A fully enchanted Aether Broadsword dealt massive damage; its base damage was a third higher than a Netherite Sword, not to mention Zenith was currently stacked with buffs.
Using magic to create distance, she repaired her shields while pondering a way to break the stalemate.
In terms of magical prowess and combat experience, Serie left Zenith in the dust by miles—an accumulation settled over thousands of years.
But in just a few short minutes of their clash, Serie realized that conventional combat methods were completely meaningless against Zenith.
Zenith didn't possess any 'Spell Reflection' to bounce back magic; his only means of resisting spells was that weird square shield in his hand. Logically speaking, fighting a warrior like this should have been a walk in the park.
However, he was just too tanky! He could tank magical attacks capable of leveling an entire city with his bare body and still be jumping around full of energy, not to mention his bizarre teleportation magic.
High attack, high defense, maxed-out health regeneration, and infinite mobility. Unless she used a spell capable of instantly killing a person, there was simply no way to determine a victor.
As expected of a Demon God with the power to destroy the world. Just his joke-like combat style alone was enough to make anyone feel powerless.
Deciding not to fight anymore, Serie let out a long breath, compressed her massive mana back into her body, and turned to leave.
"Wait, didn't we just start fighting? Why are you leaving?"
"...To warn Frieren to be careful about falling for the wrong guy."
*??? This vindictive old hag.*
Naturally, Serie wasn't actually going to look for Frieren. The massive tsundere and Frieren had polar opposite personalities. Even if they didn't completely despise the sight of each other, their relationship was definitely far from good.
While in her Bird of Time state, Serie could actually vaguely perceive the flow of time. Connecting this with the magical buffs that had suddenly appeared on Zenith, Serie could guess that Zenith likely possessed the ability to control time.
People all believed that Serie, who had collected the vast majority of the world's magic, was the existence closest to the omniscient and omnipotent Creation Goddess. But only she herself knew just how massive the gap between her and a god truly was.
It wasn't just a difference in power, but more so a difference in divine status. The more you understood certain things, the more terrifying they became—which was exactly why the saying 'ignorance is bliss' existed.
*But I'm still so mad!* Serie flew erratically through the air. In thousands of years, no one had ever dared to call her old. No matter what, she had to find a way to get her revenge.
The flight magic of the future had been heavily optimized; at the very least, flying at the speed of sound was no problem. Watching Serie gradually fade into a tiny black dot in the distance, he finally turned around and asked Saber,
"Was she just angry a second ago?"
Saber, who hadn't been influenced by Shirou Emiya, was practically on par with Zenith when it came to reading people. The Ahoge King, who didn't understand human hearts, and the romantically dense Zenith exchanged a glance and quickly reached a consensus.
It was a trivial matter, not worth mentioning!
Rather than wasting time on that, it was better to see how the South Hero and Orcini were performing.
The Sky City still needed to be guarded, though Zenith didn't think anyone else would arrive here anytime soon. Unfortunately, Saber was incredibly stubborn and insisted on staying behind to watch the gate.
After restocking the bizarre accessories in his box, Zenith flew sluggishly toward the direction he remembered Orcini being in. *Magic that lets you fly at the speed of sound... I really want it. I'll just ask Serie to teach me next time I run into her.*
Orcini Eisenhem, the wielder of the Ring of the Seven Curses, and the South Hero, hailed as humanity's strongest. The mainstream trend of this era was heroes—glory and blood, crusading against the Demon King to usher in peace across the continent.
Although their starting points were different, both of their goals were entirely aligned: find the demons, and beat the crap out of them!
The Eisenhem family was facing a dire situation in the war. Upon receiving the intel, the South Hero rode non-stop toward the city besieged by demons. Orcini naturally did the same, and thus, the two of them crossed paths.
Such a shocking aura of darkness—he looked even more like a demon than an actual Demon General. *Caught a big fish.* Slaughtering a Demon General was far more effective than killing a thousand foot soldiers.
One of the negative effects of the Ring of the Seven Curses was that it increased the hostility of unfamiliar neutral mobs toward the wearer, lowering their initial disposition. In the Minecraft Overworld, this directly manifested as neutral mobs initiating attacks against you.
For someone like the South Hero, who could sense auras and harbored a deep-seated hatred for demons, launching a direct attack wasn't surprising at all. After all, the dark power and curses contained within the Seven Curses were simply too dense and intense.
In short, he didn't look human, and he certainly didn't look like a good guy.
The rest of the group had been staying with Orcini these past few days, so they were naturally tainted with the scent of the Seven Curses as well. For a moment, the South Hero didn't even hesitate to check their identities before charging in with his sword raised.
*They're definitely demons. Just chop them down and be done with it!*
Hiding in the sky and peeping at the scene, Zenith was completely dumbfounded. *Wait, why are they fighting? You two are teammates! Teammates!*
*What kind of hero charges in all by himself? They all have their own hero parties! Orcini is the perfect berserker to act as your meat shield, so why are you attacking him right off the bat? What happened to seeing the future? Did the author eat that setting?*
But when he turned his head to look at Orcini again, he immediately understood—because even he wanted to go down there and slash him a few times.
He had to admit, it really was too perfect. He came with built-in aggro, could tank and deal damage, and even had a noble title and party-funding money. *South Hero, hurry up and progress the plot so you guys can form a party!*
"Thank God I wasn't stubborn enough to wear this thing back then, otherwise even a passing dog would've taken a bite out of me."
Casually conjuring a gold coin chocolate and popping it into his mouth, Zenith hid in the sky, happily enjoying the show. Speaking of this item, Zenith had only remembered it while organizing his inventory in the Sky City.
It was the Chocolate Lover's Brooch he had crafted back in the JoJo universe, which could use mana to conjure six different shapes of gold-foil chocolates at any time. It would definitely come in handy for amusing kids in the future.
Looking down to continue observing the battle between the South Hero and Orcini, the South Hero, as humanity's strongest, was naturally suppressing Orcini. Before obtaining the Seven Curses, Orcini was just an unknown nobody, no different from the soldiers on the battlefield who could lose their lives at any moment.
The massive gap in their base stats nearly ended the battle within a minute. But as Orcini's injuries grew heavier, the situation slowly began to change.
Orcini's stats were increasing at an inconceivable rate. After being sent flying by a single strike, his accompanying mage struggled to cast every single buff on him, and these buffs were then amplified by the various enhancements of the Seven Curses.
The stat gap gradually began to close. After using the momentum of an attack to retreat, Orcini finally found the opportunity to unhook the shield from his back and secure it firmly to his arm.
The shield of the Seven Curses—the Bulwark of the Flame's Pride!
"South Hero, the human champion active on the southern battlefields, why do you make an enemy of me? Such actions will incur the disdain of humanity and the wrath of the Eisenhem family!"
After pulling back to a certain distance, the South Hero also noticed something strange. He was always one to think before he acted. Although the group before him had a dark aura, they lacked the signature horns of demons. Why had he just recklessly attacked them without a second thought?
His eyes narrowed, and visions of the future slowly unfolded before him. Only then did he realize that he seemed to have accidentally attacked friendly forces.
"At a time like this, if I said it was a misunderstanding, would you believe me?"
Orcini glanced at his subordinates scattered across the ground and his mage who was still vomiting blood, before coldly spitting out a single sentence. "What do you think?"
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