Chapter 355: The Goddess Descends

Chapter 355: The Goddess Descends

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The air reverberates as if the entire world is trembling. All clouds in the sky are blown away.
Hearing the rumbling, I promptly stand in front of everyone to protect them from what’s to come.
Just doing this won’t save anyone from a crumbling world, but even so, I’ve…

“No one step in front of me!”

I’ve decided to protect them.
Even through the inevitable collapse of the world as we know it.
No matter what happens, until my body erodes away.

The crack fills with light, and everyone shuts their eyes.
Ku… I wonder what sort of thing the collapse of the world is.
Like Glass said, will all life be sucked away, leaving this world an empty shell?
Or it could just be darkness… a black hole-like thing could appear to reduce everything to nothingness.
Anyways, right now… I’ll just have to pray for a miracle.

As I think that, strong blasts of wind hit my body… I continue to stand before the blinding light.

Eventually…
The earthquake stops, and I focus my eyes.

“Wha…”

Before me is an unfamiliar land; an assimilated world stretches across the landscape.
But, perhaps you can say I’ve seen it once before.

“This is-”

Glass is dumbfound.
Right… without the world falling to ruin, the assimilation ends.

“See? The wave wasn’t going to destroy the world!”

The reincarnators hold their weapons out at us and direct their hostility.
What does this mean?
We take on our battle formation as we glare at our enemies.
The Hourglass in my vision has stopped moving. It’s completely silent.

“Now, it’s time for the Goddess to come down!”

One of the reincarnators shouts out, and Witch MKII begins releasing a faint light.

“Eh?”

Witch MKII closes her eyes, and without the light showing any signs of dying down, she starts to float.
And the light converges… as if radiance is being gathered from every corner of the globe.

“Ah!?”

Glass raises her voice.

“What’s wrong!?” (Naofumi)
“All the Soul Eater monsters under my control have mysteriously perished!” (Glass)

What!?
When I look to the sky… various clumps of light arrive and surround Witch MKII.
Eventually, many balls of dazzling light have gathered, and MKII disappears into a mass of light herself.

“Mary!”

The reincarnators call out her name.
Soon, the gathered light disperses… Standing there, is a familiar, yet unfamiliar… woman. She floats in space.

“Oh… my Goddess.”
“Everyone, I offer you my deepest thanks. Because of all of your efforts, I can finally return to this land.”

The reincarnators and their comrades silently look upon the scene.
… It’s that. The atmosphere where a powerful person joins your party.
Does that make this the birth of an ultimate enemy for us?
This may have become a heated scene in Manga or Games, but since we’re on the enemy side, the only thing that really comes to mind is, ‘what sort of bullshittery is this?’

“For Mary to be the Goddess…”
“Did I surprise you? In order to assist you, I let fragments of my soul be born into this world. They had not my memory, but I truly was close to all of you.”
“!?”

Fragments…?
I have an exceedingly bad feeling about this.
The one before us who proclaims herself a Goddess… I could guess just what sort of being existed as her foundation.

No… perhaps it would be better to say that everything was connected.
The discomfort I’ve been feeling until now was all caused by this.
The Goddess turns to us and greets us.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. No, perhaps I should say we’ve met many times before? I am Medea Pideth Machina. You are the ones who put one of my fragments, Malty, through quite a uncomfortable time, are you not?”
“M-Malty!?” (Trash)

Trash’s voice resounds out.
Right, when you look closely, the woman who calls herself Medea resembles Witch to some extent.

“Trash, calm down!” (Naofumi)
“Y-yes!” (Trash)
“Ah, how cowardly were these people when they used their cruelest methods to torture a fragment of my being, only to execute her in the end. How pitiful an end.” (Medea)

In a manner that showed she was making a play for sympathy, Medea weeps to the reincarnators while pointing her finger at us.

“I definitely cannot offer salvation unto you. For people like you, I cannot offer forgiveness as one who holds the title of god.”

… Her eyes are laughing.
My memories whisper to me. Those are the eyes Witch made whenever she tried to fool someone.

I see. So Witch’s true identity was a fragment of a Goddess’s soul.
So that’s why she developed a personality unbecoming of the child of the Queen and Trash.
From the start, she was merely the being trying to lead the world to ruin. No matter how hard you tried to fix her, she wouldn’t change.
Perhaps the order engraved on her heart was to torment the Heroes, or to covet luxury and cause the declination of the world.

“Trash… please understand. The person who was once your daughter is now the enemy of the world. Don’t forget it.” (Naofumi)
“Papa, I’m over here!” (Medea)

With a perfect imitation of Witch’s voice, Medea calls out to Trash.

“How dare you order my execution. Even though you were my father! I definitely won’t forgive you.”
“A-ah…”

Trash begins trembling.
The fear of having the daughter he killed come back… Is it?
For Trash, who cares deeply for his family, this must be torture.

“Trash! Get yourself together! What about the country your beloved Queen left behind.. and what do you think will become of Melty!?” (Naofumi)
“…!”

Having regained his senses, Trash begins glaring at Medea.

“Now, everyone! Let us defeat the enemy of the world!” (Medea)
“Yeah~!”

The reincarnators raise a loud cry, as they point their varied weapons at us.
Behind them, lending them power, is an army from Glass’s World.
Is this… an All-Out War!?

Damn! Having come all the way here, we get wrapped up in this pointless battle.
But, I can’t be swayed here.
I just have to play my part. The Leader of my army. A Hero. Whatever works best. Just play the part.
Or else, we really will lose.

“We’re intercepting them!”
“Understood!”

We also raise our voices and begin our clash with the opposing army.
One runs ahead of everyone, capturing his enemy’s attention…

“Die! You heartless Heroes!”

A reincarnator… one holding a katana rushes at us.

“There!” (Naofumi)

I grab the blade with one hand to stop it.

“W-what!?”
“What sort of half-assed strengthening are you using?” (Naofumi)

Can we win like this?
Even if the Enemy’s general went out of her way to appear, that doesn’t mean they got any stronger.

“Motoyasu!” (Naofumi)
“I know! 「Brionac X」!” (Motoyasu)

Motoyasu’s spear of life pierces the reincarnator.

“GUHAAAAAAAH!”

Damn… he isn’t dying.
I believe there is a guy who specialized in defense among them.

“Dammit, they’re closing in!”
“Ren, Raphtalia! Go pincer them!” (Naofumi)
“Got it!” (Ren)
“Yes!” (Raphtalia)
“Rafu~!” (Raph-chan)

Ren and Raphtlaia, and also Raph-chan, draw closer to them and unleash consecutive attacks on their members.

“Ugu—gu…”
“Trash, from the rear, prepare ritual magic and continuous support fire!” (Naofumi)
“Understood!” (Trash)

By my order, Trash prepares the rear forces to use Ritual Magic and loads the magic into Fitoria’s Vassal weapon tank.
Of course, the original she copied it off of, Mii-kun, is there too.

「Lightening Impact Whip X」!
「KYUAAAAAAAA」!

A flexible whip coated in electricity repeatedly snaps at the enemy, and to match her, Gaelion breathes flames to envelop them.
Taniko and Gaelion’s combination is in good shape.

「Spiral Claw Ten」!
「Dragon of Ruin Inferno Fist X」!

The ones that approach Firo are relentlessly mowed down by her spiraling claw motions, and those that dodge are pummeled down by Fohl’s fist.
Good, the enemy’s formation isn’t complete.
I’ll bet they never met to discuss their strengthening methods.

“Arara… then I guess there’s no helping it.” (Medea)

Medea gently raises her hand and snaps her finger.

「Eternal Blessing」

The reincarnators and their allies are covered in a rain of light.
And right after that—

“Gu…”

The attacks I take suddenly become exponentially heavier.
Is it support magic?
But what I’ve cast on us is Revelation Aura X, you know.
Up until now, we’ve always had some room for leisure, but right now, the most I can do is endure it.
That means Ren and the other Heroes, as well as those in the rear, won’t be able to take these attacks.

“I offer my deepest thanks, Goddess!”

The Reincarnator turns to Medea, and offers thanks before glaring at me.

“Take this! 「Cold Steel Vital Wave」!”
“Too soft!” (Naofumi)

From his katana, a wind-themed blade of light comes flying.
I take his attack and redirect it… towards the one who is fighting Ren.
Ren’s always made a habit of observing his surroundings. Noticing the sword wave flying towards him, he jumps back.
And the sharp edge tears the one who could make absolute defense barriers to shreds.

“Guhah!?”

Uwah. His legs are sent flying…
Just how high is his power output?
But the legs soon reattach themselves… As if time itself was rewinding itself, the man returns to his initial state.

“That was your fault for not dodging!”
“The hell you say!?”

In anger, the barrier guy seals the katana guy in his wall.
Oy, they’re fighting each other.
Just how uncooperative are these guys?

… No, I can’t really say anything against them.
Looking at the past selves of us heroes makes my head hurt.
Actually, I don’t think Ren and the others would ever get into a fight before an enemy.
Though, they would call each other names afterwards.

“Don’t think my absolute barrier can only be used for defense!”

When the barrier guy clenches his fist tightly, the barrier surrounding the katana guy begins to shrink.

“Gu… stoop…”

A cracking sound rings out as the Katana bastard is forced into a box much smaller than his own body.
Isn’t this overkill?
There’s a limit to not getting along.
… Could it be that they were trying to murder one another from the start?
I mean, Glass did say that some countries of reincarnators were at war, or something.

“Stop your fighting!”

Medea calls out to them, but the two aren’t listening.
Eventually, the barrier breaks, and the Katana Bastard starts attacking the barrier maker.
There’s no camaraderie here.
They’re all solo players who claim to be the ace of the team.
Are those following these reincarnators party members? Women are cheering them on, and some rush forward to join the fray.

“It looks like they’ll need a capable commander… Ahaha, I found an interesting soul floating around.” (Medea)

Medea starts chuckling… she opens her hand.
What? The world stopped?
Only Trash, Medea, and I can still move.

“Come out.” (Medea)

In the area above Medea’s hand, a black, glass-like ball manifests… the person that emerges from it puts both Trash and I at a loss for words.

“That’s–”

Everyone else is the same.
The deceased Queen stands there, holding up a folding fan to cover her mouth.