Chapter 159: Something to Hold (1)

…No way!! Elle bit Mash’s throat…!?

Blood dripped from Mash’s neck, and he fell on the ground. After injuring Mash, the bloody Elle returned her bent limbs to an upright position.

「Who…Who is that woman!? She appeared out of nowhere!!」

「Celseus!! Can you see her!?」

The ghostly Elle licked her bloody lips with her long tongue as if she enjoyed the taste of blood. Then, she looked at the fallen Mash as if he were a dirty thing.

「You are no hero. In fact, you are an imposter. That’s why there is such a difference in ability between you and this opponent…」

Then, she looked at Seiya with sharp eyes.

「You weakened the state of this man’s deep consciousness. As expected of a true hero. It seems that Lady Merseys indeed has something to worry about.」

「Ho…How do you know Merseys!?」

An evil aura overflew from Elle’s ghostly body. She widely opened her torn mouth, and laughed 「Gyah, gyah, gyah, gyah. 」. Her smile was so disturbing.

「Time and space are currently distorted, Goddess Listarte. I came to Geabrande a dozen of years ago when the power of violence destroyed the Gods’ realm. The reason I am here is to safeguard the distortion of the S-rank world, which is the cornerstone of the twisted world. Besides that, I have another role as well. It is to kill you once you have arrived here.」

「Who the hell are you!?」

「I am Marionelda, the Bewitching Evil Goddess.」

The…The Bewitching Evil Goddess!? So, Mash wasn’t the only cause for the distortion corrupting the Twisted Geabrande!! No…No, wait a second!!

「If you aren’t Elle, where is the real Elle!?」

「She fell into the abyss and turned herself into the Egzation. I replaced her during that time. I played the undying Elle, causing Mash to kill her and leaving him with deep wounds in his heart. All for the sake of controlling his soul.」

「So…So, you’ve been here since the very beginning…!」

「It means that she is the last true boss!」

Unusually, Celseus pulled his sword out of his sheath, and stared at Marionelda with a serious look on his face. The evil goddess reacted to Celseus’ action.

「My strength as the Bewitching Evil Goddess has increased tremendously after the protection of violence was bestowed to me. This power transcends the laws of physics. There’s no way that the hero’s Goddess of Healing is going to defeat me, much less a hopeless Swordsman God. 」

A ferocious aura spread from Elle’s body. Immediately after that, her body rapidly decayed in order to withstand its own evil aura. The flesh of her body scraped off, and centipede-like insects crawled out of the hollow eyes. Countless of maggots grew from the rotting body when it fell to the ground.

「Whoa, scary!! 」

I was amazed when Celseus threw his sword and hid behind me.

「A rotten body is not something to be afraid of, you asshole!!」

I moved my eyes from an unreliable Swordsman God to a dependable hero. However…I was shocked upon seeing Seiya. I didn’t notice his condition during the fight with Mash. A sweaty body! A hard-looking expression! Seiya was breathing painfully!

「Se…Seiya!! 」

…In addition to being a Crazy Warrior for an extended time, Seiya used a series of imitation skills that probably consumed a lot of MP! Seiya spent all of his magic and energy to save Mash’s soul!

Seiya often pretended to be weak in order to deceive the enemy. But I had a gut feeling. This time was not a trick! Seiya was really exhausted!

「This is bad, Celseus!! We have to do something!! 」

「You’re right!! Okay, so how about we make ourselves transparent for the time being!!」

「You’re thinking about running away!!」

「Tha…That’s not…true? 」

I was arguing with Celseus, who had already became semi-transparent. Seiya murmured while taking deep breaths.

「You don’t have…to do anything… 」

「Bu…But! 」

「Mass consumption of MP by using the Mimicry skill…I already overcame this shortcoming.」

「Eh…? 」

Suddenly, my surroundings became dark. I looked up at the sky and I got astonished. Firebirds gathered over Seiya’s head, covering the sky like clouds!

When Seiya raised one hand, the countless firebirds flew from the sky and went towards Seiya all at once! Every single firebird assimilated into Seiya’s body!

「In order to make up for the MP consumed, I created the Automatic Phoenix with aura. Therefore, I recovered 70% of my MP when I absorbed them. This is the true power of the Automatic Phoenix Infinity.」

「Absorb them to recover magical power!? I didn’t know that you could do that…!!」

「…Ugh, ugh. 」

Suddenly, I heard a muffled voice. I noticed that Mash was looking at me while lying down on the ground. He suffered from a serious injury.

「It seems he has been preparing himself since the moment we met during that time…How ridiculous, he is not normal…」

After absorbing the magical power, Seiya tested his fists with a cool complexion. And then, he looked at the evil goddess.

「Even though this place is a twisted world, you will atone for your sins for stealing my luggage carrier.」

However, even after seeing Seiya’s recovery, the evil goddess Marionelda kept smiling creepily. I shouted at Seiya.

「Seiya! The power of light is effective against evil gods!」

Mash and the Dragon Mother had light attributes. Therefore, Seiya’s dark techniques were effective, but it was the opposite when it came to evil gods. The dark attribute was less effective, while the power of light was their weak point.

「Lista! What type of light attributes does Seiya have? 」

Seiya could handle the sword skill Dimension Blade, which had a light attribute. He also learned the Shining Arrow from the Goddess of Bow, Mithis. However, even so, he couldn’t obtain the curse-sealing technique in the battle against the Empress Ceremonic. In other words, Seiya couldn’t obtain all of the high-ranking light magic skills. It would be difficult to achieve all light attributes given Seiya’s fire attribute.

「It’s fine! I will support him!」

I jumped in front of Seiya. Correct! I shall show the enemy the curse-sealing technique that I learned during the training with the Goddess of Gold, Bardul! It must be effective against evil gods!

「Ei! Ei! Eiiii, Ei, Ei… 」

「You’re noisy. 」

「Ei, eiiii!? 」

Seiya kicked me in the ass, and I rolled all over the meadow.

「Why did you do that!! 」

「I don’t need your power. I have mastered the Power of Darkness in the Underworld. That’s enough for me.」

「Bu…But, you won’t be able to inflict damage on the evil goddess if you use that…」

「…Conversion. 」

As soon as Seiya snapped his finger, an aura of light erupted from his body! Ah, I see! He mastered the power of light once he reversed the attributes! Very convenient!

「No…No, wait a moment!! Are you going to be okay!? Won’t your power run out of control if you use an Opposite type in the earthly world!? 」

The aura of light overflowing from Seiya’s body was enormous, but that meant that it was unstable. It could harm him in some way.

「Hmm. Right now, my condition hasn’t changed much. If I used an Opposite type with the power of fire or darkness, it could cause great damage. But since it is light, it hasn’t caused much trouble so far…Except for the evil goddess.」

The diffused light seized the evil goddess with a single beam. She had become a grotesque undead figure. Marionelda laughed again when she saw the light and her smoldering arm.

「Terrific. However, you can’t do anything to me if you don’t get close. Even though you are a hero, you are just a human being. You can’t beat the true incarnation of darkness.」

A jet-black aura overflowed from the rotting body of Marionelda. The aura floated around and gained a silhouette. It looked like a haze of human-skull souls.

「Infinite Dreamer!」

The aura of darkness filled the surroundings and the human-like skull souls suddenly disappeared. I felt an uncomfortable feeling rising up from my chest up to my throat. Abruptly, the area around me got distorted. When I touched it with my hands, many worm-like insects were attached to my fingers.

「Hyahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?」

I tried to shake them off, but one of my arms began to rot as if I were an undead! Worse! The worm-like insects crawled through my arm and went inside my flesh!

Wha…Wha…Wha…What the hell was happening!? Was I being attacked!? But, since when!?

「Whoahhhhhhhhhhhhh!! 」

I heard a man shouting next to me. Celseus was holding one of his fallen arms!

「I suddenly got my arm out, ahhhh!! And then, maggots crawled out of my bodyyyyy!!」

「It…It kind of happened with me too!! What’s going on!? 」

We were freaking out. However, I heard Seiya’s calm voice from behind.

「Don’t be afraid. These are illusions invoked by the enemy. In reality, nothing happened.」

…Illusions!! I see!! That made sense!! She said that she was the Bewitching Evil Goddess!!

After regaining some composure upon hearing Seiya’s reassuring words, I turned around and became utterly shocked…

「WHAT!? 」

Likewise, Seiya had one arm removed from his body! Moreover! Seiya’s body was much more rotten and deadly than our bodies!

「Se…Seiya, your body is looking dreadful!! Are you fine!?」

「I don’t feel any particular change.」

Then, Seiya gazed at the evil goddess who looked attentively at us.

「Did you say you are Marionelda, the Bewitching Evil Goddess? So, you want to control our minds through the fear of hallucinations in order to manipulate us like puppets…What a cowardly and disgraceful being you are.」

No…Actually…Seiya was the one brainwashing and manipulating the townspeople!! Did he forget that!?

Seiya frowned when he noticed my sneering gaze.

「…What? 」

「No…Nothing. More importantly, be careful! The opponent is an evil goddess! She probably has more power than the Demon King you fought before!」

In fact, Seiya didn’t totally ignored the enemy’s illusion since he wore an aura of light to protect himself. This meant that the Power of Darkness, which the opponent had, was not ordinary.

「Fighting this evil goddess will be a simulation. In the end, I’ll have to defeat Merseys, who binds the evil gods together. So this is a good opportunity to test my capabilities.」

After saying those words, Seiya started walking towards Marionelda. The evil goddess laughed even higher.

「Gyah, gyah, gyah, gyah, gyah! As expected of you hero! It is actually disappointing that you don’t feel frightened by my power! But, the closer you get to me, the more powerful the illusions are!」

*sound of something dropping*

I heard a dull sound. What shocked me the most was when I saw Seiya’s left leg rotting and falling apart! Even though Seiya stood on his knee without the lower part of his leg, he kept walking regardless of his condition!

「Amazing! Amazing! What you are doing is a big deal! You are getting closer to me without changing your complexion! But from here on, you will enter a new territory! Behold my power that is capable of even awakening the sensation of pain!」

「Pa…Pain, you say!? 」

All of us had grotesque forms and we resembled the eerie undead. However, none of us felt any pain.

…But! If she could reproduce the feelings of ripped arms and legs…! Oh no! I don’t think that I will be able to endure it…! What are we going to do now, Seiya!

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Quite the interesting read this one! What are your thoughts on this reveal, dear readers?

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