CHAPTER 197
The roar of the explosion swept through the surroundings.
Pure white lightning surged, tearing the shadows to shreds and butchering them.
A massive runaway surge of magic power, akin to countless mages gathering to unleash it at once.
That wasn't something even Morbid could withstand.
Morbid's shadows were crumbling away.
At the center of those crumbling shadows,
I was rolling on the ground, an absolute mess.
Even though I had transformed Unordered into a suit of armor to protect myself, I was still at the epicenter of the magical blast.
Naturally, the impact couldn't be ignored.
I desperately smashed Holy Magic into my battered and broken body.
If I die this time, I can't guarantee I'll actually be able to come back to life.
So, for the first time in a long while, just to survive, I slammed Holy Magic into myself faster than my body could break apart.
It felt like an agonizing eternity was passing by.
I was reminded once again just how exhausting it was to struggle for survival.

But somehow, I survived.
As I restored my crumbling body and barely lifted my head, I saw the shattering shadows.
At the center of the swamp of shadows,
Someone was reaching out, crawling up to the surface.
Morbid Geryusika.
He was brushing off the white electric currents, swallowing a groan.
"Wh-wha-what... what did you do..."
My suicide attack had successfully worked on Morbid as well.
But it hadn't taken him down completely.
Morbid forced himself up and aimed his fingertips at me.
"Th-this is the end for you."
The shadows began to surge once more.
It wasn't the massive wave of shadows from before, but a shadow was still a shadow.
If I get caught in that, I'll be right back in Morbid's clutches.
I somehow forced my body up and moved my trembling legs.
It was a desperate struggle to escape the shadows, even if just a little.
But before I knew it, the shadows were closing in on me from all sides. No matter where I looked, it was full of shadows.
Furthermore, the wall of the collapsed tower was right in front of me.
I lacked the strength to climb the wall.
After pouring out a massive amount of divine power to revive, I had poured out even more Holy Magic just now.
There was no way I had any proper strength left in my body.
Even so, I tightly grabbed the outer wall of the tower.
Struggling to climb the wall somehow, I jammed my hands into the cracks in the stone.
I will survive.
I will absolutely survive.
Armed with nothing but that sheer willpower, I climbed tenaciously.
The shadows had already encroached upon my feet and began crawling up the wall.
They were faster than me, but I didn't look back.
I climbed and climbed. My fingernails broke and bled, but I kept climbing.
However, just as there are things in this world that willpower alone cannot overcome...
The shadows finally reached me.
Morbid's hand moved.
Following the hand that moved to crush me, the shadows swallowed me whole.
Seeing that, just as I was about to squeeze out whatever final drop of Holy Magic I had left...
Space tore open right in front of me.
What fluttered out from within was dark purple hair.
A woman with a petite figure drew her sword from inside.
A blade as pitch-black as the darkest night.
It was a sword overlaid with shadows.
"Horizon!"
The moment I unconsciously shouted her name, Horizon gave a brief smile and shot forward like a cannonball.
Wearing a pure white mask, she threw herself into Morbid's shadows in an instant.
It was a bewildering sight, but I could feel Horizon's presence beyond the shadows.
She was sprinting at an incredible speed, completely unaffected by Morbid's shadows.
"She wrapped her own shadow around her body to isolate herself from the outside shadows."
At that moment, Ririran appeared beside me.
She levitated me in the air and let out a sigh of relief, her expression showing she was glad she wasn't too late.
"It seems she continued to train alone while she was separated from us. She might not be able to create massive amounts of shadows like the Sinner of Envy, but the quality of that girl's shadow surpasses his. Among all the Geryusikas in history, the quality of her shadow is likely the absolute best."
Hearing that made me feel unnecessarily emotional.
Horizon, who had fought a fierce battle alone against her own shadow.
She was finally spreading her wings and realizing her own will.
"U-uh, uwaaaah!"
Morbid's scream rang out.
He was panicking because no matter how much he tried to bind Horizon with his shadows, she didn't stop and kept closing in.
The Sinner of Envy.
True to his name, a man who hated and envied everything that had abandoned him.
A man who spewed resentment at the Geryusika family and the entire world, much like the nail driven into his own head.
Reaching him was a girl who, just like him, had been abandoned by their own race.
Horizon's pitch-black shadow sword flashed.

Two people who had lived similar lives but met completely different ends.
An end was put to the tie between them.
Slash!
Morbid's head was severed and sent flying into the air.
Morbid, whose body was so close to a shadow that he normally couldn't be cut.
Even his own Geryusika race couldn't do anything about him because he was a mutant.
But Horizon's sword could cut him with absolute certainty.
"A-Asheria Eve-nim..."
With Morbid's brief mutter, his head rolled across the floor.
Morbid's shadows seeped into the ground and vanished.
As I landed on the ground, Horizon, who had retrieved her sword in the distance, looked back at me.
"Horizon!"
I tried to greet her brightly, but Horizon looked at me, awkwardly fidgeting and twisting her body.
"It-it's been a while."
Ah, it's that.
That slightly awkward reaction a pet gives when seeing you after a long time.
Yeah, it really has been a few years.
Moreover, compared to the others, the time I spent with Horizon was quite short.
Most of her time recently had been spent with that crazy bitch, Asheria Eve.
So I could understand Horizon's awkwardness.
But what could I do?
My battered legs were already running toward her.
I couldn't hold back; I had to praise Horizon right this instant!
"Horizon, you did great! I really believed in you!"
I lifted Horizon up with all my might and let out a shout of deep emotion.
Seeing me do that, Horizon froze up like a suddenly kidnapped cat, but she soon melted and formed a relaxed smile.
"Y-yes... thank you for believing in me."
Horizon was Horizon.
Even if it had been years, even if we hadn't spent a long time together, she was still the Horizon I knew.
So right now, in this moment, I could genuinely rejoice in her growth.
However, we couldn't share our joy for long.
Because the situation wasn't over yet.

"Ririran-nim, Rapha Hastel-nim's lifespan must be slowly coming to an end."
Rapha Hastel is strong.
An absolute strength that Asheria Eve couldn't even approach.
There was no one in this world who could defeat him.
But Rapha Hastel was on borrowed time.
Going on a rampage like that meant his remaining lifespan was dwindling even faster.
Furthermore, Asheria Eve's persistence was arguably the best in the world.
She was a woman who had clashed with Rapha Hastel multiple times during the Great War and still managed to survive to this day.
She was definitely struggling tenaciously to survive this time as well.
But it wasn't hopeless.
Facing Rapha Hastel meant she would have to expend most of her strength too.
Even if she survived by focusing entirely on enduring, there was no way she would be in perfect condition.
In other words, right now was our only chance to take down Asheria Eve.
"We have to strike Asheria Eve before that happens."
We couldn't let Asheria Eve slip away.
To that end, we needed to prepare a fighting force capable of taking her down.
However, most of the Regular Army's Lieutenant Generals had already gone up for secondary support.
The Regular Army didn't have the combat power left to stop Asheria Eve.
"There is one person."
After a brief moment of thought, one person came to mind.
"There should be someone heading this way."
Ririran's eyes quietly flashed.
She had also realized who that person was.
A force capable of facing Asheria Eve, and our most powerful trump card in this situation.
The Sword Lord.
Soun.
"But knowing him, he'll definitely head towards the Sky Castle."
That was true.
His goal was to kill Sohan, after all.
If so, we needed to create a way to draw Soun over here.
And the method to summon Soun was simpler than expected.
"There's someone useful we can use."
And that person was right here in the Regular Army Headquarters.
"Let's go."
Time to make some bait to reel in Soun.

The Regular Army Headquarters.
The building that originally housed the Commander-in-Chief's office had been completely leveled.
Heaven and earth held their breath simultaneously.
This battlefield was not a place where ordinary humans could set foot.
At its center, two figures crossed paths.
The sound of air being torn apart clashed between them.
Just that alone made the atmosphere howl and devastated the surroundings.
1st Commander-in-Chief, Rapha Hastel.
His muscles gleamed as if sculpted by a god.
Muscles shaped as if the world itself had been carved out to fit him. The destructive power flowing from them was a force that shattered the very laws of reality.
Opposite him stood a black-haired woman.
Blood flowed from her mouth, and numerous wounds were visible through her torn clothes.

She was desperately mixing various abilities to heal herself, but the wounds were outpacing her recovery rate.
Light and darkness, flames and frost spun in overlapping layers around her.
Rapha Hastel frowned, clearly displeased by the sight. After all, everything that made up Asheria Eve was ultimately stolen from others.
"You're still doing garbage things, I see."
"We're both rolling around in the same dumpster, so what difference does it make between pieces of trash?"
Asheria Eve replied shamelessly to Rapha Hastel's anger.
"Conviction."
Rapha Hastel kicked off the ground.
Asheria Eve hastily raised her hand.
In response, space tore open, and dozens of attacks poured out simultaneously.
Lightning, crushing gravity, alternating heat and cold, and a blade that severed concepts.
All sorts of things flew toward Rapha Hastel.
In contrast, the only thing granted to Rapha Hastel's body was Acceleration. But that single ability, combined with him, brought forth a completely different dimension of power.
Lightning scorched his shoulder, but he grabbed the lightning and smashed it into the ground. Gravity crushed his body, but he stepped on that very pressure and leaped into the air. The spatial severance was shattered before it could even touch his side.
The distance between Asheria Eve and Rapha Hastel shrank in an instant.
She hurriedly layered multiple abilities to form a defense.
However, in front of Rapha Hastel, all those actions were utterly powerless.
Just one strike.
The air exploded, and the sky split apart.
Asheria Eve's sword shattered, and she tumbled across the ground over and over again.
Rapha Hastel didn't stop there.
He kicked off the ground once more to sever her lifeline.
Barriers spread like shields, flowing formulas, formless shadows, and threads woven from light.
Countless things blocked Rapha Hastel's path.
But with a single punch from Rapha Hastel, everything shattered into pieces and scattered.
To escape from Rapha Hastel, Asheria Eve moved her shadows right before hitting the ground.
Then, she threw herself into the shadows and escaped from that space.
The moment Asheria Eve disappeared.
Acceleration was once again applied to Rapha Hastel's body.
The moment he stepped on the ground, the world slowed down.
And the moment the world returned to its original time...
Craaaash!
The entire area of land was completely obliterated, leaving only Asheria Eve's shadow sitting there.
Swallowing a groan, she tenaciously spewed out her abilities.
Time delay, sensory disruption, prediction blocking—once again, multiple abilities exploded in a chain reaction.
But even in his accelerated state, Rapha Hastel did not stop.
He twisted his body to correct his trajectory, kicked his feet in the air, and stepped on the empty void.
Speed was power, and power did not betray him.
Asheria Eve was sent flying into the sky once again.
Her body was a total wreck, and her bones, which had broken and reattached multiple times, were far from fine.
Death was tightening its grip around her neck.
However, her red eyes flashed as she landed on the ground.
Various abilities swirled around her.
At this distance, facing Rapha Hastel, running away was meaningless.
All she could do now was endure and endure again.
Above all, the end was starting to become visible.
Crack—
Cracks began to form on Rapha Hastel's body.
The end of his lifespan.
His final moments were beginning to consume him.