The situation had reached a state of utter chaos.
The grotesque god and Selen's group—the Spiritfolk—faced each other with Luke Saikol's stone statue at the center.
Both sides' power was now suddenly directed at the stone statue of Luke Saikol that had come flying in.
What was happening remained, as always, incomprehensible. Keller's true nature, its purpose in coming here—all of it.
When Keller had uttered the word "curse," they'd assumed it intended to destroy the statue. But that assumption was overturned by the being's own words.
In truth, Keller's power was overwhelming. Even with Mires and Finis—two of the highest-ranking spirits—plus every one of Yggdrasil's warriors launching attacks, Keller still had power to spare.
Fighting it, they understood. Even if Luke Saikol had been the world's greatest swordsman, his power wouldn't have come close to Keller's.
The gap in their very existence was, quite literally, a different order of magnitude. An authority that surpassed even the highest spirits—truly worthy of the name "god."
What Keller hoped to achieve by reviving the statue, they didn't know. But the truth was, their odds of winning were already vanishingly close to zero.
Keller fixed its glare on Selen and screamed.
"What is the meaning of this?! Why—why are you interfering with the curse removal?!"
"I don't know!!"
"!?"
Without thinking, Selen strained every ounce of her strength and poured it all into Luke.
Curses were fundamentally easier to place than to lift. The princess of Yggdrasil was also, by extension, the queen of curse craft. The source of a curse was powerful emotion. Selen didn't bear a grudge against Luke the way Shero did, so she couldn't place a curse of that magnitude—but she could compensate for quality with quantity.
The offensive magic she had been casting moments ago had completely stopped. Every Spiritfolk present had taken Selen's cue and was now cursing Luke's stone statue.
Keller's abilities were powerful, but curse removal apparently wasn't its strong suit.
The fingertips that had been touching the statue trembled as though seizing.
By placing a curse on Luke's stone statue, Selen finally managed to sense the full extent of Keller's power.
Something invisible was trying to strip away the source of the curse placed on the statue. Neither magic nor curse craft—a terrifyingly potent force.
The intensifying rain made that power all the more visible.
It was invisible. A completely transparent substance surrounded Luke, shielding him from Keller, and was connected to the stone statue as well.
"Insolent… you insects. I showed mercy, and you spout nonsense…"
A portion of the substance coating Keller's body stretched upward, rising high into the sky. It then tapered into a cone shape and drove itself violently into the ground.
The earth shook violently and heaved upward in a massive upheaval. The shockwave rippling through the ground sent the Yggdrasil warriors who had been channeling their power at Luke flying through the air.
"Guh…!!"
Reflexively, they deployed defensive magic. No one was seriously injured, but just staying on their feet was all they could manage.
Keller hadn't intended to kill them. If it had, it would have struck directly with lethal force.
But while no one had died, in this state they couldn't continue cursing Luke.
Keller extended one massive hand. The air churned, and a powerful wind howled to life. The raindrops were blown away, and with them, Keller's power became completely invisible.
"Stay still… the contract comes first…"
The air around Keller was rotating. It meant to forcibly eject everyone from the area.
Once no one could move, it would focus on breaking Luke's curse.
Selen instinctively shouted to her remaining allies.
"Defensive formation! Defense squad, block the wind! Attack squad, curse Luke!"
"!? What are you—how dare you—make me chase after all of you like this!!!"
"That's right! Mires! Finis! Protect everyone!"
Mires and Finis were spirits—they couldn't use curse craft. But if the two of them shifted to defense, every one of Yggdrasil's warriors could focus entirely on cursing.
At Selen's words, Finis and Mires moved into action. Seeing this, Keller swung one of its skeletal arms downward with full force.
"For no reason at all—you dare interfere with this Keller?! Don't you daaaaaaaare!!!"
Rage that overwrote even thunder. Resistance was futile.
Something scythed across the earth.
Selen's vision blurred as a shockwave pierced through her body. Her senses stretched, and when she came to, she was spinning through the air.
The offensive magic the Yggdrasil warriors had hastily launched to interfere with Keller, the earthen wall Mires had raised, the desiccating mist Finis had conjured, and the warriors who had been standing against Keller—all of it, every last bit, was blown away in a single sweep.
Thanks to defensive magic built on near-reflex, Selen cushioned the impact of her fall and barely managed to get to her feet.
Nothing remained around Keller.
Only Luke's stone statue stood. The rubble and the grass that had littered the ground had been completely swept clean, leaving bare earth.
"Hah, hah—you're making me do extra work! Dammit—this barrier too, how annoying! This entire city is nothing but annoyances!"
Keller's irritated voice. Despite everything it had just done, the pressure radiating from its being hadn't diminished by a single fraction.
Selen looked behind her, but less than half of Yggdrasil's warriors remained.
With that kind of impact, they'd been blown far away. There were surely some who hadn't been able to deploy defensive magic in time.
Mires and Finis dove from the sky at the towering Keller. Against the hail of water lances and the aura of desiccation, Keller screamed in fury.
"The spirits of this world would side with such ridiculous people?!"
The water lances, the pitch-black aura—they all struck an invisible wall and stopped.
In a fit of exasperation, Keller clenched its right palm, and with a grinding sound, the ground produced pointed pillars.
It had likely carved them from the earth with invisible force. Then, with a sweep of its left hand, the spherical bodies of Finis and Mires warped.
The two spirits, who had been floating at a distance, were pulled unnaturally toward Keller. The mysterious force apparently possessed considerable range and the ability to affect spirits directly.
Then Keller raised its right hand and brought it down lightly.
The pillars flew toward the two spirits, pinned in place mid-air. Evasion was impossible. The incoming pillars pierced cleanly through them both.
Physical attacks shouldn't have been effective against spirits, yet both crashed to the ground as though drained of all power. Skewered on the pillars, their sorrowful faces floating on their spherical bodies looked toward Selen.
"Fahahaha! Like dango on a skewer! Hahahahahahaha!!"
Keller's manic laughter echoed across the battlefield. It was apparently under a great deal of stress.
But at this rate, Luke's curse would be undone. Was it really beyond even Selen to attempt something like Thousand Transformations?
Her body could still move. But flailing around with techniques would be pointless. Keller's power had no openings.
Something—she had to find something, some method, some weakness— Keller shouted, its voice ringing with triumph.
"Don't you dare interfere with this Keller again!! Don't make me waste my energy—!?"
—At that moment, Keller's body was sent hurtling through the air.
The sound of feet striking solid ground. A small shadow closed in on the airborne Keller at gale speed.
Flowing pink-blond hair, gleaming metallic boots. A grin that evoked a predator's—and Liliz Smart stepped on the air itself and launched into another leap.
This was… reinforcements!
"You came!"
"Sorry—was checking on the Treasure Hall, got held up."
Elisa Beck had appeared at her side without anyone noticing. She answered while gripping her staff.
Lucia holding her staff, Kirukilu at her side, Citry gazing at Keller with an expression of clinical observation.
Tino, her face taut with severity. Anthem's figure was nowhere to be seen—perhaps he was preparing the barrier.
But— "Where's Thousand Transformations!?"
"…I don't know about Ku."
That person—they were missing again when it mattered most?
But even without Thousand Transformations, the strength of the Mourning Specter was beyond doubt.
Liliz's movements were faster than anything Selen had ever seen. Kicks, thrusts—every single motion was too swift to track.
Raindrops touching her cheeks evaporated on contact; steam rose from her entire body. Her shining eyes looked as though flames blazed behind them.
The sound of pierced air arrived only after the godspeed thrust had already passed. But Keller managed—barely—to dodge every last one.
Keller screamed as it retreated.
"You—still more interruptions?! Who are you?!"
"Dammit—what is this thing, is she wearing something?!"
"Fool! As if a kick could breach this 'External Senses' barrier!!"
"Sis, get back!!"
"!?"
When had she thrown it? The potion vial came raining down from above—it had clearly been tossed before the warning was even issued to Liliz.
The vial of noxious potion shattered, and a likewise poisonous fog enveloped both Liliz and Keller.
The moment she'd realized physical attacks were ineffective, she'd switched tactics instantly.
"Citry, you damn brat!! Don't attack Liliz along with it!!!"
Liliz emerged from the fog alone. Her entire body was blistered, a deep, inflamed red. For a high-Level Hunter's body to be melted to that degree in such a brief time, the poison had to be extraordinarily potent.
For an instant, a flicker of hope stirred—but the fog was promptly dispersed from within.
An inevitable result, given that Keller could generate wind.
Keller was unharmed. It hadn't even been touched. Liliz had been caught in the crossfire.
Citry sighed and said in a deflated, crestfallen voice.
"Lately I just… feel like my power isn't enough. I need to make something stronger… An Explosion Potion probably wouldn't work either… Maybe I should consult Klye…"
"You lot—so you're companions of Thousand Transformations? Then this will be quick—!?"
Keller had just begun to step forward when pillars of ice erupted around it, sealing it in place.
And then, from nowhere, Anthem appeared before the immobilized Keller and brought his massive sword down with everything he had.
The ice pillars shattered, and the earth quaked with a sound that rattled the organs.
The relentless offense and defense—ignoring the opponent's reaction, giving not a moment's breath—left Selen speechless.
But they weren't there yet. The blow hadn't landed.
Anthem's greatsword had gouged deep into the ground. But that simply meant it hadn't hit Keller.
Keller was—floating in the air. No, to be precise, it was riding on something invisible.
Something that shielded its entire body, contracted freely, blocked magic and barriers alike, and could purge curses.
Before the fully combat-ready Mourning Specter, Keller spoke in a voice considerably calmer than before.
"A power rare even in my era—interesting. But settle down. I am not your enemy."
"…What do you mean?"
It seemed that the barrage of attacks had, paradoxically, restored Keller's composure. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, Selen couldn't tell—but.
A crushing weight bore down on her entire body, as though her knees might shatter.
To Citry's question, the transcendent being answered with exasperation.
"As I said—your leader, Klye Andrich, entered into a contract with this Keller. In exchange for the curse removal of Luke Saikol, he swore fealty. I merely came to fulfill that end of the bargain. I'm somewhat regretting it now."
For Selen, those were words she never expected.
Klye Andrich had sworn fealty? In exchange for Luke Saikol's curse removal? That was—impossible.
Luke Saikol's curse removal was supposed to be carried out by Selen today. As of yesterday, that man had said nothing of the sort to Selen, nor given any indication.
More than anger, more than sadness, it was confusion that won out. Presumably, the other members felt the same.
Ideally, she should consider the possibility that the man had betrayed them. She should also consider the possibility that Keller was lying.
But above all, that man's actions were consistently, irreducibly unpredictable.
As Selen struggled with what to do, the silent members of the Mourning Specter listened as Keller continued.
"But it seems your leader hasn't spoken to you yet, then. Hmm… I'll suppress my anger and give you time to talk. No—wait. Go fetch Klye Andrich and bring him here. We'll talk after that—!?"
It was then that Anthem Smart kicked off the earth.
His four-meter-plus body launched high into the air, and the colossal blade—well over two meters from edge to edge—was brought crashing down on the floating Keller from directly above.
Invisible force and metal collided, and the shockwave rippled through the space.
A peculiar sound. Anthem's raw strength was said to be at the top of the Mourning Specter, but even so, the blade hadn't reached Keller.
The halted blade was raised once more. This time not from directly above, but in a sweeping horizontal arc—the same strike that had once severed a dragon's neck. Keller retreated even higher into the sky to create distance and glared down at Anthem.
"You—what is—the meaning—were you listening to what I just said?!"
Keller's voice was laced with both irritation and panic. Anthem, with the greatsword resting on his shoulder, spoke in a clear, resounding voice.
"Ridiculous… Klye, this Mourning Specter, entering into a contract with an evil god—it is impossible!!"
"Wha—"
Keller was struck dumb by the sheer confidence in Anthem's voice. Klyus, who had been observing from nearby, murmured softly.
"Well, the weak human might actually go through with it, you know…"
The truth was unknowable. But Selen would do what she could right now.
The Mourning Specter had come to their aid. The Yggdrasil warriors who had been blown away—if they were alive, they'd return given time.
Keller's power was immense. But it wasn't without cost. Selen still held a trump card—Thousand Transformations remained.
If so, then what Selen could do now was— At that moment, her eyes fell on the stone statue of Luke, standing nearby, which had been entirely overlooked.
Selen shouted to the trembling Tino (and Carr).
"Ti! Take the statue and run! Don't let Keller have it!"
"!?"