"...I'm getting a bad feeling about this," Vin remarked as Raghnall and I killed the last corrupted cultist blocking our way to the mastermind. "Ever since she made herself known, she hasn't bothered getting out of that huge room she appeared in. There were no attempts made to prevent you guys from going around and escaping either. It's as if she doesn't really see us as a threat and more as toys to mess around with."

"In short, that also means if we attempt to go around her, she'll probably just casually chase after us, all the while mocking us," I added, frowning. "Seeing as to what happened with the people from Fire God's Phoenix, she'll have no qualms about killing or corrupting any bystanders along the way too."

Noticing how quiet Raghnall was, I decided to check up on him out of curiosity. After all, the male was still actively connected to the communication spell so if he was thinking about something, both me and Vin would hear his thoughts. Leo, on the other hand, wouldn't because he temporarily turned it off on his side since he wanted to focus on what he was doing.

When I looked at the white-haired male though, I saw that the boy had his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at the ground with a troubled expression on his face. His greatsword, on the other hand, was stabbed into the ground, the flames on it still burning persistently.

Before I could ask him if there was anything wrong, as if noticing that my gaze was on him, he suddenly spoke up. "Sorry but I'm gonna have to temporarily turn off the communication spell on my side for a bit," Raghnall commented, sighing. "Something unexpected happened so..."

Although confused, I nodded my head regardless, deciding to trust the Artifact wielder. As for Vin, he remained silent for a bit before finally grunting in response. Once he disconnected himself from it, I couldn't help but pose a question to the sniper regarding that brief moment of silence.

"Is there something wrong, Vin?" I mentally asked as Raghnall picked up his weapon. "Did you find that a bit suspicious?"

"Yeah but I opted to say nothing in the end," he admitted. "If you of all people didn't disagree with it, especially if you've been with him for a while, then there's no reason for me to do so, even if it's out of caution."

"Fair enough," I answered and upon noticing how Raghnall was eyeing the entrance to the huge room, clearly deep in thought, I continued. "That said, there is one thing that I'm curious about. Is there any kind of magecraft that involves the eyes changing color? He did something earlier ago and his eyes turned dark blue for some reason..."

After mulling it over for a while, he finally replied. "...as far as I know, no," Vin said, causing me to frown. "However, if I were to hazard a guess, that might be on the same level as those mismatched eyes you have, which are unfortunately enigmas to us. The only difference is that yours is constantly active while his can be turned on and off."

"...that certainly makes sense. But, if that's the case, seeing as how Raghnall is an Artifact wielder, then what does that imply about Rex—?"

All of a sudden, the white-haired male spoke up, catching me off-guard. "Stella, you'll have to go in first and work along with Vin to distract the demoness. I'll come in after pulling off a certain trick on her with these magical eyes," he remarked telepathically and I glanced at him in surprise, his light blue eyes staring at me with what seemed to be worry. "As to why, someone called Sol contacted me out of the blue and told me some important information. He said that he might as well pitch in and help since Rex is doing his best to protect this kingdom. That said though, I'm not particularly happy with the plan he gave me but if we want to win, we'll have to stick with it."

"...another person that Rex is connected to, huh?" the archangel mumbled out, sighing. "I have questions but this isn't really the best time to ask so I'll refrain from doing so. For now, let's believe him and get into position."

I nervously nodded my head and turned my attention to the entrance leading to the huge room she was in. My heart was beating frantically at the thought of having to fight her but I knew if I didn't do anything, this kingdom will be destroyed with everyone in it just like with Umbral. With a gulp, I forced myself to sneak to the closed door while Raghnall stayed behind, murmuring chants for some stealth spells.

"Ah, I can't believe I'm agreeing to this plan though," Raghnall complained. "After all, I'd rather...guh, whatever. Let's just get this done and over with. Besides, if what he says is true, then this is the best course of action to take. Nothing I can say or do can refute that..."

Hearing him grumble to himself was making me more and more curious but I held back the urge to bombard him with questions. I needed to focus on the task at hand, especially if I wanted to make it through this alive.

While Vin recited a few chants for some advanced spells, I strengthened my body with magic as much as I can without overloading myself and tried to calm myself down. Once I was relaxed enough, I kept an eye on where the demoness currently was by focusing on where the huge reading of mana was and readied myself to forcibly kick the door open.

"Going in," I announced and got the affirmative from both boys.

With that, I gathered a lot of magical energy into my gauntlet and sent the door flying with my enhanced leg. I swiftly went in and launched numerous projectiles at the woman without hesitation, refusing to let her attack first. Upon hearing them hit against something and explode though, which I assumed was a barrier stronger than the attacks I dished out, I kept moving about while avoiding the corpses and got ready to bombard her with more stronger spells. However, before I could do that, I suddenly heard the sound of her shield instantly breaking from something and then the sound of numerous bullets falling onto the floor.

"My, how ruthless. I see one of you isn't bothering to hold back," she said, amused. "You even factored in me fortifying the corpses and using them as meat shields to take all of the shots in case the magical barrier falls apart. However, those specialized bullets and their paltry flames aren't enough to kill me, you know?"

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

As the smoke cleared, I saw a woman with long, curly black hair, red cat-like eyes, and two twisted horns on top of her head simply wearing a black gown covered in blood. Her body was mostly demonic in nature, save for parts of her upper body like her head and torso. Unfortunately for us, she was unscathed from the barrage of intense gunfire that Vin shot at her, all the enhanced bullets currently on the floor as if they bounced off of her. As for the corpse that she just used, the body riddled with bullet holes was dropped onto the floor, burning away into ashes.

While Vin let out a "tch" in response, I channeled mana to the claws on my gauntlet and then swung, the energy extending far enough to reach her. Surprisingly enough, instead of smugly standing there, she quickly jumped away as I cut down her aftershadow into tiny bits, leaving behind huge, deep scratch marks on the ground.

As she glanced at me mid-air though, I couldn't help but notice how surprised she looked. Though, it was immediately replaced with an extremely hostile snarl soon after as she starts hurling numerous daggers purely made out of Dark energy at me at inhuman speeds.

Thanks to the blessing that Raghnall gave me, the ones that I failed to dodge in time as I strengthened my body past the limit were incinerated into nothing but I could feel its power dwindling fast. Forcing myself to endure the pain of overloading, I barely managed to dodge the projectiles but was forcibly pushed back pretty far due to the relentless barrage that she was firing at me.

What's with the sudden change in attitude?! I thought to myself with a frown as I frantically tried to keep up with her attacks. It's almost like she doesn't want me to get near her!

Once she landed on the ground though, a few bullets suddenly hit her on the legs but instead of bouncing off like last time, it seems to have attached themselves to her somehow. Hm? What kind of ammo are those? I thought to myself with a frown as the demoness looks down at them, confused. The instant she recognizes them though, numerous metal spikes immediately bursted out of them, piercing through the limbs in several spots.

"You little—! How the hell do you have access to that ammo in your current state—?!"

Before she could continue vehemently cursing him, I decided to seize that opportunity of her being immobilized and leaped forward to attack her once more with the claw like before. She noticed immediately and with a snarl, the monster instantly sent a huge, condensed ball of dark miasma in my direction.

Realizing in horror how alarmingly fast it was, I quickly summoned a multilayered magic circle in front of me and prepared myself to 'devour' it, fully aware that I had no time to dodge or maneuver around it despite how hard I was pushing myself. However, before I could do anything else, a giant greatsword engulfed in blue flames appeared out of nowhere and cut right through it, incinerating it into nothing instantly.

As I blinked my eyes in surprise and watched the gigantic weapon disappear, an unfamiliar male voice suddenly spoke up. "As I thought, the instant you saw her and the Divine Eyes she has, you realized that you've been played by Rex due to an exceptionally rare possibility happening and immediately lost your cool. In short, a second Executioner that's immune to your insanity-inducing magical eyes," he commented as the sound of footsteps got closer to us. "Because of that, I was able to use my own Divine Eyes and restrict you from utilizing yours to gain the upper hand and defeat us. It won't do much in the long run but this is the only 'puppet' that you have left in Ignifera, right, Aterna, God of Darkness?"

When I turned to see who it was, I saw someone that looked eerily like Raghnall, except his hair color changed to blue and his eyes now dark blue like when he casted a blessing on us. His outfit had also changed and was now sporting a white v-shirt, black pants with a few belts on it acting as accessories, a black cloak partially covered in blue flames, black boots, and a black metallic gauntlet on his right hand with blue fiery outlines. As for his weapon, it was still very much the same greatsword that the white-haired male had but instead of white flames covering it, they were now an intense blue.

"Tch, so you finally decided to intervene and took control of your vessel, the Fire Artifact wielder, to confront me, Sol," Aterna stated as she glared at him. "...still, even if that might be the case, I've already corrupted enough people in Ignifera to send the entire kingdom into chaos. At this point, don't you think you're too late?"

"I trust my people will be able to fend for themselves someway, somehow. They're not so weak that they would become crippled by the Academy mages being killed off," he retorted confidently, fiery energy gathering around him at an astonishingly fast pace. "That said, isn't it a given that I would intervene? You broke the laws that we set up for ourselves as Gods and went on a mission to toy with humanity and exterminate them. As the God of Fire that loves humanity..."

Sol took the greatsword as intense blue flames danced around him and got into combat position, glaring at the black-haired goddess. "Prepare yourself, traitor! It's time for your judgment!"

She had a laughing fit in response as concentrated dark energy swirled around her, pulling away the spiky bullets off of her and hastily healing her wounds. "You, judge me? That's the duty of the Executioner, you know?" Aterna sneered as she summons a scythe with the black mana surrounding the demoness, then points it at us. "...but fine, I'll take this seriously. With this lineup against me, I would be stupid not to."

I warily got into position while Vin mumbled to himself about how he should've seen this coming. ...even if I'm truly the second Executioner, I...don't think I'm ready to tussle down with a God. ...but I have no choice but to fight now.

The instant the Dark Goddess attacked, all of us leaped into action.