wielding the full force of god-tier power.
Vika dodged Alice-san's spearmanship with breathtaking grace. White lightning wrapped around Alice-san's spear, yet Vika evaded by a hair's breadth, refusing to let even the residual sparks graze her, before immediately launching her counterattack. Once Vika seized the momentum, the rhythm became entirely hers; she swapped weapons mid-combat to match the flow, aggressively stifling Alice-san's reach. Her fighting style itself hadn't changed from before, but the sheer ferocity of her attacks was on a whole different level.
This was because of Armory—the bounded field Vika had expanded around them.
Inside this domain, not only did her physical capabilities skyrocket, but the potency of the weapons she summoned reached absurd heights. The spear in her hands right now was a divine artifact-tier weapon. In other words, it wielded power rivaling Mjolnir or Odin's Gungnir, both of which were used during Loki's raid. That alone was absurd, but knowing that every single weapon scattered throughout this bounded field was also a divine-tier artifact was enough to make anyone despair.
"How about we try something like this for a change?"
Abandoning her spear, Vika summoned two handguns instead. They were striking firearms—pearly white and decorated with ornate gold filigree. Vika gripped one in each hand and leveled them straight at Alice-san. Instantly, an appalling amount of power gathered at the muzzles, chilling me to the bone—
"Wait... what on earth is that...!?"
Even Alice-san broke into a cold sweat at the sheer density of light swirling at those gun barrels.
Vika offered her a sweet, innocent smile.
"Bang!"
The moment the triggers were pulled, twin beams of ultimate light erupted straight toward Alice-san!
"Whoa—!"
Alice-san leapt wide to dodge, but Vika shifted her aim, tracking her mid-air. Rays of catastrophic light shot from the twin handguns, relentlessly hounding Alice-san wherever she fled!
Alice-san wasn't about to be caught easily, but every point those beams struck exploded violently, utterly erasing everything in their path within the catastrophic glare.
While moving at blinding speed, Alice-san screamed, "Do those guns not need to reload!? And what is up with that utterly ridiculous firepower?!"
"Well, they are divine artifacts. Oh, and by the way, I can fire them infinitely~"
Speaking in a breezy, effortless tone, Vika twirled the handguns around her fingers before aiming them right back at Alice-san. Magic crests materialized before the gun barrels—one, then two, rapidly expanding outward. Soon, hundreds of magic crests floated in formation around the muzzles.
"This is my infinite salvo."
The same deadly radiance gathered within each individual magic crest—and fired all at once!
A relentless, unending bombardment. Even without Vika physically pulling the triggers, continuous streams of light rained down upon Alice-san without pause!
Unable to endure the relentless barrage, Alice-san turned pale as she scrambled into full evasion.
"That's so cheap!"
If these were ordinary holy bullets, Alice-san's white-lightning aura could have incinerated them on impact, but against an infinite artillery barrage, that was completely out of the question.
Vika taunted her fleeing target. "Oh my? You'll never beat me if you just keep running away, you know?"
"Shut up! Keep mocking me and you're going to pay for it!"
"Is that so? I'd certainly love to see you try, Flat-Chested Princess~♪"
Snap.
Ah... I think I just heard something snap inside her head. That was probably an auditory hallucination... or not.
Just as the thought crossed my mind, a platinum-gold aura surged outward, blotting out the night sky. Platinum lightning claimed the heavens, raining massive thunderbolts all across the surrounding area.
At the center of the aura, Alice-san wore the expression of a vengeful ghost.
"You said it... You just had to say it again..."
An impossibly massive bolt of lightning struck down right behind her. That thunder, capable of turning anything it touched to ash, seemed to perfectly reflect the tempest inside her heart...
Alice-san glared at Vika, her eyes snapping open wide as she screamed!
"I am NOT flat! They're bigger than before! Even you acknowledged that earlier! Besides, how many times are we going to have this exact same argument?!"
"Ehh... But they don't bounce at all. And you don't have any cleavage. If you're going to claim they grew—"
Leaning forward as if to flaunt herself in front of Alice-san, Vika cupped her arms beneath her chest, dramatically emphasizing her curves.
"—you should at least be able to do this~♪"
Yup, they're huge. Just the kind of big breasts Big Brother likes.
Watching Vika show off her chest, Alice-san's shoulders trembled with rage.
"I'll rip them off! I'm gonna tear those breasts right off your bodyyyyy! Albilis! Lend me your strength so I can rip that woman's chest off!"
What kind of absurd prayer is she offering to the legendary spirit spear of Ast-Arde...?
Yet, surprisingly, the holy spear answered its master's wish, unleashing its full potential. A blinding light erupted from the shaft, boosting Alice-san's magic power even further! The newly released force completely obliterated Vika's infinite salvo in a single sweep!
Even Vika looked caught off guard by this.
"No way!? Wait, that spear actually responds to a desire like that?!"
"Prepare yourself! I'm going to beat you to a pulp!"
The battle at Agreas was the first time I saw these two fight up close... but have they really been having exchanges like this every single time...?
While Alice-san and Vika engaged in their fierce duel, Dil-chan and I remained rooted to the spot. Ideally, we wanted to join Alice-san and finish things quickly, but...
"..."
Belle was gazing up at the sky with her usual sleepy eyes. Her gaze tracked Alice-san and Vika as they collided, both clad in godlike power.
The reason we couldn't move was Belle's presence. Making a careless move would mean falling right into her trap. Back during the attack on Auros Academy, I fell for one of her setups and ended up completely immobilized—a absolute worst-case scenario. Dil-chan managed to save me back then, allowing us to survive, but there was no telling how things would turn out this time.
Besides, she had been radiating an ominous, inexplicable aura for a while now. There was no doubt she was preparing something big.
As I kept a watchful eye on her, Belle turned her face toward us and spoke.
"...Big sister, are you going to fight Belle?"
"Do we... have a choice? Honestly, if I have time to fight you, I'd rather go support Big Brother."
"...I can't let you do that. You can't go to Papa yet."
"Why?"
When I asked her plainly, Belle stared at us intently before replying.
"...Because Papa and the others haven't settled things yet. Papa will listen to your voices after that."
"Our voices...?"
What does that mean?
I could understand if she was holding us back until Assem settled things with Big Brother. But... after that? Our voices?
"What do you mean by that?"
"...Can't tell you. Papa said if I tell you, it won't work anymore."
With those words, Belle began drawing in mid-air using her fingertips. The moment her drawing shone brightly, something began crawling its way out from within the light.
Dil-chan muttered as she watched the creature emerge.
"Yamata no Orochi... No, it's a little different."
An eight-headed dragon—Venom Blood Dragon, the Mad Dragon Eating Mystery. It bore a striking resemblance to one of the legendary evil dragons, but several features differed. Each of its eight heads possessed six blood-red eyes, and massive wings sprouted from the central body connecting the necks. It was likely the result of Belle drawing inspiration from Yamata no Orochi and mixing in various other elements...
"However, it seems the poison has been replicated as well."
A dark liquid dripped from its fangs. The moment it hit the ground, it hissed violently, sizzling as it melted the soil.
When Belle aimed her palm toward us, the eight-headed dragon obeyed its master's implicit command, roaring as it lunged forward! Each of its eight heads possessed an independent will, acting in disarray—some spewed acid, others breathed fire, while others snapped forward with exposed fangs.
After casting a physical enhancement spell on Dil-chan, the two of us split off to the left and right. I backed her up with offensive magic while Dil-chan fought with her spear and sword, carving away at the dragon's heads.
Yet, as we repelled its attacks, a strange thought crossed my mind.
—It's weak.
In a climax like this—a battle that could be considered the final showdown—both sides were expected to go all out. In fact, Vika had unleashed her trump card and was engaged in a desperate clash against Alice-san in her divine princess form. Yet Belle was summoning a mythical beast weaker than the demon lords we had faced before to keep us busy.
Once all its heads were severed, the dragon ceased moving, turning to dust and scattering into the air.
The same went for the giant bird she drew next, as well as the massive lion, and the giant serpent spanning a hundred meters in length. Though these beasts possessed power that even high-ranking demons couldn't match, against our combined strength in our divine princess forms, Dil-chan and I could defeat hundreds of them.
Granted, their sheer numbers made it difficult to push forward. The battlefield had turned pitch-black from the sheer volume of beasts being produced. On top of that, some were specialized in defense, deploying barriers to block my magic. Dil-chan crushed those defensive beasts with her sword, but... dealing with all of them together was becoming a hassle.
Sensing the same incongruity, Dil-chan called out to me.
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Greyhounds
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"