Iskandar steered his Noble Phantasm, the Gordius Wheel, circling ceaselessly above the church.
The javelins thrown by the cursed spirit were terrifyingly powerful—even he didn't dare approach recklessly.
Those supersonic, razor-sharp thrusts could pierce straight through his body if he didn't keep his distance!
Below, the cursed spirit kept grabbing members of the guard, transforming them into javelins and hurling them upward. Iskandar had no choice but to spiral through the sky, dodging the relentless attacks.
"It seems the only way to kill this cursed spirit is to unleash my army!"
Iskandar's heart burned with fury.
Yet, the angrier he grew, the colder and sharper his thoughts became as he strategized.
The Gordius Wheel was already his trump card, but even it couldn't overcome this cursed spirit.
Though the creature had lost its sanity, a mindless killing machine driven purely by instinct was still a formidable foe. If anything, he could only be grateful it had lost its cunning—otherwise, such power combined with intelligence would have been far more troublesome than this.
For some reason, the attacks below came to a brief halt.
The cursed spirit seemed unable to find suitable weapons to throw.
Seizing the opportunity, Iskandar considered unleashing his final move. He descended slowly from the sky, cautiously closing in on the ground.
"Rider! Over here!"
Suddenly, a familiar voice reached his ears.
Iskandar froze, wondering if he was hallucinating.
He immediately turned toward the sound and spotted a naked young man standing on the red-brick road below, one hand covering himself while the other waved frantically.
"Waver! What in the world—?!"
Iskandar swiftly guided the chariot to the ground.
With a single leap, he jumped out and landed before Waver, slapping a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"You're real?! I'm not under some illusion?"
"Of course not! It seems I really have recovered—Roy must have done something."
Waver's face was alight with joy as he clenched his fists.
"And for some reason, my body feels stronger than ever, like I have endless stamina!"
"You do look much sturdier."
Iskandar poked his abs.
Firm. Definitely not fake.
"What are you doing?!"
Waver flinched, glaring at him in disgust.
"Give me your cloak! I don't know where my clothes went!"
"Fair enough!"
Iskandar unfastened his cape and draped it over Waver's head.
The gloom on his face vanished completely, replaced by a hearty, booming laugh.
"Welcome back, my vassal! My conquest wouldn't be the same without you!"
"Hmph. Always know just what to say."
Waver smirked, but his own smile was just as genuine.
...
"Huh?"
The cursed spirit unleashed Idle Transfiguration on Chisato.
In an instant, his technique should have reshaped her soul, and her body would follow suit, morphing into whatever form he desired.
But seconds ticked by.
And nothing happened to Chisato.
The shape of the soul remained unchanged.
The form of the body showed no alteration.
Mahito tilted his head.
For the first time, an expression of bewilderment surfaced on his murderous face.
"Don't look so surprised."
Roy held Chisato's hand firmly, a pleased smile playing on his lips.
"Even I didn't expect this. I thought my body modification ability was only good for altering physical forms—repairing organs, strengthening tissues, things like that. Who knew it could actually break your cursed technique too?"
That's right.
Roy had truly dismantled Mahito's technique.
Using the body modification ability inherited from Tiamat, he had successfully saved Waver!
He hadn't even anticipated it himself!
He had actually managed to restore a life whose very soul had been reshaped back to its original form!
"Now, you're no threat to me at all!"
"GRAAAHH!!"
Mahito's limited brain capacity couldn't fully grasp Roy's words, but he was undeniably enraged by Roy's attitude. Deep down, he understood that Roy was the thorn in his side that needed to be eliminated first!
With a furious roar that seemed to spew smoke from his seven orifices, Mahito stomped the ground and charged at Roy with the fastest speed he had ever mustered.
He was so fast that even Chisato struggled to track his movements.
But Roy remained unfazed.
With a firm tug of his left hand, he pulled Chisato into his embrace, his arm wrapping around her waist.
At the same time, he swung his right hand—wielding the Sword of the Black Furnace—in a fierce slash aimed at Mahito's massive frame.
"Eh?! Why are you holding me while fighting?"
Chisato's feet left the ground, and she instinctively clung to Roy's waist, still managing to voice her surprise.
"I've seen anime like this before—does holding me boost your morale or something?"
Mahito morphed his arm into a spinning drill, its violent rotation clashing head-on with the glowing blade.
Roy's sword descended, and in an instant, the drill was split clean in two, the severed edges faintly smoldering.
"You've got quite the imagination! But no, that's not it at all—you're just dead weight!"
Still holding Chisato, Roy took a single step forward and delivered an impossibly swift high kick straight to Mahito's chin.
Mahito couldn't dodge in time. The impact sent his body soaring into the air.
"You're still marked by his technique. The only reason you haven't been transformed is because I'm suppressing it. If I let go now, you'd instantly become his weapon. Still want me to release you?"
"Ahaha, never mind then!"
Chisato laughed cheerfully, readily admitting defeat.
"So this is what a first-person view of a high-level fight feels like? So exhilarating!"
She even started enjoying the battle between Roy and Mahito from her vantage point.
Talk about carefree!
Roy kicked off the ground, leaping after Mahito midair, the Sword of the Black Furnace sweeping horizontally toward his waist.
Mahito's face twisted in fury as his body instantly compressed into a dense, steel-like mass, turning into a solid block of metal.
SHIIING!
Roy's blade flashed.
The metal block might as well have been made of paper—it was sliced apart in an instant.
Mahito couldn't comprehend what was happening.
All he could do was glare at Roy with seething hatred.
Then Roy's foot slammed into him, sending him crashing back to the ground with enough force to embed him deep into the earth.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Roy pulled out several Black Keys and hurled them in rapid succession, each one pinning Mahito's limbs in place.
Seeing him still resisting, Roy's gaze sharpened. As he descended from the air, he traced a rune with his hand.
The moment he landed, the rune was precisely imprinted onto those black keys.
"Grrraaaah—!"
Despite his desperate struggles, the cursed spirit couldn't break free, only able to roar in fury as it wildly pounded the surrounding earth, creating tremors that felt like an earthquake.
"Is it over?"
Chisato clung to Roy like a koala. Seeing the battle seemed to have calmed down, she peeked her little head out to observe the cursed spirit's direction.
"Looks like you crushed him pretty easily?"
"If he had intelligence, it wouldn't have been so simple."
Roy was also assessing the cursed spirit's condition. Only after confirming it could no longer resist did he finally relax.
"His physical strength isn't much weaker than mine. If he'd had intelligence, he might have lasted a couple more moves against me."
"Just a couple more moves?"
"Only two."
"...Lord Roy, you're quite the arrogant one, aren't you?"
"When the victor is arrogant, we simply call it confidence."
Still holding Chisato, Roy strode forward until he stood before the cursed spirit.
Just to be safe, he flung a few more black keys at it, reinforced them with runes, then pressed his palm firmly against the cursed spirit's forehead.
A pure white light surged forth once more.
"Announcement—"
"I am the destruction, I am the creation..."
"Gah! Aaaaaaaah!!"
The cursed spirit's eyes bulged as it let out a piercing wail.
The white light gradually enveloped its entire body. A majestic voice echoed in its ears like the teachings of the Lord, making it feel as though it were being burned at the stake. Excruciating pain radiated through its entire being as its consciousness slowly faded.
No matter how it struggled, it continued falling into the abyss of death.
"...Forgiveness here, my incarnated self swears this."
"—May the Lord have mercy on this pitiful soul."
The chant concluded swiftly.
The cursed spirit's body had completely vanished.
All that remained was a pile of ashes, burned to nothingness.
Not even a corpse left behind.