Chapter 61

Chapter 61. Ultio Dia [ultio dia]

Gurgle, gurgle!

Before Michael could even understand where Raum's demonic energy was flowing, a black substance resembling filthy sludge began oozing from every wall.

BANG! CRASH!

The overflowing sludge caused the walls to shatter like glass. Countless crows were packed tightly together within the broken walls. The crows pressed themselves against one another to form an even stronger structure, but those trapped farther inside couldn't withstand the crushing pressure, causing the black sludge to spill out.

"Caw! Caw!"

The flock of crows, which now resembled a black wall, began crying out together. Their cries sounded like screams, as though announcing the beginning of a disaster. Everything Raum had previously distorted began twisting again, becoming mixed with the sludge before flowing backward into the black walls.

GRRRRIND! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

The distorted objects resisted as they were forcibly drawn into the flock of crows, producing all kinds of terrible noises. The louder the noises became, the more sludge containing those distortions returned to the black walls. Eventually, the noises began fading again.

The completed walls were so completely black that not a single trace of light could be seen within them. Anyone looking at them would lose their sense of distance and feel as though they were staring into an endless abyss. To make matters worse, demonic energy began spreading from the walls in waves, covering the entire world in an orange-red hue.

"What the hell happened to you all these years?"

Michael frowned as he stared at the black walls. He couldn't imagine what Raum had experienced during those hundreds of years to develop such a horrifying power.

Ripple, ripple!

The walls made from crows continuously moved as though they were breathing. Their disgusting appearance was enough to distort a person's emotions and make them scream.

"Huh?!"

Stagger!

That had been dangerous. Nothing had physically moved toward him, yet Michael had suddenly stumbled and almost lost his balance. He turned toward the Divine Beasts.

"Whine, whine..."

"Meow..."

Unlike Michael, they weren't having trouble maintaining their balance, but they had curled up in fear after seeing the filthy appearance of the black walls.

"I can't make these little ones suffer through this."

Michael extended one arm toward the Divine Beasts.

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Aura flowed from Michael and surrounded the Divine Beasts, bringing peace to their frightened hearts. Only then did the anxiety disappear from their faces.

"Kids, give me the maximum amplification."

Their enemy had drawn out even the power he possessed in Hell, so continuing a battle of attrition would only waste time. Raum wasn't the only enemy Michael had to face. With no way of knowing when the White Horseman would appear, he needed to finish this battle as quickly as possible. That was why he asked the Divine Beasts for their maximum amplification.

"Meow!"

"Woof! Woof!"

With their fear gone, the Divine Beasts answered energetically and immediately gave Michael the greatest amplification they were currently capable of providing. Feeling his aura grow stronger, Michael turned his attention away from them and faced forward.

"Urgh! Hoo..."

The world no longer simply appeared to be rippling. Everything around him seemed to be violently swaying, making Michael retch. Raum, on the other hand, stood there with his distorted expression filled with rage.

"How long are you going to live trapped by that inferiority complex of yours? Let's finally put an end to this rotten relationship between us!"

With the maximum amplification strengthening him, Michael smoothly ran one hand along Durandal's blade. The aura covering Durandal became sharper wherever his fingers passed. His earlier apology for making Durandal work so hard hadn't simply been about replenishing his aura. It had been preparation for the technique he was about to use.

"You... You have no right to say that to me! Kill him!"

GRRRRIND!

Raum had accumulated far too much resentment to accept Michael's words. At his command, the black walls standing firmly on every side began moving. Like moving fortresses, they slowly closed in on Michael. The closer they came, the worse Michael's nausea became, so he closed his eyes.

"Sorry for putting you through so much again."

Durandal had already consumed an enormous amount of power throughout the day. The technique Michael was about to use might place even more strain on it. However, without this technique, defeating Raum in a single attack would be extremely difficult. That was why Michael didn't hesitate for long.

"I'll finish everything with a single slash."

"You think that empty boasting will work on me?!"

"You can decide whether I'm boasting or not after you get hit."

Until now, Michael had attacked his enemies with crescent-shaped slashes made of White Flame. Those attacks had originated from a technique he could use only when wielding Durandal.

Grip!

Michael gripped Durandal's hilt tightly and raised it into a high stance. At Michael's request, the refined aura that Durandal had prepared in advance began rising faintly from the blade.

Raum had been so easy to defeat in the past that Michael had never needed to use this technique against him before.

"This will be your first time seeing it. Receive God's divine punishment, Raum! ultio dia [Ultio Dia]!"

RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

Michael brought the raised Durandal down. At that moment, a crescent-shaped sword slash containing denser aura than ever before appeared. Wrapped in white lightning, the slash surged forward violently as though determined to cut off every evil in existence.

CRACKLE!

The enormous, elongated slash swept up the crows and slammed into the black wall directly in front of Michael. Sparks erupted as the slash collided with the wall, seemingly determined to cut the entire structure apart.

"CAAAAAW! CAAAAW!"

The cries of the crows began sounding like screams. Every time sparks erupted, the number of crows making up the wall decreased at an incredible rate. And finally,

BOOOOM!

The black wall approaching from the front was destroyed. A wall Raum had created by drawing out even his original power had collapsed far too easily. Faced with this unbelievable situation, Raum's expression changed repeatedly.

"You weren't using your full strength back then either? That's impossible..."

Raum's voice trembled as he denied what he was seeing. He knew there was no way Michael had suddenly learned a new technique using Durandal on the spot. Despair slowly spread across his face.

WHOOOM!

As though destroying one wall wasn't enough, the slash moved toward the next wall, pursuing evil as if it possessed a will of its own.

BOOOOM!

This time, the wall on the left collapsed.

"This is unfair! Why?! Why?!"

Raum's hands trembled with anger. He couldn't think of any possible way to defeat Michael. The contrast between Michael, who seemed to be blessed by God, and himself, who had been abandoned, only made his anger grow stronger. However, his anger couldn't overturn reality.

BOOOOM!

The slash moved again and destroyed the wall approaching Michael from behind.

"What exactly am I lacking compared to Michael...? Was it because I abandoned the sword? Or was it after I obtained this Authority?"

Before he knew it, Raum's anger had faded. Rather than searching for a way to escape the situation, he was now desperately searching within himself for an answer.

BOOOOM!

The final wall on the right collapsed, leaving no walls remaining.

Thud!

"What... What was I supposed to do...?"

Raum fell to his knees in despair. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't find an answer. Even when he tried looking back over everything he had done, he couldn't understand where things had gone wrong. The Nature's Scream he had unleashed was now returning to its creator.

BOOOOM!

After destroying the black walls one after another, the sword slash still showed no signs of stopping. That was because the source of the evil had yet to be eliminated.

"I see... I was never capable of defeating Michael."

Raum watched the approaching slash but made no attempt to block it. Even if he tried, divine punishment wasn't an attack that could be stopped so easily. Besides, ever since all four walls had been destroyed, Raum had already given up.

SHAAAAAA!

The slash, which existed to destroy evil, surged toward Raum with enough force to cut him completely in half.

CRACKLE!

The part of Raum's body struck by the slash began burning under the aura, and sparks spread across his entire body. The attack continued pushing forward as though it intended to completely evaporate him.

"AAAAAAAARGH!!"

Raum had already given up on everything, but the unending pain still forced a scream from his throat. Even though he had intended to accept the attack without resisting, his body reacted instinctively. He spread his wings and pushed them forward, trying to neutralize the slash.

SHRAAAAAK!

However, Raum's feathers were nowhere near enough to stop it. Instead, the feathers themselves were stripped away, destroying the final defense protecting his body.

"That's enough."

Slash!

Michael still had questions to ask, so it would be troublesome if Raum died immediately. Having opened his eyes again at some point, Michael cut off the aura supplying the technique. The slash carved a straight path from Raum's groin, across his abdomen, chest, and face, then shot into the hallway.

BOOOOM!

A tremendous explosion echoed from the hallway before the slash finally disappeared.

Thud.

"G, guuuh..."

Raum collapsed onto the floor with a long, straight wound running up his body. There was no longer any hatred toward Michael in his eyes.

"The real divine punishment hurts far more than that. Be grateful you only received a weaker version."

Michael crouched in front of Raum. Raum painfully raised his head and finally spoke about the thoughts he had kept buried inside himself.

"Cough... Michael. Was relying on my Authority a mistake?"

After losing to Michael in the past, Raum had focused on developing his Authority instead of training his sword. Eventually, he had become completely dependent on it. The result was the defeated figure now lying on the floor. Had the life he had lived until now been a mistake? Raum kept repeating that question to himself.

"I, ghk... If I'd continued training my sword like Marchosias, cough... would things have turned out better?"

Raum was frightened. By finally acknowledging Michael, the person he had hated and felt inferior to for so long, it felt as though everything he had built throughout his life was collapsing.

"Idiot. Before thinking about that, fix your habit of blaming other people. At least I don't blame someone else for my own mistakes."

"I see... My whole life, my whole life! I've lived for revenge... But now that I've suffered such a complete defeat, I somehow feel relieved."

For once, Michael answered seriously without mocking or lecturing him. However, that lasted for only a single moment.

"Enough of the sentimental talk. Let's get to the point. Spit it out. Where are the sacrifices?"

Raum would normally have been angry at Michael for dismissing his regrets as idle chatter. However, now that he had finally expressed the feelings he had kept inside, he simply accepted it.

"Cough... You're too late. The sacrifices have already been delivered to Marbas."

Raum answered honestly. He no longer cared about the White Horseman or its vassals. At that moment, he was nothing more than a demon waiting for death.

"What?! ...This just got annoying. Where is Marbas?"

Marbas was dangerous even among Great Demons, so Michael wanted to determine his location. However,

"He's..."

Poke!

At that moment, a tiny fork flew from somewhere and embedded itself in Raum's head. Simultaneously, a red circle marked with a pentagram appeared beneath Raum, and chains shot from it.

CLATTER, CLATTER, CLATTER!

"The Chains of Hell?!"

Startled, Michael immediately moved away from Raum. The Chains of Hell were a mechanism designed to forcibly drag a chosen target back to Hell, regardless of their resistance. With a few exceptions, they could be used on anyone who belonged to Hell. Because of that, their appearance usually meant someone was being summoned for judgment or called before the Sins.

Rattle...

"Ha... Haha. All this just because I lost one Ranking Battle. They're certainly making a big deal out of it."

Having already given up on everything, Raum calmly accepted the chains. Then he looked toward Michael and opened his mouth.

"Ghk... I'll give you one last gift before I go. The White Horseman hasn't appeared yet. The preparations aren't complete. So make sure you prepare yourself before..."

Before Raum could finish speaking, he was dragged back into Hell.

"I'm grateful for the useful information, but..."

Michael stared at the spot on the floor where Raum had disappeared and broke into a cold sweat.

"...Valefor, I'm sorry."

It looked like Michael wouldn't be able to keep his promise to protect Valefor's reputation. How could he possibly have predicted that Hell would suddenly drag Raum away?

"Still, I need to collect my payment..."

In any case, Raum had been defeated and the pub had been reclaimed. All that remained was to collect the money Valefor had promised him.

Look around, look around.

Michael turned his head from side to side and searched the pub. Apart from the two exhausted Divine Beasts panting near his feet, the entire place was empty. The most important person, or rather, animal, Valefor, had disappeared without anyone noticing. There were only two possible explanations.

"I hate playing hide-and-seek, so why don't you come out already?"

Either Valefor was hiding to avoid getting caught in the aftermath of the battle,

"Ah, searching for him is going to take forever. I can't even ask these two to help..."

The Divine Beasts had already exhausted themselves after giving Michael their maximum amplification.

"If you come out now, I'll let it go. But if I find out you ran away or that you're hiding from me..."

Or Valefor had run away because he didn't want to pay.

"I'll tear you apart and kill you."

Even after that terrifying threat, Valefor never appeared. And so, Michael spent quite some time searching for him.