Chapter 275: Aestrea Against The World (Final) [II]

Her words fell like thunder.

The SSS-rankers froze, their faces twisting in disbelief as portal after portal ripped open across the battlefield.

Some were only A-rank, many were S-rank, but scattered among them… were monsters whose strength nearly brushed SSS-rank itself.

The ground quaked beneath their sheer numbers, black banners rising in the night air.

“…Impossible. That many S-level awakeners?!” The Elven Emperor’s jaw tightened, his hand curling into a fist.

“This…. this is not a fucking fight anymore. This is a damned invasion!” The Dwarf King stomped his boot, glaring.

The Beast King’s fur bristled, his golden eyes flicking nervously across the endless portals.

“…We’ll be torn apart. Even we can’t hold them all back!”

“…We… we’re finished,” The violet flame woman spoke, taking a step back in horror.

Fear began to creep through them, no matter how proud they stood.

Christina, however, clenched her staff tighter, her teeth grinding so hard her jaw ached.

“Stand firm!” she shouted, though her voice trembled. “He is a heretic… no matter who stands at his side, he cannot be allowed to live!”

Her staff blazed with golden fire as her aura surged. Tears stung her eyes, but her resolve burned stronger.

“HEAVENLY GATE!”

BOOOOOOOM!

A massive golden gate tore open behind her, towering high into the clouds, its surface carved with holy symbols that pulsed like beating hearts.

FWOOOOOM!

From the gate, they poured.

Thousands of soldiers clad in gleaming gold armor, every step shaking the battlefield. Their shields locked together, their spears gleamed like rays of the sun, and their voices roared in unison.

“For the Saintess!”

“For the Holy Nation!”

A tide of golden light clashed with the shadowy flood of the Dark Order.

The night sky lit up in a thousand colors, black and gold, fire and lightning, violet and silver.

The battlefield had turned into a war between nations, armies colliding with a force that shattered mountains and split the ground apart.

Through it all, Yumi only grinned faintly. Her violet eyes glowed, reflecting the chaos like it were a painting she had always wanted to see.

“Well… now that’s more like it,” she said softly.

Then, she turned, her smile softening as she looked at Aestrea, who was still on his knees, blood dripping down his chin, his scythe shaking in his hands.

“Aestrea…” Her voice was almost sweet.

“Can you lend me Hellheim’s source?”

Her hand stretched toward him, her smile widening slightly.

“With it, I’ll end this war in a single breath.”

At that moment, Aestrea turned to her. Christina’s hands trembled around her golden staff, her lips pressed tight as if she wanted to scream at him.

Her eyes—wet, pleading—were enough to tell him everything.

Don’t do it. Don’t hand it over. Don’t give her that power.

But Aestrea didn’t hesitate. Not for a second.

“…Here.”

His palm opened, and from it materialized a small, writhing orb, pitch black, swirling like liquid shadows.

The air bent around it, the stench of death spreading with every pulse.

“…No…” Christina’s heart sank instantly.

Yumi’s grin spread slowly, delight flashing in her gray eyes.

“Perfect~.”

But instead of snatching it, she guided his hand forward with her own, her fingers brushing his as she leaned close, her voice dropping to a whisper.

“Awaken… my dead soldiers.”

The orb pulsed violently, before erupting.

SHHHHAAA!

Thousands of black strings burst outward, sharp and writhing like a nest of snakes.

They tore through the cloaked figures that stood behind her, drilling into their flesh, latching into their bones.

The air filled with sickening cracks and screams as their bodies twisted unnaturally.

And then… silence.

The cloaked soldiers rose again, their skin pale, their eyes glowing with faint violet embers.

Their breathing stopped as they turned into an undead army… an army branded with the mark of Hellheim itself.

“Huff… that’s all for now, love.” Yumi smirked, letting his hand go at last.

But Aestrea blinked in surprise as his palm didn’t feel empty.

He looked down.

A second object had appeared.

“…A dragon heart?”

Throb~

The crystallized organ pulsed in his hand, its glow burning deep red, alive with the fury of an ancient beast.

He looked at Yumi, searching for an answer.

“I promised it, didn’t I?” she purred, placing one finger coyly against her lips, her smile sly and teasing.

For a moment, Aestrea just stared at her.

“…Give me ten minutes.”

That was all he said.

Yumi’s smile only widened.

Swooosh!

With a graceful wave of her hand, shadows gathered like storm clouds, twisting and knotting into a massive barrier that swallowed Aestrea whole.

It looked like a cocoon…

Inside it, no one could see or touch him.

The SSS-rankers stiffened.

The Emperors stepped forward, their auras blazing to the sky, their pressure causing the weak soldiers of the undead army to bow down.

“…He’s going to fuse with it. That fool… he wants to merge with the dragon heart!” The Elven Emperor’s eyes widened with horror.

The Dwarf King’s teeth ground together.

“If he succeeds, we’re screwed. If he could already handle us without it… with it, we’ll be totally dominated.”

The Beast King snarled, claws scraping the ground.

“We can’t wait ten minutes. We need to end this now!”

One by one, they raised their arms, power surging to the skies. Symbols etched in divine flame, frost, lightning, and earth spread across the battlefield.

The ground itself trembled as they roared together:

“Summon the Gates!”

The sky cracked open.

BOOOOOOM!

Giant gates of their own—, engraved with the emblems of their nations, descended like falling stars.

From within, armies poured out.

Elves clad in silver, dwarves in rune-etched steel, beastkin in primal war armor. Each force roared as its banners rose against the endless tide of the Dark Order.

The heavens and earth split in two colors: shadow and light, armies clashing like tidal waves.

“HEHEHEHE~!” Yumi’s grin stretched wide, her arms spreading like a queen welcoming her kingdom.

Around her, shadows boiled and rattled as if the ground itself obeyed her.

“There are still eyes watching, still recordings being made…” she muttered darkly, her voice carrying across the battlefield.

Then her tone rose into a triumphant cry:

“SHALL THE THIRD CONTINENTAL WAR… BEGIN!”

Her voice split the heavens.

The undead behind her stomped as one, shaking the earth. Yumi’s eyes blazed with madness as she lifted her hand high.

“MY BELOVED UNDEAD! RISE AND DESTROY! FIGHT FOR OUR DEAR GOD OF KARMA!”

She slashed her hand downward.

FWOOOOOM!

“HURAAAAAN!”

The undead roared in unison, their voices warped and hollow, rattling like broken drums.

The sound was so loud that the clouds above split apart.

Their blades slammed against their shields, and their feet thundered across the ground.

But the other side would not stay silent.

“FOR THE ELVEN EMPIRE!” the Elven Emperor raised his shining blade, his army erupting in a storm of silver light.

“FOR THE HONOR OF DWARVES!” bellowed the Dwarf King, slamming his hammer to the earth as runes ignited across his warriors’ armor.

“FOR BLOOD AND BEAST!” roared the Beast King, his army howling like a thousand wolves at once, shaking the air with primal rage.

Christina’s voice cut through them all, trembling yet unyielding.

“FOR THE HOLY NATION—FOR THE GODDESS OF LIGHT!”

The golden soldiers behind her thrust their lances to the skies, their voices fusing into a single, earth-splitting chant.

And then…

“CHAAAARGEEE!”

The two oceans of armies surged forward at once.

BOOOOM!

The battlefield shook the moment both armies collided.

Golden spears clashed against rusted blades.

Shields shattered like glass.

Screams tore through the air, both human and beast, living and dead.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

Steel rang endlessly, like a thousand hammers beating in rhythm.

Arrows streaked through the skies like storms of fire, cutting through both flesh and bone.

Mages raised walls of earth and ice, only for them to be broken apart by floods of black mana as the undead swarmed without fear.

“STAND YOUR GROUND!” shouted a knight in golden armor, only to be crushed under the swing of a massive undead ogre.

“BURN THEM ALL!” yelled another, before his firestorm was drowned by a wave of black mist that sucked the air from his lungs.

The ground itself turned red.

Rivers of blood spilled down into the cracks of the earth as if the world was bleeding with them. Every step was a squelch, every swing of a weapon drew screams that mixed into the chaotic roar of war.

FWOOOM!

A beam of golden light cut through a swarm of undead, incinerating them instantly.

CRAAASH!

A giant undead dragon slammed into the battlefield, wings ripping through soldiers like paper, its screech shaking even the strongest hearts.

The armies weren’t simply clashing; they were devouring each other.

And in the very heart of it all, above the screaming, above the crashing metal, above the endless storm of magic, stood two figures.

Yumi.

And beside her, a woman with flowing silver hair: Cecilia.

The battlefield blurred around them, like ants crawling over one another, but their focus wasn’t on the clash.

No.

Their eyes were locked on the ten SSS-rankers who now stood before them, glowing like radiant pillars amidst the chaos.

Rustle~

Cecilia’s silver hair swayed in the wind as she spoke softly:

“They’re serious.”

Yumi grinned, licking her lips as her gaze swept across the ten figures.

“Of course they are. After all… they know the moment they lose here—” she spread her arms wide, as if embracing the chaos raging behind her, “—their entire world falls with them.”

The SSS-rankers raised their weapons in unison, their auras swelling until the battlefield itself seemed to bow under the pressure.

Yumi only tilted her head and whispered, low enough for Cecilia to hear.

“…Now this is going to be fun.”

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