WIEDERGEBURT Act III: Chapter 53

After an hour had passed, Lin rotated herself out with Kari, while Herleif was rotated out with Hilda Astralia.

“This is actually a good opportunity.” Kari looked at her mother as the woman spoke those words. In response, she gestured toward the incoming horde. “I want you to watch me closely. Learn how to use your own element more efficiently by seeing how I attack.”

“Yes, Mother.”

As the other Spiritualists continued to hold the line, the empress stepped forward on light, small feet. She wrapped her fingers around the hilt of her blade and slid it out. Now holding the blade at her side, Kari’s mother allowed the tip to trail along the ground as she confronted a Silverback that had broken through to the front lines.

This Silverback was large, easily two or three times the size of an adult human. It towered over her mother even as it stood hunched over. Massive hands big enough to crush a person flat slammed into the ground, while its stubbier hind legs waddled forward. Crimson eyes glared out from a face covered in thick silver fur. The Silverback opened its mouth to release a roar before it charged at the empress.

Her mother didn’t panic. The empress held her sword aloft and gathered Spiritual Power into it, causing the sword to glow a bright golden color. Taking the now glowing sword, she tucked it close to her chest and slid her feet along the ground, then thrust the blade forward. A beam of condensed light extended from the sword too quickly for Kari to follow. It pierced the Silverback through the chest, then withdrew, revealing a gaping hole going all the way through the Demon Beast’s body.

Kari could actually see through to the other side.

The Silverback was unable to stop its forward momentum as it fell face first against the ground, slamming into the dirt hard and tumbling for several meters before sliding to a stop in front of her mother. As for the empress, she watched this with an impassive face before turning to Kari.

“This technique is called Light Javelin,” she said. “It creates a blade of light that extends from your blade and can pierce any substance, be it metal or flesh and bone. To use it without having reached the Third State of Spiritualism, you must first thrust your weapon into the air to channel your Spiritual Power into it, and then you bring the weapon back down into your torso in preparation to thrust it.”

As Kari’s mother spoke, several Saber-Toothed Tigers raced in to attack, but the empress neatly sidestepped each one and swung her blade, which was covered in golden light. The sword easily sliced through the Demon Beasts like they were wheat before a scythe. One of them was split in half, another had its head severed from its shoulders, and the last was carved open like a turkey dinner.

The Sekbeist Elites that had been riding on these Demon Beasts fell to the ground, but they quickly scrambled to their feet. However, before they could attack her mother, Kari used the Flash Step to appear in front of them. Her first attack was a thrust, which impaled a Sekbeist through the chest. As the creature died on her ranseur, she spun on the balls of her feet and swung the weapon into another Sekbeist. The first one was still impaled on her blade. Its body smacked the second one like a cudgel and they both fell to the ground.

The third Sekbeist Elite tried to attack Kari from behind. It charged toward her, but she could hear its movements even over the din of battle. She used the Flash Step Version 2: Illusion Step. The Sekbeist Elite charged straight through her body as though she was a ghost. When it stopped and looked around in confusion, she appeared behind it and thrust her weapon through its back.

“Grk!”

Kari twisted her blade to further wound the Sekbeist Elite, then pulled her ranseur out and swung it in a wide arc to remove the blood. The Sekbeist Elite collapsed to the ground.

Her mother nodded at her approvingly. “As I was saying before, when you thrust your weapon into the air, the Spiritual Power gathers along the tip of the blade. Then you bring it back in to shape the blade, and then thrust it at your enemy to extend it. Doing this creates a javelin that extends from your blade and pierces your opponent. Light Javelin is listed as a B-rank Spiritual Light Technique, but given the powerful nature, it can have the power of an A-rank Technique in the hands of someone who has reached the Third State of Spiritualism.”

Nodding to show she understood the lesson, Kari said, “that was one of your signature techniques before you reached the Third State of Spiritualism, wasn’t it?”

“It was indeed. I haven’t used it much these days since I can manipulate the light element however I please, but it’s still a good technique to use when you want more power.”

Kari understood that her mother was showing her this technique so she could learn it after the battle was over. She couldn’t practice it in the middle of battle, but seeing it being used like this had given her a much clearer understanding of how the technique worked.

There was no more time to talk after that. The Demon Beasts and Sekbeists began another push. This time there were even more enemies than before as the Sekbeist Grunts arrived.

Sekbeist Grunts were ugly little things—even more so than the Elites, which at least resembled humans to some degree. These bald creatures had pasty white skin that looked splotchy as if they were diseased. Unlike the elites, they walked with a hunch. They didn’t seem very intelligent, but they could at least swing a sword.

Kari found herself fending off several Sekbeist Grunts and even a few Elites. She set her feet firmly on the ground and spun her ranseur around in front of her, precisely deflecting the numerous slashing and stabbing swords coming her way. While doing this she also channeled Spiritual Power into her weapon. The ranseur glowed a brilliant gold as she used one of her C-rank Techniques.

Light Cutter.

Once the Spiritual Light Technique was activated, she stepped forward and swung her ransuer several times in quick spinning patterns. A stroke to the left sliced through a Sekbeist’s arm. Another stroke horizontally removed one Sekbeist’s head. Several Sekbeist stumbled back when they found their swords had been cut. Kari pressed her attack before the surprised Sekbeists could recover, spinning her weapon and cutting through their bodies with the Light Cutter technique like they were made of butter.

Just as Kari finished taking care of her enemies, a loud scream tore through the air. She spun around and sought out the source. One of her Spiritualists had been impaled from behind with a blade of darkness. The Sekbeist Elite standing behind the young woman wore a dark grin as he tore his sword out of her back, causing blood to spray everywhere as the woman pitched forward to the ground.

Another Shaman.

Kari was prepared to deal with this threat herself—when her mother suddenly appeared before the creature in a flash of golden light. She swung her glowing sword down, tearing the Sekbeist Shaman in half. The creature didn’t even have enough time to scream in pain before he died. His body had been cleanly separated into two parts.

The battle continued. The stench of blood became thicker than ever before. It clogged Kari’s nose and made her wish she could retreat, though she did not budge an inch from her position on the front lines. Demon Beasts and Sekbeists slammed against their defensive line and were beaten back. So many died that a wall of corpses had grown at some point, but even then, the Sekbeists and Demon Beasts just climbed over the wall or rammed straight through it.

Like that an hour passed and Kari switched out with Catalyna. She moved to the back and took one Energy Booster Pill and one Spiritual Recovery Pill. Fay and Lin had also given her some water to replenish what she’d lost while sweating and a wet rag to clean off her blood-soaked face and clothes.

“How long do you think this battle will last?” asked Fay as she gazed at the front line where Catalyna and the empress were hard at work. Empress Hilda was dancing across the battlefield like a spark of light. It was almost like she was using the Flash Step, though Kari knew her mother’s technique was different.

Meanwhile, Catalyna used her Spiritual Technique. She twirled around like she was dancing, swinging her jagged sword in complex patterns. With every swing of her blade, a line of crackling Spiritual Power appeared in the air. One line became two, then four, then sixteen. They doubled with every swing until sixty-four lines had appeared.

The lines of Spiritual Power soon burst forth like a tempest, a giant wave of pale lightning that quickly transformed into a pack of wolves. An A-rank Spiritual Lightning Technique. Tempest Wolf Pack. The pack of wolves charged into the Demon Beast and Sekbeist army, tearing them asunder. Arcs of lightning filled the air and struck the ground, gouging out large chunks of blackened earth. Many of the enemies who were struck were outright torn part, but even those who weren’t suffered as their insides were completely fried, to the point where smoke poured out of their ears, mouths, and noses.

“I don’t know,” Kari answered as she turned away from the gruesome scene. “We’re holding out for now, but it isn’t like we’ve killed that many enemies. We’ve probably only killed a few thousand. Compared to the forty thousand or so that was estimated, two or even five thousand is a minuscule amount.”

“Then we should fight harder,” Lin said. “This princess will lead us into battle and destroy our enemies.”

“We’re already fighting as hard as we can,” Fay said with a sigh.

“Mrr. This princess could do much better…”

Despite her words, it was clear that everyone was giving this battle their all. They continued fighting to hold the line. Members of the Nevarian Braves fought alongside the Imperial Royal Guard. Valence had taken to the front lines with Empress Hilda, silently fighting to protect the woman’s back while she mowed down enemy after enemy with her powers over the light element. It looked like they were doing a brilliant job.

And yet.

No matter how much they fought, their enemies didn’t waver, didn’t lose heart, and didn’t grow smaller. It was as if their enemies grew even more motivated to fight every time one of their own was killed. Not only that, but the enemies’s numbers seemed to swell the longer the fight went on. For every one enemy they defeated, three or four more seemed to take their place, and they crashed into the Spiritualists like a wave.

Several of their Spiritualists lost their lives when they were literally buried under their enemies’s superior numbers.

Unlike the enemy army, who were legion, they only had a few hundred Spiritualists. If things kept up as they were, they would lose.

Kari could no longer figure out how long the battle had been going on for. She’d fought several more times, but each time, she fought with just a little less strength, and her movements became just a little more sluggish. Her muscles were aching. Even if she used the Spiritual Recovery and Energy Booster Pills to replenish her Spiritual Power and energy, they could not restore her body to pristine condition.

She wasn’t the only one who was slowing down either, as Lin, Fay, Catalyna, Marko, Geirolf, Earland, and Mykkel were also moving more sluggishly than before. Their attacks were growing less powerful and precise. Their Spiritual Techniques lacked the strength they had at the beginning.

Kari was reminded of that time during the expedition led by Catalyna. A man named Skyge had used a young girl named Dyr in a ritual that summoned thousands of Demon Beasts to their location. She and the others had been forced to use alchemy pills to recover their Spiritual Power and energy as they ran day and night through the Demon Beast Mountain Range. By the time they had reached the ruins to hide out in, everyone had been exhausted enough to pass out on the spot.

The same thing as back then was happening now, but unlike that time when they had been running, there was no escape for them this time. They could only stay in this small mountain pass and continue fighting as hard as they could.

Sweat poured down Kari’s face as she took several steps back. She sidestepped a swinging sword, parried the blade with her ranseur, then stepped forward again and thrust her weapon through a Sekbeist’s neck. Blood spurted from the dying enemy as he fell backward.

A loud roar on her left alerted her to danger, and she turned to find a Saber-Toothed Tiger pouncing at her. It was moving too fast for her to prepare an appropriate counterattack.

“HAAA!”

Just before it could crush her beneath its weight, a beam of fire lanced through the Demon Beast, so powerful that the creature was shoved off course and flew past her, crashing into the ground. Kari turned around to see Fay standing several meters to her left. Behind Fay, Lin slammed her tail on the ground, creating several earth spikes that pierced ten Sekbeist Grunts. However, Lin didn’t see the shadow beneath her feet writhing as something came out of it.

“Watch it!” Kari shouted as she raced forward. Spiritual Power flowed through her ranseur as she thrust it out, launching a small beam of light that punctured a hole through the Sekbeist Shaman’s head before it could attack Lin.

“Thanks, Big Sister!” Lin said as she used a combination of her whip and the darkness element to attack multiple Sekbeist and Demon Beasts at once.

Because so many of their numbers had grown too exhausted to fight, the stronger Spiritualists were being forced to pick up the slack. Kari, Fay, and Lin, as the vice commanders of the Nevarian Braves, had opted to defend the front lines and give their subordinates a chance to recover.

Further away from where they were battling, her mother fought alongside Herleif and Grimm Kriger.

The empress had already entered the Third State of Spiritualism and was doing everything she could to decimate the forces arrayed against them. Enemies lost all manner of body parts as the woman moved through them, attacking so fast it looked like she was mowing down multiple enemies at once.

Grimm and Herleif were fighting more conservatively. Herleif launched several blades of wind from his fists while Grimm waved his hand and created powerful bolts of lightning. Because wind and lightning were mutually opposed to each other (wind negated lightning), the two attacks did not mingle. They struck their enemies separately but at the same time. Howls of pain reverberated around Demon Beast Pass as their enemies were killed in droves, and yet even then, the forces arrayed against them refused to relent.

Their plan to fight in shifts already shattered after several hours, Kari was beginning to wonder if they hadn’t bit off more than they could chew—and that was when she felt it, an intense heat so powerful that she could feel it beating down on her head. It wasn’t the sun. When she looked up, sweat burst on her skin as she eyed what appeared to be a falling star.

The star slammed into the ground in the middle of the enemy army and exploded. A wave of fire and heat rushed out in all directions, unleashing a powerful shock wave that shook Demon Beast Pass and sent the many enemies around it scattering. Even Kari could feel the heat singing her hair and eyelashes from where she stood. It wasn’t until the shock wave died down that she realized what had fallen to the ground wasn’t a star.

It was a person.

To be more precise, it was a mass of writhing flames shaped like a person.

Kari couldn’t figure out who this person was, but the general outline of the bright blue flames signified she was a woman. Even though she was made of nothing but fire, Kari could see the womanly outline of her body, the large swells of her breasts and the roundness of her butt. No man could have a butt like that. Even Eryk, pretty as he was, did not have such an ass.

The figure only remained there for a moment. Then she blasted off the ground and soared through the battlefield. Giant flames appeared in her wake. These flames were bright blue and turned into waves that swept over the enemy forces, reducing them to ash within an instant. The figure continued making their way inexorably closer to their defensive line, which caused the temperature to rise drastically, and then, just as they reached Kari and the others, the fire figure transformed into a woman.

She was a young woman who couldn’t have been more than a year or two older than Kari herself, with blonde hair bordering on silver and ice blue eyes. Her skin was extremely pale as if she’d never been in the sun before. As the flames disappeared from her body, clothing appeared in its place. It was a revealing outfit that looked more like strips of fabric held together by golden bands of intricate design and studded with red gems. Her breasts were almost fully exposed and her stomach was completely laid bare, as were her hips. Like the rest of her, the V of her crotch was covered only by a strip of fabric. Meanwhile, her legs and arms were clad in boots and vambraces with the same intricate designs as the bands holding her dress together.

The battle seemed to have come to a standstill with the appearance of this woman. She looked around for a moment, wearing a viper’s smile, and then walked over to Empress Hilda.

“Your Majesty,” she said, still smiling. “My name is Sigrid Draige. I’ve come to help in the defense of Nevaria.”

“Sigrid? I see. You are the daughter of Gudmund Draige, then? I heard you went into secluded training several years ago.” The empress narrowed her eyes. “I see you’ve reached the Third State of Spiritualism.”

Sigrid nodded. “I just reached it a few days ago. I came out of secluded training yesterday, but I wasn’t able to join the battle until now because I had exhausted my Spiritual Power attempting to reach the Third State of Spiritualism.” She waved her hand in an airy, dismissive gesture. “Anyway, I hope you don’t mind if I join this fight.”

“I do not mind. We are more than happy to have you,” Empress Hilda said.

“Great!” With a brilliant smile, Sigrid looked around the battlefield before, inexplicably, her brow furrowed. “Odd. I thought Eryk Veiger would be here, but I do not see anyone matching his description.”

“Eryk Veiger is currently with Dante,” Empress Hilda explained. “They should be arrive from the back with a large task force that will act as the hammer to crush our enemies.”

“Ooooh! I like that idea! It’s a very good one!” Sigrid placed her hands on her hips and nodded. “Well, I guess I can wait to see him in action.”

While Empress Hilda frowned, Kari stared at the woman named Sigrid with concern. She was a member of the Draige Family, which had given Fay and Eryk some trouble awhile back when their heir, Gudmund, tried to make Eryk annul his marriage agreement with Fay. While nothing had come from it yet, she didn’t think Gudmund had given up. He was likely just waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

However, it wasn’t like they could be picky about who fought alongside them, and so Sigrid joined the battle.

She didn’t use the Third State of Spiritualism like she had during her grand entrance, but flames erupted from her hands and feet, a vibrant blue and so hot everyone could feel it, as she attacked with a series of punches and kicks. It looked like she was a martial artist. She wielded no weapon other than her limbs. Of course, it didn’t matter if she used her fists and feet to fight. The flames that she wielded alongside her martial arts were more than enough to deal with anything that came her way.

With this new player entering the battlefield, hope swelled within the breasts of everyone present. The many downtrodden and exhausted Spiritualists attacked with renewed energy.

Kari found herself fighting alongside Fay and Lin. She and the other two worked as a team. Two of them would attack while the other would defend, and then they’d switch places.

Fay stepped forward, dragging her foot along the ground before stomping on it. She moved her hands in a strange pattern before bringing them into her side, where blue flames ignited inside of her cupped hands. Releasing a ferocious battlecry, Fay threw her hands forward.

A powerful jet of flames launched from her hands, racing forward with a roar like the enraged screams of a dragon. The fire quickly changed shape as it flew. The ball shifted into the head of a dragon with many spikes surrounding its face. Easily the same size as a person, the dragon head flew forward and slammed into several Sekbeist Grunts, all of whom didn’t even have time to scream as they were incinerated.

Her A-rank Spiritual Fire Technique, Flame Dragon Fist, was a powerful technique, but it also left her exposed. Several Silverbacks tried to attack her from the side. However, Kari and Lin quickly intercepted them.

“Haa!”

Kari swung her glowing ranseur in a wide arc. Several spheres of light appeared, which quickly transformed into tridents that flew forward and smashed into the Silverback. This attack was not strong enough to pierce the Silverback’s thick hide, but it did knock the creature back a few steps, allowing Kari to unleash her next Spiritual Technique.

She danced along the ground with light movements, spinning her ranseur around her body to generate more power, which caused her weapon to glow more brightly with each passing second. When she had what she judged to be enough power, she took a firm stance with her feet spread apart and thrust her weapon forward.

An intense beam of golden light shot from the ranseur’s tip. It was so large that more than half the Silverback was engulfed in light. When the light died down, it revealed that the entire torso of the Silverback was gone. Only a smoking stump remained.

While Kari dealt with her foe, Lin swung her ethereal whip forward. The purplish black whip wrapped around the Silverback’s neck, where it began emitting a loud hissing sound as it melted the fur around that area. The Demon Beast roared and tried to pry the thing off. However, Lin used her incredible strength to pull the Silverback to the ground. At that moment, she slammed her tail into the earth and several purple snakes sprang from the ground.

These several meter long snakes bit into the body of the Silverback and injected poison into it. The Silverback growled and struggled to break free, but the snakes quickly wrapped around its body. Blood emerged from the bite wounds. Soon the poison took effect. The Silverback’s struggling grew weaker and weaker until it died.

All around them, similar battles were taking place. Earland and Mykkel were fighting back to back, Geirolf, Catalyna, and Bjark were using a similar strategy to the one they were using, and Marko was fighting alongside Ingrid.

The four most powerful Spiritualists among them, Sigrid, Empress Hilda, Grimm, and Herleif were fighting as well. Sigrid, Grimm, and Herleif fought by themselves against numerous enemies. Meanwhile, her mother was fighting alongside Valence to conserve Spiritual Power.

It looked like they were doing fairly well. There were a lot of corpses littering the ground, but most of them were Demon Beasts and Sekbeists. She could only see a few human corpses amongst the many bodies. What’s more, despite being vastly outnumbered, they had not let a single Demon Beast get through. Siv, the only one among them not battling, stood near the gate, which was mercifully free of corpse and enemy alike.

However, just as Kari was beginning to let her hopes climb up, a loud roar shook the mountain pass.

She and everyone else turned their heads at the sound. Traveling toward them alongside the enemy forces were two massive creatures with muscular bodies that were covered in purple fur. They had gigantic fangs jutting from their mouths and crimson eyes that seeped with bloodlust. Their powerful legs rippled and every step they took caused the ground to shake. They were Greater Behemoths, an A-rank variation of the B-rank Behemoth.

And standing at the head of this procession was the middle-aged human man, who stared at the gate and everyone defending it with a cold gleam in his eyes.