Thud—!
Right after the sickening sound of something piercing flesh reached Alon and Seollang’s ears,
what entered the sight of the two as they turned their heads
was the scene of a fragment lodged where the Descended One’s head had been.
[Hhh— hhaahahahahaha—!!]
As if it had achieved its great design, it burst into a mad laugh.
The spear that had gone in through its neck and pierced its heart gleamed, wet with red blood.
At a glance, it looked like it had suffered a fatal attack, but—
──────────Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble—!
—from the moment it burst into maniacal laughter, the earth began to tremble, and spread something ominous to everyone there.
And the power that followed was so immense it stripped every Divine blood present of the will to fight.
As though they had come face to face with the incomprehensible, the Divine blood stared at the Descended One with vacant expressions.
Seollang, wearing a face not much different from theirs, let out a low sigh.
Of course, Seollang had already concluded even before the Descended One used the fragment that she could not win.
Still,
she had judged that buying time was possible.
But now?
‘......Even that is impossible.’
Seollang reached that answer coldly.
Now, there was nothing more she could do in this fight.
And not just her.
No one here could be of help.
Because the Descended One before their eyes was, in truth, becoming something that could no longer be stopped.
“......Teacher.”
Having thought that far, Seollang called out to Alon without realizing it.
Alon’s gaze naturally turned toward her.
Looking at that expressionless face, Seollang’s lips moved reflexively.
“......Why did you do that?”
In truth, Seollang had already heard the answer.
And yet she still could not understand Alon’s choice.
She knew he was a kind person.
She knew he was someone who would not spare his own body when saving others.
But even so.
This time, there was simply too much riding on him.
“This is... too unreasonable.”
To save Seollang, he had to risk his own life,
and the lives of those precious to him.
And that was far too—
“No.”
For a moment, Seollang’s thoughts cut off.
Blankly, she lifted her eyes and looked at Alon.
The situation was as bad as it could possibly be.
The Divine blood felt despair before the overwhelming power pouring from the Descended One.
The earth trembled like leaves in the wind from the shockwaves of that power.
And the sky that had been brilliant just moments ago was once more dyed endlessly black.
Yes.
Everything in sight was nothing but a landscape of despair.
A landscape where no hope could be seen.
That was true.
It had to be.
And yet—
“It isn’t unreasonable.”
Even amid all that.
Even while the Descended One slowly revealed its power and filled everyone with helplessness.
“Even if it looks that way in someone else’s eyes—”
simply, in a calm voice,
those unwavering eyes looked straight into Seollang’s eyes, trembling with anxiety—
“for me, this is reasonable.”
steadily.
─────────────KWA A A A A A A A A—!!
A wave of horrifying killing intent spread in every direction.
A deafening blast erupted, enough to numb the ears—
and the screams of Divine blood could be heard.
But none of that entered Seollang’s eyes.
All she could see
was the face of a man quietly speaking,
forcing a faint smile that would not come naturally, just to comfort her.
“......Ah.”
Seollang could only let out a quiet breath of wonder.
And then—
[So this... is power—]
the Descended One’s awakening came to an end.
The first thing visible was the fragment embedded in the center of the Descended One.
The next was the skin that had been gaunt enough to resemble a monk’s, now dyed black.
And the last thing visible—
was its hands.
Yes. Hands.
From behind the Descended One’s back, hundreds of hands had sprouted, like something one might only see in a thousand-armed statue.
‘......This is insane.’
Alon was not someone who swore easily, but looking at the Descended One, he could not help but feel that way.
The power of the Descended One, now that it had absorbed the fragment, was far beyond even Alon’s expectations.
A desperate situation, worse than he had anticipated.
And yet, even in that situation, Alon let out a quiet breath.
Even if it was desperate, it was not a situation he could not break through.
After all, Alon’s law had been obtained for the sake of breaking through moments exactly like this.
“Hoo—”
The practice for the law had been perfect.
The preparations were complete as well.
And yet the reason Alon still could not easily use the law
was because he had not yet ‘decided.’
So he hesitated only for a moment.
Step.
Seollang passed by Alon’s side.
With a face filled with unshakable resolve.
“Help me.”
[Hmph— After treating me like leftovers all this time.......]
At Seollang’s murmur, what answered her was the sulky voice of the Sin Alon had seen before.
But only for a moment.
“I’m asking you.”
[Are you really fine with this? Up until now—]
“Yeah.”
[......Tch.]
At Seollang’s words, as if cutting something off, the Sin clicked its tongue briefly in clear displeasure.
And before anyone knew it, heat-haze began to spill from the black gauntlet on her other hand.
Crackle—!
Black haze burst out, and the crackling lightning began to merge with it like some kind of chemical reaction.
And with that, black lightning appeared in an explosive surge.
[Hhh—]
But even at Seollang’s appearance, now completely different from before, the Descended One merely watched her at ease.
It knew.
That no matter what hidden card Seollang revealed here, it made no difference.
Everyone there felt the same, and so the Descended One watched Seollang’s struggle as if watching some ridiculous play.
“Seollang.”
When Seollang turned at Alon’s call, he had no choice but to be startled.
And for good reason—Seollang’s state, using the power of the Sin, looked terribly unstable.
The poorly controlled lightning crackled as it discharged in every direction, and one of her eyes was beginning to change into something like a demon’s eye.
Looking at that, the first thing Alon felt was doubt.
As far as he knew, the power of the Sin was certainly strong, but not to the point that Seollang, at her current level, could not control it.
To begin with, she had once dealt with the poison-eater, which was stronger than the Sin.
‘Yes, as you know, Godfather, the Five Great Sins are guardian weapons. In other words, they weren’t made to fight on their own—they were made to be used.’
‘That means—’
‘That the power I saw, and the power you saw, wasn’t all there was.’
The doubt lasted only for an instant before Rine’s words surfaced in Alon’s mind.
And at the same time—
‘It’s your law, Godfather.’
‘......My law?’
‘Yes. How much stronger it becomes will depend on your law.’
The words she had once told him—
the words Alon had forgotten.
“Teacher, I’ll stop it somehow.”
The moment those words came back to him, Seollang’s voice reached his ears, and Alon looked at her.
She was smiling.
Even at this desperate moment, dazzlingly so.
Like someone who had finally found what they had been searching for.
Seeing that, another thing Rine had once said surfaced in Alon’s mind.
And at the same time, a single idea came to him.
It was only an idea.
He had never tested it even once, nor had he found its flaws.
There were too many possible side effects he had not confirmed to put it into effect immediately in a situation like this.
...He did not even know whether this was truly what Rine had meant.
But if this really was what Rine had been talking about—
...if it truly was, then it was more than worth testing.
And so—
“......Seollang.”
“Yeah, Teacher.”
“Can you trust me?”
Alon opened his mouth.
“Yeah.”
And Seollang nodded without even the slightest hesitation.
The moment he confirmed that, Alon closed his eyes and used his ‘law.’
Until just a moment ago, the Descended One had been watching the two as if it were enjoying a drama. But then, as though it had finally realized too late that Alon had awakened his law, it grew somewhat urgent—
Hummmmmm—
The world resonated.
And with that, everything but Alon slowed, and the world, which had been filled with vivid color, turned black and white.
And then—
“I enact the law—”
Alon opened his mouth.
And when the world returned to normal—
a trace of confusion came from the movements of the Descended One, which had looked flustered just moments before.
That was only natural.
The Descended One had clearly seen with its own eyes that Alon was using his law.
And yet even after he used it, nothing had changed.
At most, the only change the Descended One could perceive was that the beastkin—so strong it was hard to call her a mere tool—who had been exploding black lightning in every direction, was no longer releasing lightning at all.
So it stared blankly for only a moment.
Then, looking at Seollang as she slowly began walking toward it from afar, the Descended One finally came to one realization.
‘......She refined the lightning?’
That the beastkin who had been unable to control lightning was now controlling it perfectly.
[Ha.]
Without realizing it, the Descended One let out a dry laugh.
The possibility that had briefly surfaced in its mind was erased.
[What an absurdly hollow law.]
The Descended One looked at Alon with a sneer.
The Divine blood, who had also been watching with expressions of ‘Could it be?’ now openly showed disappointment as they looked at Alon.
But even under all those gazes, Alon looked at the Descended One calmly.
His law differed from the laws of other Divine blood in many ways.
To begin with, unlike the abilities of Divine blood, which start by adding something else or granting a property to an innate ability, Alon’s law begins with ‘restriction.’
Yes. Restriction.
Just as when Alon first used the beastkin and the fishhook.
Just as when he defeated Ultultus, whom he could never have beaten otherwise.
His law was based on restricting something.
By offering up what was most precious,
and receiving something greater in return.
That—
was Alon’s law.
...Alon turned his gaze and looked at Seollang.
No more lightning flowed from her.
Naturally.
The restriction had taken ‘lightning’ from her.
Lightning was something unimaginably important to Seollang.
The Golden Mane Tribe uses lightning.
She had mastered the essence of the Golden Mane Tribe and could use every kind of lightning.
Lightning had been all the power she had wielded until now, and everything she was.
But she could no longer use lightning.
Because through the restriction, she had offered up lightning.
Her ability.
Everything she had.
She had thrown it all away as the ‘restriction.’
[It’s about time to end this.]
When he looked ahead, the Descended One was there.
As if it were about to declare the end of this tedious play.
Alon looked at Seollang, who had already walked right up in front of the Descended One and was raising her hand.
Her hand was endlessly slow.
It was not so fast it could not be tracked with the eye, as she had been until now.
Nor was it wrapped in brilliant lightning.
Just a fist.
That was all. It slowly drew back, then thrust forward.
Seeing that, the Descended One, as if willing to play along with her, also drew back its own hand and threw a punch.
As if it intended to crush Seollang head-on.
And yet even then, Alon merely watched the sight in silence.
And just as their fists were about to collide—
the Descended One, which had been about to meet Seollang’s punch, suddenly pulled back the hand it had thrust out on instinct and twisted its body aside.
Because of that, Seollang’s slow punch passed by the Descended One’s side.
And then—
──────────KWA A A A A A A A A A A—!!!!!
together with an explosion so enormous it felt like it would tear the ears apart, they saw it.
Starting from the Descended One’s side, a small canyon carved across the barren earth all the way to the horizon.
“Ah.”
At that sight, the Descended One’s body froze for an instant.
That—
was what she had obtained.
What she had gained in exchange for offering up ‘lightning,’ something no different from her entire being.
What she had gained
was—
“......I missed.”
—the ‘physical ability’ to overwhelm everything, great enough to look down even on Divine blood themselves.

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