Pillar Overload
The overloaded pillar of light swelled once more. It had grown two or three times thicker than before, now piercing straight through the entire fortress like a massive spike. The sanctuary's light flickered on and off from above, short bursts. Once, twice. In between, a pressure of mingled water and light swept across the entire battlefield. It wasn't just weighing on my skin—it soaked into my bones from the inside.
"...Overheating."
The words tumbled out of my mouth. The stench of forcibly propping open the descent passage. The pillar wasn't being maintained; they were shoving more numbers in from above, way past the limit.
I glanced at Bell standing beside me.
"That pillar."
The tower of light.
"Forcing it bigger like that will create weak spots for sure."
Bell's eyes flicked upward once.
"There'll be guys up top holding that pillar steady."
Upper reaches of the light pillar, where prayers and hymns were bound tight.
"If you can, eat those bastards first."
Bell curled the corner of his mouth just a fraction. Not a satisfied grin from a full belly, but the face of a hunter locking onto prey.
"And."
I looked up at the pillar again.
"If you can manage it, sever the damn thing at the base."
With all those forced reinforcements tangled up together.
"Anything caught in the fall will shred itself."
Bell said curtly.
"Sounds fun."
Before the words even finished, his presence vanished. The shadow at my feet rippled once, and a black fissure stretched long toward the pillar. Then nothing. Bell was already gone, vanished somewhere inside it.
The smell overhead shifted. The sanctuary's light grew thicker with the scent of water. The air started thinning out.
"It's here."
My instincts recognized it first. My heart lurched hard. I cranked Reinforcement to its max right away. The final line my body could endure without shattering. Reinforcement: 80%. I packed power into every muscle, tendon, joint, and bone I could reach. Anything more, and it'd rip me apart. That was my max for today without overdoing it.
A long stream of tangled light and water descended from above, crashing over the battlefield like it was dragging the whole field underwater. And riding that stream downward was Gabriel. In his hand, a cross-shaped staff—a holy relic. A cane reaching from the ground to shoulder height. Holy Water Staff.
The staff hummed once, and the sanctuary's pulse dropped a full tone. The moment he stepped forward, the light across the front lines quivered in perfect sync. The hymns inside the light passage grew denser. Holy Domain Deployment. Once more, our allies realigned into a state perfect for holding out, while the enemy was pressed into a fragile formation. Thin water membranes draped over the wounded demons in the front lines. Pressure settled first on their injuries. Their broken limbs regained just enough strength to hold—then snapped more precisely. Hellish flesh and bone crumpled inward like soda cans dropped into the abyss. The same water coated the angels like armor. The sanctuary's outer barrier pressed first, the water armor followed, and the flesh-clinging protection locked in last, thickest of all. Three layers fixed the angels in place, unbreakable.
I glanced back once. Far off, atop the fortress gate. The red curtain still held. Lines escaping the camouflage fortress thickened behind the gate, funneling toward Nova. Balrag's pressure still gripped the ramparts and gate as one mass. Inside the gate, the demons El had rallied staggered their twisted bodies into Nova.
The retreat line hasn't broken yet.
Nova lives.
I decided to focus forward. From within the light passage, Gabriel's gaze turned my way. We recognized each other. He from atop light and prayer, me from amid flesh and blood.
"It's you."
Gabriel said quietly. Polite voice, but devoid of warmth.
"The entity that introduced error into Raphael's battlefield."
Error.
The word chewed in my mouth.
"What're you babbling about?"
I pointed my dagger down the path of slaughter.
"Ah... I was just roughly hacking through the white maggots you sent, and it wasn't as boring as I thought."
Gabriel's eyes chilled further.
"Because of you alone, this entire sector shifted from trial to battlefield."
"It should have been a place to verify and purify numbers."
He tilted his head slightly.
"But you didn't die when you were supposed to."
"So now this spot demands this much blood."
I smirked.
"Bullshit."
My tone dripped sarcasm.
"Couldn't kill me, so you blame others? That place full of retards or what?"
For a moment, the air sank colder. The mild expression slowly drained from Gabriel's face. He replied curtly.
"The longer a defect like you endures, the more rotting corpses pile up below."
"So erasing you now is the greatest mercy for this battlefield."
I rolled my shoulders.
"You guys love mercy, huh. Fine, I'll show you some too."
"Don't dodge—stick your neck out nice and still, maggot."
Water and light surged from beneath his feet. Another transparent sanctuary bloomed between the forward sky and ground. Nearly invisible to the eye. But the instant the air thickened, I sensed the line. My breath caught in my chest. The air inside the sanctuary twisted one way, converging on me. Designation. Angels' spears and shields aligned as one toward a single direction. Light poured toward me. Here, only the angels were protected, while I stood marked as the clear target.
─────SHUUUUUUK!!!
Like a missile.
I pressed my dagger to the boundary of the transparent sanctuary. Resistance tugged at my wrist. I twisted the angle bit by bit until the tip found the thinned section. The line where the sound echoed least. I slashed it. The dagger slid through like butter.
────SHRIIIP
The dome split, and the angel behind it had its neck and chest torn open together. The light barrage veered aside. I dove through the gap, severing second and third necks.
The descending water shifted form. What fell from the sky now rose from the ground. An invisible wall formed before the battlefield. Pressure Water Wall. Massless, but my body knew first. One step forward, and my calves to chest felt half-submerged. I pushed my foot deeper. Water pressure clamped knees, waist, ribs at once. The inside weighed heavier than the outer air. Angels' spears thrust from beyond the wall. High-Pressure Water. Water converged to a point stabbed like a blade. Graze meant severed, touch meant pierced. Then the form shifted again. High-Pressure Water · Morph · Water Spear. Spear-shaped water slammed faster, deeper, in sequence. I dodged on instinct, pressing my dagger to the wall. Not smashing head-on, but finding where the flow thinned weakest. The line where the water hushed quietest. I slashed only those. Rip one, and water gushed through. The wall cracked like fractured glass, fissures spreading. I walked the cracks inward.
Then the air shifted form again. This time circular, slowly encircling me. My whole body began squeezing in at once. Abyssal Prison.
"Guh—hk."
Breath cut off half a beat early.
No gap to escape, just get crushed inside.
Restraint too tight to endure by mere movement. Thrashing here would just choke me out and pulp me.
Once.
I counted heartbeats.
────Thump—!
Saved for exactly one use today on this battlefield.
──────Thump—!
The second massive heartbeat silenced all sound at once. Light and water around, hymns and blood reek—all pushed far away. In my hand, only the dagger remained. Ahead, one line. The boundary of the squeezing water sphere. Right up to it was my slashing line. I killed my breath completely. Sensation underfoot. Knees and waist. Shoulders and wrist aligned one direction. In that state, I poured everything into one strike.
A lightning slash carving one line before my eyes. A cut deciding the outcome before the blade even moves.
The dagger moved lightly. The severing sound followed later.
Splurt──────────KABOOOOOM──────────!!!!!
The Abyssal Prison split perfectly in half. The pressure crushing me snapped with it. Severed water and light sprayed aside. Nearby angels dropped, bisected torso from legs. Then sound returned. Exploding water, screams. Bone-cracking echoes and my heartbeat flooded my ears at once. Finger sensation flickered out, then back.
Gabriel eyed my dagger once.
"That strike just now. Quite impressive for output from such a defect."
"Pity it's just a variable that'll be erased soon."
"It'll remain only in records."
My arms, shoulders, ribs inside—all screaming at once. My body knew. That one strike had burned through nearly all of today's "safe max."
Gabriel showed no haste.
"Fortunate."
He added quietly.
"If you could endure longer, this battlefield would rot even more."
I gripped the dagger again. Fingers trembled faintly. Still holdable. Something—sweat or blood—slid from my hand.
"Don't worry."
I took one more step forward.
"It'll end shorter than you think."
Overhead, the light pillar quivered faintly. Noise mixed into its steady pulse. Somewhere up there, Bell was moving. Prayers and hymns, forcibly held lines—weak spots severing one by one. I advanced again. Toward Gabriel, the pouring water and light.