Chapter 12: Radiance (6)

~12.6~

*****

It was Hannah’s first time seeing Kye in action. “What the hell?!” she exclaimed over the call as she and the others struggled to stay on their feet. It was a call with all the royals except Kye and Astraia, who needed to focus. Many of the civilians that were evacuating fell to the ground from the shaking. “Is that really her? That’s coming from an eighteen-year-old?”

“It is,” Allison replied. “I’ve had the privilege of training her personally all these years. Her growth is unprecedented. It was as though she had a new surprise every time I’d blink.”

“But it makes more sense now, right?” Ginchiyo said. “Knowing she is Elysia.”

“To a degree, but I’ve known that for ten years. I feel as though this is unusual even considering that.”

Glowing in radiant pink aether, Alethea looked at Astarte with her hand held out. A moment later, she held Gaia. She flew upward toward the incoming mountain rubble. “<<Awaken>>! <<Divine Aegis>>!” With the surge of power from Gaia, Alethea erected a gigantic barrier reaching from the sea floor to high in the stratosphere and further than the eye could see to either side.

“And then there’s Alethea.” Allison smiled as she admired Alethea’s handiwork. “As if it wasn’t enough that we have Elysia.”

Kye noticed and smirked. She snapped her fingers and hundreds of magic circles appeared before the gigantic pink barrier. Not a single piece of rubble struck Alethea’s barrier. Every magic circle emitted a spacetime barrier that transported the rubble back to the mountains, harmlessly raining down on them.

“I’ll repair the mountains later, but I’ll need the material to do that, so I’ll just leave the rubble nearby.”

“Kye, that was incredible,” said Astraia. “I can only be grateful to be wielded like this.”

Kye smirked. “Sorry for pushing it so hard.”

“No, it’s fine. It’ll take a lot more than this to damage me.”

“So long as you’re okay.”

“Do whatever you need. If it’s possible, I trust that you can do it.”

Kye smiled. “Thanks, but let me know if it becomes too much!”

“Okay.”

She turned toward her her pink-haired partner and waved briefly. Alethea stuck her tongue out. Kye chuckled and returned her attention to the fight at hand. The beast’s mana was absurdly powerful, enough that it was still very clearly alive after Kye’s onslaught.

“I can tell from here that it suffered damage, but its regeneration is as ridiculous as its mana.” Her anger was once again clearly visible on her face. “To warp a soul to this degree. This former demon has been forced massively past its limits. This is not unlike what would happen to me if I were to unleash this level of mana without you, Kari. My body would become warped, though I would maintain my sense of self to the end. And I assure you, there is an end. A beast like this cannot survive on its own for long. They are likely being kept alive in a pre-warped state.”

“Truly?”

“It’s only my suspicion, but it’s the most likely. Which means these beasts we’ve been fighting… they would have been transformed recently. No more than a few days ago. This one could very well have been a noble or other high-ranking member of Apollyon’s army. It could even be someone we know.”

She was growing more angry by the second, and Astraia feared she would lose grip on her mana control.

“No. If anger were enough to rob me of my control…” She shook her head. “I learned to maintain control beyond emotions long ago. I… nevermind, it’s beginning to move. Time to go. I’m moving to hand-to-hand for a bit.”

Astraia transformed from an odachi to a pair of bracelets. Kye clenched her fists and bolted forward, catching up to where she had flung the beast in an instant. It recovered from the blast and met her head on, throwing a right jab. She brushed it away and kicked the beast’s side. It spun around, moving back just enough to dodge her kick and followed up with its left fist. She ducked under it and countered with a jab at its gut. It caught her fist and kicked. She blocked the kick with her left hand.

In a flurry of attacks, neither gained any ground until Kye finally knocked it off balance and landed a solid punch to its chest, launching it backward. Following up, she brought her hands together and focused an immense amount of aether between them before finally releasing it as a beam that carried the beast even further.

“You got that from a manga!”

“I sure did!”

With the beast launched far away, Kye moved on to cast her next spell. She brought her hands together, sparks of aether surrounding her. She quickly raised her right hand, with only her index and middle fingers extended. Ten orbs of radiant golden lightning aether formed high in the sky, forming a large circle above the beast. “<<Kami Ikazuchi>>!” She brought her raised hand down, and the biggest lightning bolt anyone had ever seen fell from the sky. It was the size of the circle of orbs. The bolt was so bright that the sky appeared to darken.

From the resort, her classmate, who specialized in lightning magic, was looking on in awe. “The pinnacle of lightning… Kami Ikazuchi!”

“Rika,” said Ginchiyo, “Don’t feel disheartened. She has performed ultimate spells of every element with divine mana. At this point, I would not be surprised if she could cast every ultimate spell ever created. She can even use runic magic.”

“To call her remarkable is an understatement,” Alexandra added. “But I suppose that’s what one becomes capable of after the unimaginable amount of lives she’s lived. To think the Goddess Elysia would be born into our world in our lifetimes…”

Rika’s eyes widened. “Did you say ‘Goddess Elysia’? I know she’s… special… but to say she is the very creator?”

“That’s right,” Allison said. “She officially announced it to the royal council earlier this year, right after the Battle of Arslade. Her performance in battle was nigh-unexplainable. Though I think at this point, she’s shown the world enough to make a name for herself. It’s known all across the empire.”

“The Goddess of Light.”

When the giant bolt of lightning dissipated, the beast was still there, its body merely smoking.

“Tch. Tough nut.”

*****

Revision: 2024-2-19