94 – Kania (with a Gun) is Too Strong

Kania did as Jericho instructed.

Pressed flat against the ground, she watched Amael fight, holding her breath.

And the further the battle progressed, the wider her mouth fell open.

A fight that seemed hopelessly unfair.

Yet, Jericho effortlessly overcame the overwhelming odds, single-handedly dispatching a hundred monsters who followed the Lord of Wrath with ease.

Each spear throw carpet-bombing dozens of followers, sweeping them away, the sight of three knights who appeared to be Chosen of Satan crushed…it seemed the end would come soon.

Jericho.

Who is this man before my eyes?

Why he was trying to help her, she still couldn’t quite grasp.

But if he continued to assist, reaching the rocky mountains of Talhaim was, she knew with certainty, no longer an impossibility.

Kanya felt her heart leap.

Liberation.

Finally, the liberation from these damned black magic curses still clinging to her, and from the Lord of Sloth, felt realistically within reach, right before her eyes.

Just as she was allowing a sliver of hope to bloom while watching Jericho’s battle…

A chilling sound echoed from behind.

Turning her head sharply, Kanya saw the very fabric of space tearing open, vertically and horizontally, and emerging from within, ten figures.

Followers of Sloth.

So familiar, so gratingly detestable, the Lord of Sloth’s devoted servants.

“The runaway is here, it seems.”

The familiar, bone-chilling voice that issued from behind a mask sent shivers down Kanya’s spine.

Of course.

That was to be expected.

The Lord of Sloth, who prized his possessions with a fanatical zeal, wouldn’t simply let her go.

Especially not a prize like this, the divinity of a Goddess of War; he’d never relinquish it so easily.

The moment she saw them, Kanya didn’t hesitate. She scrambled to her feet and began to run towards Jericho.

She was unarmed, and the enemy outnumbered her greatly.

There was no chance of winning a fight.

“Jericho!! Jericho! Help me!!”

She made the best, most rational decision she could in that moment.

But the escape was short-lived.

“Where do you think you’re going, you little b*tch!!”

Black magic bound her legs and arms.

She tumbled to the ground in an undignified heap.

In an instant, the followers were upon her.

Seeing them approach, she desperately called upon her divine power.

The Goddess of War was dormant.

But the authority and divine power She offered still remained within Kanya’s body, a permanent, albeit unwanted, guest. The divine power of the Goddess of War, which she had shared, forcibly, for her entire life.

Crimson divine energy, more natural to her than her own limbs, erupted forth, attempting to break the dark magic forcibly restraining her.

“That b*tch thinks she can slip away?!”

Even faster than his words, the acolytes rushed forward.

One of them, frantically drawing a dagger from within his robes, lunged towards Kanya.

*The Decree of Subjugation.*

Kanya’s face paled.

“N-no! No!!”

“You thought you could escape Sloth?”

A sneering smile accompanied his words, a beat faster than the black magic binding Kanya was dispelled. The dagger plunged, aiming for her heart.

“Gotcha! Got it!…..Gwaaah!!”

The acolyte, grinning with cruel anticipation as he swung the dagger, screamed as a sharp *clang* echoed through the air and his palm was ripped open.

The dagger, uselessly deflected, clattered to the floor.

Kanya frantically looked down at her chest.

A faintly glowing, dusky, time-stopped space.

It was the armor Jericho had gifted Kanya, something both she and Sloth’s acolytes had forgotten, that was now doing its job.

And, perfectly timed, in the very next instant.

The divine power of the Goddess of War dissolved the black magic that had been binding her.

The moment her limbs were free.

With surprising speed, Kanya assessed the situation and chose the most effective action available.

She snatched the sidearm revolver from the belt of the acolyte, who had straddled her and attempted to stab her heart, with lightning speed. She then infused it with divine power, and pulled the trigger.

She had never held a firearm before, but the moment she grasped the pistol, Kanya handled it with the practiced ease of someone who had wielded it for decades.

Sharp situational awareness.

The instant understanding of any weapon she held.

All gifts of the Goddess of War’s authority.

*Thwack!* With a sickening sound, the acolyte’s head, still looming over Kanya, exploded.

His body had been covered in layers of protective magic, but the divine power-infused bullet pierced those defenses like paper.

The headless body naturally slumped forward, threatening to crush Kanya.

But Kanya wasn’t suffocated or even hindered.

The time-stopped armor continued to hold the acolyte’s weight.

And this position was, in fact, advantageous.

For in the plain, with no cover to speak of, a follower’s corpse made for sturdy enough concealment.

Thus situated, Kanya slowly raised the revolver in her right hand.

The instant divinity wreathed the revolver, flames erupted from its barrel.

Her grip was unwavering, her aim unerring.

“That witch has a pistol—!!”

Before the words could fully form, the heads of three slothful followers, who’d stood a short distance away observing the scene, burst open.

Kanya, with impossible precision, had fired three shots in rapid succession.

Defensive magicks proved utterly useless.

Seeing this, the remaining followers finally grasped the situation.

“She…she’s imbuing the bullets with divine power!”

“Damn it all! Scatter and unleash your magicks!”

The followers dispersed.

As they did, they hurled offensive black magicks towards Kanya.

However, most of the spells struck the corpse of the follower atop her, vanishing without effect, or at times, piercing the corpse only to be repelled by her time-stopping armor.

Amidst this, another gunshot echoed.

With a marksmanship bordering on the divine, Kanya struck a follower amidst their frantic scattering, lodging a bullet precisely in his neck.

Watching the follower, spine severed, collapse like a stringless puppet, her gun swung immediately towards the next target.

But then, a metallic click resonated.

Startled, Kanya swiftly opened the revolver’s cylinder.

Six chambers.

Five of them held spent casings, primers struck.

But the uppermost chamber was utterly empty of a bullet.

Why?

How so?

Why load but five bullets into a six-shooter?

She could have killed one more!

“She’s out of rounds!”

“Now’s our chance! Seize her!”

Hearing the desolate metallic sound, the followers ceased their scattering and, with terrifying speed, charged directly toward her. Kanya scrambled hastily from beneath the follower’s corpse that sheltered her.

Afterward, she hurled her pistol at the closest acolyte lunging toward her, then bolted.

To seize another pistol and use it? Impossible.

They wouldn’t let Kanya disarm them again, not after being caught off guard once.

“Jericho!! Jericho! Help me! Help!…….Agh!!”

She felt the dark magic constricting her limbs anew.

Kanya frantically summoned divine power, trying to undo the spell again, but this time it wouldn’t break.

“Just layer subjugation magic two, three times over! We can’t have her escaping again!”

“Hurry! We have to flee before that monster notices!!”

Dark magic layered itself upon Kanya, immobilizing her.

It was over.

There was no way to unravel a concerted magical assault from so many…

“Guh!!”

Or so she thought.

Killing the caster would suffice.

Kanya’s gaze snapped to the opposite direction as she witnessed a follower’s upper body explode outward from the impact of something brutally fast.

“Kanya!! Keep fighting!!”

Jericho shouted.

He held something in his hand.

A black sphere the size of a fist.

He gripped it, lifted his leg, and then, spinning his torso, hurled it.

If Kanya were from Earth, she would have recognized the pitching form as an overhand throw.

With that single throw, another acolyte of Sloth, at least sixty meters away, had his upper body detonated.

“What kind of brute force is that?!”

Defensive magic, everything, was useless.

Nothing could withstand such overwhelming physical power.

But Jericho’s supporting fire couldn’t last forever.

“Block him!! Stop him!!”

The surviving Satan’s followers unleashed a barrage of light machine gun fire, bolt-action rifle rounds, and various offensive spells towards Jericho.

But it was enough.

Two of the subjugation spells binding Kanya were undone.

The remaining suppression magic, it burst apart, unable to withstand Kania’s divine power, all while Jericho bought them time.

While the acolytes of Sloth were still reeling from Jericho’s crude throwing attack,

Kania hurried to the torso-burst corpse of an acolyte, snatching the revolver from his belt.

Only three acolytes of Sloth remained capable of fighting.

Kania positioned the revolver at her hip, then swiftly flicked the hammer back three times with her left hand.

A fanning technique, frightfully fast and utterly precise.

“No! A gun!…”

Before the words could fully leave his mouth, the heads of the three remaining acolytes of Sloth exploded in unison.

And so, the acolytes of Sloth were all subdued.

Kania holstered the spent revolver, then approached the torso-burst acolyte of Sloth, felled by Jericho’s throw, retrieving another weapon he carried.

A bolt-action rifle.

Too long and heavy for Kania’s thin frame, but it wouldn’t matter.

She took a deep breath, resting the rifle on the eviscerated corpse, assuming a prone firing position.

Then, she aimed the barrel towards the black mages engaged with Jericho.

Lost in their frenzy of offensive magic, they clearly never anticipated a threat from afar.

“Eat this.”

Slowly.

Divine power began to envelop the rifle.

The black mages of Satan surely possessed defensive magic, but it would be useless.

Her divine-charged bullet would pierce straight through it.

A gunshot rang out.

The head of a black mage, consumed in casting magic, exploded.

With terrifying speed, Kania’s hand worked the bolt, chambering another round.

“There! That b*tch!…”

One of the black mages, splattered with brains, pointed in horrified recognition at Kania, even as his head detonated.

In less than a second, two black mages had met their end.

And the moment the third black mage’s head burst,

The black mages’ spells began to fly towards Kania.

Immediately, Kania took cover behind the corpse.

Several spells lashed out, battering the ground and the corpses strewn across it, but only a single one grazed Kanya.

That single spell, however, found itself impotent against the Time-Stop Armor, its magic dissolving harmlessly.

Once the barrage subsided, Kanya moved to rise, to resume firing, but a moment later, she realized there was no longer a need.

In that brief instant.

More precisely, in the fraction of a second that the black mages’ attention was drawn towards Kanya.

Jericho had taken the remaining black mages and Satan’s followers and reduced them all to a bloody pulp.

The plain was silent, at last.

Kanya and Jericho stared at each other for a beat, a shared daze hanging in the air, before bursting into laughter, neither knowing who had started it.

An impossible fight had ended, against all odds, in their victory.