Even as Ash unleashed all his power, trying to break free from the golden restraint and avoid being caught in another time stop or attacked by manipulated time and space, the light remained as solid as a fortress.
Although the prison formed by the light swelled outward under the impact of Ash's powerful magic, even tearing apart the surrounding space and producing chilling cracking sounds as black fissures appeared like a shattered mirror, the light possessed a miraculous power of restoration.
While suppressing Ash's magic, it continuously repaired the damage to space caused by the battle. Its own toughness even surpassed the strength of space itself.
As the two remained locked in a struggle, with magic and divine power fiercely competing against one another, the goddess suddenly flashed forward and instantly appeared beside Ash through spatial transfer.
Her eyes were sharp as lightning.
Wrapped in golden light, the Holy Sword slashed toward Ash's neck at a speed too fast to follow.
The strike was as quick as lightning and carried her determination to win.
The blade cut through the air with a sharp howl, as though it would split space itself apart.
But immediately afterward came the piercing cry of metal echoing across the land.
The sound came from two blades colliding.
The energy released by the clash of the two indestructible weapons forced the standing Ash several steps backward.
But at that moment, the golden light had already spread completely across his body.
The goddess seized the opportunity.
Time throughout the world was stopped once again.
Everything seemed frozen.
Snowflakes in the air and drifting dust remained suspended in place.
Only the goddess herself still shone with faint flickering golden light.
'This really is the end.'
The goddess thought to herself.
She knew that while time was stopped, Ash could not move because external time had ceased.
However, the moment she touched his body, the magic suppressed within him would interfere with the stability of the time stop.
But before that happened, just like before, he would be unable to escape.
Unable to dodge.
Which meant that as long as she used an attack he could not avoid, or one that would kill him even if he partially avoided it, she could completely destroy him.
To avoid any complications, the goddess decided not to hold back this time.
She stood quietly in place and slowly raised the Holy Sword.
She would use this attack to completely end the one who had disrupted the world's order.
She would bring this brutal duel, which had unknowingly become a battle of attrition, to its conclusion.
After taking her stance, she drew a deep breath.
Then, without hesitation, she poured everything into the attack, drawing out power beyond what this body could endure.
In an instant, the light from the Holy Sword became even brighter.
It was like a golden sun rising in her hand, too dazzling to look at directly.
Then she swung it down at Ash with all her strength.
This flash overflowing with divine power unleashed enough energy to destroy everything.
The Holy Sword's slash resembled the first light of dawn.
With unstoppable force, it split open the sky.
The clouds that had already been scattered by the battle should have revealed a clear blue sky, yet a massive crack appeared across it.
Within that crack, endless darkness seemed to surge.
It looked as though it would swallow the entire world.
At the same time, it mercilessly cut through the earth.
Wherever it passed, the solid ground shattered as easily as tofu.
Huge chasms spread across the land, bottomless wounds carved into the earth.
The force did not stop there.
It continued sweeping up the surrounding magic.
Everything was torn apart and crushed by the slash.
Along the path of the blade, nothing was spared.
Towering mountains, dense forests, and solid rock were all cleanly split in two.
Their cut surfaces were smooth as mirrors.
Then the light, bright as a sun exploding, began to converge.
It rapidly gathered toward Ash's position.
Before Ash even had a chance to respond, the power had already grown so great that the entire world seemed displaced.
Space twisted beneath the pressure of the light.
Distant scenery blurred.
The world itself seemed to tremble and cry out under the force.
Within this torrent of world-destroying energy, it seemed as though the end had arrived.
The earth cried out.
The sky shattered.
Everything appeared destined for destruction under this irresistible force.
All things would return to chaos.
And Ash... Before setting out, he had used the system to accelerate his mastery of magic.
Though he could not instantly turn an entire city to gold like Macht, turning his own body into gold was something he could do.
Even though turning only his own body into gold still required a little precious time, he had already anticipated this beforehand.
Before time stopped, when the slash that had jumped through space arrived and distracted him, he had already predicted such an attack would come.
He had quickly turned his torso and back into gold.
And just before the goddess's slash landed, his body began moving backward.
Even though the energy still tore a huge wound across his chest, and he could only watch his blood spray out, the golden body gave him a sliver of hope before being cut in half.
However... He could not see what happened afterward.
Amid the slash that split earth and sky apart, his golden body, which could not be cut, was blasted away.
From a distance, it looked as though he had been swallowed by the endless light and power.
Only dust filling the sky and the devastated battlefield remained to tell of the brutality and terror of the fight.
Having exhausted everything, the girl's body also began to collapse at that moment like a dying demon.
Only the ownerless Holy Sword fell to the ground, becoming the sole intact object left upon the land.
———
His study of magic had long surpassed the realm of humanity.
Even Denken could not understand who he was preparing to fight by researching magic to such an extent, since it had already exceeded what humans could ever reach.
The answer was simple.
The magic that turned all things into gold, Macht had developed it to fight the goddess.
It was precisely through the accumulated efforts of countless predecessors over a thousand years that the strongest defense had been created.
And it was because of that defense that Ash barely survived the goddess's sudden, world-ending strike.
Under that devastating impact, his body instantly exceeded the speed of sound.
Friction with the air ignited flames around him.
Like a burning meteor, accompanied by a violent shockwave, he fell toward distant lands.
Everywhere he passed, mountains collapsed.
Solid peaks crumbled before him like sandcastles.
After taking the attack head-on, his body crashed through several mountains like a cannonball.
Every impact produced a tremendous roar.
Huge holes were punched through mountain after mountain as shattered stone and dust filled the sky.
After traveling an unknown distance, his body finally struck the ground.
The impact created a massive crater amid violent shaking.
Only then did he finally stop.
After some time passed and the temperature dropped, Ash, unable to sense the outside world due to the loss of all five senses while in his golden state, judged that enough time had passed and finally released the golden transformation.
The moment he did so, the gold shell covering him, already filled with cracks, broke apart.
As his flesh returned, his skin split open as well.
Blood burst out like a fountain, instantly turning him into a man covered in red.
Every inch of his body seemed to cry out in pain.
The agony that reached deep into his bones nearly made him lose consciousness.
At this moment, Ash could not even remain standing.
His legs felt as heavy as lead and shook.
In the end, he dropped heavily to his knees.
His breathing was extremely labored.
Every breath felt as though it pulled at the wounds inside his lungs.
The pain was unbearable.
Blood paid no attention to his will.
It continued pouring from his wounds.
The warm liquid blurred his vision.
The entire world became blood-red in his eyes, filled with noise and distortion like a broken image.
Even his consciousness was becoming difficult to maintain.
It felt as though endless darkness might swallow him at any moment.
"It's okay... still alive... it's not over yet... as long as my heart isn't destroyed... as long as my head isn't cut off... even bleeding dry won't matter..."
Although he had ultimately won, his voice had become hoarse and unclear.
Every word seemed forced out from deep within his throat.
When he realized he had survived the goddess's world-destroying strike, relief first appeared within him.
It was the instinctive desire to live.
A small spark lit within a hopeless situation.
But immediately afterward came overwhelming exhaustion and fear.
He clearly understood how terrible his condition was.
His severely injured body felt like a crumbling ruin.
It could collapse completely at any moment.
But...
It wasn't over yet.
He couldn't fall here.
That thought echoed repeatedly through his shattered consciousness.
Like the only light in darkness, it reminded him of everything he had gone through.
From childhood, when he had lived by eating raw flesh, suffering repeated injuries and even coming close to death, to the happier days that came later, the memories flashed before him one after another.
Each one cut into him while also giving him the strength to keep going.
And because he knew that even closing his eyes would not bring release, he forced himself on.
He pressed his battered hands onto his knees.
Using every bit of strength he had left, he unsteadily stood up.
"Where... is this?"
He slowly looked around.
But he could not identify the location.
Even though his body swayed as though it might collapse at any moment, he still hoped to find a place where humans lived.
Enduring the pain, he returned to human form.
Every movement felt as though countless needles were stabbing his wounds.
Even so, he gritted his teeth.
Step by step, he dragged his blood-covered body through the snow-covered wilderness.
Behind him stretched a long trail of blood.
The red stain stood out clearly against the white landscape.
Before long, Ash became too tired.
His body had already reached its limit.
Leaning against a tree, he wanted to rest for a moment.
Yet he did not dare sit down.
He feared that if he did, he would never stand up again.
Even while resting, his breathing remained rapid and uneven.
Every breath carried the smell of blood.
He could clearly feel his strength slowly fading away.
His eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
It felt as though he might fall asleep at any second.
Then, at that moment, movement suddenly came from a nearby bush.
A rustling sound immediately put him on guard.
He raised his head sharply and tried to see what it was.
What entered his vision, however, was a familiar horned helmet.
———
The battle between Ash and the goddess had created disturbances like an earthquake.
The effects spread throughout the entire region and even farther beyond.
The dwarf warrior Eisen, who had been living in seclusion deep within the mountains, was drawn over by it.
He originally wanted to investigate and see what could possibly have caused such a huge disturbance.
While traveling, he spotted Ash flying away like a meteor.
Instinctively, he followed the direction of his flight.
But he could not find him.
All he found was the giant crater and bloodstains outside it that were gradually dispersing into magical particles.
His heart sank.
He immediately realized that these traces must have been left behind by a severely injured monster or demon.
So he gripped his battle axe and cautiously followed the trail of blood.
When the dwarf warrior Eisen first saw the blood-covered figure, he could hardly recognize who it was.
His muscles tensed instinctively.
He raised his battle axe and prepared to attack.
Then a weak yet familiar voice reached his ears.
"Eisen?"
Recognizing the familiar figure through the haze and caution, Ash spoke first.
"A-Ash? What happened? How did you end up hurt this badly?"
Hearing his old friend's voice, Eisen cried out in shock.
He immediately lowered his axe and rushed over.
His eyes were filled with disbelief.
After arriving in front of Ash, he examined him from top to bottom.
The concern in his eyes deepened.
A huge wound stretched from Ash's chest to his cheek.
The wound was deep enough to expose bone.
The injury across his chest in particular looked as though someone had split him open with a giant blade.
It was so deep that his organs could almost be seen moving inside.
The sight was practically the same as being disemboweled.
Blood continued flowing from the wounds, staining the ground beneath Ash dark red.
If a human had suffered injuries like these, survival would have been impossible.
They probably would not have lasted long at all.
Even for demons, whose bodies were much tougher than humans, such injuries were already close to the limit of what life could endure.
Eisen's expression became extremely serious.
He knew the situation was critical.
Something had to be done quickly.
But when he tried to help support Ash, he did not even know where it was safe to touch him.
Ash raised a hand and stopped his panic.
"It's okay... go look nearby and see if there's a delegation from the Kingdom of Oisast... just bring them here..."
"B-But... if they see your blood disappearing..."
"They already know. Tell them not to bring priests. Just bring doctors and medicine for external injuries."
"Really?"
Eisen's expression became particularly complicated.
Still, he nodded.
The look on his face was extremely strange.
Honestly, seeing such an expressive look on a dwarf who normally showed no expression at all would have made Ash laugh if his injuries were not so severe.
But even moving the corners of his mouth hurt, forcing him to stop.
"What's with that look?"
Eisen noticed his odd expression.
His own face became difficult to describe as well.
"Don't worry about it."
Ash quietly looked away.
But Eisen continued staring at him expressionlessly, "Ash, don't you think there are a lot of things you should explain to me?"
"I'm more curious... why you don't seem that surprised."
"Do you think I'm as slow as Frieren?"
"I don't know... you hardly ever talk."
"That's because you people are too noisy... But now isn't the time to catch up. I'll go make the trip. Stay here and be careful."
Eisen let out a helpless sigh.
After making sure Ash rested, he immediately flew off into the distance.
Just like when he arrived, he moved like a beast charging straight ahead.
Although he was already old and no longer on the front lines, he still crashed through trees whenever they blocked his path.
When he reached water, he stepped directly across it, racing over the surface and leaving behind a beautiful white trail of spray.
However, while passing through the forest, wood chips flew everywhere as entire groups of trees fell behind him.
It looked... a little destructive.
"That guy really is... just as rough as ever..."
Remembering the times he had been thrown high into the air and left to fall freely from over a hundred meters without Eisen caring at all, Ash simply sighed and stopped complaining.
After all, Eisen had never bothered resisting when thrown into the air.
He actually enjoyed free-falling.
Whether crossing mountains or jumping off cliffs, he preferred dropping straight down and hitting the ground face-first.
He had never cared about the height.
Yet his face had never been injured.
Instead, the ground always ended up with a huge crater.
Even solid rock underground was no exception.
Now, however, Ash finally relaxed a little.
He quietly waited where he was.
Before long, the Magic Knight Order that had spread out to search for him arrived as well.
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