Volume 3 Chapter 81: The Strong Ones

The divine artifact used by Milis Albama to trap the mechanical soldiers was called “My Garden,” a fitting name for an artifact capable of creating a personal, enclosed space—a garden of one’s own.

Within the miniature world created inside a small bottle, only the artifact’s wielder and those they invited could enter. However, uninvited guests, once forced inside, could not leave unless explicitly permitted by the wielder.

Perhaps the creator of “My Garden” had a strong desire to show off their handiwork to others, as the artifact allowed for forcible invitations. While this feature could be seen as troublesome, in this particular case, it proved exceptionally convenient.

Normally, “My Garden” was used by Milis for training spars (mock battles) with Noil Arlens, creating an open plain devoid of distractions. However, its usage came at a cost—Noil would refuse to speak to her for some time afterward—leading Milis to rarely invoke its power.

Yet now, inside this divine artifact, which had nearly become a forgotten relic, a ferocious battle was drawing to a close.

A shadow was hurled through the air, tumbling across the ground.

The figure that lay motionless on the ground was none other than Milis Albama.

To Noil, who believed Milis to be unquestionably the strongest, this outcome seemed impossible. But this time, her opponent was one she was terribly unsuited to face.

Milis possessed overwhelming power when facing opponents reliant on mana, to the point of being nearly invincible. However, against adversaries who did not use mana, her abilities were rendered ineffective.

Without the ability to utilize Magis Gear or magic, to create magical tools, or to borrow the power of spirits, Milis was left with only one option: close-quarters combat, enhancing her body to engage in a brawl—a method of fighting that the demon race typically struggled with.

Healing magic, by nature, was unsuited for battle. If she were like Sophie, a half-demon capable of wielding Magis Gear, it might have been a different story. But Milis was a pureblood demon.

Moreover, Milis did not possess an extraordinary amount of mana. While her mana reserves were slightly above average for a demon, they were by no means exceptional.

For Milis, enemies immune to mana-based attacks were nothing short of a natural predator.

That said, this wouldn’t have posed a problem if each individual opponent were weak. But this time, she faced a horde of mechanical soldiers.

Even with the use of divine artifacts, there were limits. Just as the “Rest Place” could not be cut by “White God,” the disparity between divine artifacts became evident when they clashed.

Against a divine artifact on the scale of the “Floating City Pharmament,” even a weapon like the “God-Slaying Blade” would have been ineffective.

Milis had entered “My Garden” herself to ensure its barrier would not be breached from the inside.

The shattered tip of the “White God” sword, sent flying earlier, embedded itself into the ground near Milis, who lay defeated. The blade vanished in a shimmering mist alongside the remaining fragment in her hand.

Nearby, the heavily damaged mechanical soldier Aizon stood frozen, staring in stunned silence at the scene.

Finally.

It was finally over.

But it made no sense. It was incomprehensible.

What is this woman?

For Aizon, a being created by Lord Lumelherc to be the pinnacle of perfection, this level of damage was inconceivable.

She’s just one girl. Just one insignificant girl. How could this happen? Why did this happen?

Aizon had deployed nearly all the mechanical soldiers—his divine army—with the intention of overwhelming her. It should have been easy.

Instead, the casualties were devastating.

Finally—after all this time—it came down to a single strike.

“Eep!”

Milis rose to her feet as if nothing had happened. Her movements smooth, her expression unchanged. Seeing her calm demeanor, Aizon let out a small cry and stumbled backward.

He was alone now. The once-dominant mechanical horde had been annihilated.

All had been felled by the “White God.”

Her compatibility against this enemy was terrible. There was no denying that the odds had been stacked overwhelmingly against her. Her opponent was practically her natural predator.

And yet—

“…I’ve grown rusty.”

“Y-you monster…”

Even so, Milis Albama remained the strongest.

Her actions throughout the battle were deceptively simple.

She faced a multitude of mechanical soldiers, evaded every attack, and struck them down with the “White God.”

If one slash wasn’t enough, she would strike twice. If two slashes weren’t enough, she would strike three times. If even that failed, she would continue slashing until the enemy fell.

Not once did she allow an enemy’s attack to land. Not once did she falter. She kept her blade in motion without pause.

It sounded simple in words. There was nothing extraordinary about the approach. But to execute such a feat with an unchanging expression—could anyone else accomplish such a thing?

Could anyone else dominate so completely, even when their greatest advantage had been sealed away?

That was Milis Albama. The transcendental being Noil Arlens believed to be the strongest.

The battle had already been decided.

The single blow Aizon had managed to land was nothing but a fluke.

It had only succeeded because the “White God,” unable to keep up with Milis’s movements, had shattered.

Even so, the damage was irrelevant.

To be precise, Aizon’s blow had indeed struck her. At that moment, she had undoubtedly been injured.

But before the mechanical soldier could capitalize on his success, Milis’s extraordinary regenerative abilities rendered the injury meaningless.

Wiping the blood from her lips, Milis fixed her gaze on Aizon.

Her ruby-red eyes, dazzlingly beautiful, glimmered coldly. But what emanated from them was neither warmth nor brilliance. It was a deep, dark void—death incarnate.

The euphoria, omnipotence, and sense of invulnerability once held by Aizon, a mechanical soldier imbued with a soul, had long since vanished.

Even his burning rage had dissipated, leaving behind only one emotion:

Terror.

A fear so overwhelming it shattered his sanity.

“No… No… AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Aizon snapped.

Under Milis’s icy stare, he froze like a frog caught in a snake’s gaze. That paralyzing terror drove his mind to the brink of madness.

Screaming incoherently, he charged at her in a blind frenzy, his movements chaotic and uncoordinated.

With a single finger.

Milis stopped his wildly swinging fist with nothing but a single finger. Her touch was light, almost as if brushing against it.

Yet in the next instant, a violent crack echoed as the ground beneath them split. The entirety of Aizon’s force had been redirected into the earth.

“AHAHAHAHAHA!! Lord Lumelherc… save me…”

Aizon’s maddened cries were abruptly silenced as Milis delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to his torso. The blow tore through his mechanical body effortlessly.

Without pause, she leapt into the air and delivered another kick, this time to his head, severing it completely.

The mechanical soldier crumpled to his knees before vanishing alongside Aizon’s fragmented soul.

“…Fool.”

Muttering only that, Milis stepped out of “My Garden.”

◇

“Hey… so, what do you think about all that, Big Boobs?”

“Is it rampaging?”

Seated inside the Azure Doll—more specifically, the Pretty Cutie Alice-chan Version—Alice reclined the doll’s body, locking its hands casually behind its head. From time to time, she launched magical bullets, all the while throwing a question toward Fiona, who was steadily firing her own shots.

“Ryu-ryu-ryu-ryu-ryu-ryu-me-ryu-me-ryu-me-he-he-he-he-he-he-l-ku-ku-ku-ku-sama—!”

Not far from them, a mechanical soldier was wreaking havoc, indiscriminately attacking anyone nearby, including its own allies, the followers. It appeared to have gone berserk, striking at random targets with no signs of aiming at Alice or Fiona, who had kept their distance.

While under assault from the mechanical soldier, some followers still attempted to target the two women, but their efforts were laughably poor. The majority were caught in the mechanical soldier’s reckless attacks and scattered.

Even those who managed to escape its strikes weren’t spared—Fiona’s unrelenting magic bullets swiftly found them.

“Rampaging, huh? …I figured it might have split its soul or something. Guess it didn’t manage to do it cleanly. Keh-heh-heh, suits that piece of trash just fine.”

“Whatever the reason, just keep your hands moving.”

“What!? You’re so damn cold! I mean, those bastards are technically still human, you know!”

Alice’s protest fell on deaf ears as Fiona continued firing her magic bullets at the followers without hesitation or remorse.

“Trash, not humans. The moment they laid a hand on Senpai, they became trash.”

“Oh-ho-ho, now that kind of ferocity, I don’t hate it. Keh-heh-heh!”

“Which makes you trash too.”

“What the hell!? What did I even do, you damn brat!?”

“Oh, you know…”

Still firing magic bullets with one hand, Fiona turned her head and the other gun slowly toward Alice. Her voice was chillingly steady.

“You laid your hands on Senpai too, didn’t you?”

“…”

How does she even know that, dammit!? thought Alice, quickly averting her gaze.

But Fiona, as if reading Alice’s very thoughts, continued shooting down the followers while maintaining her icy tone.

“I can smell it. That delicious, mouthwatering scent, more tempting than the finest cuisine. Only Senpai could give off that kind of scent. And it’s coming… from your mouth.”

Alice was not easily fazed. It took a lot to truly scare her. But this—this made her spine shiver.

This girl… she’s bad news.

Alice finally acknowledged, albeit too late, the extent of Fiona’s madness.

“Hey, what did you do? Hmm? Tell me. Why does your mouth smell like Senpai, huh?”

“…K-Kissed her, alright!? You idiot!!”

Alice decided to just admit it outright.

The atmosphere was far too intense for deception, and Alice wasn’t the type to back down once things came to a head. Facing Fiona directly was the only option. That was who Alice Hellsight was.

“Yeah, that’s right! I kissed her! I smooched her! Planted a big one right on her! Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh!!”

“Kill…kill…k-kill…”

“Point that killing intent at the enemy, Piggy! The weaklings are mostly taken care of. If you wanna help Noil, start with that thing over there, not me!”

“C-crazy… k-k-krazy…”

Fiona was reduced to trembling, muttering incoherently, but Alice ignored her, charging toward the mechanical soldier rampaging nearby.

“Your little peashooter won’t cut it against this thing, you dumb pig! Is that all you’ve got? No wonder you can’t win Noil over, idiot!”

Ugly. It was undeniably ugly.

Half of Alice’s taunts were pure personal spite, but the other half was calculated. She was deliberately provoking Fiona because she believed it would help in the fight against the mechanical soldier.

Alice knew her Azure Doll was strong, but she also understood its limitations against divine artifacts like the mechanical soldier.

Alice’s usual fighting style involved commanding multiple Azure Dolls, each wielding her custom weapons, such as Life Eater, to overwhelm opponents with sheer numbers and firepower.

Charging in alone, especially with herself on the front line, was far from her ideal strategy. But this time, she had no choice. With no proper weapons, her only option was to use the Azure Doll she controlled as a blunt instrument to attack the enemy.

Fiona’s Magis Gear was more suited for a rear guard role. So Alice’s job was clear: she had to hold the mechanical soldier in place up front while Fiona provided support from behind.

However, Fiona’s magic bullets, while versatile and powerful, lacked the necessary destructive force to pierce the mechanical soldier’s tough exterior. Against such an opponent, Fiona’s attacks weren’t effective enough.

If I have to piss her off to draw out her full potential, so be it.

Alice saw Fiona’s untapped strength. She had the power—she just needed a push to unleash it.

Show me what those oversized boobs of yours are really capable of!

Thinking this, Alice locked arms with the rampaging mechanical soldier.

“Hey, how about a test of strength, you tin can?”

“Rya-rya-rya-rya-rya-me-he-he-hell-ku-ku-ku-ku!”

The instant their arms clashed, Alice’s Azure Doll was pushed back.

“Damn it… tch… you piece of junk!”

The force was greater than Alice had anticipated. The hands of her Azure Doll began to crack under the pressure, but Alice held her ground, gritting her teeth and forcing the stalemate to continue.

Alice’s strategy wasn’t wrong.

Fiona’s Magis Gear could indeed unleash rapid-fire magic bullets of various elements, but its output had a strict power ceiling. Against an opponent who could shrug off her bullets, such as the mechanical soldier, Fiona’s attacks were insufficient.

What Alice hadn’t accounted for was that Fiona already knew this.

Fiona had recognized her weakness during her battle against Elschan, who had completely nullified her magic bullets and utterly defeated her. The shame and frustration from that loss had driven Fiona to innovate, crafting a technique specifically to overcome such shortcomings.

Fiona’s innate element was wind.

Though she rarely used magic that utilized her own element—preferring the stronger, more versatile abilities of the Heaven’s Witch—this time, she made an exception.

“Alright… let’s see if it’s really just a ‘peashooter.’ After that, I’ll kill you.”

Fiona dropped to one knee, dismissing one of her short-barreled pistols and gripping the remaining one with both hands.

Her target was the mechanical soldier grappling with Alice. From her vantage point, the trajectory would put Alice directly in the line of fire, but it didn’t matter for what Fiona was about to do.

“Hey!! Back me up already, damn it!!”

Alice was reaching her limit. The mechanical soldier’s palms began to glow, the telltale sign of an imminent energy blast. If things continued, the Azure Doll’s arms would be destroyed before it could finish the attack.

“Just… a little longer.”

“Hurry up already, damn it! This is bad! Really bad!”

With no time to waste, Alice released her grip and shifted her hands to seize the mechanical soldier’s wrists instead. A pair of energy beams shot past, narrowly grazing the Azure Doll’s head.

“Watch out!!”

The twin beams hurtled toward Fiona, but she didn’t flinch. They tore through the air mere inches from her body, yet she remained utterly still, her focus unshaken.

For a brief moment, even Alice was awestruck by Fiona’s composure.

“Here it comes.”

“Tch… about time. Do it already, you psycho.”

With a faint smile, Fiona whispered:

“Piercing Shot.”

From Fiona’s pistol, something was fired. Something so fast, Alice couldn’t even see it.

What the…?

Before Alice could process what had happened, a tiny hole was suddenly drilled into the mechanical soldier’s head.

From that hole, flames erupted.

“Whoa!?”

Alice leapt back, releasing the mechanical soldier’s wrists.

But Fiona didn’t stop there.

“Disordered Bloom.”

Fiona’s pistol unleashed a series of rapid shots, each one boring small holes into the mechanical soldier’s body. From each hole, flames, ice, lightning, and wind erupted in succession, ripping through the mechanical soldier.

As the soldier reeled, Fiona stood, raising one hand toward it.

“Eternal Flower.”

From her outstretched hand, countless invisible bullets surrounded the mechanical soldier, orbiting it like petals in a storm. They pierced its body again and again, each impact delivering another burst of magical destruction.

The wind-driven projectiles never stopped. Accelerated, guided, and unrelenting, they shredded the mechanical soldier until nothing remained.

“Rya-rya-rya-rya-me-he-hell-ku-ku-ku…”

The fight was over.

Alice stared at the mechanical soldier, now little more than a magic-drenched wreck, and exhaled.

Holy hell…

Even Alice, brash as she was, found herself slightly taken aback.

“Alright… now it’s your turn.”

Still smiling, Fiona casually pointed her pistol at Alice.

“Take care of Noil first, you lunatic,” Alice muttered, shaking her head in exasperation.