Rin, standing on the wall of the Millennium Castle and chanting a Hymn, was currently as dazzling as a torch in the darkness.
Even the Six Authorities, located far on the other side of Tokyo, noticed the strange phenomena and Magecraft emanating from Rin's chant.
The Black-Winged Duke looked at the pillar of magical power rising from the Millennium Castle and the nauseating Hymn that reached him, both giving him a bad premonition.
The Black-Winged Duke, who originally intended to concentrate his forces, first destroy the Human Camp below the Millennium Castle, and then focus his attack on the Millennium Castle, could no longer sit still in the face of the commotion Rin was causing.
Although the Black-Winged Duke did not know what Magecraft Rin was casting, the surging magical power clearly told the Black-Winged Duke, 'Come and stop me, or you'll be in big trouble!'
Forced by the pressure Rin created, the Black-Winged Duke had no choice but to wave his hand, notifying his subordinates to begin the assault on the Millennium Castle and stop Rin's spellcasting.
Subsequently, the Dead Apostles on the battlefield collectively received the command transmitted by their superiors through bloodline connection, and simultaneously shot up into the sky using various methods, flying toward the Millennium Castle suspended more than 100 meters high.
They only left the Ghouls under their control to continue attacking the Human Camp.
However, Ghouls were only Ghouls after all. Once the Dead Apostles withdrew from the battlefield outside the Human encampment, the leaderless Ghouls could only rely on the Dead Apostles' final orders, rushing chaotically toward the Human encampment.
This greatly reduced the pressure on the battlefield facing the Human encampment.
However, the pressure on the Millennium Castle side increased significantly as a result.
The Millennium Castle, which had already sent nearly half its forces to assist the humans, was caught completely off guard when the Dead Apostles suddenly changed their direction of attack. Multiple defense lines crumbled instantly, allowing many Dead Apostles to charge into the interior of the Millennium Castle.
Conversely, the section of the wall where Rin was located, which faced the greatest pressure, remained impregnable due to the defense put up by the Ancestors who understood Rin's importance.
The main gate of the Millennium Castle was the area, apart from Rin's location, that was subjected to the most Dead Apostle attacks.
Gudako, standing on the gatehouse, threw the recently completed Gem in her hand down from the tower, transforming it into the Innocentius. She then skillfully pulled out the shorthand codex and, combining it with her half-baked Eight Extremities Fist, began attacking the Dead Apostles climbing the walls toward the gatehouse.
BB watched unhappily as the Dead Apostles ignored her Beast Rank pressure and attacked her. She transformed the Staff of Domination in her hand into a crimson scythe, simultaneously controlling multiple Imaginary Spaces to fire Magic Cannons, continuously reaping the Dead Apostles with the scythe.
Altrouge smiled as she intercepted the Black and White Knights who were preparing to go and aid the Millennium Castle side.
"Fener, Riesbyfe, there's no need to rush."
Altrouge then scooped up Fou, who was squatting by her feet grooming the fur that had been ruffled during his play with BB. As she helped Fou groom his fur, she surveyed the battlefield and said:
"White Beast, wouldn't you agree?"
"Fou~~!"
BB sliced a Dead Apostle in half with her scythe, then looked at Gudako, who was scrambling to dodge Dead Apostle attacks. She curled her lip, instantly used Imaginary Space to appear beside Gudako, and deployed several Magic Cannons to force back the nearby Dead Apostles.
"Tch! You're so useless."
Gudako stood up from the ground, dusted herself off, completely ignoring BB's disdain, and gave BB a sincere smile of thanks.
"Thank you, BB!"
Seemingly infected by Gudako's smile, BB paused slightly, her face flushing as she turned her head away.
"Hmph!"
Suddenly, the entire battlefield simultaneously sensed a soul-stirring aura emerge. All the Dead Apostles, Ghouls, humans, and Magi on the battlefield looked unanimously toward the source of the aura: the Millennium Castle.
Rin, having completed the spell, held a cluster of sacred light in her hands, floating above the Millennium Castle, radiating an aura that compelled obedience.
Subsequently, dozens of ribbons of starlight streamed out from behind Rin, stretching for hundreds of meters. The cluster of light in Rin's hands continually diminished as the light wings behind her extended.
Until the cluster of light vanished, the light wings behind Rin had grown thousands of meters long, forming starlight wings that blotted out the sky.
Rin, like a sacred saintess, floated in the sky, slowly spreading the immense light wings behind her, clasping her hands together in front of her chest in a posture of prayer, and murmuring.
"Light Wing Deployment!"
Although it was clearly a nighttime battlefield, it suddenly became like daytime, and all the light originated from Rin.
Following Rin's murmur, the deployed light wings behind her began to converge into thin beams of light, each roughly the thickness of a finger. The light wings, having expanded to their limit, then split into millions of these beams, shooting overwhelmingly toward the Ghouls and Dead Apostles.
The beams, composed of starlight, reached the Dead Apostles and Ghouls before they could react, passing through their heads and into their bodies, where they transformed into destructive starlight, annihilating their lives.
The battlefield, which had previously been deafening with the sounds of slaughter, was now completely silent, as if someone had pressed a mute button. In this eerie silence, the Dead Apostles and Ghouls struck by the beams dissolved one by one into specks of starlight, drifting back to the earth.
Suddenly, a hysterical howl broke the silence.
"This is... Divine Punishment!... Run!"
The surviving Dead Apostles unanimously shouted various strange phrases and began fleeing chaotically; some were so terrified by Rin's attack that their courage was completely broken.
They did not run or resist, but stood dumbfounded in place, gazing despairingly at Rin in the sky, constantly muttering to themselves.
"Divine Punishment... Divine Punishment!"
The Dead Apostles aligned with the Millennium Castle certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity. They swiftly began their pursuit, continuously striking down these former allies with differing stances and implanting Aether Threads into their brains.
Rin, who was regarded as a goddess by the enemy, was not having an easy time either. Unlike Agnese in the original a certain magical index who performed Magic with the Agnese Squad, Rin performed this spell entirely alone.
This was the first time Rin felt the sensation of her magical energy being completely depleted since receiving the dragon factor transplant.
Zelretch watched Rin, who was falling from the sky due to magical exhaustion. He stroked his beard contentedly, opened a light gate beneath Rin, allowing her to fall directly into his arms.
Zelretch gently supported the weakened Rin, helping her sit against the parapet, and then, using his gaze to deter other Magi who wished to approach, he praised her.
"Rin, that was truly a magnificent spell!"
Rin weakly managed a smile, leaned against the wall, turned her head, and said to Zelretch with a grin.
"Actually, I didn't expect the effect to be this good myself, but the magical energy consumption was terrifying."
Zelretch pulled a vial of magical energy replenishment potion from his robes and gently placed it in Rin's hand, saying.
"Perhaps you didn't see it yourself, but us old folks saw clearly: this attack of yours not only wiped out the Ghouls and Dead Apostles on the front lines, but the Dead Apostles and Ghouls in the surrounding counties and cities were probably all cleared out by this one blow. We should have a period of respite now!"
Just as Zelretch said, the millions of light beams released by Rin's Light Wing Deployment had nearly eliminated the hundreds of thousands of Dead Apostles and Ghouls on the main battlefield, while also inflicting massive casualties on the Dead Apostles and Ghouls rushing toward the vicinity of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.
That is why the Dead Apostles on the battlefield earlier cried out "Divine Punishment"; through their bloodline connection, they roughly understood the range of Rin's attack. An attack of this magnitude could no longer be explained by mere Magic—it was truly like Divine Punishment.
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