Beltia smiled as she looked up at the obsidian dome that had swallowed the sky. This had been her plan from the very beginning.

Even if they managed to destroy the barrier and prevent the archmage’s return, letting Diogres himself slip away would only lead to another tedious chase. Cutting off any path of escape was paramount.

But unlike conventional magic, necromancy couldn’t deploy large-scale rituals all at once. It required time-consuming groundwork to gradually increase its scale. That was why, until now, her focus had been solely on restricting the enemy’s movements.

She could have taken out one or two of them if she’d tried to finish it quickly, but then the others might’ve slipped away with Diogres.

But now, there’s no longer any need to worry about escape.

Shrouded by the veil of darkness, the necromancers raised their voices with fervor.

"O Holy Sword of the Church!"

"Spread the will of Tesranach!"

Within the veil, the Martial King of Cyphras moved forward at a steady pace. "O God of Death, I shall carry out Your divine command..."

Killing intent, sharp as a blade, began to seep through the smile on her face.

***

Serati and Leven grimaced as they surveyed the pitch-black shroud that enclosed them.

"So basically, they built a wall so we couldn’t run..."

"And now she’s planning to take us all on by herself?"

Desteran clenched his jaw. "Even for a martial king, she’s looking down on us far too much."

Varos shook his head slowly. "But if you think about it... this situation’s not so bad."

All the troublesome necromancers had withdrawn beyond the shroud. Their only remaining opponent now was Beltia.

"It’s better than facing her with just the two of us," said Varos.

With renewed clarity, everyone raised their blades and assumed battle stance. Silver, purple, and blue auras lit up the darkness inside the shroud. Karnak summoned his chaos mana, and Milia lifted her hands in divine prayer.

"O Latiel, cast your blessing upon us within your radiant light!"

The holy light bolstered their resolve and restored their strength.

As energy returned to his limbs, Desteran grimaced. "Are we allowed to receive Latiel’s blessing, even as followers of Twilight?"

Varos replied with an air of nonchalance. "What’s wrong with borrowing from the neighbors when things get tough?"

After all, the Church of Twilight didn’t deny the existence of the original seven goddesses. They merely revered Serakal as the eighth.

Desteran nodded in agreement. "That’s true. The original seven goddesses are just subordinate deities under Serakal, after all."

Apparently, the Church of Twilight’s doctrine in the empire had evolved in interesting directions.

Just how much did this faith transform crossing the sea? Karnak wondered. At least he’s convinced, so I won’t complain.

Serati leaned toward Karnak and spoke through the telepathic link.

—Did you predict this?

—For them, this strategy gives them the highest chances. But whether it works or not... that depends on how the fight goes.

It wasn’t one with the highest chance of victory, but the one most likely to result in Diogres’ capture. Beltia hadn’t even considered the possibility of losing, but such was the arrogance befitting a martial king.

It wasn’t their first time facing a martial king. They had once clashed with future Leven, when he’d possessed Gellard’s body. Of course, back then, they hadn’t been able to put up any resistance and only survived thanks to the Angel of Radiant Wings...

Karnak steeled his resolve.

—But now is different. We won’t go down so easily now, even if it’s against the Martial King of Cyphers.

Each of them had grown since then. And now they had Desteran, a silver knight, among them. Gripping his wand, Karnak smiled meaningfully.

***

Meanwhile, the Martial King of Cyphras advanced, her entire body cloaked in golden aura. "Foolish pagans..."

An overwhelming killing intent, like the very embodiment of walking death, pressed down on everyone’s shoulders.

"Kneel before the true god." Beltia murmured coldly as she pushed off with the tip of her foot.

Her body skimmed the earth like a swallow in flight, and in an instant, she closed the distance and unleashed a golden slash straight at Karnak. Rather than targeting the aura users, she was going straight for the mage orchestrating everything.

Fortunately, Karnak had anticipated this. "Wind Walk!"

He moved left even before the strike could land, and the slash narrowly missed him before striking the ground.

It was impossible to dodge the attack by sight alone. Instead, Karnak had already begun casting the spell the moment Beltia moved. Thanks to that, the martial king’s blow missed entirely.

Desteran seized the opening. "Take this!"

Silver chains lashed out like serpents, coiling around Beltia from every direction.

She flicked her wrist. "That won’t be nearly enough."

With a flurry of flashing steel, the chains shattered into pieces, spraying silver light in every direction. Desteran groaned as the backlash from the aura recoil hit him.

Leven darted in through the scattering fragments. His purple aura blade was aimed at Beltia’s vital points.

Delphiad Swordsmanship: The Sword King’s Strike!

It looked like a simple thrust, but the precursor moves were strange. Every motion of the body and every current of aura was a feint, making it impossible for the opponent to read the true point of attack. In other words, the more knowledgeable the opponent, the more likely they were to be deceived.

But Beltia was not deceived. "The Strauss family?"

She simply adjusted her stance and slipped past the thrust with ease. Even the countless feints were nothing more than transparent tricks to her. She immediately countered, drawing a graceful arc with her blade. Golden light surged around Leven like a tidal wave.

It felt like he was being tangled in countless threads of silk. In a panic, Leven swung wildly in all directions. But he couldn’t cut them all away. In an instant, the left side of his body was soaked in blood. He groaned in pain.

Meanwhile, Serati and Lapicel aimed for Beltia’s back. They unleashed a series of refined, coordinated attacks, melding blue and purple aura into a web of attacks that left no room to escape.

Tascal Style: Fourfold Slash!

Beltia stepped calmly through the barrage. With a single step, she slipped between the slashes. With a second, she was before Serati. With a third, she was behind Lapicel.

Two golden flashes burst forth with brilliant radiance, and the massive impact struck their aura blades. In an instant, Serati was blown back, coughing up blood.

Lapicel, though less injured, was visibly shaken. The only saving grace was that both managed to recover their stance before being struck again.

Wiping the blood from her lips, Serati trembled. "She’s... way too strong..."

Lapicel nodded grimly. "She feels completely different from back then."

Gellard—more accurately, future Leven—had been a monster. He possessed overwhelming physical power, overwhelming aura, and overwhelming swordsmanship. There had been no hope of touching him.

But Beltia was different. She was overwhelming, yes—but never showy. She cut and struck only what was necessary, only when necessary. It was swordsmanship pushed to the absolute limit of precision and technique.

Her strengths might not match future Leven’s, but her weaknesses were far fewer. In many ways, she was the harder opponent for a group of weaker fighters. Against future Leven, they might have found an opening by overwhelming him with numbers. But Beltia didn’t allow for such openings in the first place.

Serati’s expression darkened. Do we even stand a chance?

Beltia continued to press Karnak’s group hard. With every step she took, the space around them trembled.

"Foolish pagans..." Each strike of her sword burst forth in golden flashes that tore through the air. "Taste the majesty of the true god."

Karnak’s party were left with few choice before the onslaught of overwhelming slashes. All they could do was pour everything they had into desperately staying alive. But everyone knew that they couldn’t hold out much longer like this.

Ugh...

There’s no way...

I can’t see a way out...

The only reason they were still holding on at all was because of Varos. The golden-haired swordsman stood firm, intercepting the charging martial king with flashes of silver.

Reversal Blade: Desolation!

His aura blade split into four streams, spiraling outward to attack Beltia from all sides. Beltia furrowed her brow, faced with the simultaneous assault from every direction.

This one’s technique really is unusual...

She withdrew her blade and parried all of the attacks. She wasn’t about to let an assault of this level harm her. After all, she was a martial king. But in other words, it meant even Beltia had to take Varos’s attacks seriously. That alone spoke volumes of his skill. His mastery of form and aura manipulation was nearly flawless.

He’s certainly not beneath me. Yet, the fact that she could deflect them so easily proved he was, after all, still below her. It’s a contradiction...

Her focus wavered for a moment, and Varos launched another strike.

Reversal Blade: Dancing Clown!

This time, the technique barely resembled swordsmanship at all. He grabbed the blade with both hands then sent aura bursting out from the hilt! And yet, aura still erupted from the edge as well.

Blunt, hammer-like force surged out first, followed by a sharp, spiraling burst of deadly aura. The technique was so bizarre that Beltia met it seriously, her expression sharpening.

Golden aura collided with silver. As expected, the gap in their strength showed. Varos’s aura shattered into the air like scattered dust. But Beltia was genuinely impressed. The form was completely irrational, and yet the power behind it was not at all low.

How is such a technique even possible...?

"Bwegh." Just then, Varos suddenly coughed up a stream of blood.

She had no idea what was going on. What the hell is wrong with this guy?

***

Ugh, the side effects are rough. Varos wiped the blood from his lips, a bitter grin on his face. I thought it’d be fine to use since I’d recovered to being a silver knight...

Weak attacks wouldn’t cut it against a martial king. He had to push himself and unleash everything he had. So he had unleashed his strongest techniques, the Reversal Blade.

The problem was, that sword art was something he used back when he was a death knight. It was a style meant for a corpse with no concern for bodily damage. After all, Karnak would patch him up afterwards if anything broke. Of course, not every Reversal Blade technique had side effects.

But I still don’t know which ones do and which don’t. And in the middle of combat, there was no time to check. As long as I don’t lose a limb or something, it’s fine...

He’d gotten close with Serati and Leven recently. It’d be a shame to part ways now. Regardless, even the Reversal Blade wouldn’t let him hold out much longer. It was time for something new.

—Young master, if you’ve got a plan, now’s the time. Maybe unleash the Angel of Radiant Wings or something?

Varos’s telepathic message earned a sour response from Karnak.

—That won’t work in this situation. You think Beltia’s gonna sit quietly while I draw a hexagram?

Future Leven had blindly charged after Karnak to capture him, which made it possible to trap him inside the hexagram. But Beltia wasn’t some future specter. She was from this timeline. She wouldn’t fall into the same traps.

Varos was dumbfounded.

—Then why the hell were you grinning like an idiot earlier? Acting like you had it all figured out.

—I do have a plan! But you guys haven’t shaken Beltia enough yet!

As the two bickered through their link, Serati watched them with growing confusion. It was true. Karnak had smiled when he saw Beltia standing alone. But now that she thought about it, he hadn’t smiled because she was alone. He’d smiled when they were trapped inside the barrier.

What’s the advantage of being trapped inside this dome?