Although Ariel couldn't fly, she had the skill "Spatial Maneuvering." Aside from long-range attack magic, this was her trump card against enemies in the sky.
Spatial Maneuvering allowed her to use magic power to create invisible footholds in empty space. Whether in the sky or elsewhere, it let her move as freely as if she were on solid ground.
Meanwhile, Ash leisurely floated in midair and provoked her. He didn't really have any strange intentions, but every movement and every expression looked like silent mockery to Ariel.
Still, there was nothing she could do about it. Attacking the ground from the sky meant he barely had anything to worry about, so Ash could hardly imagine himself losing.
But Ariel was no easy opponent. She bent her knees slightly, and in the next instant, with a loud boom, she shattered the ground beneath her feet like a cannonball and shot toward the sky.
The force was so great that the air around her was violently compressed, forming visible shockwaves that spread outward. Wherever they passed, shattered rocks flew through the air.
The girl burst through the sound barrier as she charged upward. Yet just as she leaped into the sky, Ash casually waved a hand.
In an instant, countless ice pillars descended like falling stars, crashing down toward Ariel in overwhelming numbers.
The tips of every ice pillar were as sharp as artillery shells, gleaming with cold, deadly light. Refracted sunlight gave them brilliant colors, yet they remained terrifying to behold.
"Don't underestimate me!"
Ariel roared and swung her fist at the incoming ice crystal.
BOOM!
With a deafening explosion, the foremost ice pillar instantly shattered into countless fragments.
However, that was only the beginning. More ice pillars followed like a torrent of rain, as though they intended to bury Ariel completely within this frozen world.
But Ariel showed no fear. Relying entirely on her incredibly tough body, she endured the dense barrage of ice pillars head-on.
Her body was like an unshakable fortress. No matter how the ice struck her, it couldn't leave a single wound. She forced her way through the crystal barrage with sheer physical strength.
Throughout the process, shattered ice filled the sky like scattered stars drifting through the air. Every fragment gave off a faint glow, displaying the girl's violent beauty from another angle.
The moment she broke through the hail of ice crystals, she immediately activated Spatial Maneuvering. In midair, she created a blue hexagonal block of magic power beneath her feet.
The instant she stepped on it and shattered it, she changed her direction at once, avoiding the Hellfire that Ash summoned immediately afterward.
"Now! It's my turn to strike back!"
Ariel opened her small mouth, and white-purple light rapidly gathered within it.
A moment later, a white-purple beam like a dragon's breath blasted toward Ash with overwhelming force.
The beam contained tremendous magic power. As it flew, it violently stirred the surrounding air, forming a massive vortex.
"Breath attack? Didn't expect a spider to use one too."
Ash looked slightly surprised, but he raised a hand.
In an instant, a magic circle appeared before him. A black-purple beam surged from it and met Ariel's white-purple beam head-on without any attempt to dodge.
The two beams collided fiercely in midair.
The surrounding air seemed to ignite, erupting with dazzling light. The brilliance was so intense that even the sun appeared dim by comparison.
A powerful shockwave spread outward from the point where they met, instantly sweeping everything around it away.
The energy generated by the clash of the two beams kicked up a sandstorm large enough to block out the sky.
Normally, Death Magic was supposed to counter magic and hold the advantage in a magical clash.
This time, however, things were different.
After advancing a certain distance and entering the large-scale Divine Dragon Barrier Ariel had activated, Ash's black-purple beam suddenly stopped moving forward.
This defensive barrier, modeled after a true dragon, was like an enormous shield surrounding Ariel.
Inside the barrier, all power except Ariel's own was continuously weakened. Under normal circumstances, even advanced magic would become unusable.
As a result, the Death Magic felt as though it had been poured into a thick swamp, losing its original sharpness. It remained locked in a stalemate with the breath attack at the edge of the barrier.
———
The unexpected stalemate was completely beyond Ash's expectations and left him quite dissatisfied.
"Guess I'll try something else."
He frowned slightly and muttered to himself.
As he spoke, he withdrew his hand and canceled the Death Magic. His figure flashed like a phantom, sidestepping the beam that brushed past him.
The air along its path warped from the heat, producing a sizzling sound as if warning others of its danger, but... as long as he avoided it, it posed no threat.
Standing on a magic block, Ariel grinned.
Her smile carried both satisfaction and ridicule. Sharp fangs glinted beneath the sunlight, making her look like a crafty fox that had caught its prey.
"Heh~ Was that your ultimate move just now? Looks like it's nothing special."
Her voice echoed through the air. Even her words were clearly aimed at countering Ash.
"No, I haven't even used my full strength yet."
Ash remained calm, showing no sign of being provoked.
"Liar."
Ariel curled her lip in disdain. She didn't believe him at all.
"I'm serious. After all... gravity magic is actually what I'm best at."
Ash spoke with complete sincerity.
Ariel only sneered, full of doubt. In her eyes, he was just bluffing... because she was bluffing too.
"You're not the type to tell enemies the truth. No, wait, a demon."
"You don't even know me. How do you know what kind of person I am?"
"Demons always deceive people."
Ariel dismissed him with a snort. Her impression of demons was deeply rooted. At least in storybooks, every demon was evil incarnate, using sweet words to trick others and achieve hidden goals.
Ash clicked his tongue, "As a Demon King, is it really okay for you to say that? Maybe I'm noble, righteous, and devoted to justice."
He tried to ease the tension with a relaxed attitude while also hoping to change Ariel's opinion of him, but, a trace of contempt flashed through Ariel's eyes. She found his words absurd.
"What's wrong with saying it? I'm the king of the demon race, not the king of demons. Besides, you're an origin demon. And you're claiming to be noble and righteous?"
"A person, well, a demon, can't choose their race. Deep down, I long for the light. I'm only stuck in darkness because I have no choice."
"Enough talking. If you've got something, show it!"
Ariel no longer wanted to waste words on him. Her patience had completely run out.
She bent her knees slightly and, in the next instant, shot straight toward Ash again like a cannonball leaving its barrel.
She moved at incredible speed, leaving behind a blurred afterimage. Purple light wrapped around her body, making her look strange and dangerous.
But Ash recognized it immediately.
That was the sign of Abyss Magic being activated.
She was obviously planning to get a little closer and then finish him with a decisive Abyss Magic attack.
But...
"Down you go."
Ash smiled calmly and pressed his hand downward.
In an instant, gravity changed.
The atmosphere around them suddenly sank.
The previously light air seemed to turn into heavy blocks of lead, making it difficult to breathe.
The surrounding space itself appeared distorted by the force. Even the light seemed dimmer. Birds flying through the sky were instantly forced toward the ground, yet before they could land, they were crushed into pieces.
The trees below could not withstand the pressure either. One after another, they snapped apart with cracking sounds like a symphony heralding the end of the world.
Even Ariel's leap was affected.
Her charge toward Ash abruptly stopped, and she began plummeting toward the ground.
The confident smile on her face vanished instantly, replaced by shock.
'What's happening? Why did the Divine Dragon Barrier suddenly stop working? Isn't this gravity magic? Don't I have Gravity Nullification? Why is gravity magic still affecting me?' [T/N: She has gravity nullfication but she can't even float?]
Having lost her balance, Ariel's mind filled with shock and confusion.
She tried to reactivate the Divine Dragon Barrier to resist the sudden change in gravity, but soon discovered that there was nothing wrong with the barrier itself.
It was simply... useless against this mysterious gravitational force.
Just like her Gravity Nullification skill.
To avoid falling, she had no choice but to use Spatial Maneuvering again, stepping onto magic blocks while trying to launch a counterattack.
But something strange happened.
At her level, those magic blocks should have been more than sturdy enough. Otherwise, they couldn't support her jumps.
Yet because of the altered gravity, the moment she landed on one, cracks spread across it immediately.
It simply lacked the strength needed to launch her back upward.
In other words, the close-quarters combat she excelled at had been completely shut down.
At the moment the battle turned around, Ash clearly saw the shock on the girl's face.
He was delighted, "Ah~ I imagine you have skills that counter gravity. But... you should understand that not all magic is equal."
Looking like a teacher instructing a student, he kindly explained, "Obviously, my magic seems harder to counter than ordinary gravity magic."
"Monster."
Ariel clenched her teeth and forced the words out.
She had only just stabilized herself when the even stronger gravitational pressure descended.
It felt as though a mountain was pressing down on her body.
Every movement became sluggish.
She couldn't even tell whether this was the monster's limit.
Ash, however, disagreed with the insult, "You're not really qualified to say that."
"I don't want to hear that from a monster like you..."
Fighting in the sky had already been one of her biggest weaknesses.
Now, under Ash's powerful gravity magic, even the little mobility she still had was severely restricted, leaving her in a situation unlike anything she had ever faced before.
She frowned deeply.
Her mind raced as she desperately searched for a way out.
However...
Before she could think of a workable solution, Ash suddenly vanished like a phantom.
His flying speed was beyond imagination.
In the blink of an eye, he broke the sound barrier, leaving behind only a nearly invisible afterimage.
The impact of such speed left Ariel dizzy.
At least in all her years and all her knowledge, she had never heard of a flying creature capable of surpassing the speed of sound.
Dragons with enormous wings were regarded as rulers of the sky.
Yet even they could not achieve such astonishing speed.
Except... gods.
'The God of Demons... the Demon God?'
The thought echoed through her mind like a whisper.
She was now like a bird trapped in a net.
Under the crushing pressure of gravity, the magic blocks around her continuously shattered and reformed as she slowly descended.
Every time a block broke apart, it felt like another step in a countdown toward death.
Her gaze darted around in panic like a startled deer, searching desperately for the figure that had disappeared.
Yet all she found was the howling wind and the blue sky filled with danger.
No matter how hard she searched, she couldn't locate that ghost-like target within the vast sky.
Then she suddenly sensed something and looked downward.
Her view was blocked by her own magic block.
'I'm done for!'
With her vision obstructed and no way to destroy her own magic block, Ariel couldn't stop herself from crying out.
At that exact moment, all the magic blocks beneath her feet shattered together like thin ice.
A dark-purple beam, compressed Death Magic, pierced upward through the sole of her foot.
Seeing the approaching light, the girl, already off balance, stared in shock.
Before she could react, the beam mercilessly pierced her thigh and arm.
Blood immediately poured out.
Yet under the abnormal gravity, it didn't spray outward. Instead, it fell alongside her body at high speed toward the ground, leaving a long trail of blood through the air.
The ground rapidly grew larger in her vision.
She was about to crash into it.
At the critical moment, she gritted her teeth and poured all her magic power into strengthening the Divine Dragon Barrier.
The next instant...
BOOM!
The barrier struck the ground.
The tremendous impact caused deep cracks to spread through the surrounding earth as though an earthquake had struck.
The ground touching the barrier sank deeply inward.
Yet her body barely managed to land safely.
As she fell, Ash flashed away from her like lightning.
Eight spheres of light appeared beside him and immediately launched a merciless bombardment at the girl who had crashed to the ground.
The daylight seemed to be torn apart like fragile paper.
Dark-purple beams poured down from the sky like waterfalls.
The grand sight resembled bridges connecting heaven and earth.
The energy within those beams was so immense that they seemed like judges of the apocalypse, eroding a world that had once been peaceful.
In the blink of an eye, the land was shattered by the endless assault, ripped apart into scattered fragments.
Along with the descending beams came Hellfire from above.
The moment gravity's restraint disappeared, the dust filling the sky was vaporized.
The earth was engulfed in hopeless flames, instantly turning the area into a true hell.
From time to time, breath attacks shot upward from below.
But dodging them in midair was far easier than on the ground.
Counterattacks of this level were essentially meaningless.
———
Brilliant light and flames intertwined, covering both sky and earth in apocalyptic chaos.
Only after this extended bombardment did Ash gradually stop his saturation attack on both the girl and the ground.
Yet before the dust cloud blocking out the sky showed any sign of settling, he sensed something.
Within the dense dust, an aura flickered in and out.
It fluctuated between strong and weak, extremely unstable.
Yet strangely, it recovered at incredible speed, gradually returning to its original state.
It was like a stubborn life form that had suffered severe damage and then somehow regained its vitality.
When the dust was blown away by the gale unleashed from the girl's punch, what appeared was a landscape of complete devastation.
And standing in the middle of the ruins was the girl.
Her clothes were in tatters, yet somehow she remained completely unharmed.
"How strange... That shouldn't be possible..."
Ash frowned, full of confusion.
His eyes remained fixed on Ariel as he rapidly replayed every detail of the battle in his mind.
He vaguely remembered that during their fierce exchange, he had clearly pierced through Ariel's chest.
Under normal circumstances, that attack should have been fatal.