Chapter 401 'Evil' Spirit

The evil spirit crashed on the other side of the giant room after her spectacular hit and after it crashed with a loud BOOM!, she landed on the ground, performed the footwork for her scythe technique with the same bloodshot eyes, vanished from her place, reappeared before the evil spirit, and swung her scythe precisely twelve times.

-Shem! Shem! Shem!

Three horizontal and nine vertical cuts. And these cuts were powered by her special Mana, so it was as if the evil spirit was trapped in a prison.

It was the second unleash of her scythe technique: Cage.

Not only it restricted the opponent, but it also restricted the use of any magic from the opponent.

The evil spirit was restricted at this moment, and the shock from the crash the moment before was still fresh, so it couldn't react to any of it.

But this was the golden chance for her. And after it showed her those horrible nightmares, the evil spirit had hastened its own boat to death.

This whole fight was going to be her fight alone and the difficult situation required a change of that plan, but now that she was angry, I knew she was going to beat the crap out of that evil spirit. At least for a while until it recovers.

So after the evil spirit was in this strange cage that had the special characteristic of increasing the damage done to the target, she started her thing...

-Boom! Booom! Boooooom!

She started attacking the dark barrier with her full strength, not caring about saving her energy anymore.

'I don't know what she saw, but considering what I saw, it definitely wasn't something pleasant. And from how she stayed there longer than me...'

I also wanted to torcher this bastard the same way it did to my Rein's fake illusion. I wanted to do even worse things and do the things that even its evil self could never think about.

It dared harm my Rein... it had to pay the appropriate price...

It had to. And it will definitely pay the price with its life that I will take with my arrows.

But for now, her anger was ferocious.

-Boom! Booom! Boooooom!

She smashed the barrier with her scythe. And this scythe was covered with her gorgeous Aura and Mana, so it was given an even more attractive look.

But this look... it just looked nice. It wasn't something ordinary. And if possible, I definitely wouldn't even want my 'innocent' enemies to be hit with that scythe.

Her Aura was as destructive as mine while it was something made from the desire to actually kill...

The killing power of her Aura was surprisingly high, and it was so great that the light enchantment on the blade of the scythe was almost into tatters.

But it was still functioning. And she was still smashing.

-Boom! Booom! Boooooom!

The dark elemental barrier was strong but after enduring the barrages from the two of us and now from her like that, it was starting to shake like a soap bubble.

It was shaking with each of her slashes and the sharp edge of the scythe was filled with power so great that the wall behind her, the silver wall with golden inscriptions was getting damaged just from the wind waves created from it.

She was strong and the way she used her weapon was also amazing, but the cage didn't last for much longer.

[< Aaaaaaaa! >]

By the time the evil spirit regained its mind and endured the mindless onslaught from her, the barrier was starting to crack.

But then the evil spirit regained its form, gathered its strength, and punched her weapon with whatever strength it had mustered...!

-Boooooooooom!

Its strength was already very great, so it was natural that she was thrown back. And this one must have been painful, as the strong vibrations from the weapon in her hand were enough to shake the insides of one hit by it.

-Dhummmmmmmm!

She was thrown back and the evil spirit hardly stood up from the destroyed ground. Her power was enough to destroy the whole area they were in.

It was difficult for both sides now that we had used much of our resources. The fight had already gone on for more than an hour from the start and we only had less than half of our overall stamina and energy remaining.

So... we had to finish this now.

-Xiu. Xiu. Xiu.

I was hit badly by that bastard, so recovery took a while, but after drinking a red potion, I was ready with my arrows.

-Xiu. Xiu.

And these arrows were shot from Don, so they all had one thing in common.

-Xiu.

They were covered by white light and by the time the evil spirit stood up after shaking her off, these first six arrows were at an unavoidable distance.

It was impossible to avoid, even with its transcendent strength.

So it also only had one choice...

-Oooooooooooong.

The arrows flew threw the air like a predator bird diving for its prey from the high sky but... as if the prey had a special skill to vanish from its place, this bastard evil spirit became one with nature using its [Half-true essence] skill.

The arrows passed through the cracking shield and as soon as all of them touched it, the shield cracked and shattered!

Though it was sad that the evil spirit was fine, the shields were broken. The one around him, as well as the one around the two coffins.

The spirit itself was never the goal of this attack. It was the barrier... and now that the barriers were down...

"Asta. Execute Act 1."

There was a smile on my blood, sweat, and dirt-covered face. And when the evil spirit who barely managed to save its life saw this smile and the look in my eyes... I knew it actually got goosebumps on its ethereal body.

One could only deduct a few possibilities from this smile from the person who had been actually punched by the evil just a moment before…

We all were on low energy. Our mental and physical stamina was also decreasing after this long and fast-paced fight. Neither of us was in good condition.

Of course, this only included the three of us. The three on the other side of this room, the three spectators from our side, were praying for our victory with high hearts.

I had seen their expressions that wanted to just rush to our side when they saw the two of us struggling, but it was impossible even for them. The barrier that was protecting them was something made using... well, never mind that.

[< No. No, no, no! No!! Not even demons would do that! >]

Asta appeared in my hand after the command. She was quietly gathering energy from the surrounding from the start of the fight, so it was her turn now.

I took a deep breath, got into my position, channeled my Mana and Solnova throughout my body and Don, confirmed the atmospheric variables, confirmed the target using my third eye, and pulled back my bowstring with Asta on it.

It was a slow process, but the evil spirit didn't come to attack me. And the reason for that... was the place I was aiming for.

[< You dare!!! You fucking bastards!! You son of a bitch!! Don't you fucking dareeeeeeeee!!! >]

Yup. As I said earlier... the coffins. The only thing in this whole tomb that it cared about. This coffin... it was the sole reason for its existence.

'Second stance of sniping: Crash.'

The distance between the two of us wasn't that much, but I still used the long-range shooting technique. It was required in this particular situation and as my energy was gathering on the tip of Asta, the evil spirit reappeared before the two golden coffins.

My eyes were closed, but I could see Rein was guarding me. It knew it would be foolish if it tried to harm me right now.

'Her anger is still fresh too...'

She was dangerous when she was angry and I feared the day when she goes berserk because of some unforeseen scenarios. It would be a disaster that won't just concern a small area but the entire nation.

Well... I had no plan to let that happen, so it was alright for now.

'It is ridiculous. But... can I still call this one evil?'

What was evil, actually? Beings that did wrong to others? Beings that did wrong and harmed others for their selfish gains?

Was being selfish a sin? Was wishing to protect something they love a sin?

Or was it a sin to kill someone like this evil spirit who did everything it ever did for its own peace? To protect the thing that it always wanted to protect?

Well... it harmed my friend, some creatures who will be with me in the future, and showed me something too much unpleasant to ignore.

It will die today. Maybe not by my hands, but surely... this bastard will die here.

The energy gathered on the frontal tip of my Asta; I was ready, the evil spirit had an enraged, fearful expression as it stood before the coffins and hurriedly created another darkness shield.

Fundamentally, his dark octagon barrier got stronger with time so it was useless when it was summoned freshly. It would be just a bit stronger than a (tier-6) barrier.

The condensed power on Asta right now was far greater than that amount, so it was normal that it wouldn't be able to protect his precious thing.

The most it could do was endure this attack with his own body, but it would kill him on the spot along with the coffins.

It had no way to live aside from just giving up on protecting the coffins and when the coffins are destroyed and it has used up most of its energy, it would most probably go berserk and lose its control.

It would be weakened even further in that state, so it would be easier for us to kill him. Though it would also mean damage to this place made of pure precious materials. It was still ok.

Once this bastard was gone, we will be able to talk and breathe comfortably.

So... the time was up.

The power one could feel from this one golden arrow was so obvious that they can't help but just step away from its path.

Anything in the path was already going to get obliterated... and the evil spirit also felt that.

My Solnova was already as dangerous for him as the light attribute, so this attack filled with condensed Solnova and light attribute Mana, as well as covered with white light... the evil spirit could see its end.

The most valuable thing of his existence was on the line and there was no way to protect it.

There was no way...

There wasn't. Not at least while protecting his own life.

So...

-Swiiiiiiiiiiiish...!

The 'evil' spirit decided to give up its life.