Chapter 21: Let’s Bring Down an Almighty God, Part 3

「Bad taste you say?」

The Sun God repeated Aur’s words.

「I don’t see anything bad about it. Moreover, I think such a thing is completely natural, because I’m not mimicking anything」

His voice was flat and didn’t contain a shred of emotions in it, but it sounded like he was complaining about it.

「After all, this woman is nothing but one of my many tools, my spare body. So why shouldn’t I use her if I have the perfect opportunity to do so?」

「Stay.」

Aur placed his hand on Hoseli’s shoulder. She was giving off such an intense killing intent that it was almost visible with a naked eye. So he was not mimicking Sakuya’s appearance, but possessing her body directly. In that case..

「Can you hold him down until I place the barrier?」

「Even if it costs me my life.」

「Thank you.」

Aur prepared to cast his boundary magic while Hoderi stood in front of him and assumed his fighting stance.

「Yutsu. Zana. Rames. Mari. Eldav. Back him up.」

Even if all of them are prepared to die here, there is still no guarantee that they are going to win.

First, Zana released icy spears which pierced Sakuya from every direction. Following that, a giant fireball released by Rames was caught by Mari’s sword and converted into a fierce snowstorm. Using the opening that attack created, Yutsu changed her tail into a hammer and sung it down towards the frozen Sakuya backed by countless shurikens thrown by Hoseli, carving a path for Hoderi to go straight for their enemy’s throat... But Sakuya prevented the deadly blow from connecting by casually blocking it with a tip of her paper fan. The cherry blossoms flutter in front of Hoderi as he opens his eyes up with surprise.

No, actually, those are not flower petals.. they are flames, each one packing a tremendous amount of heat!

「Nu..!」

「Get down!」

In order to support Hoderi, Zana releases her ice at the flames. But the thing that got evaporated were not the flames that were no bigger than a fingertip, but chunks of ice.

「Idiot, if you keep acting reckless like that, it will do us more harm than good!」

Rames covers his entire body with flame armor and then tears it off of himself, waving it like a flag in order to melt the ice that threatened to crush Hoderi under its weight. It was an offensive-defensive technique utilizing the hottest armor Rames could currently create.

「Impossible!?」

But as soon as they came in contact with Sakuya’s petals, they immediately bounced off of them. Even though they were all scattered throughout the room, every last one of them was even hotter than the best Rames had to offer. Every time Sakuya shakes her fan, more and more petals appear in the chamber. It was a storm of petals that prevented both physical and magical attacks from reaching its caster.

「Aur!」

Zana shouts

「Can’t we do something about this?!」

「Call Ceres!」

But what Aur actually said was a name that Zana did not recognized.

「I came as per your request, master.」

A beautiful White Alv appears from the depths of Aur’s leather bag. She was so beautiful that even Zana openly gasped in admiration, but that was something she would have never done if she was alone with her.

「Thank you for calling me. What would you have me do?」

「Do something about this!」

Zana shouts at Ceres and points towards Sakuya, to which Ceres reacts by tilting her head slightly.

「Do something you say? Very well.」

Ceres notices the desperation in Zana’s voice and words so she squeezed her bow tightly and prepared to take aim.

Faced with such a terrifying barrier made out of flaming flower petals using arrows almost seemed like a fools errand. Even if they were made out of iron, they would simply melt before they manage to reach Sakuya. But Ceres didn’t even have that. Her arrows were the simplest wooden ones. Even so, she didn’t even flinched as she assumed her position..

.. and released her arrow with a sharp, whistle-like sound. It flew right through the gaps between the petals and hit Sakuya in the hand, throwing her fan out of it. Without it, all the flames disappeared like they were never there to begin with.

「There, I managed to do something.」

「....hwhat?」

Zana couldn’t believe what she just saw. There was so many petals that they blocked her field of vision, and yet she managed to shoot the flame out of her hand like it was the most natural thing to do! No one here expected her to succeed and yet she did! And she wasn’t even that moved about it!

Even the Sun God himself appeared to be momentarily stunned. It was for only a brief instant, but it was enough for something to move towards him at blinding speed.

That something were Hoderi and Hoseli.

They were just as taken aback by Ceres’ display as the rest of them, but their bodies moved on their own, driven by the years of training and the feelings the two of them had for Sakuya, their mother, sister, the lord whom they pledged their lives to.

「Princess!」

「Forgive me!」

Two swords and one sword, three flashes of steel in the air.

「Wonder.. ful..」

Sakuya whispered with a smile and fell to the ground.

「Princess!」

Hoderi and Hoseli drop their weapons and rush towards Sakuya. That voice, that expression. There was no doubt that it was their beloved master.

「Do not worry.」

Standing behind them, Aur puts his hands on their shoulders.

「With that level of wound there will be no problem with reviving her. If you need evidence, look no further than this guy right there.」

And he pointed towards Rames with his chin.

「My lord, then..」

「Yes, the barrier has been successfully established. We’ve won.」

He points at a huge rock with a complex magic circle written on top of it.

No matter how omnipotent he is a God is still a God, his power granted to him by the faith of his followers. And he had many of those since he is the representation of the sun. Aur’s barrier worked as a blocker of connection between the Sun God and the faith of his followers. All he had to do to make it work was to ask the Moon Goddess Marina 「what is going to be the best way to damage The Sun God?」

「All that is left for us to do now is to wrestle Sakuya and Sofia back from the bastard while he’s weakened. Good work every..」

Aur’s words were muffled by the rumbling sound behind them.

The huge rock upon which Aur has inscribed the magic circle broke in two and collapsed.

「Yes, the strategy you have chosen was undoubtedly the best.」

The voice keeps on alternating between that of a man and a woman.

「Unfortunately, there was one critical flaw in it.」

「A God cannot lose the faith of his people and his power overnight.」

「For that to happen, you’d need roughly a one hundred years at best.」

The exact same voice came from another mouths.

Not from the mouth of Sofia, but from the ones belonging to Yunis and Spina, who looked at their beloved master with hollow eyes void of any emotion.

「Now then.」

Yunis slashes at the leather bag in Aur’s hand and destroys it.

「Why don’t we finish this soon, Demon Lord Aur?」