Chapter 1305: Chaos Slash

「Jashin-chan, let’s do this.」

「Very well!」

Fran and Jashin-chan flew forward, closing in on the Evil God Fragment with superhuman speed. Despite our immense speed boost from Divine Beast Form, the Evil God’s Innocence kept up without issue.

Two black trails were emblazoned onto the sky in our wake, one of black lightning and one of evil-divine energy.

In this state, Fran could achieve speeds beyond human perception while still maintaining perfect control.

If not for afterimages of black lightning, few would have any clue of our current location.

「Seyah!」

「I’ll slice you up!」

OROOOOOOGH!

Fran and Jashin-chan flew circles around the massive fragment, delivering a relentless assault.

My blade radiating a divine aura and black lightning, alongside Jashin-chan’s halberd forged from evil-divinity. Our two weapons tore and carved into the fragment’s flesh, annihilating it bit by bit.

Those from afar only saw countless black flashes shimmering around the fragment, each resulting in a small portion of its colossal body vanishing.

The veritable storm of blades kept shredding the Evil God Fragment for what seemed to be an eternity.

「Haaaaah!」

「Nooojaaaah!」

The abomination’s regeneration could not keep up with our endless rampage, so each passing second resulted in additional damage.

The Evil God Fragment had been reduced to a shell of its former self. It resembled a ball of tar-colored clay that had been smashed into the ground and stabbed repeatedly with a spatula or something. The sight reminded me of abstract art.

But as expected of an Evil God Fragment…

「It’s still alive.」

『Yeah, what ridiculous vitality.』

「Of course! Though fallen, it is an existence on the same level as I!」

Perhaps “still alive” may have been an understatement.

「!」

『Is it… shrinking?』

The Evil God Fragment began shrinking at an astonishing speed. Its massive body condensed into a single point, as if getting sucked into a black hole.

It could no longer maintain its own body? No, it was consciously compressing itself, concentrating every bit of its power into a single point.

The fragment was now a jet black ball that emit a disgusting squelching sound. Black sparks spilled out of the ball, and I saw one spark fall on a boulder and instantly evaporate it.

「Watch out for the light! That is the manifestation of the Malice’s power! It is capable of distorting all in existence, turning life into death and form into void!」

This must be a special kind of evil-divine energy!

What will happen if it unleashes all of that energy on us?

It would easily engulf the entire battlefield and then some. Not even the combination attack that had leveled the capital packed this much power.

Which means our allies will suffer countless casualties.

Having realized this, Fran resolved herself.

「…I’ll cut it down.」

She spoke without hesitation as she readied my blade.

『Yeah, we’ve got this.』

「Indeed!」

「Nn!」

This was no desperation attack.

Fran was filled with confidence. She knew the current her――or rather, us――could pull it off.

「Haaaah…!」

Without any sign of rushing, Fran calmly concentrated her power.

The divine energy from me as a new divine sword. The vast stores of black lightning from her Divine Beast Form. The power of prayers from all our friends.

She intended to put everything into a single strike. It all came together into a single flow, and the swirl of power began violently rampaging within Fran’s body.

Even the current Fran had trouble controlling this much power.

A slight trickle of blood dripped from the corner of her lips, which she had bitten down on.

Despite this, Fran sought even more power.

「…!」

Given Fran’s efforts, I can’t afford to fail as her Master. It would be laughable for her partner to hold her back, especially now that I’m a divine sword.

I began infusing my own power into my blade, and I had a clear sense of the flow. The current me could manipulate divine energy with more precision than ever before.

It seems my powers as the Apostle of the Chaos Goddess were enhanced now that I’ve become a divine sword. Maybe because I’m closer to the gods now?

My own power, the evil-divine energy from the Evil God Fragment, Fenrir-san’s mana, Announcer-san’s support…

For a long time, I’ve struggled to make full use of all my resources. But now, I had perfect control over everything.

So this is the power of a divine sword!

Numerous layers of power began swirling around my blade, giving off a rainbow-colored light.

This was definitely a new record, I can say it with confidence. The current me was way stronger than ever before.

「Whoa, Master!」

『How’s that! I’ll slice right through that thing!』

「Nn!」

「I shall go first and open up the path! Choryaaaaah!」

Before Fran could do anything, Jashin-chan stepped forward. She raised her halberd high before swinging it down with all her might.

This cleaved a gap into the turbulent storm of evil-divine energy, creating a narrow path for us, just as she had said.

Perhaps she had applied her own evil-divine energy to neutralize the enemy’s.

The sinister storm immediately began flowing in to fill up the opened path. At this rate, it wouldn’t last more than a second.

But that second was enough.

「Teyaaaaaaah!」

『Go!』

〈Use as much of my power as you want!〉

〈I wish you victory!〉

Fenrir-san! Announcer-san! Leave it to us!

Fran flew through the narrow passage with such insane speed that her shadow got left behind. She swung her blade down on the still compressing Evil God Fragment with all that momentum.

Her powers merged with mine, and I immediately sensed that she was fueled by her pure and simple wish to save everyone. There’s no way I can let that wish go unfulfilled!

『Urooooogh!』

「Chaos Slash!」

It was simply too fast, and too beautiful, a swing more perfect than anyone had ever seen. It easily surpassed Heavenly Judgment, allowing us to reach the realm of the Sword God.

A piercing screech assaulted our ears as our blade collided with the dense evil-divinity. For a single instant, we saw a beautiful dance of black and rainbow sparks that felt completely out of place.

But the scales soon tipped in our favor. The rainbow colored light evaporated the sinister aura and tore right through the darkness.

After that, there was astonishingly little resistance. We easily cleaved the Evil God Fragment in two. With the cloud of evil evaporated, we saw the two black halves of a ball.

A split second of silence passed.

OOORGHOOOOOOOORRRGH!

The next moment, the fragment’s death throes rumbled as if to shake the very fabric of space itself. It had only just now realized its own end.

Blood dripped from Fran’s ears since the intense roar had burst her eardrums, but she simply glared at the fragment’s remnants with her eyes gleaming brightly.

Immediately afterward, a burst of light consumed us.

The fragment’s death had released an absolutely ridiculous amount of evil-divine energy, capturing us right in the middle of it.

「Kurgh!」

『Nugaaah!』

Fran attempted to brace herself in midair, but we were still getting blown away. Even our Guardian Deity’s Shield was falling apart at an alarming rate.

「Murgh…? Urushi!」

「Woof!」

『You saved us, Urushi!』

Helping us out of this critical moment was our most reliable companion, Urushi. By supporting Fran from behind, he assisted us in holding our ground.

That said, the explosion refused to subside anytime soon.

Eventually, chunks of evil-divine energy began crashing through our barrier and piercing Fran and Urushi’s flesh. They managed to protect their vital points, but each hit punched a hole in their body, resulting in a splatter of fresh red blood.

Nevertheless, the two grit their teeth and endured for a few more seconds.

「Is it over…?」

「Woof…?」

When the light finally subsided, we found ourselves in a giant crater. Well, I guess it might be considered small relative to the power of the explosion? The diameter seemed to be about 100 meters.

「Fuhaha, that was close.」

A tattered Jashin-chan staggered over to us.

「What happened to the Evil God Fragments?」

「All four are gone for good. They won’t be reviving again.」

My senses as a divine sword backed up her statement. The only remaining fragment in the area was Jashin-chan herself.

『Did you hold back the explosion from spreading?』

「Indeed. My intention was to absorb all the evil-divine energy, but that proved to be a bit too difficult.」

It seems Jashin-chan had absorbed a portion of the explosion, before applying some sort of barrier to weaken the rest.

「Thanks.」

「Don’t mention it, Fran! We’re friends, right?」

「Nn. Friends.」

「Yeah, that’s just what friends do!」

The delighted Jashin-chan nodded in agreement. It was only after seeing her smile that Fran finally realized the battle was over.

「So we win?」

『Yeah! We won!』

「Indeed. Victory is ours.」

「Woof woof!」

〈Congratulations.〉

〈You did it!〉

Upon hearing everyone’s words, the feeling finally settled in. Fran raised me up into the sky and declared our victory.

「Hooray! We win!」