Time reverted to the moment when the King of Conquerors had just deployed his Reality Marble.
Rin stood atop a Demon God Pillar that had already been beaten half to death. She shook the blood from the back of her hand and looked up at the expressionless Aika, unable to help but sigh.
"Aika, can't we just sit down and have a proper talk?"
Aika, who still maintained a high-level connection with the Root, shook her head at Rin, allowing Aoko, Touko, and Zelretch to land beside Rin.
"Rin, you are still too weak, so you do not understand."
Hearing Aika say she was too weak, Rin took a deep breath and deactivated her Ishtar form. She kicked the Demon God Pillar that Lev had transformed into with her leather shoe, then looked up and met Aika's gaze with sharp eyes.
"I guess the only way to settle this is with my fists!"
As she spoke, the 'circuit diagrams' of Reinforcement Magic instantly spread across Rin's body. She stomped hard, using the footwork of the Eight Extremities Fist, and charged toward Aika in a few large strides, throwing a punch.
At the same time, the moment Rin charged out, Aoko, Touko, and Zelretch shared a smile and each began their own 'performance' using their respective skills.
Aoko's hair turned red like burning flames as her magic activated. She quickly crouched down, a magic circle appearing at her elbow, and her fist, imbued with the Blue Fifth Magic, struck the Demon God Pillar heavily.
A blue light flared on the Demon God Pillar that Lev had become, followed by an explosion that turned it into a pile of flesh. Lev Lainur Flauros's life thus came to an end.
As Aoko struck her punch, Touko had already leaped up, weaving through the nearby ruins like a phantom. While setting up one Magic Circle after another, she also used her natural bloodline pressure as an Ancestor to drive away all the lurking Dead Apostles nearby.
Aika calmly reached out and caught Rin's incoming punch. A shockwave erupted, the massive gust of air blowing both of their hair back.
"Rin, give up!"
"In your dreams!"
Seeing her punch firmly caught in Aika's hand, Rin pushed off with her left foot to leap slightly and launched a whip kick with her right leg, stirring up a strong current of air as it aimed for Aika's neck.
This forced Aika to release Rin's fist and take a step back to avoid the strike.
"Rin, get out of the way!"
At this moment, Zelretch hung in the sky, having already used his jewel sword to tear open hundreds of dimensional rifts the size of a person. At the same time, powerful magical energy was condensing at the tip of the jewel sword Zelretch held, ready to be unleashed.
"Endless Dimensional Aether Cannon!"
As Rin shifted to the side, Zelretch shouted his declaration, and endless Aether Cannons of magical grade fired incessantly from the dimensional rifts surrounding Zelretch. They kicked up countless dust and smoke around Aika, and the earth trembled continuously with this round after round of relentless bombardment, while the seawater surged as if it were boiling.
Touko, who had finished setting up and clearing the surroundings on a nearby high-rise, extended her right hand and made a grasping motion towards Aika's direction. Then, all the Magic Circles Touko had set up were activated. Like projection instruments, they emitted beams of light, and within these beams were countless shadows. These shadows, following Touko's manipulation, transformed into various shadow weapons, forming a rain of weapons like the Gate of Babylon, which descended upon Aika.
Meanwhile, Aoko also took several great leaps to reach Touko's side, deploying a perception barrier to shroud the vicinity and vigilantly looking around to guard against any sneak attacks from Aika.
"Rin, I'll leave Zelretch to you!"
As some of the most powerful individuals in the mage world, although they had never coordinated with each other before, the four still tacitly relied on their experience to make the decision that Touko and Zelretch would be responsible for long-range attacks, while Aoko and Rin would be responsible for defense and close-quarters combat.
At this moment, a blood-red spear flew out from the battered hillside, twisting past countless bombardments like a lightning bolt, aiming to pierce Zelretch's heart. This was none other than Gáe Bolg.
Rin, who recognized the incoming Noble Phantasm at a glance, calmly reached out, placed her hand on Zelretch's shoulder, and declared:
"Flesh returns above, Noble Phantasm returns below! Hold it for me!"
A huge light emitted from Rin's hand, enveloping Zelretch's entire body. Because a large amount of magical energy was extracted to complete the Formula, Rin unconsciously opened the dragon factor within her body, and her eyes emitted a brilliant golden light.
Zelretch, who was continuously firing Aether Cannons, chose to trust Rin. He disregarded everything, using his magical energy to lock onto Aika amidst the smoke and dust, continuing to fire Aether Cannons while turning a blind eye to the Gáe Bolg piercing toward his heart.
Sure enough, after Rin expended a large amount of magical energy, the Gáe Bolg lost its forward momentum after hitting Zelretch's chest. The magical light above dissipated, and it fell into the seawater below.
"A very interesting Formula, Rin!"
As this sentence came from the smoke, hundreds of activated Gáe Bolg spears flew out from the smoke, half flying toward Zelretch and the other half toward Touko.
"Rin, try to see if you can block these again!"
"Aika, I'll show you I can block them!"
Magical energy continuously erupted from Rin, forming a pillar of light. Then, with one hand supporting Zelretch's shoulder and the other continuously changing gestures, she helped herself lock onto the incoming Gáe Bolg.
"Flesh returns above, Noble Phantasm returns below!"
On the other side, to avoid the incoming Gáe Bolg, Touko first looked down at her chest, barely covering her exposed skin with the sleeve she had torn off earlier, then turned to look at the panicked Aoko and reminded her:
"Fifth Magic, Time!"
Having received the hint, Aoko instantly grabbed Aoko and disappeared from the spot, causing those Gáe Bolg that lost their locked targets to revert to their normal state and fall into the seawater.
However, having lost Touko's firepower, Aika had already calmly walked out from the smoke and dust.
Rin, who had barely managed to block a large number of Gáe Bolg relying on Lights Execution, saw Aika walking out of the smoke. Ignoring her own panting body, she canceled her flight Formula and landed in front of Aika, punching out.
Aika dodged Rin's punch with an expressionless face, casually waving her hand to make Rin's shadow riot. Countless bandages made of shadows stretched out to bind Rin's limbs tightly.
Then Aika extended her right hand, pointing at Zelretch, who had already opened a light gate, and made a gun-firing gesture.
Rin, who had already seen what Formula Aika was preparing to use, exerted force to try to break free from the shadow's restraints, while shouting at Aika:
"Stop! Aika, stop!"
"Spear of Venus."
A ray of destructive starlight shot out from Aika's fingertip, instantly reaching Zelretch's chest and piercing through it.
Zelretch looked at the large hole in his chest in astonishment, feeling the organs and mage circuits within his body continuously collapsing. A large mouthful of blood vomited from his mouth, falling into the rolling seawater.
Aika, having completed this strike, seemed to have exited the state of deep connection with the root. With a smile on her face, she turned to face the struggling Rin, smilingly touching Rin's cheek and saying:
"Rin-chan! Your magic is so useful, otherwise, I would have had a headache dealing with this kind of Dead Apostle True Ancestor!"
"Sajyou Manaka~!"
---------------------------------
I hope you enjoy this fanfiction! If you're having fun and want to read 30 chapters in advance, feel free to check out my Patreon: patreon.com/TLScarlet
Your support means a lot so if you like the story, don't forget to drop a Power Stone.