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Gurgle. Slither.

As putrid flesh rubbed against itself, oozing its foul juices, the loathsome serpent writhed.

“Hand it…over.”

Like a coiled snake leaping at its prey, Hapshal’s gaping maw descended upon Lucella.

With its jaws, Hapshal aimed to bore into the ground, intending to engulf Lucella completely. What lay within Hapshal’s maw was a void of nothingness.

The outcome that awaited within was not so much “digestion” as it was a simpler “breakdown.”

“Lucella!?” Ivar cried out.

Just behind Lucella, the jaws closed, enveloping her in darkness.

Moments later, Lucella exploded. The explosive pressure of swirling flames incinerated Hapshal’s belly from within. The scent of burnt flesh wafted, and ashes scattered.

Strangely, the very next moment, Hapshal was completely restored, coiled in the same place as it had been before leaping at Lucella.

…Physically inexplicable, indeed. However, physical laws held no meaning here.

Hapshal now sought to assimilate Lucella. But its efforts were in vain. One could say it was a mere feint or a lightly attempted strike.

“So petty are thee.”
“Just because you…escaped devouring…do not act so conceited…little girl.”

Lucella fixed her gaze upon the flesh serpent, and her eye sockets gleamed with burning crimson light.

“Then I shall… simply break your bones…before swallowing you. Realize the sin… of calling this great Hapshal… petty…”

The surrounding air grew sharp. Like a finely honed thorn of cold, heavy iron.

“Reincarnate…!”

Hapshal trembled and putrid flesh fragments danced through the air. The bits of flesh that dripped onto the ground swiftly swelled and took shape.

Some became flesh dolls with exposed bone spear-like right arms. Others transformed into monsters. Bandit Lynxes and Legion Wolves roamed among them.

Or they became half-human, half-beast, grotesque creatures that almost seemed like they couldn’t decide between human and monster forms…

In no time, their ranks multiplied to the point where they filled the surroundings. The eternal knot of reincarnation, that was Hapshal’s authority.

By expanding its power, increasing its followers, and spreading its faith far and wide, everything would eventually be born from Hapshal and return to Hapshal.

Facing this blasphemous army was Lucella alone. She held her hand over the ground, breaking Hapshal’s control, causing the lava to erupt, instantly cooling and solidifying into a sword.

“​【Compress】!”
“Ugh!?”

That sword snapped.

Before she realized it, there was only the outcome remaining. Lucella was bound by chains. Chains resembling serpentine rocks, composed of various minerals, coiled around Lucella, restraining her and tethering her to the ground.

The force was intense. Probably equal to the pressure exerted by the great serpent when it coiled around at full strength. It wasn’t just a restraint; it was a deadly attack that could even crush one’s soul.

Furthermore, an army of grotesque beings surged in. They seemed to lack individual will and moved as if part of a single current. The mass of beings resembled a crawling snake.

The attacks were simple and petty, but when stacked by the thousands, what would happen?

Lucella set herself on fire. As Lucella turned into a fiery mass, monsters pounced on her, and flesh dolls leaped at her. They didn’t falter and delivered attacks while burning, and were erased by the flames.

The creatures clung to her one after another like a swarm of insects, gradually forming a small mountain.

“…You little–!”

Lucella increased her firepower. The creatures clinging to her, still burning, were blown away, and Lucella managed to avoid suffocation, at the very least.

However, Hapshal’s forces seemed endless, and they surrounded Lucella. The number of reincarnations it had absorbed into itself was Hapshal’s power.

Lucella bore countless small wounds all over her body, and blood oozed from them, evaporating into red steam.

“Here…in the paradise of reincarnation…it is not easy to die. I shall…deal seven lives worth of wounds on you… and ultimately devour you.”

What seemed to have turned to ashes and the remaining flesh and blood that flowed on the ground were being drawn into Hapshal.

The putrid serpent’s body bubbled and pulsated. The dead were returning to Hapshal. If Hapshal desired it, they would live again.

An eternal battle, eternal torment, brought by the serpent of eternal reincarnation. That was all it amounted to.

“Heh, hehe…”
“Why…do you laugh…?”

Covered in blood…it was uncertain if real blood flowed, but at least Lucella perceived her own condition that way…and she laughed. She broke into laughter.

This was truly an act akin to a snake tightening its grip and crushing bones before swallowing its prey.

Hapshal was attacking to create a crack in the existence known as Lucella, to begin the process of swallowing her.

But…

“When I think this pressure is the utmost a god can do, I can’t help but laugh. I could endure this until tomorrow’s dawn.”
“Wh…at…”
“This is far gentler compared to the primordial flames of the Dragon King!”

Lucella was well aware of the pressure of the concept. Except for Hapshal’s attacks, there was only one other. The difference in level between the two was clear.

The chains had already begun to melt and slacken from the parts touching Lucella. She extricated one arm from the coiled stone chain and grabbed one of the chains restraining her with a vice-like grip.

The chain immediately melted into a sword shape. It didn’t even harden into lava rock—it stayed as the lava itself. As a sword aglow with crimson heat.

As Lucella swung the sword, flames burst forth. The scorching wind seared away the putrid stench, and large crimson sparks, too big to be called embers, scattered like chaotic red butterflies.

Hapshal’s forces were mostly reduced to ashes in a single strike, and even Hapshal itself in the depths bore severe blackened burns.

“Ahh, my flesh…my power…is……”

With smoldering smoke rising, Hapshal let out a cry of agony. In response to this, once again, the stone chains attacked Lucella.

This time, the chains didn’t even manage to coil around her. With just a stern gaze from Lucella, they melted away, becoming a red-hot puddle that spread at her feet.

“Why…why does it not work…!”
“Did you not know, fallen god? The earth belongs to the dragons. A god that has fallen to the ground cannot overcome a dragon.”

If Hapshal intended to defeat Lucella, there was still a chance in the physical world. By launching attacks beyond her capacity to deal with, at the very least, it would be possible to physically defeat her.

This was the backstage of the world, the world of concepts. It was a place where laws and the strength of concepts collided, where principles decided everything.

“Gods fallen to the ground cannot defeat dragons.” As long as this was a law of the world, it was impossible for results to transcend the law.

Yes… Lucella naturally understood this.

“You said there was no easy death here, right?”

Lucella pointed the sword at Hapshal. Flames and lava swirled around. They gradually took shape, forming into swords as well.

Like wings of fire, innumerable swords were created, following Lucella.

A sprint beyond sound, and then a leap. Leaving scorched footprints on the coiled putrid flesh, Lucella leaped onto Hapshal’s face.

Then, a vertical flash from the sky to the ground. With the flaming sword, Lucella severed the triangular-shaped nose of the serpent.

And then, a beat later. A feat impossible in the physical realm occurred! Lucella became a spiral of flames.

The flaming sword pierced into the putrid serpent, burning as it thrust. Using one sword after another, Lucella methodically sliced Hapshal’s entire body, racing downward.

“Then suffer until you can die.”
“AhHHHHhhHHHHHhhhhHHHhhhhh!!”

In the underworld of ignorance, a sun-like flame materialized.

Hapshal, impaled by over a hundred flaming swords all over its body, had become nothing more than a colossal bonfire.

The putrid juices evaporated in an instant, and the flesh and bones turned to ashes.

From the burning remains of Hapshal’s body, pieces fell like rain, transforming into burning people and monsters.

They didn’t even attempt to attack Lucella; they tried to flee despite having nowhere to escape.

Lucella ran. She ran, she slashed, and she burned. It was a process. Not a battle, but a process, almost like cleaning.

Not a single piece of flesh could be left behind, and no impurity could remain on the earth.

Be destroyed. Be destroyed. Be destroyed. Be destroyed.

“What the hell are you doing, Lucella you f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g idiot!!”

That noise seemed out of place. A moment later, Lucella realized it was Ivar’s voice.

“Oh……Huh?”

Her thoughts became clear as if she had awakened from a dream.

The putrid flesh serpent was now completely reduced to ashes, and Lucella was holding the blazing sword, pointed toward a small, fresh lump of flesh.

Shivering and shedding tears of blood, it had many faces, unmistakably wearing expressions of terror.

The formidable Hapshal no longer existed. If that was the case, what could it be afraid of?

Instinctively, Lucella was convinced that this lump of flesh was a defilement to be eliminated. At the same time, from the perspective of the values she had built as a person, this creature should be pitied and saved.

It felt as if there were two of her, and conflicting thoughts clashed within her, making Lucella dizzy.

“I…I…”

The flaming sword slipped from Lucella’s hand. Lucella fell to her knees, holding her head in her hands.