The singular eye of Antares stared straight at Judas standing several meters away, as though it had finally found its fated enemy.
Its glowing red eye reflected Judas' unmoving figure.
The beast roared... a low, gutteral vibration at first that rose into a thunderous bellow.
Within its chest, light began to coalesce, condensing into a blinding sphere of pure energy.
It was charging an attack meant to erase everything.
Judas stared back without flinching, a glowing arrow-shaped light floating beside him, vibrating with a terrifying, ethereal hum
'To save Artemis, I have to sever the connection she has with this thing.'
He didn't wait for Antares to finish charging its attack and engage in some sort of epic beam clash like in a shounen anime.
He fired immediately.
『Pseudo 7th-Tier Magic…』
『Soul-Piercing Arrow』
Fwoosh—!
The arrow vanished the instant it was fired.
A streak of light tore through, splitting the air with a piercing shriek as the ground beneath its path ruptured in a perfectly straight line.
Antares' attack had only just begun to stabilize.
Driven by primal arrogance, the monster didn't sense a physical threat from the attack and chose not to dodge.
Only when the arrow was inches away did the alarm bells finally scream in its head.
There was no explosion.
No grand collision.
The moment the arrow of light made contact, no hole pierced through Antares' body.
It simply phased through as though it had never hit anything at all.
For a fraction of a second…
Everything froze.
Antares' roar cut off abruptly, its massive body locking in place as though frozen in time.
A pain beyond anything physical began exploding throughout its being.
Then…
…crack.
Light began leaking from within.
Thin fractures spread across its chitinous armor like glass under pressure.
Judas' eyes glowed.
In his vision, he could see an arrow-sized hole formed in Antares' soul.
The string that clung unto Artemis' soul snapped and separated.
The Soul-Piercing Arrow had definitely hit its mark.
"GRAAAAAAAAH—!"
The forest shook as Antares let out a distorted scream, its body swelling with unstable energy before…
BOOOOOOM—!
A delayed detonation erupted from within, a pillar of light bursting skyward as its massive form was torn apart from the inside.
The shockwave blasted outward, flattening everything in its path… trees bent, snapped, and uprooted as dust and debris swallowed the surroundings whole.
Within the chaos, Judas moved, his figure turning into a blur as he caught a giant crystal hurled into the air.
"Artemis… I did it."
Looking inside and seeing Artemis sleeping peacefully, Judas couldn't help but smile faintly as he gently set the crystal down.
He looked up and saw the fake moon in the night sky beginning to fade into countless motes of light.
...
"Everyone! Look!"
"The moon… it's disappearing…"
In Orario, the citizens crowded the streets and couldn't help but look up as the event unfolded before their eyes.
"Did Judas do it!?"
From the top floor of the Tower of Babel, Loki exclaimed as she stared out the window, her slit eyes widening.
Freya walked toward the window and lifted her gaze as well, watching motes of light, Artemis' divinity, drifting across the night sky like stars.
'The sight certainly looks beautiful…'
However, there was still a nagging feeling in the back of their minds that things had not been fully resolved yet.
'Something doesn't feel right.'
…
Back inside the Elsos Ruins, where Belle and the others were fighting the tamed dragons…
"Hey! Everyone, look up! The sky… it's normal again… that scary world-ending moon is gone!"
Belle exclaimed as she lifted her head toward the sky.
"Judas… he did it!"
Lante shouted with a smile.
"Urg! That's neat and all, but… the situation isn't exactly going great on our end."
Lili said between ragged breaths as she stared at the pair of dragons flying above them, breathing fire in their direction.
"Everyone! Move out of the way!"
Asfi shouted as everyone jumped out of the line of fire.
But the resulting explosions caused them to stumble forward and crash roughly onto the ground.
"We talked big about taking care of these guys earlier, but we might not last much longer and end up getting wiped out ourselves…"
Welf wheezed as he knelt on the ground, staring at the hilt of his shattered magic sword.
"I'm sorry, guys… if only my magic swords could've lasted a little longer…"
Before Welf's magic sword shattered, the battle had been nearly even.
But now, they were barely surviving… and the gap in strength between the two sides had been exposed.
'This is not good…'
Belle thought as she looked around.
Nearly half their forces had been injured or were too wounded to continue fighting.
The healers from the Artemis Familia were doing their best, but it wasn't enough.
That was when the dragons landed in front of them, their sheer weight causing the ground to tremble.
Belle's pupils shrank as the dragons opened their jaws and flames began forming in their throats.
'Oh no! If that attack hits… a lot of people will die…'
Belle gritted her teeth as sweat poured down her face.
Her mind raced desperately, trying to think of a way out of the dire situation.
That was when a loud scream entered her ears.
"Uooooooh!"
A shadow plummeted from above.
She shifted her gaze and saw Falgar leaping down, swinging his sword toward one of the dragon's heads.
As his blade clashed against the dragon's thick scales, sparks flew everywhere, but it was enough to force the dragon backward and interrupt its attack.
"This…"
Belle muttered as several magic attacks suddenly slammed into the other dragon, causing it to roar in annoyance.
She turned her head and saw several mages in the distance with their staffs raised.
"The Hermes Familia! They're here!"
Rethusa muttered in relief.
"Asfi… everyone… it seems you guys are having a hard time."
Falgar said as he rested his sword over his shoulder.
"Hehe, glad we made it. I'm expecting a serious bonus for this."
Lulune chirped, landing and tossing a handful of high-grade potions to the injured.
"Falgar… Lulune… everyone…"
Asfi said with a tired smile.
"Please don't move too much, Captain."
Laurier said as she cast healing magic.
"We just need to eliminate these dragons so we can finally go home, right? With that giant fake moon gone… I'm assuming Sir Judas already killed Antares."
Lulune said as she handed over the last potion.
"No…"
Artemis spoke quietly, drawing everyone's attention.
Her body had become fully transparent.
"Artemis-sama…"
Lante said worriedly.
"It's not over yet… something dangerous is coming, so someone please take me to him before it's too late."
Artemis said with a strained expression.
…
Judas looked at the Artemis still trapped inside the giant blue crystal before shifting his gaze toward the motes of light drifting through the night sky.
'Those things should be Artemis' divinity in energy form… logically, it should be returning to her body…'
But it wasn't.
It was being pulled elsewhere.
He narrowed his eyes before looking back at the sleeping Artemis, who showed no signs of waking up.
At that moment, he realized something was wrong.
'Don't tell me…'
Then he felt it.
A powerful presence approaching his location.
'It's not the Dis Sisters…'
He turned his head.
Through the cloud of smoke, a humanoid silhouette slowly emerged.
step
step
step
The sound of footsteps echoed through the air until the figure finally became visible.
'What the…'
Judas frowned as a humanoid creature came into view.
'This resemblance…'
It looked like a woman, but a long, scorpion-like tail swayed behind her.
She had blue hair, but only a single, lidless eye in the center of her face.
"Artemis?"
Judas whispered.
At first glance, the creature looked as though a monster and the goddess had fused into one.
The moment it revealed itself, the creature raised its head and let out a high-pitched screech.
Judas raised his arm to cover his ears as the creature continued screaming for several seconds before finally stopping.
Then, within a heartbeat, the creature raised both arms and the divine energy in the sky began to move.
Judas watched as the motes of light spiraled together into a massive tornado, funneling directly into the creature's body.
"It's absorbing it? Artemis' divinity?"
Judas said with widened eyes, but he reacted immediately and began channeling his mind.
He raised his arm.
Dozens of magic circles surrounded the creature before lighting up and unleashing countless offensive spells at once.
Blinding light engulfed the area as deafening explosions rang out one after another, completely swallowing the creature's figure.
The ground trembled violently as the surrounding environment was devastated even further.
When the magic barrage finally ceased, a massive crater had been carved into the earth as though a meteor had struck.
"No way…"
Before the smoke had even fully cleared, Judas frowned as he sensed the creature remained completely unharmed.
Just before the barrage hit, the creature had summoned a barrier made from arcanum to protect itself.
"Dammit!"
A bead of sweat rolled down his face as he looked up and saw the giant tornado of divine energy continuing to pour into the creature, its presence growing stronger by the second.
A magic circle appeared over his eyes like a pair of lenses as he examined the creature's soul.
"Antares… to fix the hole in its soul… it changed its shape by compressing itself?"
"It must've instinctively used Arcanum to prevent its soul from falling apart. It performed some sort of forced reincarnation… so the change in form is the result of its vessel adapting…"
"Since it had already captured Artemis… it must've used her form as the reference."
Judas muttered as he analyzed what had happened.
"What the hell do I do now? Should I use another 7th-tier spell?"
"Or should I just use the Arrow of Orion now that Artemis is safe and sound?"
He added with a troubled expression as his gaze fell on the Arrow of Orion lying on the ground beside him.
Smoke slowly rose from the weapon, and the brilliant shine it once carried had completely faded.
Judas grabbed the arrow and tried to draw upon its power, but after several seconds, nothing happened.
'Damn it! It's on cooldown…'
Even though he hadn't directly used the Arrow of Orion's power, he had still used it as a conduit for a pseudo 7th-tier spell.
"Orion! Orion!"
His ears twitched when he heard a familiar voice calling out.
"Artemis?"
He turned and saw Artemis being carried by Lulune, who wore Talaria, the magic sandals that normally belonged to Asfi and granted the power of flight.
"Ah… please be careful, Lady Artemis… I've only worn Asfi's Talaria a few times… I'm not very good at flying yet."
Lulune said with a strained smile as she flew toward Judas and landed beside him.
"Orion!"
The moment they touched the ground, Artemis immediately rushed over while Lulune looked around at the situation, her instincts screaming at her to run away.
"What the hell is happening over here?"
She muttered, sweat pouring down her face.
"Artemis…"
Judas caught Artemis as she stumbled.
He looked at her and saw that most of her body had become transparent… as though she was on the verge of disappearing.
'She must be holding herself together through sheer willpower.'
Artemis smiled at him before shifting her gaze toward the Artemis trapped inside the crystal.
She raised her hand and pressed her palm against the surface, feeling its cold hardness.
'I am jealous…'
She thought quietly before turning toward the reborn Antares, which continued absorbing her divinity.
"Orion… listen to me carefully…"
She said as she looked back at him.
"Right now… by taking on my form… this version of Antares has gained far better control over my divine power."
"If it isn't stopped, not only will it become a monster capable of wielding arcanum efficiently… but once it absorbs every last fragment… it will be reborn as a new God of Monsters."
"At that point… even if the Arrow of Orion recharges… it will no longer be enough to stop it."
Artemis said seriously.
"What the… then that thing is impossible to defeat? Is the world really going to end like this?"
'This situation is beyond what mortals can handle!'
Lulune exclaimed from the side, her face turning pale as she listened.
Judas stayed silent, staring directly into Artemis' unwavering eyes.
He realized that if Artemis was telling him all this, then she must already have some kind of plan.
"Orion… here is what you must do…"
Artemis said as she slowly placed her palm against his chest.
"To prevent Antares from becoming a Monster God… you must absorb my Arcanum and stop its evolution."
"Use it, Orion. Use my power and end this once and for all."
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