The arrow nocked on the bowstring was a moonlight arrow.
Pulling the string taut, Remia closed one eye. Looking through her single eye at what she was about to shoot, she remembered the years she had spent alone since Kyle fell asleep.
“You said you’re a disciple of the Master Archer Epta?”
“I heard the title of Master Archer was passed down to you.”
She almost lost Kyle.
She felt her own powerlessness keenly. Everything she had built was utterly useless, and she realized that what she had turned away from was shining brighter than anything.
“I’ve come seeking guidance.”
She felt it, understood it, and experienced it.
That’s why she could act. She could make a decision. Having started her path far ahead of others, she walked toward the beginning again, setting aside everything she had accumulated until now. Thus, the place she arrived at was not the starting point of a beginner, nor that of an elven archer.
The starting point of a commoner.
An empty, vast plain.
Standing in that plain, she began anew.
She knelt before many. Bowed her head, humbled herself, and sought guidance. The once arrogant elf threw away every shred of pride she believed she had. She couldn’t change while holding onto that.
…So, she learned many things.
…Thus, she filled the gaps in her foundations.
Just a few years of time.
If she were her past self, she would have laughed it off as ‘just a little’ time, mere moments. Yet, Remia spent that time more densely than she’d ever lived.
“And now.”
Remia exhaled deeply.
The quivering arrow tip steadied. Within the calm, Remia’s eyes gleamed like gold.
“It’s time to show that result.”
Effort doesn’t solve everything.
But at the very least, effort won’t betray you. The time spent faithfully would help in any direction. Remembering the voice of an archer who had taught her, Remia released the bowstring.
Thwunk!
The cheerful sound resounded.
Swiiish!
The moonlight arrow shot from the bowstring, cutting through the air as it raced towards the battlefield. The bowstring was aimed at the middle of a writhing wave of black hands. Looking at Raniel, who stood in the midst of the wave, pushing through it, Remia couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
…In the past, the battlefield she had fled from.
Back then, she was so scared she couldn’t even nock an arrow to her bowstring. She scratched her arms, screamed, and was too busy cowering with her eyes shut.
“And even then, that human…”
That glowing human.
Raniel van Trias was.
“Moving forward.”
Stepping in front of their shattered selves.
She couldn’t do anything back then, but… this time, she wouldn’t be able to do that either. Following the trajectory drawn by the first shot with her eyes, Remia nocked another arrow.
Moonlight.
The arrow condensed from moonlight radiated brilliant light. The bowstring, pulled to its limit, began to creak. The moment the first arrow drew a bizarre arc across the battlefield, reaching Raniel…
Thwunk!
Remia released the bowstring.
The first shot carved a curve, while the second shot plunged straight down onto the battlefield. Thus, the two arrows reached the exact same point simultaneously, with not a single miscalculation.
Crack!
Remia shouted briefly.
2.
The heretic ascended the stairs towards the sky.
With a glare at her, Raniel began to dash, stomping the ground. With each step, the earth cracked, leaving footprints where she passed.
Crash!
She slammed her foot and swung her fist.
The shockwave from her swung fist ripped apart the hands. Leaping off the ground, Raniel burst upward. In midair, the sight before her was the inundating wave of black hands.
Clap! Raniel clapped her palms together in midair.
The moment she withdrew her palms, a bundle of platinum chains connected them. As she fell towards the black wave, Raniel swung her arms. Swoosh! and the chains entwined around her arms slashed through the air.
Crackling!
The platinum chains that once bound the Demon Lord.
The outstretched chains ensnared the surrounding black hands. Stepping on the hands, unable to grasp anything, Raniel charged forward.
Aiming for the center of the wave.
Glancing at the heretic ascending the stairs to the sky, Raniel whispered briefly. Acceleration. Thump, with a thunderous heartbeat, Raniel abruptly accelerated.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Crash! She kicked off the black hands and leaped again. Raniel stretched her hand forward with outstretched fingers. Mana instantly surged, creating a massive sun in the air.
Flash!
A massive mass appeared in an instant.
Grasping the seething heat with her hands, Raniel twisted in the air. She hurled the sun she had grasped. As she watched the sun leave her hands, Raniel snapped her fingers.
Acceleration, Acceleration, Acceleration, Acceleration, Acceleration, Acceleration…
As the sun, which had been falling slowly, flickered in an instant.
Waves of heat spread out, leaving an afterimage as the sun engulfed the heretic climbing the stairs. Black hands reaching out from all sides tried to grasp the sun, but could only barely prevent it from swelling and exploding.
Fizzle!
The sound of burning. The bubbling of sludge.
Hearing such sounds, Raniel swung her arm once more in midair. Her five fingers spread wide, scratching the air roughly. What was engraved in the space she had passed was a wildly complex circuit.
Tick, titititititiick!
The moment starlight erupted from her body and touched the circuit, the spell was complete. The five circuits manifested, tearing through the air. Moments later, the clouds up in the sky were shredded. Immediately, a deafening roar filled the area, turning everything white.
Divine Judgment.
What fell from the sky was a blue-and-white lightning bolt.
The slanted lightning pierced the platinum sun Raniel had hurled just before. Massive mana and magic collided vividly. The sun and lightning swelled as if trying to devour each other.
In terms of time, a mere moment that split a second. The two supreme spells, now inflated, simultaneously reached their limits.
Flash!
With a blinding flash that swept across the area, all the hands gripping the sun burned away. The light swept by first, followed by a delayed thunderous crash.
Boom!
With a deafening sound that shook the heavens and earth, the released heat engulfed the heretic. Before her vision, now dulled by the bright white light, could return, Raniel leaped towards the heretic, stepping on the fragments of the exploding black hands.
Thud!
Even through her blurred vision, she saw the heretic’s figure. As her outstretched hand gripped the heretic, she thought no attack of this magnitude could leave her unscathed. Gripping the heretic, Raniel felt her mana turn dark red.
“…!”
Raniel’s eyes widened.
As her vision cleared, she saw the figure of the heretic. The ‘black hand’ she had caught. Raniel’s eyes widened further.
“You thought you caught me?”
There was no wound. How?
Raniel soon noticed the black divine power emanating from her own body. She saw the black sludge enveloping her.
…The heretic, Gleria Bel Armias, was the First Saint. She could perform all miracles that any saint had accomplished throughout history over the past centuries. More perfectly than any saint before her.
Holy Magic, Veil of Denial.
The highest holy magic that rejects magical intervention. The veil extended by using remnants of the Demon Lord safeguarded the heretic without leaving a scratch, even amidst such an explosion.
Crack!
Grinding her teeth, Raniel released the grip on the black hand. She withdrew her hand and prepared for close combat, but hands surged from all sides, gripping Raniel. Dozens, hundreds of hands restricted her movement.
Ashes to Ashes.
Raniel detonated all the ash particles erupting from her body. As she shook off the hands, she threw a punch towards the heretic, but the heretic’s finger reached Raniel’s forehead first.
Holy Magic, Flame of Purification.
A holy magic that burns evil. Originally meant to incinerate only objects related to magic, the Flame of Purification completed by the heretic became a black flame that incinerates only what she deems unclean.
Fizzle!
Raniel’s body burned.
Her skin melted away, her own spells and ash particles burned to nothing. In the midst of the burning pain, Raniel staggered.
Crack! she gritted her teeth, determined to reach out through the heat…
“…!”
Something gnawed at Raniel’s arm.
The black sludge wrapping around the heretic. That sludge contorted into a massive mouth that bit at Raniel. A giant hand emerged from the sludge and struck her body.
Thud!
Rising seamlessly, Raniel crashed down to the ground, coughing up blood. She lifted her head, meeting the gaze of the heretic looking down at her.
“You called it divine retribution?”
The heretic smiled.
Smiling, she waved her finger.
What her finger drew was a stream of black water. From that flowing stream, the holy magic was completed.
Holy Magic, Divine Punishment.
A handful of water flowing around her evaporated. Offering countless lives as a sacrifice, she summoned something. The answer lay in the sky.
“…Hah.”
Raniel chuckled softly.
From beyond the open sky, something descended. What fell was a pillar of blackness. Truly, divine punishment descending from above. Raniel grimaced at the massive light pillar approaching.
‘…I must evade.’
The moment Raniel tried to stomp the ground to escape, something gripped her ankle. Looking down, she saw a hand that had surged from the sludge below, clutching her.
Thud, crack! Crack!
The hands—the mouth of the beast—grasped at Raniel’s body. Even as she tried to shake them off, time had already slipped away. It was too late to evade. Just when Raniel was about to reach for the descending light pillar…
『Bend down. Close your eyes.』
A voice echoed in her ears.
With the voice resonating, Raniel saw it. Swish! something made a sound cutting through the wind. Raniel bent her body and closed her eyes instantly.
Clang!
The metallic sound of arrows clashing resonated.
Immediately afterward, a massive glare erupted. Though her eyes were closed, the sight before her turned pure white as a brilliantly shining moon rose above her head.
Crack!
The moon shattered.
Meeting the black pillar of energy, the moon fragmented into pieces. Slowly lifting her head, Raniel’s eyes widened in surprise. This was a technique she’d never seen before. Did that brilliant… no, could Remia wield such harmony?
There had never been a technique of defense before… had there?
『Run.』
While Raniel was bewildered, Remia shouted.
『I’ll support you.』
Swiiish!
Before her words ended, she heard the sound of arrows slicing through the air. When Raniel lifted her head, she saw moonlit arrows darting freely across the battlefield. Though the trajectories of those arrows were bizarre, they all pierced through the black hands approaching Raniel.
The sight of dozens of arrows, each filled with moonlight, twinkling and falling was reminiscent of a meteor shower.
“…Really.”
Raniel exhaled briefly.
It was the breathing space Remia granted her. Inhaling, she wrapped her wounded ankle in starlight. As she steadied her damaged and torn-up ankle, Raniel frowned.
…Can I reach? Without using it?
Raniel raised her head.
There stood the heretic looking down at her. Watching the black sludge ripple as she waved her finger, Raniel gritted her teeth.
The corruption of mana. Summoning dark red lightning.
She still couldn’t use it.
The duration was far too short, and she couldn’t know which body part she might ‘lose’ in the process. She had to conserve it until the very end… What good would it do to use it now if her body didn’t endure long enough to reach the heretic?
She had to wait for a certain moment.
The moment to seize the heretic.
‘But at this rate…’
Only wounds would increase.
As Raniel dashed, she pondered. Not a way to circumvent the trials set before her, but a way to break through head-on. She, too, was superhuman, and she no longer only looked at herself.
She observed the battlefield with broader perspective.
Seeing much, calculating, deriving answers.
Thus, Raniel could see. She could feel it. The earth was shaking. The thrusts aimed at the sky. The raging storm and flashes closing in.
“Ah.”
Raniel couldn’t help but smile.
She almost forgot. She no longer fought alone. There were those who believed in her and followed her right here. Trainees she had personally trained…
Creak! Creak! Creak!
And there were allies by her side.
“Rack.”
“I understand.”
A Magol Dragon erupted from the ground, tearing it apart.
Seeing the massive Magol Dragon appear right next to her, Raniel smiled. Clinging to the leaping dragon’s shell were two figures—Belnoa, digging her nails into the carapace, clutching Lac’s arm.
“Please catch me!”
Lac extended his hand.
“I’ll create the path.”
Thud! Raniel grasped Lac’s outstretched hand.
