Chapter 269: The Extinguished One (2)

Lartomia was indeed much stronger than expected.

In reality, the reason Gabriella had been able to catch her movements just now was not only because she had predicted them, but also because her speed was slightly superior.

Apart from that, however, every one of Lartomia’s qualities surpassed Gabriella’s.

On the surface of that skin that appeared to have no mana defense at all, there was a transparent magitech shield serving as an outer shell.

Even without that dangerous weapon, Gabriella would not be able to easily break through her defenses.

Fortunately, Gabriella’s speed still surpassed hers.

Otherwise she would have had no idea how to continue this battle.

Lartomia’s gaze was like that of someone examining a powerful enemy.

Simply put, until the moment Gabriella had landed a counterattack, Lartomia had not even regarded her as an opponent.

“You really are special…”

“Shall we talk?”

Gabriella asked at that moment.

“What is your purpose? What do you want to do? You can tell me. That is also the reason I came to find you.”

“Nothing but lies.”

A pair of orange-red mechanical wings unfolded behind Lartomia like two thrusters.

She manipulated the cleaver, slightly lowered her body, and the ground where she had originally stood was left with only an afterimage.

Rumble—!

Gabriella discarded her sword and sidestepped to evade.

In almost the same instant, both the starting point and the ending point of Lartomia’s trajectory completed explosions simultaneously.

A ten-meter-deep crater appeared in the ground where Gabriella had originally stood.

Massive rocks splashed into the sky and slowly fell, like a tsunami.

The consequences of being hit were unimaginable.

The crisis was not yet over.

A mechanical giant suddenly appeared behind Gabriella.

She did not know when it had circled around to her back.

Accompanied by that massive fist that was like a meteorite, it broke the sound barrier in an extremely short time.

Gabriella turned and caught the punch with her hand, yet unexpectedly received another solid blow from Lartomia’s cleaver.

Fortunately, at the critical moment Gabriella used highly plastic magic to simulate countless tentacles—that is, the power of shadows—to block the strike, allowing her to remain unharmed.

She landed far away on the ground nearby.

Then silver-white magic simulated shadows.

Several tentacles gathered into a conical spike that rose from the ground and pierced through the chest of the mechanical giant.

Afterward Gabriella condensed a holy sword in her hand and once again completed a third clash with Lartomia, who had circled behind her.

This time Gabriella was forced back.

After all, what she was using was not true shadows, but power imitated with mana.

Could it be that my control over shadows is actually already stronger than my swordsmanship?

No, no, no. Now is not the time to consider that.

For a moment Gabriella began to think about how her past self had dealt with this kind of powerful enemy.

At least within this “lucid dream” right now, it was difficult for her to think of a way to resolve this opponent.

This time Gabriella confirmed it—the weapon in Lartomia’s hand was capable of absorbing magic.

That’s right. It was not simple “offsetting,” but absorption.

It was as if this weapon possessed its own life and was also an individual capable of using mana.

Yet Gabriella could not sense the aura of a fairy from these weapons at all.

In other words, Lartomia was actually driving this kind of divine artifact by herself, completely without needing the possession of a fairy in order to maximize the weapon’s function.

But that did not matter.

Gabriella suddenly thought of an excellent method for dealing with this kind of powerful enemy.

Even if she could not defeat her, she could at least fight her to a draw.

If this “lucid dream” was realistic enough, then stalling until Creis arrived would mean complete success.

At the same time Lartomia lightly swung the cleaver and walked forward a few elegant steps.

She stopped atop a burning broken stone pillar and observed Gabriella, who was likewise standing within the flames.

Lartomia’s willow-leaf brows furrowed slightly.

“You… are you Gabriella?”

“What do you mean?” Gabriella did not know whether to laugh or cry.

“From earlier onward you’ve become a little different… Who exactly are you?”

Gabriella tilted her head.

She had originally intended to brush it off, yet she suddenly discovered that Lartomia had completely lost the intention to attack.

She was only looking at Gabriella with a dull and astonished gaze, her voice filled with doubt.

“As I thought, you are not Gabriella.

In only a few weeks… no, a few minutes, the immaturity and anger in your eyes disappeared. Tactics, mana form, disposition.”

Lartomia narrowed her eyes.

“Tell me. Who are you?”

Gabriella froze.

A character within the dream could actually sense the abnormality of the dream.

In other words, the simulated memory illusion was equivalent to mobilizing the hidden computational ability within her soul and completely simulating Lartomia—including, of course, the fact that she would notice the suspicious points on Gabriella’s body under the present circumstances.

“This is a dream, Lartomia. You are already dead.” Gabriella did not lie.

She narrated calmly, withdrawing the “tentacles” and staring at Lartomia’s face.

“What?”

Lartomia clearly had not accepted this reality, or perhaps simply felt suspicion.

Her voice contained three parts doubt and seven parts interrogation.

Gabriella smiled.

“It’s true. It is already ten thousand years later~ Lartomia, this is only a dream I am having.

A dream.”

Lartomia murmured to herself and lowered her head, as if she had also noticed something.

Her gaze condensed.

The previous arrogance, anger, and killing intent all disappeared, replaced by a kind of calm.

She believed it.

Then she shut down all the high technology on her body—the magitech that Gabriella had never seen, never used, and that she had kept as her trump cards, both used and unused.

Afterward she slowly walked toward Gabriella, step by step, slowly approaching through the long pale flames.

A strange aura drifted through the air, sending a chill down one’s spine.

Lartomia’s eyes still retained their previous sharpness.

As she walked she said,

“No wonder I felt something was wrong. After all, at this point in time Creis should already have stopped overhead, and I should have already ended this battle and killed you… Ten thousand years later, does humanity still exist?”

“It does.”

“Are they well? Or rather, did their resistance succeed? Does the Church still exist?”

By this time Lartomia had already walked to Gabriella’s side.

The two stood back to back, neither looking into the other’s eyes.

Listening to the sound of the flames burning, Gabriella could also hear the sound of her own heartbeat.

They did not continue fighting.

“The Church still exists, and our enemy is also the Church.

We need to eliminate the [God of Holy Feathers], Lartomia. Do you know this god? Or rather, have you ever had the idea of creating a god?”