"Lady... Lady Aria...!"
—Thud!
"G-Gah… cough… cough…!" I opened my eyes after hearing my name, slowly regaining consciousness.
"Are you alright!?" Scarlett gently laid me down on the floor.
"Yeah… agh… I'm fine." I tried to look around to see the current situation, but my vision was blurry.
After Scarlett hurled the sun at the cultist, pain overwhelmed my senses.
My insides were battered up, and my left hand was deformed after using a
In silence, Scarlett took a deep breath and—
—Rip!!!
She tore off the bottom of her pants to cover my wounds.
"…Thanks." I squinted my eyes in pain.
Just moments ago, we were underground, but her ability had set everything ablaze, destroying even the ceiling.
Now, there was a gaping hole above us, letting sunlight pour in.
"What a monster," I thought, my lips curling in awe.
As much as I wanted to praise her sheer strength, my instincts screamed at me to run as far away as possible—
Before more Eldians arrive.
—Vooom...
Taking a deep breath to savour this tranquillity, I began to use Ichor once more on my broken left arm and forced it back into shape.
"What… what are you doing?" Scarlett looked at me as golden liquid took over my arm.
To ease her concerns, I raised my hand and continued.
With this method, I could forcefully heal my injuries back to their original state, just like when my leg had healed before.
The cost, however, was excruciating pain.
"KkkgGAAAHHHH…!" I bit my lip, losing my grip on sanity with each passing second.
Scarlett looked at me with sorrow, feeling helpless.
T-The kids… can you check on them…?" I directed my attention to the children to distract myself from the pain.
"...I-I understand," Scarlett responded, standing up and lifting me into a princess carry.
I was too battered to say anything, so I accepted her help.
—Fwip…!
Scarlett glanced around, skillfully hopping over the debris from the explosion.
"…The kids are safe." Scarlett sighed in relief and pointed in a direction.
The children were wrapped in a protective sphere of Ichor, unharmed and sound besides the elevator.
Since the range of the Ichor extended this far, I didn't have to worry about it disappearing as long as I was within its presence.
"Then that's good, hahaha…" I took a deep breath and steeled myself once more.
"Now… I have something to do—kgghh…!"
"Lady Aria…!"
Scarlett raised her voice, but she couldn't intervene after witnessing the desperation in my eyes—the will to live.
—Vrrr...!
I opened my eyes and retrieved something from the ring that could help us.
It was an emblem that symbolized an organization: Project ANGEL.
The rumblings that had been echoing since the beginning grew stronger with every passing second, vibrating beneath us.
'…Should I use it now?' I wondered, catching sight of a button, whispering to me to press it.
Scarlett was exhausted, and I was heavily injured.
I wasn't sure how much energy Scarlett had left after expending so much mana, but her obvious fatigue was not a good sign.
—Vooom…!
I stared at the emblem for a moment until Scarlett noticed it.
"Lady Aria, how do you have this…?" Scarlett's expression shifted to one of shock at my possession of it.
"Orion gave this to me. I don't know what it does, but given how things are going, we have no choice but to use whatever this is now."
—Kachick!
I pressed and held the button, and a bright red light flickered repeatedly…
…
…
…
…until the flickering stopped five seconds later.
"…That's it? Was I not supposed to hold it down?" I tilted my head, wondering if something was supposed to happen.
"Surely Orion wouldn't just give me a flimsy toy, would he?"
"That is not it, Lady Aria," Scarlett said, shaking her head but expressing relief.
That must have done something good, I guess.
"For now, we must make haste—"
—Rumble…!
"!!!" We turned around, sensing the presence of someone who was supposed to be dead.
"Haha… hahahahAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
With the last embers of his despicable life, he raised his hands toward the sky, calling out for someone to answer his plea.
"You Demurgian monkeys think you can stop us? Me?! A visage of GOD!?"
The Cultist screamed in anger, ecstasy, and pity; a maniac's delusion on full display.
He looked so famished that each time a gust of wind passed by, he seemed to crumble away.
Only his head and right arm remained, unable to regenerate after his core had been damaged beyond repair.
Yet my anxiety kept increasing, a fear that I couldn't shake, even now.
—RUMBLE…!
The earthquake grew so strong that even Scarlett's face twisted with unease.
"Do you hear that? They're here to save me! To save ME, ME!!!" He raised his only arm, clenching his fist toward the sky.
"O' Great Saviour, thank you! Thank you for gracing a lowly being like me with your presence!"
The Cultist's calm demeanour at the beginning felt like a sick joke.
These were his true feelings and emotions—a psycho who could not be reasoned with.
Disturbed by the lunatic's words, I looked at Scarlett, hoping that he was wrong… to establish that he was just a moonstruck cultist who had given up hope after facing a crushing defeat.
But something wasn't right.
"...Scarlett?" I called her name after a while.
Scarlett's eyes weren't moving… no, she was terrified of something.
Ah.
What is this feeling I wonder?
Out of everything I've been through, all of it was nothing compared to this.
But now I see it—a monster that shook the Earth with only its presence.
An entirely different entity on a completely different scale.
This feeling was an unforgiving, inconceivable—
Primal Fear.
"GOD IS COMING…! GOD IS COMING! GOD IS COMING!!!
GOD!
IS!
COMING—"
—BOOOM!!!
His final words echoed in my ears, and everything in that direction was erased, revealing a monster that should not exist.
A humongous creature with mechanical scales and plating.
Biological parts decayed and turned dark and murky.
Numerous eyes and teeth covered its body, carved by Devil Himself to ward off evil.
The manifestation of evil itself.
—Vooom…!
My left arm glimmered in response to that creature.
I didn't have to look at my arm to realize how messed up this situation was.
That monster, an unbeatable entity, held an Exitium stone.
What was supposed to be a journey about collecting stones from nations had turned into a quest to hunt beasts that no human would dare confront.
An Eldia that reigned at the pinnacle—
A Sentinel, They Who Judge humanity for their sins.
"□○■○■□■!!!" An ungodly scream erupted from the heavens, releasing a wave of malicious energy.
—NYOOOM!!
Without a moment's hesitation, Scarlett bolted away so quickly that I could hardly process what had just happened.
—Crack!
Scarlett slammed her fist against the Ichor barrier, prying it open to rescue the kids and quickly stacked them on top of me.
Time was running out, and we were up against an opponent we couldn't even begin to comprehend.
If it hadn't been for Scarlett's swift action, we would have been swallowed whole by the sheer size of the creature.
Scarlett's ultimate move had already devastated half the city, but the creature we faced now was even larger—a colossal monster too immense for me to measure.
"…"
Neither of us spoke; we simply couldn't.
We did everything we could to escape from what felt like a living natural disaster.
Taking the vehicle was an option, but Scarlett insisted she could run faster and made the difficult decision to leave the car and the supplies that weren't stored in the ring behind.
—RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!
The Sentinel pursued us, burrowing half of its massive body into the ground.
Its giant mouth, lined with countless teeth, was a horrifying sight that turned my stomach.
Everything it touched turned to dust, a grim reminder of how Trestkania had suffered from desertification.
How long will it take for me to reach a level where I can fight creatures like these?
Years? Decades?
No, it's hopeless.
In a world that's already on the brink of extinction, I don't have the luxury of time when beings like these could destroy everything at any moment.
Maybe the world will end right now, or tomorrow, next week, next month.
All that awaits is destruction as the world heads toward its demise.
"□○■○■□■!!!" The Sentinel's roars shook the Earth, filled with rage.
The countless eyes on its carcass fixed their gaze on us, watching intently.
"Prepare yourself, Lady Aria...!" Scarlett warned me, and with one powerful step,
—Crackle…!
Sparks flew beneath her feet, shattering the floor as she took off, and we became a blur.
—BOOM!!!
She harnessed that force to propel us forward at a speed that would have been unbearable if not for Scarlett's mana enveloping the three of us.
As we sped away, I noticed the sky filled with dark shapes in the distance.
Squinting to get a better look, I realized they were giant insects emerging from the Sentinel, all of which were stronger than the Eldians in Demiurge.
"Scarlett...!" I shouted, warning her to dodge what was coming, but it was too late.
—TATATATATATA!!!
A torrent of black rain poured from the sky, drenching the ground in an even deeper shade of black.
"Agh…!" I grunted in pain as a drop struck my shoulder; I didn't have enough strength to protect us quickly.
At least I managed to shield the kids.
If only I kept wearing the skinsuit without converting it back to Ichor, I could have defended myself against the onslaught.
"Kkgh…!" Scarlett cursed as she continued to run; it was the only thing we could do at that moment.
—Vooom…!
Thinking more rationally, I extended the Ichor and created a small roof over us.
It didn't take long for the Ichor to begin succumbing to the properties of the black rain, eroding the longer it was exposed.
Both of us were at our wits' end, and my consciousness began to fade.
For what felt like an eternity, we kept running and running…
…
…
…
Until it stopped.
—Crackle Crackle…!
The tremors ceased, and the rain subsided.
The painful ringing in my ears came to a halt, and my senses returned all at once.
Turning around to see what had happened, the grotesque scales of the Sentinel were shining brightly on its neck.
Red light spewed from the numerous eyes watching us, creating bleeding waterfalls.
Holding my breath, I begged for the madness to end.
The Sentinel's mouth contorted into a black hole, and an eerie ray of light formed.
—VOOOM…!
This has to be a dream... a nightmare.
All hope within me vanished as a boundless amount of energy was unleashed—an abnormality beyond the scope of humanity.
Today in Trestkania, the red sky once again descended.
"This is all just... insane," I said, losing all reason and chuckling at what I witnessed.
If Scarlett could hurl the sun itself, then this was nothing less than a universal collapse.
The red energy in the Sentinel's jaw grew brighter, absorbing everything in its path.
Swirling, converging, absorbing everything in its path.
...
...
...
—Tick!
Until there was only light.
…Noah, is this what you have been fighting?
Monsters that ignore the boundaries of concepts themselves?
If so, I have a long way to go to reach your level...
And I'm sorry.
—BOOOM!!!!!
…
…
…
...
...
...
—Fwoosh...
"Are you all okay?" she asked, her wings fluttering in the sky.
"...An angel?" I stammered, looking at the person holding me, who wasn't Scarlett.
The angel had navy wings that shifted constantly as she flew.
Beside her, countless individuals came into view, all soaring through the air.
Ah… how could I forget?
If monsters roamed the Earth with the ability to destroy the planet, how did humanity survive?
"Lady Aria, benefactor of the Historia family, as ordered by the Supreme Council..."
We hid like ants, evolved to fight in a cruel environment, and united against a greater evil.
Adapting to the world's harsh conditions, beings comparable to the legendary hero Noah Heavenfall have appeared.
—The navy-haired girl with yellow eyes who held me was one of them.
"We, the Project ANGEL, are under your command," the girl in front of me said, her tone emotionless.
The rest of the angels formed up and greeted us, filling me with an overwhelming sense of safety.
"Welcome to Trestkania."
[Act 2 End]