The moment it was unleashed, the world was dyed white.
An attack meant to end everything, released almost the moment the curtain rose. That attack was—
"Ngh—Nice...!"
She, my counterpart, took the hit head-on to protect us.
Behemoth stood before us like a shield. A beast of gray flesh, her body was massive—while not quite reaching a hundred meters, she was several times larger than when we had first faced her, boasting a scale that felt utterly overwhelming.
"[Sigel]! [Ur]! Full-power buffs! Let’s go, everyone!"
"[Hyokai]—I’m going all out. Let’s do this."
"[Dual Summon]: Lumia Asmodeus, Belphe Phoenix."
Shiki unleashed the highest-tier buffs in his repertoire while Ayane deployed her world of ice.
In sync with them, I called forth two demons from their summoning circles and mounted the Phoenix.
The Demon King crowned by Lust and the Phoenix of Sloth appeared. One leveled her spear while the other manifested in its beastly form; facing a top-tier opponent, they were meticulous as they released their full magical power.
"[Toujin Shura-yadoshi]. We take the field!"
"It’s a [Summon]! Let's go, Valkyria! Shall we have ourselves an adventure!?"
"[Origin Burst]: [Pure Vampire Lord]."
"You’re all quite fired up. I suppose these old bones had better get serious, too. [Origin Burst]—[Serpent-slaying Hero God: Yamato Takeru]. And I’ll throw in everything else while I'm at it: [Hitoshura Gugen Magatsukami]."
Tsubaki channeled a divine presence into her own body, and Kaiser summoned his partner.
Laura, a Scripture-bearer, unleashed her vampiric Origin Burst, while Yamato-san added to the chaos by hosting a Magatsukami within himself, a fierce grin on his face.
The sea expanded, and the world began to sink. Leviathan, having transformed into a Doomsday Beast and revealed her true self, slowly rose from the depths.
"—Let's go, everyone!"
She was a serpent so massive that the word 'huge' felt laughably inadequate.
I couldn't even estimate her size; it was impossible to see her entire form at once.
She was the primordial beast. The strongest serpent. The serpent-dragon that washed away the world—and the doomsday mechanism created by the gods.
The summoning had consumed sixty percent of my current mana.
I had to maintain the summons while keeping enough mana back to actually fight; I had no idea if it would be enough. But I didn't have the luxury of worrying about that now.
"The first strike is coming!"
I saw the tell—the way she shifted that gargantuan frame. A tail, vast as a wall and moving faster than the eye could follow, surged from the sea in a horizontal sweep.
Naturally, defending against it was impossible for us.
If we took that heavy, solid, lightning-fast blow, we would die instantly and the front line would collapse. However, the attack was intercepted by Behemoth. In fact, she did more than just block it.
She seized the tail mid-swing and dragged Leviathan out of the ocean. With a mighty leap, she slammed the serpent back down onto the surface of the water.
It was an absurd clash, a battle of such ridiculous scale it could only be described as two great kaiju duking it out. Within that chaos, we moved to fulfill our own roles.
"[Origin Burst]: [The Demon Lord of Destruction and Virtue Crowned by Lust: Lumia Asmodeus]! Now, Master, it’s my time on stage! My charm is at full throttle; feel free to fall for me!"
"Leave the healing to me... I'll do my best, more or less."
Lumia’s extraordinary buff, which charmed the very concept of magic, seemed to create a synergy with Ayane’s domain, reinforcing the world of ice. The result was a domain where ice weapons could be produced inexhaustibly.
As long as Ayane’s mana held out, the world would continue to fire weapons with perfect efficiency.
『GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!』
Leviathan constricted Behemoth while enduring the barrage of ice.
In the middle of a struggle where a single misstep meant being crushed in an instant, I focused entirely on gathering everyone’s mana to call forth Laevateinn.
In a fight of this magnitude, the amount of mana consumed was staggering.
I knew my own mana alone wouldn't be enough to use that, so I concentrated on my role, doing whatever was necessary to win.
"Sync up, Tsubaki!"
"I told you I’m still bad at this! Ugh, you're a demon of a mentor!"
『[Kamisari-ryu Combination Art: Wakarezuki]!』
Yamato-san and Tsubaki unleashed a coordinated strike at the exact same moment.
The attack carved through scales and meat, biting deep into Leviathan—but she regenerated in an instant, leaving nothing but a spray of blood in the air. However...
Even a single drop of her blood contained an immense amount of mana. The mana required for my magic pooled all at once. The thought crossed my mind that we could make her bleed simply to harvest mana.
I felt a brief flicker of hesitation, but I beat the sentiment back and cast it aside.
This was a trial. A slaughter. If she didn't want a normal life, and instead chose to trade lives with us, then so be it.
Bombardments, ice swords, and blade arts.
The charge of a dragon and a cavalier. And then—
"I shall make use of your shadow—[Umvra Simo Alte Spada: Shadow-weaving Greatsword of Death]."
A massive sword manifested from the darkness, impaling Leviathan from behind.
It was one of the most vicious spells in Laura’s repertoire. The shadow-sword invaded the target's mana circuits the moment it pierced them, multiplying from within.
"[Origin Finale]: [Kazıklı Bey: Blood-stained Banquet of Impalement]."
Spikes erupted from inside the serpent’s body, shredding her life force from the inside out.
Normally, that would be instant death. An attack that shredded the very circuits mana flowed through should have been fatal, even for her.
But I was being naive.
A massive surge of mana followed—a premonition of irreversible death.
My skin went cold. I felt as though I was being crushed by the sheer weight of her presence. Though her body was tattered, she was drawing power, preparing something—
"Ngh! [Aegi—"
"—Everyone!?"
"You guys!?"
Shiki and I, who had been providing support from the rear atop the Phoenix, were the only ones left. Everyone else had been swallowed up. That beam of light, packed with an impossible amount of mana, had destroyed everything in its path and evaporated the sea itself. The heat burned my lungs; I felt intoxicated just by the mana dominating the air.
I looked around, expecting to see my comrades collapsed on the ground—but that wasn't what I saw.
"—!?"
Behemoth, who had been standing there a moment ago, was gone.
My mind went blank. I looked at my unharmed friends and tried to deny the image I’d seen for a split second at the end—the image of Behemoth shielding them.
The reality—that I had allowed a companion to die for the first time in this world—was a truth my mind refused to process. I felt a scream building in my throat. I hadn't even given her a name yet. I was going to give it to her once this was all over.
It had been a sudden suggestion from the others, but honestly... I’d been thinking about it with all my summoned beasts for a long time.
I should have told her right then. I shouldn't have put it off. I should have told her I already had one picked out.
"Ciel!"
"—Ah, haha... I’m so happy. [Apocalypse Burst]: [Ciel Behemoth: Reima Kariya's Terminus Beast]."