Completely different from the battlefield where Tsukasa was about to end things with a final collision, the front courtyard of the Roswaal Mansion was now a shocking wasteland of scorched earth.
After the baptism of blazing flames, the air was thick with the smell of char. The once-tidy lawn and stone paths were gone, replaced by large patches of cracked, blackened ground with a glassy texture.
The carefully trimmed shrubs and flowers had turned to ash, and even the dried-up fountain pool was left with only half of its shattered, blackened base.
Even more alarming, the outer walls and wooden structures on the side of the main mansion building near the front gate had also been caught in the blaze and burned, leaving charred beams and broken bricks exposed.
Before the dust and smoke had fully settled, a figure stepped out from within.
It was Nai.
Her black dress remained spotless, forming a sharp contrast with the hellish scene around her.
The same smile remained on her lips, and her green eyes calmly swept over the devastated courtyard.
She did not linger, nor did she comment on the destruction she had personally wrought. She simply walked toward the mansion's main door, which was now wide open with scorch marks still lingering on the frame.
"Ram! Frederica!"
A cry filled with trembling and panic came from the shadows within the foyer.
Emilia rushed out, her long silver hair flying behind her due to her hurried movements. Her eyes were filled with the carnage of the front courtyard—the blackened earth, a figure slumped in a corner not far away, and further off, a pink figure lying motionless among the rubble, her clothes torn by the explosions and fire.
Extreme rage instantly drowned out her reason. She thrust both hands forward. The moisture in the air instantly condensed and solidified into dozens of sharp ice spears emitting a frigid chill, shooting toward Nai like a blizzard.
However, Nai didn't even stop her pace. She merely raised her right hand slightly and once again snapped her index finger and thumb together.
Snap!
The moment her fingers snapped, countless tiny sparks manifested out of thin air in front of her.
Sizzle... Sizzle...
As the ice spears hit the flame barrier, there was only the dense sizzling sound of rapid evaporation.
Nai walked through the diffusing ice mist and water vapor, her steps still steady as she reached the bottom of the steps before the foyer.
She looked up at the pale-faced Emilia at the top of the stairs, her eyes holding no killing intent, only calmness.
"You must be that silver-haired girl. My only target is you. I don't wish to engage in any more pointless fighting. So..."
She tilted her head slightly, her tone even carrying a hint of sincerity. "Please don't continue, okay?"
This posture, combined with her actions just moments ago—creating a purgatory and heavily wounding two maids while laughing—was suffocatingly contradictory.
"Stop... Stop lying!"
Emilia's body trembled with rage, her eyes clouded with a layer of mist.
"You Witch Cultists... you people... always like this... using this kind of hypocrisy..."
"Lia."
A calm voice interrupted her.
Puck floated up from Emilia's shoulder and blocked the path in front of her.
"Leave this opponent to me."
Upon seeing Puck, Nai's gaze moved away from Emilia and landed on him.
After a moment, an indescribable emotion appeared on her face.
"Are you also an Artificial Spirit?"
Puck kept a grim face and did not respond to Nai's inquiry. He floated away from Emilia's shoulder, his small body suspended in mid-air, his gray fur fluttering slightly under the surge of invisible power.
He turned his head slightly to look at the anxious Emilia beside him, who looked like she wanted to say something more.
"Lia..."
Puck's voice was very soft, but it carried a weight that Emilia had never heard before, almost like a final farewell.
"For a long time to come, I might not be able to stay by your side anymore."
"Puck?! What are you saying?!" Emilia's eyes widened.
Bang!
A dull explosion came from the blackened ruins in the corner of the courtyard.
The body that was supposed to have lost all ability to move, lying in the corner like a piece of charcoal—Frederica—suddenly lunged forward at this moment.
Her tattered maid uniform was burst open by her suddenly swelling muscles, and tiger-like stripes faintly appeared on her exposed skin. Without the slightest hesitation, she pounced, crossing the distance of over ten meters in an instant—far faster than in the previous battle—and her arm swept around the waist of the yet-to-react Emilia.
"Emilia-sama! Forgive me!"
Immediately after, she slammed her feet into the ground and, holding Emilia, retreated into the mansion. She crashed through the remaining half of a broken window beside the foyer, her figure quickly disappearing into the shadows of the building's interior.
The entire front courtyard was left with only Puck floating in mid-air and Nai standing quietly at the bottom of the steps.
The moment Frederica took Emilia into the mansion, the air suddenly became freezing.
The residual warmth in the ground was rapidly stripped away, and a thin layer of white frost condensed on the surface of the blackened soil. Even the smoke and ash drifting in the air seemed to be frozen, their descent becoming sluggish.
The smile on Nai's face underwent a slight change. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she felt this rapidly rising, terrifying chill and magical pressure that far exceeded what had come before.
"..."
She was silent for a moment, her gaze falling on Puck again, a hint of realization appearing in her eyes.
"I see..."
She whispered to herself.
"You are the Beast of the End."
"I didn't expect you to be following such a little girl, and in this form. However, the way you look now is a far cry from before."
Puck remained silent. He gave no response to Nai's evaluative words.
The small gray body floating in the air began to emit an increasingly dazzling, ice-blue light. The light grew stronger, gradually swallowing his form.
And then—
Crack! Snap!
Accompanied by the sound, Puck's original position was replaced by a massive, pure white figure.
It was a giant beast.
It's head lowered slightly, looking down at the tiny, ant-like Nai on the steps below.
The Beast of the End, Puck, had descended in his original form.
"Now, how about this?"
(End of Chapter)
Read upto 40 chapters ahead on
[email protected]/astralicity