Fwoosh!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dark spears and magic bullets collide endlessly in the air.
The moment those spears withstand basic magic bullets, it’s already clear that woman has reached her limit.
She only survived because she’s insane.
I never expected that fight in the Eldakrad Mausoleum to lead me straight to her weakness.
“Damn it. That wretched woman. Where the hell did you get this kind of power? Even the fake Lord wasn’t this strong, so how did someone like you—?!”
‘Does she not know how to do the math?’
Eldakrad single-handedly fought the Demon King’s army and Seto.
In other words, he took on two of the Four Heavenly Kings and the Demon King’s army at once.
Even excluding Berna, who had just become a Heavenly King, he still displayed overwhelming strength right at the Demon King’s doorstep.
People used to say the reason he never obtained the Holy Sword was simply because he was destined to die.
And yet, these two struggled against him.
Now that I think about it, I could probably take her down even in this body.
At this level, I might as well provoke her.
“You’re the one who’s way too weak.”
“Do you even know who I am before you spout that nonsense?! I am Berna, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s army, wielding the Power of Corruption!”
Dark spears filled the sky.
My provocation worked.
In Eldakrad’s memories, the Saint was sharp-minded—at least before she fell into corruption.
She had lived with the resolve to sacrifice herself for others.
Even Eldakrad acknowledged that about her.
But look at her now.
She kills people without a second thought and takes pride in being one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
‘Isn’t it a bit late to be flaunting that title now?’
I got mine for free from Pector, after all.
“I don’t care if you’re Berna or Bernoa. Did you get that title by running your mouth? Why are you talking so much?”
I grinned as I spoke.
Honestly, I enjoy talking during battles.
The more someone talks, the more openings they reveal.
Even Pector isn’t this bad.
Of course, unless she’s completely brain-dead, she might just be stalling for time to recharge her magic.
I’ll allow it.
The humans below, whose bodies themselves are being used as magic circuits—no, as demon energy circuits—are pitiful.
But that’s their fate.
I need some recovery time too.
That corrupted woman may be regaining her magic, but she still hasn’t recovered the power she used to control Eldakrad.
Considering how much weaker I am compared to my time as Noah, the fact that she’s struggling against me says everything.
Even in death, Eldakrad proves useful to Ashtar.
‘But even if she recovers here, how much could she possibly regain?’
“You should have stayed away from the mausoleum.”
‘If she had, she might have been able to fight me on even footing.’
Instead, she betrayed Eldakrad and then had the audacity to cling to his tomb like some crazed lover, weeping over the fake Lord.
I can’t help but laugh.
‘What an idiot.’
‘Why are all the Heavenly Kings so messed up?’
Well, except for Pector.
“Die!”
A massive sphere of darkness hurtled toward me.
Hmm, is that the kind of attack that could wipe out an entire village?
I don’t know exactly how it works, but wherever it lands, the ground turns into the barren wasteland of the Demon King’s domain.
Even living beings.
Basically, if an ordinary person so much as touches it, they’ll disappear.
The countermeasure is simple.
So ridiculously simple that all I have to do is teleport and slap her.
I teleported right next to Berna.
Smack!
“Kyahhh!”
Boom!
Berna, who had been mid-cast, took the hit straight on and crashed into a building.
Well, she built that place herself, so it doesn’t matter.
A so-called Heavenly King, and she screams just from getting hit.
The black sphere that had been floating in the air vanished.
“You know what’s pathetic? A weakling pretending to be strong when she folds the moment we fight up close. But I see you managed to recover a bit after using that.”
No matter how much she recovers, I’ll make sure she understands her limits.
“What a brute.”
“A brute? Who the hell would just stand there and say, ‘Oh, please, do throw that at me’? Are you stupid? Oh wait, you must be, since you couldn’t even tell apart the person you loved.”
I was giving her time to recover magic, but I never said I’d let her hit me.
“I won’t let this slide.”
“And what exactly are you gonna do about it?”
“I won’t let this slide. I won’t let this slide. I won’t let this slide. I won’t let this slide. I won’t let this slide. I won’t let this slide. I won’t let this slide. I won’t let this slide. I won’t let this slide. I won’t let this slide.”
Berna waved her hand.
Before I knew it, a horde of demons appeared behind her.
No. Not demons. Something a little different.
The ones she summoned carried tattered imperial banners.
So, they’re former Imperial soldiers.
“These men once served the fake Lord. Now, they have sworn loyalty to the true Lord and stand under my command. And yet, you still think you’re right?”
‘Hmm. So that army used to be Eldakrad’s subordinates?’
Humans corrupted by the power of her authority.
What a shame.
‘But what does she expect me to do with that information?’
There’s no point in arguing about it.
The answer is painfully simple.
I replied in a monotone voice.
“Oh.”
That woman is, without a doubt, insane.
‘If I were still just Noah, she wouldn’t have reacted this strongly.’
‘But since I—Olivia—carry Eldakrad’s bloodline, it sets her off.’
The woman I had already beaten down gave a new command to her corrupted army.
“Kill her! Prove that I was right!”
To her, my existence itself is proof that she was wrong.
So Berna sent her corrupted army charging toward me.
I casually swung my sword.
Shhhhhk!
Pector’s authority—no, now my authority—the Authority of Justice, reduced the corrupted army to dust.
My mere existence is enough to make that woman self-destruct.
I haven’t even used my full strength.
And yet, she suddenly loses control, spiraling into hysteria.
“With those same eyes as that fake Lord! With that same power, don’t you dare come after me!”
“I’m not even doing that.”
‘Does my face really resemble Eldakrad that much?’
“You spawn of Ashtar! You look so much like that fake Lord—so much that I want to kill you! Just die already!”
***
The world darkens.
This is a technique I’ve never seen before.
Rumble…
A touch of that black energy stains my fingertips.
Ah, so this is demonic energy.
It even corrupts mana.
‘Was this the fundamental technique Berna used to corrupt her army?’
According to eyewitnesses, an eerie black aura had once engulfed them.
With my body fused with mana, taking this head-on would be fatal.
“Hmm. This is annoying.”
‘Was fusing with mana a mistake?’
No. The benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.
Besides, only twisted people like Berna use techniques like this.
“Ahahaha! Even with your mana-fused body, this is the end for you!”
At least she’s using her head.
She’s not just an insane woman—she actually thought this through.
‘But why didn’t she consider the opposite scenario?’
That dark mass quickly spreads, covering not only my surroundings but the entire castle.
“Hahaha! Why don’t you just teleport away? Oh, but you can’t, can you? The entire area is sealed with a barrier!”
She just handed me the answer.
‘Is this woman an idiot?’
‘She thought she could trap someone stronger than her?’
She never considered that she might be the one dying here.
So, I decided to return the favor.
“This seems to be a concentrated release of demonic energy in a confined space.”
More precisely, a rapidly expanding corruption that transforms the surrounding mana into demonic energy.
But naturally, the reverse is also possible.
I infused mana into the spreading demonic energy, overwhelming it.
‘If the corruption spreads, I just have to flood it with more mana to consume it.’
“You think I’ll just stand here and let you do that?!”
Berna conjured a spear of darkness.
“A Saint was originally meant to wield holy power. But since she fell into corruption, it’s only natural she would use black magic.”
“What’s your point?”
“And those who have mastered magic can convert demonic energy back into mana.”
Sizzle—
The corruption staining my body slowly purified into mana.
It’s just like with the shards.
The only difference is whether they’re inside or outside my body.
Naturally, before she can even throw that dark spear, her darkness meets its end.
Shhhhkk!
The shadows fade away.
Berna’s face contorts in shock.
“What the hell are you?! How can you—”
“I’m an Archmage. Unlike you, who clings to borrowed power and has been throwing a tantrum for decades, I’m on another level. Completely.”
Now it’s my turn.
She keeps being a nuisance, so I might as well end this quickly.
‘Is this really the end?’
No.
Her eyes are trembling in fear.
She’s looking at me as if she’s seeing a nightmare.
Like a terrified rabbit facing a predator.
Which means the battle is already over.
“How… how are you standing there?”
I don’t even feel like talking anymore.
“What do you mean by that? Are you asking if I’m Noah? Or Olivia?”
I smirked.
I made sure to smile as wickedly as possible.
Then, I approached her.
Of course, she couldn’t run.
I don’t know what trauma is holding her back, but I need to take advantage of it while she’s frozen.
I sheathed my sword.
It’s time to get serious about beating her down.
Smack!
The first blow was to her face.
I don’t hold back just because she’s a woman.
If this were before, Siriana or Ella would have scolded me, but there’s no one here to do that now.
Smack!
What an infuriating woman.
I don’t know why, but just looking at her makes me angry.
So, I hit her a few more times.
One, two, three—without stopping, making sure she couldn’t even think about resisting.
She’s one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
She’ll endure.
She may look like a woman, but she’s not the type to die from a few punches.
“How… how can this be?”
“What?”
“How can you act like that fake Lord—so righteous, so certain that you can do anything?”
She’s talking too much.
I knocked her down and straddled her.
If this reality feels unfair, if she’s angry, if she’s that frustrated—
Then let her resent it.
Holy Attribute Infusion.
Mana Amplification.
I amplified mana in my fist.
Then, I struck her, embedding my fist with light that purges darkness.
Smack!
“If you hate it, you should’ve been stronger.”
Crack!
“You should’ve trusted Eldakrad.”
Smash!
“You shouldn’t have doubted your own love.”
Crack!
The ground beneath her fractured.
Her face was already a wreck.
“I don’t care! How the hell are you the Lord’s granddaughter?! You killed the Demon King!”
She still doesn’t get it.
Still raving, still lost in her delusions.
Then I’ll just have to force it into her thick skull.
The truth she already knows.
The truth that really drove her insane.
“You already know, don’t you?”
That the so-called ‘Demon King’ was a fake.
That the ‘fake Lord’ you killed was actually the real one.
Berna’s face twisted in pure, ugly hatred.