Where there is light, there is shadow

"... Grruu..."

The whole body was cut down, but Ghislain was still alive and well.

The wind whistled and whirled as it screamed and was sucked into Ghislain.

The two heads were breathing heavily.

""... Aaahhh!!""

A breath filled with an enormous amount of dazzling holy energy was exhaled.

The breath from the two heads mingled together like a genetic double-helix, becoming a divine sword, and approaching René's eyes on the wall.

René was not so naive as to smash through it head-on.

"≪Teleport≫”

Now that she was in Lich form, even without chanting, it would be enough.

René was instantly transferred to the top of the castle wall on the opposite side of the castle.

"Ah, gah!?"

Ghislain, who seemed to have sensed a presence, tried to turn around while fluttering the residue of his breath like a comet's tail.

"≪Calamity Flash≫”

A reddish-black flash of death gushed out from the tip of the crimson magic staff.

The beam of evil energy was released with an output that was no less than Ghislain's breath, and Ghislain attempted to intercept it with a laser from his back.
(TLN: Shin Godzilla reference)

The blasts of holy energy were canceled out and blown away, and without any certainty as to how much significance they really had, a flash of evil energy was forced onto Ghislain's back.

"...You're sturdy as a rock."

"Giiiiiii!!"

Ghislain, who had been burned on the back but forced to twist around, released a breath again with a screeching roar.

The light of holy and evil energy collided head-on.

The two energies offset each other, pushing and shoving against each other, and eventually they exploded, creating a storm.

René endured the wind that threatened to blow her bones away as she lay prone in the walkway of the castle wall.

--Princess! An Illuminator who was fighting outside the castle swept past the soldiers...

A voice echoed within her rattled skull. It was «Telepathy».

A huge presence clothed in holy energy approached.

“Gaaaaah!!”

Flapping its wings powerfully, breaking the wind, a white dragon with golden ornaments appeared from under the castle wall.

The Illuminator emerged from behind the prone René, clasped its strong hands together, and swung down to smash René.

"≪Teleport≫!”

Just before the attack, René, timing her move, teleported to the balcony of the castle, where both Ghislain and the Illuminator were staring at her.

The dragon's hard fists had cracked the castle walls, which were supposed to be solid, and made them crumble.

Holding onto the wall as it was, the Illuminator climbed over.

And instead of continuing the attack on René, it flew toward Ghislain in an attempt to body-press him.

--Is this guy going to fuse with him too? If so, then...

"≪Storage Bag≫!”

A single swing of a knife appeared from the void and fell into René's (bone) hand.

Storage magic limited the overall magic output during use according to its scale. In order not to interfere with the battle, René had packed only the minimum necessary items in the «Storage Bag», which was the lowest level of storage magic.

In other words, the magic sword Terra Ayur, which was to be her secondary weapon in hand-to-hand combat. In addition, several "Wedge of Fallen Heaven", a special weapon against holy beasts.

The Illuminator pounced on Ghislain.

Less than a second to dock. Not even half a second. A moment. A moment.

"≪Object Teleport≫!”

Then, René teleported the "Wedge of Fallen Heaven".

The Ghislain and the Illuminator, which were about to fuse together, into the small gap between them.

Lightning gushed out between the holy beasts, and a magic circle was deployed to obstruct the space between the two.

“Ghewghh..."

The Illuminator exploded, leaving behind a crushed cry.

The dragon, which had turned into a lump of flesh in mid-air, splattered blood as a collection of randomly assembled bones and tangled muscle fibers.

--Oh my...? I thought I was aiming for Ghislain. So the Illuminator had damage-sharing capabilities that it just didn't use until now?

Speaking of success, the attack was originally intended to finish off Ghislain.

In other words, since the Illuminator's presence itself was important, did it only cover up the fatal attack?

Ghislain looked down at what used to be the body of the Illuminator.

It seemed like he was not going to eat it, although it seemed different. The eyes behind the golden mask looked down at the small knife that stood out in the wreckage.

--Is he looking at ... the "Wedge of Fallen Heaven"?

"Vuoooooooo!!"

Roaring angrily, Ghislain spread his wings.

Its flight was the same as that of a real dragon, a "magic imitation" due to the effect of bio-magic. The huge body soared with supernatural buoyancy.

At the same time, the presence of holy energy emanating from Ghislain's entire body swelled up.

The scales stood on end, glowing, and the two necks stocked with Breath.

It was a final assault with all his weapons.

Thinking there was nothing left to do, he decided to take a gamble.

"≪Storage Bag≫!”

When René exercised magic, several "Wedges of the Fallen" scattered and fell from the void.

They were entangled in the force field and floated in the air faster than they fell to the floor.

"≪Telekinesis≫! ...That's it!”

A 'fallen wedge of heaven' was unleashed.

Using evil low-grade «Poltergeist», it was difficult to make it plunge into the mass of holy energy, so she used «Telekinesis», which was science-based magic.

Although it was not possible to make it draw a complicated trajectory with autonomous control, it flew like an arrow with a slight curve, drawing a trajectory that encircled Ghislain.

Ghislain flew while scattering lasers of holy energy from his entire body.

A couple of "Wedges of Fallen Heaven" were knocked away, but that was it. A final assault that never reached its target.

...Or so it seemed.

Ghislain's body pulsed strangely.

The belly of the bulky body was shaved off, and the dragon's tail fell off like a lizard's.

As it flew, chunks of white flesh peeled from Ghislain's tail, back, and belly like shredded clay, and fell to the muddy ground.

--The flesh comes off?

Like a rocket that launched itself while detaching its parts, Ghislain was coming toward her while detaching his flesh.

René wondered if he was trying to increase his speed by making his body lighter, but it didn't seem like he was gaining much speed.

The assault did not reach René, and the "Wedges of Fallen Heaven" were thrust into Ghislain's body one after another.

A number of magic circles were deployed, and a nebulous light illuminated Ghislain's huge frame.

And then, the pieces of flesh that had been separated from Ghislain, not him, burst one after another on the ground.

"Ehh!?"

“Aaaaaaaaah!!"

Ghislain's breath burned his own hands.

The dragon's hands were covered in flames of holy energy and crushed René, who was unable to move.

*

At about the same time.

A young girl, held captive in a simple house in a residential area of Terra Kaine, screamed.

"Kyaaaaahh!"

Surrounded by Bloodsuckers, the girl, who could only stand still and tremble, collapsed in agony and pain.

To have one's body taken away by evil was an agony that shook the very foundations of one's soul. Furthermore, she was bombarded with so many negative emotions that she could not hold in her body..., such as resentment, anger, and sadness, that it was enough to drive her mad.

The Bloodsuckers watched such madness with emotionless eyes.

The only thing that was hostile and watchful was the way they lined up and straightened their posture, like they were bowing down to a noble.

"... Phew! I got hit."

When the girl got up again, her consciousness was now that of a different person.

René was crushed by Ghislain.

Indeed, her body was destroyed.

But the soul was safe. The soul alone escaped and slipped into a spare body.

Incidentally, the girl whose parents had been turned into Bloodsuckers and whose body had just been taken from her under the watchful eye of an army of undead, including her parents, was named Meri.

Although René would never use that name.

Meri (René) took a couple of breaths, checking the condition of her soul in the process.

She felt a dull pain in the back of her body, like lightning bolts kept popping, but that was all she felt.

--I was hit by a mass of holy energy, so the main body was not unscathed. But I guess I don't have to worry about this level of damage.

Even if the body was completely destroyed, the soul alone could escape and rebuild.

This was the strength of the "Rose Princess of Hellrage". If not defeated after setting up a mechanism to capture her soul, it would only be a temporary setback.

All that fuss, and even some backhanded acrobatics.

But Ghislain had only managed to reduce the number of "leftover units" by one.

For Meri (René), it was undesirable to prolong the battle considering the damage to her allies, but the "Sub-Zero Crystal Spear" had already lost the battle. Moreover, Ghislain had withdrawn the holy beasts and gathered them to himself, so there was no need to be concerned.

The ghoul knight in command of the unit stepped forward and offered his own call mark to Meri (René).

"Princess, are you there?"

Alastair's voice came from the call mark that had already been activated.

"I'm here. ... He tore off his flesh and spawned holy beasts. I'm not sure how he could have done that, but he did. I can't believe he's got all those tricks up his sleeve..."

"I am glad you are safe and sound."

It was a little frustrating to be beaten as she was.

Not only did Ghislain have the ability to fuse with other holy beasts, but he also had the ability to separate his own body to create a simplified holy beast.

Whether it can split infinitely as long as it had flesh, or whether there was some kind of limit, she did not know... Well, she could just kill it and bring the corpse back and have Everis analyze it.

“Do you want to continue fighting?"

"No problem. I didn't expect Ghislain to be a holy beast or something, which was not the original plan... Anyway, it's just one more push. I'm going to go for the finish line now that I've switched bodies."

"Understood... mmm?"

That was when it happened. A voice was heard over the call mark, talking about something.

At about the same time, René caught a change in the atmosphere of the city.

"Princess, I have a report from the castle gate. The presence of the holy beasts in the castle has disappeared."

"I know."

Even at a distance, she could still feel the enormous holy energy of the holy beast Ghislain. It suddenly vanished.

"The incarnate holy beasts that use humans seem to be able to hide their presence by mimicking humans..."

"I wonder if he thought he had me beat and put me out of action. Let me check on him. I'll be right there."

With a snap, the neck was cut off.

The blood splashed down on her chest.

The body of Meri (René), who was only a frail girl, was filled with power.

Her shoulder-length blue hair waved in waves and turned into waist-length silver hair.

In her right hand, she held a cursed red blade created from her own blood. In her left hand, she held her severed head.

As René walked forward, the Bloodsuckers who had been lining up quickly moved out of the way and opened the way for her.

And they began to march after René.

You can get access to 10 Chapters ahead of the Novelupdates release on my Patreon. <3