The girl’s movements, which had seemed ready to lash out with a whip at any moment, came to a halt. It appeared her curiosity had been piqued.
The eyes that remained filled with remnants of fire stared directly at the girl and spoke.
“Did I say I ran away?”
“Of course you did.”
The girl replied in a clear voice, as if she were singing.
“You fled back to the family, didn’t you? You forgot both your vengeance and your resentment… If you had just buried everything, life would have been easier.”
“…Is that so.”
The middle-aged man’s blue eyes shifted briefly to the side.
That gaze was directed at me.
“I was quite cowardly, wasn’t I?”
A single phrase emerged, like a sigh.
And that was the end. Once again, the chariot began to violently discharge electricity, and the girl extended her blood-colored whip in sync with it.
The conclusion of the impending clash was obvious.
Mr. Raymond had already clashed with the girl once before. He had been unable to withstand her then, and now, with his insides thoroughly battered, there was nothing more to say.
Right at the moment I realized this,
For reasons unknown, I found myself struggling violently. My body, which was in shambles, should not have had this much strength left.
“Guh… kuh… Ray, Reynolds… Reynolds sir!”
But the struggling was meaningless. No sudden brilliant plan was about to appear just because I flailed around randomly.
The two were already on the verge of colliding, and wasn’t I much too far away from them? Besides, I couldn’t move an inch.
It was then.
With a sound like “puck,” someone who had wrapped their arms around Celin rolled across the ground. Celin resisted, thrashing about, but the woman straddling her gritted her teeth and held on.
It was Liya.
How had Liya—
Before I had even finished making sense of it, Liya let out a scream.
“Hurry, go… Brother!”
It was as if a sudden white lightning bolt had pierced through my spine.
I jumped to my feet and pursued the sword and battle axe that had fallen to the ground. My beloved weapons had rolled far away by now.
The deadline was ticking down by the minute!
I clenched my teeth and took a step forward.
At that moment,
“Mi, master…”
Gritting my teeth, Senior Elsi’s blue eyes turned toward me.
She wasn’t suggesting the use of a magical prison. Even if I had released her binding restraints and attempted a spell, it would have been too late.
Still, Senior Elsi was pointing somewhere with her gaze.
Continuously, at the point where the two were about to collide.
It didn’t take me long to understand her intent.
In a rush, my hand reached out, lifting Senior Elsi’s small frame.
And then the sound of an electric current coursing through my nerves—a dizziness-inducing pain.
“Guh… Aaaaaah!”
I struggled against the muscles trying to contract.
I lifted Senior Elsi and aimed toward the distant target.
The girl stood there, ready to laugh wildly and swing her whip.
“Go ahead and regret in the next world! Your foolish choice…”
With a great thrust, Senior Elsi’s body soared through the void.
The blood-red whip split the air just moments later.
At that point, the girl still wore a self-assured and confident smile, certain of her victory.
Perhaps her certainty would have won out.
If it hadn’t been for Senior Elsi.
The sudden appearance of Senior Elsi in front of her momentarily froze the flow of time between me and the girl.
It was evident from the peripheral view alone.
The figure falling from the sky and the one standing firmly on the ground.
The faces of the two girls contrasted sharply.
Senior Elsi, her face twisted in pain, continued to maintain a trembling smile.
Compared to her, the girl’s wide eyes and gritted teeth exuded sheer shock.
“What nonsense… impossible!”
Crack! It was like the sound of a bone being twisted. The blood-red whip crumbled apart without control.
Because of the contract.
The girl had promised that day not to harm Senior Elsi.
In exchange for her staying quiet and submissive while bound.
But now, I was free, and there was no way to reclaim the price that had already been paid.
As with all the previous deals the girl had struck.
The atmosphere rumbled, as the wind surged with jubilation.
In the meantime, the girl somehow wriggled away to create distance from Senior Elsi. Since Senior Elsi couldn’t move due to electric shock, the girl seemed to believe all she needed was to evade.
It was a sound strategy.
Except Senior Elsi wasn’t just buying time for Mr. Reynolds.
With my staggering and struggling movements, I grabbed the sword and axe in each hand.
A silver trajectory tore through the world.
The girl, who had been trying desperately to escape, found her wrist suddenly cleaved by the axe blade.
The girl’s eyes, clenched in anger, glared at me in accusation.
But that wasn’t all.
With a “puck,” the successive throw of the blade slammed into the side of the girl’s knee.
A gush of blood and water spurted out, slightly shaking her stance. The brief moment of opportunity only lasted a few seconds, but all eyes were momentarily drawn to the sky.
With a deafening crash,
The sky collapsed.
It wasn’t a physical ceiling or roof that shattered. The void itself was actually crumbling. Initially, it was just a small scratch, but soon the cracks grew uncontrollably, dropping fragments.
And there it was.
On the other side was a white bolt of lightning that stood poised like a tongue licking through an infinite space, confronting the boundaries of human understanding.
How could a single creature conjure such a miracle?
Even the girl was speechless, gazing at the sky.
A boiling voice seeped through clenched teeth.
“If I continue like this, it’s no good!”
The girl shakily stood up, a despicable smile playing on her lips.
Her shoulders began to tremble for the first time.
It indicated she had taken a significant amount of damage. Nevertheless, she bit down on a bright blue crescent-shaped charm in her mouth.
As though she still had one more card up her sleeve.
Whirling, the sound resonated.
The Archmage’s gaze remained unwavering. Meeting the blue flame head-on, the girl gave out a weakening laugh.
“Alright, alright. I’ll give you credit… Raymond Rainelle, you’ve surprised me.”
“Is that your last word?”
“No.”
With a grinding sound, the girl snapped her fingers.
At that moment, the hand that had been about to throw a black rod hesitated. My eyes widened in astonishment.
A faint blood-red string was attached to her arm.
Just like when Celin had been controlled.
“I already told you… there is no salvation! No god! Only despair exists! And it was you who sold your fate to me in that despair!”
The Archmage’s gaze remained fixed on his own shaking hand. That hand, which no longer followed the brain’s commands, remained frozen as if locked in place.
The girl burst into laughter.
“Hooh… HAHAHAHA! Now, now, it’s proven… no one will save you.”
With a “puck,” she pounded her chest, continuing her rant.
“Only yourself! Only the human who abandons the gods can save themselves! From the moment you, intoxicated by emotions, rejected my mercy to let you live…”
Whirl, and snap.
The girl’s words were abruptly cut off. A vacant gaze wandered upward and froze on the descending black rod.
“…I see.”
The girl’s eyes slowly traced back to the Archmage’s hand, and I too realized the situation.
The tingling current covered his right arm.
He had induced electric shocks to rigidify his muscles, making any movement impossible.
Even though the blood-red thread strained to pull his arm, the Archmage remained entirely still.
He merely tossed the black rod up and caught it with his remaining hand.
Eventually, the heavens began to tear further apart.
“This is… a breach of contract!”
The girl let out a scream, her bloodshot eyes glaring wildly.
“Enforce the contract immediately, Raymond Rainelle! My fate is yours! If you try to violate the contract through loopholes, you will experience suffering beyond imagination, and your heart will burst…”
“To my good fortune, it seems an opportune time to teach you the Rainelle family motto, my noble cousin.”
With a “hiccup,” spitting out blood, the Archmage smiled gently.
At the same time, the thrown black rod didn’t return.
The cracks in the sky had already reached the ground. A pure white lightning bolt roared with its might, showing no mercy.
A hint of gold in the girl’s eyes flickered with genuine fear for the first time.
How does one describe this?
It was a leviathan of lightning.
No matter how much we strained our necks to look upward, there seemed to be no end. Even attempting to estimate its limits felt like a sacrilege.
The giant of lightning transcended all boundaries.
With a thunderous sound, the essence of light and heat reached out its hand through the rift in the sky.
“The fate of Rainelle….”
Finally grasping the urgency, the girl hastily wrapped her body with threads of blood, but it was clear even this wouldn’t provide complete safety.
The vivid terror in her golden eyes and the beads of cold sweat on her forehead testified to it.
In that moment, just before the world submerged entirely in the sea of lightning,
“Unbelievable…!”
The girl’s scream, filled with disbelief, rang out.
“…is decided by Rainelle.”
Through the cracks of the shattered sky,
The godlike wrath of the Brain descended upon the earth.
