Countless black and white orbs of light manifested around Anra and shot toward the monocled woman, Asta, only to be effortlessly neutralized by identical black and white spheres coalescing around Asta.
"What?!"
That was the ultimate technique Anra had stolen from the Former Six Heavenly Gods. It was a terrifying art that disintegrated anything touching those spheres of light down to the molecular level. There was no way Asta could have learned it from the Former Six Heavenly Gods. The original technique was meant to be cloaked around one's right arm and unleashed in a forward blast. It was never intended to form free-floating spheres that attacked in all directions. It had only assumed its current form after Anra used Devouring Metamorphosis to convert, optimize, and claim the power as his own.
There was no reason she should have been able to use it.
Yet here she was, wielding that exact power—.
"I shall grant thee no leisure to look away."
Suddenly, pure-white eyes and a mouth emerged from the ground beneath Anra. Surging upward, they tried to swallow him whole.
"Kh!"
He instinctively leapt backward to evade them, but pure-white eyes, a nose, and a mouth tore through the earth where he landed, seeking to devour him once more.
"Don't underestimate me!"
A scorching Flame Ape incinerated the ground behind him along with the pale visage. This was the pinnacle of fire-based miracles, stolen from the Ape God whom Anra had slain in the past. It was exceptionally easy to wield, and its raw destructive power stood at the absolute apex among all arts governing flame.
However—.
From the scorched earth behind him, more than a dozen Flame Apes burst forth and lunged at Anra with bared fists.
"Whoa?!"
Weaving hand signs with both hands, he hastily erected a barrier. The Flame Apes slammed their fists against the translucent wall in unison.
—Creak!
Cracks fractured across the barrier's surface.
"I told you not to look down on me!"
Tentacle-like arms erupted from the barrier, seizing the Flame Apes and crushing them to ash.
"I am not particularly looking down upon thee."
"—?!"
With those words, her figure vanished into thin air, and a presence immediately materialized right behind him.
"Tch!"
Rolling forward, Anra twisted his body and thrust his right palm toward her, unleashing the most devastating curse in his arsenal.
Runes encircled Asta, coalescing into numerous black discs. Monstrous faces slowly rose from the discs, gaping their massive maws wide.
Anyone exposed to even the slightest trace of this Calamity Curse would have their entire body melted into a vile sludge. To Anra's knowledge, it was an irresistible hex easily ranking among the top five in the world.
Asta raised his right arm and snapped his fingers.
In an instant—.
"Huh?"
An absurd, bewildered squeak escaped Anra's throat. From countless discs that materialized in midair, the gaping maws of ethereal faces devoured every last wisp of the Calamity Curse.
Without missing a beat, the faces sprouting from the discs swarmed Anra, biting into the surrounding barrier and tearing through it like locusts stripping a leaf.
(Even though that's my ultimate defense!)
A barrier that would not have budged against an ultimate art of the Six Heavenly Gods had crumbled without a fight. But that settled it. She possessed an ability remarkably similar to Anra's Devouring Metamorphosis. However, while similar in nature, the ease of use and sheer potency were on a completely different plane.
For starters, Anra's Devouring Metamorphosis required absorbing a target's soul information first, whereas she seemed to reproduce arts after witnessing them just once. What's more, she applied impossible improvements to them on the fly.
To begin with, Anra's Flame Ape ability could never breathe independent life into constructs like that, nor did the Calamity Curse possess the property to chew through barriers. If granting such preposterous traits were that easy, he wouldn't have had any trouble from the start.
On top of that, the technique Asta had used earlier to conjure the white face was one Anra had seen once before. It was the signature move of Drekavac, once hailed as the strongest Lieutenant General. That technique was rooted in Drekavac's very essence. By all rights, there was no reason she should have been able to cast it. In other words, there was virtually no art she could not recreate.
(Haha! It's a power so absurd it's almost funny.)
Every ability in Anra's possession would inevitably be copied by her—and reforged into something far stronger. Anra was not foolish enough to believe he stood a chance under these conditions. He was going to lose this battle. In fact, he couldn't envision even the faintest path to victory.
(I suppose it can't be helped...)
This was the price of drowning in his own strength. Having climbed all the way to the rank of the Six Great Generals and finding himself without rivals in this world, he had cast aside what mattered most in the past. Had he been set upon by monsters like this before, the old Anra would have sensed the danger and retreated from the battlefield long ago. Or rather, he should have made some kind of move the moment Azi Dahaka, the subordinate with the greatest potential, was defeated.
He would likely perish here. With that supreme monster, Kai Heinemann, standing behind this woman, his demise was practically set in stone. He had already accepted it. Even so, he wanted to be clear on what he had fought, and what he was losing to.
"Haven't you and I met somewhere in the past?"
He had no recollection whatsoever of the genuine monster named Kai Heinemann, but he couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he had crossed paths with this woman before.
"I am Astaroth. A stray dog who once fought alongside my lord for our ideals, only to be defeated."
"Astaroth... I see, it was you. No wonder I felt such a strange sense of déjà vu."
Because of the male-like appearance, he hadn't recognized her until now, but that was it—she was one of that person's close aides. He had indeed seen this woman during that war.
(A loser of that war, huh? How bitterly ironic.)
In that hellish war, Anra had made a name for himself, charging down the fast track to power within the Evil Army. And now, the victor of that war was being struck down by one of its losers. In a sense, perhaps this was simply how the world passed the torch to a new generation.
In the end, it was turning out just as that person had foretold with their dying breath... but maybe that wasn't so bad either.
"Astaroth, is that ridiculous strength of yours thanks to that monster?"
In a sense, there was no need to ask. If she had possessed this kind of power back then, Anra wouldn't be standing here holding the title of General today.
"This strength is the power I attained upon becoming Master's familiar."
Just as he thought. That woman had certainly been formidable, but she was never a match for the current Anra. Yet she had been reforged into a monster of this caliber. Kai Heinemann—his existence was a complete anomaly in the war between the Evil and Heavenly armies. Anra was utterly certain of it now. Which was all the more reason there was something he had to ask.
"Kai Heinemann. There's one thing I want to ask you."
At Anra's words, the fearless smile vanished from Kai Heinemann's face.
"What is it?" he asked.
"In this world, there is yin and yang. They must maintain a proper balance. With your appearance, that balance will tilt heavily toward the light. Can you bear the burden of the missing evil?"
Anra posed what, to him, was the ultimate curse of a question.
"Yin? Yang? I know nothing of such things. I simply do as I please."
"Do as you please...? You didn't set out to destroy us because we are the Evil Army?"
At Kai Heinemann's unexpected response, Anra couldn't help but ask back.
"Ah, you mean those factions Asta and the others call the Evil Army and the Heavenly Army? My subordinates seem to have caught quite a delusion about all that. As long as they keep it within reason, delusions and nonsense are perfectly fine by me. But if they buzz around me like annoying pests as they did this time, I will crush them to dust, no matter who they are. Yes. Thoroughly and meticulously."
He uttered words that were completely out of his mind.
"...Do you not even understand what the Evil Army is?"
"Hmm? Aren't they just cringeworthy fools basking in self-satisfaction by calling themselves evil?"
"Calling ourselves evil, you say...? Khaha!"
It was so absurd it made him laugh. To this monster, even the Evil Army—the supreme symbol of terror in this world—was nothing more than a pitiful creature with delusions of grandeur. To him, there was neither good nor evil. His own whim and displeasure were his sole guiding principles, and he would surely continue to act based on nothing else.
"I was a fool to preach the ways of the world to a truly unhinged monster like you. But I suppose that suits you just fine."
Turning toward Kai Heinemann, he spoke:
"Could you deliver a message to my colleague, Asura?"
For the first time in his life, Anra made a plea.
"Though you were both fledglings, your struggle was reasonably entertaining. I don't mind doing that much."
"Asura, I'm sure there's no joy in evil for a simpleton like you. I'll be waiting in Valhalla. Be sure to get a good look at hell on earth. And when it's all over, we can once again—no, that's not like me at all. Forget it."
Anra was, after all, one of the Six Great Generals. Falling to a subordinate would be an undignified end. If he was going down, he wanted to challenge the strongest monster in the world and scatter magnificently.
Lowering his stance, he morphed both arms—his greatest remaining weapons—into a single spear and leveled its tip at Kai Heinemann.
"I am of the Six Great Generals, Anra Mainyu! Kai Heinemann, I challenge you to a fair and square duel!"
With that, he declared his name.
"...The look in your eyes right now isn't rotten. Asta, forgive me, but do you mind?"
When Kai Heinemann sought Astaroth's consent, Astaroth replied:
"Do as Master pleases."
Placing a hand over his chest, he gave a bow and stepped away from Anra.
"Come. I shall grant you your final rites."
Drawing the long sword from his back, Kai Heinemann raised it into an upper guard.
(That's right! It only needs to hold for a single instant! I'll bet everything on this one strike!)
Through a covenant with the world, he pledged a one-time burst of his legs' maximum speed. Aiming the spear tip of his arms straight at the man's chest, he imbued it with the power of disintegration, Flame Ape, and every last offensive ability he possessed.
"Gwaaaaahhh!"
With a beast-like roar, he tore across the earth and charged Kai Heinemann.
"True Kai-Style Swordsmanship, Seventh Form—World Destruction."
Kai Heinemann's words echoed, and just a hair's breadth before reaching him, Anra's body was sliced into clean blocks, crumbling away into fine particles.
"I guess it was no use after all. Even a scratch would have been a miracle."
"No, that final attack of yours was quite good."
"I wonder why. Hearing that flattery of yours makes me feel so, so happy."
"Is that so? I didn't intend it as flattery, though."
Indeed. It was a good struggle, one where he had spent every last drop of his being.
Well then, his subordinates were waiting in Valhalla. Time to go.
Raising his right arm toward Kai Heinemann, which was dissolving even now, he smiled.
"Farewell, monster who is too strong."
He offered his parting words to the monster who, at the very end, had allowed him to regain his true self.
With those words, Anra's consciousness faded into pure white.