“What on earth…?”

I unintentionally blurted those words without realizing it.

Just moments before, I had been at the flat basin on the summit of the rocky mountain, where Yoon Si-woo and Beatrice had been fighting.

Now, that place had completely vanished in the blink of an eye.

The rocky mountain, with its summit eerily hollowed out as if something had devoured it, created a spectacle enough to leave onlookers breathless.

As I stared blankly at what was now a gaping void where the mountain peak once stood, I suddenly realized—

Yoon Si-woo, who should have been there, had disappeared along with it.

“Y-Yoon Si-woo…!”

I screamed his name, frantically scanning the area as I flew on Ari.

“…This way, Scarlet.”

“…! Ari, over there!”

Fortunately, just as I was searching, I heard Yoon Si-woo’s voice.

He was standing below, on the mountainside, with his sword embedded in the ground.

Telling Ari to swoop down, I immediately flew to his side and, upon confirming his safety, let out a sigh of relief.

“Haa, you’re safe… thank goodness…”

“Yeah, but it seems like things have gotten a bit complicated…”

My relief was short-lived as Yoon Si-woo’s response hardened my expression.

I could sense the tension in his voice.

“It seems that wasn’t all of its power… That thing’s regeneration speed has remarkably increased. If I hadn’t been on guard, I would’ve been caught off guard.”

Yoon Si-woo murmured while casting a sharp gaze upward at the mountain.

Then, a voice echoed from where he was looking.

“Hehe, that’s right. This is the first time I’m going all out in my life.”

The voice belonged to Beatrice, the one responsible for obliterating the mountain peak.

I turned my gaze in the direction of the voice, following where Yoon Si-woo was looking.

“My ability to erase contact works by expanding outward in a spherical shape around me. But that’s not how it should operate. What would happen if that ability wiped away everything it touched, even the ground I stand on? Naturally, I’d end up buried beneath the earth, which isn’t ideal.”

I could see it now.

“So, I’ve been deliberately careful not to activate my ability downward and let its range expand. Even if it takes longer because I’m cautious every time I use it.”

She walked toward Yoon Si-woo with a smile.

“But doing that, I found I couldn’t beat you. You would come too close while I was being careful. So, for the first time, I thought I’d go all out without worrying about the ground disappearing beneath me. If I had known this would happen, I might have tried it once beforehand.”

Yoon Si-woo and I couldn’t help but swallow hard as we watched Beatrice approaching.

“My ability isn’t just about erasing contact; it’s about rejecting interference—”

She was now approaching us,

“Even gravity is something I can outright reject.”

She walked on nothingness, suspended in mid-air.

“Just do it moderately, damn it.”

I muttered, nearly at a loss for words.

I was already aware that a witch’s abilities were not constrained by the laws of physics.

Lucy’s ability to sever everything she touched.

The gluttonous witch’s absolute healing power.

And Beatrice’s ability to erase contact itself.

But there’s such a thing as a visual effect.

People naturally develop a fear of phenomena or existences they can’t comprehend.

When that fear reaches a certain level, it transforms into a sense of awe.

And there, above us on the ground, was Beatrice, treading effortlessly in thin air.

It was more than enough to instill such feelings within me.

At this moment, Beatrice felt insurmountable, as if she were a deity that should not be challenged.

Yet Yoon Si-woo—

“Scarlet, stay back.”

Without being fazed by the scene, he readied his sword once more for battle.

“…Yoon, Si-woo.”

I instinctively grabbed his wrist as he stepped forward to confront Beatrice.

If I could, I wanted to stop him from facing the monster, the deity.

My worries and fears for Yoon Si-woo prevented me from letting go of his wrist.

But we both knew.

This fight was unavoidable.

So, instead of holding him back, I slowly released my grip from his wrist and made a request.

“…Promise me you’ll win and come back safely.”

“…I promise.”

Yoon Si-woo nodded at my request, assuring me he would.

It was the kind of response that brought me more reassurance than any words could.

Since he had promised to return safely, I believed he would keep that promise this time too. I mounted Ari and retreated from the battlefield.

As soon as I confirmed that I was far enough away, Yoon Si-woo charged straight at Beatrice.

“Hah!”

To reach the one floating in the sky, Yoon Si-woo leaped.

He raced down the mountainside, reaching the very top of the rocky mountain.

With a swift leap, he succeeded in cutting through Beatrice’s barrier, which had rushed to block him.

“Hehe, you think a human like you can reach me up in the sky?”

But the sky was fundamentally a space not allowed for humans.

Though Yoon Si-woo had succeeded in breaking through Beatrice’s barrier, the backlash from the impact robbed him of the upward momentum he had gained.

Like Icarus’s melted wings, he began to slowly fall back toward the ground.

Watching Beatrice, who seemed to mock him for daring to challenge one so high above, made me grit my teeth in frustration.

But both Beatrice and I had overlooked one crucial detail.

That was the fact that Yoon Si-woo was no ordinary human.

I could hear Yoon Si-woo quietly murmur.

“Holy Sword, activate.”

Simultaneously, with a flash—

A brilliant golden light engulfed the sky.

The radiant Holy Sword, now activated, emitted a golden torrent.

Startled by the sudden burst of dazzling light, Beatrice momentarily raised her eyes, but quickly realized it wouldn’t breach her abilities and, with a smirk, muttered.

“Heh, tricks like this won’t work.”

And then, cutting off her words was—

“I know.”

It was Yoon Si-woo, who had seemingly appeared behind Beatrice, swinging his sword.

“Ugh—?!”

“Damn, was that too naive again?”

With a rare look of panic, Beatrice hastily crafted a defense barrier that barely deflected Yoon Si-woo’s sword, leaving a shallow wound on her back.

Dissatisfied with the result, Yoon Si-woo clicked his tongue as Beatrice retaliated.

Yoon Si-woo parried the incoming attack.

Yet, the recoil from the strike caused Yoon Si-woo to shoot upward instead of falling down.

This was because he had suddenly jumped off the sword that had appeared beneath him.

I realized that this was the secret behind how Yoon Si-woo had managed to reach Beatrice.

Thinking about it, amidst the abilities of the Holy Swords, Yoon Si-woo possessed the capability to summon and dismiss his sword freely into spatial dimensions.

Using that to create a launching pad beneath him, he leapt into the air…

The radiant Holy Sword was merely for show, wasn’t it?

I felt overwhelmed watching Yoon Si-woo engage in aerial combat with Beatrice, darting visibly through the air.

It might seem simple in words, but it was truly a mad display of skill.

The judgments made within such short timeframes, combined with the control over his body in mid-air, required an almost transcendent level of proficiency.

What allowed him to achieve this was undoubtedly the support of those Holy Swords.

I watched as Yoon Si-woo battled against Beatrice.

Clad in pure white armor and wielding a jet-black sword, two other swords floated behind him, glowing.

Combined with Lucy, when activated, it transformed into an armored form that protected and boosted his body.

An indomitable sword that elevated recovery at the cost of lifespan, and another, though unseen, was said to enhance reflexes as if peering into the future upon activation.

Of the seven Holy Swords Yoon Si-woo possessed, I was familiar with the names and abilities of six from the original work.

Looking closely, aside from the Truth Sword and Radiant Sword he was using as a launching pad, it seemed he had activated all the other swords that could help in battle.

Multi-activation of Holy Swords? In the original, it was said that activating more than two at once was impossible. When did he reach such a level?

Indeed, Yoon Si-woo was exhibiting the full extent of his power.

So, despite everything, he was engaging Beatrice in a fierce battle on equal footing.

Or rather, to be frank—

Even while fighting like that, Yoon Si-woo was on the losing end.

“Ugh—!!”

“You’re pretty persistent….”

Yoon Si-woo was flung far away after clashing against Beatrice’s barrier.

Even when Yoon Si-woo fought tooth and nail and managed to close the distance by slicing through her defenses, Beatrice was equally pouring her full strength into the battle.

Having lost her concern for the ground beneath her, she was generating barriers in the blink of an eye.

If the distance was far, it would take some time for her barrier to expand, but as Yoon Si-woo approached her, he had to slice through her barriers immediately after they reappeared, making it difficult for him to close the gap.

To attack, he needed to get closer, but it was hardly feasible.

Even in these circumstances, Yoon Si-woo continued to struggle, alternating between approaching and being pushed back.

They fought so fiercely that the rocky mountain, where Yoon Si-woo and Beatrice clashed, had shrunk to an unrecognizable size, as if it had been wiped away by Beatrice’s ability.

This was a battle against an enemy possessing superhuman strength capable of reshaping the terrain.

To me, it appeared as if a mere human was daring to challenge a deity.

But the longer Yoon Si-woo continued his battle—

“Ugh…!”

“What’s with this kid….”

I could sense the situation changing.

“Gah, Aah—!”

“It’s getting faster…!”

The frequency at which Yoon Si-woo was being thrown back was decreasing.

As the engagement time with Beatrice lengthened, the number of times Yoon Si-woo’s sword grazed her body increased.

Even amidst such superhuman combat, in a battle that felt absurd to its limits—

Yoon Si-woo was growing stronger.

He possessed an innate talent befitting the protagonist of a story.

Given time, he could reach even a god.

“Yoon Si-woo… you really…”

Indeed, it was always humans who struck down gods or slay beasts within stories.

Such humans are what we call heroes, or warriors.

These are the ones who bring hope to others.

Thus, as I watched my hero, I held onto hope.

Watching Yoon Si-woo as he began to corner Beatrice, I embraced that hope.

And that hope was—

“Cough….”

“……. Huh?”

Shattered into pieces the moment I saw Yoon Si-woo collapse, spitting out blood.

“Y-Yoon Si-woo…! Ari, over there!!”

I exclaimed in shock, urging Ari to catch Yoon Si-woo before he hit the ground.

But the moment I caught him, it was obvious to anyone that he was in serious condition.

“W-what… Why… suddenly…?!”

I screamed in utter despair.

[It’s not sudden. You already know the reason, don’t you?]

Lucy’s voice echoed in my mind.

It echoed, saying I already understood the reason.

I could see the black aura spreading from the hand gripping Lucy to Yoon Si-woo’s body.

I hurriedly withdrew Lucy from Yoon Si-woo’s grasp, but the dark aura that had already begun to taint him didn’t fade.

“No, you can’t be….”

[…Yes, you used too much. You’ve hit your limit.]

I had no choice but to tightly shut my eyes at her solemn voice.

A choked sound emerged from my throat.

“…Is he going to die?”

[…If things stay this way.]

“Is there a way to… save him?”

[…There are ways, but not in this state. That witch won’t allow it.]

Hearing that he could be saved brought me a flicker of hope, but when I looked up, I caught sight of Beatrice slowly descending toward us.

She appeared almost like a reaper coming to deliver death to Yoon Si-woo.

Despair engulfed me; I felt my hands tremble and my teeth chatter in fear.

As Beatrice looked down at me, she muttered in a judgmental tone.

“…I don’t know the specifics, but it seems that persistent brat has fallen. I suppose it’s the end now. Come on, Eva. I’ll send you along with him.”

The end.

If I remain still, this will be the end.

Beatrice will kill both Yoon Si-woo and me, and that would be it.

As this thought crossed my mind,

“No….”

I found myself shaking my head.

“I don’t care about myself, but Yoon Si-woo… he mustn’t….”

I hadn’t forgotten my fear of Beatrice.

The thought of letting Yoon Si-woo die eclipsed that fear.

But even so, I couldn’t stop her with my own power.

I looked down below.

There lay the black sword, the only weapon capable of inflicting damage upon Beatrice.

“…Lucy, I’m counting on you.”

So, I spoke to that sword.

“Lend me your power.”

[You want me to lend you my power now? You intend to fight using me?]

“…Otherwise, I can’t beat that witch.”

Lucy murmured, her voice tinged with disbelief.

[Setting aside whether it’s possible or not, do you think I’d lend power to someone who’s not even my master?]

“…I believe you will.”

[Why do you think that?]

“…Because you are Yoon Si-woo’s family.”

After I replied that, Lucy briefly fell silent before speaking again.

[What an audacious girl. Am I in a foul mood now, so I won’t grant your request. However, I might consider it if you propose a contract.]

Hearing the word “contract,” I responded to Lucy.

“Then, let’s make a contract.”

[Child, what do you desire?]

“Beatrice. I want to hit that witch hard.”

[If I assist you with that, what can you give me in return?]

I answered Lucy’s question regarding reciprocity.

“I’ll strike that witch who has turned Yoon Si-woo into this state.”

“Haha.”

Lucy burst into laughter as if genuinely entertained.

[Now that’s a reward I can’t refuse. The contract is established. I will lend you my strength; if you can, give it a try.]

Thus, having forged a contract with Lucy, I prepared to protect my fallen hero.

I drew my sword against the approaching deity.