Chapter 823

Fran's eyes widened at the sight of me, cloaked in both divine and evil energy.

As expected, not even Fran could ignore that.

However, Fran's body immediately started to move despite her surprise.

She gripped my decorative thread as she ran forward.

The Sword God's will dwelling in Fran's body naturally triggered my transformation.

My cord stretched and grew, twisting and turning, undergoing a surprising transformation.

At the end of the cord, another sword was born. A longsword with the emblem of a wolf and a golden hilt, and blue decorations on the blade.

Yeah, it was another me. I was now a pair of twin swords joined together by a cord at the hilt.

Fran jumped with her arms crossed in front, carrying the twin swords above her shoulders.

She had put so much force into her feet that it looked like the ground exploded under her, and then she was in between Nadia and Twisted Horn the next moment. She had moved so fast that it felt like teleportation.

Naturally, we had already buffed ourselves to the limit with various spells and skills as soon as we stepped foot on the battlefield. If we wanted to gain even more speed, then we would have to use wind or flame magic to accelerate ourselves further.

That was supposed to be the case but……

Fran seemed to be using the mana she drew from me to further enhance her body. Since she was now one with the sword, she became able to utilize my mana directly.

Moreover, I could see some evil energy mixed in the mana she used. I guess the Sword God could make proper use of evil energy as well.

Twisted Horn reacted immediately to Fran's sudden appearance at an imperceptible speed.

He changed the target of his great sword from Nadia to Fran. Though we were enemies, I could not help but feel impressed by the speed of his decision.

However, Fran easily caught the downward slash of the greatsword by swinging down her left sword, sweeping it away.

This result was probably due to the skill of the Sword God, as well as my strength from the dense mixture of divine and evil energy. My left sword was knocked away by the impact too, but we still have my right sword left.

However, before Fran could deliver a blow with the right sword, Twisted Horn's body started to blur with noise covering his outline.

A sign of teleportation. Twisted Horn must have intended to use teleportation to gain distance from us.

That's really bad, since I'm quickly approaching my limit here! As panic started to well up, I thought about my options……

Then suddenly Fran roared.

「Grah!」

She struck with evil energy applied to her voice, which apparently interfered with the teleportation. This must be the same principle as the skill blockage Sierra had performed previously, utilizing the evil energy of the Zelos Reed magic sword.

Twisted Horn's outline unblurred――and his head was gone. Before I knew it, my right sword had beheaded him.

But this was not the end.

Fran gripped the hilt of the sword that flew in front of her with her left hand. This was the left sword that she had dropped after performing her first parry.

By swinging the right sword, she had also pulled back the left since they were connected via the cord. Apparently, Fran had dropped the sword on purpose. This way, she saved herself the trouble of having to move the sword back into her stance after swinging it.

After grabbing the left sword, Fran immediately swung it down toward the headless antidemon in front of her.

Without any wind up, the blow didn't seem to have much power. But now that I have enhanced myself with Divine Energy Manipulation, it was more than enough.

Twisted Horn's right arm was severed, his greatsword sent flying away. But then Fran stepped backwards, without paying any heed to the lost greatsword.

That's when Nadia rushed in, passing close enough to touch Fran.

Their gazes crossed as they passed each other, a smile appearing on both their mouths. I guess it really is possible to tell she was smiling even with the face of an antidemon.

Seeing them able to understand each other so easily filled me with joy and a little bit of jealousy.

What I can say for certain though, is that we would have had a rough time without this strong bond between them.

「Daryaaaaah!」

The antidemon was trying to regenerate even having lost his head and arms. That's when Nadia's golden blade struck him.

The ridiculously durable body of Twisted Horn was easily sliced open from the left shoulder to the right stomach. One would think that this did less damage than the decapitation, but Twisted Horn certainly didn't think so.

I could sense the power draining from his body. The effect of Abyssal Slayer had put an end to him.

There was no explosion, no screams of despair. Twisted Horn's body silently began to crumble away.

This was the end of a powerful antidemon, comparable to a Threat Level A.

Nadia, on the other hand, was also wounded to the bone.

She had put every last bit of her strength into her last blow, which left her severely depleted. Despite absorbing the power of such a great antidemon, she showed no signs of recovery.

Did she not conserve any strength? She probably could have kept a bit more, since that last hit seemed a bit overkill……

No, I guess I shouldn't be the one talking.

「Kuh……」

『Grgh……』

As soon as we deactivated Sword God Transformation and Divine Energy Manipulation, we were hit by the tremendous backlash.

Fran's health and mana both dropped to the double digits. In addition, her regeneration was slow, probably because she used Sword God Transformation for too long.

I, too, had very little mana and durability left, and my battered sword blade showed no sign of regeneration. This is gonna take a while to repair.

But that's something to think about after we survive this battlefield. After pouring the best potions we had on Fran, I shouted to her.

『All the surrounding antidemons are coming!』

「Auntie……! Let's run?」

Fran crawled over to Nadia, who was still kneeling on the ground. Nadia slowly stood up and took Fran's outstretched hand.

But her hand was black, hard, and cold. This was no longer a human hand, but the hand of an antidemon. Still, Fran's warm hand returned the grasp.

『Hurry!』

With the last of my mana, I opened a Dimension Gate. On the other side was the rest of our friends.

I see the black wall of antidemons closing in on us rapidly. Shit! We have to get out of here fast!

While I was in a panic, Nadia called out to Fran in a voice as gentle as ever. Her right eye, which was the last part remaining, had already been lost.

「Fran……」

「Auntie!」

「Sorry…… but you… must… live.」

「Aun――」

The next thing we knew, a different scene appeared in front of us.

「――tie!」

Nadia had pushed us through the Dimension Gate.

「What? Fran?」

Hilt voiced her surprise, but Fran could not respond. She had frozen, completely stunned with her hand still outstretched.

My gate had already been destroyed by the antidemons, so Fran's hand could no longer reach anyone.

「Why……?」

The last thing we saw through the gate was Nadia's smiling face as she got swallowed by the avalanche of antidemons.