1013: The Advent

Just as Fran ran to escape, there was a huge explosion behind her. Izario had unleashed his divine sword.

『We had to rely on Izario after all.』

（Nn…）

Fran bit her lip in frustration, but her legs kept moving.

Focusing everything on speed, she dashed off at a blindingly fast pace. Fran was well aware that her quick escape was the best way to assist Izario.

No one chased after us. Izario must be keeping Trismegistus’ attention.

However, it’ll be more difficult to have a friendly chat now. Fran’s still pissed at Trismegistus, and there’s that thing about him wanting to destroy me.

Destroy me and steal my power, huh…?

It seems my destruction will result in the annihilation of both Fenrir-san and the Evil God Fragment. At the very least, those two weren’t lying, and Trismegistus’ Dragon Eye is supposedly extremely potent. There’s a high chance he spoke the truth.

So which part of me will remain after my destruction? What they called the dungeon core, the strengthening and growth system made by Chaos Goddess resembling the one used in dungeons.

Fannabelta also said she wanted my power to grow despite being a sword. However, that growth ability is completely dependent on Fenrir-san. Even if they manage to steal the dungeon core, it shouldn’t be able to do anything on its own…

Maybe they weren’t able to recognize that part, or maybe they had a different method in mind.

While I was thinking over Fannabelta’s words again, Fran kept running and was almost out of the castle.

（I’ll turn the next corner, and the exit should be right there!）

『Nice! Keep going through the castle grounds and we――』

We’ve already passed the throne room and the castle’s exit was in sight.

Rumble!

The ground shook beneath our feet.

As if someone just slid the floor tile out from under us. My first thought was that these were the tremors from Trismegistus and Izario’s clash, but it got even worse.

The floor and walls of the castle couldn’t withstand the still ongoing shaking, with cracks beginning to form. Those cracks spread, creating crevices large enough to impede our movement.

『Oh no! It’s collapsing!』

「Nn!」

Those cracks finally reached the ceiling, causing fragments of stone to rain down on our heads. This castle, said to be indestructible due to the power of the gods, was falling apart before our very eyes.

From beneath the castle, I sensed only the powerful aura of antidemons. The growing aura was so dense that I had to check if my detection skills were bugging out.

In terms of sheer power, it beat out Izario and Ashwrath even with their divine swords activated.

I had to wonder if this could be the Abyss Eater itself.

As if chased by the rumbling of the collapsing castle, Fran kept moving her feet. Finally, we jumped out.

「Just in time!」

『The castle is… Get back!』

Just as Fran jumped backward, a huge block of rubble crashed on the spot she was standing. A portion of the vast wall as big as a person, and this was only the beginning.

All of the castle’s spires were tipping over like dominoes.

Fran ran further away from the castle while avoiding the falling debris. After gaining some distance, I realized it wasn’t just the castle itself. The entire hill on which the castle stood was collapsing too.

Moreover, the hill was clearly swelling up, as if some force was pushing upward from underground. What on earth is taking place beneath us?

Rumble!

『Now the ground…! Fran! Fly!』

A large portion of the hillside collapsed, with huge cracks running in all directions. Right before falling into the abyss, Fran used aerial hop to escape the hill.

「Something’s coming!」

『It’s super big!』

A section of the castle burst open from the inside, revealing a huge shadow. In terms of size, this guy easily surpassed the titan antidemons.

And his mana amount matched the titans too, the one that was a fusion of two titans, that is.

「Red and gold… The one in the basement?」

『Now that you mention it, the mana wavelength is pretty similar…』

He’s similar in not only color and mana, but also appearance. So that the red-gold antidemon in the castle basement somehow grew into this goliath? Were those titan-types merely a precursor experiment for this guy’s creation?

The giant red-gold antidemon stood up amidst the collapsing castle, with his shoulders and chest heaving up and down. As if he was taking deep breaths.

As I stared up at the face of the antidemon already far in the sky, I heard a familiar crazed laughter.

「Ahahahahahahahaha! I’ve finally done it! I wasn’t able to gather enough life energy, and Overgrowth disappeared before we could consume it! I never expected my plan to go this awry, but in the end, the vessel is complete! Behold, the birth of the most powerful antidemon ever!」

It was coming from the giant antidemon’s shoulder. Meltritte, the lorelei girl who almost looked like an elf child, glared at us with the face of a madman.

Her antidemon mutation seems to have progressed significantly. Parts of her hands and face were already mutated.

「I’ll crush every last one of you!」

「Meltritte!」

「Girl! Just sit there and watch! Burn the visage of annihilation into your eyes!」

Right as Meltritte shouted that, the light of the sun dimmed as if a huge shadow covered the earth. We looked up to see a cloak of purple spreading rapidly in the sky above.

Did the ward surrounding the castle change color? No, this was happening even higher up. It was a translucent purple dome covering an absolutely massive area. Though not as large as the ward covering the entire continent of Gordicia, the dome seemed to be at least several kilometers in diameter.

Could this be Meltritte’s doing too?

As we were stunned in confusion, Meltritte screeched again.

「Now no one can escape! This antidemon will devour everything!」

「What do you mean?!」

Fran shouted back, but Meltritte was no longer looking at us. She kept screaming as she stared at the distant horizon.

「Die! Ahahahahaha! Destroy them all!」

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