Chapter 1135: Showdown (6)
The Sky-Piercing Greatsword, its surface writhing with manifested veins, conjured by Fifth Apostle Eldrich, plummeted from the stadium’s ceiling.
A colossal mass, rivaling a skyscraper in sheer volume, plunged unrestricted towards the ground.
It crashed onto the unrecognizable wreckage of the airship, shattered beyond salvage.
[Sky-Piercing]
KWAA-AAAAAANG!!!!
With the impact, the stadium cratered, sinking as if tilting under the sudden force.
Chiiik…!!
Where the greatsword struck, the ground in contact with its blade corroded, melted away, and tore open.
Camlodal’s summoned tentacles burrowed into the fissures, tearing through the entire stadium.
KWAA-KWAA-KWAA-KWAA-KWAA-KWAA!!!!
A bizarre phenomenon, as if the colossal arena was being threaded through, engulfed, and transmuted by his tentacles.
Dozens of massive, writhing octopus legs slithered, scattering their viscous bodily fluids across the ground.
With each contact, priests who had fallen with crushed heads convulsed and rose to their feet.
“Ugh, ooohh…”
“Grrr-egh-”
He wasn’t merely reviving the priests or controlling them as undead.
Instead, he plunged his tentacles into the corpses of the fallen priests, making a grotesque new ‘life’ blossom within them.
Camlodal’s Sanctuary, False Sky’s Sprouting Legion, where hundreds of priests were manipulated like puppets, shambling to their feet like zombies.
A formidable amplification technique that subjected all matter within the declared sanctuary to Apostle Spellcraft.
But almost simultaneously, the expressions of the two Apostles, who had just deployed their Sanctuary and Miniature Universe, subtly stiffened.
“That’s…”
[Kekekeke…!!]
The hawk-nosed giant, his face shrouded by his hood, let out a sneering laugh.
Lennok’s summoned unique artificial summon, Tailor of the Imaginary Dimension.
The instant Eldrich’s greatsword fell, the Tailor of the Imaginary Dimension gripped the blade with mana threads, attempting to decelerate its descent.
It mitigated nearly half the impact that should have obliterated the entire stadium, thereby limiting the destructive radius.
CHWA-LA-LA-LA-LAAAK!!!
With every movement of the eight arms unfurling from beneath the hood, a vast wave of mana threads surged forth.
Forty fingers delicately tapped the air, sending tens of thousands of mana threads spiraling into the sky.
They began to stitch shut the spatial rifts that the priests of the Tenth Apostle had summoned.
JJEJJEJJEOP…!!
“Now I understand why the Priestess was so wary of the Demonic Lair’s sorcerers.”
A monster that, immediately upon being summoned, grappled with Eldrich’s greatsword and simultaneously stitched up the spatial rifts summoned by the priests.
Eldrich, his expression grim, spoke as he watched the Tailor appear behind Lennok.
“I’ve never seen a summon like that. I had intended to obliterate this battlefield in a single strike…”
[Kikikikik…!!]
[This is an unbeliever’s summon, specialized in assisting manipulation spellcraft and bolstering its mediums.]
BOOM!!
Camlodal, who walked out next to Eldrich, said.
[It possesses no physical movement, but it can traverse imaginary dimensions. Ignore the summon; target the spellcaster.]
“It seems you’ve encountered that manipulation spellcaster before.”
[He wields a spellcraft that ‘carves out’ space, using subspace as a projectile.]
Camlodal’s gaze darkened ominously.
He still remembered the humiliation of his defeat by Victor in the Yorta swamps.
[I was once routed by that unbeliever’s spellcraft.]
“…”
[It’s presumed this spellcraft is only usable when the summon is active, but that’s not certain. Therefore, our priority must be-]
The two Apostles’ gazes simultaneously moved past Lennok to his side.
“That madman’s Domain, then.”
[The Clown, Artlen Kizard’s direction.]
CHARRRRR-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-K!!!
A colossal roulette wheel, intensely spinning above the Clown’s head.
A pierrot with a long, lolling tongue licked the roulette wheel with a grotesque laugh, its eyes fixed on the spinning mechanism.
At the roulette’s undeniably ominous appearance, the presence of the two Apostles momentarily faltered.
‘There’s no premonition to the Domain’s deployment… Why?’
‘Did he complete the Domain beforehand and simply manifest it now? No, if that were the case, he wouldn’t have formed the hand seals.’
A Domain is the art of projecting the spellcaster’s Root Mindscape into reality.
Therefore, before deploying a Domain, the will-thought ripples containing the Root Mindscape must first be spread into reality.
But just now, the Clown showed no prelude whatsoever when deploying his Domain.
He simply formed hand seals with both hands and then summoned that grotesque roulette wheel.
A trivial difference, if trivial at all. But in battles between high-level superhumans, it could be the difference between life and death.
In the brief moment the two Apostles hesitated, unable to ignore the unsettling anomaly emanating from the Clown’s Domain, their combat instincts screaming at them.
“Oh, are you going to keep spectating from there?”
The Clown, pointing at the roulette spinning above his head, grinned.
“Well, fine. It’s not bad to just take a hit if you don’t know.”
[Is it an ability that randomly spins a roulette to determine the Domain’s hierarchy and abilities?]
Camlodal sneered.
[Truly, the idea of a madman entrusting his fate to imperfect luck. Even we Apostles would not rely on such perverse variables.]
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Where else could I find such an entertaining ability?”
The Clown shrugged.
“If you’re envious, just say so honestly.”
[That ability, perfected at the cost of heavenly luck, is surely the pinnacle of illusion that will cast us all into hell.]
Camlodal said.
[But I already knew you were a cheat, manipulating your luck as you pleased.]
KWUOONG!!
As the rock giant formed hand seals, the Sanctuary’s tentacles stiffened and bristled.
The gigantic, writhing tentacles intertwined in the air, forming knots with each other.
Soon, they compressed behind Camlodal, transforming into a massive tentacle mass.
Camlodal, who had created a tentacle mass like an egg holding something, said in an eerie voice.
[Then I too will prepare a means to shatter any illusion, even if it takes time.]
Camlodal did not hurry to stop the Clown, even after seeing him deploy his Domain.
Instead, he openly began preparing a major technique of his own that also required time.
This granted the Clown a reason to stop Camlodal, just as Camlodal had a reason to stop the Clown.
Instead of limiting victory conditions to a single path, a precarious balance was somehow maintained amidst the chaotic battlefield.
Click!!
The greatsword that had fallen onto the stadium greedily drank the blood pooled everywhere.
The blade of the greatsword turned red, slowly shrinking in size.
Eldrich’s Miniature Universe, shrinking its size by devouring the surrounding blood and death.
As Camlodal had said, Eldrich too had immediately begun preparing a major technique that required time, upon hearing his words.
A battlefield where the two Apostles of the cult and the Clown simultaneously took daring strides, preparing powerful techniques and testing each other’s resolve.
“Hmph, hmph, you’re not really acting like an Apostle.”
The Clown chuckled at Camlodal.
“For an octopus monster, you’re surprisingly sharp, aren’t you?”
[Think what you will, unbeliever.]
Camlodal retorted.
[In any battlefield, those who follow the doctrines of the myriad gods will have the last laugh.]
KWAAANG!!
The colossal tentacle mass undulated and slammed down on the Clown’s head.
Eldrich, who had accelerated by leaping vertically up the stadium’s inner wall, approached within striking distance and swung his sword.
The moment the Clown grinned, seeing the tentacles falling from above and the sharply rotating sword light.
Manipulation-Type Unique Magic
Forced Nervous System Manipulation
[Toy Scribe]
CRACK!!
The mana threads hanging from the Tailor’s fingertips gripped Camlodal’s tentacles from all directions.
As the mana threads squeezed the tentacles, scattering bodily fluids, and instantly redirected their trajectory.
Camlodal’s massive tentacles struck Eldrich’s greatsword, altering its course.
KWAA-AAAAAANG!!!
The greatsword, impaled diagonally into the stadium, twisted from the impact and was ripped out.
In the brief moment the ground quaked and time distorted from the recoil, the mana threads binding the Clown’s feet yanked his body abruptly.
The Clown, tumbling backward, slammed face-first into the dirt, skidding and tearing his skin.
“Whoops!! Ouch!!”
The Clown flailed his arms, spitting out mouthfuls of dirt.
Lennok, who had pulled the Clown to his feet by manipulating the Tailor, looked down at him with a cold gaze.
“You’ve finally brought out that annoying Domain again.”
The Clown’s Domain is an ability that spins a roulette and uses its outcome as the Domain’s power.
Numbered slots from 1 to 9, each of different sizes, and dozens of ‘lose’ marks with skull symbols.
It’s a grotesque ability that relies on luck to determine the Domain’s power, ranging from level 1 to level 9.
Furthermore, even the abilities determined this way are usually not simply powerful, but uniquely quirky and limited in application, befitting the Clown.
It was certainly not an ability that could guarantee victory when fighting against the two highest-ranking Apostles of the cult.
“Oh, why so cold? That’s disappointing.”
The Clown, who had stood up after transforming his ground-scraped face back to normal with an illusion, chuckled.
“We had some fun with this last time, didn’t we? Please be generous.”
“You know this isn’t a situation to just rely on luck.”
Perhaps because the Domain’s abilities are randomly determined, the Clown’s Domain transcends the scope of normal spellcraft.
The Pirate Roulette, used during the escape from Jillian’s Fortress, also possessed the anomalous ability of random spatial ejection.
It was truly a wild card power, capable of producing more unpredictable results than any other superhuman in Pandemonium.
But that was only when the outcome was favorable.
The rock giant drawing mana from afar, and the old knight adjusting his fedora.
Hundreds of priests surrounding the stadium, taking formation.
“Hehehe, don’t worry. This time, I’ll go honestly, no tricks.”
The Clown said that and reached into his neck.
A bizarre sight, suddenly putting his hand in his mouth and pulling something out.
“Whoops- Cough, cough!!”
“…”
“Hehehe, ta-da~”
The Clown opened his hand and proudly presented something slobber-soaked to Lennok.
Lennok, looking down at it with disdain, muttered.
“Dart?”
“Actually, after working with Victor last time, I tweaked the Domain a few times.”
The Clown said that, twirling the saliva-covered dart with his finger.
“I added a few annoying conditions, but I made a tool that can intervene with the roulette.”
“I see.”
Lennok, instantly understanding the dart’s purpose, averted his gaze.
“Is it a tool that can forcibly change the roulette’s outcome?”
“It’s a tool that stores the outcome of a roulette spun at a specific time and place, without manifesting it.”
The Clown grinned.
“It’s called the ‘redistribution of luck.’”
“…”
“If I use this, the outcome of a roulette I spun before will immediately pop out. You know what I mean, right?”
As Camlodal said, the Clown had a means to manipulate luck.
Certainly, if he could manipulate the roulette’s outcome, the chances of victory would increase, but-
Lennok glanced aside.
“Dragging out time doesn’t necessarily favor us. They’re also preparing powerful techniques.”
KUGUGUGU!!!
The grotesque tentacle mass writhing above Eighth Apostle Camlodal’s head.
The greatsword behind Fifth Apostle Eldrich, slowly shrinking as it drank blood.
Both radiated an ominous aura that couldn’t be ignored.
Could the ‘method’ the Clown had prepared withstand the techniques of both Apostles simultaneously?
In the chaotic melee, where three monsters simultaneously took their time preparing major techniques, eyeing each other.
No time was given to answer.
The moment Lennok kicked the Clown’s back, the rock giant plummeted to that spot, emitting a shockwave.
KWAAANG!!!
Lennok’s body, instantly distancing itself with Flicker as soon as he perceived Camlodal’s approach.
Eldrich, catching up to Lennok, brought down a sharp sword strike.
DRRRR-DRRRR-DRRRR!!!
The fallen greatsword shook, impaled into the stadium ground.
As Camlodal’s massive tentacles grabbed the greatsword’s hilt and swung it, the blade rotated sideways, accelerating.
The greatsword, tens of meters long, rose from beneath their feet and spun diagonally.
KUGUGUGUGUGUGU!!!!
“KAAHHH-EEEEEH!!!!”
The corpses of the cult priests revived by Camlodal swarmed like zombies, rushing along the greatsword.
Eldrich’s greatsword, still slowly shrinking as it greedily drank blood even at this moment.
Yet, Lennok and the old man clashed on the tens-of-meters-long blade of the colossal greatsword.
Tangled bundles of mana threads pulled and sliced at Lennok’s and the Fifth Apostle’s bodies.
Lennok and the Apostle, continuing hand-to-hand combat in mid-air without touching the ground.
KAGAGAGAGAK!!!
He spun his body like a spring amidst the countless, bending lines of sword strikes.
Manipulating his body with mana threads like a puppet, he parried the old man’s sword strikes at the intersection points where the threads were tied.
Mana threads were cut by the blade’s keen edge, but the severed threads immediately intertwined, forming stronger tension.
The moment the tangled knots of mana threads, crisscrossing the air, halted the Fifth Apostle’s sword light.
The old man, gripping Lennok’s collar, slammed his body onto the twisted greatsword.
KWAAANG!!
“….!!”
“Indeed, he’s not a physical superhuman.”
Eldrich’s eyes, looking down at the obsidian mask, were filled with unconcealed admiration.
“But to raise combat ability to this level solely through spellcraft application. Truly remarkable.”
How much adaptability was needed to fight like this, relying solely on spellcraft application, without relying on physical enhancement or a Miniature Universe?
Acceleration and deceleration, movement and evasion. All offense and defense, including power control and recoil management, had to be calculated and adjusted with spellcraft.
A level of difficulty completely different from simply moving one’s body and engaging in combat instinctively.
As a high-level physical superhuman, and a knight wielding a sword, he understood it even better.
“For someone not a spellcaster, you’re quite interested in others’ spellcraft.”
Lennok glanced away.
“If you’re going to drag your feet, I’ll start first.”
CHWAA-AAA-AAK!!
He forcefully pulled the mana threads around the Clown’s neck, dragging him down.
The Clown, thrown with a grotesque scream, tumbled and crashed among the stadium debris.
PWOOONG!!
The Clown’s body, smashed headfirst into the ground, split into several mini-Clowns.
The mini-Clowns, scurrying from all directions, immediately merged, regaining their original form.
“Puhahaha!! I’m going first!”
[I won’t let you escape…!!]
KWAA-AAAAAANG!!!
One side of the second-floor spectator stands collapsed explosively, scattering debris everywhere.
Amidst the pouring, sharp rock fragments, the Clown’s body was shredded into pieces of flesh.
“Ugh.”
As the Clown tumbled across the dirt, a rock fragment pierced his back, severing his body.
The Clown, running like a dog on all fours, had his two legs crushed and fell forward.
As the Clown crawled, the ground beneath him cracked, and he plummeted into the fissure.
The Clown’s continuous deaths amidst the flailing mass of tentacles.
“Hah hah, hahahah!!”
But a Clown burst out from inside the dead Clown, like a Matryoshka doll, laughing maniacally and dashing forward.
The Clown’s body scattered into dozens of butterflies, then fluttered as hundreds of feathers.
[You truly are insane, unbeliever…!!]
Camlodal exclaimed in horror amidst the storm of bizarre phenomena that even deceived the Apostle’s eyes.
[If you spam unique illusion spellcraft like that, even you won’t last long!!]
[Kikikikiki…!!!]
A sinister cackle echoed behind Camlodal, who was manipulating tentacles to chase the Clown.
The moment the Tailor’s eight arms caressed the air, space shattered from his fingertips.
Focusing all forty fingers in one direction through the fractured spatial rifts.
At the end of it, the Tailor, accurately aiming at Camlodal’s head, grinned.
[Ultra-Instant: Subspatial Bullet]
CRACK!!
A casting spell that fires subspace as an arbitrary virtual mass.
The essence of subspace manipulation spellcraft, exploding upon impact and carving out the entire space.
Only usable at this moment, with the unique artificial summon, Tailor of the Imaginary Dimension, active-
WHIZZ-AAA-AAK!!
[Impossible!!!]
But Camlodal did not flinch, even seeing the Subspatial Bullet aimed at his head a second time.
He manipulated the tentacles summoned within his Sanctuary, aimed directly at the Subspatial Bullet, and activated Apostle Spellcraft.
Dozens of tentacle tips split at the cellular level, blocking the Subspatial Bullet.
SQUISH-SQUISH-SQUISH!!!
The tentacles were crushed alive, dying, crumpled, and pulverized.
He used the dying tentacles as sacrificial offerings to further strengthen his Apostle Spellcraft.
At that moment, the spellcraft output became so strong that it could twist space with just the tentacles’ grip.
The Subspatial Bullet’s trajectory went diagonally off course and soared skyward.
KWAA-AAAAAANG!!!
The light of the Subspatial Bullet, splitting the sky diagonally, flashing, and then vanishing.
“Hah hah!! Excellent, Victor!!”
The Clown, having slipped out of Camlodal’s spell range like an eel, climbed onto the roulette wheel.
Click, the Clown, without hesitation, plunged the dart into the roulette, focused his mind, and formed hand seals.
“From here, I’ll take care of it-”
A blade, stained blood-red, pierced the Clown’s heart from behind.
BOOM-OOOOOOONG!!!
Simultaneously, a powerful shockwave erupted, strong enough to violently shake his body, sweeping across the ground.
Transcendent speed that the Clown couldn’t react to. Intense power that pierced through illusions and struck the heart.
“…Cough.”
The Clown, looking at the red blade piercing his chest, laughed.
“That’s no ordinary… weapon, is it?”
“My Miniature Universe, the Sky-Piercing Greatsword, shrinks its size immediately after manifestation, returning to the form of a normal sword.”
The old man, gripping the red sword, spoke calmly from behind the Clown.
“But its mass and power remain, transforming it into an armament that dramatically amplifies my swordsmanship.”
“Cough.”
“Regrettable. It seems I was faster in this fight.”
The Fifth Apostle’s eyes, watching the Clown’s back, turned cold.
“It seems there won’t be time to admire your wondrous tricks.”
“Cough!! Is that so…?”
The Clown, spitting blood, laughed with blood streaming down his lips.
“Then that’s too bad. What I intended to use wasn’t an illusion from the start.”
“What did you say?”
At that moment, the Clown’s roulette, which had been spinning endlessly, began to slow down.
The numbers clicked into place around the dart plunged into the roulette, coming to a halt.
KII-RII-RII-RIIK-
[5]
[8]
[9]
[1]
Slowly passing through the randomly shuffled numbered slots, and finally, the moment it came to a complete stop.
Click.
[FAIL]
“…”
“…”
Silence fell.
[You.]
Camlodal glared at the Clown.
[Was your purpose to deceive us all in this great holy war?]
“How could that be?”
The Clown laughed and said.
“Just as there is success, there is failure… and if there’s a prize, there’s a loss.”
[Unbeliever…!!]
“And if you hit a ‘fail’ result, aren’t there consequences?”
[Keeheeheeheeheeheet!!!!]
At that moment, the pierrot drawn on the roulette wheel suddenly opened its two eyes with a grotesque laugh.
The pierrot, staring at the Clown with eerie white eyes, twisted its head maniacally, laughing.
[You’ve been caught~ You’ve been caught~]
KWUUUUUU-OOOOOONG…!!!
The pierrot’s face then grotesquely swelled, growing hot as if about to explode.
[…Surely.]
Camlodal realized what the Clown had been aiming for and glared at the illusionist.
[Were you planning to trap us at the deepest part of your Domain and self-destruct from the beginning?!]
The dart’s purpose was to store and recall a previously spun roulette value.
But that didn’t necessarily mean it could only store ‘good outcomes’.
The Clown had stored the ‘worst outcome’ he had previously encountered, and then retrieved it here instead.
For this very moment, to hold back the two Apostles of the cult who were exerting their full power on this battlefield.
“I’ve used enough illusions; it’s time to return to reality.”
Snap, snap!!!
Simultaneously, snapping sounds began to echo from within the Clown’s body.
A chilling sight, like a colossal time bomb rapidly eating away at its timer.
“Anti-matter particle annihilation, activated by severing all bonds of the spellcaster’s accumulated hierarchy.”
The Clown, impaled by the Fifth Apostle’s sword, laughed as he saw his own body.
“It’s a ‘misfortune’ I’ve been postponing since escaping from Kabahim. Would you care to share it with me?”
[This madman dares…!!!]
There was no more time to speak.
BOOM!!
The vibration from the roulette ceased, and the pierrot’s two eyes glared at the Clown, grinning.
[Die.]
KWAA-AAAA-AAAA-AAAA-AAAA-ANG!!!!!
A violet light burst forth from within the Clown’s body, engulfing the entire stadium and exploding.
Heat that incinerated the shattered stadium facilities everywhere, turning them into a handful of ash.
Particle pair annihilation, activated by shattering his own hierarchy.
A ridiculously crude self-detonation, using himself as an anti-matter bomb.
But the Apostles, facing the self-detonation at close range, did not panic.
[Eldrich!!!]
“I am ready.”
In the exploding heat, the moment Eldrich gripped his red sword and closed his eyes.
The tentacle mass, compressed and intertwined behind Camlodal’s back, slowly opened.
JJEJJEJJEOP…!!!
As if forcibly ‘birthing’ something, the pale metallic form emerged from within the tentacles.
Camlodal, snatching it - a long, barrel-like object - manipulated all the tentacles in his Sanctuary to lift it.
[Forbidden Armament ‘Sorrow’ unleashed.]
At that moment, the surrounding space grotesquely warped, crumbled, and began to fragment.
A forbidden armament that defied humanity. A weapon of depravity that ignored divine law.
A power allowed only to chosen blessed ones within the cult.
Camlodal, who had directly ‘summoned’ it, aimed at the exploding Clown and drew forth his mana.
At that instant, Eldrich, who had been gripping his sword and focusing, sharply lifted his gaze.
“…Wait.”
WOO-OO-OO-OO-OOONG!!!!
High above, where Lennok’s stray Ultra-Instant: Subspatial Bullet had flown.
High above where the casting spell, fired using subspace as a virtual mass, had exploded.
From beyond the void where space cracked and peeled away, an ominous light burst forth.
JJEJJEJJEOP…!!!!
Thousands upon tens of thousands of mana threads converged from all directions, twisting into a gigantic fusion.
A bizarre phenomenon, as if forcibly pulling out ‘something’ that ‘existed’ within it, using the subspace bullet as its core.
A grotesque, brilliant light that shattered and collapsed the surrounding space merely by its presence.
The form of a brilliantly shining, glass-colored gauntlet from beyond the breaking space.
“That’s…!!!”
“You weren’t the only ones who needed time.”
The Subspatial Bullet fired at Camlodal was no mere assistance to buy the Clown time.
The spellcraft [Ultra-Instant: Subspatial Bullet], which uses subspace itself as a projectile.
Therefore, the subspace used as a projectile can also be used for its original purpose: to ‘contain’ something.
To contain ‘that’ which had been pre-activated within subspace, fire it into the sky to momentarily escape the two Apostles’ sight.
And then, from above, overlooking the entire battlefield, like this-
“I will personally end this.”
Click!!
The moment the gauntlet was equipped, tens of thousands of mana threads all came under Lennok’s control.
With a strange resonant hum that collapsed space, the glass-colored gauntlet glowed eerily.
It began to violently spin, sucking in all surrounding heat and light.
KII-YUUU-OOO-OOONG-!!!!
An illusion as if a powerful sphere of gravity was pulling and condensing all matter and laws from all directions.
A miracle that drew in and trapped all light from heaven and earth, even darkening the stadium’s sky.
[Manipulation Spellcaster, surely…!!!]
Camlodal realized the gauntlet’s identity and widened his eyes until they almost tore.
[How could you possess that armament-!!!!]
An Apostle of the cult. Camlodal, who had dedicated himself to the doctrine longer than anyone else, knew.
An armament far more dangerous and closer to taboo than the Forbidden Armament ‘Sorrow’ that Camlodal had summoned.
Click!!!
“Fall back.”
[Unbeliever!!!!!]
Lennok, wearing the glass-colored gauntlet, ‘gripped’ the sky above the stadium.
Camlodal, who had lifted the ‘Sorrow’ barrel with hundreds of tentacles, aimed at the sky.
Each of the two distinct Forbidden Armaments simultaneously aimed their existence and spellcraft at each other.
And at the moment Eldrich, gripping his red sword, plunged his blade into the self-detonating Clown.
Four lines of causality intersected like attraction and repulsion, completely annihilating the space throughout the stadium.
KWAA-AAAA-AAAA-AAAA-AAAA-ANG!!!!!