Chapter 58

「H-Hera… that form…？」

After blasting away the magic bullets coming from all directions with my Thunderous Keraunos, I asked while applying a healing potion to Arthur’s wounds.

In response, Hera, with her silver hair fluttering and wearing a matching short silver dress, flashed a proud grin and placed her hands on her hips, pushing out her chest.

She looked incredibly cute. Especially since this was the first time I’d seen her in this form, she seemed even more adorable. It was almost indecent, but I felt like I could take a thousand photos with a DSLR camera right now.

“This form is———‘Spirit Fusion: Dragon God’! When I woke up, I heard that you were fighting Bahamut, so I rushed over. This just happened by chance during that.”

Normally, achieving ‘Spirit Fusion’ by chance is no simple feat. But since it’s Hera, I guess it’s not surprising. Let’s just accept that it’s Hera, after all.

Her in that dress was so cute that my stamina immediately recovered.

“Still… what the hell is that thing? It’s even stronger than Satan.”

“Well, it became a god. It absorbed a divine relic that contains all the records of this world.”

“…That’s so unfair.”

I totally get why Hera, who’s always worked hard for her power, would call it unfair, and I wholeheartedly agree with her.

“Who the hell are you, woman?” “I have no name to give to a coward———‘Twin Divine Blades of Black and White’.”

At Hera’s words, two swords, one black and one white, each engraved with the image of a dragon, appeared before her. Each sword emanated an immense power, rivaling that of my Thunderous Keraunos. The black sword exuded a fierce magic, while the white sword overflowed with a calm magic.

Hera grasped the hilts of the swords, glanced at Arthur, and spoke.

“You should stop here.”

“…But…”

“You have your fiancée, Maria, don’t you? If you go back all battered, she’ll faint on the spot.”

“…You’re right… I understand. I’ll stay back since I can’t use Spirit Fusion. But, Shin.”

“What?”

“Let me protect the academy. I can’t just stand by and watch.”

Arthur looked at me with eyes full of determination. Indeed, his wind magic excels at defense. If Arthur protects the academy, I can fight with everything I’ve got.

“Understood. I’ll leave the academy to you, Arthur. In return, leave this fight to us.”

“Alright. Don’t die, Shin.”

“You know… saying that kind of thing is just asking for trouble.”

When I said this, exasperated, Arthur chuckled softly.

“Haha, true. But———you’re good at breaking death flags, aren’t you?”

This guy… says some clever stuff sometimes.

“Yeah, I guess I am. I might be the best flag breaker in the world.”

With that, Arthur smiled once more and returned to the academy with Aura.

“———You won’t get away!”

“I won’t let you! ‘Hundred Thunder’, ‘Thunder Prison’!”

At the same time, the Void Lord unleashed countless magic bullets, but I instantly struck them down with lightning and trapped the Void Lord in a prison of thunder. In that moment, Arthur and Aura completed their spell.

“———‘Cradle of the Divine Wind!!’”

A gentle divine wind blew, softly enveloping the academy. After confirming that, I dispelled my magic. Once again, I could use a vast amount of magical power.

“Alright… I have to make sure I don’t become a burden.”

I layered my ‘Thunder Armor’ multiple times with 50% more power than before and set it to automatically activate again whenever it disappeared. Hera is better suited to support in close combat rather than from a distance.

“Shin, are you ready?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Just be careful, it’s coming out soon.”

“I know.”

Hera readied her swords, and immense black and white magic power surged from both blades. I can’t afford to fall behind either. I transformed my entire body into lightning, morphing my Thunderous Keraunos into gauntlets and fully switching to close-combat mode.

“———Haaaaahhh!!”

“Now!” “———Understood.”

Before I even finished speaking, I had already closed the distance to the Void Lord, suppressing all the lightning in my body into my fist and striking with all my might. The Void Lord reacted, but before it could defend, my fist reached its solar plexus, and it was blown away like a ball.

“———Guhah?! Damn you———”

“———Don’t forget about me.”

The Void Lord tried to block Hera’s black and white swords, but its arms were sliced through as though the corrosive magic they contained had never existed. Yet, the evil god regenerated its arms instantly and reached out, trying to grab Hera’s neck.

Hera, currently in midair, couldn’t perform a swift counter like a swallow’s return.

But—there’s no way I would allow it to touch her.

“‘Thunderous Keraunos: Blade’!”

In an instant, I transformed Thunderous Keraunos into a blade, severing the Void Lord’s outstretched arm and burning it with lightning to slow down its regeneration.

“Gyaaahhh———!? Damn it… I could easily kill each of you one-on-one…!”

“Normally, two against one might be unfair, but you became strong without any effort, so you don’t get to complain about fairness.”

Hera followed up, relentlessly slashing with her black and white swords. However, her strikes weren’t reckless. Every blow was perfectly calculated to deny the enemy any chance to counterattack.

Well, I can’t just stand here and watch.

“‘Thunder Needle’.”

I generated ultra-thin needles of lightning and fired them at the precise moments, using my enhanced vision and brain to avoid interfering with Hera’s sword strikes. The lightning needles pierced through the narrow gaps in her attacks, breaking through the Void Lord’s armor of corrosive magic and embedding themselves into its body.

In that instant———

“Gyaaahhh!? Wh-What is this…!?”

Lightning surged through the Void Lord’s body, burning it from the inside out. Burning is more effective than cutting since it kills the cells, slowing down its regeneration.

“———Hera!!”

“Nice, Shin! Haaaaaahhh!!”

With a single, lightning-fast slash, Hera attempted to sever the Void Lord, but———

“The game is over.”

———her blade only managed to sink into its arm without fully cutting through.

“D-Damn… I can’t pull it out…!!”

As Hera tried to pull her sword free, it was stuck as if glued in place. The Void Lord grinned at her struggles, and at the same time, all my senses screamed, ‘Save Hera!’

Following that instinct, I rushed toward the Void Lord———

“‘Thunderquake Slash’!!”

I vibrated my sword at an ultra-high speed, slicing through the Void Lord’s arm as if grinding it down. Simultaneously, I pulled Hera into my arms and dashed away from the spot.

No sooner had I done so than———an enormous wave of dark light surged from all directions, aimed right at us.

“Shin!?”

“Keep your mouth shut, or you might bite your tongue.” “…!!”

As soon as I saw Hera clamp her mouth shut, I dodged the incoming wave by a hair’s breadth.

When the wave finally subsided———

“———Now the real battle begins…!”

The Void Lord had transformed into a grotesque, stitched-together monster, over 20 to 30 meters tall, composed of various creatures.

The overwhelming pressure it radiated signaled the final battle.