“Die———!”
The Void Lord approached us with a speed that belied its massive body, unleashing a fist about a meter long, enveloped in pitch-black magical power.
In that moment, the air was pushed out with tremendous pressure, creating a sonic boom that hit us with a force strong enough to crush an ordinary person.
“This———《Void Slash》!!”
Before I could defend with magic, Hera sliced through the shockwave, which shouldn’t even be a physical object, in half with her black blade.
Normally, one would be blown away by the shock before cutting it… but it seemed easy for Hera, who was in spirit assimilation.
As expected of Hera.
Despite her cuteness, she’s incredibly strong; that’s truly the essence of a gap moe.
“———I need to focus.”
I steeled myself against the Void Lord, who had summoned the evil gods, and swiftly moved in front of Hera, defeating the evil gods along the way.
Once more, I transformed the Thunderbolt Keraunos into my gauntlet to brace for the immense and powerful fist that followed the shock.
“Shin-kun!?”
“Ugh… This brute strength…《Lightning Speed》!!”
I activated the lightning coursing through my body and kicked off the ground, propelling myself forward without any running start.
With my speed, I negated the fist’s power and sent it flying back.
“Guo…!?”
“Surprised? Your proud strength couldn’t hold up against me.”
I approached the staggering Void Lord, sparks flying, and delivered a full-powered punch to its face.
My fist, moving at a speed beyond human capability, sent the magical power surrounding the Void Lord flying, easily launching its massive body away.
However— the Void Lord quickly regained its footing and unleashed a kick, propelled by pitch-black magic trailing behind it like a comet, with the same speed it had approached me earlier.
I was momentarily taken aback but instantly deflected the kick with both hands and kicked off the air to create some distance.
“Guh… It penetrated through…”
I immediately severed my discolored arm and generated a new one with magic.
Since this body is currently a magical body, I wouldn’t die unless everything is annihilated in an instant.
Losing an arm hurts proportionately… but, to put it positively, that’s about it.
I was already accustomed to pain, so it effectively had no real disadvantage.
I gripped the sword-like Thunderbolt Keraunos with my resurrected arm and swung it down with all my might.
“Guuuuooo———!?”
“Aaaaaaah《Thunder Explosion》!!”
In an instant——— the lightning enveloping the sword exploded, the force and destructive power cleaving through its thick leg.
“GUAAAAAAAHHHH!?”
The explosion shredded it, and from the mangled, ghastly cross-section, an enormous amount of black blood gushed out, pouring down like rain.
Furthermore, each drop of blood contained a massive amount of《Corruption》magic, and when it touched me, it sizzled as if my body were dissolving in acid.
“What a filthy and dangerous rain, damn it…”
I complained while using lightning to obliterate the blood splattering onto Hera.
However… I hadn’t screamed when I was shot in the gut earlier; why was I screaming so much this time?
My attack hadn’t changed in any significant way…
“No— is its regeneration ability weakening?”
“Shin-kun? What do you mean?”
Hera, who had been battling the evil gods, landed near me, exuding a powerful pressure toward them.
The summoned evil gods seemed quite strong, as Hera was panting heavily.
Yet, it also revealed the reason for its apparent pain.
“It’s likely that… it also has a time limit, just like us. Moreover, having just leveled up today, it got overconfident and took unnecessary damage. So, it’s consumed too much power, making it difficult to maintain its current form.”
“Indeed, we’ve been avoiding its attacks.”
Yes, while we used magic, we hadn’t regenerated most of our bodies.
Regeneration requires an enormous amount of magical power, and the more we regenerate, the less time we have to maintain our bodies.
“I see… then if we move to drain that monster’s power, can we defeat it?”
“Yeah. Right now, completely annihilating it is impossible, but if it’s expended enough power that it can’t maintain its body, we can make it disappear.”
“Then we have only one thing to do.”
Hera readied her black and white blades, enveloping her body and weapons in vast magical power.
At the same time— one side of her hair and her eyes, along with the arm wielding the black blade, became dyed jet black, and silver and black magic poured out like wings.
“———We’ll attack with all our might! Together, me and Shin-kun!”
With confidence shining in her strong gaze and expression, Hera’s appearance captivated me.
She truly is remarkable like this!
Suppressing my rising excitement, I opened my mouth.
“———I will accompany you wherever you go, Hera.”
I stood next to Hera, whom I had always dreamed of being with, holding the Thunderbolt sword and filling my whole body with lightning.
In that moment, lightning wrapped around me, glowing pale blue, illuminating my hair and eyes in the same hue.
And then—
“「Haaaahhhhhh!!」”
———We both launched forward at the same time.
