“Boom!”
The sword of despair rose to cleave through my body.
I fired magic bullets. Bang! Bang bang!
If I had been a hero, I could have broken that sword with the holy blade long ago.
But the Demon King’s underlings are all monsters.
“Honestly, the Demon King’s one thing, but they’re all freaks.”
And the fact that they’re searching for me to fight means they’re insane.
“The one who defeated the Demon King shouldn’t be saying that.”
“It was just a trick.”
‘I wish they wouldn’t bring up the Demon King.’
‘Anyway, haven’t I talked enough? I’ve been rambling like a girl for ten minutes now. I can’t wield dark magic for too long. Prolonging this fight against the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings would be a mistake. ‘
My body feels heavier.
That guy’s looking tired too—understandable since he’s been holding back to keep Karchem’s army in check while fighting me.
‘It’s time to use it.’
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
I tilted my head back to look at the sky.
Rumble.
Luck is on my side.
It’s perfect for what I’m about to do.
Thunderclouds have gathered, and the wind and rain are strong.
With this environment, I can use that.
If I unleash a storm and blame it on nature, Karchem’s destruction can be written off as a natural disaster.
Besides, with the clouds already formed, I won’t need as much mana for a chantless spell.
Concentrating the clouds in one area should reduce the mana consumption further.
It’s a gamble, but one good strike is all I need.
If I channel the lightning into a single, spear-like point and drive it down, even Pector might not withstand it.
A drawn-out battle with sword magic is exhausting, and a grand spell is only feasible for one strike.
Either way, I’m at a disadvantage.
My only option is to aim for a decisive blow.
Clang!
Using teleportation, I block Pector’s attacks and channel mana into the storm clouds, molding them.
At the same time, I engrave layers of spells into my palm.
One layer for lightning magic.
Another for mana amplification.
Over and over, I repeat this process, embedding hundreds, thousands of spell formations.
Rumble. Crackle.
“What are you plotting? You can’t even cast Meteor anymore.”
As expected, Pector is trying to settle this with swordsmanship.
He’s chosen a favorable battlefield.
But there’s no way he doesn’t know this insults my pride.
Still, he has a blind spot.
He doesn’t know I have more than just Meteor.
“Do you think your magic immunity can withstand nature itself?”
“What?”
“Don’t assume Meteor is the only grand spell I have.”
I teleport one last time, using twice the mana I normally would.
It’s a costly move, but for a single decisive attack, it’s worth it.
At the same time, I fire magic bullets to create an opening.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As soon as the opening appears, the spell formations amplify the lightning magic to the extreme.
One strike. Precise control is essential. A single mistake, and all of Karchem could be annihilated. Until now, no civilians have been harmed, but if this spell goes wrong, every human in Karchem will die.
[Thunder Stake!]
Crackle. Sizzle. Zzzzzap!
BOOM!
A divine lightning bolt descends upon Pector from the heavens.
The ground shakes, and Karchem is swallowed by blinding light.
***
Amid countless demon corpses, a woman wiped blood from her sword.
“Pector, that coward. Too scared to face me himself, so he sends underlings instead?”
Her entire body was drenched in blood—all of it from the demons she had slain.
She estimated she had cut down around a thousand of them.
She was exhausted.
‘Could she face Pector in this state?’
“Would it have been easier if that guy had been here?”
She thought of Noah, who used to train the Empire’s army.
He had mocked her training methods, calling them ineffective.
[Switch places with me in the hero’s party, and I’ll whip your subordinates into shape.]
[And if you fail?]
[I’ll do whatever the great Swordmaster desires.]
Because of those words, she had taken Noah’s place in the hero’s party for a single day.
While she joined their mission to subjugate the Demon King’s forces within the Empire, Noah trained the Imperial army.
When she returned, her subordinates were completely transformed.
Their personalities and demeanor had changed dramatically—they had become ruthlessly battle-hardened, rivaling top adventurers.
But they seemed half-insane, eating raw monster meat without hesitation.
When she confronted Noah, he casually said, [I just put them through 24-hour training for three days.]
‘How could such drastic changes happen in just three days?’
She was curious about his methods but acknowledged they had undeniably benefited the Empire.
‘It’s just another memory now.’
Even now, those subordinates are probably drooling monster blood from their mouths.
If he were alive, he might have been closer to the royal family—or to me.
“To die just like that… How furious must he have been?”
What a regretful man.
It might’ve been better if the hero had died instead.
How enraged must he have been with that incompetent hero’s party to charge at the Demon King alone?
***
According to news from the kingdom, the upper echelons said that Hero Eugene claimed the mage Noah abandoned them.
But honestly, what kind of hero says something so pathetic?
Rumble.
While I was ranting about the hero’s party, gray clouds began to spread across the sky.
“Now there are storm clouds too? What terrible weather for meeting a Heavenly King.”
It’s like lightning could strike at any moment.
‘If only those clouds would just swallow Pector whole.’
And then Natalia saw it.
Crackle! BOOM!
“Huh?”
What could only be described as a massive force of nature descended.
A colossal lightning strike from the heavens crashed down on Karchem.
‘Well, someone granted my wish for once.’
‘Should she consider believing in the Goddess’s faith now?’
Come to think of it, there was news about a new Saintess.
Maybe she should visit the church sometime.
With her thoughts sorted, Natalia headed toward the center of Karchem.
***
Crash!
She emerged from the debris of dirt and rubble.
Dust clouds rose thickly around her.
“Ugh, damn. That really hurt.”
Her whole body throbbed with pain.
If she hadn’t compressed the lightning and deployed a shield at the last moment, she might’ve died.
If she hadn’t layered hundreds of spell formations, the lightning would’ve scattered in all directions.
Her ear was bleeding profusely—one ear might be permanently damaged.
That could be healed, but the real problem was Pector.
Pressing her temples, she struggled to collect herself.
To have survived that lightning strike in a human body—she might even consider herself lucky.
“This bastard better not die.”
If he died, what would happen to her? That was the real issue.
From what she knew, anyone who defeated a Heavenly King wouldn’t emerge unscathed.
She was already teetering on that edge.
The Demon King’s death hadn’t caused much trouble, but until the secrets surrounding the birth and death of the Heavenly Kings were unraveled, she couldn’t recklessly kill them.
She forced herself to stand.
Her shoulders ached painfully.
Maybe the extra fat on her chest was the problem.
***
Crash!
A man in shattered black armor appeared from beneath the wreckage of a building in Karchem.
“What the hell? No way…”
She prayed her guess was wrong.
“Hahaha! Noah! Truly impressive. You are my greatest rival!”
“What? That guy was Pector?”
“Wow. You’re still alive?”
He really was a monster.
And surprisingly young-looking too.
Until his helmet broke, he had seemed like a pile of beard, but now he looked barely older than Olivia. About Noah’s age, perhaps.
“For lightning to pierce my armor… And to even destroy my helmet…”
If magic doesn’t work, you just have to strike harder.
But more importantly—
“How old are you?”
Why was this guy so young? That was her biggest curiosity right now.
“Why does age matter? After a hundred years, I stopped counting.”
“A hundred years?”
The Demon King’s army had only appeared about a decade ago.
‘When had the previous Heavenly Kings existed and been defeated?’
She needed to investigate further. But for now—
“…Damn it, I can’t feel strength in my hands.”
Her right arm was too stiff.
Neither of them seemed capable of continuing the fight.
Pector probably hadn’t intended to kill her outright either.
Like she said before, until she uncovered the truth, she wouldn’t see his end yet.
“Soon, the Swordmaster will arrive. How about we call it here? It’s practically a draw anyway.”
Neither of them could move.
If they tried to fight any longer, their bodies might break apart.
“No, you’ve won again.”
“What?”
She noticed then that the sword in Pector’s hand—the one called the Blade of Despair—was broken.
The weapon that could reduce a person to dust was shattered.
“The sword broke. For a swordsman, a blade is like their life. With my sword broken, I’ve lost.”
Pector shook his head.
If he admitted defeat, there was no point in arguing further.
She was too exhausted for that anyway.
He picked up only the handle and half of the blade.
“You’re not taking the rest?”
No ordinary person would dare touch it anyway.
If left alone, it would eventually wreak havoc on Karchem.
“I’ll leave the other half to you. I enjoyed myself for the first time in ages, so I’ll stay out of the Empire for a while.”
With those words, Pector opened a dimensional rift and disappeared into it.
‘So, he planned all of this to lure me into the Ashtar territory?’
“Damn it! What’s with leaving me with this freakish thing?”
This sword was dangerous in the hands of an ordinary human.
If her body hadn’t been fused with mana, she wouldn’t have been able to hold it either.
But that wasn’t the issue right now.
She placed the sword into her subspace.
The real problem was elsewhere.
Aslan was no help, even in times like this.
She flipped over one of the collapsed buildings.
Underneath were a few surviving rats.
“So, I didn’t die, huh? Guess my control was perfect.”
“Hiiiiik!”
Despite the lightning engulfing Karchem, the fact that these guys survived proved she had perfectly aimed for Pector.
Well, Aslan, Raileur, and Shariel…
You had to admire their guts.