Chapter 478. Finis Belli 2
Cinzia brought the surviving members of the main attack party and teleported over.
BLAZE!
As soon as she arrived, she saw a 10-meter-long fiery pillar cutting through the air.
Cinzia frowned, thinking they were being attacked right away. However, the pillar struck where a lone, black warrior stood with a faintly s.h.i.+ning halberd in hand.
“Hugo?”
Cinzia’s eyes widened. His skin was already black, and because he was charred, she didn’t recognize him right away.
Soon, as if it ran out of energy, the flickering light on the halberd died out. At the same time, Hugo’s body collapsed feebly.
Agnes quickly shot out her threads and wrapped them around Hugo’s body. The smell of smoke reeked out as he was pulled close.
Agnes became lost for words at his pitiful state. His thick armor was caved in or broken in multiple places, making it hardly recognizable. The skin that was revealed from the broken parts of the armor was bright red. His cracked skin was drenched with blood, and yellow pus was flowing down from various parts of his body.
His arms were in an even worse state. They were so charred that Agnes couldn’t tell whether she was looking at a person’s arms or a pile of ashes.
“Euu.... Euu….”
The saving grace was that Hugo seemed to be alive. The soul living inside the halberd must have done all it could to help save its master’s life.
Hugo wasn’t the only one in this terrible state. Looking around, Cinzia’s throat drew a huge gulp.
Valhalla did not have many members for an organization, but each of them was a powerhouse that could not be looked down upon. Each and every one of them was a veteran who went to h.e.l.l and back while following Seol Jihu’s footsteps.
However, the vast majority of such powerhouses were lying collapsed on the ground.
Oh Rahee was kneeling with her arms blown off, and Yi Seol-Ah was crawling on the ground with her ankles crushed. Vlad Halep was completely unmoving with his limbs twisted at unnatural angles, and Kazuki was stuck inside the ground with only his legs peeking out.
“Fu… fuuuuuuck….”
At that moment, a faintly groaning person grabbed Agnes’ shoulder. The one muttering with fresh blood flowing down her lips was none other than Maria.
“H-Help me heal them…. I’m out of spells… and my artifact broke too….”
Maria shed tears of sadness while tightly holding onto the broken pieces of her crucifix.
Less than half of Valhalla’s members remained standing. Among them, none were unscathed.
Seeing Baek Haeju, whose long hair was disheveled and left arm was dangling, Cinzia clicked her tongue. If it weren’t for Baek Haeju and the phoenix, everyone would be lying on the ground as cold corpses.
Still, the situation was worse than she expected it to be.
Perhaps she had arrived right when Valhalla was about to fall. And since Valhalla was in such shambles, the enemy must not be in such a good state either.
Cinzia looked around, feeling somewhat hopeful. However, her expectations crumbled the moment she saw the bone dragon that was emanating a terrifying pressure.
The monstrous creature had some flesh wounds, but that was about it. Twisted Kindness did not seem even a little bit fazed. She proudly looked down at the reinforcements that arrived, like the number of enemies she had to face was not a matter of concern.
Cinzia sighed. It couldn’t be helped. Twisted Kindness was the strongest Army Commander and the true second-in-command of the Parasites.
Sung s.h.i.+hyun’s potential might have been a lot higher, but Twisted Kindness’ ability to control and utilize energy was far above his. After all, she had absorbed her divinity long before Sung s.h.i.+hyun did.
Given that Valhalla was facing such an enemy, it wasn’t surprising that they couldn’t kill her. In fact, all they could do was tenaciously hold on and buy time. Lasting until now was more than incredible.
“You… shooda… cwume… eawier….”
A groan rang out beside her.
“Swo… dwamn wate….”
You should have come earlier. So d.a.m.n late.
Cinzia needed some time to make sense of the words because the sound of the surrounding wind was louder than the person speaking.
“We did our best….”
Agnes was about to say something but stopped after turning to see the person who spoke. Hos.h.i.+no Urara’s eyes were bloodshot with veins popping out visibly. For some reason, she was covering her chin with her left hand, and her right hand, which was holding a katana, was shaking. This was the first time Agnes saw Hos.h.i.+no Urara like this.
Everyone in the reinforcement party had finished preparing for battle. No one said a word, but their bodies reacted to the killing intent overflowing in the area.
Was that why? An unknown terror seemed to creep up on their bodies.
They weren’t expecting this last battle to be easy… but they felt like they were facing a sky-piercing mountain after only having climbed small hills.
Inside such tension, Twisted Kindness scanned the surroundings before turning to look at the other battlefields.
Three Army Commanders had perished, and all of the Parasites’ Nests had been destroyed.
The outcome of the battles was coming to light. The vanguard had collapsed long ago, and both wings were being pushed back significantly.
The center army was in an even worse state. Teresa’s troops, led by the vengeful spirit unit, were close to breaking through to the rearmost battlefield.
Left, front, and right. The allied force began to swarm in from three directions, like ants busily running to gather around their target.
Seeing all of this, the corner of Twisted Kindness’ lips curled up. Until now, she had focused on getting away from Valhalla’s members. It was because she wanted to take care of other pressing matters before the war tilted against their favor.
However, she was unable to shake off Valhalla’s members. The allied force had successfully carried out their plan and turned the tide of war in their favor.
In other words, Twisted Kindness no longer had anything to worry about. Of course, she couldn’t deny that the situation was extremely disadvantageous for the Parasites.
The allied force’s plan was too meticulous. They killed Vulgar Chast.i.ty, bombarded Unsightly Humility with Thunders, and then used the opening created to ambush and annihilate the Nests. Even Twisted Kindness couldn’t help but admire their boldness and decisive tactic.
Not only that, but they had also revived the World Tree. They carried out all of these smaller plans with perfect accuracies, like gears turning together in harmony. She could tell just how much the allied force prepared ahead of this war.
‘Now that it’s come to this….’
Twisted Kindness kept calm and a.n.a.lyzed the situation.
‘The chances of me winning and leaving this battlefield alive is… close to zero.’
Because it was Twisted Kindness, she made an accurate judgment of the situation. She probably would not fall as easily as the other Army Commanders, but once she ran out of strength after continuous battling, she would undoubtedly be swept away.
Then what chance did the Parasites have of winning this war?
Even Twisted Kindness could not make an accurate judgment of this. Because in her eyes, the resources at the Parasite Queen’s disposal were completely unknown.
In any case, what was important to her was that she now had a place to die.
It wasn’t such a bad feeling. She had long since thrown away any desire to live. Now that she cast aside the desire to triumph, she felt much more lighthearted.
And so, Twisted Kindness revealed a broad grin. As soon as she finished organizing her thoughts, she brought out her reserve power.
A bright light instantly dyed the bone dragon white, and its body began to shrink rapidly. Twisted Kindness was returning to her original form.
Twisted Kindness was currently the only Army Commander to have fully absorbed a divinity. Unlike the other Army Commanders that changed form when they released their divinities, Twisted Kindness could easily decide what appearance she wanted to maintain.
Underneath her ivory-colored hair that flowed down like a waterfall, a pair of blood-colored, reptilian irises split open vertically.
Cinzia smacked her lips. The bone dragon was an easy target with its huge size, so the fact that she made herself smaller…
‘She must have no intention of dying easily.’
Just like Cinzia thought, Twisted Kindness’ battle intent was not broken in the slightest. In fact, it seemed to be blazing hotter than before, almost like she was enjoying the current situation.
Soon, Twisted Kindness’ energy surged up. Her hair flew up, and even the air around her seemed to rise.
Everyone shrunk back, overwhelmed by an unknown instinctive pressure. Though Twisted Kindness might have gotten smaller, her presence had multiplied by several-fold.
Just by releasing her energy, she caused a stifling pressure to blanket the ground.
“Good….”
A sword appeared in each of Twisted Kindness’ hands.
“Let’s see now….”
When she grabbed the twin swords dripping with blood…
Kw.a.n.g!
Something suddenly fell from the sky and struck the ground.
Everyone’s eyes widened in an instant.
“Ow, ow, ow….”
The man lying on the ground in a 大-position was none other than Seol Jihu.
It was a rather abrupt intrusion, so much so that even Twisted Kindness’ ever-constant face distorted from surprise.
Well, it looked more like he was thrown here rather than him intruding directly, but still… an opportunity was an opportunity.
“You!”
Twisted Kindness gripped her twin swords and moved quickly, aiming for Seol Jihu, who was getting up in fright.
It was then. The two of them seemed to meet in the air, but…
“Argh, out of the way!”
Puk!
Twisted Kindness’ head bent to the side with a violent beating sound. Seol Jihu had struck her face with his elbow while shooting up.
It seemed it wasn’t too impactful as Twisted Kindness quickly fixed her posture.
“...Ah?”
Blinking dazedly, she turned her head up. It was only then that she found out why Seol Jihu shot up in such a hurry.
In the sky, Seol Jihu was blocking a beam of light that the Parasite Queen shot out. If he hadn’t moved right away, everyone in the area would have been struck directly.
“Come on, are you really going to do this?”
Seol Jihu’s angry shout rang out.
And this time...
Kw.a.n.g!
The Parasite Queen was slammed into the ground.
“Y-Your Majesty!?”
Twisted Kindness’ jaw dropped.
“A chance!”
On the other hand, the allied force’s eyes gleamed.
In the next instance, however, they froze like a frog faced with a snake. It was because the Parasite Queen shot up in an instant and waved her wings.
Her bone wings swept across the ground. Just as the allied force’s members felt inestimable energy...
“You wis.h.!.+”
Kagagagak!
A familiar shout rang out, and the bone wings snapped off to the ground. And before anyone noticed, Seol Jihu was swinging the Spear of Purity at the Parasite Queen’s back.
The Parasite Queen grunted. When she shook her body forcefully, Seol Jihu hurriedly shot back.
“Just what don’t you like about me!?”
[You brat!]
The man and woman growled at each other.
“I told you to only look at me!”
[Enough of your nonsense!]
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
Eight explosive sounds resounded before the blink of an eye.
Everyone rapidly moved their eyes. Even Twisted Kindness could only follow the action a beat late. The sounds were coming from the left, right, and the direction of the capital. It was truly a battle spanning one heaven to another.
“Crybaby, you! If you keep looking at other guys, this oppa will get mad!!”
[You’re dead!]
All that was left was a friendly banter between the Parasite Queen and Seol jihu.
It seemed like a quick storm pa.s.sed by.
“That prankster….”
Agnes shook her head as she pushed her gla.s.ses up. She wasn’t laughing. Because what happened just now was a sign that the Parasite Queen was fighting in a broader area.
Put differently, it meant Seol Jihu could no longer keep her restricted to a single area.
Right. Seol Jihu was being pushed back. Slowly, but surely.
That was why he was blabbering nonsense as the Parasite Queen said. His goal was to keep the Parasite Queen in place. Provoking her was only a means to an end. All to keep the promise that he would hold out until everyone arrived.
Of course, the Parasite Queen wasn’t falling for it. Slamming Seol Jihu down on the rear battlefront was likely done intentionally.
And Twisted Kindness thought the same way. Although Seol Jihu thwarted the Parasite Queen twice, she had tried to support Twisted Kindness twice.
‘Why?’
Why did she broaden her area of battle, going so far as to suffer such indignity?
It didn’t take long before Twisted Kindness arrived at an answer. Noticing the Parasite Queen’s intent, Twisted Kindness glanced down at the allied force’s main force.
‘Though astronomically low….’
It must mean there is still a chance.
“...There was a bit of an interruption.”
Twisted Kindness mumbled to herself before saying.
“But why don’t we get started as well?”
Tense gazes fell on her from all sides. Both the allied force and the Parasites did not have much time left.
Finis.h.i.+ng her calculations in an instant, Twisted Kindness put out the longsword in her left hand and gripped the longsword in her right hand in reverse.
Bending her knees, she lowered her center of gravity.
“Heaven and Earth, All Creation.”
Her emotionless eyes glinted sharply for the first time.
“I will take at least half of you down with me.”
With the pride as the last Parasite Army Commander…
Twisted Kindness’ battle began.