Volume 7, Chapter 21 – Unintelligible Final Word

Hmm?

Fia noticed the anomaly at the same time Schneider did. These withered arms stretching out from the pitch-black rifts were aimed straight at Anastasia. Their twisted, distorted forms were clearly not the limbs of any normal creature.

There was only one thing to do.

Cut them down.

Her enchanted blade, its surface not yet dry of blood, swept horizontally across her front. The result, however, was a dull “clang” as the weapon vibrated from a powerful counter-force. Had Fia’s strength not been immense, the weapon would have been knocked from her hand. The withered arms were not as easy to break as they appeared; they were so incredibly tough that sparks flew upon impact.

Although she had sensed something unusual the moment she saw the power to tear through space, Fia frowned at the fact that she hadn’t been able to sever these “minions” in a single blow. That being said, the withered arms that took the hit weren’t much better off. Struck with a force equivalent to a high-speed heavy truck, dozens of arms were knocked to one side, the sheer momentum nearly tearing them out of the rifts at their roots.

Fia deployed her butterfly-like light wings and leaped into the air to evade attacks coming from the other three directions. At the same time, the Paladins below finally reacted.

“What is this?!”

The Elf Princess was certainly a detestable enemy, but compared to these black arms that had suddenly appeared, Fia was practically adorable. These shriveled, emaciated, inhumanly long arms were the embodiment of evil from every angle. Just looking at them caused an uncontrollable fear to rise in their hearts.

“Lord Schneider, is this… is this the Darkborn?”

“Hurry and evacuate the devotees outside!”

“Damn it, how did the Darkborn get into the Great Cathedral!”

Without needing Schneider’s command, the Paladins acted with disciplined precision. One group remained by Schneider’s side, while the others hurried out of the cathedral through various side doors.

As for Schneider himself, his current situation was incredibly complicated.

He didn’t know whether he should step up to help or continue standing where he was. He felt the same way as the Paladins—these withered arms emerging from the rifts to track the Elf Princess were by no means benevolent. However, the Elf Princess had just killed an Inquisitor General before his very eyes. Stepping out to help her now felt like a betrayal to his fallen comrade.

…No.

Schneider fought to clear his head. The Holy Kingdom had already been defeated. If anything happened to the Eldest Princess of Silvar here, the blame would surely fall on the Holy Kingdom, even if they weren’t the perpetrators. No matter how reluctant he was, he had to step forward for the sake of the Holy Kingdom’s future.

Helping could earn goodwill; not helping would lead to an even more dire situation. The choice was obvious.

He glanced at the Inquisitor General’s corpse on the floor and grit his teeth.

“It’s the Darkborn! Prepare to engage!”

“Yes, sir!”

The moment the words left his mouth, Schneider took the lead. The withered arms were only interested in Fia, completely ignoring Schneider’s group in the rear. This provided him with an opportunity. His mace-like weapon slammed into the junction where the arms met the rift. The golden light bursting from the mace was dazzling; Schneider even felt that this strike had surpassed his usual limits, as if the Goddess of Life were secretly providing him with her blessing.

But the blow failed to land.

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Before Schneider’s mace could strike the withered arms, his movement came to an abrupt halt. It wasn’t because he had lost his nerve at the last second, but because a withered arm had wrapped itself around his neck before he even realized it.

When did it reach over here?!

He grit his teeth, letting go of his weapon to claw desperately at the withered arm with both hands, trying to break free. However, the strength of the arm was far superior to his. In that moment, Schneider felt as weak as an infant before it, forced to let it hoist his body into the air.

What on earth is this?!

The intense sensation of suffocation caused Schneider to let out a pained groan. He saw another withered arm slowly reaching toward him. The surrounding Paladins wanted to help, but because their leader was held captive, they didn’t dare to rush forward.

It’s over.

Schneider could already smell the nauseating stench of decay on the arm—a stench far more potent than that of a rotting rat. The disparity in strength was clear. Even as a seventh-tier, he could only be toyed with if he wasn’t fully prepared.

Wait.

In what felt like his final moments, Schneider realized something critical.

The Goddess of Life had delivered a divine oracle many years ago: the Apocalypse was coming. Now, given that even he—a seventh-tier—wasn’t a match for these withered arms, he had a growing suspicion about what they were.

Has the Apocalypse already begun?

Before Schneider could think further, he suddenly felt his body go light. The second withered arm didn’t kill him; it merely swayed in front of his face before turning away as if losing interest, returning to its pursuit of Fia. Seeing this, the first arm also stopped bothering with Schneider, releasing him to follow the others.

The side of the hall where Schneider stood immediately fell silent.

What in the world are those things…

Having lost all will to fight, Schneider—who had just taken a walk to the gates of the underworld—scrambled to his feet. He stared blankly at the other side of the hall, where Fia was “struggling” against the withered arms.

Then, his features contorted into a subtle expression.

Calling this “struggling” was an overstatement. It wasn’t even a skirmish; it was a completely one-sided slaughter.

The withered arms, which were so elusive they were impossible to detect, had nowhere to hide before Fia. It was only from a third-party perspective that Schneider noticed these arms weren’t just emerging from rifts—they were also reaching out from the corners of the architecture and even from people’s shadows.

Yet, none of these arms could get anywhere near Fia. At first, she used Laevateinn to sever them one by one, but eventually, she didn’t even bother with the blade. Instead, she combined [Aegis of the Firmament] with a [Bee Shield Forcefield] to create an airtight wall of shields. The withered arms could only claw and scratch outside the shield wall, their palms slapping against the magical barrier with dull thuds.

Such miraculous magic… When did the Elves’ natural magic become so powerful?!

Schneider was horrified. Unfortunately, Fia couldn’t hear his inner thoughts; her attention was entirely on Anastasia.

If I didn’t think it would be a waste to destroy this sanctuary, and if there weren’t so many people in the plaza outside, I would definitely use [Flame Wheel] to show these mysterious arms what for, Fia thought irritably as she turned to Anastasia.

“Are you all right?”

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Ignoring the thumping noise outside the shield wall, Fia let go of Anastasia, whom she had been holding. From the beginning, Fia had sensed that these arms were after Anastasia, which was why she hadn’t let her go.

Anastasia placed her right hand over her chest as she watched the arms outside the barrier. Her eyes showed not only fear but obvious self-reproach.

“Your Highness, just now… I was supposed to protect you, yet I forgot the magical incantations at the critical moment. I—”

“It’s not your fault.”

Fia shrugged. When Anastasia had frozen earlier, she had guessed that she might have gone too long without combat and forgotten how to use magic. However, forgetting her spells during this chance to “wash away her shame” was a devastating blow to Anastasia’s pride.

She let out a sigh.

“You’ve been living in a village, Anastasia. It’s natural to forget magic when you don’t use it regularly. The important thing now are these hands. I’ve never seen these things before. Have you seen them in your world?”

“No… I haven’t seen them either. But Your Highness, don’t you think these hands feel familiar? They’re like Chaos.”

“So my intuition was right. These hands have a unique stench of decay, just like the dead lands I saw deep within the Weeping Mountains. But if Chaos can create something like a portal, why is it specifically targeting you instead of causing a world-ending disaster? It makes no sense.”

“Eh? Targeting me?”

Anastasia straightened her back. Her focus had been entirely on her failure to protect Fia, and she hadn’t noticed that the arms’ true objective was her. To prove her point, Fia expanded the range of the [Aegis of the Firmament] and then took several steps away from Anastasia. The arms that had been pushed away immediately swarmed toward Anastasia, while not a single arm appeared where Fia was standing.

“See? They’re all coming for you.”

“This… my deepest apologies, I don’t understand it either.” Anastasia finally regained her composure. She took a deep breath as she watched the countless shriveled arms outside the shield wall, her eyes hardening with determination as she gripped her mithril sword. “Your Highness, we should deal with the Chaos first.”

I know we should deal with them. The only reason I’ve let them last this long was to see if you could identify their true nature, Fia answered internally. If Chaos could freely use this kind of spatial-leap magic, the World Tree Continent should have been swallowed whole long ago. Nothing could have stopped them. The fact that they hadn’t made a move until now meant either these things weren’t Chaos at all, or Chaos was far more complex than she had imagined.

For now, I’ll use [Mind Blast] to see if they have souls.

“Anastasia, get behind me.”

“Yes!”

Fia raised her right hand.

Since there were so many arms here anyway, she would start with a maximum-output burst.

The information for [Mind Blast] flickered in her mind, and her mana—as vast as a galaxy—immediately surged in accordance with her will. For a moment, she could almost hear the sound of the mana roaring within her body.

“ [Mind Blast] “

Vrrrmmm—!

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First came a piercing hum, followed by the successive shattering of stained glass. Even with Anastasia hiding behind Fia, she felt as though her soul were about to be vibrated apart by the high-frequency oscillation. The dizziness made it impossible for her to stand straight.

As for the withered arms taking the direct hit of the [Mind Blast], they reacted unexpectedly. The moment before the spell manifested, the arms retreated at high speed, as if they had heard the roar of the mana within Fia. Unfortunately, the speed of the [Mind Blast] was far faster than the arms had anticipated. Just as the hundreds of withered arms began their retreat, the shockwave of the spell caught up with them.

Then, like a needle popping a water balloon, the hundreds of withered arms burst into liquid. The black sludge that had been their contents splattered across the floor—a form identical to the Chaos Fia knew.

Strange.

Chaos shouldn’t be affected by mental magic.

Fia couldn’t help but feel curious. Then, she noticed a bizarre phenomenon.

The scattered Chaos began to gather toward a central point. The process was quite slow, but clearly observable to the naked eye.

“Your Highness, they’re merging.”

“Yeah, ignore them for a second.”

Deactivating the shield wall, Fia walked step by step toward the gathering Chaos. To prevent the Paladins from doing anything stupid, she gave them a chilling glare to warn them away.

After about three minutes, the severely damaged Chaos finally coalesced into a tangible creature. Its physique was similar to that of a human or an elf, consisting of four limbs, a torso, and a head. The only difference was a pair of unique antlers atop its head, reminding Fia of an elk. However, she preferred to call it a Demon General of Despair, as it lacked defined facial features just like one.

“Ugh…”

The antlered monster made a strange sound. It seemed to be trying to say something, reaching out its right hand toward Fia with great difficulty.

Fia immediately crouched down, trying to hear the sound of the Chaos.

“Your Highness, that’s too dangerous!”

“It can’t hurt me. Calm down, Anastasia.”

A normal person wouldn’t have dared to risk their life like Fia, but Fia was born without the emotion of fear. She continued to stare at the monster that lay immobilized on the ground.

“What do you want to say? Use Elven.”

“Re…”

“Re?”

“Re… gret…”

It wants to say “regret.”

Fia quickly found the corresponding term in her mind. If she hadn’t already mastered Ancient Elven, she definitely wouldn’t have understood what it was saying.

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Something from quite an old era.

Pop.

Having uttered its last syllable, the Chaos burst apart a second time, as if it could no longer sustain itself. This time, no sludge appeared; instead, they vanished into ash on the wind, as if scorched by [Fairy Fire].

The air was deathly silent. The ceiling at the center of the Great Cathedral continued to illuminate the Goddess statue below. Only the shattered stained glass and the scorched marks on the floor remained to tell the tale of the fierce battle that had just occurred.

Bizarre.

Chaos, which was supposed to be mindless, had suddenly become sentient and even tried to convey the word “regret” before dying. If it had shown friendliness at the start, she would have seriously considered its words. But since it had attacked Anastasia immediately, it was hard to feel any goodwill toward it.

Though it was worth noting, the priority right now was still Anastasia.

Clearing her thoughts, Fia stood up and, accompanied by Anastasia, walked step by step toward Schneider and the other Paladins. The Paladins no longer showed any hostility; in fact, they averted their gazes as Fia approached.

“What… what was that monster just now?”

Schneider asked hoarsely. The eerie arms that had nearly taken his life were nothing more than toys before Fia. He was now acutely aware of the gap between them. He was even startled by his own voice—it was incredibly raspy, like a ghost that had just crawled out of a grave.

“That was Chaos. As the Pope, you should know a thing or two. Listen well: I don’t have time to dally. Are you going to perform the ritual for the divine oracle, or not? Since Chaos has already arrived on the World Tree Continent, it means the Apocalypse your Goddess predicted has begun. I can speak for my father and temporarily stay the execution of the remaining Bishops. We will leave you until the Apocalypse is over, and then conduct your judgment. Will you cooperate, or fight to the end? I’ll give you three seconds. Three—”

“Wait!”

Before Fia could reach two, Schneider reached out to stop her. He took a deep breath and spoke solemnly.

“I agree. Having seen the Chaos with my own eyes, even as Pope, I must change my strategy. But I need a little time to process this.”

Whether he feared her strength or truly believed a great enemy was at the gates, at least he knew how to be flexible.

Fia felt a surge of relief. If Schneider had chosen to resist to the end, she wouldn’t have been able to obtain the oracle.

She maintained a stony expression.

“When is the earliest the ritual can begin?”

“Tonight. It can begin tonight.”

“Then I will wait here until tonight. Now, take me to your archives. With a great enemy at our doors, I must gather as much information as possible—the more, the better.”