"The Seraph's strongest weapon is undoubtedly the 'Finale of Ruin.' Although the system notes say 'do not activate without reaching a certain level of strength,' all that really means is that using it right now will cause severe backlash for me."
"Even if I don't know how much damage it can deal, I should still test it at some point. But now isn't the time. Most of their forces haven't appeared yet, so I'll clear some out with machine guns and missiles first." Chu Lian calculated silently. As the number of hell creatures in the sky continued to grow, she finally stopped letting them accumulate endlessly. She pushed the Seraph from standby to its limits and charged forward under Absolute Domain.
She was no longer bound by the system as she had been in Overlord, where her strength and even her skills were rigidly defined with cooldowns. Without those constraints, as long as she willed it, she could use any ability she possessed. Although gathering energy and focusing her mind still required a bit of time, it wasn't an insurmountable limitation.
Most importantly, she could now utilize the Divine Spirit Art. It might appear to grant only slight boosts to attributes, recovery, and spiritual power, but for her, the improvement was like night and day.
Previously, she could barely keep the Seraph in flight for half a minute. Now, she could extend that to three minutes. Even activating Absolute Domain before a major battle was no longer a heavy burden.
Three minutes was more than enough for her to unleash overwhelming firepower and crush wave after wave of enemies without giving them a chance to retaliate.
"Lightning Spirit!" Seeing Chu Lian charge ahead, Chu Chu immediately raised her palm toward the sky. Thunder roared, yet not a single thundercloud gathered.
Chu Chu gritted her teeth. "Damn it... even the power to summon lightning has been restricted. Do these bastards really think I have no other options?"
Indeed, in large-scale battles, Chu Chu's role surpassed that of all the other girls—especially when she summoned the Lightning Spirit to guard her, making her almost unbeatable.
Unfortunately, the enemy had prepared too thoroughly. It was clear—they intended to force her to fight using only her own strength.
"Gungnir Spear." Since she couldn't summon the Lightning Spirit, she would break the deadlock with her strongest power.
She extended both hands forward, fingers spread wide. Countless strands of crimson lightning gathered in her palms. Staring into the distant sky, she let out a cold smile. The moment the Gungnir Spear formed, she hurled it forward.
Endless crimson lightning, carrying an aura of destruction, surged past Chu Lian from behind, overtaking her and plunging straight into the hellish encirclement. A blinding burst of red light exploded, so intense that it was impossible to keep one's eyes open.
After releasing that attack, even Chu Chu—despite her far superior mana reserves and recovery speed—began to pant heavily.
This strike was not only earth-shattering, it was an even clearer declaration of war than Chu Lian's charge.
In an instant, the attention of most of the hell creatures locked onto Chu Chu. Their violent aura flared as dark crimson flames ignited around them.
When the lightning faded, a vast empty zone over a hundred meters in diameter appeared before Chu Lian's eyes. The Gungnir Spear was not only massive in range but also devastatingly concentrated—everything within its blast radius had been annihilated.
Aside from a few Earth-rank elites who managed to evade it, Chu Chu had nearly wiped out a thousand hell creatures.
However, a mage acting as a mobile artillery unit could afford such arrogance only under absolute advantage or protection. Chu Chu, however, had neither sufficient allies nearby nor the upper hand in battle. Inevitably, she became the primary target.
"Chu Chu..." Clenching her fists, Chu Lian knew this was intentional. She had never seen Chu Chu use Gungnir Spear before. Either it was newly learned, or she had been saving it for a specific moment.
Now, clearly, that moment had arrived.
The crimson lightning was also different from her usual blue-violet bolts—there had to be a reason behind it.
But there was no time to dwell on it. Before her thoughts could settle for even a second after the lightning faded, all the hell creatures went berserk. With a howl from the three-headed hellhound—awooo—they charged forward as one.
Compared to Chu Lian, their focus was clearly on Chu Chu, whose destructive power posed the greater threat.
But as her elder sister, how could Chu Lian allow that? Chu Chu was her little sister—how could she let her bear all the attacks alone?
The thought had barely crossed her mind when she accelerated to supersonic speed, instantly returning to Chu Chu's side. Standing before her, she glanced at the girls who had already drawn their weapons, ready for battle, and smiled lightly. "There are quite a lot of enemies here. That won't be a problem, right?"
"Big Sis, Chu Chu has always been your best support. That's never been an empty promise." Having recovered slightly, Chu Chu shook her head, her smile sweet.
Although her intentions had been seen through immediately, she felt an indescribable warmth. Since Big Sis protected her so much, how could she not give everything in return?
"Lian..." Inori, who had intended to stay behind and protect Chu Chu, looked surprised and delighted when Chu Lian returned so quickly. As long as she didn't rush off alone, everything was fine.
"Let the storm of bullets begin!" Her silver high heels struck the ground sharply. Raising her left hand, the Left Arm—Endless Rotary Machine Gun roared to life. Its rate of nine rounds per second might not be fast, but its immense penetration and destructive power made up for the lack of speed.
At the same time, the Right Arm—Star-Slaying Tracking Missiles activated, striking precisely wherever she aimed, blasting weaker hell creatures like imps into nothingness.
With Chu Lian taking the lead, the other girls joined the battle. They might not have her overwhelming equipment or Chu Chu's ability to wipe out thousands at once, but their individual combat strength was second to none.
Clang—Twin blades blocked an incoming strike. The sheer force transmitted through the weapons forced her tall figure to stagger back several steps.
Facing the even larger demon commander, Hiyori instinctively glanced at her twin swords. Fine cracks had spread across their surfaces from the violent clash, and faint blue energy was leaking out.
Had the blades that had fought alongside her for so long finally reached the end of their lifespan? If so... why now, of all times?
Her mood was somewhat grim, largely because the timing of the enemy's appearance was far too unfortunate. Not long ago, during the battle with the royal family, her weapons had clashed for an extended period against the unknown blade wielded by Kurosaki Satsuki, already sustaining damage.
Moreover, there had been the fight against that bloated Earth-rank zombie, followed by a long, exhausting pursuit. All of this had pushed her twin blades far beyond their limits.
Now, facing this Earth-rank demon commander, the serrated greatsword in its hands—made from some unknown material—had delivered a single devastating clash that her already weakened blades could no longer endure, causing them to crack.
In such a situation, having one's weapon break was tantamount to falling into a desperate predicament. It was not something one could easily escape from.
"What is that...?" As she barely dodged repeated strikes smashing into the rooftop, while also fending off sneak attacks from other hell demons, Hiyori suddenly kicked something as she passed by a certain spot.
A silent call seemed to reach her, prompting her to lower her gaze instinctively. It was a long-handled blade.
The weapon's cold edge gleamed with an abnormal white brilliance amidst the black-red space. The moment she saw it, her crimson eyes were irresistibly drawn to it.
Ignoring the incoming strike from her opponent, she bent down to seize the blade. The instant her hand grasped its hilt, a faint, blazing white light radiated from the cold-edged weapon, causing her entire body to glow.
The white light merged with her blue energy... and suddenly, a transformation occurred.
With a resounding dragon's roar, a black divine dragon spiraled into the sky. Its golden eyes radiated an undeniable majesty as it gazed upon the demon commander—whose attack had just been blocked by the timely arrival of Kurosaki Satsuki.
After circling in the air several times, the dragon plunged into the blade in Hiyori's hands. A coiling dragon pattern emerged along the weapon's once plain hilt and blade, exuding an ancient, desolate aura. Its true form was finally revealed.
"Xuanlong Xiaoyue... what a blade, what a magnificent blade!" Gripping the weapon, Hiyori found it far more natural and responsive than her previous swords. She raised her head, both hands moving the hilt in a fluid motion. A completely different aura emanated from her, adding an overwhelming sense of dread that made it difficult to meet her gaze.
"Satsuki, you can step aside. Leave this one to me!" Having obtained her new weapon, the Umbral Knight grew even more imposing. After saying this to Kurosaki Satsuki, she didn't wait for a response and charged forward, slashing at the demon commander's waist.
"You!" The demon commander glared furiously at Hiyori, clearly not expecting that the righteous-looking Umbral Knight from earlier would resort to such a sudden attack.
"Me what? Take this." Hiyori, now fully exhilarated, paid no attention to its complaints. If it considered that a sneak attack, then it was simply laughable.
After all, she had been the one under constant assault all along—and now it dared to complain?
After a brief separation, the two clashed once more. This time, however, it was no longer the demon commander dominating the fight. Instead, Hiyori seemed to grow stronger with every exchange.
Watching her for a moment and seeing no issues, the white-haired girl finally let out a breath of relief. Her figure melted into the shadows, evading an incoming strike from behind.
"You're too slow..." The girl, who had been holding in her anger, finally unleashed it. Appearing behind a demon bat that had attempted to ambush her, she struck with a blade in each hand, slicing it cleanly into three pieces.
"These filthy enemies... disappear." Leaving those cold words behind, she vanished once more, moving through the shadows like a venomous serpent seeking its next prey.
"Lian..." Whispering the girl's name in her heart, Inori remained where she stood. The void greatsword in her hands swung repeatedly, its silver-white energy forming razor-sharp arcs that cleaved every demon around her in two.
As Chu Lian had said, aside from her, the one who could wield this weapon most effectively was Inori. Since it was formed from her own void, its compatibility with her was even higher than with its creator.
At the very least, Chu Lian could not stand still and casually cut down all enemies with a mere wave of her hand the way Inori could.
Her mind was calm. Even while surrounded by enemies, she still had the leisure to observe whether Chu Lian and the others were safe.
After all, Chu Lian and the others had drawn at least half of the enemy's firepower. She only needed to deal with the descending enemies here.
Since this was not the final battle, Chu Lian had not used her strongest abilities. She had even instructed Inori not to use her full strength yet—only enough to endure the waves of attacks.
Meanwhile, several peak Earth-rank hell elites lingered restlessly near the portal, guarding it to prevent Chu Lian and the others from blocking the entrance and wiping out incoming forces immediately.
However, given the current situation, they were starting to grow uneasy. Chu Lian's strength had not exceeded their expectations, but the combat abilities of the other girls had surprised them greatly.
Just as they were about to make a move, Tina—who had been relying solely on close combat to knock down demon after demon—finally reached her limit as more enemies surrounded her. She decisively activated her ultimate combat form.
"Ultimate Thunder White Tiger~ meow!"
"Roar~" Although the following roar carried tremendous power, the soft, almost cutesy "meow" from earlier left everyone at a loss for words.
Perhaps this would become one of Tina's most embarrassing moments... but she no longer had time to dwell on it. As the massive white tiger form appeared, all demons with undead attributes were immediately locked onto by her ability—Underworld Watcher.
"After using Gungnir Spear, I don't have much of my crimson lightning left. It'll take time to build it up again... how troublesome." Watching the ever-increasing number of hell demons ahead, Chu Chu suddenly regretted using one of her trump cards so early.
But regret was useless now. Her other spells were not well-suited for handling such a situation.
Just as she was thinking this, Chu Lian—who had been using bullets and missiles to tear through waves of enemies, keeping even Earth-rank demons at bay—suddenly ceased all firepower and lowered her arms.
I've been waiting for this moment for quite some time... it's time to begin the harvest... She lifted her head, gazing at the vast sea of demons before her, a meaningful smile appearing on her lips.
Finale of Ruin... activate...