IBHJ 1212

Immediately, there was a flurry of movement all around them. Thousands of fully armed Divine Soldiers along with an Apostle rushed out from the surrounding buildings—pavilions, farmhouses, and small cottages—completely surrounding Manaka.

"Lord Mikarus, joining Hope was a sin that won't just disappear, even if His Majesty hasn't gone after you for it," Demonic Bodhisattva said with a smile as she pointed at Manaka. "Hunting down this Beast—the most evil creature we've ever seen—will definitely help you make up for what you've done."

"You can count on me, Lady Kiara." The Apostle named Mikarus gave her a cold look before turning his full attention to Manaka, who was completely surrounded. He raised his sword and shouted, "Begin the hunt!"

The Divine Soldiers put away their swords, holding shields in one hand while pulling out crowns of thorns with the other.

Manaka's eyes suddenly went wide as she stared at the crowns of thorns in their hands.

Demonic Bodhisattva's lips curled into a slight smile. This weapon of the Eternal Empire was just as powerful as the legendary Imperial Armor. Anyone caught by these crowns would have their connection between mind and power completely cut off, reducing them to an ordinary person with no supernatural abilities, completely helpless—not even a Beast could resist it.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

The Divine Soldiers formed a tight circle around Manaka, hurling crown after crown of thorns at her.

‘I can't let those things touch me!’ Manaka thought desperately. She knew exactly what those crowns could do, and if she got caught, there'd be no way out—just defeat and death.

A dark light flashed across Manaka's eyes. Black mist began pouring from cracks in her body, quickly hardening into shields and swords.

Several loud clangs rang out as she blocked the flying crowns with her mud shields. With just a thought, she sent mud swords slashing at the Divine Soldiers surrounding her.

One sword cut clean through a soldier's waist with a sharp slicing sound, but just as she was about to make her escape, she watched in surprise as the two halves of the soldier simply rejoined.

Manaka frowned, forced to stop her retreat and put all her energy into fighting off the soldiers closing in around her.

"Don't waste your energy," Demonic Bodhisattva said with a smug smile. "The Empire's people possess eternity—they're already very close to that Civilization's form of existence. Even you can't assimilate Imperial soldiers who possess eternity!"

Manaka pressed her lips together tightly. She knew exactly which Civilization Demonic Bodhisattva was talking about.

Even though her omniscience couldn't see back to the beginning of origin, she still knew bits and pieces about it from [Manaka Sajyou] who had been a vessel created by the Lord of Salvation.

She knew this Civilization had sealed the Lord of Salvation into the deepest part of the Root. And the original Tethys—who [Manaka Sajyou] had once destroyed was actually the only surviving descendant of this same Civilization.

Manaka was forced to stay on defense, darting around frantically. The situation looked bad, but she actually had things under control. She was well aware her condition was already shaky and she needed to save her strength. The problem was that her enemies had both perfect defense that made them immune to her attacks and those sealing methods that could strip away her powers. So she really only had one option.

Just keep them busy.

Yes. Buy time!

Though she hated to admit it, Ritsuka couldn't just ignore what was happening. The reason was simple—Beast VII still needed her help to remove the Beast from her sister Sakura.

It was humiliating to depend on Ritsuka, who had embarrassed her so many times before, but for the sake of her mission and because she was genuinely worried about Ayaka, she had no choice but to count on that annoying girl.

"You don't actually think Ritsuka is coming to save you, do you?" Demonic Bodhisattva said with a mocking smile. "Beast VII is way too dangerous. If the Empire is moving against you, why would they ignore her?"

Hearing this, Manaka realized she had probably sent some Imperial soldiers to deal with Ritsuka too.

‘It looks like I'm on my own.’

She took a deep breath. Suddenly, a black halo appeared behind her, followed by countless black beams shooting in all directions.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Buildings were sliced in half, debris flew everywhere, and chaos erupted all around.

"Goetia's Noble Phantasm... so she's already absorbed Beast I? But in her current messed-up condition, there's no way she can use its full power, especially right now..."

Demonic Bodhisattva watched with surprise as Manaka unleashed Goetia's beams. Even though she was Manaka's enemy, she couldn't help but admire how stubborn this fake monster was.

"Since you're trying so hard, it would be rude of me not to respond. Let me spice things up a bit for you."

Demonic Bodhisattva turned toward Ayaka, whose face had gone completely pale. A cruel smile spread across her lips as the giant hands holding Ayaka suddenly squeezed tighter.

Ayaka felt like she was being crushed in a vise, her face twisting in pain.

"Scream!" Demonic Bodhisattva demanded. "Cry out! Beg her to help you!"

Ayaka bit her lip hard, refusing to make a sound.

Demonic Bodhisattva frowned. "Scream! Don't you feel any pain?"

She tightened her grip even more. Ayaka's fragile body made horrible cracking sounds as her bones broke, but she just bit her lip harder, refusing to make a sound.

"Why won't you scream?" Demonic Bodhisattva demanded through clenched teeth. "Beg her to help you! Aren't you afraid of dying?"

"Don't—don't underestimate me," Ayaka managed to say despite the pain. "I'd rather die than beg her for help!"

She was in agony, but her determination never wavered.

"You—" Demonic Bodhisattva couldn't keep up her calm smile anymore and glared at her.

Whether Ayaka lived or died didn't really matter to her, but she was an important bargaining chip to keep Manaka under control.

At least for now, she didn't dare kill Ayaka, or Manaka would have nothing holding her back and would definitely run away—making it much harder to catch her again.

"If you won't scream, then I'll do it for you." Demonic Bodhisattva turned and screamed at Manaka, "Manaka, look over here!"

Manaka automatically looked up and immediately saw what she was doing to Ayaka. Her calm, focused mind instantly fell into chaos.

Perfect! The Apostle Mikarus's eyes lit up as he charged into battle, swinging his sword straight at Manaka's midsection.

Just as she was about to dodge, a horrible voice flashed through her mind.

Ar—thur!

Manaka froze as if she'd been struck by lightning. With a sickening slice, Mikarus cut her abdomen in half. But the black mud flowing from the wound quickly pulled her severed body back together.

Manaka couldn't risk staying any longer. She clutched her head with one hand and staggered backward several steps, putting distance between herself and Mikarus.

"That's more like it!" Demonic Bodhisattva's face broke into a satisfied smile.

Manaka was already in terrible shape, and the Empire's eternity and those crowns were basically designed to counter everything she could do. Plus, Ritsuka, who might have helped her out, was probably tied up dealing with the Empire's forces.

And now, seeing Ayaka suffering was throwing her completely off balance.

But even these weren't the biggest problems.

The real issue was that voice.

That voice deep inside her heart.

A voice that wasn't hers at all.

—Arthur! —Arthur!

"Crack, crack, crack—"

The cracks spreading across her body grew worse.

With so much going wrong inside and out, Manaka's movements got slower and clumsier. Finally, Mikarus knocked her down with his sword, and the Divine Soldiers quickly seized their chance to place a crown on her.

Seeing this, Demonic Bodhisattva cried out excitedly, "Kill her!"

"Shouldn't we take her to His Majesty for judgment?" Mikarus asked.

"Don't make this complicated—just kill her now!" she shouted.

He frowned, clearly annoyed. "I don't take orders from you, Lady Kiara."