97 Chapter 97: Divine Angel

"You're still alive?" Lilith murmured, scarcely able to believe her eyes. Ignoring the red-haired vampire queen, Kishimoto Hikaru continued to rage.

"Of course I am! I'm a hero! I'm a divine hero chosen by the goddess Evelyn herself and summoned from another world! There's no way I'll be killed by the likes of you!"

"That's what Sakaguchi thought, but he still got killed by her," I muttered. Kishimoto sent me – or Matsukaze – a death glare, and then raised her staff.

"Divine Angel!"

A golden pillar of light burst from the heavens above and slammed down on her. Reacting quickly, Lilith hurled her blood-red spear at Kishimoto, but the golden barrier blocked her attack. The crimson lance slammed harmlessly against the golden pillar and ricocheted back. Lilith snatched it back from the air with a single gesture and frowned.

"Damn…"

The pillar of light solidified and turned into an angelic shape, taking up an immense size that easily towered over five meters. Its golden frame gleamed as holy light radiated from it, and glowing feathered wings stretched out from its back. Its smooth, sleek head glowed a little, light leaking out from a visor. A golden and silver lance stretched out in its right hand, its length easily twice the height of the angelic Golem.

"Another type of Golem?" I muttered, realizing that Kishimoto was nowhere in sight. She must be inside that mechanical angel.

"I should have known it wouldn't be so easy to slay an Evelyn's Chosen," Lilith added sourly before glancing at me with a shake of her head. "I have no idea how you pulled it off, Tomoyuki-kun. Taking out five of them."

"My vengeance cannot be stopped by mortal means."

"…"

Lilith ignored my cheesy line and focused on the opponent before her. The power radiating from Kishimoto's Divine Angel told me that it was an immensely formidable foe with enough strength to destroy a city. This was most likely Kishimoto's trump card, her ultimate technique. As expected of a hero, it was incredibly flashy and appeared to be powerful.

Still, I couldn't help but feel a small amount of fear as I set my gaze on the shimmering angelic form. It was an existence that appeared to be antithesis to us demons. I could feel my hair standing on end, despite being safe inside my cockpit.

This thing is dangerous!

My gut was crawling with raw fear and anxiety, but I clamped down on it with military discipline and focused my attention on it. As much as I was afraid of the Angelic Golem, I was more terrified of getting summarily executed by my regimental Commissar. Should he deem me a coward or an incompetent commander, he would not hesitate to blow my brains out with his bolt pistol…

…uh, what?

Besides, the Commissar got severely nerfed in eighth edition. Now their Summary Execution rule had become an And They Shall Know No Fear rule that activates at the cost of one man. At least it became optional!

"I will smite you with the divine blessings of Evelyn!"

Kishimoto's voice echoed loudly from somewhere within the Divine Angel. As I suspected, it was still a mechanical Golem that required a pilot to control it. If that was the case…

"…sir?!"

"What the hell is that thing?!"

"Get back to your positions! All of you!"

Captain Elia Kratz was frantically trying to restore order and discipline in the infantry's ranks, the demon soldiers having been sent into a panic in the presence of such a holy warrior. While they milled about and shrieked, the Divine Angel let out a melodic hum.

"Hmm…"

It sounded almost like an orchestra was playing out in the heavens, sang by an angelic choir.

And then it kicked off the ground and disappeared.

"?!"

Even though Lilith was right in front of the Divine Angel and she reacted immediately to its movements, she wasn't able to catch up to it.

"Whoa!"

"NOOOO!"

Sergeant Harker and the tank crew of The Blessings of the Emperor resounded across the vox when they saw the Divine Angel appear right in front of their Malthas tank. Its lean, metallic right arm was raised, poise to swing its golden lance down to cleave the armored tank cleanly in half.

"We're doomed!"

"Hedas help us!"

The tank crew cowered and closed their eyes, awaiting the end.

But it never came. Instead, a sharp metallic sound screeched in the air.

"Kuh…?!"

I had managed to squeeze Matsukaze between the Divine Angel and the tank and parried its golden lance with my silver broadsword.

"Sir?!"

"It's fine! Fall back!"

Harker, realizing that his tank would only get in my way, quickly barked an order to his driver. The Blessings of the Emperor immediately lurched backward, its treads squealing as they crushed the concrete that was used to construct the tomb, and then reversed to safety within the interior of the royal, majestic grave.

"Bloody hell…"

An oath escaped my lips as I fought against the controls. The servos and mechanisms of Matsukaze squeaked and protested hotly as they struggled to endure the tremendous weight of Kishimoto's attack.

Even though I had defended against the blow from Kishimoto's Divine Angel with impeccable speed and timing, the power behind her strike was so strong that it was actually able to crack the blade of Matsukaze's.

Worse, even when forced into this position, I still was unable to stop it completely.

"Come on, come on, come on!"

Growling under my breath, I shifted Matsukaze into high gear to boost the power behind my own attack. This had to be at least 10,000 horsepower or something, a strike that was enough to cleave a building into two. That was the amount of force I was pouring into Matsukaze, in order to obliterate the foe before me.

Unfortunately, it didn't work. Instead, the small cracks on Matsukaze's blade expanded into massive webs that began snapping ominously.

At this rate…my sword will break!

The moment I realized danger…

BOOM!

A powerful plasma shot was emitted from The Blessings of the Emperor. The turret weapon unleashed a stream of superheated plasma that steaked toward the Divine Angel. At that moment, when Kishimoto recognized there was immense danger of getting incinerated by the powerful weapon, she lashed out with her Divine Angel's other arm. While I blocked the blow, the Divine Angel used the recoil to leap back and evaded the plasma blast.

"Are you all right, sir?"

"Yeah…but watch out!"

My warning came out almost too late. While avoiding the plasma blast, the Divine Angel had managed to close in on the hapless Malthas tank, obviously to wreck it in close combat. The tank quickly reversed, its hull lascannon unleashing a desperate shot as overwatch and narrowly missing the charging Divine Angel.

At that moment, the Divine Angel suddenly paused and jumped back, only to avoid a blood-red lance from Lilith. Using the opportunity that the vampire queen had granted them, The Blessings of the Emperor hastily retreated further. At the same time, the Divine Angel retreated, opening up a huge distance between itself and my forces.

I sighed in relief when I saw that I still hadn't lost any of my men or tanks. I was grateful to Lilith for saving my subordinates.

"Thank you, your highness."

"It's nothing. Save your thanks for after we win this battle."

Lilith's expression was grim and pale. Her pretty face was dripping with perspiration from the exertion, and she actually looked a little taken aback by the power of Kishimoto's Divine Angel. I didn't blame her.

Even I was astonished by how much faster and powerful it was than the Light Golem that Kishimoto summoned prior. Why didn't Kishimoto summon this from the start? She could have easily gotten a huge advantage.

Well, nobody uses their trump card right from the beginning – to give away their ultimate technique right at the start of the game, it will allow others to come up with a countermeasure. It's usually something reserved for a moment where you can suddenly turn the tables and take the opponent completely by surprise.

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Or some stupid logic like that. I didn't know.

While we continued to track the moments of the Divine Angel, we suddenly heard the unsheathing of a sword from behind.

"Well then, it's my turn soon, I guess."

The owner of the voice was the commander of the Kreuger retinue that had finally caught up to us, Bradley Kreuger.

He and his forces were positioned slightly behind the Divine Angel. A blood-red and black sword glowed eerily in his hand as he fully drew it and raised it toward the night sky. It seemed to be drinking the gentle moonlight, its bloodthirsty power growing with each passing second.

"That's…"

All the soldiers present, despite keeping an eye on the Divine Angel, couldn't help but be drawn toward the magnificent sight of the demonic sword.

The demonic sword, Azreal Drakkan.

Bradley's demonic sword, which could only be used against high-ranking opponents even during mock battles in Haecient. It was the weapon wielded by the man known as the third-ranked vampire knight in all of Haemorage.

"Fuhahahahahaha!"

Why the fuck was he laughing? I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his pompous, self-important laughter. I hoped he would get his ass kicked by the Divine Angel.

Just when the mean thought crossed my mind, I saw two gigantic streams of blood-red projectiles swirl above his sword.

Oh boy…that was an exclusive, special powerful blood spell that could be cast only by the use of Azreal Drakkan.

The two projectiles seemed to suck in all the surrounding mana and expanded to such bright, glowering forms that they resembled miniature suns. The flaming blood projectiles spun around the sword rapidly before being slung from the blade and toward the Divine Angel.

However, despite the two immense spells surging toward the Divine Angel at incredible speed, Kishimoto managed to pilot her mecha deftly to avoid the twin spells by just a hair's breadth. The mecha soared into the sky, its wings spreading gloriously.

"Whoa!"

"Aaaaaah!"

The soldiers in the tomb shouted in panic and dove for cover. The gargantuan spells, having missed the Divine Angel, had slammed right into the immense structure. Despite evading the attacks, my men were shaken or grazed by falling debris. I heard shouts for medics over the vox, but fortunately it didn't seem that anyone had been wounded seriously.

Bradley shamelessly turned toward me and smiled, despite his spells having been completely evaded by the Divine Angel.

"How's that, Major? How about playing a game with me? It'll be a match between the two of us to see who will be able to defeat that Evelyn's Chosen first. If you can defeat her before me, I'll count it as your victory at this point of time and withdraw that duel's promise."

"Quit joking, Lord Kreuger!"

Before I could offer up a sarcastic reply, Elia cut in angrily.

"You put my men in danger! You almost killed a few of my squads with friendly fire! And you're causing collateral damage to the tomb! This is not a game!"

However, Bradley simply ignored Elia's rage and continued.

"Are you not confident of besting me? Tomoyuki Tanaka."

"Oh, no. I'm not confident," I replied dangerously through gritted teeth. Bradley chuckled at that and shook his head.

"Really? You're admitting it?"

I smiled even though my expression was hidden inside my cockpit.

"I'm not confident I'll be able to hold back and accidentally injure you."

Cold fury gripped my heart. I didn't care about his duel or attitude of treating this whole thing as a game. I knew he was probably serious, but that wasn't the issue.

No, rather, this bastard launched his spells right at the tomb, where my men were positioned. He almost injured my subordinates severely with friendly fire. If, by chance, something was to happen, this fucker would definitely cover everything up under the guise of an "accident."

Fine by me. If he wanted to play it that way, I was going to ensure that an accident happened too. And that the poor noble from House Kreuger ended up crippled…or better yet, dead. From an "accident", you understand.

Unfortunately, before I could deliver that threat…

"Could you please stop fooling around?"

Lilith had strode right to my side, interrupting the conversation with an unusually serious and grim voice.

"Kuku, that's quite the cold attitude, my future wife. But I'll allow it. It's why you're someone worth conquering."

Bradley gently placed his other hand on Lilith's shoulder.

Lilith merely shrugged it off calmly and took a deep breath.

"I'll take care of the enemy and destroy her before you do. If I succeed, then there won't be any problem, right?"

"I would very much prefer to personally kick that guy's ass in a duel," I muttered in response to Lilith's cool declaration.

"Ooh, how impressive. So you still have energy to spare, huh?"

"Your highness! Please don't act recklessly! Temporarily retreat and allow us to deal with the present threat!"

Elia tried to convince the vampire queen to fall back, but Lilith shook her head as she hefted up her spear.

"It's all right. I will not cause you any trouble with my recklessness this time. Besides, time is short."

Lilith maintained that calm expression of hers, even as she charged forward. The Divine Angel watched her closely, but didn't move.

Kishimoto seemed to have some sort of plan. I couldn't help but feel a sense of premonition as I watched Lilith barrel forward.

"Crimson Blood Lance."

Lilith reared her arm back and got ready to pierce the Divine Angel with her cused spear. I could see immense amounts of blood-red mana flowing into her spear, distorting the space around her as she charged forward.

Instead of retreating, Kishimoto had her Divine Angel launch forward and close the distance between them.

"This time for sure…I'll pierce your heart and kill you once and for all."

Lilith skidded to a stop and thrust her spear forward at the onrushing Divine Angel.

The spear that bypassed all manners of armor and defensive spells…

…should have pierced through the golden armor of the Divine Angel and lance through Kishimoto's heart. Should have, but…

"?!"

Lilith blinked in disbelief.

Her spear…it had stopped against the Divine Angel's chest without penetrating it. And the Divine Angel continued to barrel forward, swinging its own golden and silver lance in retaliation. Evidently, Kishimoto was still alive.

"My curse…didn't work?!"

"Of course not!"

Kishimoto's voice rang out of the Divine Angel's cockpit, along with laughter.

"Your cursed spear might be terrifying, but the Divine Protection of my Divine Angel protects me from all curses!"

Stunned, Lilith looked up, but there was no way she would be able to defend herself in time. The much larger, titanic form of Kishimoto's Divine Angel was upon her, raising its lance to run her through. Lilith gritted her teeth and agitatedly withdrew her spear to defend herself, but its tiny size wouldn't be able to hold back Kishimoto's enormous weapon.

She would be sliced through in an instant!

Clang!

I managed to block the Divine Angel's lance, but at the cost of my sword. The blade of Matsukaze's broadsword shattered before my very eyes, turning into shards. The lance slammed into my Titan, taking out a huge chunk of his right arm.

But with his left arm, Matsukaze scooped up Lilith and used the momentum of the attack to spin away from Kishimoto's Divine Angel.

"Lilith-san! Are you all right?!"

Any reply she would have uttered was drowned out by panicked cries and a bombardment from my men.

"Sir!"

"Cover the Major!"

"Save her highness!"

"Distract the Evelyn's Chosen so that the Major can bring her highness back to safety!"

The tanks and heavy weapon teams opened up with a ferocious bombardment, showering the Divine Angel with superheated plasma.

However, that barrage of plasma, which was enough to lay waste to the barren land and melt a crater ten meters wide, was completely evaded. The Divine Angel flew smoothly through the hail of plasma, emerging unscathed.

"No way…!"

"Impossible!"

While my soldiers reeled in disbelief, unable to digest the true extent of the formidable enemy's power…

"…good grief. It seems that my assistance is necessary after all."

Bradley shook his head and raised his sword. The same spell that he had conjured earlier blasted forward, but the Divine Angel naturally dodged it with a speed that belied its huge frame. However…

"Aaaah!"

Kishimoto suddenly shrieked. I glanced back at her Divine Angel, only to see a blood lance sticking out of its chest.

"…huh?"

It wasn't just me. Lilith and all my soldiers were speechless at the incredible sight.

No one had noticed the blood lance that Bradley had summoned and hurled at the Divine Angel. But now we saw that the ground all around Bradley Kreuger was saturated with blood, which all grew and turned into spikes and lances. With a smirk, Bradley bombarded the stunned Divine Angel with so many lances that the blood projectiles literally filled the sky.

Even with her immense agility and speed, Kishimoto wasn't able to evade all of them, and her Divine Angel was pierced in several places. Smoking from the penetrated areas, the wrecked mecha teetered and crashed heavily onto the ground.

Everyone watched it with bated breath, but the Divine Angel merely lay on the ground, not moving at all.

"This game…it's my victory, right? Hero Slayer."

Bradley's last two words were dripping with scorn as he sneered, and he glanced in my and Lilith's direction with an oily smile.

However, I paid no attention to his bragging.

"Impossible…I…"

Although Lilith's voice was calm as usual, her expression was shaken. Clearly, it was rare for her to be so utterly unable to fight an enemy. Not only that, Bradley had taken out the same enemy that had thwarted her attemtps in less than a minute, with seemingly no effort at all. Consequently, her usual composure had been shaken.

"Kuhahaha! As expected, there is nobody who can match me, Tomoyuki Tanaka."

Bradley's shrill laughter echoed throughout the barren land surrounding the tomb. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. You're so strong. Unfortunately, it's not over yet."

As I expected, Kishimoto didn't go down that easily. Her Divine Angel had forcibly staggered to its feet and was ripping away the blood lances and projectiles that pierced its body. The shredded armor began to glow and regenerate.

Well, nothing less from a hero, I suppose…

Unable to endure Bradley's gloating, I decided to dive in and finish the Divine Angel off. Unslinging the triple barrel shotgun from Matsukaze's back, I squeezed the trigger to pump the hero's mecha full of shells.

At the same time, Bradley unleashed his spells and barrage of blood lances. I noticed, thanks to Matsukaze's sensor array, that they were all headed right at me.

I knew it. The guy is really trying to create an "accident", huh?

Unfortunately, there was one thing he didn't know.

I slammed my foot down on the accelerator to its limits, and Matsukaze disappeared into a quantum dimension. Using Phase Dash, I blurred out of existence and materialized right behind the Divine Angel.

Consequently, the spells and blood lances slammed into the Divine Angel instead.

"Great shooting, Lord Kreuger!" I shouted gleefully. "I knew our coordination was flawless!"

"Backstabbing betrayer!" Kishimoto snarled and spun around to launch a Divine Lance at the astonished Bradley, who had become dumbfounded because he didn't expect his attacks to hit the Divine Angel instead.

"Gaaah!"

The resulting explosion threw the hapless Bradley back. At the same time, it seemed that the stunned Lilith might get caught up in it, so I boosted forward and caught her, shielding her from the explosions with Matsukaze's titanium frame.

"Hmph."

As I did so, Kishimoto ran Matsukaze through with the Divine Angel's golden and silver lance. Sparks flew and my cockpit caved in as the devastating weapon smashed through the center of Matsukaze, causing catastrophic damage.

"And you'll die, fucking Tanaka."

The Divine Angel's head leaned forward, and I could hear Kishimoto hissing from its speakers. She twisted the lance to emphasize her words.

"Finally! We'll finally be rid of your lame puns and stupid self! Kobayashi-kun will reward me greatly! Ha ha ha ha!"

"Critical damage. Eject, eject, eject…"

While Kishimoto gloated triumphantly, Matsukaze's mechanical voice calmly repeated his advice. I sighed.

"Guess I have no choice."

Grabbing the strap beneath my seat, I yanked it. As I did so, I caught sight of one last message from Matsukaze, the digital words appearing on my holographic screen.

Avenge me.

I chuckled and shook my head. I certainly will, Matsukaze.

The next thing I knew, I was blasted out of my cockpit. As I hurtled skyward, I reached out and grabbed the hapless Lilith, who was still mounted atop my Titan when I sought to protect her. Her expression transformed entirely as she was dragged toward the heavens along with me while my seat blasted upward thanks to the ejection mechanism.

"Whoa…whoa?!"

"Sorry…got to grab you, because my Matsukaze is gonna go boom."

"Huh?!"

I ignored Lilith's baffled expression and glanced down at Matsukaze, whose plasma core was glowing white-hot.

Before this battle, I had customized my Titan accordingly and selected the Nuclear Eject option. Thanks to that, Matsukaze was going to go nuclear the moment I ejected from him.

Which was…right now.

Matsukaze detonated right in front of the Divine Angel, which was still holding onto him with its spear. Unable to disengage or yank out its spear from the doomed Titan, the Divine Angel lost the opportunity to escape. Instead, it was swallowed by a scorching torrent that billowed upward in the form of a mushroom cloud.

A thermonuclear inferno ravaged the ground, leaving a molten crater behind. The flames engulfed the entire area, stopping short of the tomb. Fortunately, my men and tanks were safely tucked away behind the formidable walls of the grave, and were thus protected from the plasma explosion.

I was satisfied to see Bradley get blasted and buffeted by the superheated shockwaves and thrown back at his forces, who were forced to retreat from the ferocious inferno. As for Kishimoto and the Divine Angel, there was no sign of them left. They had completely been disintegrated by the blast, especially since Matsukaze blew up at pointblank range.

With her utter destruction, there was no way for the Divine Angel to regenerate in a fashion similar to when it repaired itself after Bradley Kreuger's attack. As if to confirm my point, I heard a chime and a blue holographic window appeared in front of me.

Title: Hero Slayer.

Present record – Six heroes killed.

Attaboy. I actually did it. That was nine former classmates down and ten left to go.

However, before I could celebrate my achievement, I realized that I was descending back into the nuclear explosion.

Whoops…my mistake.

Cursing under my breath, I did my best to shield Lilith from the tremendous blast and impact.

Superheated flames rushed around me, burning through all twelve layers of my Redwood jacket (come on, it was a bloody nuclear explosion) in an instant. The immense shockwaves slammed the breath out of my body, crushing my lungs and heart. I desperately embraced the astonished Lilith to protect her as best as I could.

And then…I finally lost consciousness.