There was no cross necklace on Ville’s body.
Sophie, clad in the Divine Might Armament, had already confirmed this during their earlier clash.
The Demon King probably wasn’t her little sister.
“In that case, I have no need to hold back against you,” Sophie said.
“Hold back? Do I need something like that?” the Demon King sneered. “Instead of spouting such meaningless words, you should think about your last words for what’s coming next.”
“I hope you can actually do it, instead of just talking big.”
Sophie raised her sword.
After her previous life’s death, the Divine Might Armament had been reclaimed by the Holy Land and stored in the Hall of Heroes, where it had been preserved.
After the Pope laid his cards on the table, he had also mentioned that if necessary she could use the Divine Might Armament to confront the Demon King.
Recently some ominous premonitions had arisen in her heart, as if sensing that the Demon King would appear once more.
Therefore, on the day she set out for Kado City, she had taken the Divine Might Armament with her.
As it turned out, her premonition came true—she really encountered her previous life’s archenemy in Kado City.
Sophie executed a refined movement technique.
In this life she used the Instant Shadow Step!
She had barely cultivated it at all and could only rely on memories from her previous life to perform the old moves.
Although the effect seemed somewhat lacking, the Divine Might Armament’s ability to enhance bodily functions compensated well for this, bringing her very close to her previous life’s level.
“Abyssal Bullet! Reflect!!!”
Via waved her hand, launching a large number of magic bullets from behind her.
She knew that simply predicting the opponent’s movements was a mistake—her reactions might not keep up, since the other party was the renowned Silver Sword Princess.
Thus she changed her approach, suppressing her archenemy by increasing her firepower.
“Purification Spell!”
Sophie placed her gauntlet on the weapon and swiftly wiped it, releasing holy power to infuse the blade.
Holy power was inherently at the opposite extreme from Abyssal Force, in a mutually restraining relationship.
The silver sword, enhanced by holy power, unleashed a slash that carved a gap through the barrage created by the Abyssal Bullets.
“When did you master holy power?”
Via was quite surprised to see this scene.
“In the battles of your previous life, the Silver Sword Princess never used holy power.”
“You have no chance of winning, Ville!” Sophie advanced further toward the Demon King.
Via raised her sword, intending to counter the oncoming Silver Sword Princess.
“Damn it!”
“Star-Breaking Slash!”
Sophie unleashed another powerful sword technique.
This time she swung out a dazzling golden sword wind that pierced through the Demon King’s body.
However, after severing the Demon King’s waist, she felt no impact whatsoever.
This… was a fake body?!
The split Demon King rapidly transformed, turning into pitch-black chains that wrapped around the silver armor.
Moreover, a magic array emerged on the ground right beneath her feet.
The magic array beneath her lit up with one rune after another, and from the center of the array brilliant light and scorching energy overflowed.
Boom!!!
The exploding magic array shook Sophie back several steps.
Although the Divine Might Armament blocked most of the impact, her entire body felt dizzy and disoriented, nearly unable to stand steady.
Her body, which had not yet reached the Transcendent tier, was still far too lacking in quality.
Using such a legendary armament felt overly straining.
“Hmph, hurry up and bring it out!” Via looked down from above, overlooking the Silver Sword Princess from the remnants of the building. “How pathetic, Selina. Where’s that arrogant attitude you had earlier?”
“When exactly did you set up that fake body just now?” Sophie asked.
Sophie clicked her tongue. “So those magic bullets were all to divert my attention. Of course it was when I fired the magic bullets.”
“Hmph, nothing but cowardly tricks. If you’re still a man, fight me head-on!”
“Fight you head-on? Heh.”
Via let out a cold laugh.
“Come on, guess right now—am I, standing here, the real body or a fake one? If you guess correctly, there’s no reward, but if you guess wrong, there will be a punishment!”
“I don’t need to guess.”
Sophie did not rashly advance.
This time she used the paired sword from the Divine Might Armament to launch a long-range strike.
From the highest point a silver sword descended, piercing through the Demon King’s body.
The Demon King’s body twisted, and rock-attribute mana leaked out, transforming into a rock prison that engulfed everything around it.
If she had launched a close-range attack earlier, she might very well have been trapped by the rock prison now.
“Ville, no matter how many fake bodies you can create, it’s useless. I’ll break every single one you make!”
Sophie released all the swords floating around her.
She dispersed her sword intent into each sword, putting these highly lethal weapons into automatic targeting mode, and struck at all the Demon King’s fake bodies on the battlefield.
The dual consumption of sword intent and holy power was taxing, but as long as she could defeat her archenemy these costs meant nothing.
To boost efficiency she had also used holy power, which was truly wearing her down.
Next the battle entered a prolonged phase.
The Demon King continuously created fake bodies laced with traps, avoiding direct combat.
The Silver Sword Princess kept shattering the Demon King’s fake bodies one after another.
After a period of stalemate Sophie began to show signs of fatigue.
The energy consumption to maintain the Divine Might Armament was simply too great; it wasn’t suited for extended battles.
After all, even at Diamond rank, supporting the energy demands of such a legendary armament was overly straining.
“Desolate Fire!!!”
Via, who had been lying in wait, did not miss this opportunity.
She had guessed correctly; the opponent was in a similar situation and could not afford to drag it out.
Before her own mana ran dry the Silver Sword Princess had finally shown a slight opening.
Without any hesitation she poured the remaining scant Abyssal Force into the demonic blade.
Desolate Fire blazed fiercely, whipping up an unstoppable pitch-black fiery gale.
Under her control it pressed down toward the Silver Sword Princess.
It was too late.
Sophie wanted to recall the other swords, but there was not enough time.
Due to the excessively wide attack range she could not dodge either, so she assumed a defensive stance.
However, the pitch-black fiery gale was like a raging giant beast, smashing through her defenses, blasting her away and causing her to lose balance as she crashed to the ground.
“Perfect!”
Great! Via rejoiced inwardly.
She knew that due to the Divine Might Armament her full-powered strike was not enough to kill the opponent.
Forcing her exhausted body into motion she pursued.
Thud!
The Silver Sword Princess slammed onto the ground.
Via had already raised Desolate Fire, but she suddenly froze, the weapon halting in midair.
Under the impact just now the faceplate of the Divine Might Armament had shattered, revealing the Silver Sword Princess’s true appearance.
Rose-like red long hair, crimson eyes, and a face extremely similar to her own.
She never dreamed that the Silver Sword Princess standing before her would actually be her own sister.