The Pointy-Eared Sleeping Beauty (8)
"Hey! If it's that good, why the hell haven't we been using it this whole time?"
"The act of forcibly dragging another being into a pocket dimension is, in itself, a direct interference with the mortal realm. It is not something even most deities would dare attempt lightly."
In short, the energy cost was far too high compared to the payoff.
"Even that fellow you met recently who commanded low-level devils could do no more than store his minions away and summon them when needed."
"And here I thought he was pulling them out of some magic pocket. So that was a pocket dimension too, huh?"
Even high-level devils possessing proper physical vessels could only use pocket dimensions in a limited capacity. If so, what about this guardian deity?
Her current state was equivalent to a human on the absolute brink of starvation. This was a fact acknowledged not just by Yohan, but by the guardian deity herself.
"Wait, hold on. Then what is that bastard banking on...?"
"It means she is determined to see this through, even if it requires burning through the vast majority of her remaining divinity."
Yohan swallowed hard at the Goddess's words.
Driven by a singular, obsessive resolve to destroy the Goddess and her Apostle who sought to take the tribe's last child, she had bet her very life. After all, if she lost, she would die anyway.
"..."
Realizing this, Yohan felt goosebumps break out across his entire body from the sheer weight of her venomous obsession. At the same time, a wave of terror unlike anything he had felt before washed over him, forcing his eyes shut.
But it was only for a fleeting moment. He quickly snapped his eyes open and shook his head.
"Ah, screw it."
Yes, the guardian deity was undoubtedly a dangerous foe. Calling her dangerous was an understatement; she was stark raving mad. But what did any of that matter? Yohan brushed off the creeping dread as if it were nothing.
"Damn it. It's not like it's anything new. Most of the bastards who've tried to kill me so far were suicidal maniacs anyway."
Therefore, this wretched guardian deity was nothing special.
"You... what on earth are you?"
Even the guardian deity, who had remained entirely composed until now, could not hide her bewilderment at Yohan's attitude.
"Who knows? For starters, I'm this dummy's lackey, but..."
Yohan looked down at the Goddess standing proudly beside him, placed his hand on the crown of her head, and shook his head.
"Hey, dummy. If what you're saying is true, this isn't the actual forest I know, right?"
At Yohan's question, the Goddess swatted his hand away and nodded.
"Indeed. It takes the form of a burning forest for the same reason your subconscious refuge manifested as that tiny room."
In other words, this burning forest was merely a recreation of a memory deeply etched into her mind.
"Perfect."
The moment the Goddess finished speaking, Yohan took a step forward.
*Step.*
Then, he abruptly raised his Light Sword toward the pitch-black sky.
In an area choked with acrid smoke and drifting embers, the light radiating from Yohan's blade shone as brilliantly as the midday sun.
"I was holding back so much because my friends were right behind me, and it was honestly killing me. But now, I don't have to worry about that anymore. Right?"
Yohan flashed a sinister grin at the guardian deity. While the Divine Flame was an offensive tool capable of distinguishing friend from foe, it had the drawback of only being truly effective against lower-ranking enemies. Consequently, it couldn't inflict significant damage on a high-ranking entity like the guardian deity before him.
But now, there was absolutely no need to worry about friendly fire.
"What... what are you talking about...?"
"I'm saying you're not the only one who can go all out."
*Flash!*
The moment Yohan finished speaking, the Light Sword he held aloft shattered into hundreds, thousands of fragments.
The fragments scattered in all directions, blanketing the dark sky like a canopy of glittering stars.
*Snap!*
Yohan snapped his fingers without a word.
Instantly, the floating fragments of light reshaped themselves into miniature swords.
In the pitch-black sky where not a single star could be seen, dozens—no, hundreds—of glowing blades hovered in the air.
"Oho."
Standing beside Yohan, the Goddess looked up at the sky with an intrigued expression.
The Apostle's Authority was a boundless power that manifested whatever the wielder desired. Thus, as long as it fell within the limits of his imagination and skill, such transformations were entirely possible.
The space, which had been lit only by the dying embers scattered throughout the forest, was suddenly illuminated as bright as day.
"..."
The guardian deity's face contorted in horror as she stared up at the sky filled with glowing swords.
Yohan, on the other hand, wore a smile more confident than ever.
This was a pocket dimension isolated from the real world, created by the Guardian Deity of the Dawn Dew Tribe. And currently, there were only three living beings in this space. Falco and Billy would be waiting for him back in the physical world.
"Here it comes," Yohan said, his voice low.
At that exact moment, the countless glowing swords filling the sky rained down toward the earth.
*RUMBLE!*
A barrage of blades, resembling a spectacular meteor shower, completely engulfed the ground.
While the Divine Flame only harmed malevolent entities, a bombardment of Light Swords did not discriminate.
*Whoosh!*
The barrage of glowing swords painting the night sky reduced the entire forest to a devastated wasteland.
"Eek! Were you trying to kill me as well?!"
The Goddess's outraged voice echoed in his head. It seemed she had quickly shifted into her spiritual form to escape the bombardment.
Yohan lightly swung his Light Sword, conjuring a gust of wind that swept away the surrounding dust clouds.
"Stop overreacting. I'm not an idiot. Why the hell would I target us?"
He snapped back, nagging her in return.
"Th-that is hardly the point!"
To be fair, even Yohan hadn't expected this much dust to kick up. Had they been in the middle of the actual Great Forest, it wouldn't have caused such a massive cloud. However, the guardian deity's pocket dimension was incredibly dry, and the ground was blanketed in thick ash, which led to this mess. Recognizing this, he refrained from arguing any further.
Alright, whatever. Let's just see what happened to that guardian deity.
*Whoosh!*
Yohan swung his Light Sword with greater force. The dust cloud parted to the left and right, finally clearing his line of sight.
The guardian deity had been standing directly in front of him, so there was no way she could have dodged the attack. Since the Goddess's power was formidable enough to threaten even high-level devils, it was reasonable to expect that the guardian deity had sustained significant damage.
"Where is she...? Wait, she's gone?"
But there was no sign of her anywhere. Where she had stood, only overturned earth and scattered ash remained from the bombardment.
"You startled me. So you really were holding back in the outside world."
Another voice echoed in his mind, but it did not belong to the Unnamed Goddess.
"This crazy bitch..."
Of course, guessing the owner of the voice was incredibly easy.
Right. He had forgotten a crucial detail. Since she was a deity, she could freely transition between a spiritual form and a physical vessel. He had essentially wasted precious divine power for nothing. Yohan clicked his tongue in frustration.
"..."
After a brief silence, he suddenly recalled the explanation the Goddess had given him earlier. A pocket dimension was a microcosm created by a divine entity. In this microcosm, everything, including the laws of physics, was subject to the creator's will. Therefore, this desolate forest was not just a location. It was more accurate to view it as an extension of the guardian deity herself.
Which meant that as long as she remained one with this space, destroying the physical form of the girl was utterly pointless. The moment that realization struck him—
*RUMBLE!*
"Whoa, whoa, whoa—?!"
A violent tremor suddenly erupted from beneath his feet. It shook so intensely that Yohan nearly lost his footing and tumbled over.
And it wasn't just the ground beneath him. The entire surrounding area shook violently before beginning to collapse altogether. The space itself was fracturing.
Yohan realized that even gravity had completely vanished. As the forest dissolved entirely, a void of endless darkness was laid bare.
Then, the matter that had comprised the burning forest began to coalesce, forming a colossal mass.
"Fine! I'll return those exact words to you! Let's see what happens when neither of us holds back!"
The guardian deity's voice boomed from the heavens, and Yohan instinctively clamped his hands over his ears.
"Damn it, my eardrums are gonna burst."
This wasn't like the Goddess's telepathic voice speaking inside his head; this was a sound that literally reverberated through the entire pocket dimension.
*Rumble!*
Meanwhile, the massive clump of earth began to take a humanoid shape. Since it was fashioned from all the soil in the pocket dimension, it was so colossal that Yohan couldn't even fit its entire form into his field of vision from up close.
Countless embers rose and swirled around its surface of earth and ash. At a glance, they looked like fireflies glowing in a meadow late at night, but the light carried an strangely ominous, sickening aura.
"What the hell are those will-o'-the-wisps?"
"Those are the souls of the Dawn Dew Tribe. It seems she has finally unleashed what she had been harboring all this time."
Of course. I knew those weren't ordinary flames.
"Son of a bitch," Yohan muttered instinctively.
Sure, she was currently a raving lunatic, but she was still the guardian deity of the pointy-eared tribe. Naturally, the pointy-ears who worshipped her would follow her even in death. Their skeletal remains were desecrated as undead monsters, and now, even their disembodied souls were denied eternal rest.
"That is likely... the absolute limit of the power she can muster right now."
"So she's dragging out the souls of the very people she was supposed to protect?"
"Indeed. She can no longer be called a guardian deity. It is more accurate to call her an evil god—one who plunders the flesh and souls of her victims."
The Goddess replied, her voice heavy with a complex mix of emotions. Hearing this, Yohan scowled deeply.
A guardian deity, whose duty was to guide the souls of her deceased tribe members to a peaceful rest, was instead using those very souls as fuel for battle. As the Apostle of the Unnamed Goddess, he had every reason to be furious. Furthermore, as a human being, he felt a profound rage toward this entity that toyed with the dead to satisfy her own whims.
The members of the Dawn Dew Tribe were destined to never find peace, even in death. And that included Falco.
*Grit.*
Yohan clenched his teeth so hard that his jaw audibly ground together.
"Ha."
After a moment, his scowl vanished, replaced by a sudden, dry chuckle.
"What is it now? Why the sudden laughter?"
"To be honest, I was actually feeling a bit of a guilty conscience earlier."
At the Goddess's question, Yohan shrugged and replied.
"And?"
"I thought that even if she'd gone mad and turned evil, she was originally just an unfortunate victim who genuinely cared for her tribe."
Yohan pointed toward the giant surrounded by the swirling flames of the dead.
"But seeing what she's doing now, I'm absolutely certain. She was never worth pitying in the first place."
The Big Boss who absorbed the life force of his own family members in the Undercity of Valifield. The man-eating Troll Chief who accumulated heinous sins by slaughtering and devouring humans. And this guardian deity who, far from protecting her deceased tribe, was desecrating them to the very end. They were all the exact same brand of absolute trash. Yohan was absolutely sure of it.
*Flash!*
In an instant, wings of pure white light sprouted from his back. It was his means of moving freely in a void where there was no ground to stand on—wings manifested through the Apostle's Authority.
"Hey, dummy. Sorry, but I'm gonna have to burn through a lot of divine power."
Yohan offered a quiet apology to the Goddess.
"Use as much as you need. You have my full permission."
The moment the Goddess finished speaking, Yohan summoned a massive Light Sword in each of his hands.
"Let's smash this thing in a single blow."
Yohan looked up at the giant created by the guardian deity and declared.