It was just a single moment but that clashing of my sword and the unbelievable amount of heat sent me in tatters, a really…expected outcome.

The unnamed enchanted sword that I received from master’s treasury and inheritance, met and collided with the blazing beam shot by the floating ship. Divine Counter’s main function is to actually volley back any magical attack as long as it is tangible.

It was inevitable that I’d fried my hand just by holding it and it was charred instantaneously. I mustered all of my strength and tried to return the opening gift but because the attack was too strong and came from a difficult angle, I volley it towards the empty plains outside of the elven forest.

BOOM!

Upon impact, it shook the whole land and charred the field where it exploded. It also created a huge mushroom-like smoke. The shockwave was enough to throw me off while in midair. My charred hands had already regained its liveliness but the clothes I am wearing was almost reduced to nothing. Miraculously, my undergarments survived.

It all ended abruptly and I find myself falling towards the ground.

It hurts like hell too.

“Yeah…the sensation was so similar to the etherian tech that we found back in the demon kingdom. The output is on a whole new level and I don’t think the elves can handle it.”

In the midst of my monologue, Topaz catches me midair.

“Asagao, are you okay?”

“I have hyper regeneration. Too bad it doesn’t apply to my clothes. Anyway, Topaz, what do you think of the situation?”

“It’s hard to draw out any conclusion that immediately. Even if I was created by my father, Dylan who is an Etherian, I am quite astounded.”

“…Of course.”

Topaz landed on a patio close to the wall of the gate towering over the capital. The soldiers watching earlier are now alerted and immediately marched towards outside of the city, however, they are also quite troubled as the aggressor is floating up in the sky.

Suddenly, Queen Hinoki enters the scene. Rushing behind her is her eldest son, Leth, leading another line of knights ready for battle.

“Do not fret! Remember your formations. All the magicians that can cast magic, focus on defense first and foremost. The enemy has already entered the vicinity of our city. The remaining foot soldiers, prioritize evacuating citizens!”

Queen Hinoki ceaselessly gives out orders. There should be a ready set a chain of command, however, seeing that the situation was unforeseen, she needs to personally give orders accordingly.

Leth also started backing up the magicians while leading the armored knights on standby by preparing their enhancement magic. Their first priority is to calm down the citizens and bring them to safety. The scale in which the enemy fires off a blast may prove the act pointless, however, we should also assume that we may also save a lot of lives by following common protocol when there’s a disaster or war.

“That was splendid, little miss.”

“Merlin?!”

Out of nowhere, Merlin snuck up on us and threw words with a suspicious smile. I have no time for any pointless remarks or retort as I watch the floating ship in utmost wariness. Topaz stood on her ground and tried assessing the situation by ready the movement of the earth on an unbelievable scale, detecting any sign of unnatural vibrations.

Not long enough, Casablanca and Hibiscus run up to us with labored breathing. Emby, the stupid red chick was bouncing off atop of Hibiscus head, immediately flew over mine.

“Asagao, we saw what just happened!”

Casablanca exclaimed as she stopped on her tracks. I was about to open my lips to start an impromptu meeting on how to deal with it, however, Lady Hinoki immediately steps in front of us.

“I am sorry to say but, Asagao Lionheart, you and your group are to leave the premises immediately. The war has started at an unimaginable circumstance. Perhaps we weren’t prepared enough for this but I’ll make sure to handle it.”

“I decline.”

“Alright…give me a sound argument of why? If you cannot convince me, I will forcefully eject you from our kingdom. We also have Violetta coming in today so I am sure you’d be out of here whether you want it or not.”

“This is not a problem you and your people can handle! I know this technology and sure is they are from the etherians! Dylan, an etherian, is one of the Arcana Sins and I have to stop him if I must as he is also part of the reason for Nil’s actions! Also, I am quite familiar with the ethers…”

“So?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking, So? What if this is an independent army from the etherian that you are familiar with? My people can’t handle it? Maybe so, however, this is also a predicament me and my people prepared for so long. You can’t just dismiss my people’s effort just because of your little justice.”

“That’s not what I’m saying! These ethers are beyond--!”

Before I could let out another word the floating ship made its move. The flank of the ship slowly opens up like it’s a hatch and from there, figures dove from it.

“Wha--?!”

Merline lets out an audibly shocked but excited tone, however, we who are watching the scene unfold are horrified.

There are tens of …no, hundreds…no, thousands of them. They are like a flock of bird as they dive straight into the elven forest. As they come closer, we immediately saw the figures clearly

It was dwarves standing more than two meters, falling from the sky. They are wearing not armor but a suit made of metal. It was…

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Don’t fuck me with me…”

My words came out rather bad but it was appropriate…

The dwarves are wearing exoskeleton war frame armors. It was one of those things in most sci-fi films and they are now approaching the elven kingdom premises. I can already tell just from the sheer coolness alone that it will decimate everything in its path!

Ah, my apologies. I am quite a fan of post-apocalyptic games with a lot of these elements.

Well, in other words…

This is bad.

“As you can see…That technology is rather advanced…more advanced than everything that Astlan Lionheart taught you. It’s beyond your capabilities.”

“Even so, even if they are technologically wealthier than us to the point our own technology can be called obsolete compared to the ether or dwarves, I have a duty to perform.”

The ground rumbled as the dwarves equipped with those war frame suits landed on the ground outside of the city wall. Since they failed to destroy the barrier they have to march from the outside the city wall and make a siege.

Based on their equipment, I doubt a normal foot soldier would last a second against them. Assuming that that is the case with this war frame suits, I doubt Lady Hinoki’s barrier would last an hour in a continuous onslaught or less.

And then there’s the floating ship that could bludgeon everything with its huge beam from earlier. One thing I know about this big beam from the turret settings, they have a long cooldown, especially for the big ones as they tend to overheat.

“Just let us damn fight!”

“Don’t you understand what I am trying to point out here? If we somehow drag your name here and you became a part of the grievous scene, King Ashfon Astlan Lionheart would and will interfere!”

“Fonfon…he has grown up! I mean, he learned a lot. He trusts me and I trust him! I won’t allow any pointless destruction. Also, I am officially here as a representative of the Center Continent.”

“Shouldn’t you be neutral then? What’s the point of being the representative if you show biases?”

“The situation has drastically changed! I thought we’ve talked about this?!”

“I don’t have time with this idle chatter. Go home. Take your friends with you.”

Lady Hinoki said with a cold tone before turning around and walks away.

It pissed me off.

“Oooh, she basically told you to go home and suck on your mommy’s tits.”

I look at Merlin with all my hate and disgust. I look at him with eyes that he is an absolute garbage, a rock that far worse than useless. He is a rock that is more detrimental than useless. He is just a walking lump of waste.

Even as we chatter like this, the warcry of the dwarves resounded and the elven army started resisting. It’s no exaggeration to say that a huge clash, with the elves on defensive, broke out. Instantaneously, an elf wearing full armor was sent flying towards the center of the western district.

Hibiscus suddenly taps me on the shoulder.

“Asagao…about what my mother said…”

“Yeah…I think I’ll give her a good slap afterward!”

“Eh?!”

“If she thinks she is stubborn then she is wrong! I’ll show her what true stubbornness is.”

“Calm down, Asagao! This is not…err…a stubbornness competition. Well, I don’t know what’s gotten to mother but please don’t give in from her persuading.”

“I am not giving in. We all know that this war isn’t normal from the start, however, this is well beyond what I expected.”

“Asagao, will you let us use that?”

“……”

As much as possible, I really don’t want to use it. It would be the best course of action if we are facing directly against devils and Arcana of Sins, however, this would seemingly be cheating…

Higanbana also agreed that Divine Ascension is nothing more than a shortcut of power, however, it is also my trump card against most situations and that most situation is exactly right now.

Lady Hinoki won’t listen to reasons so I am forced to play my cards…

I reached out for Casablanca and Hibiscus. They held that hands I outstretched towards them and embraces it. The power, the divinity that was kept deep inside me, bursts out. It has been months since I last used Divine Ascension.

Wait…?!

“Eh…”

The divine energy rushed towards the twins and before we knew it, a pillar of light shot up towards the sky where the Casablanca and Hibiscus are standing. The brilliant light, of course, attracted attention and the pouring energy from their bodies reverberates throughout the place as their presences pulsed on the land.

However, that wasn’t surprised me…

As the light slowly subsides, the twin’s figures become questionable. The two of them dons a bright shiny white hair and serene sky blue eyes, the same as mine.

It’s like what happened to Higanbana. Whenever she enters Divine Ascension, her hair and eyes would change to similar to my features. Since it only happened to Higan, I never gave it too much thought, however, seeing that the twins carrying over such trait make me worried now.

“What’s that?!”

“Hey! Dumb--!”

Merlin shoved my face away and stares at Casablanca and Hibiscus covered with divine light while he throws me off to the ground without regards to my safety.

“It’s the same level…no…this is…impressive! Even Vivian and Morgan would keel over to the sheer power! The sword Excalibur would be reduced to a shameful shambles in the mere presences these powers brings!”

“Well yeah, those are true blue divine power or something like that. I don’t know why but me being a transcendental being, closer to godhood or already is, has that much divine power. Even I know I just parted a little bit of divine power to them.”

“You hold onto this kind of power and yet, you haven’t told me!”

“I’m not obligated to. More like, with your mystic eyes, you should have known about it!”

“Oh, right…”

This guy…

“Never mind him, Asagao! We’ll be going after the huge ship!”

“With Hibiscus’ Emby and my crescent, we can fight an aerial battle.”

It makes sense, however, since the light from earlier attracted people, attention gathered around us. Not to mention, Lady Hinoki is now making her way here.

“I’ll leave that ship to the two of you! It should be really tough. If you ever see Dylan the Arcana Sin of Sloth, retreat immediately. If it started charging up one of those huge beams, call my attention and I’ll try deflecting it again!”

“Asagao, what should I do?”

Topaz called out to me with a firm tone.

“We can’t just dive into the battle. Well, we are going to interfere whether Lady Hinoki wished for it or not so we might as well go a little bit overboard when we have the chance.”

“Meaning…?”

“The appearance of the ether technology and the interference of Boss’ party…might as well be as good as connected as a case. Stay with me while I assess the situation with this idiot.”

I pointed at Merlin and the guy just shrugged.

“I’ll have you know that even though you perceived me as a great magician, my power is limited and I am lacking in any offensive magic.”

“What a twist…”

“And I’ll have you know too that I won’t touch any of this world’s affair unless I am allowed by King Arthur himself. I hope he does not.”

“……”

What’s wrong with you?

Since Lady Hinoki immediately knew what we are up to, she marches in a stomp towards our direction so, in a hurry, Casablanca and Hibiscus took off and of course, I plan not to get caught. Instead of panicking over her daughters floating towards the enemy ship, Lady Hinoki calmly cast a spell.

“[Dryad!]”

An avatar of the woods emerges from the ground and dozens of vines started chasing Casablanca who is riding on her crescent moon and Hibiscus who is doing a rodeo on Emby’s back.

The spiraling vines also crept towards me and Topaz. The vines rush at us like a tidal wave. It just shows how serious Lady Hinoki is.

“I told you to stay put, Asagao! Why are you as stubborn as your father and mother!?”

“Eh?! You are pulling this one out of nowhere!”

However, the vines didn’t manage to catch Casablanca and Hibiscus as they immediately engaged the floating ship in a battle. They started an assault on the ship, however, it was clear as day that it would take them a while to do a scratch on it as it activated a shield.

Meanwhile, the angry mom is now directing her undisputed rage towards me. In terms of raw strength and magical power, I will bomb this one in a showdown.

SHATTER

At that moment, the sound of glass shattering reverberate the whole city and extensively, towards the battlefield just outside the city walls.

“What is it this ti—Eek!”

I was suddenly pulled away by Topaz by grabbing me on the hip. Alerted, Lady Hinoki also drew back a considerable distance and the next thing happens.

CRASH!

The place I was standing has become a crash site as the paved road was gouged savagely. Dust rises from the ground and impact jolted the foot soldiers evacuating the civilians.

Topaz purposely left Merlin so he got blown away magnificently.

But the real problem comes after that. With no break to spare, the one that actually tore Lady Hinoki’s barrier rushes out of the dust and came after me. I move fast that it was only a silhouette. Without holding back, I drew a sword out of my dimensional storage and swung it.

Midway, the sword that I was holding was swept away and slowly, we were able to make out of the enemy.

“Ah…Ahahaha…Ahahahaha!”

Crunching sound of iron made my skin crawl goosebump. It was an enchanted sword that none can easily break but the one in front of us is actually eating it like it’s her lunch.

That’s right…it’s a girl…

“Asagao…be careful…she is…”

“Yeah…this presence…”

It was a girl around eight years old. She dons a long and dirty silver hair, glaring dark irises, one that is devoid of any reasoning and facial feature of a child. Her teeth are oddly sharp on all ends and she is wearing a rag that can hardly cover up anything.

Topaz countenance twists in utter rage.

“Father made another abomination!”

“……”

It is as Topaz said, it was another synthesized devil…

The girl faces us and while chewing on the iron sword, she started speaking.

“Ah, you must be a big sister! I was told a have a lot of big sisters.”

“That’s right, I am your big sister.”

“I couldn’t care less! I am really hungry!!”

The girl crunches on the sword until the hilt was left. She then devoured the hilt effortlessly and sprouted a grin.

“Ah, by the way, my name is Ivory. I’m here to make a scene as I was told.”

“I see…is it father’s command?”

“Hmm? No! Father is angry at me for eating one of his metals. Some fat guy told me to do it just now.”

“Seeing that you are led astray, I, your big sister, will discipline you. Prepare yourself.”

Topaz glances at me.

“Asagao, leave this to me. She doesn’t have much sanity like the rest of us synthesized devil. In exchange…she is terribly strong.”

“I get it.”

I immediately left Topaz. I put faith in her abilities and judgment and I know, over the months that I’ve been with her, she has grown more of a person than a devil.

On my way, I drag Merlin as I make my escape from Lady Hinoki’s pursuit.