Battle Against The Fiend

Vim stood face-to-face with the Fiend.

Fortunately, there was nothing around this area. It wouldn’t be an issue even if he unleashed a massive spell.

“Sorry, but I won’t be able to hold back,” Vim muttered toward the Fiend.

《Absolute Barrier》

He deployed an Absolute Barrier behind himself. Since he was about to use a top-tier spell that he rarely ever relied on, leaving things as they were could potentially catch the others in the crossfire. He deployed the barrier magic in a way that shielded the knight order, Hana, and Misa.

“Here I come, you monster!”

At the sound of Vim’s voice, the Fiend initiated its attack. As expected of its kind, advanced-tier spells came flying one after another without a single incantation. Vim leaped through the air to dodge them.

The Fiend’s attacks smashed directly into the Absolute Barrier behind him. Though the impacts were being absorbed by the barrier, death would be the only option waiting for anyone who took a direct hit from something like that.

《Lightning》

Vim deployed countless arrows of light—two thousand of them, to be precise. The arrows streaked straight toward the Fiend. However, the Fiend didn’t even bother to dodge the attack, taking it entirely head-on.

“Tch. I thought it would at least buy me some time to pin it down.”

The Fiend remained completely unscathed even after taking the attack.

“It’s strong…”

Vim felt that this one was even more powerful than the Fiend he had fought in the past.

“Kill… you.”

Those were the words uttered by the Fiend.

“The Fiend… spoke…?”

A shock ran through even the otherwise unflappable Vim. Fiends were entities whose rationality had completely collapsed. Because of that, they were supposed to be entirely incapable of speaking human language.

“This might actually be bad. Well, there’s no backing down now.”

‘I petition the Spirits of Light!’

《Seraphic Gate》

Everyone could feel their magical energy and blood supply depleting. It was a spell so taxing that even Vim could not cast it without paying such a massive toll. It was the absolute highest echelon of light-attribute magic.

“That’s…” Captain Camil’s face filled with shock.

“Do you know that magic, Sir Camil?” Hana asked.

“I’ve only heard of it once from the Chief Mage,” Camil replied to Hana’s question. “It’s a top-tier light-attribute spell that completely incinerates and melts absolutely everything down to nothing. It doesn’t just consume mana—to cast it, it even drains your very blood. It’s a spell referred to as the final bastion.”

“No way…”

“It’s a spell believed to have no living users left. The only person in history capable of using it was a Sage from one hundred and fifty years ago.”

“Then, does that mean Lord Vim has reached the realm of a Sage?”

Even Hana knew about the Sages. They were the heroes who had saved this world from the Demon God, and a statue of a Sage stood right in the center of the royal capital.

“I thought it was impossible, but that appears to be the case…”

“Will Lord Vim be alright? He’s sacrificing an enormous toll, isn’t he?”

“I don’t know. But right now, our only path forward is to believe in him.”

Vim was the only one on this field capable of going toe-to-toe with a Fiend. That was a fact everyone understood.

“Blow away.”

Vim spoke in a mere whisper.

A colossal door of light materialized through the incantation. That door slowly began to creak open. The moment it parted, an intense, blinding beam of light erupted from within. Faced with that brilliant torrent of light, the Fiend seemed utterly helpless.

By the time the light faded, not only the Fiend but even the surrounding trees and grass had completely vanished into nothingness.

“It’s over.”

With that, Vim collapsed right on the spot.