362. Star of Destruction - Rin
362. Star of Destruction - Rin
***
Zervallua's massive form shot upward like a beam of light, then carved a dark-red arc through the air as it hurtled toward Serin.
Seeing that, Arianne also kicked off the ground in a rush, trying to reach them.
'That kind of speed from a body that size.'
Zervallua's charge was faster than he had imagined, barely trackable by eye, and reaching the Grand Duke in midair looked like it would take only an instant.
Just as Zervallua swung its leg, pitch-black darkness wrapped around her. The moment he realized it was Belua's power and felt relief, something wreathed in an eerie pink light suddenly burst through the darkness.
"..."
An instant later, Arianne had no choice but to stop atop a nearby ruined building.
BOOM!!
Zervallua's colossal body crashed down as fast as it had risen, carving an enormous scar into the ground and kicking up a shockwave.
"How...?"
When Sua, who had arrived beside Arianne, spoke in astonishment, Arianne found himself speechless too. He stared blankly into the air.
Watching the silver-haired woman, wreathed in that chilling yet eerie light, slowly descend onto a nearby building, his senses felt strange.
'Has the Grand Duke been hiding her strength?'
Zervallua's massive body had shrunk by nearly half, but it was still a demonic beast with a size comparable to a modest fortress.
Yet the sight from moments ago, as if she had simply crushed it down with raw force, was almost unreal.
Then, abruptly, Arianne spoke once more in warning.
"...You two must support strictly from range. I will not permit closing the distance."
When Arianne spoke in a calm tone, Sua and Yujeong accepted it.
To them, this clearly looked like a golden opportunity, but when the being of the Star—standing on the same level as a Great Hero—showed such caution, they could not move recklessly either.
As Arianne unleashed a powerful blue aura, Sua and Yujeong likewise raised their own energies.
The moment Zervallua righted itself and launched off the ground, a burst of multicolored light shot toward the demonic beast, with Arianne at the fore, as if they had been waiting.
———!!
The energies the three fired, as if predicting its path, proved their skill by all striking Zervallua's body directly and dealing damage, but Zervallua paid them no mind.
The beast's fur was torn away, exposing raw flesh in places, but as dark-red demonic energy covered the wounds, the beast ignored them and attacked Serin once more.
As before, a vast blackness wrapped around Serin again. The beast's thousands of eyes blazed savagely.
———!!
At that moment, the dark membrane surrounding Serin turned translucent and weakened, and the beast's foot struck it dead-on.
BOOOM!
With a sound like the air itself exploding, the darkness around Serin burst apart and vanished.
The Crescent-Moon Weight, wreathed in pink light, shot forward and met the beast's leg head-on.
BOOM!!
As a storm of immense force raged, a shockwave erupted strong enough to shatter the entire ruined building Serin had been standing on, and the two forces rebounded apart as if flung away from each other.
Watching that sight while accumulating power, Arianne understood with certainty what her epithet meant.
'So this is the Star of Destruction.'
Since he had never seen her directly, he had only known through rumors that she had reached the pinnacle as a Dancer.
But now, the sight of an attack from those slender hands matching the Great Demonic Beast Zervallua blow for blow... it was something beyond wonder.
Even so, he could not commit to full support. The best he could do was predict where the rebounding beast would land and fire his aura again.
After all, he had heard the specifics of "Devour" from the woman who had joined them. He could not help but understand the meaning of why those two women were now at his side.
'I must protect them.'
I had considered them beings of great power as well, but against Devour, their resistance was practically nonexistent. That was why I had to focus on protecting them so that Devour could not take hold.
...
Afterward, a festival of multicolored light continued to pour onto the demonic beast as it landed, but even while allowing those attacks, Zervallua did not spare them a glance.
The beast was gradually changing.
***
KABOOM!!
Blue and gold light hammered down like a bombardment onto the ground. Even from a distance, the explosions rang out with startling clarity.
Watching it, Serin's expression sank deeper.
'...This isn't good.'
It wasn't that the attacks weren't working.
Compared to when they had first encountered it, this was tremendous progress. The wounds on Zervallua's massive body were visibly increasing.
Then, amid the continuing bombardment of energy, a sudden violent gust rose as Zervallua launched itself again.
Immediately after, a different pitch-black darkness wrapped around me.
Now fully visible at the front, Belua deployed her technique as if drenched in blood.
Watching her, I barely managed to hold back the heavy breath that tried to escape.
"..."
Belua was now at full power—no, beyond it—desperately shielding me. With the resolute tone she had used when she said she would protect me, as if ready to throw away her own life.
But...
'Three times.'
Even for Belua, I estimated she could withstand Zervallua's attacks three more times at most. So before that, I had to make a move.
Then, Zervallua had already arrived.
As the beast's leg, stained with dark-red demonic energy, struck hard once more, the darkness around me wavered violently like a candle flame on the verge of going out.
Splatter!
Blood burst from all over Belua's body again.
But even so, I couldn't keep my eyes only on her.
Immediately, the Crescent-Moon Weight, wreathed in eerie light, shifted its trajectory sharply and shot toward the beast's head.
The angle was different from before. My arm swinging the Crescent-Moon Weight was bent at an impossible angle, and the weapon traced countless variations as it flew.
Even knowing the damage Belua was taking was severe, I focused on dealing damage rather than helping her.
An instant later, the blade of the Crescent-Moon Weight carved through the area where many of Zervallua's eyes were, bursting them open in a spray of enormous blood.
Just as I thought the attack had landed more cleanly than expected, I saw the beast's foreleg swinging again.
"...!"
Instinctively, I threw myself toward Belua, who was still maintaining the dark membrane.
————!!
The instant after I escaped the space with Belua, a chilling sensation swept past as the beast's massive foreleg seemed to graze right before my eyes. The entire area in my vision was cleanly severed.
Beyond the ruined building I had been standing on, even the space behind it was completely cut away, carving a horrifyingly enormous scar across the ruined city.
—Moonlight Flight.
Watching that, I urgently deployed the technique.
The Crescent-Moon Weight left my hand and accelerated like light, crossing space, when a deep, deep demonic energy tried to swallow Belua and me.
At that moment, my vision twisted.
"Cough!"
Belua, pale-faced, spat blood and tried to right herself. I hurriedly supported her while watching Zervallua at a fixed distance.
Immediately, countless lights poured down on the beast like another bombardment, but Zervallua allowed some of them while never taking its gaze off me.
It was as if it were lamenting that just a little more—just a little more reach—would have ended it. Without realizing it, I clenched the Crescent-Moon Weight with all my strength.
'It's this cunning...?'
I had certainly recognized that it possessed intelligence. But even so, the way Zervallua's responses changed in real time like this was eerie to the point of being grotesque.
In the first exchange, it allowed my attack and its body fell as if crashing to the ground. In the second exchange, the beast's leg tore through the darkness and came at me threateningly.
In the third exchange, rather than pressing the offensive against Zervallua, I had to focus on the leg swinging toward me.
In the fourth exchange, when Zervallua suddenly spun its body and slammed down its massive tail, Belua switched to the offensive and barely managed to knock it away.
And just now, in the fifth exchange... because Zervallua had launched an attack after taking one, if I hadn't thrown myself forward earlier, Belua's death would have been all but certain at that moment.
In this process, if Belua hadn't changed techniques and responded, if I hadn't countered properly, every moment could have touched death without surprise.
And the fact that it had never once repeated the same attack felt more chilling to me than anything else.
"...I will create an opportunity, even if only once."
I flinched at Belua's voice, heavy with exhaustion, but immediately shook my head. I knew what her words meant, so I could only stop her.
"No, it's fine, Belua. Give up on using that move."
...I knew Belua was still overexerting herself, but even so, I had no intention of seizing an opportunity at the cost of Belua's life.
"But Grand Duke!"
As Belua shook her head and spoke urgently, I released the Lost Moon Demon form entirely. When Belua was startled by that, I smiled faintly instead.
"There's no need to make such an extreme choice."
With this, I abandon the offensive.
Even if I could defeat Zervallua through the opportunity Belua created, I had no intention of accepting it.
If she died, the Grandelia Empire—which would lose one of its Stars along with Cecilia, who would be left alone in this world—would...
'That can't happen.'
Now that Another World had gone beyond an ordinary game and things connected to the past kept appearing, I had not the slightest intention of sacrificing them.
Even if the situation was difficult right now, if Belua and I combined our strength, we could hold out if we had to.
"An opportunity will definitely come."
Seeing Belua still hesitating, I took her hand and conveyed my intent.
Not to use a move that would throw her life away.
Belua had already pushed herself far beyond her limits for Cecilia's sake.
As far as I knew, her lifespan was not very long.