Jack of All Trades, Party of None

"—Who are you?"

In response to my words, “it” slowly opened its mouth.

"Who am I, you ask?"

The eyepatch that had been covering Belia’s right eye slipped down his cheek as if its role was over.

With nothing blocking it, his right eye revealed—an abyssal darkness.

I had heard from the Hero of the Fairy Tale (Mr. August) in the netherworld that Belia, who had lost his right eye in the fairy tale era, had implanted a Spirit’s Eye to fight demons. But this was so murky and dark that it hardly looked like a Spirit’s Eye.

"I am the one who seeks to destroy mankind that is corroding the world."

His voice distorted the air itself and echoed as if crawling along the ground.

Both the meaning and the emotion in his words were utterly alien.

I widened my eyes, feeling a sensation rising from beneath my feet.

No doubt.

The one in front of me was—

"—The evil god, Oberon…!"

At my whisper, Oberon fixed me with an emotionless gaze.

"I see. You’re a descendant of August, who inherited the 'power embodying human potential.' But now isn’t the time to engage. Philly, fall back."

"Understood."

Philly, who had somehow slipped out of her chain restraints, stood up.

"You’re not getting away!"

Before Oberon could activate teleportation magic, I covered the entire area around here with a teleportation inhibition barrier.

"…What a nuisance."

As Oberon muttered quietly, shadow-like mana began to seep from the ground.

"Begone."

In an instant, the pure mana transformed into spear-like shapes, attacking from all directions to pierce me.

"—Final form (mont ende)!"

I combined my magic sword with qi again and sliced through the incoming spears with a newly forged magic sword.

Without hesitation, I closed the distance to Oberon with distance shrinking and swung the magic sword.

Oberon tried to retreat but his reactions were slow.

The magic sword reached him before he could completely escape my range.

"Damn!"

Belia’s supernatural ability—Eternal and Unchanging—seemed to have lost its effect as the magic sword sliced through Oberon’s body.

Oberon’s gaze dropped to his bleeding chest.

From the contact with the magic sword, I understood a little about his current state.

Eternal and Unchanging was still active.

However, it was being used internally—to suppress the vast evil god’s mana constructing Oberon’s will.

In other words, externally, he was in the same state as anyone else against attacks.

But if given enough time, the evil god’s mana would gradually adapt to Belia’s body.

Also, maintaining the final form (mont ende) for a long time would be too much for my body to handle.

I needed to finish this quickly!

"…In this state, close combat is impossible."

Oberon raised his right hand, and the space itself creaked as pure mana rained down like countless arrows.

Each one had enough power to gouge the terrain itself.

(I need to get away from the torii!)

I moved out of the shrine grounds, weaving through the trees to dodge the incoming arrows.

While enduring the rain of arrows falling from the sky, I searched for an opportunity to counterattack.

Every time a mana arrow pierced the ground, the shockwave made trees creak, and trunks cracked and fell one after another.

As the trees, which were supposed to be cover, were felled, my field of vision gradually opened.

Then, mana began to gather around Oberon.

(A big attack is coming…!)

I sharpened my senses to exploit the opening after such a powerful strike.

"—Enough already."

A sharp trace ran across Oberon’s neck.

"—!?"

Oberon’s head flew through the air.

Though shocked by the unexpected sight, I quickly looked toward the person who had made the strike—Philly Carpenter.

She calmly cast magic toward the flying head.

"—Super explosion (explode)."

A massive explosion directly hit the severed head midair.

The space distorted as the blast swallowed everything.

When the silence returned, Belia’s body had been completely obliterated without a trace.

Only one thing remained.

A murky, darkened Spirit’s Eye lay on the ground.