“What… is this?”
Sophie was extremely shocked. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
It seemed Via had completely released all restrictions on the Demon King Armament and fused with Desolate Fire, transforming into a Demon King Abyssal Beast.
In her previous life, she had never seen Ville use this move.
She gradually realized something.
Via wasn’t lacking in talent. It was simply different from her own situation. What she had inherited wasn’t the holy power talent from their mother’s side.
This was very likely from their father’s bloodline.
“Roar!!”
While Sophie was still stunned, the Demon King Abyssal Beast let out a long howl and charged across the Yamar River.
“Divine Might Armament: Attack Mode!”
Sophie realized that keeping the Divine Might Armament in defense mode might not be enough to withstand the Demon King Abyssal Beast’s assault.
If that was the case, she might as well go all out and launch her own attack.
She concentrated her sword intent onto the silver sword in her hand.
The four swords behind her flew forward, piercing through the space distorted by Abyssal Force, shooting straight toward the Demon King Abyssal Beast. Although they couldn’t tear through the flame outer layer, they still managed to slow down its charge.
Once her sword intent was fully gathered, Sophie raised her weapon.
“Storm Sword!”
Sword qi stirred up a violent storm on the Yamar River. The howling gale felt like a pair of invisible giant hands gripping the Demon King Abyssal Beast.
The Demon King Abyssal Beast condensed murky Abyssal Force in its mouth, compressing it to the extreme before firing it out. Like an abyssal beam, it tore a hole through the wind curtain created by the sword qi and broke free from the restraint.
The Demon King Abyssal Beast’s attack washed over the Divine Might Armament. Aside from another fierce mental shock, Sophie’s body also took a heavy blow. She felt as if her internal organs had shifted. A sweetness rose in her throat, and the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
Even in this state, her pupils suddenly contracted. She poured holy power into the silver sword, causing the legendary weapon to shine with sacred golden light.
“Haaah!!”
Without any fancy techniques, Sophie swung at the charging Demon King Abyssal Beast, unleashing a golden streak of light that struck its body.
The Demon King Abyssal Beast paused for a moment. It grabbed the silver sword with its claw. The purifying holy power rapidly dissolved the Abyssal Force around its body. At the same time, it swung its other arm and delivered a powerful elbow strike to Sophie’s body.
The Demon King Abyssal Beast forcefully pulled the silver sword out of its body and hurled it toward a nearby mountain peak.
“Aaah!”
Boom!
Sophie was sent flying once again. In mid-air, she recalled the other silver swords, adjusted her posture, and stabbed them into the surface of the Yamar River to brake herself. After creating a massive ripple, she finally came to a stop.
“Selina, you really are one tough cockroach. After taking hits like that, you can still hold on. Anyone else would’ve already been turned into minced meat.”
Via’s laughter came from within the Demon King Abyssal Beast’s mouth.
Blood trickled down Sophie’s forehead, staining her eye sockets red.
“Hmph.”
The nature of the battle had changed.
The reason she could still confront Via was because of the ten layers of blessing sacred arts she had cast on herself and the energy of the Divine Might Armament. Under such extraordinary enhancement, she possessed incredible combat power.
But once those two things were exhausted, she would have no way to stop this black-flamed monster.
However, the opponent’s Abyssal Force was clearly not infinite either. Using such a brutal and out-of-control fighting style must also be consuming an enormous amount of energy.
“I will kill you, Ville. Whether it’s karma from the previous life or anything about past and present lives—I don’t care at all. As long as you stand in my way, I will kill you!”
The Demon King Abyssal Beast raised its massive claw and slashed downward. The claw strike sliced the Yamar River apart.
Sophie dodged to the side. With the amplification from her blessing sacred arts, she barely avoided the attack.
Unfortunately, the mountain peak behind her wasn’t so lucky. The black-flamed claw strike pulverized the summit, turning it into a landslide of falling rocks.
“You don’t care? You don’t care about the people who died because of you either, right?”
After hearing Via’s response, Sophie’s emotions spiraled out of control. Anger surged across her face.
“You started the war between the demon race and humanity! In April of Theia Calendar Year 725, you sent the demon army to attack Hes Town. You destroyed the orphanage and had the demons slaughter everyone inside!!”
Via fell silent for a moment.
She remembered that in her previous life, Selina had questioned her with similar words.
Her reply back then had been—
“So what?”
“How boring. Whether that’s true or not—” Sophie was stunned for a second. At that time, she no longer had any interest in communicating with any human, and she couldn’t be bothered to waste words explaining.
“Your words can’t be trusted!”
“Whether you believe it or not has nothing to do with me!”
The Demon King Abyssal Beast leaped high into the air. It brought its claws together and smashed them down toward Sophie.
“Divine Might Five Swords: Unification!”
Sophie quickly focused all her attention on the battle before her. She cast aside all distracting thoughts and merged all five weapons of the Divine Might Armament into a single sword to confront the Demon King Abyssal Beast.
Huff… Huff…
Sophie knelt on one knee on the river’s surface. The blood flowing from her body had already dyed the river red.
The hand gripping her sword trembled nonstop.
Except for the spot where Little Ha was staying, the area around the Yamar River had turned into complete ruins, looking as if a catastrophe had swept through.
The Demon King Abyssal Beast crouched on the water with all four limbs, its crimson eyes fixed intently on the red-haired girl.
“I’m almost… at my limit…”
Although Sophie looked quite battered, she had persisted until now through sheer willpower and determination.
However, she was approaching her limit. In less than a minute, both the energy of the Divine Might Armament and her own holy power would be completely exhausted.
The next strike would decide the outcome.
“Roar!!”
The Demon King Abyssal Beast also seemed eager to end this battle. After letting out a roar, it charged forward madly.
As its speed increased, it left behind a massive trail of black flames.
From within the black flames, a second Demon King Abyssal Beast suddenly split off. After running alongside the first for a short distance, it veered off in another direction.
From two different angles—one from the front and one from behind—they launched a pincer attack on Sophie.
Sophie looked back and forth between the two Demon King Abyssal Beasts, her brows tightly furrowed.
One of them should be the real body, while the other was most likely a decoy created for a feint attack.
Which one was it?