Chapter 268: The Extinguished One (1)

“Loli?”

Gabriella instinctively spoke the name in a soft voice.

The Saintess’s resemblance was correct. Whether it was her figure or her face, everything was the same as that person…

The last time Lartomia had still been wearing a mask. No—Gabriella was certain this was completely the same person.

The mask worn by the attendant girl of Queen Letitia, as well as the magical tools that hid one’s identity, were almost of the exact same type.

In this dream she was not bound by true history, and therefore she did not know Lartomia’s appearance.

She could move freely within this dream memory, and precisely because of that she had gained the possibility of clearly seeing Lartomia.

If the true appearance of Lartomia did not exist within the memory, then of course it would be “filled in” as another image.

Therefore she naturally recognized Lartomia as Loli based on the similar exterior…

How could that be possible!

Even Gabriella herself found this explanation extremely forced.

She could not help beginning to consider the possibility that Loli was Lartomia.

The plain Apprentice Iron Sword, and the weapon possession similar to that of the fairies…

Then she was forcibly pulled back to reality by the girl’s voice.

In the same way, Lartomia’s voice was more than ninety percent similar to Loli’s.

“Hello. This is the first time I have revealed my true appearance, Miss Gabriella.”

There was not the slightest smile on the girl’s face, yet it was not Creis’s coldness.

Rather, it was a kind of disgust.

Or rather, hatred—a flame of revenge that came from the depths of her heart, as scorching and unbearable as the raging flames that surrounded them.

“You are Lartomia?” Gabriella confirmed once more.

“That’s right. Not the Loli you spoke of. Who is she? A Heavenly Oracle Envoy? There’s no need to mind it.”

Gabriella shook her head.

The girl called Lartomia walked forward.

Even after having already separated from that mechanical giant, Gabriella firmly believed that this fellow’s power had not been weakened at all—on the contrary, it had grown stronger.

On par with Creis, or rather, slightly weaker than Creis.

Yet the fact that she could be mentioned in the same breath as Creis already demonstrated how terrifying her strength was!

Suddenly Lartomia arrived right in front of her and tilted her head.

“Gabriella, what is your purpose? With your strength you completely had time to escape, yet you chose to remain. You were waiting for Creis to take you away, weren’t you?” Lartomia gave a cold laugh.

“Heh. Don’t be foolish.

Even if the Celestial God comes, she is not my opponent. All of you and the Heavenly Oracle Envoys will die beneath my blade.”

“This city was destroyed by you?”

“Of course. I spent far too much time in order to ambush all of you.”

Doubt flashed in Lartomia’s eyes, yet she clearly did not take Gabriella seriously at all.

“With your personalities, you would most likely not allow the humans to evacuate in advance. I also didn’t expect there would be an unexpected harvest. Gabriella, or could it be that you want to beg me for mercy?”

“Human leader, Lartomia… Holy Feathers…” Gabriella lowered her head and murmured.

She suddenly felt that none of this seemed able to connect into a single line.

Her mind raced. In an instant she raised her head and asked,

“What exactly is your purpose?”

“You’ve been strange from the beginning.” Lartomia finally smiled, yet that smile was not the gentle kind belonging to a maid, but a cold sneer and mockery.

“You haven’t lost your memory, have you? I’ve also considered the possibility that Creis is treating you as cannon fodder.

It seems you still don’t intend to speak.”

Gabriella was growing somewhat impatient.

Clearly continuing to converse with this girl would only turn her into the other’s outlet for venting.

She had already been angry.

Right up until the second before she climbed into bed she had been furious because she had only been a hair’s breadth away from seeing the true face of the God of Holy Feathers.

Then she would just “start” with Lartomia.

Silver-white fluorescence appeared in Gabriella’s hand.

Then the sound of space compression rang out, and it transformed into a holy sword.

Silver-white power gathered in her palm and erupted in an instant with a clear ringing sound…

Before Lartomia had even finished speaking, she suddenly raised her weapon horizontally in front of her.

With a boom, she and the mechanical giant behind her were both struck down.

Yet the girl quickly stabilized her stance.

Only the mechanical giant behind her, having lost its pilot, became uncontrollable and toppled backward, crashing into the ruins of the city.

“Oh? Heavenly Oracle Envoy, a little stronger than I imagined. I thought you were merely an appendage of the Celestial God.”

Lartomia let out a mocking sound, the corners of her mouth lifting.

Gabriella pressed the advantage.

This time it was two slashes, repeating the same technique and striking against that massive cleaver.

Yet this time she did not budge Lartomia in the slightest.

Gabriella jumped onto a nearby rock and in an instant opened a distance of one thousand meters from Lartomia, observing her with the vision of her holy body.

There was no mistake, right?

This was the holy body at its peak, as well as a body that would not weaken.

Just now Gabriella had almost used her full strength, yet she had not inflicted any substantial damage on Lartomia.

Was she simply that strong?

Gabriella’s gaze locked onto that massive cleaver.

Legend had it that Lartomia had once called upon all races to launch an offensive against the Heavenly Oracle Envoys.

Among them the elves had dispatched fairies as the vanguard troops to protect humanity.

They merged with their weapons into one and signed contracts with the top human warriors.

Under Lartomia’s call, the fairies voluntarily accepted mana modification in order to obtain even greater power.

History regarded these people as a group of complete madmen, the originators of the fairies’ extinction.

Yet in reality this had not occurred during the “Era of Destruction,” but during the “Era of Heavenly Oracle”—a god war of humanity against the gods.

Therefore this kind of weapon was specifically designed to deal with Heavenly Oracle Envoys.

“Surprised?”

Without her noticing, Lartomia had already arrived several dozen meters away from Gabriella.

At this distance, only an instant was needed to close in on her.

Yes. Lartomia was indeed very strong.

The most troublesome part was that the weapon on her body seemed capable of offsetting the power of a Heavenly Oracle Envoy.

She had the confidence to face all the Heavenly Oracle Envoys at once. It seemed this was by no means arrogance.

Indeed, she possessed that kind of strength.

The cleaver in Lartomia’s hand charged up, coiling with orange-yellow lightning.

Her body shot forward like an afterimage.

Her smile seemed to foreshadow Gabriella’s defeat and her own complete victory.

Accompanied by the sound of an air explosion, the smile on Lartomia’s face disappeared.

Gabriella had actually steadily caught her cleaver.

With her other hand she gripped Lartomia’s wrist and, amid the girl’s astonished expression, slammed her hard into the ground.

Bang!

“Damn it…!” Lartomia struggled with force, yet the weapon remained where it was, deeply embedded in the ground.

She stared fixedly at Gabriella, brushing the dust from her hair, as if re-evaluating this powerful individual.

“You really are different from them,” she said coldly.