The next day, atop the walls of Victoria's capital, Londinium.
Soldiers drawn from two Ursus army groups stood in tight formation, manning the defenses. Talulah and An Xora stood alone on a section of the wall, gazing into the distance at the overwhelmingly massive coalition force of the dukes.
Knowing in advance that they would be facing at least two Ursus army groups, the Victorian dukes had clearly emptied their coffers. The coalition army encircling Londinium now numbered no fewer than four to five hundred thousand troops.
An Xora wasn't surprised at how the dukes had managed to raise such a force. After all, Victoria occupied the most fertile lands on Terra and was, on the surface, the strongest nation in terms of national power. These dukes could only be described as obscenely wealthy.
The resources of a single duke were enough to sustain a full-scale national war—let alone several dukes acting together.
And these weren't rabble scraped together from forcibly conscripted Infected or mercenaries. They were genuine elites trained to regular-army standards, fully equipped and well supplied. If they hadn't cared about quality at all, the size of this army could likely have doubled.
"How should we respond next?"
Talulah asked An Xora beside her.
"Do you need me to command the army groups to engage the dukes' coalition?"
"That's not impossible," An Xora replied, shaking his head.
"But I think there's a better way."
In truth, despite the enemy's sheer numbers, An Xora was confident that even with just two army groups and the Wendigo Legion, victory was assured.
And not only was there a way to win—there were several.
For instance, they could replicate what they'd done in Kazimierz: have the Shadow Troops airdrop several hundred Wendigos straight into the enemy command center, letting the dukes and their high command experience firsthand what it meant to be jumped by a swarm of Wendigos with individual Imperial Guard–level strength. Kill all the officers and commanders, and the remaining rank-and-file—no matter how numerous—would collapse into chaos and be easily crushed and absorbed.
Or An Xora could simply charge in with Talulah and go on a killing spree. Talulah alone might not manage it, but with An Xora's current strength, he could shatter the coalition outright. And even if he didn't want to act personally, he could stall for a few days, call Mebius over to perform fusion-warrior surgery on Talulah, then let a fully upgraded fusion-enhanced Talulah teach the coalition what "scaling" really meant.
But while all of those approaches would work, they lacked impact.
For these beasts—who, upon hearing of their arrival, didn't welcome the royal army with food and drink but instead dared to form a coalition to resist—An Xora wanted them to truly experience despair.
So he chose the strategy with the most spectacle.
"Have the army groups and city garrison stay inside and hold the city," An Xora said calmly.
"As for this coalition of rebellious dukes—leave it to Jibril."
Yes.
An Xora intended to let these backwater Terra bumpkins properly experience what it meant to face the kind of power that could, quite literally, topple the world alone.
"Leave it to Miss Jibril…?"
Talulah scratched her head, recalling the girl who usually floated behind An Xora—someone who looked vaguely like a Sankta, yet somehow not quite.
After a moment, she nodded.
"I understand."
She'd never really seen Jibril fight. To think that Jibril could face a regular army of this scale alone…
By Terra's common sense, no matter how strong an individual was, they couldn't decide a war by themselves. Even the strongest lone warrior would fall before high-speed warships.
But think about it—
The modified Monster Cells and Limit Breaker agents that An Xora and Mebius had revealed, which could double one's strength without side effects.
The Wendigo Legion, spawning thousands strong every month out of nowhere.
The Shadow Troops and the Shadow Kingdom, capable of teleporting armies straight into the enemy's homeland.
Was any of that common sense?
So at this moment, even when An Xora calmly declared that Jibril alone would face hundreds of thousands of troops, Talulah didn't doubt him in the slightest. She chose to believe.
It felt as though her common sense—and her brain—had been dunked in caustic alkali.
But she didn't hate the feeling.
In fact, she wanted more of it.
Not having to think, just charging ahead—this feeling was exhilarating. If handling state affairs could be as easy as fighting wars, how wonderful would that be?
...
And so, noon arrived.
The dukes' coalition, long prepared, finally began its advance in orderly waves.
BOOM BOOM BOOM—!!!
Countless Originium artillery pieces roared in unison, their energy shells blotting out the sky as they rained down upon Londinium's walls.
The soldiers atop the walls hardened their expressions, ready to defend—
Yet before the shells could land, they detonated midair, as if intercepted by an invisible force.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!!!
Dozens upon dozens of shells exploded simultaneously. The blinding light engulfed the sky above Londinium, forcing soldiers on the walls, Ursus troops within the city, and even the coalition forces outside to squeeze their eyes shut.
When the light finally faded, what greeted them was—
An utterly unharmed Londinium.
And above it, a transparent barrier, faintly glowing, enveloping the entire city.
"[The Distant Fourth Blessing]."
Suspended in the air above the walls, Jibril withdrew her hand, a troubled expression crossing her face.
"Master really does give people difficult problems," she murmured.
"I have to deal with these armies in the most shocking way possible, without damaging the city too much—and without affecting other cities or nations."
"Power that can precisely crush ants without destroying the anthill is actually very hard to control."
But—
Who else but her master would deserve such effort?
Pleasing him was the greatest value of her power. As for these armies… if they could serve as expendable props in that process, that alone gave them meaning.
In that case—
She would be just a little more serious.
From afar, through the barrier enveloping the city, the dukes' coalition also noticed Jibril.
"So it was that flying Sankta woman who blocked the bombardment?"
one duke snorted, immediately ordering preparations to continue the assault.
So what if she could shield the city?
She was only one person. How long could she last?
Did they really believe she could outlast the coalition's endless barrage of Originium shells?
But before the soldiers could carry out the order, the situation changed yet again.
"That Sankta woman—she's leaving the barrier! And she's still rising!"
"What is she trying to do?!"
Under the gaze of countless soldiers, the winged Flügel girl slowly ascended into the sky, her eyes calm as she looked down upon the infinitesimal figures below.
The halo above her head shone a little brighter.
Complex magical formulae unfolded.
In that instant, tens of thousands of soldiers felt their breath catch.
The air itself seemed to grow heavy. Every breath became laborious.
A primal instinct buried deep within their bodies awakened.
One after another, people clutched their chests, overwhelmed by a dense sense of danger and death—unable to tell where it was coming from, only that it was absolute.
Finally, a soldier seemed to notice something. His eyes wide with terror, he raised a trembling finger toward the sky.
"T-the sky…! There's something in the sky!"
The surrounding troops followed his gaze—and cried out in horror.
At the point where the winged woman had ascended, the sea of clouds suddenly parted, spiraling outward into a vortex over a hundred kilometers wide.
And at the center of that vortex—
A black sun slowly descended.
Yes.
A black sun, overflowing with the aura of destruction. No other description fit.
At that moment, all words abandoned them.
They could only stare, helpless, as though witnessing a god's judgment descend upon the mortal world.
"Heaven's Strike."
High above the clouds, Jibril spoke softly.
The next second—
The black sun shattered, transforming into blinding white light that swallowed everything.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!
Sky.
Earth.
City.
Army.
Kilometers. Tens of kilometers. Hundreds of kilometers.
At that instant, every nation on Terra saw the pillar of white light erupting from the direction of Victoria.
Countless powerful beings felt their hearts seize, their bodies trembling instinctively.
"Victoria… what in the world just happened there?!"
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