"Haha, this great lord is back!"
Arataki Itto, who had finally managed to climb back onto the floating island, hadn't even fully regained his footing when a star fell right in front of him, smashing the ground beneath his feet to pieces. Arataki Itto let out another series of miserable screams as he began to fall freely.
"Bull Chucker! Traveler!"
Paimon cried out in alarm again.
Lumine, whose body was unable to move, was also falling toward the ground. Fortunately, Daphne took action, and a massive golden formation appeared beneath everyone's feet. Immediately after, everyone felt their bodies become much lighter, and their descent slowed down significantly.
After everyone regained their footing, they all looked up. The scene before them was so terrifying that it even caused Sangonomiya Kokomi's heart to stir with the thought of retreat.
Just when Lumine had activated the Mark but still was no match for Persephone, and Daphne's attacks had also proven ineffective, Sangonomiya Kokomi realized that if nothing unexpected happened, they had almost no hope of victory this time.
Even whether they could escape was an unknown.
Sangonomiya Kokomi was not a person who feared death, but she simply did not want everyone present to die so worthlessly.
At this moment, her heart felt a little regretful. She was the one who had made this decision, so she should bear this responsibility.
Not only Sangonomiya Kokomi, but everyone else also felt more or less hesitant in their hearts.
Can they truly defeat such a powerful enemy?!
But just then, Daphne suddenly spoke to everyone.
"Everyone, don't panic yet. I haven't even gone all out!"
"Earlier, because the situation was urgent, my response was a bit hasty. It's a good time to give you all some buffs while that woman is throwing a tantrum."
Just as Daphne finished speaking, a transparent purple staff suddenly appeared in her hand. Then, she closed her eyes and began to chant softly.
"Blessing of Life!"
A green light flashed, instantly enveloping everyone. Everyone turned green!
Of course, that wasn't the main point. At this moment, everyone felt a ceaseless life force continuously surging forth, and the exhaustion and injuries sustained in the previous battle began to recover rapidly.
"Blessing of Strength!"
As Daphne's voice fell, a red light enveloped everyone. Everyone immediately felt a massive increase in their strength.
"Blessing of Speed!"
"Blessing of Defense!"
"Blessing of Flame!"
"Blessing of Hurricane!"
With each blessing Daphne cast, a new layer of light enveloped everyone. Before long, they were all radiating a dazzling, multicolored glow, and their auras surged nearly twofold!
In just a few breaths, everyone was covered in over twenty different blessings, leaving them completely stunned.
Holy crap, so this is how a mage fights?!
It had to be said, this was incredibly overpowered!
At this moment, everyone realized that Daphne's earlier words hadn't been a joke. She really hadn't been going all out.
They were dumbfounded. Scaramouche and his group, who had witnessed the entire scene, were even more bewildered.
What is with this woman? Her power was completely negligible at first, and the fact that she had suddenly become so strong was already shocking enough. But now, what kind of nonsense was this?!
Not only could she boost her own power so much, but she had also buffed everyone else. And this was clearly not the power of this world.
Yae Miko's eyes narrowed slightly as she formed a rough guess about Gorou's secret.
Discovering this secret, Yae Miko felt a surge of excitement, her tail swishing rapidly behind her.
With the further surge in power, Lumine finally regained control of her body. She nodded gratefully to Daphne, then looked up at Persephone.
With this wave of buffs, Lumine felt they truly wouldn't lose!
If her strength after activating the Mark was equivalent to three [Shouki no Kami], she was now at least as strong as six or seven [Shouki no Kami].
If she were to activate all the remaining Marks simultaneously, her strength would be roughly equivalent to ten [Shouki no Kami].
Daphne was stronger than her, with her current strength at around twelve [Shouki no Kami].
And Persephone had at most the strength of twenty [Shouki no Kami]. Although she was still much stronger than them, it was no longer a completely hopeless situation like before.
Especially since Persephone was clearly wary of her Power of Nihility. Although her own strength was slightly weaker, the effect she could unleash was likely even stronger than Daphne's.
With the help of the others, there was truly hope!
Even if they couldn't win, they should at least be able to manage a retreat and wait until they found even stronger teammates to make a comeback!
At this moment, Lumine's mind was still pondering what Persephone had said before: she had never truly understood the Power of Nihility.
Lumine knew Persephone was completely right. She was still extremely wary of this power, always keeping it suppressed and only using a small fraction of it in battle.
Yet even with just this small fraction, Lumine's strength had experienced an explosive increase.
But Persephone seemed to mean that the Power of Nihility was far more than what she had developed so far.
It was as if she possessed a firearm but only used its metal casing to strike enemies.
Lumine didn't know if Persephone was telling the truth, but it seemed the other woman had no reason to deceive her.
Moreover, she was already immune to the Power of Nihility's negative effects. The fundamental reason she suppressed it so fiercely was that she didn't want it to affect the surrounding environment.
The Life-Shattering Dead Zone, spanning hundreds of meters within Sumeru City, still remained vivid in Lumine's memory.
Perhaps Persephone was right. She really shouldn't be so wary of the Power of Nihility, but should instead do her best to master it and use it for her own sake!
And there was one more thing Lumine had only learned today: Dr. Edward had played such tricks on her back then because he had placed great hopes in her. This was something she had been unable to figure out before, and today, she had finally resolved this knot in her heart.
Of course, at this moment, Lumine still desperately wanted to vent all the resentment she had suffered on Dr. Edward. After all, he had never asked for her opinion or thoughts, yet had taken it upon himself to cause her such great trouble. During that time, she had even developed somniphobia.
What was even more outrageous was that Dr. Edward had kept telling her it could be cured, but the medicines he had her drink were probably the very problem. This gave Lumine a sense of shame and anger at being played for a fool!
Lumine shook her head, deciding to set this matter aside for now. After all, she didn't know where Dr. Edward had run off to. Their last farewell had nearly scared her to death. Then, she calmed her mind and began to sense the Power of Nihility within her body.
Perhaps she shouldn't treat the Power of Nihility as a ferocious beast, but instead as a somewhat naughty child, and try her best to guide it.
Just as Lumine was thinking this, the part of her power that had been used to suppress the Power of Nihility underwent a huge change. It no longer suppressed it, but instead restricted it to a fixed range of activity.
After completing this, Lumine was pleasantly surprised to find that a portion of her power had been freed again. For her, this was a significant boost, at least enough to take on another Shouki no Kami!
Now brimming with confidence, Lumine brandished the Dull Blade and charged at Persephone once more.
At this moment, the stars in the sky stopped falling, and Persephone let out a long sigh of relief.
"This warm-up was quite good."
"It has bought you all a little more time to live."
Just as Persephone's words fell, Lumine clashed with her once again.
This time, Lumine activated all the remaining Marks without hesitation. Sangonomiya Kokomi also activated the Marks on her body, preparing for the next desperate battle.
Daphne, however, followed behind Lumine with her staff in hand, leaving everyone utterly shocked and feeling a sense of suffocation in their chests.
"Daphne, come back quickly!"
Hearing the shouts from behind, Daphne did not slow down in the slightest and spoke.
"Don't worry, I know a bit about fist and foot combat too."
Daphne shot the others a reassuring glance, then rushed toward Persephone at an even faster speed, even overtaking Lumine to clash with Persephone first.
Daphne swung the staff in her hand with all her might, striking out at Persephone. It seemed to possess a force of ten thousand jin, sending a terrifyingly powerful wind pressure hurtling through the air toward Persephone.
Persephone raised an eyebrow slightly and threw a punch with lightning speed. The already somewhat transparent staff was directly shattered by Persephone's punch. However, under this strike, Daphne only took two steps back, then immediately materialized the staff again and swung it at Persephone.
This time, everyone was shocked once again.
Wait, you're serious?!
You can trade blows with Persephone, and you call that "knowing a bit"?!
No wonder Daphne, a mage, had mastered several melee blessings. She had prepared them all for herself!
The instant Daphne struck again, Lumine finally arrived on the battlefield. The Dull Blade burst with a blinding light, slashing fiercely at Persephone.
Persephone's expression remained unchanged as she raised her hands, preparing to take both of their attacks.
However, just as Daphne's staff was about to strike, a blinding white light erupted from its tip.
"Light Spell!"
Caught off guard, even Persephone couldn't help but shut her eyes.
At the moment Daphne cast this spell, she had already turned her head back as far as she could, so the effect on her was minimal. Lumine, who had already received Daphne's signal, also avoided most of the impact.
Seizing this perfect opportunity, Lumine activated all the remaining Marks without hesitation, causing her power to surge explosively.
The Dull Blade's trajectory in the air suddenly twisted, evading Persephone's palm in the blink of an eye and thrusting toward her waist.
Seeing the two of them strike, the others also seized the opportunity to launch their full-power attacks at Persephone.
Just as Lumine and Daphne's attacks were about to land on Persephone, a smile suddenly appeared on her face. Her hands instantly shifted positions, grabbing both the staff and the Dull Blade.
Even after doing this, Persephone still kept her eyes closed.
At this moment, both Lumine and Daphne felt a strong sense of crisis, but before they could even think about retreating, an irresistible force surged through the weapons in their hands.
BOOM
Persephone punched Daphne, sending her flying over a thousand meters away. On the other side, she grabbed Lumine's legs with both hands, spun her around, and precisely used Lumine's face to take the other attacks.
Lumine was first hit squarely in the face by a fireball, then endured a full-body spa in a Cryo Storm, and finally collided head-on with a stubborn bull, producing a crisp crack from her skull.
A good-sounding head is a good head!
Seeing this, everyone's expressions changed slightly. Sangonomiya Kokomi hurriedly summoned a jellyfish to heal Lumine. However, before the jellyfish could even release its first ripple of water, Persephone slapped it into oblivion.
After using Lumine, Persephone dragged her toward her side, raised her right arm high, and finally delivered a heavy elbow strike to Lumine.
Lumine felt the terrible force and crossed her arms in front of her at the last moment, but the strike still stopped her breathing. Then, a piercing shriek tore through the air, Lumine's figure vanished instantly, and a cloud of white mist remained where she had stood.
At this moment, Lumine felt as if her hands had lost all sensation, her body was falling apart, her head spun in a daze, the whistling of a raging wind roared in her ears, and the scene before her eyes was rapidly receding into the distance.
Suddenly, the familiar and terrifying aura abruptly appeared beside Lumine. Persephone gently raised her leg, bringing Lumine to a sudden stop. In an instant, Lumine felt as if her waist was about to break and could not help but let out a muffled groan.
Persephone retracted her leg. After Lumine's body fell a short distance further, Persephone kicked out again, striking Lumine's soft abdomen directly. The intense pain and nausea caused Lumine to uncontrollably vomit a mouthful of bile, and then her body was sent flying again.
"Traveler!"
Everyone exclaimed in shock, then desperately launched attacks at Persephone, trying to stop her from continuing to brutalize Lumine. However, Persephone paid no mind to any of their actions at all, easily dodging all the attacks before appearing in front of Lumine once again.
The Power of Nihility erupted violently as Lumine tried to force Persephone into a stalemate. However, the directly unleashed Power of Nihility was like scattered sand, completely ineffective against an enemy of Persephone's level.
Persephone clenched her fists and, under Lumine's terrified gaze, smashed them down. In an instant, Lumine felt as if the blood in her entire body had stopped flowing.
Boom
The expected excruciating pain did not come. Lumine snapped back to her senses and looked closely, only to find Daphne standing in front of her, taking the blow from Persephone in her place.
No, it was Daphne's clay doll!
Observing carefully, Lumine easily noticed that this Daphne's body was much smaller. It seemed Daphne had placed it on her at some point, specifically to deal with this situation.
The remaining impact was transmitted to Lumine through the clay doll. Although it was still unpleasant, she could barely endure it. Lumine's body plunged rapidly downward once more.
As she fell, Lumine couldn't help but lose her focus again.
No, if they can't fully master the Power of Nihility, they still don't have the slightest chance of winning!
To defeat Persephone, they must first be resolved to destroy themselves and the world!
With this thought, Lumine took a deep breath, then immediately immersed her mind and body completely in the Power of Nihility within her...