The rosy-pink slime pulsed beside the prison walls, as if preparing to strike at any moment.
The group's eyes were all locked onto the monster, their voices caught in their throats.
Rain's grip tightened, her free hand slightly trembling as she took a step forward.
Akari narrowed her eyes, activating her soul weapon to try analyzing it. She could tell it was affecting everyone, yet she felt nothing.
That's why she tried to figure out exactly what was the cause of their feelings.
She could see a strange energy being emitted from it, an energy reminiscent of what she saw when looking at Xtsy.
'Holy? No… Divine.'
Akari placed a hand on Rain's shoulder, trying to stop her from advancing as she whispered, "That thing is dangerous, let's wait…"
Rain glanced back, giving a hesitant nod.
Seeing Rain's agreement, the others took a step back as well. A bow made of blood manifested into Akari's hand, her right hand slightly pulling on the string.
"Ugh…"
The group jumped at the sound from behind them, quickly turning around to see Evvls and Akio waking up.
Evvls slowly rose, staying quiet. Even though he didn't know what was happening, he knew that speaking was not the right move.
Or rather, he felt that he couldn't speak.
Akio, on the other hand, had been groaning, clawing at the ground as he struggled to rise.
Akari quietly sighed and returned her sights to the slime… however, it was no longer there.
"Kyaahhh!!!"
A scream pierced the courtyard, with all eyes following the noise.
The stench of blood overwhelmed everyone's senses. Though the field was already covered in blood, an unnatural pressure drew everyone's attention to the blood of the monster's first victim.
One of the prisoners, a girl who seemed to be around the age of a young teenager, had been pierced through the chest.
She had a look of absolute terror on her face.
Her stomach had been pierced by a piece of slime, leaving a gaping hole in her stomach
The Monster, once a rose-colored mass, had begun to transform. The spike that ran through the girl slowly shaped itself into an arm, and its body mimicked that of a human's.
Its skin became a dark brown, and its eyes, once nonexistent, became those that reflected the cosmos itself.
Its hair was wild, locs rolling down its lean back, reaching its legs.
Her eyes followed it as it rose, reaching a staggering height of around six feet tall.
Before she could even cough up blood, with its free hand, it crushed her head with a fist covered in Gilded flames.
The heat from the flames caused everyone's eyes to water, yet tears never fell, as they instantly evaporated before rolling down their cheeks.
This sight caused Evvls' eyes to widen further, a realization escaping his mind.
"Divine fire…?"
It was the very same type of magic that Evvls had used to defeat Vesper. It was magic that was fueled with divinity rather than mana, making it impossible for those without it to use.
The only reason Evvls could use it was because of Xtsy, and even then, he wasn't sure as to why Xtsy housed divinity.
This image reminded them of a being only heard in legends, one thought to have vanished centuries ago.
The Creator God, Syzael.
The slime's form looked just like how the book described him, not a single detail being missed.
Those who knew of his legend could no longer move, being frozen in fear.
If the Creator God truly was here, and he wished for all of their deaths, then there was nothing they could do about it. The will to fight slowly drained from the prisoners, despair filling their eyes.
The monster slowly released its hold on the girl, freeing its arm and allowing her decapitated body to return to the earth.
Looking around, the slime began to walk forward.
Thunder roared in the distance, yet the sky did not change.
Children dropped to their knees, one by one. Stopping at one of the kids who fell, the being stared into its eyes, cold and unmoving. This show of power left the kids awestruck.
An arm raised into the sky, balling up into a fist.
A brilliant golden flame covered its knuckles as it swung.
Yet, the blow never reached its mark.
Instead, it was intercepted by multiple children.
With a bow made purely of blood, Akari shot the monster's hand, snuffing out the flames.
However, it wasn't just Akari that made a move.
Sylvia ensnared the slime's lower half in ice. Her hands shook as she maintained the ice, her eyes locked onto it.
Though she was currently on burnout, it didn't truly affect her ability in casting spells. However, she was still exerting herself heavily.
On the other hand, Rain had placed her sword in the path of the slime strike, activating the ability of Ranni's soul to bend the fist around the blade. Ranni hadn't entered burnout, so Rain was able to use the soul weapon without restrictions.
Shinto had latched his soul weapon onto its elbow, pulling with Akatsuke to stop the blow as well.
With a neutral expression on its face, it stared at Rain, who was directly in front of it now.
It was effectively restrained, but the brilliant golden flames ignited once more, burning the blood off of his fist as the strike, momentarily stopped, resumed in its course.
Rain was slowly getting pushed back, with her gritting her teeth and spitting out, "Move it!"
The child behind her hurriedly scrambled away, but even then, Rain felt that she couldn't let this attack hit anything.
Her instinct had deemed this attack as dangerous, something she couldn't ignore.
She tried to push forward, forcing her body beyond its limits, but all she did was dig her feet into the ground.
Even with Shinto and Akatsuke pulling it with all of their might, the monster simply didn't budge.
"Rain, look out!"
Rain looked up and smiled, jumping back as a barrage of arrows fell from the skies.
The flames had once again been snuffed out, and the slime form had become distorted.
Holes riddled its body, but they didn't last long.
The wounds on the being immediately closed and it lifted a finger, the head of an arrow forming.
The thing about this arrow was that it wasn't made of flames, or slime in any case.
It was made of blood.
The exact kind it was just hit with.
Akari's eyes narrowed, her bow aimed at his arrow.
"Sylvia, are your rewards still active?"
It was Shinto who whispered this to Sylvia, but Sylvia gave a quick nod, saying,
"They all deactivated when I went on burnout…"
The beast flicked its finger forward, releasing the arrow.
Akari immediately made a barrier, shooting her arrow at the same time.
In the corner of her eye, she could see Sylvia moving as well, ice beginning to cover her fingertips.
The dense shield of mana absorbed the impact of the arrows clashing, protecting the group inside.
"Huh?!"
At least, that was supposed to happen.
Akari's voice was cut short before a deafening explosion resounded out
*BOOOMM!!*
The arrow pierced through both the shield and Akari's arrow.
She hadn't expected her attack to get overpowered that easily.
Blood dripped onto the concrete, but it didn't belong to anyone.
Though the arrow was able to pierce the barrier, Akari had made a secondary defense, one backed up by Sylvia.
It was a wall of hardened blood surrounded by ice and a thin layer of water.
It was thanks to this defense, they had successfully defended from the attack with minimal resources used.
However, even with this, Sylvia collapsed to her knees. Her face was flushed and her hands were completely frozen.
"Sylvia! Are you okay?"
Akari crouched beside the girl, trying to heal her, but Sylvia simply raised a hand in response, saying,
"It's just burnout, it makes everything really difficult…"
Shinto watched this take place, knowing that the main group was too weakened to actually fight back. He looked around, seeing the other prisoners despairing on the ground.
He grit his fist, knowing that they wouldn't be able to win alone.
Shinto spoke up, trying to gather morale, "That thing is not God! Even Akari… sorry Akari… Even Akari of all people was able to harm it! It's just some monster attempting to mimic him!"
Akari glanced up at his words, about to retort him for the subtle jab but realizing that now wasn't the time.
On the other hand, some of the others heard his voice, a flicker of hope entering their dull eyes.
Though he had spoken confidently, unlike Sylvia, whose soul weapon had enhanced her words before, Shinto had nothing like that.
Words wouldn't be enough.
But Shinto expected as much.
The boy ran towards the slime, yelling, "If you don't believe me, just watch! Even I'll be able to hurt it!"
Sludge enveloped his arms as he drew back a fist, attempting to simply land one punch.
In all honesty, Shinto was terrified.
He could feel goosebumps on his entire body, the feeling intensifying with each step he took.
Of course, the slime wouldn't simply allow a punch to land without retaliating.
The monster's eyes were locked onto Shinto's. It didn't see an opponent, but prey running straight into its jaws.
Gilded flames enveloped its fist once more, the courtyard heating exponentially.
Rain had swung her blade from behind the slime.
With a swift twisting motion, its torso faced Rain as the blow meant for Shinto struck Rain's sword.
"Shit!"
Rain let out a curse as she pushed back against the punch, her arms trembling.
"Ha!"
Shinto struck the back of the slime's head.
No sound came out, but Shinto knew the hit landed.
How?
Because he could see his fist penetrating through its head.
It seemed as if the slime had no defensive capabilities, purely offensive, and that was what Shinto was banking on.
He could see that the slime never truly tried to defend itself, only attacking at every instance of action.
When Rain attacked him, instead of blocking or even dodging, it attempted to attack her.
When Akari rained down arrows on it, it simply took the attack and regenerated after.
Even when their group tried to trap it, it didn't stop its attack a single time.
Shinto began to grin as he jumped back and called out, "See?! What kind of God would get so harmed from my punches?!"
Thunder boomed even closer, yet the sky still never changed.
With a nervous smile, Shinto looked around, momentarily staring at the sky before his gaze swept across the children of the prison.
He could see that the kids, even with this showing, didn't have the will to fight back.
Even if it wasn't god, that monster was able to kill someone with one strike, seemingly without even breaking a sweat.
Sure Rain was able to clash with it, but most of the children knew that the silver haired girl's strength was abundant.
A hand tapped his shoulder.
It was Evvls, staring ahead as he said, "Give up on them, even if we destroy its entire body, I don't think they'll help."
Shinto chewed on his bottom lip, clenching his fist as he said, "Then what can we do? Three of us are on burnout and this thing is too strong!"
Evvls' hazy eyes looked at Shintos. He was obviously in burnout, his face flushed and blood dripping from his nose.
Yet even like this, Shinto could see a flash of determination in his gaze.
Evvls coughed up blood as he forcefully summoned his soul weapon, Conqueror's Strength.
Shinto's eyes widened as he yelled, "What the hell are you doing! You idiot, you're gonna damage your soul!"
Reaching deep within the eastern dragon's mouth, Evvls whispered, "I'll need you all to make sure I attack the enemy, okay?"
Shinto stared at the boy, bewildered.
Then it clicked.
"No, don't you dare…"
However, it was too late.
A pitch black sword exited the dragon's mouth, the dragon itself vanishing afterward.
The feeling of dread that the slime gave off was immediately overshadowed by a feeling of unease coming from Evvls.
Though the boy was still in burnout, Galland, the demonic sword he unsheathed, did not care.
Dark power surged from Evvls, the mana inside the boy surging and corroding all at once.
The hand holding the sword, his left hand, turned pitch black as Evvls attempted to accept the power of Galland.
However…
His eyes rolled back, swinging his sword at Shinto at that same instant, moving as if he weren't running off fumes moments ago.
Shinto twisted out of the way, pushing Evvls towards the slime as he called out, "Rain, back off!"
Rain gave a short nod, backing away once more.
By this point, the slime had already completely regenerated its head, but it had halted its attack in order to regenerate.
That was the only reason Rain was able to keep it still for so long.
But now its attention was wholly on Evvls, who swung a wide arc of dark power at the false god.
The two clashed.
Divine flames pushed against dark power.
While the darkness was being purified by the flames, the flames were also being corroded.
They seemed to be a perfect match, but that wouldn't last long.
They needed to find their next course of action.
Taking her eyes off of this sight, Akari gathered everyone who were willing to fight.
'This isn't looking too good…'
None of the other children had the willpower to fight.
Instead, some began inching away, attempting to escape the chaos while the monster was preoccupied with Evvls.
Akari gauged the group, observing who could actually fight and who couldn't.
There was Akio, who was in burnout.
Akatsuke, who was exhausted.
Sylvia, who was also in burnout, was also on the verge of depleting her mana.
Rain, who was relatively fine, but seemingly a bad match against the beast.
Evvls, who had given up control over his burnt out body to fight a little longer.
Shinto, who wasn't powerful enough to truly harm the slime.
And then there was herself. Her reserves of mana hadn't decreased at all, but she knew that she couldn't keep casting spells like this.
She hadn't noticed it before because her fights never lasted that long, but casting spells took a different kind of energy then running or exercising would.
She couldn't feel exhaustion, just as she couldn't feel pain, but she could feel that she was tired.
Her mind had been hazy for a while now, ever since she attempted to heal her friends.
But she forced herself to keep going.
She knew she had to.
"Shinto, any ideas?"
Akari spoke up, shaking her head to try clearing her head. Of course, since she couldn't feel anything, it didn't work at all.
"We have to wait…"
Shinto spoke, his eyes locked onto Evvls and the slime. He knew their situation just as well as Akari did.
Akari bit her bottom lip, accidentally drawing blood as she watched Evvls move.
It was unnatural, as if he didn't care for his mortal body.
He'd swing his sword, Galland, recklessly towards the slime, a torrent of dark power following it, and if it missed, he'd simply try punching the slime with his free hand, dark power covering it as well.
The slime had no choice but to begin evading, something it hadn't been doing til now.
Seeing this caused Shinto to mutter,
"It truly can adapt… What kind of creature is this?"
Akari found herself only being able to agree.
It was subtle, so subtle that Akari didn't expect Shinto to notice. The slime, everything about it was constantly changing in response to the children.
It wasn't just physical things, such as the slime beginning to dodge, or it using blood magic after getting hit by it.
Its internals were changing as well.
After learning blood magic, Akari could see pathways of mana going throughout the slime. Upon focusing, she could see that these pathways were veins, the same veins that humans held.
The slime's anatomy was developing with time.
It was thanks to this that the slime could use blood magic, no, all magic that it's already learned to an even greater extent.
It was adapting in the truest sense.
"Right, we should prepare. Akari, don't use blood magic from here on out. Sylvia… just wait, you'll know when to move. Akio… just wait, you too Akatsuke." Shinto began pacing as he spoke, continuing, "Soon enough something big will happen, but even then, I'm not sure if it'll be enough."
Sylvia rubbed her forehead, asking, "What are you blabbering on about? Stop talking in circles…"
Shinto grinned as he said, "Then the surprise would be over."
With a groan, Sylvia flopped onto the ground.
*CRRACKK!*
A loud cracking sound echoed through the courtyard, no, the entire prison.
"Huh?"
The sound had snapped all the children out of their feardriven states.
All eyes locked onto the sky, which had a large crack in it.
This wasn't a metaphor in any sense.
The sky quite literally had a crack running through it, revealing a dark sky behind the bright sunny one they had seen til now.
"Finally, he did it!"
Shinto shouted as he pumped his fist into the air, seeing the sky crack and shatter, rain falling down from above.
The sky was dark, and rain poured down relentlessly.
"Huh?! How?"
Akari was amazed.
Were they under a fake sky the entire time? Had space itself been shattered just now? Thoughts like these ran through her mind without any sign of ending, but she couldn't make any further sounds.
A dark mass moved towards them, stopping before the darkness could reach them as it spoke, a calm and steady voice taking their attention away, "Shinto, I've done what you asked. You can handle things from here right?"
It was Travis.
Akari had completely forgotten that he was here, and hadn't seen him ever since they came out to the courtyard.
But now he was here, and seemingly he was the reason behind the sky breaking.
"Shinto, explain."
With a sore voice, Akio spoke, his eyes locked directly onto Shinto.
It seemed as if Akio recovered enough to speak coherently, now immediately trying to assess the situation.
"Well, my brilliant friends, I got my good pal Trav-"
As he spoke, Akio interrupted the boy, "Get to the point, Shinto."
Shinto smiled, raising his hands as he said, "Alright, alright, I got Travis to break the barrier around the prison,"
Akari's eyes widened.
She hadn't realized that they were in a barrier this entire time.
The mana in the air was no different from the outside and there hadn't been any fluctuations in the sky til now.
She had no idea that this barrier existed, and seemingly it wasn't just her.
Rain, not knowing much about this prison in the first place, had stared at the sky with wide eyes.
Sylvia began to laugh, sitting up as she continued laughing.
Akio and Akatsuke looked at each other, smirking as they joined in on Sylvia's laughter.
The three of them had realized that The Warden controlled even more about their lives than they expected.
Every last thing, down to the weather they experienced, was in his hands, and they were none the wiser.
Sylvia was the first to stop laughing, a smile on her face as she said, "I see what you wanted from me now, but I must warn you, even with these amazing conditions, I won't be able to help as much as I'd like."
Shinto smiled back, saying, "Everything we can get is good enough, don't worry."
Shinto cracked his knuckles, looking back to see the Slime still attacking Evvls.
It had grown once again, now using a combination of dark power and Divine flames to attack Evvls.
The beast's fist struck Galland's blade, divinity crashing against dark power.
With its free hand, a dark sphere of miasma manifested.
Evvls, glaring at the sphere, pulled the sword back and pierced the sphere.
A small explosion destroyed the slime's hand, and with a grunt, Evvls clawed at the beast with the free hand.
Inevitably, the slime regenerated and began to attack once more, its neutral expression slowly twisting into one of annoyance.
*Roooaar*
The divinity of the slime flared outward, momentarily overpowering the dark power of Galland.
Their clash continued. The slimes fist got rougher whilst Galland exerted more and more dark power to counteract it.
But even with this, Shinto, no, the entire group didn't think they could lose.
"Travis, start the music!"
Shinto raised his finger to the sky, a confident smirk on his face.
With a small sigh, the dark shadow moved back a bit, and music began reaching the ears of all entities in the prison.
Akari's eyes lit up at the music, her voice filled with excitement and nostalgia.
Bass drums shook the chest, snare drums rang through the air, trumpets sounded out.
"Brass band?"
The different sounds came together in perfect harmony, as if masters of the instruments were hidden in the darkness, playing their hearts out.
She didn't know what kind of music existed in this world, but hearing something she'd heard in her original world invigorated her.
She looked around, getting pumped up.
It wasn't just her.
Some of the children, despairing moments ago, had risen to their feet.
Akari could see a flicker of hope in their eyes, as if the music had reignited their fighting spirit.
"No clue what brass band is, but this music is amazing!"
Sylvia said as she wiped her forehead, her eyes filled with newfound energy.
The music hadn't truly been strengthening them, not in the slightest.
But the culmination of events had finally broken through to the children.
Harming the slime.
Holding it in place multiple times.
One child being able to keep it occupied.
The breaking of the barrier.
The confidence of Shinto and his friends.
These small events, semi orchestrated by Shinto, had finally reignited hope in the children.
And now, it was time to launch their own assault on the divine slime.