Goddess Vesta couldn't quite wrap her head around the situation she’d found herself in. If her eyes weren't deceiving her, the clusters of light that had just dropped from the airship in the sky were actually made of divine power.
What the beings summoned through that divine power had just displayed was none other than a divine descent.
Humans couldn’t use divine descent.
In her world, some powerful individuals blessed by her grace had gained the rare ability to traverse space, but what she’d just witnessed was something entirely different. What they used was a spatial ability based on her grace. What the beings right before her eyes used was...
“Goddess, we will take out those who dare block your path!”
Regardless, her apostles prepared to attack, each drawing on their power.
A man engulfed in pitch-black flames charged forward at the head of the army, righteously shouting, “How dare you?! The sin of blocking the Goddess's path is heavy, but we'll show you mercy with a quick death.”
“W-w-wait!”
‘Something's off. This isn't right.’
A divine descent was impossible for humans. What she felt from the new arrivals was something beyond her knowledge. She was especially shocked by the petite girl wearing an eyepatch and the woman with light pink hair. The dangerous aura they radiated was on an entirely different level.
“Atoning for your sin with death!”
Vesta frantically shouted toward the first apostle who confidently charged, “W-Wait...”
Swoosh!!! Boom!!
“A second...”
Her words never fully reached anyone.
A massive roar rang out, followed by an enormous cloud of smoke rising up.
“Kihehehe!!” With a maniacal laugh and smooth, practiced movement, the opponent dodged the punch with ease. At the same time, he extended his hand into the opening of the attack.
The black flame, the ability of the apostle Ars, exploded under the blow and covered the laughing man. They were vicious flames that burned everything, not even a pile of ash. Everyone familiar with Ars’s ability instinctively knew that the arrogant man would burn alive in agony.
Yet what happened next shattered all of their expectations.
“It's decent, but it's just... not spicy enough.”
Engulfed in black flames, he didn't fall.
Ars couldn’t believe it. “What the fuck even are you...”
The man reached out an arm and fiercely grabbed Ars by the collar. His eyes then glowed ominously through the black flames.
[Devil Ylgr’s Crowd Suppression]
[Fierce Abdominal Strike]
No one could even properly see the solid punch flying out, such was its speed. The single blow created a massive shockwave and instantly tore apart the clouds in the sky where Ars stood.
In the quiet silence, a huge, circular red light pulsed on Ars's back. The circle, which gradually grew in size as if soaked in blood, was soon warped beyond recognition and slid down.
Ars collapsed in vain, even though he was one of Goddess Vesta’s most valued apostles. While he wasn't among the strongest of them, he had still received Goddess Vesta’s blessing.
Yet he had collapsed on the spot, spitting up blood foam, without even getting the chance to resist. Witnessed by all including his cherished goddess, he had been killed instantly with a single blow.
One of the other apostles couldn’t help muttering, “W-what in the...”
“I usually don't interfere much, but you gotta know when to not cross the line,” the big guy said with a grin, cracking his knuckles. “How dare a bunch of rookies draw their swords on anyone!”
Giving a chilling smile, he brushed the black flames off his arm and forcibly snuffed them out. Then, he simply kicked the fallen corpse aside.
It looked like a seriously dangerous flame, yet it seemed unable to affect him.
“One more stunt like that, and you're really gonna die,” Spirit Queen Yuriana said with an irritated tone.
The muscular man, Ylgr, immediately bowed his head. “Yes, ma'am.”
“Ugh, you're so annoying.”
As the corpse of the apostle came tumbling back across the ground in a pathetic heap, not only the apostles and soldiers in Verta's camp, but also the defending forces of the count's estate who had been watching the battle stood there with their mouths hanging open.
Anyone could tell that the flames had been extraordinarily dangerous. Yet, the mysterious man had extinguished them simply by brushing them off, without any armor or other protection whatsoever.
None of them had ever heard of a being capable of something like that.
The airship floating in the sky was unmistakably Heins’ famous airship Asgard. Everyone in the Rowane Kingdom would recognize it with just a glance. If it truly was under his control, that could only mean that Grand Duke Davey O'Rowane already had subordinates capable of instantly defeating opponents who radiated an aura even more intimidating than a Sword Master.
If all of the people who had suddenly appeared were at that level, then they were no longer working with the military strength of a mere territory or even a single nation.
The countess had once heard nobles discussing why the other countries didn't seem willing to move against Heins. Seeing them in action, she suddenly understood why nations no longer bothered trying to keep them in check.
One could only compete with or look for weaknesses against someone within their reach. There was a necessity to be on the same playing field—Heins had ascended to a higher field of power than the rest of them.
“Consider yourself lucky. If I had stepped in personally, this place would've turned into a living hell.”
‘What in the world? How's this any different from a living hell for them?’
There was a crushing and despairing difference in the number of fighters between the two sides. It had helped to inflate the confidence of the invaders from the other dimension. However, once an apostle was killed without even being able to lift a finger, they began to have serious doubts about their chances of victory despite their overwhelming advantage.
“Alright. Let's go!”
Right as Ylgr gave a cold smile, Odin lightly tapped the ground with her staff.
Thump.
Thud!!!
The clouds in the sky ripped open and exposed a circle that began to rapidly spin. Once it reached sufficient speed, a thin ray of light erupted from somewhere and pierced the center of the military forces.
Despite landing smack in the center of their army, the impact had no apparent offensive power. Nothing happened, leaving the soldiers confused.
“Wait a second. Hey Odin, you crazy bitch...”
Rumble!!!
What followed was...
[Transcendent Extreme Magic]
[Milky Way]
It was judgment descending from the heavens.
A colossal beam of light fell down as if it were a purification ray meant to cleanse an entire planet. It slammed into the ground where the army stood, sweeping through their ranks in a straight line and carving across them like the careless brushstroke of a fledgling painter.
“Ah... That crazy bitch.”
The battlefield fell so silent that even mutters were clearly heard.
One of the first apostles swallowed hard, his teeth chattering from fear. “Holy shit. What in the world is that?”
Once the ray of light fell from the sky, all hills and mountains were instantly obliterated. In fact, it turned everything into nothing. All that remained were crimson scorch marks and streams of lava formed from melted granite.
It was a grand magic of unbelievable scale, a large-scale spell that made one wonder if it could even be blocked.
Yet, what chilled everyone to the bone was how incredibly fast she’d prepared the magic.
“M-Monster...”
Despite Goddess Vesta's presence, the entire Temple Corps trembled in fear.
It was only natural for them to be scared. The one who had bombarded them with magic was none other than the archmage that had chased off Thanatos in a short time after manifesting.
It was Odin, the God of Mages, the highest-ranking elder beneath Hercules, the Supreme Elder of the Hall of Heroes.
‘Impossible! She can use that much power without any constraints?’
Goddess Vesta felt the terror of a world beyond her comprehension.
‘I’m the one and only absolute god! Everything besides me is merely a pawn, an insignificant creature.’
That was the truth she’d grown up believing. Alas, everything had changed the moment she forcibly connected the dimensions and, in the process, attempted to harm none other than the Primordial Goddess herself.
“You okay?”
“The fact that she tried to hurt Goddess Freyja seems to have allowed me to override all the usual rules. I didn’t even know I could put out this much firepower.”
A single spell had completely erased ten thousand soldiers. Whether they realized it or not, that had been the result of Odin's earnest attempt to minimize the damage. After all, they were facing beings who could destroy planets once they put their minds to it.
After the attack, the apostles weren't any different from the quivering soldiers they led. Trembling in terror, all they could do was beg for their Goddess's mercy.
“G-Goddess...”
They looked at Goddess Vesta with pleading faces full of fear, but she was in no better shape. While she was certainly strong, she instinctively knew she wouldn't survive a direct hit from that beam of light.
‘Who the hell did I even attack, to provoke this response?’
The reality before her was hard to believe, even for her.
It was then.
Something crawled out from the scorching, blazing earth.
A being stood up as if nothing happened, despite carrying a heat incomparable to the black flames. It was a skeleton undead. Goddess Vesta felt the power it radiated to be disturbingly eerie.
“S-skeletons!”
“K-kill those bastards!!”
Skeleton soldiers were generally known to have little power.
Unfortunately for them, that was only true for ordinary skeletons.
[By the name of Death Lord, I command.]
[Darkness.]
With a single command from Death Lord Rho Aias, the sun vanished.
The world, suddenly dark as night, was filled only with blazing skeletons. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who those skeletons originally belonged to. They were the soldiers that had just been erased by the devastating magic.
One of the skeletons casually swung its flaming halberd, unleashing a massive wave of blade energy that instantly beheaded six nearby soldiers.
Goddess Vesta was both flabbergasted and intimidated.
‘These skeletons... They’re actually insane!’
No matter how many blessings her soldiers had received, they couldn't help but be pushed to the brink of terror by that point. They began shrieking and sobbing for salvation.
“I-I don't want to die!”
“P-please save us!”
“Goddess, please! Save us!! Aaaargh!!”
The apostles belatedly scrambled and desperately drew on their power to save the soldiers and knights, but the scale of devastation was immeasurable.
They’d been entrenched in a chaotic, hellish mess. If the great skirmish, already catastrophic after just two spells, continued any longer, the damage would become irreparable.
Suddenly, a portion of the soldiers suddenly froze in place, their bodies locking up as if they were seized by some invisible force.
“W-what is this...”
At the same time, two men walked past them and into the battlefield.
“Tsk, what a pity. Hic!”
Slice!
“Try to control your strength, buddy.”
In front of a man who sounded completely drunk and another who held a sword, the heads of two first apostles went flying.
Their goddess's grace?
A massive army?
All of it was a mere joke before the powerful.
The mysterious beings from the airship were simply and utterly suppressing them.
* * *
“Hic. Waaah!” Goddess Vesta fled frantically and cried, “It can't be... It can't be!!”
Growing to power in her dimension, Vesta believed she could do anything. Wasn’t she supposed to be the only one with omnipotent power?
The forces she had brought, though only an advance party, included all her apostles. Yet, the result was devastating, with likely no survivors.
She had struggled to hold back her tears as she watched her followers desperately reach out to her and beg for mercy.
What happened wasn't her intention! She hadn't meant to kill everyone like that! Even if she treated them all like pawns, she hadn't intended for them to die in vain.
She was just trying to punish the invaders. She had no clue how things had developed in such a brutal direction.
It seemed she was the only one alive. The moment she tried to use her power to protect the first apostles and the army, she’d remembered the words of that crazy woman who had slammed a massive staff into the air and frozen all the divine power in the area.
- Oh goddess, dear goddess. Your little lamb demands that the power of that crazy bitch can no longer run rampant in your land. Grant your grace.
The woman looked like a priestess. While reciting a prayer that was utterly blasphemous, she displayed a power that overwhelmed any priestess Goddess Vesta had ever seen.
She was supposed to be the absolute, omnipotent One True God! She couldn't understand how a mere remnant of power left behind by an apostle of this world's god had been enough to scatter all of her divine grace.
Plagued by fear, she fled like a maniac.
In order to return to her original dimension, she needed her power to work again. However, thanks to that crazy priestess, even that was impossible.
Considering even Thanatos had found that power shocking, there was nothing a newly born Goddess with incomplete power could do against it.
“Haah. Haah.”
After running desperately for a while, she finally slowed down to catch her breath.
Clothes covered in dirt and no longer having the dignity of a god, she looked around.
Once she did, she froze stiff.
The blue-haired woman she had first attacked was gazing at her with a look of pity.
Vesta’s eyes flashed with a sharp, icy glare.“You...”
‘This is all because of that damned apostle! How dare a mere apostle humiliate me, the One True God, like this?!’
Just as she was about to approach and lash out in anger, Goddess Freyja slowly lifted her refurbished tablet and displayed a line of text.
[I'm sorry.]
“Shut up! How dare a mere apostle look down on me...” Goddess Vesta yelled.
Then a pale, slender hand grabbed her hair from behind.
Smack!
At the same time, something struck the back of her knees, and Vesta immediately knelt down.
“Gah!”
Turning her head in surprise, she recognized the one who had attacked her and grabbed her hair.
It was a black-haired girl and a boy.
The boy told the girl, “Senior, we don't have time for this! Can't you see how your father has lost it?! This won't end with just a simple death if you mess it up! The apostles of the sanctuary can only hold him back for so long.”
Once Goddess Freyja had been attacked, Davey snapped. He had always complained that she did whatever she wanted and often treated people like toys, reaping lives on a whim. Yet, even though he would get angry and act like that, it was undeniable that he held Goddess Freyja in special regard. If that weren't the case, then given his personality, it wouldn't have been surprising if the two of them had already fought a hundred times.
Knowing that he was on the verge of exploding because Goddess Freyja had been attacked, Willow and Neltarid Mk II couldn't let him confront Vesta face-to-face.
“I know, so shut up!” Willow snapped, waving her hand fiercely.
With that motion, the four gods disappeared from Tionis.
Vesta came to her senses in a sacred space that couldn't even be compared to the sanctuary of the bubble world.
It was Goddess Freyja's Sanctuary.
The invader was truly pathetic, completely at the mercy of the beings she believed couldn’t have possibly existed.
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