This time, it wasn't the sun illuminating their torments, but the moon of Lugunica. It shone with all its might, as cold and indifferent as its diurnal counterpart to what was unfolding below.
It merely illuminated the night sky in all its pale brilliance, surrounded by its billions of mute stars, purely and simply, absolutely insensible to the cosmic horror that was about to unfold a few dozen meters beneath its light.
It simply irradiated. As it had always done. As it would continue to do, whether there was a massacre or not.
Beneath this impartial moon stood a man.
No — a gigantic army of men.
A coalition of hundreds of silhouettes squeezed tightly against one another, weapons in hand, supported by cutting-edge magical artillery aligned in disciplined rows, jaws clenched, teeth gritted, ready — or so they believed — to write their name in history this night.
And yet.
Yet, at this precise moment, all these men — from the weakest foot soldiers to the most seasoned veterans, including squad leaders — were frozen.
Terror numbed their muscles, rendering them incapable of the slightest movement in the face of the absurdity unfolding above them, towering over their heads.
Among all this paralyzed crowd stood a man with black hair, dressed in his iconic tracksuit, and eyes that had seen more horrors than any soldier present on this battlefield.
Natsuki Subaru.
And even he — this boy who had braved the despair and horror of death again and again, who had gotten back up after every failure, every massacre, every endless night — couldn't utter a word.
Except to say:
Subaru : « Damn it... we're all screwed... » he barely murmured, breath short, eyes wide fixed on the skies.
Because what he was looking at — the thing paralyzing an exceptional army all on its own — was the White Whale.
Well. Not just that.
Even calling it that was an insult to reality.
The beast Subaru had faced in previous loops was gigantic, certainly.
But the abomination floating before them was at least ten times larger. And even saying that, or saying it was massive, would have been a purely crude understatement.
Where Subaru had faced a barely living newborn, a creature still fragile in its own disproportion…
What now hovered above the Tree of Flugel was an adult titan in the prime of its life.
A true Leviathan of the darkest myths. A legend in its purest state, overflowing with a power that had nothing rational left about it, so absurd that its mere presence seemed to crush gravity.
And it was about to plunge.
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAHHHHHHHHH !
The creature let out a piercing cry that tore through the clearing of the Tree of Flugel.
An acoustic shockwave, a roar so powerful, so immeasurable, that it kicked up dust and nearly punctured the eardrums of the unfortunates closest by.
The entire army stepped back, overwhelmed by the air pressure. Soldiers collapsed, hands pressed over their ears, blood trickling between their fingers.
And high above — still above it, perched nonchalantly right at the summit of the Tree of Flugel, sitting quietly, legs crossed, observing the scene with eyes filled with childish malice — a man.
And not just any man. The very same one who had, with a simple snap of his fingers, snatched this mythological entity from a dimension that should never have crossed this one.
Kozuwa Kurisu. In the flesh, and totally outside of any concept.
He observed the situation below with a face sparkling with joy, an unreadable smile on his lips.
Kurisu : « Ohhh… Let's see how our little army is going to manage. » he murmured to himself.
Kurisu : « I hope the important characters make it... Kekeke ! »
He laughed softly, a muffled laugh, before slowly turning his head to the side — toward a precise, totally empty point in the night sky, staring at the stars.
A point no one else could see.
Kurisu : « Ohhh, hello dear readers… Did you miss me ? » he asked with a knowing wink, breaking reality with chilling ease.
He let the question hang for a moment, as if genuinely expecting an answer that would never come.
Kurisu : « Anyway. I wonder how they're going to get out of this. Don't you ? »
He brought his gaze back down to the group below, a smile slowly stretching across his face.
Kurisu : « Well… Enjoy the show. »
And just like that, reality resumed its course.
The Whale — no, the Leviathan — opened its enormous jaws wide, releasing a first veil of fog as a prelude.
Positioning itself like the master creature of the skies that it was, its massive body pivoted, eclipsing the moon, and began its dive toward the army below.
It charged straight at the army.
Faced with this colossal plunge, no one moved.
No one even had the strength to take a single step. After all — could they really be blamed ?
These soldiers, trained though they were, had already heard terrifying accounts of the original White Whale. They were even prepared to die against the standard beast.
But this ?
This mass obscuring half the night sky, seemingly swallowing the stars themselves in its wake ?
The human mind simply could not process such a threat.
There was no chance. Absolutely none.
Even Subaru felt hope begin to desert him.
« Could it be... has all of this been for nothing... »
The thought insinuated itself into him, bitter, almost resigned.
Even Crusch Karsten, a few meters away from him, felt cold sweat slide down the back of her neck. She no longer knew what to do.
Even Wilhelm van Astrea — the man most rightfully entitled in the world to want this creature's death — gripped his sword hilt with pale fingers, doubt creeping into his veins for the first time in decades.
He watched the beast, barely a few dozen meters away now, his sword gripped so tightly his knuckles had turned white.
« Does this even still have any meaning... ? » he thought bitterly, watching the colossal shadow crash down upon them.
The Leviathan kept its jaws wide open, ready to swallow in a single gulp the entire army that had dared stand against its omnipotence.
It was the end.
And yet.
Something, a spark, dared defy the absolute.
SHINNG !
A blade of pure energy, flamboyant, incendiary, and blinding, split the air and shot straight toward the skies.
Toward the creature — toward its immense being — and, by an absurd miracle breathed in by destiny itself, the attack struck the beast directly in the eye.
The assault only blackened its colossal scales, but the unexpected impact wrung a growl of annoyance from the Leviathan, slowing its descent, pulling back with a sudden movement, its gigantic head twitching from the impact.
A solar glow pierced the gloom amid the petrified ranks.
Subaru : « What is... ? »
He turned toward the origin of this light — and saw her.
Priscilla : « Ah ! »
A voice of absolute arrogance rose in the dead silence.
Priscilla : « So this is all your strength, you bunch of peasants ?! »
Priscilla Barielle stood tall, arm raised toward the skies.
In that hand gleamed a blade of pure, almost dazzling brilliance — the Yang Sword itself, one of the ten swords of power, held high toward the sky as a living provocation, shining with an aura so flamboyant it rivaled a miniature sun.
Priscilla : « Is it just to stand there and serve as food that you came here ? »
She exclaimed once more, her predatory smile splitting her face.
Her voice carried across the entire battlefield.
Priscilla : « Ha ! Well then, get out of here — if you don't have the strength to face what stands before you, what does it matter if the beast is bigger or not... my divine self, for one, will conquer ! »
She finally pointed her sword toward the monster, which growled in annoyance, a blackened slash still smoking lightly on its eyelid.
Priscilla : « Because the world has decided it so ! »
Then, more softly — genuinely, this time, without the slightest theatrical artifice:
Priscilla : « Yes… From now on, the world really does revolve around me. »
It was no longer quite a quip.
Around Priscilla, reality seemed to adapt. Her insolent luck and divine aura swept away the weight of despair.
Her luck had become so absurd, ever since that scene in the cosmic theater, that the entire world seemed to bend, against its will, in her direction.
She had broken the paralysis, but despite her provocative words, the majority of the soldiers were still trembling.
The army remained frozen — but differently. Incapable of movement, granted, but something had changed in the air.
How were they supposed to defeat such a living mountain ? They were afraid. Everyone, without exception, felt a visceral, animal fear.
And yet, a sound was heard.
TAP !
A sharp, high-pitched snap echoing in this dead silence.
Subaru had both cheeks reddened where he had just violently slapped himself.
They were scarlet red, marking his skin, but when he reopened his eyelids, terror had evaporated to give way to a new flame.
Rem : « Subaru-kun, are you okay ?! »
She exclaimed, worried, rushing toward him.
Subaru : « I'm fine, Rem… I needed that. » He replied, reassuring her with a gesture.
He gave her a confident smile before raising his fists.
His eyes now glowed with a new, very different light — pure, immeasurable.
Pure and unshakable determination.
Subaru : « Come on, let's go ! »
He raised his hands, a determined smile splitting his face.
Rem : « Yes, Subaru-kun ! »
Without the slightest trace of hesitation, the powerless boy dashed toward the front lines alongside the young demon girl.
At that sight — the sight of this boy charging straight toward this Leviathan without a trace of visible fear — Crusch's face lit up.
The Duchess sketched a smile. A simple, almost involuntary smile.
« I see now what that man meant… » she thought, finally understanding what Kurisu had wanted to teach her about this boy.
She thought for a moment of the words of that white anomaly, before turning her gaze toward her entire army.
Crusch : « Listen to me, everyone ! » She shouted with all the strength of her magically amplified lungs.
Her voice cracked through the silence, and every gaze turned toward her.
From the tip of her blade, she pointed at the black-haired boy, now far ahead, charging toward the impossible without looking back.
Crusch : « You see that man ? He is physically the weakest among us. The most pathetic man in this entire army ! »
She raised her voice higher still.
Crusch : « And yet… He is the only one who managed to cross the barrier of fear to go face this monster — even though he knew, better than anyone here, just how much worse this creature is than the one we knew ! »
Her voice grew firmer, sharper like the wind, piercing the soul of every veteran.
Crusch : « So we — every single one of us present here — can we accept being humiliated like this ?! Are we going to let the weakest among us take the front while we hide behind his skirts ?! »
She squeezed her sword until her knuckles turned white.
Crusch : « What does it matter if the beast before us is more nightmarish than the one in legends ! How could we run away, when the weakest among us fights ?! »
Silence rang out after these words.
Heavy. Electric. Viscous.
The silence of people who had already heard tales of the Whale, who were now contemplating this monster capable of erasing them with a single gesture — and who, nonetheless, had just seen a barely adult boy charge in without hesitation, and a woman land the very first blow.
Who were they, if not mere talkers?
The soldiers looked at the mountain of scales above them, then at the back of this fragile boy.
Shame replaced fear. Rage replaced shame.
A man gripped the pommel of his sword so hard it made his joints crack.
Wilhelm van Astrea.
The blade trembled almost, so strong was his grip, while the memory of his deceased wife bathed his entire mind.
Her magnificent smile. Her infinite tenderness. Her gentleness.
And it was this creature — in one form or another — that had torn her away from him.
No matter its size. He had to cut it down.
« No matter its shape. No matter its power. I must defeat it. For you, Theresia... »
Wilhelm : « Theresia... give me strength. » he murmured softly.
Then, he raised his sword high. Everyone saw him.
And he screamed, with all the strength of his lungs, toward the monster suspended above them.
The old Sword Demon let decades of grief explode.
Wilhelm : « YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR ACTIONS ! »
He charged in turn, without a backward glance, leaping forward, erasing the distance in an instant.
At that sight, the entire army began to roar.
Everyone knew who Wilhelm van Astrea was. Everyone knew what he had endured.
And yet, he too, just like that boy in the tracksuit, was charging straight toward this new calamity.
Had the Whale not claimed victims ? Destroyed entire families ? Friends ? Children ?
How could they stay planted there while it continued to act with complete impunity?
The movement started among the veterans — those who had faced it in the past — then grew, spread, reaching the recruits, until it contaminated the entire army.
Hundreds of voices rose in a single cry, roaring their thirst for vengeance, shaking the valley, swords raised, ready to charge, ready to defeat this new legend.
Crusch smiled — with the smile of a leader ready to fulfill her duty — and then momentarily turned her gaze toward Priscilla.
Crusch : « Thank you, Baroness… All of this started thanks to you. » she murmured with sincere respect.
Priscilla opened her fan with a sharp gesture, barely masking her haughty smile.
Priscilla : « Hmph. I have no need for your thanks, Duchess. The world simply willed it so. »
Crusch nodded, and finally exclaimed, her voice carrying across the entire battlefield:
Crusch : « Start of the plan ! To the attack ! » she cried out.
Dozens of knights immediately charged, ready to face the monster head-on.
The battlefield ignited.
Behind the lines of soldiers already stood numerous strange structures — machines of unknown appearance, whose discs suddenly glowed vigorously, slowly pivoting to point toward the immense calamity suspended in the air.
One by one, each of the luminous discs sent out a beam of blue energy, seeking to strike the monster right in the face.
BOUM ! BOUM ! BOUM ! BOUM !
Huge explosions illuminated the night sky, casting their light against the colossal face of the Leviathan, which closed its eyes with a gesture of annoyance rather than actual pain.
Then, suddenly, the entire place was covered in a pure, almost solar light.
A cannon-shaped structure, planted in the heart of the lines, now glowed with a blinding intensity, projecting an enormous sphere of light straight up into the sky, just above the beast.
The sphere exploded, painting the starry sky with white rays so powerful they nearly turned night into a blazing morning for the fraction of a second.
As if the sun itself had risen on command.
Ricardo : « Ahaha ! Come on, attack, Iron Fangs ! » shouted the beast-human mercenary as he charged.
The brown-furred man roared with laughter, and his troop charged behind him in a single wild surge.
Crusch : « Forward ! »
She charged in turn, mounted on her earth dragon, sword already brandished.
Subaru, amid the chaos, watched for a moment everything surging behind him — Wilhelm, the soldiers, Crusch, and even Priscilla — and a slight smile formed on his face.
« Yes... All together, we can do it. » he thought.
The Leviathan — for that name suited it decidedly better than "whale" — finally reopened its eyes, adjusting in an instant to this dazzling new light.
Its immense eyes fixed on the arrogant insects below. The massacre was only just beginning.
It opened its jaws, letting out a piercing cry that made the air itself vibrate, and charged straight at the army gathered below.
The true decisive battle had finally begun.
And yet, this fight could only be described by a single word: massacre.
Wilhelm rushed straight toward the beast, pushing off the ground with a monumental impulse before leaping into the air, reaching the monster's flank.
Wilhelm : « AHHHHH ! »
He delivered a thunderous thrust there, capable of shattering a mountain — and yet.
CRASH !
The steel sliced through the scales with a deafening sound. The blow landed perfectly, but the old master widened his eyes.
Wilhelm : « What... how ?! »
His sword had barely grazed the Leviathan's flesh — a mere reddish line, almost cosmetic on the scale of a creature of this size.
The beast arched violently, turning with an absurd agility for such a colossal mass, and dealt him a simple full-power tail strike that swept across the sky.
Wilhelm : « Arghh ! »
Struck head-on, he was hurled toward the ground at a fatal speed — but was caught in the nick of time by Ricardo.
Ricardo : « Easy, old man ! » cried the mercenary, catching him just before the crash and carving a crater under the force of the impact.
Wilhelm : « ...Thanks. »
He breathed these words, barely recovering, breath short.
Annoyed, the monster opened its jaws and then charged toward the army, spitting its characteristic fog in a long gray trail.
Crusch : « Fall back, everyone! It's the erasing fog ! »
She shouted this order to her troops, then raised her blade, which blazed with pure wind energy and released the attack of One Hundred Cuts, One Fall.
The wind blade sliced through the air, striking the fog and tearing it apart from side to side — annihilating it in its path.
Crusch : « Damn... »
She stepped back as the rest of the fog continued its course, preparing to engulf soldiers too slow to deviate its trajectory.
But suddenly, an irradiating heat intervened.
A blade of white energy cut through the air, reducing the cloud to ashes before it could reach them.
Priscilla : « Do you think I'll let you do that, filthy abomination ? »
With a stroke of the Yang Sword, she immediately followed up with a new, even more violent gust, projected straight at the Leviathan's flank.
The pure heat of the attack literally made the ambient air crackle, and where the blade touched, the monster's skin blackened, a thin wisp of smoke rising from the wound.
The flames crashed down... but the monster totally ignored it.
The beast growled, annoyed — a slight pain, but infinitesimal, derisory on its scale. Like a cigarette burn on the skin of a colossus.
Priscilla : « Tch. It dares to mock... »
She spat these words, annoyed to see that despite the mark left, the creature seemed barely disturbed.
It was despairing.
Rem's ice magic pulverized against its skin like hail. The cannons only irritated it. The monster was too massive, too resistant.
The worst part was that this Leviathan of several hundred meters seemed almost invulnerable to everything.
No matter Wilhelm's strikes, the soldiers' charges, Crusch's wind attacks, or even Priscilla's blade — nothing left anything more than simple superficial gashes.
And even worse: the beast remained high in the air, out of reach of the majority of soldiers on the ground, spitting its fog over and over, relentlessly engulfing men who had nowhere to run, while sweeping the battlefield with its gigantic tail.
Subaru : « Dammit... »
He watched Rem launch another volley of ice magic toward the monster — sharpened peaks that crashed against its skin before dissolving like mere flakes carried away by the wind. Even magic seemed to slide off it without effect.
« And as always... I'm useless. » he thought bitterly, watching the carnage.
The thought crossed his mind, familiar.
« No. Even if I can't fight... I can help them another way. I can think. »
He then closed his eyes and began to think, forcing his mind to search the depths of his subconscious despite the surrounding chaos.
What did he know about this creature that others didn't know?
He plunged into his memories, tracing back past loops, searching for the only time he had truly crossed paths with the original Whale.
It had followed them. Tracked them, even, with an almost personal persistence.
Why, already?
The realization finally clicked.
« That's right... it's a Witch Beast ! It follows the smell of Miasma. »
A dangerous thought began to sprout in his mind, bitter and risky, but viable.
His mind raced. It was a suicidal bet, but the only possible one.
Subaru : « Rem ! »
Rem : « Yes, Subaru-kun ? »
She stopped dead, interrupting her next shot to turn toward him.
Subaru : « Take us to Crusch, quickly ! I think I have an idea. »
Rem : « Very well. »
She replied without the slightest hesitation, firmly taking back the reins of Patrasche to charge, slalom between soldier bodies and fog jets with remarkable precision.
They quickly reached Crusch, who was reorganizing the wounded troops.
Once arrived, Subaru quickly explained his plan: force the Leviathan to descend, lure it to the ground, to allow the artillery and the entire army to bombard it at point-blank range.
Crusch thought for a moment, her eyes narrowed.
Crusch : « Very well. I won't ask how you plan to pull this off, but... »
She planted her gaze in his.
Her voice grew thinner, almost unsettling.
Crusch : « Don't do anything reckless. Understood ? »
Subaru smiled, striking his fist against his chest with assurance.
Subaru : « No problem ! » he lied grandly.
He jumped onto the back of the earth dragon alongside Rem.
Subaru : « Go, Patrasche ! Right underneath it ! »
The earth dragon shot forward like an arrow under the moving shadow of the Leviathan.
They dashed immediately beneath the monster, which seemed to taunt them from the heights of the night sky.
Crusch : « To all troops ! Prepare for the ground assault ! Prepare the artillery ! »
She shouted these orders, galvanizing her men in a single movement.
For his part, Subaru was charging on Patrasche's back, positioning himself right beneath the Leviathan's trajectory.
Subaru : « Rem... cover your ears. Now. »
Rem : « Understood, Subaru-kun. »
She immediately complied, without asking a question, but firmly keeping the reins in hand — ready, nonetheless, to react at the slightest second.
Subaru took a deep breath. His heart was pounding wildly.
« Please... make this work... »
He was no longer a stranger to this sensation.
For a few loops now, he had learned to use this word like one draws a precise weapon — painful, certainly, but familiar.
One more tool in his arsenal.
Subaru : « ...I can return by... »
His voice cut off instantly. Time stopped. The world seemed to freeze around him.
The icy cold of the afterlife froze his veins.
A hand of shadow emerged from the darkness and grasped his heart with an icy grip.
Absolute, terrifying pain crushed his vital organ, cutting off his breath.
And in the absolute silence of his mind, that obsessive, suffocating, and passionate voice echoed:
« I love you... »
Then the world brutally resumed its course.
Subaru : « Ahhh... ahhh... » he panted, doubled over on his mount, his chest on fire.
He pressed a hand against his torso, breath short but already stabilizing.
Instantly, an imperceptible, thick, viscous, and foul-smelling aura exploded around him.
The Witch's Miasma escaped in a wave of monstrous concentration.
Rem : « Subaru-kun ?! »
She cried out, alarmed, before a foul odor suddenly invaded her nostrils.
Rem : « What have you... what have you done ?! »
She pinched her nose, grimacing at the crushing Miasma.
Subaru : « Well... a little bet... And it worked. »
Hardly had he uttered these words when the air began to change.
In the skies, the Leviathan stopped all movement. Its immense pupils locked with a primal hatred onto this tiny speck on the ground.
Seized by an uncontrollable frenzy, attracted by the scent it had known since its creation, the beast let out a deafening roar of unspeakable madness before plunging straight toward them, jaws wide open, in a frantic dive.
It totally ignored the army to pounce directly on Subaru.
Its vertical kamikaze descent tore through the clouds.
Rem : « Subaru-kun, we have to go ! » she cried, pulling on the reins of Patrasche, who was thrashing frantically.
She was seized by urgency.
Subaru : « Wait... Just a little more. »
The monster's gigantic mass was now only two hundred meters away.
It was plunging laterally, its size so absurd it seemed to surpass that of the Flugel Tree itself.
It was a mountain of flesh falling from the sky. Its shadow swallowed the field of vision, and the wind of its fall crushed the grass.
Subaru : « Just a little more... »
A hundred meters. Fifty meters.
Patrasche pawed the ground, tense, ready to leap at the slightest signal.
The Leviathan's jaws opened wider still, ready to spit its fog.
Subaru : « Just a little more... »
The distance was now only a few dozen meters.
Rem : « Subaru-kun !! »
She screamed, this time thoroughly panicked, Patrasche already tensed for the dodge.
Subaru : « NOW ! »
And then, at the exact moment the jaws were about to close upon them:
Subaru tapped into his restored Magic Gate — purified, reinforced by Kurisu's discreet care a few loops earlier.
Mana flowed into him without the slightest restriction, without the usual pain, without that feeling of emptiness that had always accompanied him.
A pure and devastating torrent, almost intoxicating.
Subaru : « SHAMAK !!»
A cloud of black darkness of phenomenal density and incredible power exploded from his hands and instantly engulfed the area for several dozen meters, covering the entire sky just above them, totally blinding the creature in mid-momentum.
Rem reacted in the exact same second, pulling the reins with surgical precision, pivoting Patrasche at a perfect angle — just enough to evade the mortal trajectory, even as the gaping maw brushed their flank in a burning breath.
The Leviathan, launched at dizzying speed, slammed into the black fog and was totally blinded mid-dive.
Unable to see the ground or correct its trajectory in time, the colossal mass missed Patrasche by a hair and continued its course — straight toward the ground.
KRAAAAAAAASH !
An incredible sound rang out. A dantesque crash shook the entire valley, a tremor that traveled right up into the bones of every soldier still standing.
The shockwave instantly dispelled the Shamak, kicking up a colossal cloud of dust, debris, and torn earth.
Patrasche, pushed to her absolute limits under Rem's perfect maneuvers, managed to leap out of the impact zone in extremis, throwing Subaru and Rem out of the trajectory, crashing further away on her back, rolling in the dirt — but alive.
Jolted but alive, Subaru painfully got back to his feet, spitting blood, and pointed a finger at the monster on the ground.
Subaru : « Now's our chance! Charge ! »
He shouted despite the breath still missing from him.
Now was the moment.
The dust was slowly settling. The monster was on the ground — and already beginning to right itself.
Crusch : « Unleash everything ! »
She shouted this order to her entire army.
Instantly, the magical artillery emptied its reserves, while the mages, ready for many long minutes, finally unleashed their accumulated spells.
BAMMMM
A gigantic explosion of pure magic resounded, striking the beast full in the head, illuminating the entire valley with a blinding white flash.
But that wasn't all.
Wilhelm : « You're going to suffer ! » shouted the old swordsman.
Wilhelm charged, climbing directly onto the monster's body, slashing its flesh relentlessly.
He was accompanied by Ricardo, both relentless in striking over and over.
Ricardo : « Ahah, let's see if you can take this ! »
For their part, the soldiers finally took advantage of this unexpected window, throwing themselves at the Leviathan's flanks, planting and driving spears and swords over and over.
The mages' firing continued to rain down uninterrupted, while the twins Hetaro and Tivey added devastating shockwaves to this deluge.
And of course:
Priscilla : « Stay in your place, animal ! »
She charged in turn, the Yang Sword ablaze, shining like a star, crashing down onto the creature's flank, launching a series of attacks with a heat so intense it seemed to make the ambient air burn and melt the earth around her.
Where the blade struck, the monster's skin blackened deeply, wisps of acrid smoke rising with each impact.
For the first time that night, since the beginning of the clash, the Leviathan screamed in pain under this coordinated and uninterrupted bombardment.
Real, genuine pain, this time.
Subaru, remounted on Patrasche with Rem, watched the scene, panting, a victorious smile stretching his lips.
« Finally... » he thought.
No living being could survive such a concentration of pure attacks. They were going to win.
They were going to succeed. Nothing, at this moment, seemed able to resist such a combined onslaught.
But victory is merely an illusion in the face of the absolute.
ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH !
A new roar, as powerful and terrifying as the first if not more, tore through the night.
This was not a cry of agony. This was pure rage.
In an explosion of pure mana, the monster contracted its colossal muscles and violently propelled itself off the ground, rising into the air in a movement of unheard-of brutality.
This created a cataclysmic shockwave that swept away everything in its path — throwing dozens of soldiers several meters, shattering spears, tearing up the entire earth at the edge of the clearing.
Wilhelm, Ricardo, the soldiers, all were hurled like straws. The magical machines flew into pieces.
Subaru : « Holy fucking shit... » he muttered, eyes wide with terror.
He swore, completely disconcerted by this sudden escape.
The Leviathan was once again above them, dominating the sky as if nothing had happened.
The cloud of dust dissipated, revealing the creature under the moonlight.
And the worst part was that despite every attack landed, despite the blades, the fire, the cannons, every blow, every sacrifice made to reach it...
All of this had amounted to nothing more than superficial gashes, burns that would heal in minutes, wounds that should never have been enough to stop a creature of this magnitude.
The army, on their knees, exhausted, out of mana and breath, silently contemplated this thing that still reigned, intact in all essentials, above their heads.
The nightmare was only just beginning.