CHAPTER 11: ULTIMA ORIGIN

The late afternoon atmosphere behind the quiet school building suddenly turned unnatural in its chill. The breeze that had been blowing gently came to a dead halt. Even the blades of grass surrounding the soccer field seemed frozen in place, leaving behind a suffocating, heavy silence that weighed on their chests.

Aengus—still commandeering Chisaki Miyuki's body, flanked by a pair of glowing wings of light and a floating golden halo above her head—gazed back and forth between Sabath and Shion.

"I am going to tell you about the exact entity we are about to face," Aengus stated.

His eerie, echoing voice suddenly shuddered slightly, betraying a primal terror he couldn't hide.

"Her name is Ultima. She was created directly by the Almighty, long before Gavin ascended to the supreme throne in the high realm. Ultima was forged specifically in preparation for Ragnarok... an ultimate weapon designed to eradicate other gods along with the angels when that apocalypse comes."

Shion held her breath. The Hero of the Ashtion Kingdom had never heard of an entity so overwhelming and terrifying in any holy scripture.

"She possesses grayish-silver hair and blue eyes as clear as pure water, paired with an exquisitely beautiful set of white wings," Aengus continued.

Aengus paused briefly, swallowing through Miyuki's dry throat.

"However, never let yourself be fooled by her beauty. Her signature weapon is The Greater Sword—a colossal blade gifted directly by the Almighty."

The conversation ground to a sudden halt. Aengus turned his face away, wringing Miyuki's fingers. An uncomfortable dread crept into his soul. In the high realm, not a single god or angel dared to utter the name of that Goddess of War casually.

"The Almighty... truly forged a horrifying weapon," Aengus murmured softly, staring directly into Sabath's and Shion's eyes.

"And do you know what the most terrifying aspect of His creation is?" Aengus asked, attempting to prompt a guess.

Sabath merely narrowed his eyes with a cold expression, while Shion shook her head slowly, unable to fathom the scale of such a threat.

"Her sheer strength!" Aengus declared emphatically.

"Her strength...?" Shion replied, bewildered yet increasingly curious.

"Yes! Her power sits on a level that is entirely nonsensical!" Aengus insisted.

He took a single step closer, locking eyes with the two figures in front of him with utter gravity.

"A single slash of her blade driven by anger... is capable of cleaving a whole world into two. Exactly like a lime sliced cleanly by a kitchen knife."

Shion's eyes widened completely. Even Sabath—the former Demon King famed for never flinching at anything—felt an unfamiliar chill creep along his spine.

"And what's far worse," Aengus continued at a rushed pace, "she once obliterated an artificial world that was a test subject of Gavin-sama. Just because of one minor mistake made by the main player of that world... Ultima slashed it down without hesitation! That world shattered into fine pieces, just as I described!"

Aengus cut his voice short, letting his final words settle into the surrounding air.

"And it is entirely possible... that the world we stand on right now is her next target."

A blanket of silence engulfed the three of them for several seconds.

"So... not a single soul can stop her?" Sabath asked in a deep, heavy voice.

Aengus shook his head in total resignation.

"None. We are left with only two choices: accept extinction in surrender, or fight desperately to ensure she doesn't get bored!"

"Wait..." Shion interjected, placing her fingers on her chin in thought. "So the implication behind the name Ultima... is 'Ultimate'? An absolute, matchless existence?"

"You could certainly put it that way," Aengus replied, agreeing with her guess.

Aengus then clenched Miyuki's hands tightly, casting a pleading look toward Sabath and Shion.

"I don't know for certain when she will descend. What is clear is that I am asking you two to form a temporary alliance! Set aside your respective egos! The fate of this world... is now in your hands!"

Mio and Sabath exchanged looks. Over a decade of bitter vengeance burning inside the chests of the Hero and the Demon King felt forced to crumble under a threat that was exponentially more gigantic.

Regrettably, Aengus's warning and urgent plea had arrived far too late.

Without a single warning sign, space and time across another corner of Tokyo ruptured violently. Above the city's busiest intersection, the atmosphere warped heavily, sending a static shockwave surging through the air. Flashes of high-pressure electrical arcs struck nearby buildings, severing all communication signals and bringing vehicle engines to a sudden, simultaneous halt.

A sphere of pure white light spanning tens of meters blossomed across the evening sky.

From the center of that radiant mass, a girl floated down toward the earth.

Her grayish-silver hair fluttered gracefully in a supernatural breeze. Her water-clear blue eyes scanned the cityscape below without radiating an ounce of warmth. Across her back, a pair of pristine white wings unfurled majestically, while the fingers of her right hand tightly gripped the hilt of The Greater Sword, which emanated a surge of absolute destruction.

Her face was entirely deadpan. There was no trace of interest, no anger, and no mercy. All that resided there was the icy emptiness of the most perfect weapon of annihilation.

The Goddess of War—Ultima—had set foot on Earth.