"This thing's pretty handy," Mash said, twirling the Morning Star. "Might use it more often."
"Guh… cough…! It's not… over…!" Beatrice groaned, slumped against the wall.
"She's still conscious?" Mash muttered. "Tough… or just stubborn."
"What a monster," Saori whispered. "Taking that kind of hit and still standing…"
"Look closer," Azusa said. "Her wounds… they're healing."
A red aura enveloped Beatrice, glowing with light particles. Her injuries mended, blood receding like a tide. Mash and the Squad noticed her staff pulsing faintly red.
"Amplifying fantasies into reality…" Saori murmured. "Is she… imagining her wounds healing?"
"Wait, Saori!" Azusa protested. "She said she can't affect others' bodies or nearby space! Healing herself shouldn't be possible!"
"No, Azusa-chan," Mika corrected. "She said she can't affect others' bodies. She never said anything about her own."
"No way…" Hiyori gasped.
"It makes sense," Mika said grimly. "With that staff and her mystic power, she can heal herself. As long as she's got that, she's not going down."
Beatrice's Fantasim allowed her to manifest the fantasy of her body healing, her staff's magic ensuring her survival.
"Then I'll just keep hitting her until her magic runs dry," Mash said.
Even in this hopeless situation, Mash's muscle-headed resolve didn't waver. As Beatrice's body healed, he gripped the Morning Star, ready to strike again.
"I won't lose here!" Beatrice snarled. "I need to prepare, to reach him…!"
"This 'him' you keep mentioning," Mash said. "You love him that much?"
"Of course!" Beatrice snapped. "This power is practically a gift from him! I'll repay him—by offering you as a sacrifice!"
"Because if you don't, he won't love you?" Mash asked.
"Obviously!" she shouted. "You don't get love without earning it!"
"I told Saori-san this already," Mash said, facing her with the Morning Star in hand. "That's wrong."
He spoke with unwavering conviction. "My grandpa raised me without being blood-related. He never asked for anything in return. He said, 'Just living is enough repayment.' That's what he called love."
Regro saw Mash's existence, his happiness, as reward enough. True love needed nothing more. Mash hoped Beatrice might understand, even a little—but she didn't.
"You dare compare our bond to your shallow family ties?!" she roared.
Pure good and absolute evil—Mash and Beatrice were light and shadow, never to meet. She would never turn to good.
"At least our bond's stronger than yours," Mash said.
"You mock my connection to him?!" Beatrice screamed. "Then I'll show you my true power—and kill you with it!"
The next moment, Beatrice raised her staff skyward with both hands. A crimson magic circle spread across the Basilica's floor, staining it blood-red.
"No need for Arius or Mimesis anymore!" she bellowed, her refined facade gone. "With my power—my everything—I'll kill you all!"
She slammed her staff into the bloodied floor, sinking it into the liquid. Raising her arms, she chanted with a voice that shook the Basilica.
"Fantasim: Thirds!"
The Arius District quaked. Mika shielded Saori and Azusa with her wings, while Mash gripped his Morning Star, eyes locked on Beatrice.
Immense energy surged from her, streams of light shooting skyward. Like a river, it pierced the clouds, reaching the heavens—and then…
It appeared.
"What… is that?" Saori whispered.
"No way…" Hiyori stammered.
"Eek…" Misaki whimpered.
"This can't be real…" Azusa said.
"Not funny anymore," Mika muttered.
The Basilica's ceiling was gone, exposing the sky. There, an otherworldly entity emerged—a blazing, metallic seraph with three pairs of wings, forged as if from orichalcum or mithril. It wielded a massive staff resembling Beatrice's, its face a blooming flower of steel petals, each embedded with crimson eyes radiating menace. A scarlet halo glowed behind it, like an eclipse or a black hole's accretion disk, its light visible even to the Paradise Mechanism fighting Mimesis below.
"Sakurako-san, look!" Hoshino shouted.
"That light… it's coming from the Basilica!" Sakurako said.
"What is that?" Neru asked.
"The sky's turning red!" Tsurugi gasped.
"The Justina Apostles are acting strange," Hina noted. "Since that light appeared, the Mimesis have gotten stronger!"
"Sensei…!" Mine whispered.
The entity's glow painted the night red, ushering Mash and the others into a crimson world.
"Yaldabaoth Incarnation!" Beatrice declared.
ARTIFICIAL GOD OF DECEPTION◤◢◤◢◤◢ JALDABAOTH INCARNATION ◤◢◤◢◤◢Ultimate Magic: Thirds
Thirds—a spell wielded by one in millions, a supreme magic accessible to only a select few Summons users with three-lined marks. Even among the Divinely Awakened, few could wield it, and those who did left their mark on magical history.
Thirds was a miracle—a true divine power.
"What is this?" Mash muttered.
"Stop me now!" Beatrice roared. "With Yaldabaoth's full power, I'll crush you!"
She lunged behind Mash, conjuring a straight sword and slashing. Mash caught it with his Morning Star's chain, swinging a punch—
WHOOSH!
"?!" the Squad gasped.
"This is Yaldabaoth's true power!" Beatrice crowed.
"Sensei's attack… passed through?!" Saori gasped.
"No way!" Misaki cried.
"Yaldabaoth is overprotective," Beatrice explained. "It automatically grants its wielder intangibility, letting attacks pass through!"
Yaldabaoth's power bestowed instantaneous intangibility, neutralizing physical attacks by analyzing their speed, angle, and threat level. It rendered Mash's strength useless.
"That means… no matter what Sensei does, it's invincible!" Hiyori stammered.
"The intangibility isn't Beatrice's choice," Mika said. "The god does it automatically, so even catching her off-guard is pointless."
"Matching Sensei's attacks?!" Azusa said, horrified.
"It's a fantasy… something that doesn't exist," Saori whispered.
"The worst match for Mash-kun!" Mika groaned.
Mash, unfazed, kicked at Beatrice. Having faced Mika's mystic meteors and survived Eden's treaty, he feared nothing. But even his superhuman strength was outmatched by Beatrice's otherworldly magic. Her intangibility nullified his attacks, and she countered, kicking the Morning Star's spiked ball into his face, cracking his nose.
"Not bad taste," Mash muttered, wiping blood.
"There's more!" Beatrice sneered. "And the footing!"
She summoned electromagnetic spears from above, raining like a storm to impale Mash. Then, conjuring a water-based magic circle, she flooded the Basilica ankle-deep with seawater.
"No escape!" she taunted. "Seawater conducts electricity, doubling my lightning magic's effect! Normally, it'd need strict conditions, but this is my fantasy—you can't escape!"
As the spears struck, a powerful current surged through the water. Mash discarded the Morning Star, hovering with rapid footwork, weaving through the spear storm.
"Yaldabaoth controls this space, amplifying my fantasies into vivid reality!" Beatrice declared. "Like this!"
"My weapon—?!" Mash gasped.
The spears melted into liquid metal, enveloping the Morning Star and fusing with its steel, forming an even larger version.
"Take it back!" Beatrice roared.
WHIRL, WHIRL, WHIRL!
Mash parried the massive Morning Star's spikes, redirecting it toward Beatrice—but it passed through her.
"Useless!" she laughed. "Your attacks will never reach me, but mine will crush you! You have no chance—not one in a billion!"
"We'll see," Mash said.
"Try it, then!" she sneered. "Show me your corpse!"
The seawater swirled, a water column surging toward Mash, delivering megapascals of pressure punches. It branched into tendrils, trapping him in a cubic water prison.
"Skewer him!" Beatrice shouted.
"High-pressure water spears?!" Saori gasped.
"They're fast!" Azusa cried.
"No movement in water!" Beatrice taunted.
Mash, trapped, gathered water in his hands, firing a high-pressure water jet to neutralize the spears. Breaking free, he sprinted across the water, leaping to deliver a flying kick at Yaldabaoth's core.
"Oh, I forgot," Beatrice said. "That god is Fantasim's incarnation."
"It can phase too," Mash realized.
"Exactly!" she roared.
The kick passed through Yaldabaoth's abdomen. Beatrice focused mystic energy into her arm, forming a golem-like steel fist. Grabbing Mash, she slammed him into the Basilica's walls and floor, over and over.
"Too one-sided!" Hiyori cried.
"Sensei's attacks are all passing through!" Misaki said.
"But hers hit him!" Azusa shouted. "That's not fair!"
"Time for your education, brat!" Beatrice snarled.
She hurled Mash upward, pinning him mid-air with gravity magic. Yaldabaoth charged its staff, aiming like a battleship's cannon.
"Yaldabaoth Full Burst!" Beatrice screamed.
The staff's eye fired twin heat rays, crossing to strike Mash with supernova-like force. The Basilica glowed brighter than day, the heat wave scorching the Arius District. Mash, charred, fell like a smoldering ember.
"Mash-kun!" Mika screamed.
"No…!" Saori gasped.
The laser's impact left a gaping hole in the wall and cratered the ground. Mash, burned and broken, lay face-down, his arms cracked to the bone, three ribs shattered. Yet he steadied his breathing, waiting for a chance to counter.
"Sensei… getting beaten like that…" Hiyori whispered.
"He can't win… even Sensei… against her…" Misaki stammered.
"We've come so far… this can't be—" Saori began.
"He'll win," Mika said firmly.
"Mika…?" Saori blinked.
"He's Mash-kun. He'll win," Mika said.
"Hah… hahaha!" Beatrice cackled, clutching her stomach. "Hear that, Mash Burnedead?! Those fools still think you can win!"
She approached his fallen form, sneering. Her attacks passed through him, her overwhelming power dominating. A magicless human like Mash couldn't win.
"With this power, I'm the closest to a god!" she declared. "The closest being to divinity!"
Mash remained silent.
"To think you could beat me!" she mocked. "Burdened with expectations, entrusted with lives, only to fail your family, your friends, and die alone in misery!"
"Shut up, hag!" Mika shouted, stepping forward.
"Calling me a hag?! You insolent girl!" Beatrice roared. "You students dared to burden this pathetic man with your pain and expectations! You drove him to this!"
Mika, enraged, refused to tolerate Beatrice's insults. Even against an unstoppable foe, she couldn't forgive the tyrant who mocked Mash's kindness.
"Shut up!" Mika screamed. "Mash-kun won't lose to a selfish, egotistical idiot like you!"
"You dare speak to a god-like adult like that?!" Beatrice spat. "Once I kill him and your precious Royal Blood, I'll torment you and those traitor Squad brats with eternal despair!"
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
"?!" Beatrice flinched, a chill running through her.
For a moment, she felt as if needles pierced her skin, her body flayed—a vision of her own death. It was Mash's killing intent, sharp and overwhelming.
"Killing… my students?" Mash said, rising. "You've got some nerve saying that in front of me."
(He's still…!)
"You're strong," Mash admitted. "But I haven't gotten serious yet."
"Excuses!" Beatrice scoffed. "What, were you holding back?"
"Yeah," Mash said. "I haven't gone all out."
"You're mocking me!" she snarled. "Show me this 'full power' and struggle against my absolute might!"
"Alright," Mash said. "Time to go all in."
He shed his uniform, revealing his training gear, and removed the wristbands he'd worn since entering Kivotos—bands he'd never taken off.
"Mash, these wristbands are insanely heavy to suppress your strength," Regro had said. "Your muscles are like a wild horse—too dangerous without control. Only remove them in dire situations. They're seriously dangerous."
(Sorry, Grandpa… I can't keep that promise. I have to—)
Recalling his grandfather's words, Mash removed both wristbands.
"What's Sensei doing?" Hiyori asked.
"Those wristbands…" Saori murmured.
"What happens now?" Azusa wondered.
"He always wore them," Mika said. "I thought they were just fashion…"
(The air… it's different, Mika thought.)
Beatrice smirked, mocking him. The Squad watched, unsure of his intent.
"Wristbands?!" Beatrice laughed. "What, you think taking off accessories will power you up? Pathetic! No matter what you do, you can't touch a god's power—"
BOOOOOOM!
"HA?!" Beatrice gasped.
"WHAT?!" the Squad shouted.
As the wristbands hit the ground, the impact cratered the floor, sending seawater and debris skyrocketing. Two makeshift towers rose into the red sky.
Beatrice faltered, then focused on Mash—but he was gone.
"Full Muscles Magic: Unlimited Physical Mode," Mash intoned.
He was already behind her.
Like Beatrice with Thirds, Mash's aura transformed. Freed from the wristbands' suppression, his skin darkened slightly, his bangs spiked upward.
"Just dropping dead weight!" Beatrice scoffed. "You think that changes anything—?!"
WHOOSH!
"Don't… get cocky…" she faltered.
WHOOSH!
"?!"
Peace sign.
"GAH?!" the Squad gasped.
Mash moved at blinding speed, circling Beatrice's blind spots, flashing a silent peace sign. Freed from the wristbands' immense weight, his agility was unleashed.
"I don't know what you did, but it's useless!" Beatrice shouted. "You can't touch me!"
THUD!
"Guh?!"
THUD, THUD, THUD!
"Gah! Cough! Ngh?!"
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
"GUAAAAH?!"
Beatrice reeled, taking damage from Mash's flurry of punches—before Yaldabaoth's intangibility could activate.
"What?! How's she getting hit?!" Hiyori stammered.
"Where is Sensei?!" Misaki cried. "I can't see him!"
"No, Misaki," Saori said. "It's not that we can't see him…"
"Huh?" Misaki blinked.
"He's attacking before her intangibility kicks in!" Saori said.
"What?!" Misaki gasped.
"I can't even follow him!" Mika admitted.
Mash moved faster than anyone—even Yaldabaoth—could track, striking Beatrice's vitals, draining her magic and stamina. Yaldabaoth's intangibility required:
Detecting a threat to Beatrice. Analyzing the attack's speed and position. Activating intangibility.
But Mash landed hundreds of punches before the process could complete. Yaldabaoth's divine perception couldn't keep up.
(He's outpacing a god's magic?! Just by removing wristbands?! And…!)
WHIRL, WHIRL, WHIRL!
(He's done attacking before I can blink! I can't even count the hits!)
Mash pummeled Beatrice's face, stomach, and joints at impossible speeds, rendering her abilities meaningless.
"Don't… underestimate me!" she roared, unleashing an omnidirectional Assault Armor—a shockwave barrier that repelled Mash. She conjured thousands of firearms—SMGs, ARs, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, heavy machine guns, recoilless rifles, rockets, and MANPADS—firing them all at Mash.
"Let's see you attack now!" she screamed.
CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH!
Every firearm and projectile was obliterated in an instant. By the time Beatrice finished her taunt, Mash had crushed over 90% of them, reducing them to scrap.
"What… what did you do?!" Beatrice stammered, her mind reeling.
Mash had circled behind her, crushing the arsenal in moments.
"I'm not done!" she shouted. "I still have my god! You can't—huh?"
She froze. Mash stood still, silent.
(He's… stopped? Wait—!)
A metallic cacophony rang out—crashing, breaking, a symphony of destruction. Beatrice turned, dreading what she'd see.
"Sensei's… splitting into clones and hammering Yaldabaoth?!" Hiyori shrieked.
"WHAT?!" Beatrice screamed.
Mash, wielding Proteus and a massive sledgehammer forged from the liquid metal spears, was pummeling Yaldabaoth. His speed created afterimages, making it look like a thousand Mashes were attacking. He targeted joints and the neck, shattering the god's form. Its wings and arms flailed, but Mash's precise swings broke them. Metal fatigue overwhelmed Yaldabaoth, its screams echoing as it tore apart.
(No… impossible! A god, so easily—my magic can't keep up! I can't imagine, can't phase—how do I…?!)
Beatrice's Fantasim required her to imagine her attacks. Without clear thought, her magic faltered. The sight of her god crumbling, her body's pain, and the instinctual fear of death overwhelmed her mind. She had no room for fantasies.
"This is the moment," Mash said.
"?!"
"Pray to your god." SWING!
Mash swung the sledgehammer at Beatrice's head. Her opaque barrier was meaningless. He smashed through it, crushing her to the ground.
The witch who'd ruled Arius with terror, violence, and despair collapsed, blood pooling, alongside her shattered god.
-------------------------------
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