It seemed that Ermes and the others' surprise attack had paid off.
Catia, who was engaging the monsters from a separate position, sensed this from the disarray in their ranks.
"We can do it! Push through like this!"
"They're just monsters in the end — don't flinch!"
The soldiers' morale was at its peak, and with Rose's help as well, if they could press on like this, the total annihilation of the monsters was well within reach.
...As long as nothing else happened, that is.
"..."
But Catia had a gut feeling — no, more than that, she was convinced from everything she had experienced up to this point.
That in situations like this, everything going exactly as they had planned... that kind of easy battlefield was something they had long since left behind.
"...I'm counting on you, El."
Still, she chose to believe — in their own strength that had carried them this far, and in his.
With that single murmur, Catia threw herself into the battlefield.
◆
Formula Replay —
Fire Heaven Judgment
—
"!"
No holding back.
Once he had made that decision, he would stake absolutely everything on it.
"—Th-This is—!"
First, he unleashes the maximum firepower of a standalone spell to mercilessly burn Karma to ashes.
Unlike the first composite spell, which was area-of-effect, this time it's concentrated fire — the sheer destructive force on direct impact is far greater. The terrifying firepower of a royal-class Bloodline Magic reduces its target to cinders in the blink of an eye—
"But... this is great...!"
—Or not.
The only moment of real effectiveness was that first instant. From that point on, Karma—
—was burning
—yet
—gaining
—resistance
—and
recovered in an instant, his repair speed visibly beginning to outpace the rate of damage.
...That was precisely his greatest strength.
Otherworldly adaptability and evolution. He gains resistance to any spell he receives in the blink of an eye, evolving his body and magic power to become more resilient — and at the apex of it all, he learns the spell itself and makes it his own.
—In battles between mages, there is such a thing as elemental compatibility.
In that regard, Ermes and Karma were the worst possible match. They were the same type, and on top of that, Ermes outclassed him in every single stat. If they fought normally, there was no conceivable path to victory.
...And yet.
There were things Ermes lacked that he did possess.
The "weak point" in Karma derived from that — had already been analyzed.
Moments later, Ermes broke free from the vortex of flames.
He had already acquired an extremely high resistance to
Fire heaven judgment
—and the same magic would never work on him again. Moreover—
"Nn...!"
The resurrected Karma kneaded his magic power.
And so, irrationally, absurdly. Everything that they had obtained through countless ages of training—he reproduced it all effortlessly, with just a single glance—
"Something like this... wait?"
—Before him.
A flash of steel from the side. Just as he was about to reproduce—
Fire heaven judgment
—Lucius's sword flash, having silently erased his footsteps and presence to creep close, cleaved off Karma's right arm.
The arm regenerated immediately, but the magic activation was forcibly canceled. Without flinching in the slightest from Karma's intimidation, now directed at him with full consciousness and killing intent, Lucius calmly declared.
"Sorry, but—"
And at the same time.
"Formula Replay—
Four winds of the heavenly demon
"
Ermes's magic, following right after.
Together with a fierce gale, wind blades bounced about in every direction, slicing Karma to ribbons.
In time with that, Lucius spoke the words that followed—thus.
"—I won't give you time to copy me."
"I don't have the leisure to sit around letting you evolve, nor the margin to spare. ...I won't give you any chance to counterattack, so I'd appreciate it if you'd just take the hit."
That was the first countermeasure Ermes had devised against Karma.
Its abilities were overwhelming. Any spell shown once was rendered useless—it would be instantly countered, learned, and turned to its own use. It was truly worthy of being called a complete superior version of Ermes.
But. If that were the case, then it must have also inherited Ermes's very flaws.
Put simply, the "countermeasures used to defeat itself" could be applied as-is.
And Ermes's weakness—it was vulnerable to spells seen for the first time.
It could learn any spell. Conversely, to learn any spell, it first had to take the time to observe.
Against Karma, the same held true.
Therefore, the most effective approach was a brute-force strategy—put simply,
First-time
spells,
endlessly
hammered
in,
over and over,
hammered
and crushed—
that's what works.
First, to make that happen, Ermes unleashed every spell it had been holding in reserve all at once.
"Formula Replay—'
Radiant Guardian Saint
'"
Naturally, a single use would be analyzed. It would be countered in the blink of an eye.
But to analyze it, she had to take the hit at least once—no, he would force only that necessity. No dodging would be permitted, nor would observation. Ermes would handle the guidance and the gaps between spells, and Lucius would cover the rest.
"Formula Replay—'
Heaven-Turning Thunderbolt
'"
Ermes slammed a spell in, and Lucius followed up. Then Ermes followed up again with another spell.
An unrelenting assault from the two strongest fighters in the Third Princess's faction. There was no way she could break free—this one-sided development was being forced upon her. Naturally, Karma used her body's innate regeneration alongside healing magic to resist with everything she had—
That, too, had already been analyzed.
No matter how extraordinary the restorative ability she'd inherited from a Monster might be, it couldn't be infinite. Factoring in the total volume of Magic power that had been observed... if Ermes used every spell she'd accumulated so far, the numbers came out to a clean kill.
"'
Meteor Throne
'" "'
Apocryphal: Breath of the Flame Dragon
'"
"Wha—wait, wha—this is—!"
A note of panic began to bleed into Karma's voice.
But they didn't let up. After all—the ones who had prepared this meticulously, who were now attacking simultaneously, were Ermes and Lucius: the two strongest combatants in the entire kingdom.
The moment you allow the first strike, it's already checkmate. Thinking you can turn things around from there is nothing short of fatal hubris, and nothing more.
This is war. There is no aesthetic in perfectly laying bare every card in your hand—what is ideal is to leave no room for resistance and cut the enemy down completely.
To thoroughly embody that ideal, Ermes proceeded to lay bare all of his magic, one after another.
Smashing down, smashing down, cornering, cornering, driving to the brink—
And at the very end—
—Karma twisted his beautiful face into something wicked.
The next chapter is scheduled to be updated on Saturday, October 29th.
There might be weekly updates from here on out—sorry about that...!
I'll do my best to maintain the quality, so please make sure to keep reading from next time onward!