Chapter 1179: Onslaught's Demise

Persona and Maleficent were feeling down, thinking that Avenger had died. But he’s actually back inside me! It’s alright!

Well, not that we have any time to tell them right now!

Our battle with Onslaught was also reaching its climax.

「Dammit! You should be no match for me now that I’ve absorbed so many grudges, so why…?!」

The amount of grudges flowing into Onslaught had dramatically decreased, and his power was clearly weakening. It seems Avenger stole a significant portion of the grudges infused into the land.

Actually, I suppose Onslaught is the thief from Avenger’s perspective.

Despite Avenger’s annoying habit of breaking the serious mood, he did his job well.

With the supply of grudges disrupted, Onslaught weakened more than I expected, turning surprisingly fragile. Each of our attacks began chipping off a huge chunk of his massive body.

『Fran, this is our chance!』

「Nn!」

「GWAAAHHH! Why is this happening?! Get back! Stay away from me!」

Onslaught wildly swung his countless tentacles, though Fran managed to slip past them all and reach his main body.

『Show us your weakspot!』

「Gwoh! M-My body’s moving on its own?!」

I applied Evil Conquest directly to Onslaught. This was intended to draw his core-like part closer to the surface of his body, but…

Onslaught’s body undulated greatly, revealing a magic stone-like object with a nasty color right in front of us.

I know why it was so easy: the Evil God Fragment.

It backed up Evil Conquest without any input from me, enhancing the power behind my command.

I sensed it getting smug, as if trying to say “Feel free to thank me”.

Should I be angry that the Evil God is still acting up, or should I be grateful that it helped us? I honestly don’t know, but Onslaught is more important right now.

Fran instinctively knew that this was the weak spot. Well, anyone could tell just by looking at it.

She struck at the exposed core with all her might.

「Heavenly Judgment!」

「GYAAAAAAAAHHH!」

The core was cleaved in half, and Onslaught emit a high-pitched scream. Immediately after, his entire body crumbled like sand and disappeared.

I thought it would be hard-fought battle, but we actually won quite easily. I sensed the Evil God radiating something along the lines of “All thanks to me!”

Yeah, yeah, you helped! That said, you still need to stop acting on your own in the future, okay? Seriously, you might get me and Fran into some big trouble! You too, Avenger! Stop making so much noise if you’re supposed to be injured! Geez!

Anyways, let’s inform Maleficent and Persona about Avenger’s safety…

「Gwah!」

「…!」

Huh? What just…!?

「Maleficent!」

Maleficent suddenly screamed in pain.

A skeleton had appeared out of nowhere and thrust his arm into Maleficent’s chest from behind.

「Kukakah! Got you!」

「Grh…!」

We had let our guards down after defeating Onslaught and the South Conquest Duke.

With Nameless’s arm impaling his chest from behind, Maleficent could do little but grunt in pain.

「Kukakah! You’re quite compatible with the grudges of this land, huh? I see you have little trouble moving even after getting infused with so much negative energy!」

「G-GWAAAAH!」

Grudges erupted from the skeleton’s arm, corroding Maleficent’s body. He groaned in pain.

Fran immediately moved to intervene, but it was too late.

「Nameless!」

『Didn’t Maleficent already kill him…? No, he must have killed his body double, Wickerman!』

He completely fooled us since they looked so similar! Maybe the real reason he kept persistently attacking earlier was so that he could fake his death?

「Hmph!」

「Gah…!」

Nameless threw Maleficent to the side and grabbed Persona’s arm.

「…!」

Persona’s face contorted in fear, but Maleficent’s expression was utterly terrifying. His face was so consumed with wrath that I almost thought his demonic transformation was complete.

Maleficent drew Hell while still lying on the ground. Don’t tell me you’re going to activate it again. You’ll literally die of exhaustion before the demon can even take you over!

Perhaps the danger to Persona made him forget everything else. Even if he remembered, I doubt he would hesitate if it was to save Persona.

Either way, we can’t let Maleficent endanger himself any further!

That said, Maleficent never got the chance.

「LET GO OF PERSONA!! DIVINE SWORD――」

「No! Don’t die!」

The voice just now was Persona’s, right? I think that’s the first time I’ve heard her speaking actual words.

Moreover, this wasn’t merely a scream. She had ordered Maleficent. Despite holding the divine sword in his hands, Maleficent’s mouth moved without any sound. It seems he was physically incapable of speaking the words “Divine Sword Release”.

「Persona! Why?!」

「Not right now! Don’t get angry!」